Re: [UC] seeking a tutor in arabic

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Wilma de Soto wrote:

Wow!

Too bad The Foreign Language Magnet School at South Philadelphia High
School's program was killed during Paul Vallas' tenure.

For 35 years on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:00-5:00 PM and
Saturday Mornings from 9:00 AM-12 PM, anyone no matter their age could come
and learn nearly 15 Foreign Languages absolutely FREE.

They ranged from Levels One to Four and Conversational Classes.

I recall, (after much deliberation), when we added Arabic and Mandarin.

Not enough support. Well, so it goes...



I remember that place! went there for italian, back in the 
day...





There is an Arabic Language School at the Mosque at 45th & Walnut, but I do
not know the particulars or the cost or whether one has to be a Muslim.


very good idea, wilma, thanks! plus this morning I've 
received several more great leads and contacts from others 
-- it's great how we have such terrific resources in our 
midst...




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[UC] Re: Story in the on-line edition of the University City Review

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

or 11 hotels, the
average occupancy rate had jumped to 90 percent in the days
leading up to the April 22nd primary.

Mass conventions also have considerable sway on hotel
occupancy and pricing. During the Fourth of July period last
year, a convention for the National Education Association
gathered 16,000 attendees, the equivalent of 47,725 room
nights - the cumulative number of rooms booked each night.
This raked up business worth $37,392,043, according to the
Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

According to Lea-Kruger, however, such city-wide events
generally do not affect the two on-campus hotels.

Only during exceptionally large conventions requiring over
10,000 rooms for attendees does business sometimes overflow
into campus hotels, she added.

The Sheraton and the Inn at Penn were mainly affected by the
arrival of Stephen Colbert and his crew, who collectively
booked 479 room nights.

But overall, the primary did not draw more prospective
students than usual to Philly - there did not appear to be
any increase in visitors attributable to the political
situation, interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan wrote in
an e-mail.

"The decision to visit Penn or other local colleges is
separate from the primary although it was an exciting time
to visit the area with candidates making multiple
appearances in and around Philadelphia," he added.

This year, said Lea-Kruger, Penn families and alumni
shouldn't expect any strong deviations from the status quo:
Commencement will simply be busy as usual for this time of year.

Alumni Weekend will also create competition for on-campus
lodging, with 4,100 pre-registered attendees, according to
the Office of Alumni Relations. More are expected to attend
on a walk-in basis.



- - - - - - - -


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Re: [UC] Phila City Planning Commission

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

KAREN ALLEN wrote [4/17/08]:

The "Stamper Square" hotel controversy sounds so much
like our Campus Inn issue, it's uncanny, all the way down
to having the head of the local special services district
in support of the project (for those of you who did not
know, the Historical Commission file on the Campus Inn
includes a letter of support from Lewis Wendell on behalf
of UCD). 




Glenn wrote:
Also fyi, the Penn/UCD team submitted some 300 petition signatures 
supporting the hotel. On this public list, we have previously discussed 
how UCD has approximately 300 cheerleaders to sign petitions and surveys 
for any Penn backed attack. I saw Mr. Wendell Lewis at yesterdays 
hearing. I have not seen the UCD official letter of support for the 
Campus Apts project.





I believe it is wrong for ucd (or ccd) to take sides when 
there is a public dispute to be arbitrated by the city. I 
believe ucd should remain neutral. ucd is funded in order to 
serve all the citizens within the university city district 
equally, and when there are public questions among competing 
stakeholders there, ucd should not publicly support either 
side, or behave as one of the competing stakeholders (esp. 
when david adelman of campus apartments is vice chair on 
ucd's board of directors.)


one of shca's board members with ties to campus apartments 
recused himself at shca's 13 feb. meeting over the zoning 
question. that was the right thing to do.


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Re: [UC] PW article, catchment and real estate

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn wrote:

Philadelphia Weekly has a short interesting article (a
snapshot) about the confluence of education, real estate and
gentrification issues here in our upscale village.

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/17058/news
 
In this short piece, it corroborates a point that was

widely discussed here. The description captures how the Penn
catchment area was drawn around the potential real estate
value of housing stock. The lines aren't drawn logically
around neighborhoods or existing residents, but instead are
obviously based on real estate value projections.





haha here's another 'snapshot':

  http://tinyurl.com/3bgtk



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Re: [UC] PW article, catchment and real estate

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Guy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I guess I don't see a negative to creating this wonderful
educational opportunity. The fact that it also raises real
estate values is not a nefarious plot by Penn, it's the
realities of a market driven society.





penn's 'public' school + catchment area was created as part 
of penn's 'integrated approach' to 'rebuild West 
Philadelphia's social and economic capacity' -- not the 
other way around:


 http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v50/n27/rodin.html

'Only one entity had the capacity, the resources, and the 
political clout to intervene to stabilize the neighborhood 
quickly and revitalize it within a relatively short time 
period. And that was Penn.'



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Re: [UC] Fw: PW article, catchment and real estate

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn wrote:

Thanks for those insights, Liz. I could see a pattern too.
You could just look at the houses and residents block by
block back then and suspect the pattern.





what if penn subsidizes a school, and subsidizes the area 
that feeds it, and it's all supposed to look like public 
school education and real market forces?


rodin described the process in her famous speech in 2004:

   http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v50/n27/rodin.html

it began with penn positioning itself as the 'lead developer 
in university city' with a 'community development agenda' 
and a neighborhood full of 'abandoned homes and buildings' 
and 'decay' and 'litter' and 'crime' and 'trash' and 
'graffiti artists' and 'drug dealers'.


into this penn brought about a public school as part of an 
'integrated approach'; our role was to be passive consumers 
and appreciative, cooperative partners. during that time 
some of us, like shca, were more cooperative with drawing 
the boundaries for that agenda than others (in 1998 shca and 
uchs had been asked by penn to help plan the new school. in 
2000 a catchment area for the new penn-assisted school was 
drawn and shca supported it, in opposition to uccc, which 
voted for a lottery; shca left the uccc. then in 2001 uchs 
and shca joined efforts to nominate the spruce hill historic 
district). and during this time some of us, like penn 
faculty and staff with penn's enhanced mortgage assistance 
program (begun in 1998), were better passive consumers than 
others (those who were not affiliated with penn).


the justification -- and urgency -- for rodin's agenda was 
modeled on penn's health system m.o.: 'intervening 
holistically on all fronts' (rodin's words) was right and 
good and necessary because we were all somehow sick ('deeply 
distressed' as rodin put it); we needed 'transforming' and 
the only cure ('prescription' according to rodin) was penn 
('if penn didn't seize the initiative to revitalize the 
neighborhood itself, no one else would' -- again, rodin's 
words).


as a result, 'gentrification' (or, as rodin called it, 
'revitalization' or 'stabilization') in university city is 
not like gentrification in northern liberties or fishtown or 
bella vista, because gentrification in university city is 
PENNtrification (as obsolete new-left jackasses smothered in 
polemical ruminations might say).


today, wealthier folks can choose to live inside or outside 
the catchment area, but poorer folks, obviously, do not have 
the luxury of that choice. today philly weekly points out 
how much more houses now cost inside the catchment area than 
outside, according to urban & bye realtors, and the article 
relates how one block in the catchment area has seen the 
number of african american families go from 4 to 0. 
inevitably, with the aid of (penn-assisted) market forces, 
the catchment area for the (penn-assisted) public school 
will consist of a greater proportion of (penn-assisted) 
wealthier folks who can afford to choose/compete to live 
there -- and whose homes and public school were, from the 
start, penn's private investment (a 'matter of enlightened 
self interest,' as rodin called it).


now this penn-assisted public school is touted by penn as an 
'innovative model', a source of 'best practices' for nearby 
local elementary schools which will ultimately 'transform 
urban public school education.' and penn is viewed 
throughout the world as 'a leader in the field and practice 
of urbanism for the 21st century.' meanwhile neighbors 
wonder about the fate of public school education in 
philadelphia while penn is planning a penn-assisted high school.


what's ahead? as philly weekly put it (in its Real Estate 
column): CATCHMENT IF YOU CAN.


glenn, you began this discussion by pointing out how the 
article in philly weekly was about "the confluence of 
education, real estate and gentrification issues here in our 
upscale village", and you asked us to "consider what happens 
to public education under the model."


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Re: Fw: RE: [UC] Fw: PW article, catchment and real estate

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

-- Forwarded Message --
The reason Woodland Terrace is included is because I wrote a letter to the
school district and asked them to include it.  Lauren Leatherbarrow 




[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

One of my favorite, and best equipped, "squeaky wheels" helps make my point.
If you want something, ASK.
If you are against something, PROTEST
Speak up, vote, contribute, as Lauren does, and maybe... at the end of the day, home will be a place to be proud of. 





yes, lauren leatherbarrow was even on the planning committee 
of the penn-assisted school back in '98:


   http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v45/n09/Y2KPreK-8.html


perhaps we shall hear whether lauren wrote a letter to the 
philadelphia city planning commission on behalf of woodland 
terrace (or shca, or uchs for that matter) to protest the 
proposed hotel at 40th and pine?



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Re: [UC] Fw: PW article, catchment and real estate

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn wrote:

Your comparison to the Penn health system model is right on target.



it even comes with insurance plans! the 'coverage' can be 
your choice of an historic district, or a catchment area, or 
a special service district, or a bid -- or some combination! 
buy into one today! group plans available!


(it's the new urbanism! a new model for public education!)



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Re: [UC] Fw: PW article, catchment and real estate

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn wrote:
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I'd like to see the recollections of 
others involved in the catchment district (1998-2001) and their 
impressions/experiences with SHCA/UCHS involvement.



minor correction to what was posted earlier: apparently it 
was not only the shca who wanted a catchment area and who 
left uccc in protest, but also uchs:


http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity@list.purple.com/msg08978.html


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Re: [UC] NOT the new Bohemia

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:

 From phillyist.com
http://www.philebrity.com/2008/06/18/philebrity-wonders-what-is-the-state-of-philadelphias-bohemia/ 



"We’ve spent some time in Bohemia, we know it when we see it, and we 
know this: Fishtown just doesn’t have the free-ing effect of a good Bo’. 
So what does that leave? West Philly? Try again: While Bohemias in the 
past have enjoyed a proximity to institutions of higher learning, the 
not-very-wild West is a conundrum of haves and have-nots versus American 
Princesses and fashion-activists."




the new yorker had an interesting take on this topic 
recently, in the form of a short story called "Raj, Bohemian".


excerpt:


"Get over yourself, man. You're acting so old-fashioned,
like some kind of Communist. I have the right to perform
acts of rational consumer choice: our ancestors fought
wars for it. And I think I'm clever enough to filter a
little bit of spin, don't you? Look, why don't you check
out this band I'm working with?" He handed me a sleek
little music player. I listened for a while, out of
politeness.

"They’re the final wave of New Wave," he explained.
"After this, there will never be another reason to wear a
Blondie T-shirt."

I nodded listlessly. I felt too despondent to argue
anymore. Otto, smiling at me as he bounced his head to
the beat of the music he couldn't hear, seemed not to
notice. "I knew you'd like them. Aren't those headphones
great, though? Optional noise cancellation. Amazing
dynamic range. Particularly the bass--really rich,
considering how small they are."

A sudden suspicion crossed my mind. But, no, this wasn't
some suburban wide-boy. This was Otto.

And yet... Over the next few days, I started to notice
something odd. Every time I met a friend, he or she would
immediately make a recommendation, urge me to try
something new. Lucas had been to a club on the other side
of town and insisted that it was the best night out he'd
had in ages. Janine almost forced me to take home a
bottle of her "new favorite nutritional supplement." At
first, I shrugged it off. But, deep down, I knew that it
had something to do with Raj and his vodka. Every night,
I'd turn the incident over in my mind. I swallowed Ativan
and Valium and Paxil (I had a compliant doctor), hoping
that my anxiety would pass. It didn't. There was Joe and
his new running shoes. Razia's bike. All my friends
seemed to be dropping snippets of advertising copy into
their conversation, short messages from their sponsors.
They were constantly stating preferences for particular
brands, dishing out free samples.

Perhaps nothing had changed. We'd always shared new music
with one another or recommended places to eat. But now
there was something different. A tone? It was hard to
say.




read the whole story here:

   http://tinyurl.com/3lwfen

let me know what you think of the ending...


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Re: [UC] P. City Planning Commission info

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn wrote:

Dear neighbors,

The Campus Inn is NOT scheduled at the upcoming June 17^th city planning 
commission meeting.  (It was tabled at the May meeting)


The staff member handling the hotel is on leave, so I was unable to get 
much of the information I was seeking. (Note: the staff was friendly.)  
I will return and report to you after the 24th.




any developments?

the penn trustees met last week, but there was no specific 
mention of the hotel in the dp (http://tinyurl.com/5r6jx3)


-- the dp had earlier reported that proposed site (owned by 
penn) would be leased to developers (lussenhop and campus 
apartments) if plans were approved by penn's board of 
trustees and philly zoning officials...



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Re: [UC] Publicizing Philly Schools

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
In general, the idea behind markets is they throw a lot of mud at the 
wall; the good stuff sticks, the bad slides off.




in general, the idea behind markets is that not everyone is 
equal, and in fact not everyone is supposed to be equal. the 
idea of markets is to cast citizens into the role of unequal 
competitors; the aim of markets is to preserve that inequality.


that's the mud being thrown at public education.



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[UC] universities + real estate + developers

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

from today's chronicle of higher education:



Land-Rich Universities Weigh New Options for Real-Estate
Development

By PAUL FAIN

Real-estate-rich universities are taking advantage of new
ways to develop their holdings through corporate
partnerships, says a report released this week by Moody's
Investors Service, a credit-rating agency. Those
partnerships pose a wide range of payoffs and risks, the
agency says.

Universities have long been strategic real-estate
investors. Many urban institutions own off-campus
buildings while rural and suburban colleges often hold
tracts of vacant land. Those "banked" real-estate
holdings are viewed second only to endowments as
strategic assets, the report says.

Many institutions are looking for new streams of revenue
and forming public-private partnerships to develop their
land and buildings. Under those deals, colleges typically
retain the long-term ownership of their real estate while
private investors build or operate a facility on the
property, generating revenue for both the college and
investor.

Most college leaders are reluctant to give up the
ultimate ownership of their land, writes the report's
author, Roger Goodman, a vice president and senior
analyst for Moody's. But the partnerships allow
institutions to make money off the real estate without
developing it themselves.

"Newer options allow those universities to monetize their
real-estate assets or create a new revenue stream to
support other mission-focused activities, without
sacrificing complete control or ownership in the long
term," Mr. Goodman said in a written statement.

The report, which is available by e-mailing
[EMAIL PROTECTED], is titled "Public-Private
Partnerships in U.S. Higher Education: Real-Estate Rich
Organizations May Benefit, but Credit Impact Always
Assessed on Case-by-Case Basis." The development options
listed in the report are included below, with
descriptions of potential benefits and risks.

* Privatized student housing. These projects are
generally 100-percent debt-financed. Their construction
can be cheaper and faster than if managed by
universities. However, institutions lose control,
including over the "pricing and programming of
residential experience."

* Commercial development. Private development of
mixed-use facilities near colleges can enhance
neighborhood appeal and campus life while also generating
significant financial gain through upfront payments. The
projects can also fail and result in vacant lots or
"unattractive tenants and services."

