Grays Ferry Plan for Advocacy by PennPlanning

grays ferry

plan for advocacy PLANNING AND DESIGN TOOLS FOR ENSURING EQUITABLE NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGE

DEPARTMENT OF CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING | STUART WEITZMAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN | UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA | CPLN 701 – PLANNING STUDIO

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

The Team

Acknowledgments

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Neighborhood Context

Demographics Income Housing Environment Transportation Economy

Land Use

Zoning Development

Susceptibility to Change

Issues and Opportunities

4 8 9 10 12 13 15 17 20 24 32 36 37 38 44 45

ENGAGEMENT AND ADVOCACY FRAMEWORK

Civic Organization

Civic Engagement

Work with Stakeholders

GOALS & PRINCIPLES FOR ADVOCACY Goals Principles

TOOLS FOR AN EQUITY AGENDA

Tools for Community Access to Growth

Tools for Housing Affordabilty

Tools for Partnerships

Tools for Connections

Tools for Riverfront Access

CONCLUSION APPENDIX

46 48 53 60 64 67 68 70 72 81 88 95 99 104 106 3

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

EXISTING CONDITIONS Grays Ferry resident & and Head of Residents Organized for Advocacy and Direction (ROAD)

GOALS & PRINCIPLES

– Meeka Outlaw

TOOLS

In Gray’s Ferry, it’s as if [developers and other institutional actors] bring the community to the table, but they don’t let us eat.”

Philadelphia has a rich history replete with stories of incredible triumph by community organizers and grassroots organizations. Grays Ferry has continued to play a key role in organizing, especially as issues of environmental injustice bubble to the surface of wider public consciousness – leaving lasting legacies of disparate health outcomes, residential segregation, and correspondingly fewer opportunities for economic mobility. Since the nearby refinery which has marred the community for over a century has ceased operations, outside attention has turned to Grays Ferry, threatening longtime residents with residential displacement seen in other Philadelphia neighborhoods such as Graduate Hospital and Spruce Hill. Gentrification has myriad definitions but underscores the idea that redevelopment and new investments into affordable (largely minority) communities put longtime residents at risk of being displaced by wealthier (often white) residents.

Gentrification is often marked by institutional investments into affordable neighborhoods. Recent investments in Grays Ferry include the establishment of the Pennovation Works campus, the opening of a Schuylkill River Trail entrance point, and the upcoming renovations of Vare Recreation Center using revenue from the city’s beverage tax. Proximity to these amenities remains in high demand, especially among young families from outside of the neighborhood seeking affordability as well as proximity to job centers in University City and Center City. Developers have already delivered new construction in the form of residential units in Forgotten Bottom and along Federal Street, signaling that gentrification and subsequent displacement threatens much of Grays Ferry.

INTRODUCTION EXISTING CONDITIONS ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK GOALS & PRINCIPLES TOOLS

While the mechanisms behind neighborhood change may vary, communities should be equipped with the necessary tools to fight back against unwanted change, rising rents, and cultural shifts that threaten their quality of life and access to necessary goods and services. The aim of this plan for advocacy is to propose a suite of tools and advocacy positions that community organizations can use at will to become actors who shape change in their neighborhoods. These tools also ensure that benefits of private and institutional investments are enjoyed by longtime residents who have contributed over many decades to Grays Ferry’s community fabric.

the team

Tyler Bradford Smart Cities

Jarrodd Davis Public Private Development

Divya Khandke Housing, Community, & Economic Development

Andrew Knop Housing, Community, & Economic Development

Sophia Winston Land Use & Environmental Planning

Kelly Yan Public Private Development

Joy (Xiaohan) Yang Land Use & Environmental Planning

Chen (Chelsea) Zhang Sustainable Transportation & Infrastructure Planning

The studio would like to extend a special thank you and acknowledgment to all of our partners, advisors, community stakeholders, and reviewers. The studio had the privilege of engaging with members of the Grays Ferry community as well as urban planning and design professionals throughout the semester to provide insights, leverage expertise, and bolster Grays Ferry’s Plan for Advocacy. This plan is dedicated to the community, people who have lived in and loved Grays Ferry as their home and have historically contributed to its vibrancy and character. May the longstanding residents enjoy the fruits of their labor and sacrifice as attention and investment looks toward Grays Ferry, which has long endured the painful effects of racial, economic, and environmental injustice.

INSTRUCTOR Nando Micale

Studio Instructor | LRK

CHARRETTE PARTICIPANTS

Seung Ah Byun Kim Allen Mikki Anderson* Darwin Beauvais Rob Armstrong OTIS Aaron Bell Connie Bird PWD Alexa Bosse Glenn Bryan University of Pennsylvania Ignacio Bunster-Ossa Duane Bumb Commerce Department Jim Burnett Tom Dalfo PIDC George Claften* Darin Gatti Streets Department Jules Dingle Anish Kumar Pennovation Tavis Dockwiler Meeka Outlaw * ROAD Tiffany Durkson Nicole Ozdemir * PCPC Vincenzo Ferriola Aparna Palatino Parks & Recreation Missy Frankil Heather Saeger SRDC Elizabeth Frantz Elaine Shagger Schuylkill Greenway Allison Harvey Joe Syrnick SRDC Junwon Kim Carmine Zulli Grays Ferry Community Chris Lankenau Council Gina Lavery Carrie Long David Orphanides Andrew Ross Melita Schmeckpeper Maurie Smith

FOCUS GROUP PARTICIPANTS

Water Resources Authority Clean Air Council Purpose Built Communities Dilworth Paxson Strada Architecture Hinge Collective The Collaborative WPFSI DAG | Claften Associates DIGSAU Viridian Landscape Studio Studio Ludo Weitzman Student Weitzman Student The Reinvestment Fund OJB Landscape Architecture Weitzman Student Urban Partners Development Econsult Solutions Gannet Flemming Orphanides & Toner Orphanides & Toner Weitzman Student U3 Advisors

Maria Sourbeer Chris Stromberg Liz Svekla Meghan Talarowski James Templeton Karen Thompson Kristina Vagen Russ Zerbo

INTRODUCTION

acknowledgments

Shift Capital S2 Design Water Department Studio Ludo DAG | Temple University DRWC Michael’s Development Clean Air Council

REVIEWERS AND ADVISORS Julie Donofrio Jonathan Goins Nora Lichtash Zhongjie Lin Lisa Servon Derwin Sisnett Marilyn Taylor

PennnPraxis PCPC WCRP Weitzman Faculty Weitzman Faculty Maslow Development Weitzman Faculty

* Denotes an Additional Reviewer and Advisor

EXISTING CONDITIONS

TOOLS

GOALS & PRINCIPLES

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

EXISTING CONDITIONS

INTRODUCTION

NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT Greater Philadelphia

Grays Ferry

fitler square

graduate hospital

0.6 Miles Forgotten bottom

POINT BREEZE

west passyunk

0.6 Miles

girard Estates

Grays Ferry is located southwest of Philadelphia’s Center City and is bound by the Schuylkill River to the west, 25th St to the east, and Washington Ave to the north. The study area extends southward to Moore St, though the PHA-operated Greater Grays Ferry Estates stretches beyond the boundaries further south. The neighborhood hosts major sites such as the PECO Station and Pennovation as well as several parks throughout its bounds. 12

A GROWING NEIGHBORHOOD There are about 15,000 people living in Grays Ferry, where population has increased by around 1,200 people over the last decade. The neighborhood, while multigenerational, maintains a high millennial population currently.1

Population by Age

In addition, the spread of racial demographics in the neighborhood indicates racial clustering, where the majority of White residents are concentrated in the southeast of the neighborhood and Hispanic/Latinx residents are concentrated in blocks below Grays Ferry Ave. These concentrations are highlighted on the map on the next page.

Population by Race 2000-2018

EXISTING CONDITIONS

DEMOGRAPHICS

Net Population Change by Race 2000-2018

INCREASING DIVERSITY Over the last 20 years, the neighborhood’s majority Black population has decreased. Once representing nearly 70% of the neighborhood now represents about 60%. The White population has stayed relatively the same, while the Hispanic/Latinx and Asian population that were nearly non-existent 20 years ago have since grown in Grays Ferry.2 13

Grays Ferry Racial Composition

RISING EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT The neighborhood has also experienced changes in educational attainment over the last two decades. Residents that did not graduate high school, those with a high school degree, and those with some college have all decreased over time. Residents pursing higher education, however, such as a Bachelor’s Degree and beyond are on the rise.3

2000 - 2018 Educational Attainment

Legend Parks

Legend Waterbody

0.6 Miles

! ! ! ! ! ! !

Black Parks White Waterbody Black Asian White Hispanic/Latinx AsianRaces Two Hispanic/Latinx Two Races

James Alcorn School

Household income in Grays Ferry when adjusted for inflation rose sharply by 47% between 2000 and 2018. Meanwhile, as a factor of continued suburbanization and stagnant wages, median household income for the city as a whole decreased by $2,700. Still, the city’s median household income of $43,800 in 2018 was higher than that of Grays Ferry ($40,600).4

Additionally, households receiving public assistance has decreased substantially from 20% to 6%.6 A gradual decrease would suggest the neighborhood is becoming upwardly mobile, while a stark decrease would suggest displacement.

Supplemental Income

2000

Median Household Income $27,500 Grays Ferry

Public Assistance

20%

Self-Employment

Retirement

18%

$40,600

Philadelphia

$46,500

2018

Public Assistance

Self-Employment

Retirement

15%

Supplemental Security

16%

Interest & Dividends

17%

EXISTING CONDITIONS

INCOME

2000 $43,800

00 0, 0 $5

00 0 0, $4

00 $3

0, 0

0 $2 0, 00

0, 00 0

2018

DECLINING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, RETIREMENT, & SOCIAL SECURITY The share of neighborhood residents receiving retirement and social security income shrank 3%, suggesting the neighborhood’s aging residents are being outpaced by younger residents and people who are working.5 This trend may partially explain why area median household income has increased, with more people participating in the workforce and fewer on fixed retirement incomes.

