PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread II - Page 12

Gatorade_Jim · #**221** Posted **Feb 7, 2023, 7:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Paul Levy to step down as Center City District president and CEO after 33 years
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...Pos=0#cxrecs_s

Paul Levy will step down as president and CEO of Center City District at the end of 2023, closing out a 33-year run leading the organization.

Prema Katari Gupta, CCD's vice president for parks and public realm, will replace him in both roles effective Jan. 1, 2024.

Boy what a wild 33 year career to have. To start at the beginning of the 90s and to watch Philly grow into what it is today, only to have all of that work face an existential threat at the tail end of your career. I'm glad he got to see Philly rebound from the pandemic before calling it quits. Hopefully Gupta is up to the task.

mcgrath618 · #**222** Posted **Feb 7, 2023, 7:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatorade_Jim

Boy what a wild 33 year career to have. To start at the beginning of the 90s and to watch Philly grow into what it is today, only to have all of that work face an existential threat at the tail end of your career. I'm glad he got to see Philly rebound from the pandemic before calling it quits. Hopefully Gupta is up to the task.

Thank goodness he's not leaving completely; he'll still be chair of the board.

mcgrath618 · #**223** Posted **Feb 7, 2023, 8:22 PM**

Something New Heading to a Far-flung Corner of Old City
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...er-of-old-city

Had a good chuckle over this one. The original JKRP design was rejected by the historic commission on account of it looking like dogshit, so the owners dropped them from the project and went with CANNO instead :v

gjrip · #**224** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 12:14 AM**

delete

PurpleWhiteOut · #**225** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 12:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Something New Heading to a Far-flung Corner of Old City
https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...er-of-old-city

Had a good chuckle over this one. The original JKRP design was rejected by the historic commission on account of it looking like dogshit, so the owners dropped them from the project and went with CANNO instead :v

It's a good thing the historic commission has say here, my god. Not sure how they ever thought that would pass lol. CANNO has experience designing in Old City so they should already know what they're looking for

Justin7 · #**226** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 1:04 PM**

Does anyone know a good site to discuss problems with the way Philadelphia is governed and actions citizens can take to improve things (other than just voting)? Does one exist?

jaysb · #**227** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin7

Does anyone know a good site to discuss problems with the way Philadelphia is governed and actions citizens can take to improve things (other than just voting)? Does one exist?

Obviously most of these orgs will depending on your personal politics but 5th square pushes for some good advancements:
https://www.5thsq.org/2023_issues

Stop Council Grift would be of great interest to most of us here

cardeza · #**228** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 3:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysb

Obviously most of these orgs will depending on your personal politics but 5th square pushes for some good advancements:
https://www.5thsq.org/2023_issues

Stop Council Grift would be of great interest to most of us here

I just looked that list and its a wide ranging "give us everything" type of list. We just need world peace and free energy to be added. They probably need to narrow their focus and energy on a few high profile, high impact changes.

Urbanthusiat · #**229** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 5:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardeza

I just looked that list and its a wide ranging "give us everything" type of list. We just need world peace and free energy to be added. They probably need to narrow their focus and energy on a few high profile, high impact changes.

I think you might be misunderstanding what an advocacy group is...

Londonee · #**230** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 6:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Thank goodness he's not leaving completely; he'll still be chair of the board.

Arguably the most important Philadelphian of the last 40 years.

PHLtoNYC · #**231** Posted **Feb 8, 2023, 7:48 PM**

Small retail update, Alo Yoga is taking over the former Modell's space on Walnut.

PHLtoNYC · #**232** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 2:28 PM**

Does anyone know what the objections were from nearby institutions?
The historic filling station will no longer be moved to Aviator Park but instead 3250 Sedgley Drive/.

Filling Station Relocation
https://www.phila.gov/media/20230203...m49qgiHTMoZNYU

Justin7 · #**233** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 2:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysb

Obviously most of these orgs will depending on your personal politics but 5th square pushes for some good advancements:
https://www.5thsq.org/2023_issues

Stop Council Grift would be of great interest to most of us here

Thanks, yeah, I agree with most of 5th Square's urbanist stances, and appreciate their advocacy, but was thinking more along the lines of fixing city council, septa, ppa, etc.

Perhaps this will all seem slightly less impossible once we have a mayor who doesn't go into hibernation after his or her first legislative victory.

I guess I'm just looking for a forum to discuss matters that is not restricted by SSP's silly rules, but isn't a fb/reddit shitshow.

PurpleWhiteOut · #**234** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 3:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Does anyone know what the objections were from nearby institutions?
The historic filling station will no longer be moved to Aviator Park but instead 3250 Sedgley Drive/.

Filling Station Relocation
https://www.phila.gov/media/20230203...m49qgiHTMoZNYU

I'm disappointed by this because I think it would have looked nice in Aviator Park, and obviously is very close by. From what I heard, the concerns were mostly about security of the building and the homeless population in the area. I personally don't think it would have been an issue any more than anything else nearby, but I'm not in charge.

cardeza · #**235** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 3:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Londonee

Arguably the most important Philadelphian of the last 40 years.

I'd argue otherwise. It's definitely time for change at CCD.

cardeza · #**236** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 3:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I think you might be misunderstanding what an advocacy group is...

No, not really. You can aim for 100 different improvements and actually get none of them done because of spreading your resources and time too thin.

PurpleWhiteOut · #**237** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 4:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardeza

No, not really. You can aim for 100 different improvements and actually get none of them done because of spreading your resources and time too thin.

I think their goals are pretty concise and pretty interconnected personally, and very easy to take a stance on for a mayoral platform

Urbanthusiat · #**238** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 4:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardeza

No, not really. You can aim for 100 different improvements and actually get none of them done because of spreading your resources and time too thin.

It's an advocacy group they literally don't have any actual power to make change, not sure what exactly you're looking for them to do that they aren't doing... It's an outline of broad goals they want the city to move in the direction towards. I don't think anyone is under the illusion that a list of policy objectives is going to do anything... change happens through specific bills and administrative actions which a lot of time and thought go into (ideally) with a lot more detail than this. However those things can be informed by going back to a group like this. And it's not like this is the only thing 5th Square has done or does so unless you know more about them and all of the work they do maybe don't be so quick to say they aren't doing their job... like I said, it's an advocacy group advocating for their goals, that's exactly what it's for. If you want 5th Square to be more active you're welcome to join and try to get more involved. It's easy to (anonymously) point at something and say "I don't like all of that" but it's much harder to put in the work and actually come up with solutions that might help people. Some of our right-leaning congresspersons could benefit from learning that. Sorry I just think it's a bit silly to sit here complaining about an advocacy group not doing a good enough job for you while contributing far less to urban planning in Philadelphia than they do, and nothing of substance to this conversation other than "5th square bad, Paul Levy bad"

Philly Fan · #**239** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 4:50 PM**

Topping off Penn’s new energy science building

yuryphilly · #**240** Posted **Feb 9, 2023, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin7

Does anyone know a good site to discuss problems with the way Philadelphia is governed and actions citizens can take to improve things (other than just voting)? Does one exist?

Any specific ideas you are interested in? Finding a path to a solution might be easier if you concentrate on a particular policy or problem.