On Thursday, November 7, 2002, at 01:14 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Furthermore, as the neighborhood's popularity increases now and local demandLets see... when was 15 years ago -- lets call it 1985 (I think it was actually 87, but no big deal). What were the "social engineering" factors driving the desire to preserve what we had here?
for rental units grows, a whole new set of preservation issues arises.
Landlords could easily be tempted to rip down an older building and build
anew, replacing our history with something modern and snazzy to appeal to
undergraduate sensibilities. A neighborhood with such a large transient
population as Spruce Hill has an ever-changing group of inhabitants and
constant pressures to adapt to the latest whim.
There are many reasons for historic preservation. The exact issues may not
be the same as they were 15 years ago, but the need remains to preserve our
historic heritage. And it has NOTHING to do with "social engineering."
Vast areas of the community had been torn down about 15 years before and replaced with high-rise "apartments" -- the dorms at Penn and the buildings north of Market Street.
Remember "Urban Renewal?" An entire community was wiped out in the name of "progress."
We were coming off the age of Meltzer and Bacon. Bernie was building a second high-speed, limited access link between the Expressway and I 95 eliminating South Street, which was nothing but a "blighted" area full of hippies bearing no relationship to the community which exists today. The blighted area today is the block the Krass Brothers tore down to build a "modern" suburban style shopping strip in... not unlike the one on the 4300 block of Chestnut, sans parking.
We were coming from an era of central planning when Government knew best. When Government would take care of your every need.
Today, everyone is trying their best to tear down those same high-rise "solutions" and replace them with what they tore down to build them. And others are seeking to return to the era of Government knows best.
"It's a circle game."
T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
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