Supplemental Security

12%

Interest & Dividends

11%

29% 26%

Social Security

26% 26%

Social Security

SELF-EMPLOYMENT & EMPLOYMENT ON THE RISE The area has a higher than average rate of households (6%) reporting self-employment income, compared to Philadelphia (5%). While such a difference may not be notable on first glance, the number of self-employed workers in Grays Ferry was 2.5 times higher in 2018 than in 2000. With a reduction in the share of households receiving retirement income and social security and a substantial increase in the number of people in the workforce. The neighborhood logged a 54% increase in employment over two decades, from 3,800 people to 5,800 people.7

The decrease in the number of older residents may also help explain how the neighborhood has been ripened for gentrification. As older residents move into assisted living facilities, pass away, or otherwise leave their homes, these homes are often bought below market value by opportunityseeking households looking to buy a home or investors looking to flip them for a profit. In addition, given the many older residents reliant upon fixed incomes and the prevalence of social security benefits received in the neighborhood, as housing costs continue to rapidly increase, these households will either need additional support or be encouraged to move elsewhere.

Change in Employment 2000 - 2018

2000 3,800

+54%

2018 5,800 Man Commuting Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

= 100 workers

HOUSING

Median Gross Rent

2000

2018

GRAYS FERRY

$494

$949

+92%

PHILADELPHIA

$832

$1,007

+21%

RENT[ER]S ARE INCREASING Owners and renters occupy roughly half of Grays Ferry households, respectively. There were 178 more owner occupied units in 2018 than 2000 and 572 more renter-occupied units, the latter accounting for a 25% increase in renters. While the number of renting households has increased steadily over the past two decades, rents have nearly doubled in Grays Ferry. Rents in Philadelphia have risen by 21% over 18 years as opposed to the neighborhood’s 92% increase. Cost burdened renters in Grays Ferry over the last decade now consist of about 50% of renters.8

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Grays Ferry is largely home to two-story brick row homes emblematic of close-in Philadelphia neighborhoods. On average, the housing stock is older than that of Philadelphia as a whole. Housing costs are lower than the neighboring Point Breeze and Graduate Hospital neighborhoods, where those neighborhoods have more three-story row homes than Grays Ferry.

PROPERTY VALUE PRESSURES COMPARATIVE HOUSING TENURE Grays Ferry had a near equal proportion of renters to homeowners in 2018. The neighborhood has a larger share of homeowners than the city on average. The share of neighborhood renters has outpaced growth in homeowners over the last 20 years.10

Grays Ferry maintains a median home value of $96,000. While different areas of the neighborhood have varying home values, the greatest housing pressure can be seen from Graduate Hospital with a home value of $534,000 nearly six times the value of Grays Ferry median home value.9

Local Median Home Values

50%

GRAYS FERRY 50%

47%

PHILADELPHIA 53%

OWNER-OCCUPIED UNITS RENTER-OCCUPIED UNITS

Legend >$160,000

$70,000-120,000

$140,000 - 160,000

<$70,000

$120,000-140,000

0.6 Miles

Housing Typology

WORKINGMAN’S HOUSE These two-story row homes constructed in the early twentieth century make up the vast majority of neighborhood housing stock.

PORCHFRONT

The Porchfront home was a larger answer to the predominate Workingman’s House. Porchfronts were largely built in the 20th century.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

SMALL TWO-STORY HOMES DOMINATE

NEW CONSTRUCTION The neighborhood is seeing construction of contemporary attached homes with large windows emblematic of closer-in neighborhoods like Graduate Hospital and Fairmount.

PHA HOUSING The housing in Greater Grays Ferry Estates is purposefully varied to accommodate different sized families in the HUD-backed affordable housing development.

AIRLITE

Developed largely during the postwar 1940s and 50s, Airlites were a larger alternative to the Workingman’s House. A few blocks of them remain between 25th St and 29th St.

ENVIRONMENT The environmental conditions of Grays Ferry have been well documented both locally and nationally. After the 2019 Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refinery Fire, mainstream press, including The New York Times, highlighted how the refinery’s proximity to the residents of Grays Ferry has produced troubling health outcomes such as high rates of cancer and asthma.11 Not only does the historical physical environment of area produce hazardous health outcomes for community members through air pollution, the built environment has also experienced environmental degradation through high levels of impervious surfaces, large pieces of infrastructure, and lack of green and open space.12 The historical industrial legacy of the neighborhood has left behind elevated levels of lead in the soil and benzene and particulate matter in the air. These elevated levels have serious impacts - poor health outcomes related to asthma, cancer, and lung disease in Grays Ferry are all higher than the city average.

Health Outcomes in Grays Ferry

13.4% 10%

Rate of Adult Asthma

5.8%

Rate of Cancer within the community

Rate of adults with COPD or Lung Disease

FLOODPLAINS & INDUSTRY The Northern and Western shores of the study area are largely industrial, where many of those sites are vulnerable to both 100 and 500 year flooding predictions created by FEMA. Both floodplains represent potential flooding that could occur at a 1% chance each year. In a year with heavy rains or a hurricane, areas in the floodplain, including the Forgotten Bottom area would be subject to damaging floods.

POLLUTION & INFRASTRUCTURE The site is notably situated between large pieces of local and national infrastructure: The Schuylkill Expressway and CSX Freight Line to the West and the 25th St Viaduct Rail to the East. Grays Ferry Ave, to the North, is a 4 lane arterial in the neighborhood moving heavy truck and car traffic. Without physical buffers, residential areas are subject to high green house gas pollution produced by the nearby infrastructure.

LOW TREE COVER & HIGH IMPERVIOUS SURFACES Grays Ferry has low tree cover and high levels of impervious surfaces, 7% and 86% of the area respectively. This is a dangerous combination for urban neighborhoods: low tree cover and high impervious surface levels create urban heat islands and contribute to high combined sewer overflow events, in which runoff from storms combines with raw sewage and enters river and tributaries unprocessed.

The map to the left illustrates the combined sewer overflow that occurs throughout the city into both the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers. Grays Ferry, highlighted in dark blue, has a combined sewer overflow output volume of over 2.3 million cubic feet in the 2017-2018 year. Similar sewer overflow outputs are found throughout Southern Philadelphia which as little green space and high levels of impervious surfaces. The high levels of combined sewer overflow indicate two things: the area has too much impervious surface to absorb storm water and that the river, which so many residents use to recreate, is often polluted.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW

Flood Plains

Regional CSOs

Output Volumes in Cubic Feet 1 Million - 43 Million 43 Million - 7 Million 7 Million - 13 Million

Legend

13 Million - 23 Milion 23 Million - 44 Million

Schuylkill River

44 Million - 84 Million

100 Year Flood Plain

0.6 Miles

84 Million - 258 Million

500 Year Flood Plain

4.5 Miles

Grays Ferry

Tree Coverage

Simple GSI Measures in Philadelphia, photo by National Association of Transportation Officials (NATCO)

GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE

Legend Tree Cover

Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is a possible solution to the CSO problem as it acts as both a tool for neighborhood greening and runoff absorption. The map to the left shows where both public and private GSI projects have already been installed. Projects have been installed at Pennovation, a private workspace endowed by the University of Pennsylvania, as well as in Stinger Square Park and Lanier Park, both of which were installed by the Philadelphia Water Department. The GSI projects in the area have been installed in green areas of the neighborhood but little has been done to green streets that lack tree cover.

GREEN SPACE INVENTORY

Green Spaces

The newly constructed southern portion of the Schuylkill River Trail has a trail head in Forgotten Bottom. This portion of the trail will connect to the current trail to its North and South towards the new section in Bartrams Garden.

STINGER SQUARE PARK

EXISTING CONDITIONS

SCHUYLKILL RIVER TRAIL

Stinger Square Park is a family oriented park that has a full playground, open space, as well as a community swimming pool.

VARE RECREATION CENTER Vare Recreation center houses basketball courts, an indoor gym, swimming pool, playground and garden. The redevelopment of the site was part of Philadelphia’s Rebuild Initiative.

THERE ARE 45 ACRES OF PARKS IN GRAYS FERRY Between the 44.96 acres of park land in the study area, there are 6 unique sites. There are 2 community recreation centers as well as a community garden located in Vare Recreation Center. The green space in the area represents access to areas to walk, run, fish, skate, swim, garden, and play. But, green and open space still only represents 14% of the area’s land. 23

TRANSPORTATION

Car Ownership

RELATIVELY LOW CAR OWNERSHIP With the Schuylkill Expressway and the wide arterial street, Grays Ferry Ave, weaving through, the streetscape in Grays Ferry is auto-oriented. However, Grays Ferry has a relatively low car ownership compared to the entire city, with only 60 percent of households having access to vehicles.13

Grays Ferry 60%

Philadelphia 70%

HIGHER BUS RIDERSHIP, LESS DRIVING The vast majority of employed Grays Ferry residents work outside of the neighborhood as just 2% of working residents both live and work in Grays Ferry. Of those commuting to work destinations outside the neighborhood, most are employed in University City and Center City.

