Congratulations. I like the area around the park.
Andrew, Penn/UCD use their marketing machine to call
the neighborhood around 50th-52nd the frontier; a
scary, unwanted, dangerous place that needs conquest.
I know it sounds strange but you are lucky that Penn
marketing still calls the neighborhood a ghetto. I
hope your neighborhood doesn't allow Penn spin to
bother or discourage anyone.
It's very true, in my opinion, that that spin has
caused serious damage to the entire city for decades.
The image Penn creates for Philadelphia is done for
selfish corporate style reasons cooked up by wolves in
back rooms on campus.
My neighborhood near Clark Park was called a ghetto
too during the 1990's. It's obvious to me and some
others, the long term Penn strategy then was to soften
the neighborhood and city so that a new land grab and
power-play could be expedited. Nevertheless, this
neighborhood was a great neighborhood and could never
be destroyed becuse it drew a diverse mix of people
that together formed a great community which inspired
people to proclaim, I love it here. But I think it's
also clear that Penn jackals underestimated the damage
this policy would cause the university as a world
class center for research and education.
Penn believed that individuals from around the world
would be satisfied with having a fortress campus
promised and nearby gated suburbs to attract people.
But so many students and world class researchers
didin't want to come to Philadelphia. Look these
aren't the most brilliant corporate snakes guiding
Penn policy.
These issues converged so that Penn started UCD and
commenced the land grab and power play stage of the
long term corporate plan for corporate Penn in the mid
to late 1990s.
Here is my point about being lucky that you are still
the ghetto to Penn. You may have some more years
ahead where the residents have basic rights as
citizens as long as they stay away from the UCD
police. Here in the corporate town known as the Penn
or UCD district, the residents have completely lost
most fundamental rights as citizens. We are permitted
only as consumers and subjects in a corporate ruled
pseudo gated upscale zone ruled by unaccountable UCD
undercover police only accountable to backrooms at
Penn.
Andrew, I'm glad business and the neighborhood is
doing well. Please get the neighbors together if you
ever hear any gossip that Penn is coming to save your
good neighbors! I've lived through that hell and have
been forced to watch my community deconstructed and
our rights taken. I wish the Clark Park area and 40th
and Pine was the dangerous ghetto again.
Sincerely,
Glenn, from the occupied UCD zone
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
A dozen blocks west of the proposed hotel at 40th
and Pine, there's a new
development that has a neighborhood excited and
pretty much unified. The 52nd
street business association and newly-formed
cultural affairs office Arts West
have just opened new facilities at 623 S. 52nd St.
The corridor has been
marked by internecine squabbles and a couple of
false starts in recent years,
but this new iteration seems to have some real
momentum. Membership in the
association is on the rise, and several new
businesses have proven to be
enthusiastic contributors to the corridor. If you
haven't been up to 52nd in
awhile, you should make a point of doing so.
Justin's Snacker Corner, Cedar
Supermarket, 52nd Street Flavors (now serving
coffee!), Off The Chain thrift
store, Liz and Daughter Hair Forum, Urban
Unity...the list of new businesses is
growing almost weekly. And there are some nice new
touches. Planters freshly
adorned with flowers, new awnings, freshly painted
facades and street trees are
really livening things up. Anyway, it's not my best
work, but here are some
video highlights from the Grand Opening:
http://malcolmxpark.org/?p=565
That's malcolmxpark.org, West Philadelphia's most
midwestern blog...
Andrew
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