Philadelphia 2035 (York, Franklin, Liberty: cuisine, houses, neighborhood)

[henrychen]

Originally Posted by FindingZen

Even though people have been drinking more than usual these past couple of years, it's not considered to be a pandemic.



Thankfully, people who have tested HIV+ now have options to maximize their health and the most vulnerable populations tend to take safety precautions. So HIV/AIDS is, to my knowledge, no longer considered a pandemic.




Yes, because we are in the middle of a pandemic...and we would all like a healthier Philadelphia metro in 2035.

Dog said we shouldn't treat the non-vaccinated in hospitals. So, using that logic, we shouldn't treat anybody engaging in risky behavior. Follow the conversation.

[MPK21]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

I actually find it a very interesting topic though, and truly believe above all, that what you are describing is a well placed tumor of anti-intellectualism that is not only plaguing the "far left", but also an even larger percentage of the right!

To put it in the most simple terms, a large percentage of America could care less about what is being said, they only care about who is saying it! I could provide 50 different studies that show lower class and people of color benefit the most from safer streets, and the response from the left and right would be exactly the same, something like "well that doesn't pass the sniff test" simply because it came from the "hoity toity" guy trying to tell POC/MAGA/whatever what to do. Instead of being objective about things that can be quantified, everything in the world has become subjective. From public health, to policing, to street safety.

IMO one of the best examples of this locally is the "tree planting program". Or really a survey to see how you "feel" about street trees. It's a subjective take on an objective problem. The local news loves to print words saying things like "having tree shade in the summer is only available in wealthier neighborhoods". Which maybe an objective thing to say, but the "objective" fix would be to create more trees everywhere, not Helen Gym's 52 question survey that only the RCO presidents are filling out.

It reminds me of a phrase Asimov used in 'Foundation' to describe the bureaucratic decay of the Galactic Empire.


"It (the government) degenerated eventually into a blind instrument for maintenance of the status quo"

''Agreed, to suggest that the development at broad "encourages more car usage" is misguided at best.''

Well, the response in quotes above could very well be taken as not caring about what is said but more about who is saying it. No one stated, implied, or suggested that the Broad/Washington project is encouraging driving. Maybe it was a misguided or misplaced word.

All this from a post calling out the coincidence that Blatstein's mega-project breaks-ground and 10 days later the approved, shovel ready Washington Avenue 2-traffic land road diet is nixed due to the city's sudden lack of ''equity goals''.

Hard to believe this 2-traffic lanes Washington Avenue project got to the point of approval-construction several times given the business, residents, the mafia, and equity goals concerns were there all along...then the city plays the equity card excuse; an excuse that insulates the city from criticism. It's not logical.

But to even suggest that after a mega-project finally being construction that will potentially bring over 2,200+ to this long vacant lot could even be a consideration in the mix is over the top...or is it perhaps ''a well placed tumor of anti-intellectualism''...

Owing a car or not, vaxxed or not, on and on, are all now political statements, it's all ridiculous.

[henrychen]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Talk to Polio.

I believe the polio vaccine actually prevents people from getting polio ... the covid vaccine, not so much. I can understand why some people are waiting for a more effective vaccine.

[henrychen]

Originally Posted by FindingZen

I'm familiar with that area. I wish I could answer that question. More trees would certain reduce the heat in the summer and counter the car exhaust and other fumes all year long.

Also brings a lot of bird doo and cover at night for unsavory characters.

[henrychen]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Crumbled under Banjo Boy? haha

How we crumbled?

Also. I had no idea he played the banjo. Cool.

Yeah, things are going great, especially for the poor and working-class that your party pretends to care about. I guess when you're awash in money, living in the high rent, low crime district, the rising cost of living doesn't matter.
You're old. You've never seen Deliverance?
BTW, how I used 'crumbles' and how you're using 'crumbled' are two different things. It's going to get worse. I mean, I realize you voted for the idiot, but at least try to be honest with yourself about the state of the country.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by MPK21

''Agreed, to suggest that the development at broad "encourages more car usage" is misguided at best.''

Well, the response in quotes above could very well be taken as not caring about what is said but more about who is saying it. No one stated, implied, or suggested that the Broad/Washington project is encouraging driving. Maybe it was a misguided or misplaced word.

All this from a post calling out the coincidence that Blatstein's mega-project breaks-ground and 10 days later the approved, shovel ready Washington Avenue 2-traffic land road diet is nixed due to the city's sudden lack of ''equity goals''.

Hard to believe this 2-traffic lanes Washington Avenue project got to the point of approval-construction several times given the business, residents, the mafia, and equity goals concerns were there all along...then the city plays the equity card excuse; an excuse that insulates the city from criticism. It's not logical.