Commute Modes

From 2013 to 2018, the percentage of employed residents commuting to work by public transit increased from 25% to 35%.14 This is a reflection of low car ownership in Grays Ferry and improved bus connectivity due to the new opening of Route 49. Other Means

4.4%

6.5%

18.4%

15.7%

25.0%

4.4%

6.5%

18.4%

35.5% 15.7%

Bike & Walked Public Transit Carpooled Other Means Drove Alone Bike & Walked Public Transit

3.8%

5.0%

10.6%

10.5%

26.3% 3.8%

25.3% 5.0%

10.6%

10.5%

9.7%

26.3% 25.0%

42.5% 9.7%

35.5% 50.5% 35.7%

2018

35.7%

Grays Ferry 2013

8.8%

50.9%

8.2%

6.6%

Drove Alone 2013 42.5%

25.3%

6.6%

Carpooled

Grays Ferry Ave, Photo by Chelsea Zhang

8.2%

8.8%

2013

50.5%

2018

50.9%

Philadelphia 2018

2013

2018

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Intra-Neighborhood Bus Routes

Bus Ridership (Boarding/Day) 195 100-194 < 100

BUS ROUTES THROUGHOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD GETTING AROUND WITH SEPTA 6 30

Despite the lack of regional rail stations near Grays Ferry, residents are well-connected to other neighborhoods in South Philadelphia through SEPTA bus services. SEPTA’s newest bus route, Route 49, extends the Grays Ferry’s connections to include University City and Strawberry Mansion, passing 30th St Station 33rd-Daup in between.15 hin

Bus routes across Grays Ferry 50t

h-P

Regional Bus Routes

Minutes on average to get to City Hall or 30th St Station

arks

ide

49 64

Columbus-Dock

50th-Woodland

64 7 29

29th-Snyder

Route 49 Bus

Pier 70 79

Columbus Commons

TRAILS AND BIKE NETWORK CONCENTRATED IN NORTHERN SECTIONS OF NEIGHBORHOOD

Bike Network and Trails

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Bike facilities are limited in Grays Ferry as there are no Indego bike sharing stations within the neighborhood and only one arterial street, Grays Ferry Ave, has complete conventional bike lanes. The one along 34th St stops at the intersection of 34th St and Grays Ferry Ave, not moving south. The bike lanes along Washington Ave is marked as sharrow, referring to a travel lane shared by both vehicles and bicycles.16 Opened in 2012, the Grays Ferry Crescent Trail is 4,000-foot trail segment that is located along the riverfront in the Grays Ferry neighborhood. Grays Ferry Crescent has 12.3 acres of meadows and lawn areas, three fishing spots, and a skate park, making this trail segment an oasis in the heart of the city.17 This segment has three trail entrances: Wharton St and Schuylkill Ave, south side of the Grays Ferry Ave just west of Grove St, and west side of the 34th St Bridge near Pennovation.

Legend Existing Trail Proposed Trail Access Point Bike Lane

Gray Ferry Crescent Trail

Proposed Bike Lane

LOCAL CONNECTIVITY IMPROVEMENTS GRAYS FERRY BRIDGE REHABILITATION The state transportation agency, PennDOT, is rehabilitating the bridge carrying Grays Ferry Ave over the Schuylkill River. It aimed at repairing the bridge’s deteriorated structure, replacing its drainage system and making several “people-friendly improvements.” The entire project is expected to finish in late 2020.18

SCHUYLKILL CROSSING The new swing bridge will provide safe, recreational passage for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the river in the shadow of the Grays Ferry bridge, free from car traffic. The project proposed to connect the east bank of the Grays Ferry Crescent trail to the Bartram’s Mile trail located on the west bank of the river. The bridge is projected to open in Spring 2021.19

Ongoing Transportation Projects

The Christian to Crescent trail segment is the final link needed to provide an entirely off-road route between Center City and the Grays Ferry Crescent for pedestrians and bicyclists. The final design is currently underway through AECOM.21 Once design is completed at the end of 2020 and construction funding is secured, this project will move to construction.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

CHRISTIAN TO GRAYS FERRY CRESCENT TRAIL

WASHINGTON AVE IMPROVEMENTS Repaving Washington Ave is a chance to change the design of the roadway and make it work better for people walking, driving, riding transit, and biking. One of the main goals of this project is to install protected bike lanes.20 These bike lanes will keep bikes and cars separated and will help calm traffic along the roadway.

Local Commercial Corridors

ECONOMY 30TH AND GRAYS FERRY The 30th and Grays Ferry commercial corridor is an auto-oriented shopping center occupied by The Fresh Grocer, one of the area’s only grocery stores, Chase Bank, H&R Block, and the United States Postal Service.

POINT BREEZE The Point Breeze commercial corridor is a walkable and dense corridor surrounded by residential. While some residential exists along the street front, most of the corridor consists of mostly local businesses (coffee shops, restaurants, and beauty supply stores).

Legend Commercial Commercial-Industrial

Commercial-Residential

The South Street commercial corridor is located in Graduate Hospital. It is quite dense and walkable with an established mix of national chains, such as Starbucks, local small businesses - insurance offices, restaurants, coffee shops.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

SOUTH STREET

WASHINGTON AVE The Washington Avenue commercial corridor is a former industrial arterial, and the built environment reflects this. The street is wide and somewhat threatening to pedestrians. There is a mix of commercial and industrial uses (restaurants, a brewery, offices, and automotive shops).

SNYDER AVE The Snyder commercial corridor contains a mix of residential and corner retail shops. Most shops are food markets, hair and nail salons, and small restaurants. 31

GRAYS FERRY RETAIL Grays Ferry’s retail economy is almost entirely centered around the Grays Ferry Shopping Center located at 30th and Grays Ferry Ave. The shopping center contains The Fresh Grocer, the United States Postal Service, HILTI, a beauty and hair salon, H&R Block, and Chase Bank. A drive-thru McDonald’s sits just next door as well. This retail concentration is heavily auto-oriented which is consistent with the other commercial uses along Grays Ferry Ave. There are several auto shops along Grays Ferry Ave. and two gas

stations dot the corners of 34th St. and Grays Ferry Ave. Outside of the retail offerings on Grays Ferry Ave., the area’s retail consists mainly of sporadic corner stores. The location of the Grays Ferry Shopping Center and neighboring retail is notable as Grays Ferry Ave. itself is a major thoroughfare which crosses the Schuylkill River into University City and runs north towards South St. The shopping center is in close proximity to the Schuylkill River and is surrounded by industrial parcels.

Grays Ferry Commercial Corridor

Corridor Signage

Aerial view of Grays Ferry Shopping Center

While the Grays Ferry neighborhood contains the auto-oriented shopping center at 30th and Grays Ferry, it lacks its own true neighborhood retail corridor. There are various commercial, mixed-use, and light industrial buildings spread throughout the area. An analysis of retail demand, or what residents of Grays Ferry spend annually on retail, and retail supply, or what is spent annually on retail within the neighborhood, shows that there are notable gaps in certain retail sectors.22 The analysis shows that all almost $7 million of annual spending on clothing and accessories by Grays Ferry residents occurs outside of the neighborhood. This presents a significant opportunity for a local business person. The analysis shows a retail gap, or leakage, of nearly $20 million annually. This, again, presents a significant opportunity for local business persons. New restaurants, cafes, or bars owned by local residents may add to the local economy as well as add to the culture of Grays Ferry.23

RETAIL LEAKAGE ANALYSIS $6.57m $17.76m

Clothing & Accessories

$18.91m

Food & Beverage Stores

An examination of neighboring retail corridors shown on the previous page provides insight into where Grays Ferry residents may be shopping for their retail demands outside the neighborhood. The Point Breeze commercial corridor has a large retail surplus in both the Food & Beverages and Food Services & Drinking Places sectors. Grays Ferry residents may be heading to Point Breeze for such services. Both the South Street and Washington Avenue commercial corridors show large surpluses in the Grocery Stores sector suggesting that some of Grays Ferry’s grocery shopping is done in this area. Washington Avenue offers a plethora of multicultural specialty stores, which attract diverse populations especially among Latin American and Asian American households - two growing contingents of neighborhood population.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

RETAIL LEAKAGE

Major retail hubs such as the Walnut and Chestnut Street shopping district near Rittenhouse Square in Center City are regional attractions and probably absorb Clothing & Accessories purchases from Grays Ferry residents. Higher priced goods in and near Center City may put a level of financial strain on area residents looking for affordable goods and services. Therefore, many Grays Ferry residents are likely to patronize the big box shopping center along Columbus Avenue in South Philadelphia.

Grocery Stores

LACK OF FRESH FOOD ACCESS

Fresh Food Access

The retail analysis shows there is significant demand for additional grocery options to be located within Grays Ferry. Only two full grocery stores offering fresh food and produce fall within the study area - The Fresh Grocer, located in the 30th and Grays Ferry shopping center, and The Heirloom Market on South St. There are several other corner food stores and convenience shops. However, such stores are limited in their offerings, particularly healthier food options.

Fresh Grocer in Grays Ferry

Legend Grocery Store/Fresh Produce Food Market Convenience Store in Grays Ferry

Convenience Store

Grays Ferry is not a robust employment hub, and the closing of Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ (PES) oil refinery further reduced the number of neighborhood jobs. The neighborhood does boast proximity to Center City and University City, key regional job hubs, as well as the Schuylkill River Expressway, which connects the neighborhood to the region. Pennovation Works, a 58,000 square foot business incubator and laboratory space developed by the University of Pennsylvania’s is located in Grays Ferry with plans to further expand. Hilco Development Partners aims to redevelop the PES site and add 19,000 industrial and logistics jobs, an intensity not seen before in the area. Jobs located in Grays Ferry are spread across many sectors. Construction jobs make up 15% of the jobs in Grays Ferry which hints at an increase in development, and arguably gentrification, in the pipeline.24 There is no obvious sector of competitive advantage for Grays Ferry, which provides a hedge against economic collapse.

PENNTRIFICATION “Penntrification” is a term that describes the rapid physical and economic expansion of the University of Pennsylvania campus into West Philadelphia neighborhoods. Over the last century, Penn and related initiatives like the University City Science Center has absorbed all of what used to be Philadelphia’s “Black Bottom” neighborhood. Activists warn that Grays Ferry may be the next historically affordable neighborhood forever altered by the burgeoning reach of the University.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

FEW MAJOR EMPLOYERS

As recently as 1990, Black residents made up a majority of the University City area, but a combination of rising rents, stagnant wages, and gentrification have caused Black residents to leave the neighborhood in search of housing elsewhere. Moreover, employment insecurity due to middle and low income workers’ overrepresentation in the service industry cratering due to the COVID-19 pandemic stands to ripen Grays Ferry to the kinds of vulnerabilities (eviction, foreclosure, etc.) that speculative real estate developers and families in search of cheap housing can exploit at the expense of longtime neighborhood residents. Pennovation Works’ gated fortress is yet another symbol marking Penn’s reach into another historically Black neighborhood.