* Retirement communities. These projects can bring in
money through profit-sharing with a developer. They can
also help build alumni connections. The downsides include
potential financial losses and distractions for
university leaders as they help manage these typically
complex developments.

* Outright property sale. This option improves liquidity
and increases endowment holdings. It is also the loss of
a long-term asset that could be used for future campus
growth.



http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/06/3585n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en


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[UC] shooting at 40th + walnut mcdonald's

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

http://tinyurl.com/6pb4we



Shot fired inside McDonald's at 40th and Walnut Streets

No one was injured in the incident and Philadelphia police
have apprehended two male suspects

Juliette Mullin and Lara Seligman
8:22 p.m. -- Saturday, June 28, 2008

At approximately 5:30 p.m. today, a shot was fired at the
McDonald's located at the intersection of 40th and Walnut
Streets.

According to Philadelphia Police Sgt. Charles Marsden, the
shooting occurred after a male customer got into an
altercation with a McDonald's employee. A second male, who
police suspect was a friend of the customer, then fired off
one shot with a handgun in the restaurant and both male
suspects then fled the scene on foot. No one was injured

Both Philadelphia and Penn police responded to the
disturbance. Both suspects were apprehended and are
currently in custody at Southwest Detectives. According to
the University's Department of Public Safety, the
investigation is ongoing.


*This article was updated at 1:16 a.m. on Sunday, June 29, 2008.






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Re: [UC] markets in schools and lettuce (Was: Re: [UC] Publicizing Philly Schools)

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Perhaps you're confusing markets with "corporate capitalism" or some 
other ideology. Markets are a more basic social creature; most societies 
have long had them. Markets begin by noting people are inherently 
unequal in complementary ways (farmers have lettuce but no cash; city 
folks have cash but no lettuce). By going to the market, you tend to get 
the same deal everyone else does. But markets can have both egalitarian 
and inegalitarian effects.


Don't mistake "markets" as a synonym for "private profit". All sorts of 
entities are in a marketplace. There is a gigantic market for colleges 
and universities, very few of which are for profit. Governments compete 
with each other too. Philadelphia competes with Lower Merion, and the 
two of them together compete with Metropolitan Atlanta.


Complaining about the market is like complaining about the weather (aka 
"the atmosphere"). Everybody does it, but nobody wants to try living 
entirely without it.


Applying markets to mass education is complicated, but it too has a long 
history. Still, schooling has long been seen as a public good. In that 
sense, it must be egalitarian: each citizen deserves an equal stake from 
society as he or she sets off as a young adult.


Yet the job of schools is also to sort and grade: measuring inequality. 
How can they stop doing so? At the very least, there is passing and 
failing. Since schools grade pupils, presumably for their own good, then 
it's hard to understand why schools should be harmed by a taste of their 
own medicine.






I don't think anyone reading what I wrote is confused by 
what I meant. here is what I wrote:



in general, the idea behind markets is that not everyone
is equal, and in fact not everyone is supposed to be equal.
the idea of markets is to cast citizens into the role of
unequal competitors; the aim of markets is to preserve that
inequality.
 
that's the mud being thrown at public education.



make no mistake: what we're talking about here is the 
challenge of delivering public education so that it's 
available to all, equally, and where one's access to the 
best public education does not reduce another's.


as you point out, schooling is indeed a public good, it must 
be egalitarian, not a vegetable stand pitting consumers 
against one another as unequal competitors for lettuce. and 
yet we've seen what happens, for example, when penn 
subsidizes a public school and a catchment area is drawn 
around it: the mud of a market-driven model (in this case 
penn-assisted competition for real estate) is thrown at 
public education.


meanwhile solutions for inequities in the system are sought, 
and you point to markets as a self-correcting mechanism. but 
in your marketplace, where models for delivering public 
education compete, where you pit the performance of 'every 
for-profit or nonprofit school manager' against 'every 
government school manager', and where you define what the 
'good stuff' is and what the 'bad stuff' is, you've done 
little more than to describe another vegetable stand -- a 
vegetable stand that depends upon and preserves the 
inequality of competing models.


maybe it's time to start looking at public schools not as 
vegetable stands, but as places that prepare us for life -- 
inside and outside the marketplace.



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Re: [UC] markets in schools and lettuce (Was: Re: [UC] Publicizing Philly Schools)

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Everyone understands clearly that you are calling the Penn Alexander 
School's catchment area "mud" Penn has thrown at "public education".


Public education, in general, was worse in Philadelphia before Penn 
developed PAS. Now it is better in three schools, without being worse in 
any other schools as a result. This is what you call "mud". I don't 
agree with you. Making things better in some places is not a bad thing, 
just because you can't make things better in all places at once.


All public schools in Philadelphia were not equal before Penn entered 
the picture. At the ES/MS level, inequalities were caused by class 
differences across a vast city's diverse real-estate market. Penn didn't 
create that. Since a university is as natural and organic a part of city 
life as any other institution, the wonder is that a university 
neighborhood did not already have neighborhood schools that reflected 
the university's presence. It was the old, pre-Penn-partnership model 
that was abnormal and unhealthy.


And in fact, the School District's name was already mud. It had been 
judged a failure. By the government. That's why the State took it over. 
That's why the School Reform Commission was authorized to experiment in 
a host of ways, to learn anything it could about making urban schools 
work better. Thus PAS.


You are clearly confused about the current nature of public-school 
competition.





no one's confused here. the penn-assisted school had to be 
subsidized by a university; it also required a special 
catchment area drawn around it. and because of that mud, you 
now can't point to it as a model for public education.



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Re: [UC] markets in schools and lettuce

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

Your three points of argument are usefully clarified. Maybe now we all 
can begin to talk more cleanly about each of them, apart from the others.


It does seem like the Penn-assisted school had to be subsidized; the 
jury is still out on whether it needed a university to do that job. 
Perhaps Chrysler or Kim Jong-Il or la Cosa Nostra or Al Krigman would 
have done an equally good job with PAS, if they too had spent an extra 
$1000/pupil on it atop the local public-school budget. The experiments 
needed to tease out these truths lie further down the line, I think.


Even if it was subsidized, I think we still learn something from the 
experiment so far. In some cases, it's clearly possible to achieve 
strong gains in urban public schools with only modest extra 
expenditures. Since future system-wide budget gains may be modest at 
best, any model that might lead to a bigger bang-per-buck ratio is worth 
exploring further.


Your second point is flagrantly false and ill-informed, because *all* 
public elementary schools in Philadelphia require a catchment area drawn 
around them. Therefore, by definition, PAS's catchment area cannot be 
"special". Catchment areas are standard government issue.


No one single model for public education can be available yet. If we 
demand only single, one-size-fits-all solutions for the plight of urban 
schools, we probably won't contribute much to its solution. In this age, 
we need lots of models and lots of possible solutions. But we do need 
good across-the-board metrics by which to evaluate them all fairly.





I never said we needed a one-size fits all solution. I said 
maybe it's time to start looking at public schools not as 
vegetable stands, but as places that prepare us for life -- 
inside and outside the marketplace. I hope now you realize 
that your original market approach to an 'egalitarian' 
public school system relies upon maintained inequalities, by 
definition, and that your pointing to a school that relied 
on tailor-made market tactics wasn't helpful.



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Re: [UC] markets in schools and lettuce

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Ray, please. It's not "my original" market approach we're talking about; 
it's both the law of the land and an inevitability of human society, 
that market forces play a role in education as they do in so many other 
walks of life. They never have been absent from the field of education 
and they cannot be made to go away from it.


Markets don't, in themselves, maintain inequalities. Segregationists who 
argue people of different classes should never live side by side, 
because that can only harm the lower classes -- they do maintain 
inequalities, don't they? I don't share their views.


We have fundamentally different interests in this discussion. I am 
interested in the real challenges and choices facing urban education, 
because I have a kid in the system and that makes me think about the 
subject more than I otherwise might. You are looking for occasions to 
complain about Penn and capitalism, as usual (two obviously allied, but 
somewhat distinct, critters). Outcomes don't matter to you; only 
judgements matter. Always the same judgement, too.


I'll leave you to your pet judgement. I'll continue to comment on the 
real challenges and choices. Urban education in Philadelphia is at a 
crossroads. Wherever it is headed next, one thing's for sure: it's not 
going back to that "egalitarian" quagmire of guaranteed low expectations 
for every child, especially when he's a child of color.





the solution to your school choice problem is simple: sell 
your house and move out of the catchment area. why limit 
your options now that your son has graduated to high school? 
instead of freaking out about the system and the egalitarian 
quagmire, shop around! it's outcomes that matter -- and 
besides, only segregationists, not markets, maintain 
inequalities.



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Re: [UC] markets in schools and lettuce

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Wilma de Soto wrote:

You know something Ray?

I rather kind of like the vegetable stand analogy, if I could pick fresh
ready to eat vegetables, throw out the rotten vegetables and not buy ine who
were just not up to par.

That's the was private and many charter schools do it.

The not up to par and rotten vegetables are the ones I HAVE to take and make
a comparable meal as good or better than those who got the better product
and put more money to put into it.

Money I once had some access to, but must be sacrificed to charter schools
and EMOs

Some of us get to shop at Wegman's and others only at Food Rite.





haha thanks, wilma.


[yes, I like the analogy, too]


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Re: [UC] markets in schools and lettuce

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
"We are moving away from model comparisons and an emphasis on 
competitiveness," Dungee Glenn elaborated. "What we do need to learn 
from those schools that are doing well, are best practices that can be 
transmitted to other schools under different management."


yes! that is exactly what I meant by "maybe it's time to 
start looking at public schools not as competing vegetable 
stands, but as places that prepare us for life -- inside and 
outside the marketplace."





At this point, I'm not prepared to follow Ray's advice and "move out" of 
the SD's "catchment areas" -- just give up on Philadelphia, in other 
words.



of course, I wasn't advising you to leave, I was prodding 
you into explaining how one is to deal with the inequitable 
delivery of/access to quality public education in the city. 
hope is always fine, but in the meantime not everyone is in 
an equal position where they can afford to wait and see, nor 
is everyone in an equal position of mobility "when something 
new and better comes down the pike." thoughts?


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Re: [UC] Re: The real-estate Pennspiracy

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

In the course of his columnar duties, Hughes wrote a very interesting 
column on ... that's right, the Penn Alexander School and real estate! 
Check it out at _http://www.mahughes.org/showarticles.cfm?artid=207_. 
Hah! That just about clinches it ... whatever "it" means.


-- Tony West


Someone reported off list they couldn't get to Mark Alan Hughes' column 
about the Penn Alexander School by the link below. Beats me!


But google takes me to Hughes' website, mahughes.org/. His PAS column is 
seventh on the list of "20 all-time favorites".


-- Tony West







the person probably couldn't get to the page because the url 
that was posted appears with an underscore at either end. 
the person should make sure to copy the url without those 
underscores...




I read hughes' opinion piece and liked his honesty here:

   "Catchment areas, because they create winners and losers,
also create profound political problems."

and here:

   "Without the political power of an institution like Penn,
however, it's impossible to enforce devices like
catchment areas that limit liability."


but I think it's time for people to stop saying this:

   "a fabulous school that is, in fact, predominantly
African-American"

as some kind of proof of the penn-assisted school's 
model-worthy diversity or accessibility. it's not in itself 
a significant statement, when you consider that the school's 
student body is still made up of those who were 
grandfathered into the catchment area.  a more telling 
statistic for hughes to cite would be the number of 
african-americans and non-african-americans who have bought 
houses in the catchment area since the school was built. 
anybody have those figures? the philly weekly article that 
started this whole discussion gave some anecdotal evidence, 
that the number of african americans on a particular block 
had dropped from 4 to 0.


http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/17058/news




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Re: The real-estate Pennspiracy (Was: Re: [UC] [Fwd: Re: Torture And L & I])

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Pennspiracy theorists out there may enjoy what follows. When 
Philadelphia voters became passive consumers of notorious Wharton secret 
agent Michael Nutter, perhaps they didn't reckon on picking up all his 
fellow Pennspirators as well. In addition to PennPraxis, whose sinister 
effort to develop the Delaware River with community input and without 
casinos has received big publicity lately, Nutter has been stocking his 
cabinet with fellow Penn tools for months.



roger that.

consider penn praxis at the delaware river a high-profile 
dress rehearsal for penn's development of its holdings along 
the schuylkill river.


and consider that penn praxis was conspicuously absent from 
the media when it came to helping neighbors deal with penn's 
proposed hotel at 40th and pine, and when neighbors grappled 
with the penn-advised plans for the south street bridge.



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Re: [UC] Re: The real-estate Pennspiracy

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
In all fairness to PennPraxis, some party has to actually hire it, or 
otherwise contract with it to run a forum for it. It doesn't run around 
looking for controversies and organizing forums on its own whim.


The contractor doesn't have to be Penn. In fact, it usually isn't, I 
believe. I did watch PennPraxis become involved in a neighborhood issue 
once, at the request of a neighborhood group that had issues with a 
Penn-related project.


So it may be PennPraxis wasn't involved in either of the neighbors' 
dealings you cite, because those neighbors did not ask it to become 
involved.






au contraire, tony.

the campus inn at 40th and pine was cited by the developers 
as part of the 40th street development, and for years now 
the development of 40th street has been THE agenda for 'the 
friends of 40th street forum' working with penn praxis.


here is what the penn praxis 'friends of 40th street' 
website says on their homepage:



With its long history, 40th Street is continually
evolving. The arrival of the Bridge Cinema and the
Freshgrocer are just the most recent sign of this. With
so much going on, it was time to have a community
conversation about the street. Healthy conversation can
lead to mutual understanding and respect for varying
goals and visions and to the emergence of new ideas.

So, Penn Praxis, working with a community-based steering
committee, created a process that gave the community the
chance to talk about 40th Street, a way of building
bridges and trust among people and communities, a place
of common ground where we could feel comfortable about
our place at the community table.

We created a series of safe and facilitated conversations
(see documentation in the right column) that allowed
people to talk about something that is often difficult to
talk about. In the case of 40th Street, many people and
communities feel passionately about the street and all
too often difficult histories prevent us from creating a
shared future. The community forum process was and
remains about a shared future.



but you will find no mention of the proposed hotel in 
newspapers or even on the friends of 40th street website:


   http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/40th//reference.html


that is why I wrote:


consider that penn praxis was conspicuously absent from
the media when it came to helping neighbors deal with
penn's proposed hotel at 40th and pine



- - - - - -


and in the case of the south street bridge, the neighbors 
DID ask penn to intervene for them, but penn said NO:



http://tinyurl.com/6kbpw2


The design proposed by the city will make the South
Street Bridge much more structurally sound than it is
today. Still, several neighborhood associations recently
joined forces to push for changes, arguing that the
current plan is cold, industrial and lacks
pedestrian-friendly features.

The coalition has been unable to sway the Streets
Department to consider changes, so it is turning to
another neighbor of sorts, the University of
Pennsylvania, for help.

But to their surprise, Penn officials say they will not
get involved. [...]



University spokesman Tony Sorrentino said Penn will not
take a side in the current debate, to the dismay of
Campbell and the other groups.

"We don't want to use our authority to affect someone
else's project," said University architect David
Hollenberg.

He added, however, that the Streets Department did
consult him and his predecessor, Charles Newman - who
declined to be interviewed for this article - about the
design several times during the planning process.

Penn even lobbied successfully for some changes during
meetings with the Streets Department, according to
Hollenberg. One such change was a redesign of the guard
rails on the sides of the bridge.