But to even suggest that after a mega-project finally being construction that will potentially bring over 2,200+ to this long vacant lot could even be a consideration in the mix is over the top...or is it perhaps ''a well placed tumor of anti-intellectualism''...

Owing a car or not, vaxxed or not, on and on, are all now political statements, it's all ridiculous.

Your own post, at #8009:

Originally Posted by MPK21

Forgetta 'bout that small alleged mafia ''affilialated'' restaurant in the 1800 block of Washington doing this road diet plan in...whatta 'bout the yuge Blatstein project that finally broke ground on January 26 at Broad/Washington?

I think this Blatstein project is older than the 3-lane road diet for Washington Ave.

A 1.5 million sf project to be done in phases with something like 1,450 apartments, 65,000 sf retail, 40,000 sf Giant Supermarket, an off-street parking garage plopped at that huge and long vacant lot.

Sure sounds like a lot of busyness attracting pedestrians, bikes, and, oh yeah, tons of cars...to a 3-lane serenity roadway at what will become a key intersection in the city and the gateway to the Avenue of the Arts? Not logical.

Sure sounds like Washington Avenue will be an even more important corridor for vehicular traffic but, hey, the old plan didn't achieve the city's equity goals...lol.

Maybe that's not "encouraging driving," strictly speaking, but it does imply that lots of people will drive to it, and given how the rest of the sentence is phrased, more will drive than arrive on bike, foot or transit. I already took issue with that.

Frankly, given the kinds of businesses that line Washington Avenue west of Broad especially, it seems to me that the redesign didn't take their needs or concerns into account, and I would say they deserve consideration too.

[cpomp]

Well that went downhill fast...

Anyway, back on topic. This is such an awesome project, and a great example of re-use. If only I-95 didn't exist or was buried.

The Battery Will Re-energize Former PECO Station

https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...r-peco-station

https://www.cadence-advisors.com/_fi...388583266c.pdf

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Trees or some sort of street front vegetation should be required for every sizable development in all parts of the city, no excuse.

And don't get me started utility lines, or why Broad Street doesn't look like Park Avenue or Michigan Avenue, when it easily could (at least in Greater Center City), and that colossal waste of money on those stupid lampposts on North Broad still annoys me.

O well, I've ranted enough about all of that throughout the years.

Originally Posted by henrychen

If you're fine with litter and graffiti all over the city, you should be able to handle a treeless block. It's city living.

Too flip by half, henrychen.

But: cpomp, you might be surprised at how some people who you think would benefit from them react to the prospect of street trees.

I had the pleasure of being invited to Morgan State University's architecture school in Baltimore about five or six years ago by a professor there whose work I had written about in Next City. She had organized a symposium on future visions of Baltimore and asked me to be a respondent to the presenters.

One of those presenters was a representative of an organization that works to make Baltimore a greener city and clean up its waters. They had arranged for a mass tree planting on a rowhouse block in a lower-income neighborhood in east Baltimore. (Imagine a treeless block of Philly "workingman's rowhouses," but make the rowahouses one story taller and put the utilities underground.*)

The environmentalists had surveyed the block and figured out where the trees should go. But they didn't talk to any of the residents beforehand. Thus they ran into a buzzsaw of protest on the day that had been scheduled for the tree planting. The residents were upset because they believed that the trees would buckle their sidewalks and drill into their water lines and cause them to leak or rupture.

Now, tree roots only drill into pipes that are already leaking, and you can plant street tree varieties whose roots are thin and deep enough that they don't push up sidewalk segments. But no one has done education around those issues, and if either of those things happen, the abutters have to pay to fix things, so can you blame them?

*You also mentioned burying utilies in your post. I'd love for that to happen too, but from what I've heard, the cost of burying utilities ranges from $1 million to $3 million per mile. No for-profirt utility is going to spend that much to put all the wires that need to be buried underground along with the supply lines to the abutting properties.

[henrychen]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

The environmentalists had surveyed the block and figured out where the trees should go. But they didn't talk to any of the residents beforehand. Thus they ran into a buzzsaw of protest on the day that had been scheduled for the tree planting. The residents were upset because they believed that the trees would buckle their sidewalks and drill into their water lines and cause them to leak or rupture.

Now, tree roots only drill into pipes that are already leaking, and you can plant street tree varieties whose roots are thin and deep enough that they don't push up sidewalk segments. But no one has done education around those issues, and if either of those things happen, the abutters have to pay to fix things, so can you blame them?

True! I had a drunken IWT neighbor decades ago that wanted to blame my tree for his sewer pipe backing up.

[Redddog]

So I’m old and awash in money. Lol.