Vine Street Overhaul
I stumbled on to plans for a complete overhaul of Vine Street, foucusing on Logan Circle, Chinatown, Frankin Square, and The Hahnemann Area (which you will recognize from the header of Aarrgghh!!.) It seems that the Willian Penn Foundation commissioned the report(pdf) from an organization called the Project for Public Spaces back in 2002-2003. The report has some really cool ideas for an area near and dear to my heart, Logan Circle.
The ideas that I really like:
- Programming Library activities in the Shakespeare Park.
- Adding outdoor book seller stalls infrom the library.
- Adding more outdoor café space to places like the Franklin Institute, and the Four Seasons.
- Lighting up the exterior of the Cathedral
I really like a lot of what they are recommending, but don't get me wrong there are some dumb ideas too:
- Adding an elephant topiary
- Installing a temporary stage with a "shade structure."
All in all, this sounds like a cool kind of plan for a city trying to encourage growth, especially amoung younger demographics. I imagine that we will see no action on it... ever. Instead those in a position to do something about it will pin our hopes on us becoming attractive to the huddled masses living in what I like to think of as the rest stop between Philly and Boston.
Comments
I have to say, despite my raging partisanship, my objections to the elephant topiary are purely topiary-based. I hadn't seen that article, but it does sound like the kind of stupid advancement that is more likely to occur in our fair city.
Did you see the story about auto car racing on the Parkway? Doesn't seem to jibe with the recent efforts to make this area more pedestrian friendly: Champ Car race plan facing opposition from parkway institutions
Posted by: Becky at August 25, 2005 6:39 AM