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Re: [UC] Re: The real-estate Pennspiracy

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:


You can't complain you didn't get a pizza from Colonial 
Pizza, if you neglected to order the pizza in the first place. It's not 
Colonial's job to figure out when you want a pizza.




"no one asked for penn praxis in the first place, the public 
didn't vote for it -- and yet here it is, in our public 
decision-making process! you see, penn put penn praxis there 
for those who could afford to pay the price of using it! 
it's not penn praxis' job to figure out when you want to be 
involved in public decision-making processes!"


"no one asked for ucd in the first place, the public didn't 
vote for it -- and yet here it is, in our public park! see, 
penn put ucd there for those who could afford to pay the 
price of using it! it's not ucd's job to figure out when you 
want a public park!"


"no one asked for a catchment area in the first place, the 
public didn't vote for it (in fact it was voted down by 
uccc) -- and yet here it is, in our public education system! 
you see, penn put the public school there for those who 
could afford to pay the price of using it! it's not the penn 
school's job to figure out when you want a public school!"




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Re: [UC] The real-estate Pennspiracy : Institutional planning

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

The best 'history' of the success of PENN's institutional
thinking may be on its own Web-site.  There are graphics
which define Campus growth.  Check out: 
http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/explore_the_vision/a_growing_campus.php





thanks for pointing out that link, liz. those maps do tell a 
powerful story -- penn as a contiguous campus that expanded, 
sequentially, as a kind of organic inevitability, a kind of 
manifest destiny or law of nature where gasses expand to 
fill a given space -- but it's a rather partial story.


it helps to remember that the original version of penn began 
at 4th and arch streets. recall, too, that for much of 
penn's history, penn was a commuter school. the evolution 
and expansion of penn into the urban university it is today 
wasn't driven by a single vision or plan, but by changing 
paradigms that exploited changing values and contexts over 
time. for instance, in the 1930s and 40s penn considered 
moving the campus to valley forge. later, as the campus grew 
in the 50s and 60s, penn became a campus expanding in an 
urban setting which disappeared to accommodate it -- in such 
a way that by the 70s and 80s penn realized it had created a 
very inward-looking university, not connecting with and 
often at odds with its urban surroundings. it was only in 
the mid-90s that this basic paradigm changed, to one of penn 
actively transforming/transferring the urban environment 
INTO its campus and AS its identity -- as a necessary act of 
expansion.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/photorayz/1207733381/in/pool-46baltimore

more background here:

http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0902/thomas.html

http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/1197/philly5.html




the pennconnects maps don't really convey today's story, how 
'penn IN the city' has become 'penn AS the city', not only 
in terms of real estate, but of infrastructures (political, 
educational, social, medical, etc. -- ie, neighborhood 
organizations, schools, hospitals, city districts, mayorial 
administrations, etc.). as you point out, penn isn't simply 
a campus, it's an institution, and institutions aren't 
simply bricks and mortar (structures), but also mechanisms. 
like:


 http://www.upenn.edu/penniur/

 http://www.upenn.edu/ccp/index.php

 http://tinyurl.com/5osqmp

 http://www.ucityphila.org/

 http://www.campusapts.com/development.htm

 http://www.design.upenn.edu/pennpraxis/

 http://www.planphilly.com/about




finally, the pennconnects maps don't show us this:

 http://www.philly.com/philly/business/24057734.html

and it will be interesting to see where penn praxis is, 
years from now, when penn builds its pedestrian bridge 
across the schuylkill -- ie, how penn actually connects, and 
what penn is actually connecting with.




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Re: Fw: Re: [UC] Re: The real-estate Pennspiracy

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Before Jackson-Cross sold its residential division to Fox 
& Roach, who sold to Prudential, our fearless leader, DICK

Jones, would give an annual state of the market speech. A
colleague and I would bet on the number of times the words
"thrust" and "penetrate" would be used to describe marketing
techniques. One year "penetrate" (or some derivative
thereof) was used 26 times in 25 minutes.

The post below, with phrases such as: "polishing our
global..." "sucking up electrons on the friggin
internet!" "people smacking balls around" "I don't see
you boning up."
 
reminds me how little I miss those testosterone filled

extravaganzas. Thanks for reminding me that I have settled
on the kinder side of Real Estate.
Best! Liz




what's funny about all this is that tony first made the 
analogy between penn praxis and pizza pie, equating our role 
as public citizens with our role as private consumers, but 
now he doesn't like the analogy, and calls it a rhetorical 
trick!



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Re: [UC] P. City Planning Commission info

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn wrote:


The next PCPC hearing is July 15th.  The agenda is not posted.





any new developments about the hotel?

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Re: [UC] P. City Planning Commission info

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:
A Daily News reporter sagaciously used the word, "platitudes," as he 
pondered this June 17 speech.  See what you think? 


http://www.philaplanning.org/pubinfo/address061708.pdf

 

Nutter: ""Not In My Backyard" is a knee jerk response from people 
standing outside a process they deem lacking in credibility but a 
transparent and inclusionary process will encourage shared 
responsibilities.""





the dp recently endorsed nutter endorsing penn praxis:


- - - -


http://tinyurl.com/5zgymc

Nutter's support of PennPraxis takes into account the whole 
community's needs


Often, projects started under the auspice of one 
administration fall to the wayside when the next takes the 
reins. Luckily, Mayor Nutter showed his commitment to the 
City of Philadelphia, not his pride, when he endorsed 
PennPraxis's action plan to encourage the development Penn's 
Landing in a community-friendly manner, a report initiated 
by former mayor John F. Street.


PennPraxis's success in creating a plan of action consisting 
of ten simple and clear propositions shows its ability to 
integrate the needs of the community with the practical 
limitations involved in development.


Nutter deserves credit for his strong support of this plan, 
which affirms his agenda: helping Philadelphia to become 
what Philadelphians want it to be. With the initiative, he 
also upholds his promise to work with local universities to 
the benefit of the entire city.


In a time when campaigning politicians will say almost 
anything to win a vote, it is refreshing to see a city 
leader following through in the face of big business 
opposition. Kudos to PennPraxis for a well-designed 
proposal, and kudos to Mayor Nutter for not hesitating to 
help better our city.



- - - -


http://tinyurl.com/5a8asd

Philly Mayor endorses PennPraxis


- - - -


as far back as december 2007 the term 'nimby' was used to 
describe neighbors who were opposed to the proposed hotel at 
40th and pine:


http://theilladelph.blogspot.com/2007/12/hotel-hotwire-winners-and-losers-boom.html



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Re: [UC] The permanent stage for Clark Park

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:


You may not have heard about this stage plan before.  The Penn design firm, to 
their credit, reported my rejection of the idea at one of the few public 
pitches in 2001-02.  We have no way to find out in advance if they will bring 
this stage plan back with the dog park.  I thought you all should know the 
story as we must prepare for last moment surprises in Penn’s park.





al posted about 'alternate designs' (the 'latest 
revitalization plans') for the park earlier this month. are 
these plans available for public viewing, now that the july 
16 focp presentation has taken place?



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Re: [UC] "Distrito" ¡Qué Rico!

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Dave Axler wrote:
And I'm surprised that none of our conspiracy theorists have wondered 
about the origin of Distrito's name -- it translates to "District", and 
they're right around the corner from UCD HQ,



back in december 2007 theilladelph thought it would be 
called chilango:


"The four-block 40th Street corridor, from Chestnut at the 
north and Pine on the south, is a veritable destination 
these days. There is the Hub, which will soon have Chilango"


[http://tinyurl.com/22p8ex]



- - - -

here's what wikipedia says about 'chilango':

"Chilango is a Mexican slang demonym for a person from or 
living in Mexico City or its surrounding areas. It may have 
a negative connotation when used by someone from a person 
who lives in one of the 31 States of Mexico.


People from Mexico City have come to embrace the term and 
use it with pride. This "chilango pride" has also led the 
affectionate term "Chilangolandia" in reference to Mexico 
City. They also consider that any non-Chilango who uses the 
term does it in a derogatory fashion, and although widely 
used, may be considered pejorative since its not uncommon of 
people not from Mexico City to view Mexico City dwellers as 
"different" from them: more competitive, selfish, less 
honest and more manipulative. The embracing of this term 
also lead to the publication of Chilango, a monthly 
humouristic magazine, in November 2003 in which real events 
conform the majority of articles but trying to make fun of 
the city itself. It included within its pages the Time Out 
city guide, but this was retired in early 2007. The magazine 
defines Chilango in an article in December 2004:


About Chilango:

First, it was Tenochtitlan. Then, Mexico City. Today, it's 
pridely called Chilangolandia, capital city of the IMECA empire.


[...] Chilango etymology refers, overall, to the hot sauces 
variety in the central valley and it comes to the ending 
ango making fun of the Nahuatl, always so toponymic as in 
"Tenango". Chilango does not refer neither to the city's 
name -because is the country's too- nor to the 
administrative DF, but that imaginative territory one 
doesn't know exactly its borders and where every vegetable 
becomes, sooner or later, a taquera sauce [...]


The accepted etymology of the word "chilango" is most likely 
a derivation of the Nahuatl word Ixachitlān, that actually 
refers to the whole of the American continent.


Two widely used terms for a resident of Mexico City are 
Defeño (derived from D.F., Distrito Federal and not an 
official Spanish word) and Capitalino, which can also be 
used both in a positive or a derogatory sense, although the 
latter is generally accepted as a neutral demonym.



- - - -


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Re: [UC] Re: [Ucneighbors] Dock Street - more staff needed?

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

Has anyone called UCD?  They could have their boys at L&I
pass out Dock St applications when they close down
working class restaurants.  Sadly, UCD hasn't returned my
calls since 2003.

I never had this problem getting excellent food with the
excellent staff at OHaras or the Hong Kong Cafe.





besides ohara's and the hong kong cafe, the gmac mortgage 
office at chestnut hall (39th & chestnut) is also closed, 
with 'available' signs in the windows. this leaves penn's 
treatment research center and the upenn federal credit union 
the remaining ground floor venues at that building. will L&I 
soon close them for violations as well?



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Re: [UC] Re: Ohara's and Hong Kong cafe

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

The mortgage office Ray mentioned was new news.

GMAC Mortgage relocated to 36th & Market months ago.




the "available" sign appearing in the gmac mortgage window 
at chestnut hall appeared only recently, at the same time 
that matching "available" signs appeared in o'hara's windows.



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Re: [UC] Re: Ohara's and Hong Kong cafe

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

That bar on Spruce was called?Kelliann's, used to be
Murphy's. I heard that it was recently sold by the owner,
who made a nice profit. Also, L&I shut down a Caribbean
Restaraunt (where I work weekends) on 52nd and Walnut for
not having an exit sign up by the stairway that leads
from the second floor to the first. The weird part was
that they stormed in at 1:30 AM?with 15-20 uniformed
officers, two guys from L&I and someone from the LCB. All
they found was the absence of the exit sign and made?all
patrons and employees?leave (causing refunds in some
cases). It seemed really odd to me that it was conducted
like?a raid. L&I must be on a mission of some sort
throughout the city.




L&I shut down bob and barbara's and tritone's (15xx south 
st.) recently:


http://philly.metro.us/metro/local/article/South_Street_haunts_shuttered_by_LI/13168.html

july 30 2008:


SOUTH STREET. Call it coincidence or just poor timing, but a
weekend shutdown of two popular South Street bars has one
business owner shaking his head.

Jack Prince, who owns Bob and Barbara’s Lounge at 1507 South
St. said License and Inspections officials came in at 11:30
Friday night with police and the state Liquor Control Board
and shut his business down for apparent violations of the
fire and electrical code.

“I can understand an L&I inspection, but the way they came
in it was pretty strong,” said Prince, who seemed flustered
by the situation. “We’ve been here 14 years and never had a
problem like this.”

The same thing happened minutes earlier at Tritone across
the street, which is in a building owned by Prince.

Both businesses were cited for several infractions – ranging
from faulty wiring to smoke alarms that were not registered
– dated Thursday and Friday, according to L&I records. They
remained closed last night.

L&I officials were not available to comment on why the bars
were shut down so quickly, but an spokesperson with the
mayor’s office said the deadline given to property owners
typically depends on the severity of the violations.

Prince said he thinks the problems stem from a few noise
complaints from neighborhood residents. He was unsure when
the bar might re-open.

Barney Richardson, a longtime business owner on the block,
compared it to a raid.

“They come down and put people out, shut you down, it’s like
a Gestapo tactic,” said Richardson. “It’s very unfair,
especially to a small businessman.” 





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Re: [UC] Re: Ohara's and Hong Kong cafe

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Wilma de Soto wrote:


I noticed the Irish bar at the corner of 44th & Spruce Sts., (I can't
remember the name), is also closed.





back in december 2007 this sign appeared on a building near 
keliann's:


http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~rrorke/WestPhilly/ForRent.jpg


   FOR RENT

   COMMERCIAL

   * 2,500 - 3,000 Sq. Ft.
   * 3, Sq. Ft. Outdoor
   * 44th & Spruce
   * Ideal for Restaurant
   * Join Marigold & Rx


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Re: [UC] Latest on the South Street Bridge

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Cindy Miller wrote:
http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/ 
2008/08/07/News/Plans.For.South.St.Bridge.Still.Tba-3397470.shtml



as this article points out, the plans for the bridge will 
not include the community's input:


   This past March, the South Street Bridge Coalition
   commissioned urban planning firm Wallace Roberts & Todd
   L.L.C. to put forward a modification plan to the city's
   original redesign. However, so far the city has not
   included these changes in their plans for the bridge.

and in that same issue of the dp, penn says there's now a 
rush to get the bridge demolished and re-built, 'as soon as 
possible', 'quickly', 'sooner rather than later':


http://tinyurl.com/6cvyrp


In April, The Daily Pennsylvanian Opinion Board encouraged
the City to adopt the South Street Bridge Coalition's
changes to the current proposal.

Now, almost four months later, the bridge is still open -
albeit with a 6-ton weight limit - and it is time to take
some sort of action.

It is estimated that the bridge's demolition and
reconstruction will take up to two years to complete. With
traffic already limited, it makes sense to begin
reconstruction quickly so that a fully accessible structure
may be completed as soon as possible.

The City has been dragging its heels on this important
project for over 10 years. At this point, bureaucracy stands
in the way of efficiency.

The South Street Bridge must be reborn in a form that suits
both city planners and the community - and quickly. Only
with fast action and some compromises on both sides can the
City complete the project in a reasonable timeframe.

As bits of concrete continue crumbling and falling into the
Schuylkill, plans must be finalized and a construction firm
chosen.

No one advocates rushing into a $50 million dollar project,
but the plans were unveiled two years ago. Let's fix this
bridge right - and sooner rather than later..



but what these dp articles don't point out is that the 
community's plans for the bridge would not have delayed any 
schedules. a schedule was mapped out in the community's 
report which shows the demolition and reconstruction 
beginning october 08 (and possibly even saving money during 
construction and allowing for earlier access):


http://go.philly.com/bridgedesign
[p. 16-17]


so why this urgent call to rush things now, along with the 
exclusion of the community's input?



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Re: [UC] PCPC director, Greenberger

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

The new director of the PENN City Planning Commission, PCPC,
is currently a board member, Mr A. Greenberger

"He's someone who understands Philadelphia's great planning
tradition and is inspired to bring the city back to that
level," Altman said. "He's entrepreneurial. He [has]
management experience, teaching experience at Penn. It's a
home run."

