Ave. of the Arts aka S. Broad St. needs makeover/cleanup, imo. ASAP

[Bleeper]

It occurs to me that in a city that functions as it should, we wouldn't need all of these freaking little fiefdoms with penny-ante BS nonsense over who does what. It's something that should fall under Sanitation or Parks, and just be looked after periodically. Pull the freaking weeds.

This city is run by stone-idiots.

stone-idiots with no apparent pride who are really really slow to catch on to the broken window theory.

I cant believe a mayor could ride down Broad Street everyday and see those trash and weed strewn lots at Broad + Washington and think thats OK for my city to look like this.
Those 2 giant lots should be generating some taxable income, put the money generated by those nasty lots into keeping them presentable looking.Even if its just putting some sod down and keeping it mowed.

[RainboTeabagger]

As a reminder that people do listen to us, the day after I posted the photos above and reported it on SeeClickFix, the weeds were removed.

This is why its better to actually DO something as opposed to bitching about something on a crappy website.

[RainboTeabagger]

It occurs to me that in a city that functions as it should, we wouldn't need all of these freaking little fiefdoms with penny-ante BS nonsense over who does what. It's something that should fall under Sanitation or Parks, and just be looked after periodically. Pull the freaking weeds. Get rid of the blocks and just have neat and tidy black tar in the street (since that is apparently another fief argument--the city had the blocks in the streets, and then the repair work that must happen periodically gets patched and not re-blocked.) Fix an occasional sidewalk and don't let them look like the surface of the Moon.

This city is run by stone-idiots.

Did you even read his last sentence or do you want to whine to daddy till he finally pays attention to you? Dear God I think I know who the stone cold idiot is.

[RainboTeabagger]

Is Looper's middle name Hyperbole?

Hey genius what does this look like?

[Giavella Water]

Au contraire, ma soeur.

I was traveling abroad taking in the sights of Quebec City and wondering why their downtown was so clean and flawlessly designed. And why Philadelphias small quaint streets/alleys are neglected abused eyesores, used to store trash

A typical alleyway in downtown Quebec City.





Philadelphia

Come on. Look at both photos carefully. The 'alleys' just don't compare.

[MariusPontmercy]

Come on. Look at both photos carefully. The 'alleys' just don't compare.

I actually like the gritty realism of the second one.

[DCnPhilly]

I actually like the gritty realism of the second one.

I agree with this, even though most of the gritty realism come from an Instagram filter. Still, this says as much if not more about the architectural differences between than the cities than it does about our civic disadvantages. Look carefully at our alley. The street is wet from rain, accentuating the pot holes, but all the trash is in the dumpsters where it belongs. It's also surrounded by highrises, not quaint Cinderella houses. It's not somewhere you'd want to dine, with or without the dumpsters, unless you were a cartoon dog waiting for leftover spaghetti. Both are serving the function for which they were built, and proof that - as tempting as it may be - you can't compare two cities.

Now, at the risk of sounding too optimistic for Philadelphia, get ready to yell at me: I think its only a matter of time before the blight we're discussing is history, at least in Center City. Philadelphia's biggest for might be our own blind eye. We're desensitized to the blight and have been for a very long time. Take a look at improvements to the Parkway and the Schuylkill Banks and you'll see where we're headed. The more we get the more we'll want, and the more people will start seeing the cracks and weeds as blight instead of necessary evils. Whether the improvements are bought by the city, grants, donations, or volunteers, people will make them happen.

[BarryG]

I actually like the gritty realism of the second one.

I agree with this, even though most of the gritty realism come from an Instagram filter. Still, this says as much if not more about the architectural differences between than the cities than it does about our civic disadvantages. Look carefully at our alley. The street is wet from rain, accentuating the pot holes, but all the trash is in the dumpsters where it belongs. It's also surrounded by highrises, not quaint Cinderella houses. It's not somewhere you'd want to dine, with or without the dumpsters, unless you were a cartoon dog waiting for leftover spaghetti. Both are serving the function for which they were built, and proof that - as tempting as it may be - you can't compare two cities.