Pennovation Works Flagship Building

LAND USE The current land use of Grays Ferry shows the industrial and residential legacy of the neighborhood. The industrial uses are mostly along Grays Ferry Ave and 25th St.25 Most of the residential lands are medium density, with some lower density ones in the south. The land use data from the City was updated partly in 2012 and partly in 2014, and given the changes since, these data should only for used to interpret patterns.

Land Use

In previous planning efforts, the South District Plan has identified the corner where commercial activities take place along Grays Ferry Ave as the Auto Corridor, stressing the importance of the auto industry to the Grays Ferry Ave Corridor. The Praxis-led ULI Healthy Project, on the other hand, identifies the vacant land and building lots on Wharton, Reed, 26th, and 27th streets, and recommends affordable infill housing leveraging Land Bank and Housing Trust Fund.

TOP LAND USE CATEGORIES 0.6 Miles

32% 20%

Medium-density residential use

Vacant land

Industrial use

Legend Residential Low

Mixed Commercial/Residential

Park/Open Space

Residential Medium

Industrial

Water

Residential High

Civic/Institution

Vacant

Commercial Consumer

Transportation

Other/Unknown

Commercial Business

Active Recreation

ZONING The current zoning codes are mostly industrial along Grays Ferry Ave, single-family in the mid-district area, and multi-family in the south, where PHA housing is situated.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Zoning

Viewing the zoning map together with the land use map, there appears to be quite some misalignment. While most of the lots along Grays Ferry Ave are zoned for industrial use, land use is transitioning to commercial and mixed use, including the Auto Corridor. The areas that are zoned for single-family use see medium density residential use in actuality, whereas the lower density residential lots are zoned for multi-family use.

25th St

This leads to the idea of “corrective zoning” as laid out in the South District Plan.26 Some of the currently single-family zoned lots are identified to have up-zoning potential, while other areas where single family is the main land use are recommended to get down-zoned in order to protect them against conversion to multifamily units, especially along smaller units.

y ra

rry

On the industrial side, Washington Ave West is suggested to be rezoned to Industrial Mixed-Use to accommodate new and existing uses.

TOP ZONING CATEGORIES

Legend Auto-Oriented Commercial

38% 22%

Medium-to-heavy industrial zoning

18%

Residential multi-family zoning

Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use Community and Center City Commercial Mixed-Use Light Industrial

Residential single-family zoning

Medium Industrial Heavy Industrial Industrial Commercial Mixed-Use Industrial Residential Mixed-Use Residential Multi-Family Residential Mixed-Use Residential Single-Family Attached

0.6 Miles

Parks and Open Space

DEVELOPMENT AFFORDABLE VALUES & INCREASING VOLUME

Single Family Property Values

Grays Ferry is a predominantly residential neighborhood. Over 80% of the parcels in the neighborhood are single family homes, with some multifamily homes spread throughout the neighborhood as well. While other neighborhoods near major Philadelphia centers have seen significant property value increases over the past few decades, Grays Ferry has maintained a level of housing affordability, with a median single family home value of $84,200. Though property values have not risen dramatically, Grays Ferry has not been missed through the broader surge in 21st century development in Philadelphia. Sales transactions in the neighborhood have increase dramatically since 1990, while managing to maintain a relatively stable median sale price, with a 2019 median sale price of $80,000. Notable exceptions in sale price trends occurred in 2015 and 2018, when the median sale prices were $105,000 and $138,000 respectively. Sales volume, on the other hand has surged from fewer than 100 annual transactions through 2004, to more than 400 each year since 2015.27 Such activity suggests that the local real estate market is strong and developers or others looking to acquire land would likely find adequate supply and well-prepared sellers in place ready to engage.

$84k 461 38

Median single family property value Single family property sales in 2019

Single Family Sales Since 1990

Multi-Property Owners

There are several keys property owners in Grays Ferry, both public and private. On the public side, the Philadelphia Land Bank, a public entity that holds vacant lots and seized tax delinquent properties owns almost 150 parcels in the neighborhood, representing notable opportunities for residents and private developers to access affordable parcels for future developments. The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, part of the Philadelphia Housing Development Commission, is another major land owner in Grays Ferry. Through regularly schedule requested for proposals (RFPs) the Redevelopment Authority seeks development interests in competitive sales of both vacant parcels and properties.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

MAJOR PROPERTY ACTORS

The City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) are the remaining major public sector property owners in the neighborhood. The City owns a substantial amount of vacant parcels as well as some commercial.28 PHA is a major residential property owner of both single family and multi family units, primarily in the southwestern section of the neighborhood.

PHA’s Greater Grays Ferry Estates offers low-rise housing options to qualifying residents.

Property ownership consolidation has occurred under private actors as well, with several developers owning more than ten properties in the neighborhood. While some owners have acquired a set of vacant parcels, many appear to have bought up many single family homes at or below the neighborhood median home value, indicating a potential plan to convert low or medium cost housing into higher value residential parcels. Some developers have consolidated their property acquisitions geographically, buying up multiple properties within a single block or adjacent blocks. Such property acquisition patterns could suggest potential for neighborhood-level change. 39

New Development Permits

Residential Building Permit New Construction Permit

Demolition Permit 40

Commercial Construction Permit

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMITS HAVE INCREASED HEAVILY OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS The permits data over the five years show steady increase in new residential buildings.29 While the number of demolition permits mostly stays the same and much lower than the new building permit, it appears that more new residential developments are happening on vacant lands. 40

There seems to be little to none commercial construction over the years, which agrees with the current land use of the neighborhood. However, whether more mixed-use developments with commercial spaces will come to the market in the coming years remain unknown, especially if developers start to receive zoning variances or even corrective zoning is enacted.

HIGH VACANCY In considering conditions for neighborhood changes, the presence of vacant parcels and properties is a major factor, given the susceptibility of these units to acquisition and conversion to new uses. Grays Ferry has over 1,000 vacant parcels distributed relatively evenly throughout the neighborhood, with the notable exception of the far southwest corner of the neighborhood, which is majority occupied by PHA housing. While some of the vacant land is owned by public entities or has already been bought up by developers, much of it remains distributed amongst individual owners. The future of these parcels, which amount to 14% of neighborhood property volume, remains largely to be determined.30 Moreover, Vacant parcels can pose opportunities for future development, but may also create negative impacts for current neighborhood conditions by becoming sites for litter or other refuse.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Vacant Land Parcels

0.6 Miles Vacant parcels susceptible to increased litter in the neighborhood

Legend Vacant Properties

Source: OPA

SELECT NEW DEVELOPMENTS

3536 - 40 WHARTON ST Previous building torn down for a 2-unit apartment building with ground floor retail32

1400 S. 33RD ST Construction for Ciocca Subaru dealership across from Stinger Square Park.31

Legend (Potential) New Developments Auto-Oriented Commercial Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use Industrial Commercial Mixed-Use Light Industrial Medium Industrial Residential Single-Family Attached

Residential Multi-Family Parks and Open Space

Granted a variance for a 3-unit apartment building with ground floor retail.33

EXISTING CONDITIONS

1100 & 1102 S. 27TH ST

2736 FEDERAL ST Requires a variance for an 18-unit apartment building with ground floor retail, demolishing current industrial building.35

2728-34 FEDERAL ST Previous building torn down for a 5-story commercial building.34

0.6 Miles

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CHANGE This susceptibility to change analysis leverages information about features of individual properties in Grays Ferry and quantify the likelihood that a given building could be the site of new construction.36 The table below displays the variables of the property analysis. Areas that are highly susceptible include properties that are highly tax delinquent, properties owned by the properties owned by the Land Bank, the Redevelopment Authority, or private developers, properties in close proximity to parks, older properties, and properties owned by powerful multi-property developers.

Susceptibility to Change by Parcel

Variable

Weight

Range

Definition

Property tax delinquency

0-10

0: Non-delinquent 5: 1-2 years back taxes owed 10: 3+ years back taxes owed

Ownership type

0-10

0: PHA Properties 2: City-owned properties 3: Privately owned 7: Land Bank, Redevelopment Authority 10: LPs/LLCs

Parks

1-10

1: Located >0.1 mi of a park 10: Located <0.1 mi of a park

1-10

1: Multifamily 3: Single Family 5: Commercial, Industrial 10: Vacant Land

Building category

Year built

1-10

Legend

1: After 2000 5: 1960-2000 10: Before 1960

Parks 13 - 21 21.01 - 30 30.01 - 39

Low Susceptibility

39.01 - 46

Multi-property ownership

1-10

1: 1-2 properties owned 5: 3-9 properties owned 10: 10+ properties owned

46.01 - 51 51.01 - 54

0.6 Miles

54.01 - 59 59.01 - 81

High Susceptibility

ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES Through the existing conditions analysis and the engagement with various community stakeholders in Grays Ferry, a number of issues and opportunities rise to the surface. The neighborhood’s auto-orientation and structural barriers shape concerns around access and safety. The new and current investments in the neighborhood are adding to pressure on affordability and could catalyze root shock. Yet, residents love the location and historic civic assets. In addition, the entire neighborhood sits within a Federally designated Opportunity Zone and the Pennovation parcel sits within a state designated Keystone Opportunity Zone offering tax incentives for development.

ISSUES • • • • • • • •

Grays Ferry

Crime rate and traffic injuries and fatalities Inadequate access to riverfront Environmental health risks New development pressure and displacement Lack of community programming Disconnect between residents and institutions Lack of historical planning engagement Root shock

• • • • • • •

OPPORTUNITIES Located near Center City and University City Proximity to key transportation infrastructure Opportunity Zone and Keystone Opportunity Zone Active and well-maintained green spaces Longstanding civic institutions Access to the waterfront and Schuylkill River Trail Long-term residents with deep neighborhood ties

Building an Engagement and Advocacy Framework

INTRODUCTION EXISTING CONDITIONS ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK GOALS & PRINCIPLES

A plan for advocacy must recognize community expertise and power as precious and powerful communal resources. Through deliberate prioritization of a framework for community engagement, community groups can ensure a purposeful and inclusive engagement process that generates widespread participation, thereby creating shared power. Eventually, organizers can truly achieve authentic engagement when a plan removes barriers to participation and overcomes historical patterns of exclusion.

