Couldn't agree more - the what? billion dollars spent on a sports stadium which produced a few multi-millionaires and the rest peanut vendors. I think we should get a lot more for that money. Think of what that could have done if put into real economic development.

And - I'm tired of covering the costs for all those center city real estate tax abatements with the taxes on my home - which will be raised again with the reassessments.

I and many others, agree that the Convention Center has definitely been a spark to the Center City District and is overwhelmingly worth it ... especially since the State funded most of the building costs.

I also think it is rather short sighted to say the stadiums are completely unnecessary. As for used primarily by suburbanites, maybe if we didn't keep losing the people that go to these events to the suburbs, they wouldn't primarily be suburbanites. ;)

People choose to live in cities for the bustling downtowns, sporting attractions, museums, work, etc.

Essentially, Philadelphia radiates out from Center City. If Center City wasn't so desirable and gotten so pricey, the fringe neighborhoods probably never would have been redeveloped, or at least not to the degree they are going right now.

The key to City government is you need to be able to multi-task. It isn't just about poverty. It isn't just about planning. It isn't just about taxes. Etc.

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Staff member of Longacre for 5th Council District.

You might want to actually read the Center City plans available at http://www.centercityphila.org before you make judgments about their content. The four plans basically note that East Market Street does not work well as it should as there are limited connections to the nearby residential areas north and south of East Market Street, and that the area from 12th Street to Independence Mall is underdeveloped, has poorly designed and underutilized buildings and fails to connect the Independence Mall area to City Hall; West Market Street does a bad job at connecting City Hall and Center City to 30th Street Station; Benjamin Franklin Parkway does not work for pedestrians and does not provide adequate parking or good use of public space; City Hall is underutilized in terms of being a building that connects both sides of Broad and Market Streets, and as a tourist attraction, and the public space around City Hall (e.g. Dilworth Plaza) does not work; North Broad Street has too many gaps between its institutions (e.g. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Roman Catholic High School) and a lack of connectivity between these institutions and Center City; South Broad Street should try to undertake activities that attract more people.

Urban plans are done as visions to encourage further dialogue, and as a step to seek governmental and private sector support of ideas, and for future funding to improve areas. The studies do not mean the projects will get funded or that they are the right solutions for the problems identified. The reality though is that the issues addressed in the plans as problems or opportunities are accurate and that the suggested solutions that would benefit the public and the Center City business and residential communities are well thought out in concept. For example, does Dilworth Plaza work well or add to the City in a positive way in the Plaza's current design or condition or would a grassy park like area with an ice skating rink in winter be a better use of the space?

Center City is responsible for more than 7,100 business establishments that account for 47 percent of all private-sector wages paid citywide. Center City’s private and non-profit employers generate $6 billion in annual salaries to Philadelphia residents. Center City provides more tax and fee revenue to the City of Philadelphia than is spent by the City of Philadelphia on Center City. Simply put, a healthy Center City does not just benefit wealthy white color workers from the suburbs. Without a viable and strong Center City we would be more like Detroit or St. Louis where those cities are actually worse off in terms jobs and general well being than Philadelphia. Much of the federal and state money that Center City is able to attract cannot magically be shifted to other programs or other parts of the city. For example, while in your opinion it might not be the best use of state funds to expand the convention center, it may be very unlikely that a legislator from the middle of the state is going to want to fund a poverty eradication program instead of the expansion of the convention center. While this may be against your sensibilities, it is the pragmatic existing political reality.

The issue of poverty is important. Working to limit poverty and improve Center City are not one or the other propositions. The best solutions to solving poverty are education and jobs. As the manufacturing economy has largely left Philadelphia, the hospitality industry, based largely on the convention center and associated uses such as hotels, has provided a large number of jobs for people without college education. While you might want these jobs to pay more, they remain viable jobs for a portion of our society.

On the issue of urban planning, Philadelphia has not done significant urban planning for decades. In the recent past, Mayor Rendell did not "get" urban planning and was always looking for quick results. Rendell also did not appreciate the process of design, zoning or long-term planning. I would characterize Mayor Street as not caring about planning or design. The zoning code is hopelessly out of date; has a patchwork of amendments; is overly complex and confusing; requires too many variances; and is routinely ignored by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. It causes too many delays in building projects; provides too much power to district council people; forces neighborhoods to be too adversarial to proposed projects (instead of working with developers and the City); and drives up project costs, while allowing for ill defined and poorly designed buildings.

Fattah and Nutter both make good points and I don’t think it’s fair to take their arguments to the extreme when there is an obvious middle ground (and both seem to be trying to find it to some degree). The answer, in my opinion, why not do what London and DC have done? Break the city down into small neighborhoods (Philadelphia gas already more or less done this) and then market neighborhood flavor, which Philly has a lot of? Add a few more cute shops and the Gayborhood could be the next Dupont Circle and Manayunk the next Notting Hill. Link them up with public transportation and give locals grants to start or fix up small businesses. Plan or expand housing around the hub to provide economic viability, etc....Make center city the main attraction but provide incentive to explore outward. Eventually we have to realize that the city cannot ignore its center city at the expense of its citizens/neighborhoods and vice versa; it’s just not good policy and in the end huge chunks of the city will be disadvantaged.

no plan = wasted $ = less attractive to business = less jobs = increased poverty

It is truly amazing how short sighted Philadelphians, and in particular the people we choose to elect, can be.

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Phillyville

but I have a feeling it was to emphasize his view that our priorities are screwed up. He may think there needs to be a shock applied to the system in order to change the normal way in which we do business in this town. Which, again, is to devote most discretionary spending toward big center city projects, and crumbs everywhere else. He may be sending a message to the power elite that if they want to continue having it their way downtown, they'll first have to join him in marshaling resources for an attack on poverty. So it may well be a political game, one which usually works in reverse, i.e., you support my spending plans on big development and I'll give you some crumbs for the poor.

I remember well how good some members of Council felt about getting $1 million a year from the sports teams to support programs for kids, as long as the City agreed to spend $30 million a year to build their stadiums. Maybe Fattah wants to start getting the big bucks for poverty fighting, and leave the crumbs for those who already are feasting.