Now, at the risk of sounding too optimistic for Philadelphia, get ready to yell at me: I think its only a matter of time before the blight we're discussing is history, at least in Center City. Philadelphia's biggest for might be our own blind eye. We're desensitized to the blight and have been for a very long time. Take a look at improvements to the Parkway and the Schuylkill Banks and you'll see where we're headed. The more we get the more we'll want, and the more people will start seeing the cracks and weeds as blight instead of necessary evils. Whether the improvements are bought by the city, grants, donations, or volunteers, people will make them happen.

Philly has many charming tiny alleyways as well, and Quebec City puts their dumpsters somewhere. Bleeper is just trolling.

[londoner]

Does anyone know the genesis of the south of south street (probably include Lombard) decimation of Broad Street? Like, how was a Subway with a parking lot allowed to open? How about the suburban style rite aid, Popeyes, and McDonald's? How bout tha shack that hold the dunkin donuts or the 2 hideous gas stations? Can you imagine anything like that proposed now?

Was there zero oversight on how these things would address the street? Did it happen in the 80s? Were our city planners napping at these hearings?

It's sad to consider how permanently scarred this stretch is. No matter what gets developed at broad and washington (wegmans?), or how much south broad changes....this stretch will look like this for the rest of our lives.

[BarryG]

Does anyone know the genesis of the south of south street (probably include Lombard) decimation of Broad Street? Like, how was a Subway with a parking lot allowed to open? How about the suburban style rite aid, Popeyes, and McDonald's? How bout tha shack that hold the dunkin donuts or the 2 hideous gas stations? Can you imagine anything like that proposed now?

Was there zero oversight on how these things would address the street? Did it happen in the 80s? Were our city planners napping at these hearings?

It's sad to consider how permanently scarred this stretch is. No matter what gets developed at broad and washington (wegmans?), or how much south broad changes....this stretch will look like this for the rest of our lives.

I don't know the history but zoning south of Spruce (or is it Pine?) is much lower density than the rest of Center City, hence the low-rise buildings and street-facing surface lots (a lazy way to meet parking requirements) and all the variances required to build anything fitting for CC. All that stuff was probably built by-right and the neighborhoods at the time were more sparsely populated and inactive. Anyone know if this has changed under the new zoning?

[Bleeper]

It's sad to consider how permanently scarred this stretch is. No matter what gets developed at broad and washington (wegmans?), or how much south broad changes....this stretch will look like this for the rest of our lives.

You may be correct but lets see what eventually develops.

Improvement happens at such a glaciers pace in Philadelphia but its not out of the question that demand along S.Broad eventually forces the destruction and rebuild of those lots.With new urbanism in mind perhaps with these stand alone stores taking ground floor space.

But Philadelphias leadership and vision leaves alot to be desired. So you may be correct. Those eyesores may be around another 50 years.

Gramercy

[OffenseTaken]

Does anyone know the genesis of the south of south street (probably include Lombard) decimation of Broad Street? Like, how was a Subway with a parking lot allowed to open? How about the suburban style rite aid, Popeyes, and McDonald's? How bout tha shack that hold the dunkin donuts or the 2 hideous gas stations? Can you imagine anything like that proposed now?

Was there zero oversight on how these things would address the street? Did it happen in the 80s? Were our city planners napping at these hearings?

It's sad to consider how permanently scarred this stretch is. No matter what gets developed at broad and washington (wegmans?), or how much south broad changes....this stretch will look like this for the rest of our lives.

Below Fitzwater-ish, it's never not been crappy. The southeast corner of Broad and Catharine, now home to a Sunoco station, was back in 1930 home to...an Esso station. Popeye's and Rite Aid aren't a whole lot worse than the car dealerships that were across the street as of the mid-1930's.

I think a few landmarks, the Ridgeway Library first among them, tend to give the impression that there was some golden age where Broad was much sexier than it is now. The truth is that those landmarks themselves always were the anomaly. Even during South Broad's brief vogue in the late 19th century, the erstwhile "Garden" of the "Arts" was a coal yard, and the Ridgeway Library's construction in such a bad neighborhood was something of a fiasco.

The Xpress Food Mart/Subway strip mall at Lombard is a real mystery, but even that lot has been dilapidated since the 1950's, at least.

[Giavella Water]

At the height of the real estate market there was supposed to be a high rise building built at the NEcorner of Broad and Washington Ave. but I guess that was abandoned or put on hold. This building was supposed to be like another Academy House but it wasn't Dranoff who was going to develope it.