TOOLS

At its core, this plan aims to present a path forward for community groups in Grays Ferry to both engage with residents and advocate for equitable change. This section outlines a community engagement framework that gives community groups concrete methods for organizing themselves, collaborating with partner organizations, and cultivating dynamic engagements among residents. The community engagement framework grounds the plan for advocacy by providing concrete tools for building civic capacity. The methodology that follows here should be used as a guide as groups implement tools from the final section of the plan.

47 47

Civic Organization FINE TUNING MISSION, GOALS, & STRATEGY CRAFTING A MISSION STATEMENT

GOALS & STRATEGY

Creating an effective community organization begins with understanding why a community organization is needed in the first place. What are the specific challenges facing a community and how can they be addressed through community organizing?

Along with a clear mission statement, it is important to create goals for the organization and strategies to achieve them. A goal can be internally oriented such as, meet once a month to discuss community changes, or externally oriented, such as, build a new community recreation center. In general, a registered community organization, or RCO, as they are known in Philadelphia, sets goals around community development, zoning, land use, and preservation.

A good first step is crafting a mission statement that succinctly expresses the core values and objectives of an organization. For example, The Sierra Club is a national organization that aims to protect the environment, their mission statement is: “To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.”37 In one sentence, the organization explains that they aim to educate and organize around the idea of environmental protection and conservation. A well-crafted mission statement not only guides the organization internally, but orients outsiders to the organization’s main priorities, values, and goals. A community organization can always fall back on its mission when facing tough decisions. The City of Philadelphia also requires that RCO’s create operating boundaries as well as governing by-laws, methods for selecting leadership, and a definition of membership. These types of operating documents can also be beneficial.

Goals should reflect the desires of the community being represented and can be met through specific strategies that are laid out alongside the creation of goals. For example: if a goal of an RCO is to add more trees to the neighborhood, a strategy would be to reach out to the Philadelphia Streets Department which handles the planting of street trees in the city. Strategies can be short term or long term depending on the scope of the goals, but should always lead towards the desired outcome set forth by the organization’s overarching mission and goals.

Mission

48 48

Goals

Strategy

CREATE INTERNAL RESOURCES

WORK WITH THE CITY

With mission, goals, and strategy in place a community organization can begin building internal capacity. Having full time staff or dedicated volunteers will be important in creating stability within the organization and having clear resources such as databases will help organize workers or volunteers. A good first step would be to create or update a database with up-todate contact information for community members, stakeholders, and city contacts.

Being deemed an official RCO by the city of Philadelphia is an important step in solidifying a community organization and their stake in the development process and requires forms and paper work to be filled out and - all of which can be found at: https:// www.phila.gov/programs/registered-community-organizationsrcos/.

This type of information can be gathered through an online survey form distributed online via email or a website and collected in a spreadsheet. Some important information to ask for is their primary email, cell phone number, address, best time to reach them, and their capacity to be involved. Sending out a simple data gathering form once a year should help maintain accurate records. Having up-to-date information of community members makes it easy to reach out and ask for their involvement in important decision-making events.

CITIZEN’S PLANNING INSTITUTE

RCO’s must hold regularly scheduled meetings in order to become eligible and to maintain their eligibility. Being officially recognized does come with some perks, such as being featured on the Philly Atlas Portal, which displays an RCO’s contact information for the public. An approved RCO gains exposure to the neighborhood and city at large and offers connections to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission as they move forward with zoning changes and variances. Getting official recognition will allow community organizations to review changes that are set to take place in your neighborhood and have a say in what is being proposed within their boundaries.

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

BUILD RESOURCE BASE

A class of Citizen Planners and Instructors

The Citizen’s Planning Institute (CPI) is a unique Philadelphia institution which teaches the ins and outs of city planning to citizens of Philadelphia. Hosted by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, CPI invites residents to attend a series of classes surrounding issues in city planning such as zoning, greening, funding, and plan implementation. Graduates of the program are a great asset for any community organization as they have a deeper understanding of how city processes work and can facilitate important meetings.38 49

EXPAND ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY A community organization is typically formed by a small group of highly dedicated people. This group will typically see specific problems and have a particular expertise. This is vital to the organization’s effectiveness in the formation and early stages of the organization’s life. To expand its reach and, more importantly, its effectiveness, there will need to be a concerted effort to engage other groups, people, and stakeholders to bring diversity of though, skill, and reach.

DIVERSE BOARD OF DIRECTOR COMPOSITION It can be tempting to compose a community organization’s Board of Directors of only those with whom the group already has a strong relationship and who possess a similar motivation and skillset. However, a community organization will benefit from diversifying the Board by bringing in various neighborhood entities (schools, retailers, definitely well-known residents, developer/development groups, lawyers, accountants, planners, business owners, other non-profits, etc.). Not only should

Mission

Goals

Strategy

diversity of skill/profession and organization be sought after but diversity in demographics. Diversity of thought, skill, resources, and influence can go a long way in creating an effective and flexible organization.

MENTOR ORGANIZATION NETWORK One way to expand the community organization’s capacity is by tapping into the knowledge and resources of other, existing organizations. The establishment of a mentoring program and network between the community organization and neighboring community groups, area non-profits, universities and more can help the organization more quickly learn skills not already developed. This can also work to reduce overlapping efforts and increase efficiency as each community group becomes more familiar with each other’s work. Please also refer to the Working with Stakeholders section for more detailed guidance on this effective.

MEET & ADVOCATE FOR GOALS Once the community organization has clearly laid out its mission, goals, and objectives and has built out its capacity by the methods described previously, it is time to take more action. This can happen in a number of ways.

EXPAND INFLUENCE IN THE ZONING PROCESS Community groups should actively be involved in the zoning process both to establish some level of ownership (and influence) over what is happening their neighborhood as well as to increase their expertise surrounding the zoning process (and the peculiarities that affect their specific neighborhood). One of the most effective ways to directly become involved and influence the zoning process is to establish a zoning committee. This committee should ideally cut across many neighborhood groups. This will ensure the group’s work to remain in alignment with each other. Operating as a consolidated unit will allow for increased influence as decisions are made. This committee can act as both actor in the zoning process but also as a messenger to the greater community. Each neighborhood group will be able to spread awareness to their constituents. This message will be mostly consistent across all groups involved.

Mission

Goals

Strategy

Vineyard Square in Chapel Hill, NC, which works to create permanently affordable rental and ownership housing, through the land trust model. This was completed through a joint venture between the Orange Community Housing Land Trust (OCHLT) and Centex Corporation. This structure allowed for OCHLT to tap into the community and market the homes while Centex build to the demand secured by OCHLT. This established a level of community control for the organization. Centex, through this arrangement, benefited from the use of CDBG funds for financing of the development.39

PROACTIVELY IDENTIFY AND COMMUNICATE WITH DEVELOPERS

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COLLABORATION

Gentrification is a serious issue to be tackled by many urban communities throughout the country. In such communities, it is imperative that community organizations proactively open communication channels with developers. It can be difficult to identify developers, particularly in the beginning stages of development. However, a concerted effort should be placed on identifying and contacting developers. Establish contacts with any developer (even if not developing in your neighborhood), planner, or assessor so that many players are aware that you are interested in how your community is developed. Even in non-gentrifying communities this is important – as community organizations should be the entity taking ownership and advocating for its residents in alignment with its mission. Any positive communication with a developer is a win for the community. The community organization should be clear about what they want out of these interactions; they should 51

align with their mission. A presentation can be developed that will inform developers of the community’s desires and the organization’s vision. Developers can benefit in the eyes of the city, the general public, and in front of the zoning commission if they have the backing of a community group. This relationship between developer and community organization can, where possible and appropriate, be taken to the next level: a joint venture. As the community organization becomes more sophisticated and expands its reach, it may find it strategically important to enter the development arena itself. Particularly when the intent is to develop at a large scale, this can be effectively done through a joint venture. This allows for the CDC to unload certain areas of the development process onto the developer, who has the expertise and resources, while allowing the developer greater access to the community as well as preferential funding sources.

SPREAD MISSION & VISION TO ANCHORS The community organization may very likely have a vision of providing job training and community health programs to the community as well as other pursuits that align with its overarching mission and goals. Regardless, the community organization must develop communication materials, prepare presentations, and establish communication channels with major employers, health providers, and all other anchor institutions. The organization’s mission should be spread far and wide. This will be the beginning of an ideally mutually beneficial relationship. The longer term goal of such interactions should be to move towards strategic partnerships, as will be discussed in some detail in the following sections. In the near term, knowledge and resources may be gathered. In the long term, strategic partnerships will allow the community organization to extend its reach while conserving resources.

Steps for Community Organizing

Create Mission & Goals 52

Build Resource Base

Expand Organizational Capacity

Meet & Advocate for Goals

Civic Engagement

Mission

Goals

Strategy

The importance of strong community engagement in an advocacy plan is about the need to leverage community expertise, community power, and community partnerships in the planning process. Purposeful and inclusive engagement processes will allow for widespread participation and shared power in neighborhood plans. Through the promotion of participatory processes, wide ranging stakeholders can be engaged to build on community assets address neighborhood concerns and thereby breakdown patterns of exclusion and systemic oppression within the urban fabric.40

Two frames remain important in grounding the approach of the advocacy plan. These frames validate the strength of registered community organizations (RCOs), and will help to build civic capacity in Grays Ferry. The first comes from the father of advocacy planning: Paul Davidoff where he stresses the inclusive process,41 and the second embeds what it means to address systemic oppression.42 Ingraining these frames into the process will further help to ensure that advocacy and equity are cemented into the plan.

“If the planning process is to encourage democratic urban government then it must operate so as to include rather than exclude citizens from participating in the process.”

