Philadelphia 2035 (York, Kane, Republic: go bankrupt, apartment, school district)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Design firm hired to plan private garden over rail trench seen as future extension of ‘Philly’s High Line’

https://www.philly.com/real-estate/c...-20190401.html

Hoo-ray!!

[cpomp]

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/...ican-airlines/

Good to see American Airlines investing in PHL.

[AJNEOA]

Anyone see this?

https://6abc.com/traffic/philly-offi...-city/5231093/

I'm all for making QOL better in the city, but it would be good for them to come up with more of a holistic plan. Such as:

1. Reducing on-street parking.
2. Better controlling street-level dedication of lanes for buses to move more freely.
3. Making more places for people to walk free ofcars whizzing by. Market East has a nice new .1 mile strip of pedestrian-only space, but it would be nice if we could find more places like that.
4. Ticketing people for parking over crosswalks (even Uber pick-ups).
5. Creating more loading/unloading zones for taxis, uber, delivery, freight, etc.

In other words, I don't think Center City's main problem is just congestion. It needs to band-aid it's other shortcomings to make a meaningful change such as improving people movement with transit at the street level.

To Puchalsky's point, other famous cities across the world are using the fee for driving model, but not by itself. Why can't we get a holistic plan together and execute in this city?

[timeEd32]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Hoo-ray!!

As I understand it, this is not a good development for the future rail park plans. Am I missing something?

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Anyone see this?

https://6abc.com/traffic/philly-offi...-city/5231093/

I'm all for making QOL better in the city, but it would be good for them to come up with more of a holistic plan. Such as:

1. Reducing on-street parking.
2. Better controlling street-level dedication of lanes for buses to move more freely.
3. Making more places for people to walk free ofcars whizzing by. Market East has a nice new .1 mile strip of pedestrian-only space, but it would be nice if we could find more places like that.
4. Ticketing people for parking over crosswalks (even Uber pick-ups).
5. Creating more loading/unloading zones for taxis, uber, delivery, freight, etc.

In other words, I don't think Center City's main problem is just congestion. It needs to band-aid it's other shortcomings to make a meaningful change such as improving people movement with transit at the street level.

To Puchalsky's point, other famous cities across the world are using the fee for driving model, but not by itself. Why can't we get a holistic plan together and execute in this city?

I'm all for getting a handle on the congestion problem, but making people pay to drive into certain parts of the city will cause many to not bother coming in at all if there isn't a public transit shuttle option as you suggest.

We already tried closing a street to car traffic(Chestnut) and it ended up being a factor, imo, with wrecking retail on that street.
During that time only buses were allowed on it and it predates when city bike use was prominent. A great street turned into a semi-deserted wasteland much of the time. Would something like that work nowadays?

[DavePa]

Street malls tend to work in smaller cities. Not our Large ones. Not just Philly had a failed street mall tried. One major city I know ..... continued loosing its retail only continued. Millions spent on a drab looking redo in the early 90s. Diesel busses allowed spewing their smoke did nothing to help it.

But completely redoing it again, with green-areas and artwork and reopened to traffic was a success. Maybe its time to invest in redoing the street with new aesthetics to lure some retailers and incentives.

If status quo isn't doing much as it is. Retail is getting much harder to get to return. Just overall shrinking Nationwide. It certainly won't get easier as is and hoping it still comes in. Completion with Market St certainly hurts the longer established retail streets.

The days for high-end retailers returning may be over, once more then one already leaves and a replacement is slow, or something not maintaining its status of higher-end offerings takes its place.

Only the city offering incentives and investing in a new improved street-scape might help.

No one is saying what the city can do to try its best to push for them to think Chestnut and Walnut more again.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by kyb01

I'm all for getting a handle on the congestion problem, but making people pay to drive into certain parts of the city will cause many to not bother coming in at all if there isn't a public transit shuttle option as you suggest.

We already tried closing a street to car traffic(Chestnut) and it ended up being a factor, imo, with wrecking retail on that street.
During that time only buses were allowed on it and it predates when city bike use was prominent. A great street turned into a semi-deserted wasteland much of the time. Would something like that work nowadays?

I would be shocked if the failure of Chestnut street was not 80% due to the times and people leaving the city/loving malls as the new thing. However, if Philly were to add a new pedestrian-only street, it would make more sense to do it on a street like Sansom IMO. De-dumpster it, add trees and bike lanes, benches, etc. and you'd have something pretty great. Doesn't need to be river-to-river to start. Maybe start with the west side of Broad.

I don't even think transit should run on that street. No need when Chestnut and Walnut have major lines that require fast-moving BRT-type transit. Of course, to compliment Sansom, you'd need to remove parking from both of those other streets and add a BRT lane to move buses more efficiently. No need to have street parking on Walnut or Chestnut like it's Maybury and you're stopping at the post office before tending to your harvest...

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by timeEd32

As I understand it, this is not a good development for the future rail park plans. Am I missing something?

So private development should not happen that will improve the visual QOL nearby?

The High Line in NY sped up most of the private development around it and in Chelsea as a whole. The Whitney Museum moved there from the Upper East side. It all became a win win.

Imo, development near or adjacent to our existing rail park may actually work to complete it.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

I would be shocked if the failure of Chestnut street was not 80% due to the times and people leaving the city/loving malls as the new thing. However, if Philly were to add a new pedestrian-only street, it would make more sense to do it on a street like Sansom IMO. De-dumpster it, add trees and bike lanes, benches, etc. and you'd have something pretty great. Doesn't need to be river-to-river to start. Maybe start with the west side of Broad.

I don't even think transit should run on that street. No need when Chestnut and Walnut have major lines that require fast-moving BRT-type transit. Of course, to compliment Sansom, you'd need to remove parking from both of those other streets and add a BRT lane to move buses more efficiently. No need to have street parking on Walnut or Chestnut like it's Maybury and you're stopping at the post office before tending to your harvest...

The Chestnut St Transit Way, as it was called, did work for a while. And, yes, agreed the timing ended up being very bad because of mallification. And, if you think Kenney is bad be thankful you missed Frank Rizzo's failure at doing anything even remotely beneficial for the city during that era.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by DavePa

Street malls tend to work in smaller cities. Not our Large ones. Not just Philly had a failed street mall tried. One major city I know ..... continued loosing its retail only continued. Millions spent on a drab looking redo in the early 90s. Diesel busses allowed spewing their smoke did nothing to help it.

Sounds like State Street in Chicago in the late 80s to me.