Last Saturday -- a lovely day -- I found myself in Love Park chatting with a very pleasant and diplomatic young woman from PennPraxis. As I understand it, the parking lot under Love Park is being rebuilt, and the City has decided to take the opportunity and rethink the design of Love Park.
As usual, my idea was outside the box. John F. Kennedy Boulevard has been a pet peeve of mine for quite a while. It doesn't help that I work up there.
Some of JFK's Many Design Flaws.
We can thank the defunct Pennsylvania Railroad for many of JFK Boulevard's shortcomings. Back when the Chinese Wall was coming down, Ed Bacon pleaded that the planned new buildings be oriented north-south, instead of east-west, to allow sunlight to reach the sidewalks with some regularity. (For this history, I rely on Kenneth Halpern's Downtown USA, Whitney Library of Design, 1978. An old book, but still I think a good one.)
My personal thought is that the railroad guys couldn't process the idea. The trains had run east-west, and so of course should the buildings. It was the natural order of things.
Anyway, if you've ever wondered why JFK Boulevard suffers from darkness at noon, it's because the buildings are oriented east-west instead of north-south.
Another huge issue for me is the width of JFK Boulevard. It's six lanes wide -- four for traffic and two for parking -- and it's effectively an automotive version of the old Chinese Wall (which, for those of you who don't know, was a railroad viaduct that ran from the Schuylkill to City Hall.)
There has never been enough traffic to justify four lanes for moving cars on JFK Boulevard. The designers had to know they were making it too big.
JFK is a short straw that is corked at both ends -- by Reading Terminal Market on the east and by 30th Street Station on the west. What traffic there is seems generally to come down 15th Street from the Vine Street Expressway, turn right onto JFK, and then left onto 19th Street, where it queues on both Market and 19th before disappearing into the many parking garages there.
These garages should be closer to Vine Street. This is not my idea; it's Louis Kahn's. But that's another story.
If we closed a lane or two of traffic on JFK, it wouldn't hurt the traffic flow, and the street would be a lot easier for pedestrians to cross.
More than You Want to Know about Traffic
Upon reflection, I'm going to take this a step further. One of the gnarliest intersections in the city is at 20th and JFK. JFK is one-way from Love Park up to 20th. Then it becomes two-way as it travels up the viaduct (parts of the old Chinese Wall can be seen here) and across the bridge to 30th Street Station.
Cars headed west at 20th can go straight, turn right, or turn left. Cars headed east must turn right or left. Cars headed north on 20th can go straight or turn left. Cars headed south can go straight or turn right.
There's a whole lot of turning going on, and the streets are very wide, and it's not a good place to be a pedestrian, and it's clearly often confusing for motorists.
Down at 20th and Market the situation is, if possible, worse. 20th south of Market is one-way north, so all southbound traffic must turn on Market, which is one-way east of 20th and two-way west of 20th. Got that?
Back to JFK. I suggest we make JFK a two-way street, with one lane going in each direction. I'm sure many of the motorists coming from 30th Street (including me) would be very happy to continue down JFK instead of dog-legging onto Market through two nasty turns.
Westbound, having one lane of traffic would eliminate a primary source of fender-benders, which is turning vehicles that fail to stay in their lanes.
Back to Love Park
Enough about traffic. What do we do with the space we just got? How about expanding Love Park to the south. (You could also do this to the west, but that's once again another story.)
Then Love Park could flow up the north side of JFK to 20th Street. It could be the Ben Franklin Parkway's mini-me. (And maybe we could borrow the idea of a planted median from Park Avenue in New York City.)
I'll leave the design and programming of this space to others with more talent, but I do hope they'll consider adding a cycle track for bicyclists. This part of Philly has some of the most intimidating traffic in town. I'm sure the bicycle messengers would be grateful, and if someone could figure out connections to the evolving north-south bicycle routes -- and to the Schuylkill Banks -- I think you'd see a lot of bikes here.
Showing posts with label Reading Terminal Market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading Terminal Market. Show all posts
Monday, September 22, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Once There Was a Prison
About a block from my acupuncturist in South Philly is an unusual sight for the area -- a very large open space. It's a parking lot for an Acme supermarket that's pretending it's in the suburbs, sitting way back from Passyunk Avenue, with its rear facade on Reed Street. There are 202 parking spaces in this lot by my count.