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

- Paul Davidoff

“Structural racism cannot be eradicated by one small design intervention, but not considering existing and potential inequities when changing the urban fabric of lowerincome communities implicitly perpetuates systems of oppression.” - Barbara Brown Wilson, author of Resilience for All: Striving for Equity Through Community-Driven Design 53

MITIGATING CONFUSION AND ALIENATION The language used in formal processes is often coded and exclusive. Dialogue driven by technical terminology can stunt community engagement and feedback. Instead, language should bring everyone into the fold by ensuring common understanding and an equitable scope. When conducting community engagement jargon should be avoided to ensure opportunity for participation. Furthermore, leaders in community engagement should be aware of their positionality and ability to strengthen community trust. To avoid confusion and misunderstood intentions, leaders should share their social background including their racial and ethnic background, class level, life stage, and other social traits in honor of transparency in the process.43 In addition to engagement leaders avoiding jargon and highlighting positionality, community members can gain access to technical knowledge and codes through resources like citizen planner guides and programs like the Citizen Planning Institute to further empower residents.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES lived Invest in experience the as Engagement community Process expertise

multiple methods to build community agency, voice, and power

BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL

Participation barriers can take numerous forms, but through prioritizing inclusivity, community engagement through the public meeting can go much further. Perhaps the public meeting conflicts with other resident commitments. To address this barrier, providing more than one meeting occurrence can allow more opportunity for residents to engage. In addition, public meetings can take up people’s time at home creating conflicts around time needed for childcare and preparing evening meals. As much as possible, public meetings should seek to provide childcare and/or food at public meetings and alleviate the added stress to be present at a public meeting.44 Finally, the last major barrier to be aware of is language accessibility. It

is important to know who is living in the neighborhood and what languages they speak. If English is not the first language of many neighborhood residents, communication messaging and materials should seek to be distributed in other languages spoken in the neighborhood to further provide accessibility to the conversation.45 Leaders in Pittsburgh have identified a gap in participation from adults between their late 20s and mid 40s, suggesting that providing childcare at meetings may be key to engaging these families. To better engage these groups, the city of Ithaca, New York has piloted a program to provide childcare at all city council and commission meetings so parents can concentrate on engagement and relax knowing their children are safe.46 Additional research should consider engagement for groups like third shift workers and families with children and adult dependents who have special needs.

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Traditional community engagement encompasses routine public meetings. Yet, this methodology while easy to conduct is not always the most inclusive. Public meetings can cause added burden on participants as they give up their time and spend money commuting. While an effective method to engage a large number of people in short amount of time, more thoughtfulness has to go into the approach to alleviate barriers to participation.

MEETING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE Going beyond public meetings, community engagement should be conducted at existing convenings, gatherings, and activity in the neighborhood, thereby meeting residents where they are. This can include engaging residents at ongoing church meetings, neighborhood meetings, PTA meetings, community events such as road cleanups or community festivals, and even dinner parties. For example, instead of trying to encourage families to commit their already fraught time to come to community meetings, community planners in central Newfoundland brought a focus group to their town’s Family Resource Center. By holding the engagement session during an already standing group meeting of families, the session reduces extra commitments for families with young children. Vancouver Public Schools established 18 Family-Community Resource Centers, in addition to two mobile units. These centers connect students and their families with resources to aid in family stability. The resource centers bring community partners ranging from public health to housing to transportation to food all together in one place to serve families in the school district. Additionally, having one dedicated space for these interactions helps people find what they need quickly, especially as many families do not have excess time to navigate often confusing bureaucratic structures.47

Mobile Family Resource Center

Mobile Porch in Memphis, TN

In the City of Memphis, the nonprofit BLDG Memphis uses a mobile porch to literally meet people where they are in the streets. They have constructed a porch on wheels used to engage residents in conversation, conduct surveys, and convene focus groups in areas of the city with high foot traffic.48 San Diego Dinner Party Engagement

ART, INSTALLATIONS, AND INTERACTION

The Jacobs Center found that this approach highlighted individuals in the community who were not necessarily outspoken community leaders at the beginning of the engagement process but had the leadership potential. While creating informal environments encourages more participation than formal community meetings, the Center recommends including welltrained facilitators. These individuals may improve the process by helping residents express themselves in more productive ways and keep the dialogue moving.49

Using art and physical installations can be another method for community engagement that minimizes time commitments, and opens up opportunity for engagement. Art can help strengthen a sense of belonging and can invite residents to engage at any time. A method for using art includes pop-up visioning. This method allows residents to informally engage on topics in an interactive manner.50 Residents could use sticky notes or write on public boards on such as an empty storefront window answering questions about their neighborhood desires. One example includes how Candy Chang, an artist and urban planner, has designed public-facing art installations that encourage communities to share dreams and visions for the future on a public chalkboard. Among her most famous include the “Before I Die…” installation, which has been replicated more than 5,000 times in communities across the globe. The wall invites the public to write in chalk answering the simple prompt:

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Another example includes how The Jacobs Family Foundation and Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation engaged residents of a San Diego neighborhood by de-formalizing the engagement process. They identified residents to serve as hosts who would personally invite their friends and neighbors into their own living rooms across the community. The informal notion yielded higher participation rates than a formal community meeting, all while enabling participants to feel comfortable.

Candy Change Before I Die Wall

EXPANDING TO THE DIGITAL AGE “Before I die…” This way, community members can engage in a low-pressure environment and share their thoughts without fear of judgment from others in non-verbal ways.51 By placing community chalkboards in high-traffic areas, they also provide an accessible platform for self-organization, promotions, and knowledge transfer between different community members. Moreover, participants interact as much as they want to on their own time, without a significant time commitment. This same method can be applied to public meetings in the form of exhibitions or installations where public meetings are typically held. Instead of holding a meeting for a designated time, the exhibition can be open for drop-in participation, where community members can contribute their perceptions and input on their own time. Community interactive walking tours of neighborhoods can serve as another interactive method to engage people. Residents can walk with an RCO guide, along with a map and camera to identify the elements they like, as well as challenges and opportunities in the neighborhood. Tours could include conversations with local business owners and other neighborhood stakeholders along the way.52

When in person engagement is not possible, and further reach is needed, taking advantage of online connectivity can be another form of community engagement. Technology has certainly become more and more a part of our daily lives and can be used as an avenue to further reach people. While technology can be an asset to community engagement, it can also be a barrier for people with limited internet or technological access. Therefore, technology should be deployed to amplify efforts, and should not substitute all community engagement efforts. A number of online tools can serve as platforms for engagement. Newsletters can serve as consistent messaging and information sharing with community members. It can certainly serve as a platform for knowledge sharing and can invite feedback from community members. Moreover, chat-oriented platforms can further enable conversation and dialogue in addition to knowledge sharing. Platforms such as NextDoor, Slack, Discord, and Hivebrite can all serve this function. Finally, utilizing text messaging can serve as a direct one-to-one engagement tool for conversation. All of these channels can further deploy surveys in for form of Google Forms, Survey Monkey, Qualitrics, Pulse, and Doodle Polls.

In addition, a plethora of interactive online tools further facilitates online community engagement through online community mapping. Online mapping has some of the highest participation rates among tools for digital engagement. CommunityWalk is a web-based mapping tool that allows users to mark locations, add pictures and interactive media, and incorporate commentary to describe their experiences with place.54 GreenMaps is another comparable tool asking community members to identify community assets and important routes.55

households lack access to internet connectivity at home. Meanwhile, many older adults are not as technologically savvy or willing to learn new interactive tools. Considering ease of access, participants expressed a desire to be provided instructions for CommunityWalk before use.

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Convening residents for community engagement has further expanded into digital tools through video conferencing with platforms such as Zoom, Bluejeans, Skype, and Google Hangouts. In many ways a public meeting online reduces the burden on childcare, commuting, and other time burdens. In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, video conferencing has been further normalized for engaging at a social distance. While this method does require access to internet and technology, it does serve as tool for convening and enabling dialogue. For example, in Flint, Michigan, the Crim Fitness Foundation hosts live-stream “community conversations,” digital lunches on Zoom to engage members of the community.53

SocialPinpoint is an interactive visualization tool giving users the ability to comment on place-based development proposals. Users can vote, as well as comment on feedback from other participants. For organizers, SocialPinpoint has built-in reports and dashboards that provide insights on participation, engagement, and feedback in one easy location. The tool works across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices and can even connect to social media platforms.56 Issues with community-based online mapping are largely reflective of larger societal issues around technology. Many 59

Work With Stakeholders An effective community organization not only connects with residents, but actively works with stakeholders as well. Once a community organization carries out a series of efforts internally and collects concerns and desires from the community, as laid out in the previous two sections, they might wish to communicate externally with stakeholders regarding the very same issues. This section provides a framework for community organizations to work with different stakeholders through four steps: Identify Stakeholder, Explore Partnerships, Identify City Resources, and Communication Channels.

FOUR STEPS IN WORKING WITH STAKEHOLDERS I. IDENTIFY STAKEHOLDER The first step in working with stakeholders is to identify them – at different level, scale, and subject area.

II. EXPLORE PARTNERSHIPS

IV. COMMUNICATION CHANNELS Successfully navigate various methods of communicating local priorities to the government agencies with authority to direct resources to a community.

IDENTIFY STAKEHOLDERS The first step in working with stakeholders is to identify them. In this process, community organizations look into different subject areas, including connectivity, environment, civil issues, and development, and pay extra attention to those that are of importance to the community. The stakeholders can be government agencies, non-profit organizations, or local institutions such as universities, innovation centers, and faithbased groups. They will be assets for both voicing the concerns from the community and forming partnerships for improvements. A breakdown of some stakeholders at the City and community level by subject area Connectivity

Environment

To address the concerns and pressing issues on the agenda, partnerships can be a useful means to achieve larger-scale improvements with the normally limited capacity of community organizations.

