2008-09-23
COMMUNITY - SEPT PDAC Report
The latest PDAC report is now available, under our City Services section.
Click Here
2008-09-09
Architect named to head city planning agency
By Inga Saffron
Inquirer Architecture Critic
Mayor
Nutter, who has vowed to make urban design a priority again in Philadelphia, has picked Alan Greenberger to oversee the City
Planning Commission, selecting an architect with planning experience rather than a career planner.
Greenberger, 56, a principal
at MGA Partners Architects, has increasingly involved himself in the city's zoning and planning debates. He was one of
the founders of the Design Advocacy Group, which has become the voice of the local design and planning community.
Read the rest of the Philadelphia Inquirer article at philly.com click here
(thanks to Ray Nasser for the article alert!)
Plan Philly Update
Latest news and events from Plan Philly, check them out under our Zoning section click here
2008-09-04
COMMUNITY
AUGUST ANTI-DRUG RALLY IN HAWTHORNE
Thanks Marla for the photos and write-up!
"I'm
a resident of the Hawthorne community(I live at 13th and Catharine).
I wanted you, and the rest of HEC, aware of a wonderful
anti-drug
rally that took place August 3rd right in our neighborhood. While I
was at home that afternoon and all
of a sudden I heard a crowd of
people on my corner playing the drums and saying things like "say no
to drugs
and yes to Jesus!" I came out of my house to show my support
and also take pictures to show the community.
I
think they sent a wonderful message when you come together as a
community, you can defeat anything.
Attached
are 4 pictures of those in the Rally. I hope at least one of
them can be included in the next HEC newsletter. I don't
think too
many people were around to able to see the deomonstration that day,
but hopefully they'll get noticed
thanks to the newsletter."
Thanks!
Marla
2008-08-18
CITY SERVICES
The August PDAC update has been posted. read it here under the City Services section.
Click Here
2008-08-06
CITY SERVICES
2:55 am est
COMMUNITIES
Dear PlanPhilly member,
A PennPraxis-led analysis of what it will take to make casino site designs compatible
with principles and values that were identified during the central Delaware civic visioning process headlined the last week’s
top news.
Part I: News Casino Workshop Concludes Experts in transportation, sustainability, infrastructure and ecology rough out plan for making proposed casino plans compliant
with civic vision and action plan. Other coverage: (1)
Workshop underway; (2)
How to make casino designs fit vision.
Post your comments.
See other coverage in
Daily News Local Page,
DN Editorial Page, DN blog
Philly Clout,
Inquirer, and
Metro.
Dilworth House process grinds on Licenses & Inspections review board could soon rule on 16-story Washington Square condo; legal fight might then ensue.
Post your comments.
Transit Oriented Design push in Philadelphia NeighborhoodsNow is managing the planning and civic engagement process for the area around the 46th Street El station.
Post your comments.
Looking beyond the exterior facade Historical Commission's recommendation will have consequences for historic buildings that might have interiors deemed
worthy of preserving.
Post your comments.
Temple U. station gets a once-over The challenge of bringing transit oriented revitalization to the area around 9th and Berks.
Post your comments.
Part II: Events Aug. 4-Oct. 31: Ed Bacon Foundation | 3rd Annual Student Design CompetitionAug. 6: Community Design Collaborative Open House
Aug. 13: Zoning Code Commission
Sept. 14: Bike Philly -- register today!
Best until next week,
Matt Golas, Managing
Editor
**If you find this update valuable, please forward to your friends. If you haven't subscribed, do so
by
clicking here.
BEAUTIFIACTION
2:49 am est
COMMUNITY
2:47 am est
CITY SERVICES
Harris Steinberg on Philly's re-energized Planning Commission.
Date: 6/24/2008
By:
Brad Linder
Harris Steinberg heads Penn Praxis the clinical consulting arm of the University of Pennsylvania School
of Design. Steinberg teaches city and regional planning at Penn. He also helped organize the Philadelphia Inquirer's 2003
public forum to explore the future of Penn's Landing and the Philadelphia Daily News' 2006 casino forum.
What steps does Mayor Nutter need to take to give the Planning Commission the power it needs to make a difference?
Mayor Nutter has called for all development proposals to start at the Planning Commission. This is a very significant
proposal. Furthermore, he's requiring traffic and transportation studies for all projects that the commission will review.
He is creating a rational review and approval process that begins with professionals. This has not been the case up until
now.
In addition, he is calling for the formation of a Design Review Commission that will play a role in responding
to the aesthetic impacts of si gnificant projects on the built environment. He has also indicated that he will ask City Council
for a change to the Charter to grant more power to the commission. Currently, the Planning Commission is only advisory. Were
he to grant it review and approval authority over development projects such as the Historical Commission has over buildings
on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, this would be a significant reform of the existing system.
Currently
City Council and the Zoning Board of Adjustment have had control over planning while the Planning Commission has served an
advisory role. Why isn't this working?
Council is susceptible to political pressure and lobbying (from
both developers and community groups) and the resultant projects that were approved were not healthy ones on the whole. Rather
than plan thoughtfully for the city or neighborhoods, City Council and the Zoning Board of Adjustment viewed projects on a
case by case basis. In ge neral, the prevailing philosophy was that if we turned down developers, the city would shut down.
It was not a progressive way to make a city. We ended up with the Disney Quest
hole at 8th and Market, plans
for extremely tall residential towers along the waterfront on large exposed parking podiums and other projects that do not
contribute to the quality of life in Philadelphia in a substantive fashion.
Why is it important to have
a centralized body overseeing development in a city like Philadelphia?
Planning and development go hand
in hand. Well designed cities and places are desirable places to live, work and play. Philadelphia has a long legacy of sound
urban planning that goes back to William Penn's original plan for the city in 1683. He created a strong framework for
growth that balanced public good (our five original public squares and the street grid) and private development that has withstood
the test of 350-years of time.
Ove r the years, particularly in the last 16 years, we've allowed the private
sector to determine the physical form of the city with little to no oversight or guidance by professional planners who are
trained to ensure that the public good is being represented. This, coupled with an antiquated zoning code, the tradition of
councilmatic prerogative and successive mayoral administrations that saw any development as good development, precipitated
the devolution of Philadelphia's planning environment into one in which development proposals were being reviewed and
adjudicated in City Council or the Zoning Board of Adjustments. Neither of these bodies have the skills or expertise to make
these decisions and thus many projects such as a Wal-Mart on the waterfront and parking garages along Chestnut Street were
permitted without understanding their impact on traffic, pedestrian amenities, storm water management, and urban form.
Empowering the Philadelphia City Planning Commission to over see all development in the city is significant. To be
a city of choice in today's economy is to place strong emphasis in quality of life. The City Planning Commission is uniquely
positioned to oversee development
within the broader context of place and economic development.
http://www.whyy.org/news/itsourcity.html