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080815_Architect_named_to_head_city_planning_agency.html

Note: Mr Greenberger was in attendance at the PCPC hearing
when numerous citizens testified against the Campus Inn on
May 20, 2008. On June 17, 2008 following the M.Nutter
platitude speech, Mr Greenberger was in attendance when the
false record of the May 20, 2008 PCPC proceedings was
approved as the official public record.

I'd say Penn struck a goldmine with it's home run!  




from penn's website


> Congratulations to Alan Greenberger! City Planning
> Lecturer named to Planning Commission.
>
> A hearty congratulations to Lecturer Alan Greenberger for
> being appointed to the Philadelphia Planning Commission
> by new Mayor Michael Nutter! Alan's voice and vision are
> sorely needed.
>
> It is an exciting time to be in Philadelphia with the new
> mayoral administration. As noted by the Philadelphia
> Inquirer, "Nutter has hundreds of appointments to make,
> and roughly 60 different board and commissions to attend
> to. He chose to announce zoning and planning first."


http://www.design.upenn.edu/new/about/newsdetail.php?nid=218




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Re: [UC] Radian will house Capogiro Gelato and CVS Pharmacy

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:

Yippee!! That stuff is insanely good and insanely expensive.

 From the DP. 
http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/08/07/News/Radian.Will.House.Capogiro.Gelato.And.Cvs.Pharmacy-3401935.shtml 





I predict the radian will win architecture design awards!

ironic that a cvs will be there again -- wasn't the removal 
of the cvs there the occasion for installing a cvs at the 
(now reduced by half) foodcourt at 3401 walnut?


http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity@list.purple.com/msg14311.html

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Re: [UC] Forwarded from "SCRUB" -- Unisys Sign Denied by Zoning Board

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Sadly in the battle of the "Titans", I think the folks
who could afford the million dollar + Unisys condos had
more, and more personal contacts, within the spheres of
influence of the decision makers than we, the neighbors
of Hotel-Abuse-the-Rules. We must remain vigilant and
vocal.  What we lack in wallets must be made up in volume
and visibility.  Our assets include some of the finest
minds in the city.  We need the words, insights and
reports which protect our existing, sensible rules, kept
out in front of the fevered pitches of the profit
seekers.






yes, and how sad is it that our existing defenders -- uchs, 
shca, ucd, penn praxis -- have been so curiously unable 
(un-vocal and un-visible) to help the neighbors in this 
hotel battle.


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Re: [UC] Forwarded from "SCRUB" -- Unisys Sign Denied by Zoning Board

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

Let's separate the apples from the oranges first.

Neither UCD nor PennPraxis has any sort of warrant to weigh in on a 
zoning issue, until some neighborhood group asks them for their 
assistance. It would be bizarre and stupid for them to do so.


without being asked, ucd got heavily involved with the 
zoning question wrt dock street at the firehouse a year ago. 
ucd took sides, yet they have remained curiously non-vocal 
and non-visible wrt this hotel scheme.


without being asked, penn praxis created what was supposed 
to be an ongoing dialog wrt the 40th st development, yet 
they have remained curiously non-vocal and non-visible wrt 
this hotel scheme.





The hotel proposal is clearly in SHCA's bailiwick, likewise in UCHS's 
bailiwick. It looks like there has been some ducking, dodging and 
deferring by both those bodies.


yes, glenn detailed this in his reply to you this morning.




I have no idea at this point what the eventual outcome will be. That's 
where I grow curious.



I think the apples and oranges have been separated long ago, 
and that you're simply unable or unwilling to face the 
truth: that our neighbors are not served by the 
organizations that claim to serve them, and that these 
organizations ultimately serve penn's interests. period.



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Re: [UC] Palin as prez

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Amirah Leslie Naim wrote:

Here is a link:
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html
 
Let me be clear - 95% of WORKING families will receive a larger tax cut 
under Obama than McCain.  I feel that throwing Welfare recipients into 
the discussion is a distraction and I am curious about your source for 
that conclusion.
 
60% of all taxpayers make less than $66,700.  They will receive a larger 
tax cut under Obama than McCain.  I am really glad you raised the point, 
although again, I am flabbergasted that people still have 
misconceptions.  Many people claim they don't know enough about Obama 
and I shake my head as it appears that in all honesty McCain has changed 
his positions so many time on huge issues (even speaking out about 
legislation he proposed) that if it weren't so serious, it would be 
comical.  The information is out there for all to see and know.  There 
is no reason to rush to judgement about McCain or Obama because an 
informed voter can get all the information they need.
 
If you look at the graphic, the two tax plans are basically inversions 
of each other.  McCain gives tax breaks to those who do not need it 
while Obama's tax plan gives more substantial tax breaks to WORKING 
families, those making less that 250K.





Al Krigman wrote:
 From what I've read, the veracity of this statement depends on how
you define "tax cut." Isn't it true that Obama includes in his 95%
the people who currently pay no taxes but will get monetary tax
credits from the federal government? This is how I read what's being
said. If so, then a portion of the 95% is "welfare" and not a tax
cut for working people who pay a fraction of their wages to the
government and think of a tax cut in terms of a smaller fraction.





not taking sides here, just adding info:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_obama.html


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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

An opportunity arose to get first-hand information on PennPraxis'
current role in 40th St. planning.

Andrew Goodman, a planning fellow with PennPraxis, explained U Penn
originally asked PennPraxis to assist in starting the group Friends of
40th St. in 2004. That role continues. PennPraxis' function is solely to
facilitate meetings for Friends of 40th St.  This service is one
specialty of PennPraxis, which it is known for in many other arenas.

Friends of 40th St. holds regular monthly meetings on the last Friday of
every month at the Community Room of 3901 Market St. The next meeting
will be Sep. 26. There will be presentations on the trolley portal
renovation, the Lancaster Ave. Jazz Fest, retail in the Radian building
and more.

The developer of the extended-stay hotel project made a presentation to
Friends of 40th St. It's an appropriate subject for Friends of 40th St.
meetings and Goodman welcomed people who are interested in this subject
to attend those meetings.




no one disputes that penn praxis exists, just as no one 
disputes that shca or uchs or ucd exist. the fact remains 
that neither penn praxis nor shca nor uchs nor ucd have 
helped the neighbors in this year-long hotel battle.



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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:


PennPraxis facilitates a regular monthly forum at which neighbors who
are either for or against the hotel proposal can communicate and learn.
This is not a panacea, but running meetings is PennPraxis' chief stock
in trade. If regular public meetings can't help your faction, then yes,
PennPraxis hasn't helped it and can't help it. It's not a sort of
Planning Police, if that's what you have in mind.

If the people who show up at Friends of 40th St. meetings frequently
express concern about the hotel proposal, then PennPraxis would likely
record it in some way. By the same token, if nobody ever mentions
opposition at any of  these regular meetings, that too becomes a datum
-- a way to measure public opinion. No one owns a copyright to the
phrase "the neighbors", after all.

As for UCHS -- didn't Karen recently mention that one of its board
members testified to its opposition to the hotel proposal at some public
hearing? That sounds like help for the anti-hotel faction. It was clear
she had wanted even more help. But that doesn't mean it didn't help.

SHCA helps both sides as well as the ZBA by providing a Zoning
Committee. An organization that acted without a report from its Zoning
Committee would seem impetuous and unreliable. In a long game, one needs
a closer as well as an opener.




haha all this 'help' for both developer and neighbors, and 
here we all are, one year later!


long game indeed.



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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

lopment, things in philly 
would happen a lot smoother, a lot more transparently, and 
not drag on for years, ultimately putting institutions 
before citizens!


I can't wait for the next round of help from penn praxis, 
shca, ucd, and uchs for this hotel project! their hard work 
and on-going commitment to their constituents will certainly 
be a well-earned addition to their ever-growing resumes, and 
it will serve as a model for civic engagement and 
transparency for all philadelphians! in the meantime, glenn, 
it would help if you weren't such a nimby naysayer! no one 
likes a nimby naysayer!



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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Ray and Glenn are saying, then, that no meetings count as "meetings" and 
no neighbors count as "neighbors" unless everyone present agrees with 
Ray and Glenn.


It's hard to imagine this view carrying much weight with City officials. 
Councilwoman Blackwell is wide awake at 8 am when she shows up at First 
Thursday meetings, and she expects others to listen well. The 60-odd 
West Philadelphians who attend find they're an excellent source of 
diverse information. Attendees at First Thursday heard about the hotel 
proposal several months before it was presented at the SHCA Membership 
meeting, for instance.


Also unlikely to persuade ZBA members is the idea that meetings don't 
count when held in a senior center. There's not a politician in the city 
who doesn't regularly attend public meetings in senior centers. 
Therefore, people who wish to have a practical impact should take 
advantage of any opportunity to present their case (and also listen) at 
any relevant meeting. Those with concerns about 40th St. development 
might explore this opportunity, then.


When a person runs out of substantive grounds to stay excited, using 
lots of exclamation marks won't make a blunted critique sharp again, or 
a windy parody concise, or a poor political approach clever.





"It was a long First Thursday meeting, packed with agenda 
items, and Tom had only a few minutes to make his 
presentation." -- Melani Lamond



concise!

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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
So, are you for more meetings or against more meetings? Take a stand, 
concisely. More meetings, or no more meetings?



yes, let's see more meeting minutes!


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/40th//reference.html

http://www.sprucehillca.org/publications.html

http://www.uchs.net/

http://tinyurl.com/6p266k

http://www.upenn.edu/secretary/council/ccl.html


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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

These "regular meetings" never have agenda items publicly
announced in advance. These are not the "public forums" you
are pretending. Scheduled at 8 AM, it is ridiculous to
contend that it is the duty of community members to
dutifully attend all of these meetings for the anointed to
catch Lussenhop.
 
The one time he was caught and the geriatric social was

announced a day or two in advance in the UC review,
Lussenhop didin't show!!! He showed up next time at 8 AM.

Why must community members attend all monthly 8AM, tightly
controlled dog and pony shows, or lose their chance at
voicing their views or asking questions? It's absurd when
Lussenhop could announce any real public forum which he
wants to assert.




'first thursday' meetings were evaluated back in 2004

http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v50/n23/comm_relations.html



This report represents the findings of the Committee on
Community Relations for the Fall semester 2003

Does the community need a watchdog for University real
estate activities?

To explore the feasibility of a watchdog role for our
committee, we first sought input from the community on this
issue. We met with Ms. Melani Lamond, the secretary (an
elected office) of the University City Community Council
(UCCC). This group is an umbrella organization of University
City neighborhood organizations and special interest groups,
including Cedar Park Neighbors, Garden Court Community
Association, Walnut Hill Community Association, Powelton
Village Civic Association, Saunders Park Neighbors, Squirrel
Hill Community Association, and a few other groups. The UCCC
is comprised of the presidents of the individual
organizations in order to provide one strong group that
could give advice, share expertise, and build consensus. Ms.
Lamond is also an Associate Broker at Urban & Bye Realtor, a
University City real estate office. Ms. Lamond shared with
us some issues that had been contentious between the
community and the University but felt that, in general, the
community, or at least those members who are active in
community associations, was happy with recent University
initiatives

What impact does the University's real estate policies have
on the UC communities and how well does it seek and use
input from its members?

The general feeling of the Committee was that although the
Office of Community and City Relations does very well in its
outreach work to the public, the office could be more
effective with greater resources. The timing of the first
Thursday monthly meeting at 8 a.m. prohibits many people
from attending, particularly residents who have school-age
children to attend to. The committee recommends that more
resources should be provided to this office so that it can
hold more than one meeting a month, advertise it more widely
and develop alternative strategies to inform the public. In
addition there is an impression that while the University
does seek community opinion on new initiatives, in fact in
most cases the key decisions have already been made and the
University is unlikely to reverse them. Some examples that
the Committee heard of were the Alexander school and the
40th Street project. In both cases, although public opinion
on these projects was solicited it was well after their
initiation. Finally the improvement of the real estate
market, particularly, within the Alexander school catchment
area, has made home ownership for the less wealthy members
of our community impossible, particularly for first time
owners. Despite this, there are more positive feelings
associated with the University involvement in the community
than negative expressed by community organizations.




- - - - -

just to clarify: the penn praxis friends of 40th street 
meetings aren't the same as these first thursday meetings. 
(though the minutes for both are equally hard to find)



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Re: [UC] PennPraxis and 40th St.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Tony West wrote:

It is nice to be able to read meeting minutes on the Web.
When a meeting organizer has paid staff, why not post
them? Lean on PP directly and see if that prods them to
get some up.

But the normal place for minutes is still face to face,
at a subsequent meeting. Minutes are, strictly speaking,
an aid for the next meeting. Their purpose is not to
substitute for attending meetings. Non-decisional
meetings don't require minutes; however, any discussion
that calls for progress should provide them.

Perhaps people should sort out their priorities here.
People whose chief goal is to stamp PennPraxis as
unhelpful, probably should avoid attending any meeting it
facilitates, since they would then run a risk (however
small) of actually being helped by PennPraxis.

People whose chief goal is to weigh in on a political
choice, though, are generally helped by attending
pertinent meetings, no matter who chairs them and how the
minutes come out; especially if those people believe they
have force of numbers on their side.



UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN wrote:


yes, let's see more meeting minutes!

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/40th//reference.html
http://www.sprucehillca.org/publications.html
http://www.uchs.net/
http://tinyurl.com/6p266k
http://www.upenn.edu/secretary/council/ccl.html



zoning is a public question, and yet if a neighbor coming in 
the middle of things wanted to know about the hotel, or 
about the progress of the hotel, or about opposition to (or 
support for) the hotel, he/she would be hard pressed to 
learn anything outside of this list or the uc review or the 
dp or (some other periodic source? who knows?). but one 
thing is clear: that neighbor wouldn't learn much of 
anything about the hotel from penn praxis, from shca, from 
uchs, or from ucd. and that neighbor certainly wouldn't 
learn much from pcpc, who 'erased' neighbors' testimony from 
their publicly accessible minutes, and scrambled neighbors' 
names http://tinyurl.com/6zvllw>. this is 
why I originally wrote:



how sad is it that our existing defenders -- uchs, shca,
ucd, penn praxis -- have been so curiously unable (un-vocal
and un-visible) to help the neighbors in this hotel battle.


by keeping the hotel 'invisible' (whether by design or by 
negligence), by keeping information about the hotel progress 
invisible, by keeping records about hotel meetings 
invisible, it's harder for a neighbor to be informed about 
the hotel, to form a position about the hotel, to know what 
other neighbors have demonstrated about the hotel, to know 
if there are like-minded neighbors or organizations. even 
though zoning is a public question, a neighbor facing the 
hotel question is left to act alone, thanks to penn praxis, 
shca, uchs and ucd. that is why I originally wrote:



how sad is it that our existing defenders -- uchs, shca,
ucd, penn praxis -- have been so curiously unable (un-vocal
and un-visible) to help the neighbors in this hotel battle.


for a year now we have had an ongoing situation where 
meetings about the hotel are announced/not announced, get 
cancelled/rescheduled, get attended by crowds or the hardy 
few who can chase them down -- and then get 'lost' in the 
public record, even as the hotel proposal goes through 
hearings at city hall. that isn't helpful, especially for so 
public a question, especially when there are organizations 
like penn praxis, shca, uchs and ucd, who claim to be 
serving the neighbors. that is why I originally wrote:



how sad is it that our existing defenders -- uchs, shca,
ucd, penn praxis -- have been so curiously unable (un-vocal
and un-visible) to help the neighbors in this hotel battle.


some readers of this list are, understandably, offput by 
repetition, by long-windedness, by pointless exchanges and 
arguing for arguing's sake. they prefer concision. that's 
why I originally wrote:



how sad is it that our existing defenders -- uchs, shca,
ucd, penn praxis -- have been so curiously unable (un-vocal
and un-visible) to help the neighbors in this hotel battle.



