Conflicts of Interest

So, it seems that the City of Philadelphia's Historic Commission has given the Philadelphia Parking Authority permission to demolish three historic buildings on the 1900 block of Sansom Street.

This demolition is part of a project to build an eight screen Ritz film complex, a restaurant, some retail spaces on Sansom St. and over- and underground parking for, at least, 500 cars. The current buildings on Sansom St. would be replaced with: a freight elevator tower, a loading dock, a garbage storage area and the access ramp to the parking spots. However, the commission did give permission with the condition that the facade of the Rittenhouse Cafe be integrated into the design.

Regardless of your views on the merits of this project and regardless of your general views on the tension between preservation and development, one aspect of this deal has to be disseminated widely and discussed:

1. The City Historic Commission gave the Philadelphia Parking Authority the go-ahead to demolish.
2. The Chairman of the City Historic Commission is Michael Sklaroff.
3. Micheal Sklaroff is also the lead attorney representing the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Sklaroff did recuse himself from the Historic Commission's decision-making process.

That's nice -- but the fundamental problem remains: the city has allowed the chairman of the commission designed to weigh and authorize development initiatives to be the same person who is hired by the Parking Authority and private developers to represent their construction initiatives.

This situation is such a prototypical example of a confilct of interest that I scratch my head and wonder if I am missing some subtlety.

AI Press Conference

Lost in Translation

Saw Lost in Translation (2003) with E.C. at the Ritz Five last night.

It's a jet-lagged, hermetic film about making an unexpected emotional connection with someone who might have been a transient figure in your life. It is moody, understated and, yes, elliptic.

I think it is an excellent film -- though I am not as effusive about it as some critics have been.

It does suffer from a common malaise: Primary characters that are well-developed tend to be surrounded by secondary characters that are either caricatures or are designed to magnify the primary characters' virtues (e.g., the frivolous movie star, the distracted husband, the surreal Japanese characters). Think of all the silly babbling aunts and bumbling displaced suitors in Merchant-Ivory type films.

It would have been nice if Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray's traits emerged on their own rather than through a stark contrast. That said, they were well-developed and unique characters nevertheless.

Go see it.

Design Advocacy Group forum

Just came back from a forum organized by the Philadelphia Design Advocacy Group. The group invited the incumbent mayor, John Street (D), and Sam Katz (R), his opponent. Due to a "pressing engagement," Mayor Street could not attend but he was represented (to an extent) by Michael Sklaroff, Chairman of the City Historic Commission and an attorney for Ballard Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.

The forum allowed them to present their vision for and analysis of Philadelphia's urban development initiatives while fielding questions from a panel of architects and the audience. I must admit I came in with negative judgments about the Street administration's initiatives; thinking that it had relied on the aura of the Rendell renaissance.

Though the issues discussed are too numerous and complex to outline here, I will offer what I took to be a fundamental difference between them. The Street representative repeatedly stressed that the current administration is concerned with proper, conscientious urban planning, but that it had to be equally as senstive to the "real world, real time" pressures. Major, high-visiblity initiatives such as redeveloping Penn's Landing, bolstering the public transportation network and championing major construction projects has to be tempered by the "realities of the market." Though we would love to have a vibrant Penn's Landing, an efficient and well-utilized public transportation network and architecturally significant buildings, the market to fund and lease these initiatives is simply not there yet. Thus, pragmatism tends to place most of these initiatives on holding patterns.

Sam Katz did attend and the vision he presented for urban development was more ambitious, giving plenty of lip-service to the aesthetic sensibilities of the overwhelmingly urbane and affluent audience. He's in favor of covering up I-95 at Penn's Landing (at an incremental pace dependent on evolving funding) and making the area a predominantly residential enclave rather than another hub for office buildings. He also envisions a more aggressive role undertaken by the city in order to modernize and manage public transportation (Sklaroff basically deferred such initiatives to SEPTA - our regional transit administration).

In a nutshell, Katz presented a more ambitious, aggressive vision and some plans to spark the market forces required to implement it. Sklaroff was more pragmatic and cautious while pointing out that while the Street administration's initiatives do not have the same visibility and "sexiness" factor, they have resulted in tangible quality of life improvements within neighborhoods and within inner city communities.

I, for one, lean toward the Katz vision -- we need to continue the aggressive initiatives begun by Edmund Bacon in the '50 and '60 and by Ed Rendell in the 90's. However, Sklaroff's plea to recognize and to not forget the less sexy initiatives is essential.

Glad I attended.

Catching up...

It's been a while, I know. Let's catch up:

Philadelphia
I've lived here for 5 years now and my internal debate between the "keep-on-renting" and "time-to-buy" sides has intensified. A few years back, I was not sure whether I would commit to a long-term span of living in this city, but through a combination of inertia and some conscious decision-making, it seems that a long-term stay is not in the realm of the fantastic anymore.

Still am not sold on the so-called benefits of ownership -- though the strongest argument I heard is that paying a mortgage should be seen as paying for the right to make a future profit (assuming house prices go up, of course). I've decided to give it one more year and then I'll make the decision.

The city feels like a well-kept secret -- affordable, intriguing, gritty and buzzing with potential future development. Let's see.

Philadelphia 76ers
Well, if I can't commit to home ownership, at least I can commit to a season ticket for the Sixers' 2003-2004 season. New coach (Randy Ayers) and a new offensive threat (Glenn Robinson). I feel optimistic about the upcoming season -- Ayers will allow players to follow their natural tendencies and run the floor and Robinson may be that legitimate 2nd scoring option (finally!). Then again, optimism about a sports team that ends up being misguided is far too common in this town.

EllipticBlog
This has been dormant for a while. I think I need to change its tone and purpose. Instead of only being a collection of relatively serious ruminations, I will open it up and allow shorter, more frequent entries. Open it up to some friends and let them post comments. Make it a more dynamic place. Let's see.

Also, I want to add more photography into the Blog. Will need to carry the Nikon CoolPix 4500 with me often.