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Archive: June, 2012
In this week's cover story, I write about “cowboy” develoment around Temple Univeristy, where a booming residential student population has created a demand for housing that's made the area one of the most quickly developing in the city.
There are a lot of issues surrounding that development, not least among them how it will affect the longstanding African-American community in the neighborhood and who, exactly, is keeping an eye on how the neighborhood does develop. There exists no strong community organization representing the entire area, which means decisions on matters like zoning variances applications for vacant land go almost unnoticed.
In the increasingly tense problem of student behavior causing problems for longtime residents, Temple University has so far largely stayed on the sidelines – though the university recently voiced its support for the creation of a Neighborhood Improvement District, revealing in the process that it had been meeting for some time with the Temple Area Property Association, a group of Temple-area landlords who have pushed for the NID.
As I point out in my piece, Temple has a potential interest in allowing, if not promoting, the private development of off-campus student housing; it allows the university to outsource, for free, both the construction itself of student housing and the responsibility for the impact of that housing on the rest of the community.
Meanwhile, much of the development that is going on is sloppy, if not outright illegal, with developers cutting corners, breaking rules, and sometimes failing to post basic work permits. Above a just a few pictures snapped while walking around the area.
5th District Councilman and Council President Darrell Clarke says that the city's L&I department is simply overwhelmed by the task of enforcement (L&I told City Paper that it was stepping up enforcement in the area, but it's not clear why that's only happening now).
Whatever the case, finding violations of the city's building codes near Temple is as easy as, well, taking a walk.
It's official: The city's largest men's shelter and the central intake facility for all homeless men in Philadelphia is all but cleared out to make way for, of all things, a new Stephen Starr commissary. The men who stay there — about 66 remaining as of Wednesday, according to shelter director Julius Jackson — were moved yesterday to other accommodations. "Where?" you might wonder. Well, one answer is: not Center City.
The city's Office of Supportive Housing Director Dainette Mintz told CP that the men are being temporarily housed at a facility in the Northeast. They'll be relocated by Sunday to the Station House in North Philadelphia, which was previously a shelter for women.
View galleryDoing any kind of major or glamorous upgrade to a Center City facility at an economic time like this — when many police districts, for example, are direly in need of repair or expansion — presents a conundrum. Sure, maybe Mayor Nutter is right, and projects like an $11 million upgrade to Love Park will be worth every penny; or maybe, that money could be better used if spread around to, say, repair a slew of crumbling rec centers.
So, it's with that ambivalence in mind that we approach what could be, frankly, a pretty damn impressive addition to the Schuylkill River waterfront by the Fairmount Water Works. The plan, which includes a new a foot bridge and boardwalks over the peninsula of silt and weeds just past the Water Works, was hatched in 2006 and is finally getting started. The city has posted an RFP for the fountain reno, and the whole endeavor could be completed by the latter half of 2014.
The $4.5 million project will progress in three phases: the rehab of the Italian Fountain at the Water Works; renovation of the silt peninsula; and, subsequently, new improvements to the stretch of park between the Water Works and Lloyd Hall. The project, according to Parks & Recreation Department First Deputy Commissioner Mark Focht, "goes back to 2006, when the Philadelphia Museum of Art approached us about constructing the parking garage and sculpture garden. … Even though the project was not taking any land out of public use, Mayor Street wanted us to look at adding more green space." The city just issued an RFP for the Italian Fountain restoration, and conservation work on its sculptures is already well underway. They're also working with the Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers to get permits before work on the island can begin, hopefully later this year.
So, yeah, the almost $1 million restoration of the Italian Fountain does have, maybe, a ring of decadence to it. But on the other hand, this project is already funded, from previous years' capital budgets. So, may as well look forward to enjoying it.
So the low-income wage tax rebate that's been on Philly's books for eight years but never actually took effect is history. In today's paper, I wrote about the long-shot fight to save it. In the end, though, the vote was 10-6 for repealing it.
So why was this repeal attempt — the third in six years — successful? Call it tactical brilliance. The Nutter administration managed to frame this progressive tax scheme in a fresh way: as an either/or proposition, an expense that would make resuming across-the-board wage tax cuts impossible. Which is why even though union workers showed up en masse to chant "shame" after the 10-6 repeal vote, and even though district council members who supported it — count among them Council President Darrell Clarke and Councilwoman Marian Tasco — represented thousands of poor people the tax relief would have benefited, it's probably a politically palatable move anyway.
Harrisburg Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much lately — but it's pretty much unanimous that the state's costly, crowded prisons are in dire need of reform. A bill designed to effect just such a corrections-system reform and to reduce Pennsylvania's prison population landed on Gov. Tom Corbett's desk for his signature yesterday. The bill, Sen. Stewart Greenleaf's (R-Montgomery) SB 100, would keep technical parole violators out of prison and in community corrections centers, would keep low-level offenders out of state prison altogether and would encourage alternative sentencing programs, create new re-entry programs and clarify visitation rules. In short, it's a cost-saver that also appeals to social-justice seekers.
