Community members are invited to attend a meeting on the future development of Baltimore Avenue tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the People’s Baptist Church (5039 Baltimore Ave.).
The meeting is the next step in the “Baltimore Avenue Conversation,” a series of workshops and meetings on development topics ranging from senior/affordable housing and building facade improvements to business interests and landscaping. The meeting will include a brief review of the final recommendations of the Community Design Collaborative, a collection of design professionals who do pro bono work for non-profits.
Other scheduled presenters include:
• A representative from Friends Rehabilitation, who will talk about the process involved in building senior/affordable housing with examples from projects they have built around Philadelphia.
• Joe McNulty, Cedar Park resident and Baltimore Avenue commercial corridor coordinator for the University City District, will talk about commercial facade improvements.
• Leah Pillsbury from Mariposa Food Co-op will present information about the co-op’s expansion plans.
• Stephanie Chiorean from the Philadelphia Water Department will be speaking on greening plans for the City of Philadelphia.
• Danielle Denk will present a new proposal to bring a Garden Center to some of the empty lots at 51st and Baltimore.
June 8th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Well that was interesting. Frankie Francis, the owner of Frnacis Funeral Home, made his own agenda and charged in on the discussion of the Garden Center proposal to say that his proposal for the same empty lot – a private fenced in parking lot for him was much better. He then said he would make the proposed parking lot “available to the public”. When asked to clarify that translated to “On Sunday mornings we will unlock it to let neighboring churches park in it.” The meeting was extremely contentious and it was apparent that a number of folks at the meeting had come specifically at Mr. Francis’s request to convey the idea that its a done deal that the empty lots owned by the city should be sold to him, not the folks proposing to build a Garden Center. It was mentioned that parking, besides being less than ideal for encouraging walkability on a main commercial corridor, was actually not what the land is zoned for. Several of Mr. Francis’s supporters urged those that were opposed to the parking lot facing Baltimore Ave. should “be more flexible”. “Being flexible” however did not seem to include Mr. Francis being flexible in looking at other nearby solutions to the parking issue. It was the lots facing Baltimore Ave. or nothing at all.