Posts Tagged Philadelphia
Giving up on the idea of growth
Posted by Grg in Dumb thoughts on Friday, March 11, 2011
It isn’t shutting its doors and moving to Pittsburgh, not like it would find many mills there. No, its giving up on finding new schemes to entice industry to Youngstown and, instead, consolidating. That is, they are bulldozing entire neighborhoods, not piecemeal like they do in Philadelphia, they are figuring out where the abandoned houses are, and then helping the remaining neighbors move out as well.
My knee-jerk reaction is that, yes, Philly should do it too. And, I guess that is my reaction. However, yesterday the news came out that Philly’s population actually grew the last census cycle…in fact, we’ve retaken #5! A minor miracle. Scratch that, a major miracle. A whopping 9.4 percent growth. Whoa.
Still, Philly could use a Youngstown-style reorganization. When Mayor Street began bulldozing abandoned houses in earnest, it turned whole neighborhoods into wastelands. Where once there’d be an entire block of rowhomes, now you see two, maybe three solitary homes, their sides a windowless expanse of stucco, like they were amputated. Inevitably, these homes fall two. I’ve witnessed it slowly progress that way over the last ten years, just on my morning train commute.
It worked like cancer. First one house would become abandoned, then its neighbors, until only two or three occupied houses remained. The abandoned houses would then rot, decay, catch fire or be broken into by kids or druggies or duggie kids. Then the city would come out to knock down the abandoned houses, leaving the block looking empty and gap-toothed like a carney’s smile.
So, there’s reasons for both Youngstown and Philly to celebrate. Youngstown is going to circle the wagons and probably will be better off for it. Philly is booming. Whether it can overcome its baser instincts and be the world-class city it could and should be is another question.
Ghosts on the loose in the USS Olympia…or maybe just a bid for tourists
Posted by Grg in Dumb thoughts, Grg's Reference, PR Guy, Rant/Rave, Skeptic on Friday, October 29, 2010
“I’m a complete rationalist,” said Jesse Lebovics, manager of the Olympia and submarine Becuna for the Independence Seaport Museum. “I can explain most of it.
“But [the ship] certainly has a colorful enough history that I think if something were to be around, it makes sense it would be around the Olympia,” Lebovics said.
Sure, Jesse, nice “but” there. I’d think a few ghosts would be mighty convenient for you though.
I don’t necessarily blame the folks who run the Olympia for pitching this story. After all, we’ve seen Eastern State Penitentiary go from moldering historical curiosity to one of the most popular “haunted” places in America by embracing the ghost tourist industry. (By day a historic gem, by night a history-making cash cow.) And the Independence Seaport Museum is still reeling from the scandal left behind by its former president, who ran the place as his own personal cash/political favor machine.
Apparently, the ISM has already pimped out the ship to the ghost TV reality show industry, a necessary first step, I’m sure, before they partner with a ghost tour outfit. That is, if they can put it together in time. According to previous reports, they’re looking to sell it for $20 million or they’ve threatened to sink it off the coast of Cape May. My thinking is that it will join the SS United States and become another ghost ship of Philadelphia.
Um, not in the haunted sense, but the abandoned, looming over Ikea sense…although the Olympia doesn’t necessarily loom over anything.
You want to save the Olympia? Save the waterfront. May my father, a highway engineer since the 60′s, forgive me, but let’s get rid of I-95. The idea is so mad it might work.
UPDATE:
I can’t link it directly, but check out picture number four in the gallery. The caption says it all: “In recordings, Harry Burkhardt says, he has heard voices, including one that told him: ‘Save the ship!’”
Harry, are you certain Jesse wasn’t whispering in your ear?
Under the bridge
Posted by Grg in General stuff on Thursday, August 26, 2010
This section is literally a hidden space in Philly. Its a tunnel under the Reading Viaduct, a rail line that used to feed into Reading terminal but now is a truncated and abandoned platform. I think a victorian-era train platform still exists on Spring Garden street. Its corpse winds through a 15 or so block of the city between Vine Street and Fairmount Avenue. Inevitably it’ll be torn down, but right now it is something of a beautiful ruin.