..
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Re: [UC] Is an after party planned?

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

Neighbors,

Today is the day that the Penn City Planning Commission recommends the Campus 
Inn!



and this thursday is the next board of trustees meeting at penn:

   Thursday, September 18, 2008
   Executive Committee Meeting;
   Budget & Finance Committee Meeting

   http://www.upenn.edu/secretary/trustees/trusteemtgs.html

[the dp had reported that the proposed site, owned by penn, 
would be leased to developers if plans are approved by 
penn's board of trustees and philadelphia zoning officials.]



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Re: [UC] Three terrible ideas-Campus Inn

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

KAREN ALLEN wrote:
Or they would trot out rental-property mogul "Danny" DeRitis to tell 
everyone (paraphrasing his testimony yesterday) that he lived in this 
neighborhood leventy-zillion years ago, and since he left, there are 
"hardly any residents" in that area anyway [apparantly, his tenants 
don't count as residents].



who else testified at yesterday's hearing? do you remember 
who else from the neighborhood was there?



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Re: [UC] From today's DP: "Commission recommends approval for hotel"

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

the daily pennsylvanian wrote:

Like most members of the Planning Commission, commissioner Nilda Ruiz 
agreed that the hotel's appearance might seem "overbearing" at first.


But she "just doesn't see it being that much of a problem" after the 
initial shock - she thinks residents will get used to the sight and not 
notice it after a while, Ruiz said yesterday.



haha

this is my favorite part of julia harte's article in the dp.

openly admitting to the problem with the proposed hotel -- 
while trying not to see it!



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Re: [UC] Did anyone see this from the DP?

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:
I missed this one.  This an interesting "editorial"   

It makes sense that some young writer, inexperienced journalist, would be susceptible to the snakes behind the Penn propaganda machine.  I doubt Ms Hart understood how she and the DP were being used. 




http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/03/03/Opinion/Editorial.Responsible.Development-3246870.shtml




it's fascinating how, as far back as march, the dp was 
framing the question of the hotel in terms of parking.


and here we are now, with pcpc scheduling its hearings about 
the hotel in terms of parking.


what happened to the main issue: the hotel's massive scale 
and height and footprint?



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Re: [UC] South St Bridge neighbors make a difference!

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:

 From the DP:


Many of the 11 new revisions were first formally recommended in an 
April study commissioned by the coalition, which includes community 
leaders and associations, such as the Bicycle Coalition of Greater 
Philadelphia.


The revised plan has reduced that number (of vehicle lanes) to four to 
accommodate wider lanes for pedestrians and bicycles. 



http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/09/24/News/Bridge.Design.Alters.Bike.And.Vehicle.Lanes.Speed.Limit-3448444.shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition



I was happy to read that article, and glad to see that you 
posted it. it reads as a nice example of what neighbors can 
do when they work together -- hammer out alternatives and 
compromises so that everyone's concerns are respected AND 
progress is made. a civic win/win.


why hasn't something like that happened with the 
penn-proposed hotel at 40th street? why are we still stuck 
with an 11-story hotel as the only option for that corner?


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Re: [UC] South St Bridge neighbors make a difference!

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:

From the DP:
Many of the 11 new revisions were first formally recommended in an 
April study commissioned by the coalition, which includes community 
leaders and associations, such as the Bicycle Coalition of Greater 
Philadelphia.
The revised plan has reduced that number (of vehicle lanes) to four 
to accommodate wider lanes for pedestrians and bicycles.
http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/09/24/News/Bridge.Design.Alters.Bike.And.Vehicle.Lanes.Speed.Limit-3448444.shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition 



UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN wrote:
I was happy to read that article, and glad to see that you posted it. 
it reads as a nice example of what neighbors can do when they work 
together -- hammer out alternatives and compromises so that everyone's 
concerns are respected AND progress is made. a civic win/win.


why hasn't something like that happened with the penn-proposed hotel 
at 40th street? why are we still stuck with an 11-story hotel as the 
only option for that corner?



 Frank wrote:
It hasn't happened because we're dealing with Penn which we know is a 
lot less flexible and neighbor-friendly than the City.




I hear ya. I'm thinking it also has to do with neighborhood 
organizations not working for their neighbors.


meanwhile, one of the dp's blogs ('the spin') had this entry 
yesterday:




Please don’t be my neighbor

Zachary Noyce

It looks like I might be getting some new neighbors.

Last Tuesday, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission
agreed unanimously to recommend building an eleven-story
hotel just around the corner from my apartment. A hotel
at 40th and Pine should create a few jobs and will occupy
the space of one of the only abandoned building on the
block, so it’s not surprising that the proposal has
advocates. (Count Penn among them.)

But the hotel would have neighbors too, so it’s not
surprising that it has opponents.

You’ve probably read that the building is “historic” or
something. Truth be told, first and foremost, it’s ugly -
probably the least attractive building on the block. The
empty mansion is hardly a community asset.

It does, however, at least it obey the first principle of
the Hippocratic oath — first, do no harm.

The proposed 11-story hotel would do significant damage
to the neighborhood of two- and three-story houses. A
former colleague of mine [Jim Saksa] has meticulously outlined many
of the project’s worst flaws [http://tinyurl.com/4dpu4t]. It would compromise 
the
integrity of the area and invite higher density and
commercial development that could displace families. The
building’s valet parking would rob the neighborhood of
several blocks of sorely-needed parking places.

What’s most shocking, though, is the developers’ attitude
toward their future neighbors. They’ve known of and heard
these complaints for a long time now, but they still
haven’t done anything to reassure current residents that
anything but their worst nightmares about the hotel are
true.

I’m not too attached to my current address. I probably
won’t be around for the hotel’s construction or its
completion.

But the people who live on this block really are the
University’s closest neighbors — so the University’s
decision to support the project as it has is a
particularly cruel message.




http://tinyurl.com/4ap6yr



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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators (Was: Re: Did anyone see this from the DP?)

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:



SHCA's warrant doesn't reach east of 40th St.



false. it goes east to 38th street.

http://www.sprucehillca.org/map.html


the rest of your post, like phc and pcpc and shca, simply 
ignores the height and scale issue of the proposed hotel. 
the hotel's massive height and scale have been at the heart 
of the opposition to the hotel since the very beginning, and 
this opposition to the height and scale has been publicly 
voiced, again and again since 2007, in neighbors writing to 
uc review, the dp, and the city paper; it has been publicly 
demonstrated, repeatedly since 2007, in neighbors testifying 
at phc, pcpc, and shca's public meeting. indeed, the height 
and scale issue was so important that in dec 2007 the 
developer himself published distorted drawings of the hotel 
in an attempt to minimize the appearance of its actual 
height and bulk. and as recently as last week (sept 16) 
nilda ruiz and other members of pcpc acknowledged that the 
height and scale was 'overbearing', a 'shock' and a 
'problem', but that neighbors would 'get used to it'.


well, the neighbors have not gotten used to it, and the 
agencies involved have not gotten used to it. while the 
developer, with the help of penn, squeezes their hotel 
through the mayor's offices at city hall, the hotel's 
massive height and scale remains the elephant in the room. 
ignoring it each step of the way does not mean approval or 
support, in fact, the very attention and effort given to 
dismissing it is what's been so necessary to push it this far.


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Re: [UC] Did anyone see this from the DP?

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:
I missed this one.  This an interesting "editorial"   

It makes sense that some young writer, inexperienced journalist, would be susceptible to the snakes behind the Penn propaganda machine.  I doubt Ms Hart understood how she and the DP were being used. 


http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/03/03/Opinion/Editorial.Responsible.Development-3246870.shtml




this editorial, which the dp's 'opinion board' published in 
the dp on 3 mar 2008, began like this:



It's time for Campus Inn to check in to its new home at 40th
and Pine streets.



just days before, on feb 27, our neighbor mary nixon wrote a 
letter to the uc review (http://tinyurl.com/3tezvp) which 
went like this:



It is time for Tom Lussenhop and company to find another
site for their aggressively greedy hotel After an
incredible amount of criticism, nothing ever changes. He
still insists on the same number of rooms, the attached
restaurant, the maximum of four onsite parking spaces. How
many times can you say IT'S TOO BIG before he hears you?
...
It is time for the Spruce Hill zoning Committee to realize
that the only ones benefiting from this project are the
University of Pennsylvania and the developer.
...
It is time for the University of Pennsylvania to relinquish
control of 400 S. 40th Street and to put the property up for
sale. 




clearly, the dp's 'opinion board' was reading, and 
responding to, mary nixon's opinion in the uc review. and 
this 'opinion board' shifted the issue to one of parking, 
reducing the height/scale issue to one of mere aesthetics:



That doesn't mean neighborhood concerns, especially about
potential traffic congestion, are unfounded.

Penn officials need to ensure that developers provide extra
parking and try to respect the aesthetic landscape of the
low-rise community.



what the dp's 'opinion board' -- and, later, pcpc -- are 
ignoring here is that the hotel's massive height/scale is 
not just an aesthetic problem, it's not a visual that can be 
blurred away or gotten 'used to'. it's the root problem, 
defining the size and scale of all the other issues, like 
traffic and parking and density and future development.



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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
My post didn't "ignore" anything; it modestly addressed the question of 
whose job it is to weigh in on an issue of scale, if you'll pardon the 
pun.



and my modest point is that, whether anyone admits it or 
not, everyone IS weighing in on the issue of the hotel's 
size and scale, because every issue about that hotel has to 
do with its size and scale.


some have tried to get around this by distorting drawings, 
others by scrubbing testimony from meeting minutes, others 
by telling us that we'll get used to it, and still others by 
reducing the issue to one of traffic. and now some will tell 
us it's really nobody's business.



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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

Traffic is one consequence of scale. So when PCPC talked traffic, it was 
dealing with one aspect of scale it deemed within its scope. Not to your 
satisfaction, perhaps; still it did that job.



from the beginning, the pcpc DID consider the physical size 
and scale of the hotel, and deemed it within its scope.


on april 15 the pcpc rejected the hotel based on its height, 
and even after considering revisions to the hotel on april 
25, pcpc admitted that 'it's still an 11-story building in 
the middle of the street'


 http://tinyurl.com/4jdug6

again, on may 20, the pcpc considred the hotel's height and 
scale:


 http://tinyurl.com/3p9h3v

> "[pcpc chairman] Altman's remarks responded directly to
> many of the concerns made by those opposed to the
> construction of the hotel at the 40th and Pine Street
> location. These included how the hotel's development
> would not only clash with the surrounding architecture of
> the West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb and the Woodland
> Terrace's national historic designation where it is
> proposed to be built but also how its height of 115 ft.
> would loom over the other residences of 35 ft."

but on may 20, the pcpc tabled the question of the hotel 
until a future meeting.


then, on september 16, the pcpc approved the hotel. how? by 
approving a traffic study and telling neighbors that they 
would 'get used to' the 'shock' of the hotel's size and scale.


that was the 'job' that pcpc couldn't do in may, but one 
that it could do in september: by september, the question of 
the hotel's size and scale had been reduced to one of 
traffic, and penn's alan greenberger had been appointed head 
of pcpc.



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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
PCPC did consider physical size and scale an issue, and a serious-enough 
one to reject the proposal in April -- but not, I repeat, as a 
deal-breaker.



pcpc DID consider the hotel's height and scale, from the 
very beginning. it was that serious.


but pcpc couldn't justify approving the hotel's height and 
scale in the face of neighbors' opposition and a pcpc 
staffer's reservations (even after the developer's 
revisions). so pcpc tabled their decision in may, scrubbed 
the neighbors' testimony from their minutes, and instead 
used an approved traffic study months later in september as 
their justification to approve the hotel -- while telling 
the neighbors they would 'get used to' the 'shock' of the 
hotel's height and scale.


the hotel's height and scale was always an issue that pcpc 
considered. they chose to ignore it, to minimize its 
importance, and to choose, instead, another issue (traffic) 
as their reason for approving the hotel.


that is why I originally asked: 'what happened to the main 
issue: the hotel's massive scale and height and footprint?'


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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

Throughout this smokescreen of propaganda, all important
relevant issues raised by the community were erased from
all the city records while the falsified records put
forth only a single unresolved issue behind the delay,
the parking/traffic study.

Was all of this a simple recurring error?  Was the DP
editorial board amazingly prescient so long ago?  Why
would all other issues not cloaked by a traffic study and
worthless U. promises be erased after tabling the matter
in May?



what's laughable is that pcpc even bothered to consider a 
traffic study when they were so confident that the neighbors 
would 'get used to' the height and scale of the hotel.


by pcpc's reasoning, surely neighbors would also 'get used 
to' the hotel traffic, along with the permanent fact of the 
hotel's height and scale. by pcpc's reasoning, there 
shouldn't have been any need to even consider traffic. 
neighbors would simply 'get used to it'.


why, then, was traffic so important for pcpc to consider? 
and why was traffic more important to pcpc than the hotel's 
height and scale? and why was traffic so overridingly 
important for pcpc to consider in september, but not in april?


it's because pcpc couldn't approve the hotel on the basis of 
its height and scale in april or may. pcpc decided, after 
tabling the matter and scrubbing neighbors' testimony in 
may, to use, in september, a stand-in issue as its 
criterion: traffic.



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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:


As I just responded to Ray's comments, the traffic study was never relevant.



well, the traffic study DID became relevant at some point. 
and that point was at pcpc's may 20 hearing.


prior to may 20, the hotel's height and scale was THE issue 
-- in newspaper articles, at the spruce hill meeting, in 
inga saffron's column, and even for pcpc and the developer. 
it's why pcpc recommended rejecting the hotel on april 15, 
it's what the developer was responding to when he adjusted 
the plans on april 25, and it was these height/scale 
adjustments that pcpc said it would use to approve the hotel 
on may 20 (even while admitting 'it's still an 11-story 
building.') in other words, it was all about the height and 
scale, for everyone involved, up until may 20.


but on may 20 the developer cited a traffic study, the pcpc 
tabled any decision until it could consider this traffic 
study, and finally in september the pcpc approved the hotel 
based on the traffic study, telling the neighbors that they 
would 'get used to' the 'overbearing' height and scale of 
the hotel.



I come back to my original question: what happened to the 
main issue of the hotel's height and scale?