"This bill can really be a game-changer. It can shift people in terms of where they're serving and the amount of time they're serving," says Ann Schwartzman, policy director at the Pennsylvania Prison Society.
But at the same time, she says, it could take awhile to see any kind of impact. For one thing, the Safe Community Reentry Program outlined in the bill has no funding at all attached to it. For another, the Justice Reinvestment bill, HB 135 — which would have enabled some of the savings reaped from prison reform to be transferred to counties, to house nonviolent offenders serving short terms in county facilities and to fund other corrections and probation programs — has been delayed, and may not pass before the summer.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the term "red tape" dates back to "1736, in reference to the red tape formerly used in Great Britain (and the American colonies) for binding up legal and other official documents." Well, Neal and Andrew — who have only just started on the process of trying to buy from the city their vacant-lot-turned-urban-farming-paradise at 51st and Chester — are already getting pretty close to needing some red tape to keep their documents straight!
A weekly series of foul-mouthed investigations into empty lots, dead-ass proposals and other design phenomena in Philadelphia. Find more stories like this at Philaphilia.blogspot.com.
Bounded by the Penn Mutual Tower, Fifth, Walnut and St. James streets -- This lot has it all. The site of multiple cool-ass historic buildings and Dead-Ass Proposals. It even has a surviving Toynbee tile nearby! The real wonder is why the fuck this space is still full of grass. This month marks this piece of dung's 20th anniversary of being an Empty-Ass Lot. That's some sad-ass shit.
Though adjacent to the Independence National Historical Grass Lot Collection or whatever the fuck it's called, it actually is NOT part of the park. It's a perfectly good develop-able lot already approved for a tall-ass building. There's NO reason why this space need be empty.
In Philadelphia, a major risk factor for contracting HIV — along with all the known behavioral indicators, like unprotected casual sex and intravenous drug use — is the simple fact of living in a highly affected neighborhood. That's because Philadelphia, like other major cities across the country has "hot spots" where rates of infection are exponentially higher than the city's less-affected districts. Yet, public health experts have been trying (and to some degree failing) to combat the spread of HIV by focusing almost exclusively on changing behaviors. Now, Brown University professor and researcher Amy Nunn is partnering with local health-care providers and community activists to try a new tactic: "Do One Thing," a highly targeted effort to bring testing to the 19143 zip code in Southwest Philadelphia, which is disproportionately affected by the virus and where 89 percent of HIV/AIDS cases are among African Americans.
The project, which includes outreach through the clergy, block captains, local businesses, community groups and the federally qualified community health center The Health Annex, will bring a mobile-testing van into the zip code for block by block screenings. "Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted in the U.S," says Nunn. She says the "mini-epidemic" is exacerbated by poverty and by limited access to (and awareness of) rapid-testing facilities, since testing and treatment via antiretroviral drugs are key to stopping new infections from occurring. "It's not because people in these communities are engaged in any riskier behavior. It's just that there is more virus circulating in that community," she says. "It's unconscionable that we're 30 years into the AIDS epidemic and African Americans have eight times the likelihood of contracting HIV, when they don't engage in any riskier behaviors. this is a social-justice crisis and a public-health crisis, and we have to respond accordingly." (More after the jump.)
Philly HIV/AIDS cases by zip code, 2010
“Oh no they didn't” is Daniel Denvir's weekly blog post on last week's moments in state politics. Philadelphians know precious little about the legislature or governor, though capitol lawmakers have enormous power over our schools, the care of our poor, and whether or not you can access a safe abortion. Are you an advocate, concerned citizen, legislator or aide with something to say? Email daniel.denvir@citypaper.net for tips or comments. Follow him on Twitter @DanielDenvir.
Budget: the state's poorest lose on “compromise”
Pennsylvania looked like it had a budget agreement late last week: Republican Gov. Tom Corbett had capitulated to Senate Republican's demand to somewhat restore proposed cuts to higher education, schools, and county programs for the poor and disabled. County-run social services, however, which Corbett proposed slashing by 20 percent, still looked like they in line for a 10 percent cut.
This Saturday at noon, members of District 1199C of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, plan to rally outside Jefferson Hospital to protest for fair contracts for hospital and health care workers. Jefferson and affiliated hospitals around the city including Hahnemann, Temple and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have sought to reduce some workers' pay by $5 to $7 per hour. Union workers tell CP they also fear that new contracts will include more expensive health insurance premiums and fewer sick days. Negotiations are ongoing but the current contracts will expire on July 1; workers have agreed to strike if a new contract is not reached by then.
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