PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[PHLtoNYC]

What an asshole. Is he going to jail yet?
It would have been wonderful if Lauren Vidas beat him in 2019.

[MadhattersLT]

I mean to play devils advocate, my buddy lives right there (and i did for four years) and he was told apparently a lot of the business owners don’t want the new plan because it’ll make receiving deliveries difficult if not impossible. Not to mention as someone who drives on Washington Ave frequently it’ll for sure make driving on it even more terrible. You don’t increase efficiency of a road by reducing lanes. Just my two cents.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by MadhattersLT

I mean to play devils advocate, my buddy lives right there (and i did for four years) and he was told apparently a lot of the business owners don’t want the new plan because it’ll make receiving deliveries difficult if not impossible. Not to mention as someone who drives on Washington Ave frequently it’ll for sure make driving on it even more terrible. You don’t increase efficiency of a road by reducing lanes. Just my two cents.

The loading complaint is valid, but the second half of your argument is actually yet more evidence that we need better rail transit in South Philadelphia, chiefly along Washington Avenue.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by MadhattersLT

I mean to play devils advocate, my buddy lives right there (and i did for four years) and he was told apparently a lot of the business owners don’t want the new plan because it’ll make receiving deliveries difficult if not impossible. Not to mention as someone who drives on Washington Ave frequently it’ll for sure make driving on it even more terrible. You don’t increase efficiency of a road by reducing lanes. Just my two cents.

Those businesses are all on the way out. Hell of a way to plan for the future when all you do is look back to the past.

[nemesisinphilly]

Most of those businesses want out but they won't sell until the zoning is changed to follow the Philadelphia 2035 plan. Their land is worth a lot less with the current zoning. KJ will never rezone though as that will invite a LOT of new development with residents that would never vote for him. So we are at an impasse until he loses an election or goes to jail and someone more forward looking gets elected.

[TonyTone]

Originally Posted by MadhattersLT

I mean to play devils advocate, my buddy lives right there (and i did for four years) and he was told apparently a lot of the business owners don’t want the new plan because it’ll make receiving deliveries difficult if not impossible. Not to mention as someone who drives on Washington Ave frequently it’ll for sure make driving on it even more terrible. You don’t increase efficiency of a road by reducing lanes. Just my two cents.

Ding ding ding, remember what I said a couple posts back people view the road diet as bad & businesses were complaining.

Cmon peoples stuff just doesnt happen for no reason.

[PhilliesPhan]

While on a walk, I noticed construction equipment near Franklin Square. It appears that work on Franklin Square Station has begun! PATCO and HNTB crews were on site.

[PHLtoNYC]

As an FYI to everyone, the Rittenhouse Fine Art Show is back on the square today and through the weekend. I wish I could make it down to check it out!

[DeltaNerd]

Originally Posted by MadhattersLT

I mean to play devils advocate, my buddy lives right there (and i did for four years) and he was told apparently a lot of the business owners don’t want the new plan because it’ll make receiving deliveries difficult if not impossible. Not to mention as someone who drives on Washington Ave frequently it’ll for sure make driving on it even more terrible. You don’t increase efficiency of a road by reducing lanes. Just my two cents.

You can increase Pedestrian and biker safety. While I understand business need deliver trucks for the business to run they could have worked with the city for a comprise. Also less cars the better for everyone else. Driving on Washington ave is basically a 3 lane road anyway with everyone double parking all the time.

[MadhattersLT]

Less cars? It’s a major road in a major metropolitan city, like it or not cars aren’t going anywhere. While you can argue the need for more public transportation it’s not there and won’t be for a longgggg time. Some people are gonna use their vehicles. As far as business owners... if I’m a business owner who relies on my business for my lively hood I’d absolutely be fighting the plan as proposed. Getting deliveries/shipping goods out is quite vital i believe? And you can call them selfish all you want but they were there way before all these cookie cutter multi floor boxes going up everywhere.

[Philly Fan]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

As an FYI to everyone, the Rittenhouse Fine Art Show is back on the square today and through the weekend. I wish I could make it down to check it out!

Thanks for the heads up! Question is, should I bring this to my wife's attention and be dragged down there with her, or not?

[DeltaNerd]

Originally Posted by MadhattersLT

Less cars? It’s a major road in a major metropolitan city, like it or not cars aren’t going anywhere. While you can argue the need for more public transportation it’s not there and won’t be for a longgggg time. Some people are gonna use their vehicles. As far as business owners... if I’m a business owner who relies on my business for my lively hood I’d absolutely be fighting the plan as proposed. Getting deliveries/shipping goods out is quite vital i believe? And you can call them selfish all you want but they were there way before all these cookie cutter multi floor boxes going up everywhere.