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Re: [UC] Scale and its adjudicators

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:
At the Woodland Terrace meetings I attended we were informed that  
aesthetics, including scale, would not be as important to focus on as  
things like traffic. We were told that a traffic concerns would have  
more impact on the City agencies involved and that aesthetics were not  
really a "valid" thing to complain about. I assume this was true at  
other neighborhood meetings. This might be why traffic became a major  
talking point. On the other hand, we were very careful that each of  the 
neighbors speaking at the first PCPC meeting had a different angle  on 
the subject of the hotel so that the Commission would see that  there 
were many concerns, not just traffic. Of course, the minutes,  which I 
know are only supposed to be an outline, don't reflect those.



thanks. what's still not clear is why the woodland terrace 
people were being 'informed' to focus on traffic before the 
may 20 pcpc hearing. traffic only became an issue AT that 
hearing, when the developer cited a traffic study and pcpc 
asked for a delay to consider it.


how was it that the pcpc did not initiate any request for a 
traffic study (and prior to may 20 wasn't even considering 
traffic), and yet, in preparation for pcpc's may 20 hearing 
the woodland terrace group was being advised to focus on the 
traffic issue? (and the developer was planning to cite a 
traffic study)?


who was it that initially decided that traffic was the issue 
-- the developer? the woodland terrace advisor? it wasn't 
pcpc and it wasn't the neighbors.



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Re: [UC] SHCA non-opposition and Goldman letter

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:


I just returned and read Ms Goldman’s letter in the UC Review.  Bravo Ms. 
Goldman!



here's mary's letter in the ucreview:

 (http://tinyurl.com/5fuvsw)



RE: TAKING A STAND!
UC Review | 22.OCT.08

Several years ago the University of Pennsylvania purchased
the abandoned nursing home at 40th and Pine and subsequently
selected a developer to build an 11-story, 114-unit on the
site with 4 on-site parking spaces in a residential
neighborhood of four- and five-story buildings.

Needless to say, the immediate neighbors and many other
residents of Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) were
aghast that such an out-of-scale development would be placed
in an historic, low-rise neighborhood and expected that the
SH would represent their views.

Alas, in a complete abrogation of its responsibility, SHCA
not only refused to take a position on the proposed
development, but held a closed Board meeting at which no
discussion of and no vote on the merits was taken. Taking no
position added insult to the injury of a closed discussion.

This neighborhood deserves a more representative Board that
debates such issues fully and votes no matter how divisive
the issue. A group, which purports to represent the
community, should have the courage to take a vote on whether
the community wants to trade an eyesore for a behemoth.

Mary Goldman
University City





haha: "out-of-scale"... "behemoth"...

the size/scale of that hotel just never goes away. now 
perhaps pcpc's nilda ruiz will tell mary that the neighbors 
will 'get used to' the betrayals of shca.


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Re: [UC] From today's edition of METRO

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Developing situations: Place for parents, patients

by solomon d. leach / metro philadelphia

NOV 12, 2008

UNIVERSITY CITY. Families visiting the University of Pennsylvania or 
either of the university’s hospitals could soon be taking solace in a 
new extended-stay hotel in University City.


Campus Apartments, a campus-housing developer, and Hersha Hotels plan to 
start construction on a 10-story Hilton Homewood Suites at 40th and Pine 
Streets early next year. The project got a $2 million loan last week 
from the state’s Building Pennsylvania program, which invests in 
development that will create good-paying construction jobs.


The project still needs approval from the Zoning Board of Adjustments as 
it seeks to adapt the David Leas Mansion, but has already gotten the 
thumbs up from the Planning Commission and conceptual approval from the 
Philadelphia Historical Commission.


“With all the extended stay demand generated by the health system, Penn 
and [Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania], that’s why we’re developing 
this property where we are,” said Tom Lussenhop, a partner in Hersha.


The 115-room hotel, which will feature spacious rooms with kitchens, is 
pushing ahead despite the economic downturn because it depends on 
business from the hospitals and universities, which is year-round, 
Lussenhop noted.


Some neighbors complained the hotel would steal scarce parking from 
residents, while others feared the owners might turn the building to a 
rental property if the hotel failed.


Developers said neither of those would happen, pointing to a deal with 
three parking garages in the area for 75 spaces and a long lease with 
Hilton.


John Farnham, head of the Historical Commission, said the hotel would 
fix up the aging building, which was considered an excellent Colonial 
house.



notice how carefully the article talks about so many of the 
issues -- EXCEPT the hotel's massive size and scale in a 
residential area.


and how nicely the article echoes monday's dp article:


http://tinyurl.com/5b6f86


Economy doesn't halt construction

Experts say demand for education makes planned apartments
feasible in U. City

By: Shawn Aiken
Posted: 11/10/08

Shaky economic times and a tumultuous housing market have
not prevented new properties from springing up throughout
University City in recent years.

Since 2006, a number of mixed-use, luxury apartment
complexes have come to call West Philadelphia home. With
more construction on the way, it may seem like the area
isn't feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis.

Experts cite demand for education, faith in the Nutter
administration and the desirability of the area as reasons
for continued development in University City.

Hub I, located on 40th and Chestnut streets, was completed
in 2006 for $23 million. In 2007, the $71-million Domus
complex, located on 34th and Chestnut streets, was up and
running. And the Radian on 39th and Walnut streets was
finished this past August for $50 million.

Over the next year, construction on Hubs II and III will
begin on Chestnut Street near the original Hub. Costs for
Hub III are projected at about $19 million, while costs for
Hub II have not yet been released.

Wharton Real Estate professor Albert Saiz attributed much of
the construction in the area to positive trends the city has
experienced over the last 10 years.

"At the national level, with the general rise in incomes,
there is increasing demand for living in high-amenity, dense
areas," Saiz wrote in an e-mail.

He said young people and empty nesters are the most likely
candidates to pursue living in the area.

"Central cities with cultural, historic, and recreational
amenities, such as Philadelphia, are faring well
demographically and economically all over the USA," he wrote.

Saiz added that renewed optimism about Mayor Michael
Nutter's administration has drawn many in the business and
civic community to the area, making for a greater demand in
housing.

"University City is a desirable place to live and work, and
the stability of the market is indicative of the stable
demand fundamentals," said Paul Sehnert, Penn's director of
real-estate development.

Still, Sehnert said he did not consider the area immune to
the problems that have recently plagued the national housing
market.

He cited the cancelation or postponement of several
high-profile projects in Center City - such as Donald
Trump's planned 45-story Trump Tower - as evidence that
Philadelphia has been affected by national housing problems.

But Saiz said he saw education as a major reason for the
large investment in the area to build luxury complexes,
despite the economy.

"Demand for college and Masters education is very strong and
growing," he wrote. "In fact, enrollments in some master's
programs is countercyclical: When the economy is not v

Re: [UC] Campus Inn

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

KAREN ALLEN wrote:

And if they're going to build a 3 story building in the
3900 block of Spruce, around the corner from 40th and
Pine on a VACANT LOT, why can't they build the Campus Inn
on the vacant lot and renovate the mansion for the other
project???



thank you! I've been wondering the very same thing since 
hearing the news about the 3-story building (a transplant 
patient facility) behind allegro's near 40th and spruce.


apparently, plans for this 3-story patient facility were in 
the works as early as, if not earlier than, february 2006, 
when the lot at 40th and pine was already vacant:


http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb06/trnshse.htm

and it's been reported that plans for the campus inn at 40th 
and pine began in spring 07 (after the transplant facility).


in any case, it appears that all this vacant real estate at 
this end of 40th street was going to be developed and funded 
by penn's hospitals -- not by ucd's 40th street corridor 
vision, nor with the intervention of penn praxis. [this 
could explain what had been long noted on this list, how 
neither ucd nor penn praxis have published anything public 
about this hotel...]


but what's unclear is how penn can justify planning and 
building these patient care facilities AWAY from all the new 
patient care facilities that penn was planning and building. 
for example, the perelman center, a state-of-the-art patient 
care facility -- connected by a bridge to the penn tower 
hotel, btw -- opened this fall on the very boulevard where 
all of penn's hospitals are located:


http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/perelman/release-advancing-real-time-medicine.html

> Designed by Perkins Eastman/Rafael Vinoly Architects, a
> Joint Venture, the Perelman Center was built to create a
> comfortable and easy-to-navigate environment for patients
> and their families. The soaring glass atrium creates a
> central welcome space adjacent to café and retail space.
> Exam rooms are a spacious 110 square feet, providing
> ample room for family members and friends. Special
> consultation rooms throughout the facility bring doctors,
> nurses and other medical professionals directly to
> patients and their families, eliminating the need for
> visits to different offices around the medical campus.
>
> Additional family waiting rooms offer a comfortable
> retreat for caregivers during appointments, supporting
> research which found that social interaction helps
> patients with cancer live longer. Among other comforts
> are valet parking that puts patients within steps of
> their clinics, and free wireless internet access
> throughout the facility.

...

> The economic impact of the Perelman Center in the
> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is expected to be $348
> million, and $212 million in the City of Philadelphia.
> When it is fully operational, the building will create
> more than 400 new jobs within Penn Medicine and support
> 2,772 jobs directly and indirectly throughout
> Pennsylvania.


- - - - -


with all this development of the hosptial complex AT the 
hospital complex, and all this concern about patients and 
families being in close proximity to each other and to their 
doctors, why is a residential area in our neighborhood being 
asked to be rezoned for hospital uses? what is the logic 
behind this vision at this end of 40th street?


and should we neighbors be appealing to penn-the-hospital 
rather than penn-the-academy [with its 17-18 rejected 
proposals for the site]?



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Re: [UC] Disclosure of relationships at hearings

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

acent
> to the proposed site, said although he will not be living
> there if construction begins, he thinks the project is
> irresponsible.
>
> "I don't see an issue with the design itself," Fenaroli
> said. "It's the setting that bothers me. It's somebody's
> back yard."
>
> Asset manager for Penn Real Estate Esaul Sanchez said
> Penn had received nearly 20 proposals for the site, which
> most concur is in need of renovation, but "nothing else
> really had traction."
>
> Despite the current conditions of the site, local
> resident Chris O'Donnell urged the Spruce Hill Zoning
> Committee to oppose the project.
>
> "The nearby home owners all - and I don't mean most or
> many of us - all unanimously oppose this project,"
> O'Donnell said.



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Re: [UC] Hospital was, Campus Inn

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

These are excellent questions.




another question: did lussenhop and campus apartments and 
the hersha group (while developing the campus inn for penn 
hospital visitors at 40th and pine) know about the plans for 
the parcel near 40th and spruce (for penn hospital 
transplant patients)? if so, when did they know; and if not, 
why not.



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Re: [UC] Campus Inn

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:


Liz,

Truthfully to portray the chief concern of Philadelphia City government 
as 2009 is ushered in,  is not "advocating." It's just reporting.


The chief concern of City government at this hour, like most other 
jurisdictions across America, is to sustain its local economy. If zoning 
regulation helps to sustain that economy, zoning will do quite well 
without my advocacy. If zoning regulation is perceived by local 
"deciders" to hamper this economy at this hour, then regulation 
enthusiasts face a challenge I recommend they respond to smartly.




nice try, tony, but at this hour, the question is not 
whether a campus inn at 40th and pine can sustain or hamper 
the local economy -- not when penn owns so much other 
property on which to build a campus inn. and the question is 
not whether a zoning change at 40th and pine can sustain or 
hamper the economy -- not when penn owns so much other 
property with the zoning it needs. so you're still 
advocating for penn here, not 'just reporting'.


the question today is whether a developer should change the 
existing zoning at 40th and pine, for a purchase that penn 
made 5 years ago, at the permanent expense of our neighborhood.



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Re: [UC] Re: [Ucneighbors] White Dog Closed?

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

the other morning we watched as they power-hosed some metal 
grill things out on the sidewalk. so cool -- the water 
started out as steamy hot spray, but by the end of the 
block, where it had drained, it was a solid sheet of ice.



..
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David Toccafondi wrote:

Their answering machine says they're closed for renovations and they'll
reopen Friday.

dave

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:34 PM, John Ellingsworth wrote:



Yes.

(My friend, who is/was waitstaff, left today.)

John

B Andersen wrote:



I heard that the White Dog closed today. Any truth to this?

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?p=974024



























































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Re: [UC] Re: [Ucneighbors] White Dog Closed?

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

ok this may explain everything:


I just heard that judy wicks has turned the white dog's
kitchen over to martin grimes (of moshulu). here's the new
lunch menu:

http://media.philly.com/documents/wdlunch.htm



..
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UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN wrote:
the other morning we watched as they power-hosed some metal grill things 
out on the sidewalk. so cool -- the water started out as steamy hot 
spray, but by the end of the block, where it had drained, it was a solid 
sheet of ice.



..
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN




David Toccafondi wrote:

Their answering machine says they're closed for renovations and they'll
reopen Friday.

dave

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:34 PM, John Ellingsworth 
wrote:




Yes.

(My friend, who is/was waitstaff, left today.)

John

B Andersen wrote:



I heard that the White Dog closed today. Any truth to this?

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?p=974024












































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Re: [UC] Gotham Book Mart collection comes to Penn!

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:
http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=3df7dab0-2beb-4363-9850-a79ba034ce38 




see the picture on the wall in the photo? a self portrait 
painted by william carlos williams (1914).


I heard they opened one of the gotham packages last week -- 
stay tuned...



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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Joe Clarke wrote:
Are we not in a crisis?  Cutting the libraries without consulting the 
community (or the City Council) may have been hasty but where is the 
money going to come from to cover the deficit?  Is there any area of the 
budget -- fire stations -- that somebody, including the city employees, 
doesn't find unacceptable, draconian, etc...?  I don't think the 
libraries were selected by the  administration for any sinister reason.  
That's your take on it.  I think the libraries are an important part of 
a free society and are an asset to communities that rely on them for 
information and activities.  But it's not like the fascists who go after 
the intellectuals first in order to crush their dissent.  You putting 
Nutter on that level makes me think that his decisions and 
administration are just fodder for your conspiracy theories.  Is Obama next?



I think glenn's been trying to articulate principles here, 
and using examples that maybe get us confounded because 
they're on different scales (size-wise, time-wise). me, I 
tend to habitually think about these things (principles) as 
applicable on the entire local-global continuum...


so, for example, when I hear local questions about how a 
city's budget CRISIS relates to the actions of an elected 
mayor and the expectations of his municipal voters, I can 
hear possible answers in what our national leader just said 
the other day in his address to the world:




As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice
between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers,
faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a
charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man,
a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those
ideals still light the world, and we will not give them
up for expedience's sake

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and
communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with
sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They
understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor
does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew
that our power grows through its prudent use; our
security emanates from the justness of our cause, the
force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility
and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy.



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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
I'm totally supportive of your rhetoric ... but baffled by your proposed 
legislative and administrative solutions, Ray. What are they, in this 
particular case? How do you think the articulation of principles, the 
rule of law, the rights of man, the facing down of fascism and 
communism, and the keeping of the legacy urge us to scrap certain of the 
Mayor's efforts to balance the budget, and adopt certain other 
budget-balancing measures in their place?


