Dear SHCA zoning committee, I want to inform you about some testimony given at the Philadelphia Historic Commission (PHC) Architectural Committee proceedings on October 23, 2007. This is relevant and very important for your consideration of the Campus Inn proposal scheduled for Wednesday.
If Barry has previously informed you of the following testimony, please consider this confirmation. In recorded testimony, Olshin of the University of Pennsylvania development team, (Lussenhop, Sanchez, Forte, Olshin, et al.) stated, ".when we met with Spruce Hill zoning association twice for public open forums we made a presentation." This testimony was given during the developer's general presentation of corporate letters of support and claims of overwhelming community support for the Pine St. hotel. At the hearing, I testified that I did not believe the claim that the zoning committee facilitated 2 public open forums for the Campus Inn presentation. Neighbors, I had spoke to about a proposed hotel at Pine St. only discovered the project in its advanced stages. Apparently, the hotel was first exposed publicly, October 10, 2007, in the UC Review. (Please note: the development team had requested de-listing of the historic 19th century mansion on or about June 10th , 2007. In the news report, this request for a path to demolition was denied July 11, 2007). Moreover, I researched the SHCA web site and local public record archives to seek any evidence that such forums had ever been announced to this community. I could find no indication that the official testimony was true! This unsupported apparently false testimony is a very important matter for clarification! If I missed announcements and you hosted the claimed forums, I will need to write a retraction to PHC and a letter of apology to the developers immediately. But if the developers' testimony was not true, it concerns the reputation of your committee, the reputation of the Spruce Hill Civic Association and is extremely important to the residents and business owners in Spruce Hill and the surrounding community! Giving false or misleading information at official government proceedings must not be tolerated! Did the SHCA zoning committee conduct "public open forums" on two occasions prior to October 23, 2007 which showed community support for the proposed hotel at Pine St? Was the Campus Inn presentation announced, in advance, to SHCA members and to the community for both of these claimed "public open forums?" In the October 10, UC Review revelation, Barry indicated that some type of contact with the committee had previously occurred. Did the committee have informal or private meetings with the development team in the spring or summer of 2007? If so, when? And who was in attendance for the committee? For the developers? If the committee members can unequivocally deny that "public open forums" took place prior to Oct. 23, I will be happy to forward the denial to the community listserv for general distribution! If the committee cannot verify the veracity of the developers testimony recorded at the PHC, I respectfully request that you demand an explanation from the development team prior to any presentation given at your upcoming meeting. If it is determined that the development team has engaged in and did not retract false testimony to a city commission, we should not waste additional time with presentations that cannot possibly be trusted. We should discuss with our neighbors; the actions our community should take with the help of you nine committee members! Please note: At the full PHC hearing, November 9, 2007, the developers claimed a third such public meeting was scheduled the following week. It was, in fact, your association elections scheduled which did not include any such hotel presentation on its agenda!! So rather than correcting the previous testimony, the developer's appeared to give additional misinformation in their follow-up testimony November 9, 2007 and successfully gained approval for the Hilton. Thank you for the change of Wednesday's meeting to an appropriate venue, and for announcing it in the local community paper. Thank you in advance for your attention to this vital issue and your responsiveness. I am forwarding this message to the local community listserv in order to keep the community informed about this very serious testimony to PHC and your response. Thanks again! Sincerely, Glenn Moyer Spruce Hill resident and business owner