What I am saying is the business would had a loading zone space for deliveries. Washington Ave I would argue definitely unserved for transit. I understand people drive, I drive and I have a car. The point is we don't need to build streets for cars only. Washington Ave is a good East/West route for biking commuters, biking delivery, and general bike users.
The business will still have there space to operate and function.

[iheartphilly]

It could work on Washington Ave. It's wide enough to add a bike lane in either direction. If you guys ever saw the bike lanes in DC around the museums and monuments, the roads are way wide enough to accommodate it. In philly, our version would just be smaller widths but doable. I think the stink is losing one side of parking and the illegal parking in the median. Most of the loading and unloading for business IIRC is curb cuts so that shouldn't be an issue.

[Skintreesnail]

Originally Posted by DeltaNerd

The point is we don't need to build streets for cars only. Washington Ave is a good East/West route for biking commuters, biking delivery, and general bike users.

This is a good point, there are a whole lot more modes of transportation that often get neglected in favor of cars. Not everyone can afford to own a car. There is dependency on walking, biking and public transportation that is way underserved by city planning, which is why the whole anti-gentrification argument is so daft. The proposed road diet was a complete compromise, it ranged from 3 to 5 lanes and did an ok job trying to make a dangerous road safer for everyone. Fighting to keep the status quo will not stop gentrification. Only an increase in the available units to meet the demand and affordable units will control the price.

I also heard some businesses are looking to sell and want the plan and zoning change, but some are definitely digging in. I think working on a public compromise on loading or whatever they're looking for is a better approach than simply working behind everyone's back to block anything.

As far as making it easy on drivers, we live in a very dense northeast city, not a southern sprawling city with tons of highways. I think it's totally appropriate to expect the driving experience to be slow and tedious and nothing should be done to change that. There are other options for drivers to quickly cut across town than Washington ave. A three plus lane road is still fairly generous by Philly standards. Currently Washington ave is 10 feet wider than broad and 20 feet wider than market. Its the same width as spring garden, which has a median going down the center and is also under review for changes. Keeping Washington ave as is is totally unacceptable. The groups who have been successful with stalling changes on the west side are now going after the east side. Hopefully they don't get anywhere with that.

[blart]

6/4

1500 block of American -








2nd & Oxford -

[AnEmperorPenguin]

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

As far as making it easy on drivers, we live in a very dense northeast city, not a southern sprawling city with tons of highways. I think it's totally appropriate to expect the driving experience to be slow and tedious and nothing should be done to change that. There are other options for drivers to quickly cut across town than Washington ave. A three plus lane road is still fairly generous by Philly standards. Currently Washington ave is 10 feet wider than broad and 20 feet wider than market. Its the same width as spring garden, which has a median going down the center and is also under review for changes. Keeping Washington ave as is is totally unacceptable. The groups who have been successful with stalling changes on the west side are now going after the east side. Hopefully they don't get anywhere with that.

lol you'd think the discussion was about closing washington entirely. Sure maybe illegal deliveries will be harder (good!), but it's still going to be a major road moving a ton of traffic

[Justin7]

The east side of Washington should go back to the 3-lane plan that the people voted for. The west side can rot if that's what Lord Johnson insists. Vote him out then fix the west end of the street.

[PHLtoNYC]

Bringing up a sore topic, I know there is a thread, but this is shareworthy IMO. Really unfortunate, and I don't know how leadership will turn this around. What can be done short term to curb the violence?

3 dead, 12 injured after shooting on South Street in Philadelphia

https://6abc.com/philadelphia-mass-shooting-center-city-south-street-philly/11928387/

[reparcsyks]

^^ Let's not start this up on this thread. Gun violence is not a Philly problem. It's an America problem. Philly leaders cannot solve this problem. Let's stop pretending they can. This isn't Krasner's fault. This isn't Kenney's fault. This is a nationwide problem that will most likely never be addressed properly.

[skyhigh07]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Bringing up a sore topic, I know there is a thread, but this is shareworthy IMO. Really unfortunate, and I don't know how leadership will turn this around. What can be done short term to curb the violence?

3 dead, 12 injured after shooting on South Street in Philadelphia

https://6abc.com/philadelphia-mass-shooting-center-city-south-street-philly/11928387/

We can go round and round with this but what you’ll likely see is more community meetings demanding more police presence. Other community message boards are already filled with posts of people freaking out about theft, car jackings, dirt bikes, smashed windows, lewd behavior etc etc. If you haven’t noticed there seems to be a cop on every corner lately. I suspect the next thing will be demanding more police intervention… and then we’re right back where we started in 2020.