The river drives' popularity crowding out some fans

[Gladys]

The river drives' popularity crowding out some fans - Philly.com

this deserves it's own thread.

It's been talked about before on some threads but this article is an especially good topic for conversation.

[ShoshTrvls]

Yes, it is a problem. MLK is presumptively closed so that everyone can enjoy it*on foot or bike, but it seems like 9 times out of 10, that "everyone" is only people who have paid an admission fee to the charity or even sponsor of their choice.

[Hospitalitygirl]

It has its own thread already. http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/fo...ity-event.html

And the last post links the same article.

[NickleDimer]

[QUOTE=ShoshTrvls;498689]Yes, it is a problem. MLK is presumptively closed so that everyone can enjoy it*on foot or bike, but it seems like 9 times

If a 5k run/walk leaves from the art museum, It only goes a portion of the way down MLK (Girard Ave Bridge is 1 mile from the musuem, columbia is about 2) and it maybe lasts 2 hours.

[It'sJessMe]

[QUOTE=NickleDimer;498784]

Yes, it is a problem. MLK is presumptively closed so that everyone can enjoy it*on foot or bike, but it seems like 9 times

If a 5k run/walk leaves from the art museum, It only goes a portion of the way down MLK (Girard Ave Bridge is 1 mile from the musuem, columbia is about 2) and it maybe lasts 2 hours.

Yeah, this. I run the Loop every Sunday (and 1-2x during the week) and while I have to dodge walkers and regatta viewers for the first 2+ miles, well before the EF bridge the crowds have cleared up. If I know there's a race I try not to park there though but to leave my car somewhere in CC and run in from there. It's annoying, but a small price for having such a great route.

But I've never been turned away or asked to pay, and I usually don't get there until after 9:30 so I could just be missing it all!

[thoth]

Yeah it's pretty hairy from boathouse to Girard. If you want to count the SRT as an extension of Kelly/West River, it's rough all the way from Locust. Not even from just charity walks, just lots of people in general.

But what do you expect? It's a pretty nice walk and borders Center City, I would be much more upset if it wasn't well used. The city could do a better job of encouraging people to enter the many nice, undertrafficked parts of the park, like Lemon Hill and the Sweetbriar areas. Maybe even route some charity walks through there.

The P&R could address a lot of this guy's complaints by having a compentantly maintained website, with say, a recently updated calendar.

[mixiboi]

Walks have become more popular since the Breast/AIDS walks started them off. Now you can't go a weekend in the good weather months without a walk happening somewhere in the city(Be it across the bridge or in the stadiums, or even up a building).

[Colin P. Varga]

I never had a problem with any of the events on the Drives. I biked to church on Sunday morning through some of the walks, no problem. Even the Triathlon, I biked through the bike part on my way to a photo job.

The regattas, when I was on my bike I certainly had to slow down and had to walk my bike through some parts. It's common sense.

[billy ross]

The river drives' popularity crowding out some fans - Philly.com

this deserves it's own thread.

It's been talked about before on some threads but this article is an especially good topic for conversation.

The city's got bills to pay. Economic development is more important than suburbanites' "right" to use the Drives. The city's beefing up its tourism-oriented economy and it has made a conscious decision to cater less to non-tax paying suburbanites who leave their cultureless suburb to use our city while not spending a dime here, then go home again (see the new policy for parade costs). Closing King Drive can be viewed as a move that favors the city's tax base over suburban users also. We need more of this thinking. Giving suburbanites the milk for free means they will never buy the cow and it'll continue to starve. Thankfully with the Barnes, the Race Street Pier, Sister Cities Park, Dilworth Plaza, etc, the cow is getting fattened up again.

[NickleDimer]

There's no good reason to reduce usage of the treasure that is fairmount park. Especially based on some unfounded paranoid notion that it's all suburbanites milking the city and leaving it for dead. Larger events (regattas, marathons) bring in tourism dollars (along with parking and SEPTA $) and smaller events promote the community and fund local charities.