How did such a thing come to be in a part of town noted for its lack of open space? Well, there's a plaque. It says this is the site of the old Moyamensing Prison. For those of you who have read The Devil in the White City, this is where the serial murderer H.H. Holmes was finally executed.
On the site there's also a senior citizens' center on Passyunk, with a really pretty garden in front, and over on Reed, behind the Acme, a city-owned lot that used to be for police cars but now sports a random selection of battered city vehicles, along with piles of rusting metal junk from road work.
The impression of a hodgepodge is locked home by the Acme store. It's a refugee from a mall, and it simply does not belong in a densely built-up neighborhood. The low, rambling building, the vast apron of parking asphalt, and worst of all the back wall of the store on Reed Street.
Across Reed is an old, tall, imposing masonry structure. The city's fleet management operation has repair shops there, but much of that work is apparently now farmed out to private contractors, and I think we're looking at an incipient high-end condo.
What will the future condo owners look out on? Well, across Reed Street, the Acme has essentially dropped its trousers and mooned the world. There are a few grimy loading docks, stretches of blank wall, and odd pieces of ground where the architect apparently gave up. This being Philly, some of these spaces are now being used, awkwardly, for parking.
This rear service area is standard treatment in the suburbs, but usually you don't see it. It may back onto a bit of woods. And there's often a chain link fence to discourage exploring. Here, it's facing onto a city street that's being treated as an alley.
In terms of urban redevelopment, the Moyamensing Prison site is a disaster. The structures have no sympathy for their surroundings, and they're wasting a lot of space in a tight neighborhood. This is particularly true of the parking lot, which is placarded for customers only, with a 90-minute time limit.
Have I mentioned the idea that parking is in short supply in South Philadelphia? And here is a 202-car lot which, when I pass it, is largely empty.
A Parking Lot for All
So, first things first. Let's get our head out of the suburbs and turn this parking lot into a real city lot, available to all. Charge money. Give Acme shoppers at checkout a voucher for reduced-rate or free parking.
If you're looking for an example of what to do, take a gander at the lot next to the Eastern State Penitentiary on Fairmount Avenue. Also, many of the parking garages around the Reading Terminal Market accept reduced rate vouchers from the merchants in the Terminal.
Maybe, if Acme was willing, even Pat's and Geno's could offer vouchers.
This brings me to who would benefit from these new spaces. Complaints about parking are legion in South Philly. If you listen carefully, I think there are two main issues -- overnight parking and the Italian Market.
There are a lot of cars in South Philly. Many of them leave in the morning and come back at night with their owners. There are actually spaces during the day -- except for the Italian Market, which is in my opinion impossible all the time.
Well, the Moyamensing Prison site is a block south of Pat's and Geno's, the beginning of the Italian Market, which then runs up 9th Street to Sarcone's, above Christian Street. It's a linear market, so walking is built into the experience. Parking at the Acme would allow you to take a leisurely stroll and look around. I'm particularly fond of the live chicken place. If your feet get tired, have an espresso at Anthony's.
And if you live in this part of South Philly and you come home late, and there are no street spots anywhere, the lot will beckon. Or if you're from Center City and you have a dinner reservation at the Victor Cafe, wouldn't the lot be convenient?
Pie in the Sky
What the Moyamensing Prison site really needs, of course, is a complete do-over. In Philadelphia, we actually know how to do urban supermarkets. Go to South Street -- look at SuperFresh, look at Whole Foods. They don't wear their parking lots as aprons. They wear them as bonnets. Store on the ground floor. Cars on the upper floors. Been done.
So let's rebuild the Acme as a three-story building with the store on the ground floor and the parking upstairs.
But wait a minute. Let's have a look at the Piazza up in Northern Liberties. What would happen if we took the Moyamensing Prison site and ringed it with buildings, and had a large open space in the center? Then we would have an actual urban open space that, with the right programming, people would flock to. Open air cafes, a bocce court for the senior citizens, maybe even a big TV screen where we could watch the World Cup.
This isn't really pie in the sky. All of it has been done here, in Philly, and all of it works. What it does require is some imagination, some teamwork -- and some leadership.