[DCnPhilly]

Does anyone know the genesis of the south of south street (probably include Lombard) decimation of Broad Street? Like, how was a Subway with a parking lot allowed to open? How about the suburban style rite aid, Popeyes, and McDonald's? How bout tha shack that hold the dunkin donuts or the 2 hideous gas stations? Can you imagine anything like that proposed now?

Was there zero oversight on how these things would address the street? Did it happen in the 80s? Were our city planners napping at these hearings?

It's sad to consider how permanently scarred this stretch is. No matter what gets developed at broad and washington (wegmans?), or how much south broad changes....this stretch will look like this for the rest of our lives.

I doubt it those places will be there for long. If they are they'll be boxed in by larger development and we won't notice them anymore. The suburban KFC below South closed a while ago and is still vacant. I forget what used to be on the Symphony House lot but it was something like a gas station or maybe even a vacant lot. I have to imagine the property value was near worthless and these little strip malls were the only kind of development willing to set up here, and that area used to be a little dodgy and people just didn't care.

[BarryG]

Below Fitzwater-ish, it's never not been crappy. The southeast corner of Broad and Catharine, now home to a Sunoco station, was back in 1930 home to...an Esso station. Popeye's and Rite Aid aren't a whole lot worse than the car dealerships that were across the street as of the mid-1930's.

I think a few landmarks, the Ridgeway Library first among them, tend to give the impression that there was some golden age where Broad was much sexier than it is now. The truth is that those landmarks themselves always were the anomaly. Even during South Broad's brief vogue in the late 19th century, the erstwhile "Garden" of the "Arts" was a coal yard, and the Ridgeway Library's construction in such a bad neighborhood was something of a fiasco.

The Xpress Food Mart/Subway strip mall at Lombard is a real mystery, but even that lot has been dilapidated since the 1950's, at least.

Right, and Washington Ave was all industrial.

[OffenseTaken]

Right, and Washington Ave was all industrial.

This is speculating here, but it seems like the tendency in Philadelphia has never been to build outward along the main arteries, but around small neighborhood clusters. The social and commercial life of the city—particularly for the better-off—has taken place in side streets near certain monuments and parks like Rittenhouse. The main thoroughfares were left for heavy industry to dominate, or at least make deep incursions on: the only exception is the east side of Market, and even there, the center of activity from 1893 onward was the Reading Terminal. There has never been an equivalent of the Magnificent Mile, much less Broadway, in this city. To a remarkable degree, all of this is true today even though the industry is gone.

_

[ScottBudman]

Au contraire, ma soeur.

I was traveling abroad taking in the sights of Quebec City and wondering why their downtown was so clean and flawlessly designed. And why Philadelphias small quaint streets/alleys are neglected abused eyesores, used to store trash

A typical alleyway in downtown Quebec City.





Philadelphia

Hello, Since this "alley" has a street name and a few people actually live on it between 17th and 18th you would think the city would take a little better care of it. It's very visible to the shoppers in the area too. I found this video of someone walking the length of it between 15th and 18th at night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwSMcVNNZho&feature=plcp

[Burholme06]

It's a service alley. There is no comparison with the Quebec City shot. They were never designed to function the same way. I actually think the alley looks surprisingly clean and orderly. It also allows service functions to take place away from where people are, which should be a good thing. In this case, our built environment functions well. Where should the dumpsters go? On Walnut? Locust?

[Hospitalitygirl]

It's a service alley. There is no comparison with the Quebec City shot. They were never designed to function the same way. I actually think the alley looks surprisingly clean and orderly. It also allows service functions to take place away from where people are, which should be a good thing. In this case, our built environment functions well. Where should the dumpsters go? On Walnut? Locust?

Oh there you go again...attempting to insert logic and reason into this...

[Volanova]

It's a service alley. There is no comparison with the Quebec City shot. They were never designed to function the same way. I actually think the alley looks surprisingly clean and orderly. It also allows service functions to take place away from where people are, which should be a good thing. In this case, our built environment functions well. Where should the dumpsters go? On Walnut? Locust?

That comparison was from a guy who was at one time arguing for shutting down the BSL and replacing it with Light Rail down the middle of Broad Street.

As HG said, what's with you inserting logic into this?