Ray,
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.
Your comparison to the Penn health system model is right on target. The
sweeping takeover of all independent health systems is identical to the
overall model for the U in Philadelphia.. The experience of the last decade
has shown that nothing will be allowed to exist in culture, education,
community that is not controlled and answerable to the Penn trustees and
their cutthroat operatives at Penn Real Estate under Craig C.
The Rodin speech is terrifying. I've read different parts of this garbage as
the 24/7 Penn propaganda machine spins. For example, the "killing field
series" began 7 years ago and now Cedar Park has been pasted in for Clark
park and good neighbors used mums instead of London Planes to kick out the
whores and gangs.
When people in the neighborhood have pondered the tremendous divisiveness
that comes with the upscale hotel, park revitalization, etc; I've noticed a
denial that these processes are not deliberate; that this is not part of a
cold calculated master plan. To me this Rodin speech is like the Wolfiwitz
doctrine that preceded the illegal preemptive invasion of Iraq.
Every bit of nastiness that Philadelphia and our neighborhood has faced in
the past decade is evident in the Rodin speech. And every bit of the
nastiness is cloaked in words like partnership, commitment, etc.
Secrecy, backroom dealing, propaganda, divide and conquer have not been
caused by overzealous low-level operatives like Lussenhop. The master
business plan for the destruction of democratic processes and community
comes directly from the top of the heap, the president and the trustees.
Remember how Iraq torture was first blamed on a borderline retarded prison
guard?
Conflict of interest has become the norm for Penn power brokers and defines
the U. Every word uttered by leaders like Rodin needs to be scrutinized for
meaning based on the real actions of the U. Not a single word can be
accepted as if some honorable leader at some great university speaks it!
Every member of this community should read that Rodin speech!
http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v50/n27/rodin.html
Thanks for posting this,
Glenn
----- Original Message -----
From: "UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "univcity" <Univcity@list.purple.com>
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 12:44 AM
Subject: Re: [UC] Fw: PW article, catchment and real estate
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."
..................
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN
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