How did such a thing come to be in a part of town noted for its lack of open space? Well, there's a plaque. It says this is the site of the old Moyamensing Prison. For those of you who have read The Devil in the White City, this is where the serial murderer H.H. Holmes was finally executed.
On the site there's also a senior citizens' center on Passyunk, with a really pretty garden in front, and over on Reed, behind the Acme, a city-owned lot that used to be for police cars but now sports a random selection of battered city vehicles, along with piles of rusting metal junk from road work.
The impression of a hodgepodge is locked home by the Acme store. It's a refugee from a mall, and it simply does not belong in a densely built-up neighborhood. The low, rambling building, the vast apron of parking asphalt, and worst of all the back wall of the store on Reed Street.
Across Reed is an old, tall, imposing masonry structure. The city's fleet management operation has repair shops there, but much of that work is apparently now farmed out to private contractors, and I think we're looking at an incipient high-end condo.
What will the future condo owners look out on? Well, across Reed Street, the Acme has essentially dropped its trousers and mooned the world. There are a few grimy loading docks, stretches of blank wall, and odd pieces of ground where the architect apparently gave up. This being Philly, some of these spaces are now being used, awkwardly, for parking.
This rear service area is standard treatment in the suburbs, but usually you don't see it. It may back onto a bit of woods. And there's often a chain link fence to discourage exploring. Here, it's facing onto a city street that's being treated as an alley.
In terms of urban redevelopment, the Moyamensing Prison site is a disaster. The structures have no sympathy for their surroundings, and they're wasting a lot of space in a tight neighborhood. This is particularly true of the parking lot, which is placarded for customers only, with a 90-minute time limit.
Have I mentioned the idea that parking is in short supply in South Philadelphia? And here is a 202-car lot which, when I pass it, is largely empty.
A Parking Lot for All
So, first things first. Let's get our head out of the suburbs and turn this parking lot into a real city lot, available to all. Charge money. Give Acme shoppers at checkout a voucher for reduced-rate or free parking.
If you're looking for an example of what to do, take a gander at the lot next to the Eastern State Penitentiary on Fairmount Avenue. Also, many of the parking garages around the Reading Terminal Market accept reduced rate vouchers from the merchants in the Terminal.
Maybe, if Acme was willing, even Pat's and Geno's could offer vouchers.
This brings me to who would benefit from these new spaces. Complaints about parking are legion in South Philly. If you listen carefully, I think there are two main issues -- overnight parking and the Italian Market.
There are a lot of cars in South Philly. Many of them leave in the morning and come back at night with their owners. There are actually spaces during the day -- except for the Italian Market, which is in my opinion impossible all the time.
Well, the Moyamensing Prison site is a block south of Pat's and Geno's, the beginning of the Italian Market, which then runs up 9th Street to Sarcone's, above Christian Street. It's a linear market, so walking is built into the experience. Parking at the Acme would allow you to take a leisurely stroll and look around. I'm particularly fond of the live chicken place. If your feet get tired, have an espresso at Anthony's.
And if you live in this part of South Philly and you come home late, and there are no street spots anywhere, the lot will beckon. Or if you're from Center City and you have a dinner reservation at the Victor Cafe, wouldn't the lot be convenient?
Pie in the Sky
What the Moyamensing Prison site really needs, of course, is a complete do-over. In Philadelphia, we actually know how to do urban supermarkets. Go to South Street -- look at SuperFresh, look at Whole Foods. They don't wear their parking lots as aprons. They wear them as bonnets. Store on the ground floor. Cars on the upper floors. Been done.
So let's rebuild the Acme as a three-story building with the store on the ground floor and the parking upstairs.
But wait a minute. Let's have a look at the Piazza up in Northern Liberties. What would happen if we took the Moyamensing Prison site and ringed it with buildings, and had a large open space in the center? Then we would have an actual urban open space that, with the right programming, people would flock to. Open air cafes, a bocce court for the senior citizens, maybe even a big TV screen where we could watch the World Cup.
This isn't really pie in the sky. All of it has been done here, in Philly, and all of it works. What it does require is some imagination, some teamwork -- and some leadership.
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