Monday’s snow drew some observations by Holly Otterbein in City Paper about the changes at Clark Park. The story quickly lays out the two sides of the argument: “improvements” versus “clear cut.” Here’s the meat of the story:

“Indeed, the renovations — though aimed at providing better drainage, improved paths and more lighting — are the subject of no small controversy. The Clark Park revitalization, which has been in the works for the last 10 years, has drawn criticism from various locals, including eco-artist Aaron Birk, who wrote this September in an e-mail to City Paper and others, “Clark Park is going to be clear-cut in the next day or so. There is now a chain-link construction fence preventing anyone from setting foot in the park,” adding, “Let me know if you’re interested in helping organize an emerge ncy sit-in. I have a 50-watt megaphone.”

But according to the Friends of Clark Park, only 24 trees have been removed and that’s because they’re old, diseased or invasive.

“These trees were selected for removal after consultation with arborists from the Morris Arboretum,” says xBrian Siano, vice president of the Friends. “And preserving the tree canopy was one of the most important goals we had.”

Below is a copy of the (now 10-year-old) master plan for Clark Park. The folks at The Friends of Clark Park have said that they expect the “A” park to be open by this spring.
Clark Park Master Plan

The City has announced that trash and recycling collection has been suspended for today. Residents with regular Monday trash and recycling collection should hold their trash until next week for regular pickup on Monday, Jan. 3. On Tuesday through Friday, residents with rear driveway collection should place their trash and recycling in front of their homes for pickup. Rear trash collection will resume next week.

Tuesday pick-up appears to be on as usual.

In a recent piece in Philadelphia Magazine, the new Drexel president John Fry lays out his hopes for the remaking of the neighborhoods near the campus – the Eds and Meds (universities and medicine/science) approach a la Penn. Fry imagines a Drexel that is the most “civically engaged university in America.” The plan seems to be similar to what has taken place at Penn, where Fry was a vice president under former president Judith Rodin. The plan includes more police, help with faculty and staff mortgages and improved schools.

From the piece:

The short-term goal is to make the northern University City neighborhoods around Drexel more like the clean, leafy, surprisingly safe and prosperous precincts that adjoin the Penn campus, whose very niceness Fry had more than a little to do with creating during a seven-year stint as Penn’s executive vice president under then-president Judith Rodin.

The piece is also sprinkled with contrasts between Fry and the neighborhoods he proposes to revamp – references to his Land Rover, his degrees and the fact that he lives in Bryn Mawr.

Here’s an interesting map showing racial and ethnic population distribution in our part of Philadelphia (though it will also work for any town in the country)  put together by the New York Times using 2005-2009 survey data. West Philly writer Patrick Kerkstra alerted us to this. The distribution in West Philly shouldn’t surprise anyone. Cedar Park, for example, shows up 47 percent white and 40 percent black. Walnut Hill is 60 percent black and 29 percent white.

The data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, not the 2010 Census itself. The data was released yesterday.

Thanks Patrick.

We came across this video, which includes interviews with longtime Walnut Hill residents, on the website of The Enterprise Center. Asia Ray, a West Philadelphia High School graduate, shot the film a couple of years ago during the Walnut Hill planning process. It has only become available recently on The Enterprise Center’s website. The piece provides a good perspective on the past, present and future of the neighborhood, which runs from Spruce to Market Streets, 45th to 52nd Streets.

This is Home: The Story of Walnut Hill from The Enterprise Center CDC on Vimeo.

Nasty weather like today’s brings along high heating bills. There is help for folks who need it. A number of assistance programs exist to help pay gas and electric bills. The Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), for example, can provide grants  for energy bills for a family of three with a gross income below $29,296.

A complete list of assistance programs is here.