If lofty rhetoric and principles cannot generate policy initiatives, 
they don't serve any purpose. Please (everybody else as well) come up 
with some alternative policy initiatives now. Now's when the city needs 
them!



well, the principles I was referring to (and that I thought 
glenn had been referring to, and that I thought obama's 
words were referring to) are HOW our empowered, elected 
leaders go about making decisions -- the process, the 'rule 
of law and the rights of man' -- in the face of a crisis. 
which is pretty basic stuff, not lofty at all.


joe had asked: 'are we not in a crisis?' and the answer is 
yes. but that should not become the expedient basis for what 
glenn has called 'shock doctrine' -- emergency powers which 
justify decision-making behind closed doors and which 
pre-empt public debate. instead -- and esp. in the face of a 
crisis -- we have a profound duty to preserve the legacy of 
our founding fathers' principles, so that no matter what's 
done, there should be accountability, transparency, rigorous 
debate, and inclusive public participation.


this is not mere rhetoric. it's not a sound-bite. we have 
all seen the real costs of what happened 8 yrs ago when the 
bush administration responded to the 9/11 crisis. and we 
have seen the time and energy philadelphians had to spend 
AFTER nutter made his recent budget decisions about the 
libraries.


we hear now that nutter has announced that there will be an 
unprecedented level of public engagement in the budget 
process as we go forward. as glenn reported: "Budget 
workshops will be one piece of this public engagement which 
will ensure that citizens are involved early on in the 
budget process, like never before. The aim is to examine 
different budget options, discuss choices that need to be 
made, and gather input from people across the city on their 
concerns and priorities." it would appear from this that 
nutter now believes that 'lofty ideals and principles' DO 
matter, that they CAN (and SHOULD) generate policy 
initiatives, that they ARE practical and serve a purpose.


it's that same old idea of ben franklin's at work: "those 
who would give up liberty to purchase some safety, deserve 
neither" (or, as obama put it: "we reject as false the 
choice between our safety and our ideals"). and these ideals 
apply to local, national, and international levels. obama 
was speaking to the world when he was inaugurated, and he 
made it a point to say that that world included even the 
tiny village in kenya where his father was born:




What is required for us now is a new era of responsibility
-- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we
have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties
that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly,
firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to
the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our
all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.






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Re: [UC] Gotham Book Mart collection comes to Penn!

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Frank wrote:
http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=3df7dab0-2beb-4363-9850-a79ba034ce38 



UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN wrote:
see the picture on the wall in the photo? a self portrait painted by 
william carlos williams (1914).


I heard they opened one of the gotham packages last week -- stay tuned...





a glimpse of what's in the packages:

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/features/012209-3.html


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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
As for the Founding Fathers, they did care deeply about 
accountability, transparency, debate and public participation, 
although it would never have occurred to any of them to use any of 
those precise words as they made their cases -- our language has 
changed that much in the past 230 years.



well, you've gone from calling it lofty rhetoric to language 
that's different now, but it's hard to see how the f'ing 
fathers could have been more clear or relevant about the 
principles of our citizenship. "We the people" is about as 
basic as you can get to caring deeply about and establishing 
an enduring process for accountability, transparency, debate 
and public participation.


yes, language is important -- it's how we recognize that "I 
did it my way" or "I'm the decider" or "I won" is no excuse 
for handling a crisis, whether we're talking about a city 
budget, an overseas war, or a nation's economic plan. it's 
how we recognize the difference between truths and 
sound-bites, values and press releases, principles and 
internet memes.


and now that penn praxis has been inserted into nutter's 
budget process as a non-elected, non-accountable and 
self-serving entity posing as an impartial facilitator, we 
need to remain as responsible as ever to principles, as 
attentive as ever to language.



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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Attentive indeed. So let us begin by noting that Penn Praxis has *not* 
"been inserted into Nutter's budget process." The agent in this 
situation is the University of Pennsylvania Project for Civic 
Engagement. That there are relationships between the two entities is 
significant. That there are distinctions between the two entities, 
however, is also significant.


Getting names right is not the end of learning, but it is definitely 
near the beginning. So why don't we go through that gate first?



yes, you wrote:
> Penn's Harris Sokoloff is the quarterback for UPPCE. He
> is part of the team that is otherwise mobilized as
> PennPraxis.

and what is significant here is that PENN has been inserted 
into nutter's budget process.



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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
What does it prove, that Nutter hired a Penn arm rather than a Temple 
arm or a Loyola arm to grease a political adjustment? That Penn is the 
largest private-sector employer in the city? That it is growing and 
flourishing, and appears to be on top of its industry's game? That it's 
a logical source for a strapped municipality to seek assistance from? 
That maybe a superior knowledge industry might generate knowledge that 
is applicable to the City's budget meltdown? Precisely what is wrong 
about Penn's contributing to solving the budget woes of its home city? 
Should it refuse to do so, in your opinion?




the problem here, in short, is that nutter's trying to use 
proprietary software to run an open source operating system.



(aye. 18th century principles in 21st century language. the 
founding fathers were indeed wise beyond their years.)


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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:


A nice phrase!

By the same metaphor, though, Nutter -- and every other mayor -- uses 
"proprietary software" to fix public buildings, cut down public trees 
and computerize public offices. They are called "private-sector 
contractors" and they are utterly normal, completely familiar to our 
Founding Fathers, and absolutely inevitable. That's why the City 
Procurement Dept. exists.



budgets (city treasuries) are what enable mayors to cut down 
trees, fix public buildings, computerize public offices. 
decision-making about those budgets isn't proprietary.


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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Will its public meetings accomplish anything in the end? That seems like 
a more reasonable suspicion. Wharton has been flinging buckets of 
high-financial brains into Wall Street for a generation, and look where 
that's gotten us. On the other hand, nobody else knows what to do 
either. So excluding Penn from any role in its city's fate seems odd, to 
say the least.



d'oh!  turns out nutter's a wharton grad ('79)

http://www.nutter2007.com/index.php?/about/


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Re: [UC] Libraries and tactics that are doomed to failure

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

Baloney. Mayors all across the country use proprietary contractors such 
as computer-network installers and planning facilitators and space 
providers, to help their decision-making. That doesn't mean they are 
paying them to do their decision-making (although that might also 
happen, and might not be good).


At the end of the day, it'll still be Mayor Nutter and City Council that 
actually make these decisions. They may decide to balance the budget by 
not punishing the largest surviving private employer in town any more 
than they have to, at least not this year. Such a decision may distress 
some readers, but I am not convinced it is really so bad for The People. 
I think The People, at least the ones I know, face much bigger 
challenges than the University of Pennsylvania these days.




nutter made a budget decision about the city's libraries. 
problem was, city council and The Voting Public didn't agree 
with it. THEN nutter reached for a proprietary solution: 
penn workshops.


it helps to keep in mind what these "much bigger challenges" 
that we The People, at least the ones you know, are actually 
facing these days.



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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:


http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/38686427.html



the closing back-to-back paragraphs from this article 
dovetail nicely:



problem-solving, part I (developing waterfront by mayors to 
address longstanding waterfront crisis inevitably creates a 
crisis):



For years, Philadelphia mayors resisted the idea of a formal
master plan for the waterfront, preferring to negotiate
directly with developers. That view softened after the state
decided to locate two casinos on the riverfront and
developers flocked to the area with proposals for nearly two
dozen skyscrapers.



problem-solving, part II (developing waterfront by 
non-elected, penn-advocated corporation in the midst of 
immediate crisis will not create crisis):



Because of the collapse of the real estate market, the new
waterfront corporation will be able to start planning in a
less pressured environment.




interesting how, in response to crises, all kinds of 
entities step in with 'solutions,' while 'crisis' gets 
defined and re-defined. it becomes all the more crucial for 
us to distinguish problem-solving from opportunism, to look 
past the crisis spin.



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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

(Diners beware, lest you carelessly fall into Yin's 
power: she also Sits On A Board.)




you may want to read the menu more closely. yin did not 
create the very board she sits on.


who writes the menu and who's on the menu are two different, 
but definitely interrelated, things.



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Re: [UC] DP continues on NIMBY shame

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

Check out today's installment which I've linked below.

http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2009/02/02/Opinion/David.Lei.another.Stitch.In.The.Seam-3607392.shtml




if this hotel is such an obvious benefit to everyone (as 
this writer claims), such a pivotal part of penn's 
long-range vision for 40th street, why didn't the dp utter a 
single word about the planned hotel from the beginning? why 
did neighbors only first publicly hear about the hotel when 
the story broke in the university city review in october 2007?


wouldn't the dp (or any other penn publication) have 
announced news about this wonderful hotel a year or so in 
advance of everyone else, like they've done for the other 
wonderful buildings along 40th street, like they're doing 
now for the wonderful transplant patient facility at 40th 
and spruce?



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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

Then neither did Penn employee Taylor Jordan create the very Board she 
sits on, correct?


Who wrote this menu was Michael Nutter, duh. Focus on the chef rather 
than on his toque, I'd recommend.



it was penn praxis that advocated for the creation of this 
board and the type of board it would be (ie, non-elected):



Doing away with the tainted and often ineffectual Penn's
Landing Corp. was the top recommendation in a June report
prepared for the mayor by PennPraxis, the city's
nonprofit waterfront consultant. The only way for the
city to overcome its legacy of failure at the waterfront,
PennPraxis argued, was to start over with a new
management agency run by professionals rather than
politicians

>

Creation of the board is the first of a series of changes advocated by 
PennPraxis



as we have seen, penn praxis determines the agenda and 
frames the issues for any of its 'engagments' with the 
public. within a given penn praxis framework, mayors and 
public may get to pick and choose, but they do not decide 
the range (the menu) of choices.



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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
So let's look past your crisis spin as well as everybody else's crisis 
spin.




let's begin by asking whether the collapse of the real 
estate market is a crisis or a 'less pressured environment'.



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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
However, it is the Mayor that got to pick and choose PennPraxis in the 
first place, for any of its 'engagements' with the public. No Mayor, no 
PennPraxis.




you're leaving out how it was penn praxis that first framed 
and crafted the 'civic vision', which was then used by penn 
praxis and the mayor to disapprove the existing plans for 
the waterfront. no penn praxis, no choices for mayor.


the casino developers knew this and called it a 'rigged game'.


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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:

Your notion that [snipped]



your fantasy ramblings miss the simple fact that penn praxis 
opposes developers at the waterfront while not opposing 
developers at 40th and pine, even though neighbors in both 
cases are opposed to the developers.



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Re: [UC] Penn’s landing, literally

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Anthony West wrote:
Name one meeting or plan delivered by PennPraxis at which the Campus 
Inn even came up. Cite one overarching principle enunciated by 
PennPraxis with regard to 40th St. that, in your opinion, means there 
should be no highrise hotel at Pine St.



exactly:

 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/40th/


and now that you're just hitting reply in order to prove my 
point, not yours -- I'll say adios.



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[UC] Re: DP reporting, national problem

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

Ray and list,

What’s disturbing to me is a general pattern that is emerging, as exemplified 
in the DP series on the hotel.  I’ve been reading serious reports about civics 
education not being part of school curriculum, law students without an 
understanding of basic ethics; and as DP readers know, a loss of basic 
principles in journalism.

Young folks today are immersed in a web of marketing.  Newspapers have 
traditional ads, news stories as ads, editorials as ads, and now opinion 
columns as ads.




ha -- and college hall agenda items are to the dp what hair 
removal ads are to a local rag like city paper.


neither paper is in a position to make refusals.

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Re: [UC] Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Joe Clarke wrote:
This relationship precedes Nutter's administration and will 
probably succeed it as well.  Penn's School of  Education has 
produced at least one -- Connie Clayton -- head of the school board. 
I know that the city's Human Resource database, SOS, was built by 
Penn.  The BRT database was also a co project with the University's 
social work, urban planning, etc..   There are probably dozens of 
other links to the city--why wouldn't there be.  To have that much 
expertise a half mile west, you'd have to be out of your mind not to 
use it.  However, I'd like to see the city be less beholdin' to one 
institution that already has enough money to consider putting tanning 
booths in each dorm room in order to achieve a more diverse student 
body.  I'd like to see them mix it up a bit.  Get some of the other 
schools involved.  Don't just go to Penn each time you need an expert 
on "ethics", genetics, faith-based initiatives (this is laughable), 
on and on.  Penn wants to guard its place at the funding trough (Penn 
is often the distributor-of-choice for funds to the area, the local 
agent, for which it gets a hefty administrative fee).  Penn positions 
itself to benefit Penn and there's no better way than to be up to 
your nose in political access.  The community is also Penn's petri 
dish for social programs and other government initiatives to "help 
out" the community.  No doubt, Penn does good for some, but it is 
always on Penn's terms, as it positions itself to be in the front of 
the line when the ole funding spigot gets turned and that vital 
replenishing liquidity comes gushing forth and streaming down over 
them like lucre's holy sacrament (secular alleluia's are appropriate 
here). In the meantime the community beneficiaries get to be close by 
when all that comes rushing through, where even the spray is  enough  
to revive a program for the next funding year.  Amen



agreed, joe. and while it's questionable enough for penn to 
interfere, as a private entity, with the waterfront 
development, with businesses along 40th street, or with the 
kimmel center re-do, it's even more questionable for penn to 
interfere with decision-making about city budgets. 
especially when penn does not offer concomitant expertise on 
how taxpaying voters can hold penn agencies (and their 
creations) accountable.


example: penn praxis on 40th street
 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/40th/


UNACCOUNTABLE
   the praxis-delivered principles for 40th street run 
counter to the proposed hotel. principles like:


   " small-scale retail

   " values of the community

   " commerce and culture reflecting the surrounding
 neighborhood

   " reduced energy consumption

   " continued consultation, communication, dialogue and
 promotion

and yet it is the friends of 40th street who are held 
responsible for these principles. (by whom?)



NON-TRANSPARENT
   the meeting minutes of the praxis-created friends 
disappear from the website in oct 2007, and never mention 
the hotel (the story of the hotel broke publicly in the uc 
review oct 2007). and yet it is the friends of 40th street 
who are held responsible for 'communication.' (by whom?)





will this model (where penn frames the dialog and creates 
non-accountable, non-transparent "friends"), be applied to 
philadelphia's budget decision-making? to what extent will 
nutter be accountable? not accountable?



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Re: [UC] Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

KAREN ALLEN wrote:
As far as this is concerned: 
"the praxis-delivered principles for 40th street run counter to the proposed hotel. principles like:  " values of the community " commerce and culture reflecting the surrounding   neighborhoodThat's where our neighbors who feed at the Penn trough come into play on behalf of Penn.  It would seem that few people think (or, at least, will say out loud) that it seems odd that the most strident and outspoken supporters of Penn Real Estate's hotel proposal just happen to be mostly real estate agents and large property owners who rent to Penn students. Nor does it seem to be odd that those self-same real estate agents, property owners, and the hotel developer were the same people who all somehow ended up being named to the steering committee which tried to get Penn's UCD BID proposal passed into law. Now it's been revealed that a local community association has had board members quit in disgust over its zoning committee seemingly ignoring their members' loud and clear objections t
o the hotel. 
 
All of this is to say that "the community" can be hijacked by those with self interests who are willing to throw the actual community under the Penn bus. "Pay no attention to my blatant conflicts of interest, and to near-unanimous opposition from everyone else. I am the Community, and I am here to rubberstamp anything Penn wants!"


yes. our neighborhood associations can hijack the community 
and be hijacked by penn interests; meanwhile penn can invent 
'surrogate' neighborhood associations for us.


these are the pseudo 'community engagement' groups (like 
'friends of 40th street'), spawned by the likes of penn 
praxis -- groups (or forums or workshops etc) which not only 
frame the terms of the engagement and its outcomes, but also 
give the appearance that public debate and deliberation have 
taken place and that communication and dialog are continuing.


unfortunately, as we've seen so close at hand with 'friends 
of 40th street', there are no accompanying mechanisms to 
ensure accountability or transparency or continued 
communication -- no matter which side one is on in any given 
issue!


rather than serve or empower or engage citizens, these 
groups, like the neighborhood associations, ultimately serve 
only to give the appearance of community engagement. 
meanwhile the power entities do what they want; in the case 
of 40th street penn builds and develops whatever penn wants 
to build and develop, shca's zoning committee decides zoning 
questions however shca's zoning committee wants. and at the 
end of the day, no one is accountable, yet everyone is 
'engaged'.


and I was asking joe if this model is what we can expect 
with the upcoming penn-led workshops for the city budget. 
and much earlier I was asking if, with obama's inauguration, 
we had entered upon a new chapter of understanding about our 
roles as citizens.




