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I read through the Temple article too quickly. Is Cecil B. Moore Ave being downzoned to single family housing? That would be where I would draw the line. It's a commercial street.
And yes, Clarke is awful but the conspiracy theory is off. Student renters don't vote. The vast majority don't even change their address from home. The way to get rid of him is for the development and business community to band together and back someone else but they're a bunch of #ussies. |
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It speaks to the fact that more people want move here and if companies want to hire all that talent they'll eventually come here too. You have to really try to spin something like this as a negative. |
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Details about what the zoning changes actually involve can be found here:
http://www.phila.gov/CityPlanning/me...powerpoint.pdf It's the last item in the presentation |
At least CBM didn't get downzoned but still....
The zoning code should not be subject to politics i.e., the short term wants of NIMBYs and the shortsighted legislators who acquiesce to every demand. The zoning code should be strictly safeguarded and managed by urban planning professionals. |
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First, this was approved by City Council unanimously, meaning including folks like Allan Domb. In other words, it doesn't get any less political than this at City Council. Second, the idea for this legislation didn't originate with Clarke--it was introduced "at the recommendation of the City Planning Commission." In other words, this is precisely an example of the zoning code being "strictly safeguarded and managed by urban planning professionals." Also, as the article makes abundantly clear, this is about stabilizing the neighborhood and ensuring that it doesn't get completely taken over by transitory student housing. Similar efforts have been made in University City and West Philly by Penn and Drexel, consolidating student housing on and nearer to their campuses, and encouraging more single-family development and stability further away. Penn famously had--and may still have--a program to subsidize loans for employees, including faculty and professional employees, to buy, fix up, and move into single-family houses a few blocks west of campus. And of course, Penn Alexander School is a BIG part of that. So I think it's hard to read the entire article and conclude anything other than that this legislation was instigated by the urban planning professionals in the City Planning Commission, and not by Clarke, NIMBYs, or anyone else. |
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I would also point out that the zoning changes do include some upzoning along Ridge and Broad, a change which I think we all support.
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There are a dozen of neighborhoods gentrifying with single-family housing: Francisville, Point Breeze, Dickinson Narrows, Brewerytown, Fishtown, Olde Kensington, East Kensington, etc. etc. It's nice to mix multi-family in there. This area would be half-abandoned if not for the new development for students. Gentrification and redevelopment would not have even reached this point yet. Plus, with all of the other areas in the city (even neighborhoods around this one) gentrifying with single-family housing, or which still can gentrify with single-family housing (Ludlow, Sharswood, West Poplar, etc.), it's nice to have something different, which appeals to a different demographic. Maybe one day we will get to a point where the areas South and East/West of Temple are changing to a single-family setting where people young professionals and families can put down roots (similar to what has happened over time in the neighborhoods surrounding University City), but we're just not there yet. All this will do is kill momentum, or force developers to build single-family homes to fill with 4-8 college students. In the latter case, it's just going to cause the students to spread farther, faster. |
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If the concern was helping existing lower income people remain in some single-family homes in the area, there are much more intelligible solutions that don't have the consequences this will have. Such as adaptive reuse of existing single-family housing stock and tax relief for longstanding property owners in the area to mediate the rising cost of living there. Not blocking any higher density buildings. The only real way to tackle the affordable housing crisis is with increased density. This is very poor city planning under the guise of maintaining the "character" of neighborhoods. We will see many vacant grass lots remain so when they could have been developed. The economics no longer make sense. At best, if the demand is there, we might see some larger, more expensive single-family homes for occupation by college students or families, but these won't improve the lives or financial burdens of longtime residents either. |
It seems to me that they're attempting to manipulate the mix of development. Would it be safe to assume that student housing is free to develop on the commercial streets just not the smaller, mostly single family homes streets? That seems a fair mix if so, and not unusual. Assuming there are enough places where multi-family development can be done. It should not be a total blanket but a quilt of priorities.
Often these empty lots are owned by developers and waiting to expand them. Attempting to gut the neighborhood. It's a battle being raged on every urban campus. The townies and the students. It's vital to come up with the right mix and making attempts to do so. I like to believe it's being done for the best interest of the community. |
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