[dartmo]

There's no good reason to reduce usage of the treasure that is fairmount park. Especially based on some unfounded paranoid notion that it's all suburbanites milking the city and leaving it for dead. Larger events (regattas, marathons) bring in tourism dollars (along with parking and SEPTA $) and smaller events promote the community and fund local charities.

Usage is frankly at capacity on the SRT and Kelly between LLoyd Hall and about Girard. And while you don't want to reduce usage of the park, that stretch approaches capacity for safe use. I love that the area around Lloyd Hall has become a sort of town center for the city reflecting a broad demographic of Philadelphians: joggers on the path, bikers meeting up at the Italian Fountain, rowers heading into the boathouses, families feeding the geese, the rollerskate dancers, people relaxing near the Waterworks and Azalea Garden.

The issue also isn't the larger events like regattas and marathons or the large charity walks (i.e. Race for the Cure), which, as you say they are good for tourism and are good for the city by bringing in visitors from all over the region and the whole country (let's call these Varsity Events). The issue is that every possible disease and affliction seems to have a walk just about every weekend (let's call these JV Events). Sometime there are JV Events on both the Kelly Drive path and on WRD at the same time.

I don't think anyone is complaining about the Varsity Events, rather the JV Events are gunking up the most trafficked areas of the park at peak times, making it hard for city residents to access/use safely. I completely agree with Thoth, that it may make sense to move these JV events up to other parts of the park (East and West Fairmount Park). Those areas of the park are underutilized. There is room for parking and events up there -- for example the Merrill Mud Run takes place in West Fairmount Park.

And for God's sake, let's get rid of the surreys.

[loveisnoise]

That handicapped guy sounds like a self-entitled smack hole. " I like when they people organize events for me, but I don't want others to have events!!!!"

[thoth]

I'm saying, use signage and better landscaping to encourage divert some of that foot traffic to adjacent, underused sections of the park. Everyone wins, except people that like to drink on Lemon Hill. Although I would sacrifice my own pleasure for the assurance Fairmount Park was being better utilized.

Maybe some (caution: buzzword ahead) traffic calming on Kelly Drive to encourage people to cross the street, as horrifying as that may be to motorists.

Usage is frankly at capacity on the SRT and Kelly between LLoyd Hall and about Girard. And while you don't want to reduce usage of the park, that stretch approaches capacity for safe use. I love that the area around Lloyd Hall has become a sort of town center for the city reflecting a broad demographic of Philadelphians: joggers on the path, bikers meeting up at the Italian Fountain, rowers heading into the boathouses, families feeding the geese, the rollerskate dancers, people relaxing near the Waterworks and Azalea Garden.

The issue also isn't the larger events like regattas and marathons or the large charity walks (i.e. Race for the Cure), which, as you say they are good for tourism and are good for the city by bringing in visitors from all over the region and the whole country (let's call these Varsity Events). The issue is that every possible disease and affliction seems to have a walk just about every weekend (let's call these JV Events). Sometime there are JV Events on both the Kelly Drive path and on WRD at the same time.

I don't think anyone is complaining about the Varsity Events, rather the JV Events are gunking up the most trafficked areas of the park at peak times, making it hard for city residents to access/use safely. I completely agree with Thoth, that it may make sense to move these JV events up to other parts of the park (East and West Fairmount Park). Those areas of the park are underutilized. There is room for parking and events up there -- for example the Merrill Mud Run takes place in West Fairmount Park.

And for God's sake, let's get rid of the surreys.

[NickleDimer]

I don't think anyone is complaining about the Varsity Events, rather the JV Events are gunking up the most trafficked areas of the park at peak times, making it hard for city residents to access/use safely.

I agree that it would be great to realize the potential of other areas of the park, but as someone who runs/bikes/drives in that area all the time, I disagree that its a safety issue nor is it at peak times (most of these events are over by 10 or 11 on weekend mornings).