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Re: [UC] Skunk cabbage by any other name (apologies to Juliet)

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

krf...@aol.com wrote:

The following is an excerpt from a piece in this morning's Inquirer.
 
I'm genuinely sickened by the thought that the city is going to run four 
of what we, in UC, have come to know and hate as the "Foregone 
Conclusion Forums" run by Harris Sokoloff -- now not just a prof in 
Penn's Graduate School of Education but the "director of the Project for 
Civic Engagement." We've all seen how these shams operate -- a 
discussion carefully framed by the people who sponsor and run them, 
leading to vague conclusions supposedly given credence by calling them 
"principles" (or am I getting that term wrong?). Then the sponsors claim 
-- well, the name says it all -- "civic engagement."
 
Al Krigman
 
 From the Inquirer:

---

Then, at 7 that night, the first of four community budget workshops
will take place, in which residents will have an opportunity to
consider actual city budget data for the 2010 fiscal year.

Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Project for Civic
Engagement, the forums will be run as workshops, and residents will
be able to comment on the budget decisions facing department leaders.

"We have interactive small-group exercises for citizens to work
together to figure out what they are and are not willing to live
with, and what we learn from that will become the advice we give to
the city," said Harris Sokoloff, director of the Project for Civic
Engagement. "We'll see what happens."


---



without penn's help, the mayor held a series of 'town 
meetings' about the city budget back in december, in the 
wake of the news about the library cuts:


http://youngphillypolitics.com/mayor_nutter039s_town_hall_meeting_schedule

ironically, without even attending the first of these 
meetings, sokoloff was pre-emptively telling us how the 
mayor's meetings were all wrong and how he (sokoloff & co. 
-- penn/inky's great expectations project and the penn 
project for civic engagement) had it right:


http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20081126_Making__town_hall__meetings_work.html

the further irony here is that sokoloff & co. had already 
conducted, in the spring, 10 forums on the budget -- one in 
each city council district -- where citizens were asked to 
talk about the mayor's six major budget areas.



who is in charge here? and when? who decides when 'town 
forums' are done right and when they're done wrong? what is 
an average citizen to think?



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Re: [UC] Demolition alert: 4224 Baltimore Ave - Guy Laren's comparison to Campus Inn project

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

mlam...@aol.com wrote:
Alas, the proposed inn's location at 40th & Pine is not in a local 
historic district!  If it were, then the developers would not be able to 
tear it down, AND they would not be able to build a tall building, and 
perhaps more UC neighbors would be satisfied!



the reason the developer can't tear down the mansion is 
because it's individually designated, that's what lussenhop 
originally wanted to rescind when he went before the phc 
back in spring 2007. but the phc denied its being delisted 
in july 2007:


http://tinyurl.com/2zmxx9

your argument for supporting historic districts is misplaced 
here. in fact, your arguing for a 10-story hotel at 40th and 
pine is AGAINST everything that historic districts are 
designed to protect (streetscapes, fabric, ensembles, etc.)


the question has always been a zoning question, and it 
happens to involve a property that penn purchased, knowing 
that it was a designated property. zoning is a tool to 
protect residential areas from unwanted commercial (or 
other) development; that is what's being defended here -- 
and what you are missing, because you keep arguing that the 
only way to defend it is with an historic district.


all this was pointed out to you earlier, onlist, in oct 
2007, and I'm surprised you're still trying to make this 
argument:


http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity@list.purple.com/msg20121.html


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Re: [UC] Demolition alert: 4224 Baltimore Ave.

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

mlam...@aol.com wrote:
Our community would be so much better off if we could look more closely at 
the merit of the issues before us, rather than only at the names of the persons 
supporting or opposing them.   And we'd lead much less stressful lives if we 
could respect one another's' different opinions, honestly fight the good fight, 
and then shake hands and move forward without being vocal, angry enemies for 
life  Let us try to work in thoughtful, professional ways, even if we have different opinions.




melani, would you acknowledge that you respect the 
overwhelming opinion of so many of your neighbors that was 
demonstrated at the 13 feb 2007 meeting? where they gave 
their opinions, backed by the merits of their good reason, 
against the hotel?


have you fought the 'good fight' and supported your 
neighbors before any of the city agencies that have ruled on 
this hotel (phc, pcpc, the architect committee)?


have you understood why this is a zoning issue, and why it 
was important to uphold zoning as a way to protect both the 
mansion and the neighborhood -- as well as future properties 
throughout the neighborhood, whether they're historic or not?


the time to see this issue as more than just personal passed 
long ago. the time to come together and support and respect 
those with different opinions is still ahead of you, at the 
upcoming zba hearing.


> The second half of the ZBA hearing on the Campus Inn is
> scheduled for Feb 19 at 2:00 pm, 1515 Arch St, 18th
> Floor.


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Re: [UC] Demolition alert: 4224 Baltimore Ave - Guy Laren's comparison to Campus Inn project

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Kimm Tynan wrote:


Melani,

If a small, vocal group of our UC neighbors continues to reject the
restrictions which a local HD would impose, then, because of the increasing
popularity of our neighborhood, we are probably beginning an era of tear-downs
and requests for changes in height.



This is a false dichotomy and red herring.  There¹s absolutely no reason
that a historic district is the only way to maintain height restrictions.
It¹s not an either or choice.



I agree, kimm.

and this was spelled out here pretty early on, back in 
october 2007, about the proposed hotel at 40th and pine. how 
this a ZONING question, not a historic preservation question:


http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity@list.purple.com/msg20121.html

it's odd that anyone would still be stuck on seeing this as 
an issue about historic preservation, and then use that 
false premise to justify support for a 10-story slab on that 
property.


hotel opponents have been trying to protect a NEIGHBORHOOD, 
through responsible zoning, and have argued that neighbors 
would welcome 'responsible development' of the site:


http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity@list.purple.com/msg21283.html


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Re: [UC] The Praxis 100 point game

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:


Four categories are set-up to assign the points for the predetermined and 
outrageous list of cuts, “low hanging fruit� and “No way, no how� are 
the first two.



"gut-wrenching" and "shared pain" are the other two buckets.

but notice how these 4 buckets evaluate the game-playing 
itself, and not the items in the budget.


   http://www.gse.upenn.edu/node/732


In small working groups, citizens reviewed list of budget
cuts and revenue options the PPCE [Penn Project for Civic Engagement]  
constructed from the
city’s budget scenarios. Working first as individuals, then
as a group, citizens prioritized ways to close the budget
gap by placing them into four "buckets" — Low-Hanging Fruit,
No Ways No Hows, Shared Pain, and Gut Wrenchers.
“Low-Hanging Fruit” means those options that are immediate
"winners", that generate a quick consensus. “No Ways No
Hows” represent the immediate "losers", or those choices
citizens believe to be off the table. “The Shared Pain”
bucket contains those options that are unpleasant and
unpopular, but that they feel would be acceptable. “Gut
Wrenchers” are those choices that no one wants to make but
they recognize as what needs to be done to help the city as
a whole.



- - - -

there has been feedback about how this process 
pre-determines outcomes [feedback that doesn't appear on 
penn's site]:


http://whyy.org/blogs/itsourcity/2009/02/18/structure-of-budget-workshop-left-many-frustrated/



Take Northeast resident Jim Curran who started his work
session with a friendly grilling of City Councilman Bill
GreenBut it wasn’t long before Curran was up and out.
“This is all putting us down a cattle shoot - the questions
have already been prepared,” he said of the workshop design.
“It’s too pat, it’s all too pat. You should put this in the
paper or something so we can study ahead of time.”

And Curran wasn’t alone. I saw others leave their workshops
in similar frustration. One was Stan Strez, 65, of
Bridesburg His gripe? “This is ridiculous. Cutting jobs
on the police force? There’s gonna be so much crime its
ridiculous.” Later he explained a bit more, “They’re not
including everything [in the budget scenarios]. And not just
that, they’re not addressing what the real problem is coming
from.”...

Like Jack Morley, 46, of South Philadelphia. “They defined
the format and the structure on how the public was giving
input, and that hamstrung us,” he said of his group, which
only made it half way to its goal

[online post by Jeannine]: There may also be serious
consequences for cutting instead of taking deeper
consideration of alternatives. Putting a mostly same-old,
same-old, cut-til-it-bleeds scenario to a largely naive but
motivated public felt like a bloody disservice to us all.




etc.



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Re: [UC] The Praxis 100 point game

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

I said that we were being "treated like third graders."



3 more forums, on 3 consecutive days -- interesting to 
compare penn's technique of engagement with temple's:


- - - -

feb 23:
  "the essence of leadership" preceptorials hosted by
  wharton's michael useem and penn's president gutmann

  http://tinyurl.com/d5dba8


For part of the session, students were divided into
groups and asked to pick a historical or contemporary
figure they all agreed was a good leader. Each group then
presented its choice along with two to four qualities
that defined its chosen leader to the rest of the room.

Students presented on leaders as diverse as Mahatma
Gandhi, Mohammed Ali, Steve Jobs and Penn's own Ira
Harkavy - founder of Penn's Center for Community
Partnerships. Perseverance, good communication skills and
the ability to lead by example came up frequently in
different groups' leadership templates.

This exercise demonstrated the inductive way in which the
preceptorial was designed to work. Useem told students to
"take example and experience and extract the underlying
principles of leadership."

Gutmann said she was impressed by how well the students
completed the assignment and by their level of
engagement.


- - - - -

feb 24:
  seven community forums to get input for citywide mural
  project, led by ppce's sokoloff and whyy's satullo

  http://tinyurl.com/aerxy8


Two teams of artists will incorporate the beliefs of
participants of all seven forums into proposed murals,
and later, residents will pick the mural that most
represents the theme.

"Murals are about what is possible," said Harris
Sokoloff, director of the Penn Project for Civic
Engagement, which is running the forums with WHYY.

"And these forums are an opportunity for people to come
out and talk about their beliefs and what's possible for
the city, rather than focusing on the negatives."

Tonight will represent a different kind of civic
engagement for Sokoloff

"We're going to ask people to share a story with someone
else," Sokoloff said.

People will sit in pairs and "interview each other and
ask what it's like to live where they live, what it feels
like, tastes like, smells like, sounds like," Sokoloff
said.

"Out of that, we will talk about what they believe -- what
beliefs or values are implied in that story."


- - - -

feb 25:
  temple's spin forum about the local effects and responses
  to the economic crisis, hosted by temple's student public
  interest network

  http://www.temple.edu/law/spin/forum.html


The Temple SPIN Forum will address the local effects of,
and responses to, the global economic crisis. The global
economic crisis has hit Philadelphia hard, impacting the
city in a number of ways. The city is faced with an
enormous budget deficit. Health centers are closing and
access to affordable healthcare is down. Unemployment and
foreclosures are rising. The purpose of the forum is to
engage with members of the community, politicians,
researchers, students, and advocates, to inform the
policy debate about how to deal with the economic crisis
here in Philadelphia. Panelists will speak about housing,
jobs, and healthcare issues, how the budget cuts have
affected their work and their clients, and solutions they
have devised.



- - - - -


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Re: [UC] [Fwd: PlanPhilly: A President's House Divided]

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:

Milton Friedman would be very proud of their use of a crisis.



"A crisis is a terrible opportunity to waste."

  -- Amy Gutmann
 http://tinyurl.com/d5dba8




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Re: [UC] Taxation and the libraries

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

Glenn moyer wrote:
But one tax scheme that seems like a no-brainer to consider now, even though to 
Nutter, it is inviolate and can't be mentioned or considered- The ponzi scheme 
called the ten year tax abatement.




interesting article about the tax abatement in this week's 
inquirer:


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/42312127.html

excerpt:


"The tax abatement has got to go," North Philadelphia
resident Madeline Shikomba said last night to laughs and
cheers at a City Council budget hearing at Temple
University.

Even before Nutter formally proposed higher property
taxes, the volume of grumbling over the abatement program
was up.

At a series of February budget workshops organized by the
University of Pennsylvania and WHYY, attendees said they
opposed higher real-estate taxes largely because of the
abatements, said workshop leader Chris Satullo.

"A lot of people see the tax abatement as a sop to rich
people from somewhere else. They see it as not fair to
people who've lived here their whole lives," said
Satullo, a former editor of The Inquirer editorial page.
"They think their taxes built the streets and the
schools, and they're still paying taxes while people who
make a lot more money than they do are not paying taxes."

Despite the clamor, Nutter remains a staunch supporter of
abatements.




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Re: [UC] The Gutman administration has acted strangely at times...

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

mlamond wrote:

Oh, come on, Al!  It must be the DP's annual April Fools issue!

Melan



it's their yearly gag issue (Gag Issue 2009), and doesn't 
have a fixed date for appearing. the dp's gag issue 
commemorates an incident years ago when the dp was 'gagged' 
 (funds suspended, issues confiscated and burned) but over 
the years some people have come to call it the april fool's 
issue...


brief history here:

   http://tinyurl.com/c7frft


today's issue had this funny bit:


The Daily Pennsylvanian is the daily (well, at least for
now) newspaper published by The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc.
The paper serves the editors who edit it and the managers
who embezzle money out of its funds. The community should
start its own paper if it wants to be represented.




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Re: [UC] Isn't it about time...

[UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN]

krf...@aol.com wrote:
Isn't it about time that the Mayor started seeing through the anointed 
vision of Penn Praxis?
 
This, from today's Philadelphia Bulletin:


*Developers, Community Groups Battle Over Waterfront 'Vision Plan'*
Having Blurred ‘Vision’
By JENNY DeHUFF, The BulletinWednesday, April 22, 2009





this was prologued earlier in the month with a nicely 
dovetailing editorial by penn's harris sokoloff (director of 
penn project for civic engagement at penn's grad school of 
education), in which he told readers what their elected city 
council should do and how city council should behave 
(basically, city council should emulate his workshops).


[excerpt]:


Still, the mayor's plan may miss the mark in significant
ways. When that seems to us to be the case, let's not ask
how could they be so "dumb," "crass" or "evil." Let's
ask: If not this, then how do we balance the budget while
holding on to our vision for a better Philadelphia?

Part of this challenge is to demand new behavior from
City Council. Just as taxpayers must avoid old habits of
complaint, Council must avoid the habit of grandstanding
for or against particular budget items. We must demand
that Council do the same kind of work taxpayers did in
the workshops. They should discuss what they consider to
be the "low-hanging fruit" and why. What's "off the
table" and why.

And their public deliberations should include what kinds
of shared pain and gut-wrenching cuts and increases they
will propose - and why.

In the process, they should build on the work of the more
than 1,700 taxpayers at the budget workshops. Push the
mayor on the values that emerged from those workshops.
Regardless of which taxes Council members want to
increase, they should say how it will further the values
that emerged from the workshops - and how their ideas
will further the vision they hold for the city.

True public engagement isn't a one-time thing. It's not
an end in itself and shouldn't be just an item checked
off a political "to do" list. Rather, it should
kick-start a two-way conversation between city government
and its taxpayers. Taxpayers and the mayor have picked up
that challenge. Now it's time to see whether Council is
interested in more deliberative engagement.




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