III. IDENTIFY CITY RESOURCES Leverage low-cost or free public services in order for residents and community groups to participate and reap the rewards of neighborhood growth. 60

Civil

Housing/Development

EXPLORE PARTNERSHIPS While the planning process typically has a core set of goals to accomplish across different settings, it is well known to vary substantially between different governments and jurisdictions. Most levels of government engage in a comprehensive planning process on a regular cadence, typically developing citywide and neighborhood plans for a midterm planning horizon such as 1520 years. Planning agencies also generally having zoning review functions, given that zoning is one of the most powerful tools in public sector planning departments. Finally, many governments in larger cities invest in community engagement by seeking to incorporate local priorities into the planning process. Such initiatives range from soliciting feedback on proposals, to training community members in the planning process so they may become active contributions to plans as well as conduct peer education.

UNDERSTANDING ZONING VARIANCE REVIEW PROCESS In understanding the impact of certain stakeholders (corporations, developers, the planning commission, to name a few), community organizations might find it helpful to familiarize themselves with the most updated information on zoning variance and the general review process, as well as to educate the residents for engagement in the process. For example, the South Kensington Community Partners has put together a Zoning Variance Approval Procedures document, including this flow chart showing when and how the citizen involvement could take place in a potential development project.57

Community organizations are great, but at the end of the day, they are place-based with limited capacity and scale of influence. Exploring potential partnerships with stakeholders and strategically partnering with them can be valuable to all parties in achieving larger scale improvements with collective impact. At the meantime, when stakeholders at a different level, say the City, plan to implement a great and beneficial project, it cannot be done without the participation of the local community organizations either. Such partnerships will always require that the community organization and stakeholders share common goals, which may or may not be hard to come by, but having it on the radar could be helpful for community groups to achieve their mission and goals. The partners could be for-profit (businesses, corporations), nonprofit (charities, religious groups), or government-led bodies (local government agencies). Some example partnerships include community schools, community-nonprofit partnerships, and communityuniversity partnerships.

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

UNDERSTANDING PLANNING PROCESS

What a community partnership typically encompasses IDENTIFY COMMON GOALS

STRATEGICALLY PARTNER WITH EACH OTHER

Partnership

Community School

Community-Nonprofit

Partners

City School Faith-based Org Business

Nonprofit Org Community Org Business School

Community-University NGO Local University Community Org Faith-based Org

......

Example

ACHIEVE LARGER SCALE IMPROVEMENTS WITH COLLECTIVE IMPACT

THE SAN PABLO ENGINE TEAM FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS Community schools are a model that combines strong academic instruction with an array of vital supports and services for students and their families at the school site to achieve overall wellbeing. At the City of San Pablo, Contra Costa County, CA, this model has witnessed the transition from one community school to the entire school district, serving approximately 32,000 students across 5 cities in the County, joining the course. The San Pablo Engine Team, comprised of staff members from the City Council, school board members, and intermediaries, drafted a resolution that made possible the transition to a Full Service Community School district.58

IDENTIFY CITY RESOURCES Most local governments offer a range of services that are available to residents at little or no cost. Navigating government department organization, however, can be a significant challenge for residents seeking to utilize available services. Community groups have an important role to play in understanding the landscape of services offered to educating their constituents on how best to leverage the available resources, especially due to the household-level format of many public service programs. Government backed grants and low-cost financing can be important methods for residents to invest in their personal homes and neighborhoods, protect neighborhood stability, and ensure that the benefits of neighborhood growth accrue to the local community. There are also many available technical resource assistance programs offered at the city, state, and federal levels. As capacity is limited for community groups, the ability to receive assistance with grant writing, planning processes, and other important activities helps ensure best outcomes for communities.

PHILLY311 NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION LIAISON

Community schools at the City of San Pablo

311 programs are a popular way for governments, especially those in larger cities, to receive and respond to requests from their residents. In Philadelphia, the Neighborhood Association Liaison program is comprised of a set of volunteers who attend neighborhood association meetings, record 311 request and notices by members and commit to entering those requests into the 311 system for follow up action from the City.59

MAINTAIN COMMUNICATIONS association groups are an important way to establish more permanent communication channels with the most relevant government agencies, such as a zoning board that oversees variance requests. Planning departments also tend to have geographic focuses within cities or jurisdictions – identifying and building a relationship with the individual planner responsible for a neighborhood may be a useful way to ensure that local priorities are understood within government planning.

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

The complex organization of many governments can make communication between neighborhood groups and government agencies quite challenging. Many large cities have developed 311 operations services or similar programs that allow residents to access government services and report local issues, with a focus on smaller scale or day-to-day type incidents. Some cities leverage multi-modal communications for their 311 programs, including in person, phone, and online services. Neighborhood

goals & principles for advocacy

TOOLS

GOALS & PRINCIPLES

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

EXISTING CONDITIONS

INTRODUCTION

Developing Goals, Principles, and Tools The process we followed in developing an advocacy plan for Grays Ferry encompassed conducting an existing conditions analysis, participating in focus groups with community stakeholders, and engaging in a charrette with planning and design professionals. This has been an iterative and dynamic process and served as a proxy for complete and authentic

Existing Conditions Analysis + Focus Groups + Community Engagement Framework + Charrette 66

6 Goals

community engagement given the constraints of this studio. As a result of the analysis and the engagement we conducted, we developed an advocacy plan road map with six advocacy goals and five principles to achieve those goals. The five principles were then paired with a suite of 23 potential tools to fully realize the Grays Ferry plan for advocacy.

5 Principles

23 Tools

Goals Our six goals for advocacy are all purposefully oriented toward resident power and resident benefits. These goals seek to address systemic oppression, disinvestment, and threats to affordability in Grays Ferry while bolstering resident empowerment, financial power, amenity access, and communication channels to continuously advocate for desired

Residents will feel secure in their neighborhood and empowered to shape any future neighborhood change. Economic and racial justice will be centered in the planning process to address decades of disinvestment and injustice. Residents will be prioritized as new capital and attention flow into the community.

GOALS & PRINCIPLES

1 2 3 4 5 6

neighborhood change and priorities. These goals were delivered to the charrette groups as part of our process to lay the foundation for the development of principles to achieve the six advocacy goals below.

Residents will be financially empowered to benefit from neighborhood investment through various initiatives. Residents will enjoy safe and easy access to amenities throughout the neighborhood. Residents will have clear channels for addressing their concerns with City agencies and other stakeholders. 67

Principles The charrette group participants were planning and design professional across Philadelphia that helped to envision scenarios for Grays Ferry that contributed to the development of the five principles for the advocacy plan. The first two principles are geared toward policy and regulatory changes and encompass community access to economic growth occurring in Grays Ferry and addressing neighborhood affordability

1 2 3 4 5 68

to mitigate displacement. The third principle is centered on organizational power and remains central to the achievement of the advocacy plan. The final two principles speak to Grays Ferry public realm focusing on design interventions around neighborhood connectivity and access to the waterfront. The five principles are listed below.

Encourage community access and involvement in the growth and development of the neighborhood Ensure housing affordability both in the short term and in the long term

Goals 1|2|3|4 Goals 2|3|4

Leverage institutional and organizational partnerships

Goals 1|6

Implement street and greening design interventions to improve connections for all

Goals 1|5

Provide easy and complete riverfront access

Goals 3|5

The charrette groups focused on themes like mixed-use development, increasing parks and green space, housing affordability, and job growth. Major themes emerged from goals identified by the studio during this process, which form the backbone of the tools to be presented. The five principles and resulting tools aim to guide community groups through the current available channels for resident advocacy with stakeholders across varying agencies at the city level.

During the global pandemic that underpinned the importance of the studio’s work, there was considerable policy momentum at the city level aiming to ensure spatial equity in the built environment. The following tools build off of that work, as well as suggest new pathways to physical and policy interventions that help advance advocates’ goals for the neighborhood’s most pressing challenges.

Ensure housing affordability both in the short term and in the long term

Leverage institutional and organizational partnerships

GOALS & PRINCIPLES

Encourage community access and involvement in the growth and development of the neighborhood

Implement street design interventions to ensure safe connections for all Provide easy and complete riverfront access

tools for an equity agenda

TOOLS

GOALS & PRINCIPLES

ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

EXISTING CONDITIONS

INTRODUCTION

Partners Tool

NGO

Encourage Local Exactions and Impact Fees Advocate for Neighborhood Rezoning Automatic Community Benefits Agreement Sites to Attract National Retailers Small Footprints for Small Business Affordability Residential Parking Enforcement

Goals 1|2|3|4

Encourage community access and involvement in the growth and development of the neighborhood Public

Private

City Council Reps Community Coalition Private Developers PIDC Philadelphia Parking Authority

ENCOURAGE EXACTIONS & IMPACT FEES

This tool recommends a specific set of criteria the City can use to identify areas or neighborhoods that are vulnerable to forces of neighborhood change and would most benefit from increased spending in affordable housing. The framework measures neighborhoods in comparison to adjacent neighborhoods, estimating the degree to which proximate economic conditions

impact the conditions of a neighborhood. Housing cost burden, annual changes in property taxes and rent, and annual change in median income are all evaluated against the same metrics of surrounding neighborhoods. This is an important moment for the City as it implements this new exaction fee. Grays Ferry is a prime example of a neighborhood where these funds should be targeted. Grays Ferry community groups can use the findings outlined in this plan to advocate for an allocation framework that would benefit the neighborhood. Furthermore, Grays Ferry representatives should form partnerships with community leaders from other neighborhoods across the city experiencing similar pressure in order to more effectively advocate at the City level.

NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING INVESTMENTS CRITERION CONTEXT NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSINGRELATIVE INVESTMENTS Median Income Below,CONTEXT Philadelphia CRITERION RELATIVE Median Income Percent Housing Cost Burden Percent Housing Cost Change in Property Burden Taxes Change in Property Change in Rent Taxes

Change in Rent Change in Median Income Change in Median Income

Below, Philadelphia Greater, Adjacent Neighborhoods Greater, Adjacent Greater, Adjacent Neighborhoods Neighborhoods Greater, Adjacent Greater, Adjacent Neighborhoods Neighborhoods Greater, Adjacent Less, Adjacent Neighborhoods Neighborhoods Less, Adjacent Neighborhoods

TOOLS

In December 2020, the City of Philadelphia City Council approved a one percent citywide construction tax to go into effect at the beginning of 2022. The new tax was approved in tandem with a review of the existing property tax abatement, which many have criticized as a government subsidy of gentrification.60 The exact allocation of this new revenue has not been finalized, beyond a broad commitment to funding affordable housing programs.61 In order to achieve the stated goals of ”creat[ing] a more prosperous future for every Philadelphian, rather than a select few,”62 City government must be intentional in the spatial targeting of funds to neighborhoods like Grays Ferry that are presently under threat from gentrification and, by all account, will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

AUTOMATIC COMMUNITY BENEFIT AGREEMENTS Community benefits agreements (CBA) are a tool by which community groups and other agencies can ensure that development has tangible positive impacts on local residents and provide reciprocal benefits to the community. Grays Ferry is home to many large parcels, several of which are located in the area around Grays Ferry Avenue and the waterfront, likely the most attractive area for development in the foreseeable future. These parcels represent a tremendous opportunity for the local community to extract material benefits from massive development investments by advocating for CBAs that could fund the construction of public space, the funding of job training programs, or the provision of affordable financing programs. These examples are illustrative, and the exact details of each CBA should be negotiated by a neighborhood coalition with a mandate to represent the community’s interests. Research has found that the most successful CBAs – the ones that result in the creation and sustained presence of high impact goods and services – are grounded in the highly specific negotiation process between designated community representatives and developers.63 Grays Ferry community groups should monitor the largest parcels – those with an area greater than 10,000 square feet – and seek to negotiate community benefits agreements on any development of these parcels. Such a process could be enacted through the riverfront zoning overlay outlined later in this section or through more informal negotiation with City government. Community groups should seek benefits such as affordable housing commitments, local hiring minimums, public space improvements, or even the implementation of a workforce training program such as the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative.

Such a process could be enacted through the riverfront zoning overlay outlined later in this section or through more informal negotiation with City government. Community groups should seek benefits such as affordable housing commitments, local hiring minimums, public space improvements, or even the implementation of a workforce training program such as the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative.

Large Parcels to Watch for Redevelopment

COMMUNITY BENEFIT AGREEMENT CASE STUDIES

The new Subaru dealership located across from Stinger Square Park

While this development did lead to a transactional agreement with the dealership to make a small donation to the community and run a T-shirt giveaway, a substantial community benefits agreement did not materialize.64 To prevent missing similar opportunities for community investments from developers, community groups should prepare for the negotiation process and, again, monitor the largest parcels so as to begin the community benefits process immediately.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center in the Bronx, NY is a Recreation facility with programming funded by CBA.

Both the construction and programming of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center were funded by a community benefits agreement. The center offers programming for low-income school training and job training programs for local residents.66

Community benefits agreements have grown as a method of maintaining accountability and enforcement over promises made between developers and community groups. Early successful agreements include the CBA for the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where benefits included local hiring priority for families displaced by the development, affordable housing built onsite, a commitment to meeting parks and recreation needs in the area, and a residential parking program for surrounding neighborhoods.65

TOOLS

HISTORY OF COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENTS Port Covington in Baltimore, MD is the planned mixed-use waterfront district that will host the Under Armour headquarters.

The Port Covington CBA encompassed a multitude of initiatives including affordable financing to women and minority owned businesses, commitments to house low- and middle-income families in the residential development, and the construction of a 40-acre public park.67 75

ADVOCATE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD REZONING The combined area of the Schuylkill Riverfront and the Grays Ferry Avenue commercial corridor potentially represents the most desirable area for redevelopment in the neighborhood. This tool examines the proposed zoning changes from the South District Plan, which in its “corrective zoning” section proposes zoning changes that would essentially codify existing land uses.68 Largely, the change is from industrial to commercial. The South District Plan’s proposal is limited in its vision for this pivotal section of the area and city, forgoing the opportunity to more boldly envision a new future for Grays Ferry, one with a new development trajectory that places community needs at its center.

This tool recommends a mixed-use overlay that would cover the riverfront and Grays Ferry commercial district. Mixed-use would be allowed throughout the area, although a more specific commercial zoning would affect those parcels with a frontage on Grays Ferry Avenue. The overlay would ensure that all future development meet the retail and housing needs to the neighborhood, instead of continuing the industrial presence that creates a physical barrier between the people of Grays Ferry and the riverfront. Furthermore, this zoning approach corrects the existing conditions that favor large developers with the necessary resources to acquire zoning variances. A new overlay would open up potential to smaller-scale development initiated by community organizations that do not have the capacity to undergo Philadelphia’s zoning variance process.

South District Plan Rezoning Proposal

Legend Proposed Zoning Change Auto-Oriented Commercial Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use Community and Center City Commercial Mixed-Use Light Industrial Medium Industrial Heavy Industrial Industrial Commercial Mixed-Use Industrial Residential Mixed-Use Residential Multi-Family Residential Mixed-Use Residential Single-Family Attached Parks and Open Space

Neighborhood Mixed Use Overlay

e Av

25th St

Legend Mixed-Use Zoning Overlay Auto-Oriented Commercial Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use

TOOLS

s ay Gr

rry Fe

Community and Center City Commercial Mixed-Use Light Industrial Medium Industrial Heavy Industrial Industrial Commercial Mixed-Use Industrial Residential Mixed-Use Residential Multi-Family Residential Mixed-Use Residential Single-Family Attached Parks and Open Space

ATTRACT LARGE SCALE RETAILERS National Retail Targeted Locations

Grays Ferry is situated in a prime location for the establishment of national chains that serve both local residents and the wider region. Grays Ferry should embrace such advantage to attract national chains that may potentially bring about beneficial economic and employment effects. Community groups should have a voice in the presence of any major retailer looking to develop a location in the neighborhood and should prefer retailers that have a demonstrated commitment to community impact. National retail would likely be focused on Grays Ferry Avenue and Wharton Street, the highest trafficked streets in the neighborhood. As national retailers’ interest in the neighborhood grows, community groups should proactively identify businesses that have demonstrated commitments to community impact. Programs such as tuition assistance, reimbursement for college preparation coursework, and funded childcare are important ways that high-resourced retailers can invest in the lives of the locally-employed residents.

Legend National Retail

0.6 Miles Education Achievement Program

ENCOURAGE AFFORDABLE SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH Small businesses contribute to local jobs and the community’s identity; they encourage entrepreneurship and provide goods and services demanded by the neighborhood. In short, small businesses contribute to a community’s vitality and can add activity and vibrancy in pockets of the otherwise much less activated neighborhood. As Grays Ferry’s retail economy is mostly centered around the Grays Ferry Shopping Center and the neighboring commercial spaces along Grays Ferry Avenue, the neighborhood would do well by adding retail strategically throughout the more walkable areas of the neighborhood.

Small Business Targeted Locations with National Retail

TOOLS

This tool targets the neighborhood’s core and suggests locating small retail at critical intersections along 29th and 30th streets – specifically the intersections at Wharton, Reed, and Tasker streets. While this would not materialize a full neighborhood commercial corridor, such strategic infill would add economic and social activity to the core of Grays Ferry and allow residents and community groups to access the products and services they otherwise must leave the neighborhood to get.69 Such small business economy can complement the national chains presence outlined in the previous tool, allowing a new and diverse retail economy to emerge.

Legend National Retail Small Scale Retail Targeted Retail Intersections

0.6 Miles Local Small Business

RESIDENTIAL PARKING ENFORCEMENT One concern voiced loud and clear in focus groups held as part of this planning process is that residents frequently have issues finding convenient parking near their place of residence. The area closest to the riverfront and Schuylkill River Trail are most heavily affected by this problem.70 Because of the changes that are certain to occur surrounding Grays Ferry Avenue and the riverfront, residential parking enforcement is needed to ensure that neighborhood residents have priorities to park conveniently. Parking permits add a cost of $35 per year per resident.71

Parking Enforcement Location

However, this cost is hopefully worth the benefit of guaranteed parking. To not hinder retail activity and ensure that only residents are able to utilize long-term street parking, the new regulation would set two-hour limits for visitors without permits. This tool prioritizes adding permitted parking in the areas surrounding Grays Ferry Avenue and covering all of Forgotten Bottom. Neighborhood groups can attend Parking Authority Board Meetings to voice their concerns and recommend this change.

Legend Proposed Residential Parking Enforcement

0.6 Miles

Crowded Street in Grays Ferry

Existing Parking Enforcement

The only dedicated enforced parking in the area are highlighted in orange

Goals 2|3|4

Ensure housing affordability both in the short term and in the long term

Partners Tool

NGO

Public

Private

Protect Long Term Homeowners

Rebuilding Together PHL

Tenant Protection Policies

Pennovation, Private Developer

Mixed Income Housing CLTs and Developer CDCs

City/State Agencies

PIDC, Community Justice Land Trust

TOOLS

Home Repair and Financial Programs

PROTECT LONG TERM HOME OWNERS

HOME REPAIR & FINANCIAL PROGRAMS

The City of Philadelphia has been a pioneer in confronting the issue of “tangled titles,” a phenomenon in which families residing in a home, passed down from deceased family members, do not have proper documentation for the deed of the home. Without proper documentation, these families often become prey to foreclosure or buyout from developers as they cannot legally defend their ownership. Identifying families in this situation will be crucial in protecting long term residents from buyout and loss of their home. The City has already designated funds for issuing proper documents and legal protections to residents with “tangled titles.”72 Community groups should leverage these programs to ensure that long term residents can remain in their homes and curb rampant land grabs from private developers.

Preserving and maintaining existing homes is crucial for retaining homeownership and affordable housing in the community. In order to stave off the process of neighborhood change, housing investments must occur not only in new construction but also in the existing housing stock. While investing in the ongoing maintenance of one’s home could be financially difficult for many households, there are several public and private initiatives that aim to provide assistance and relief along the way.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY PHILADELPHIA Home Preservation – Habitat for Humanity’s home repair program – provides home repair work at low costs, thanks to volunteer labor and donated materials. An affordable loan is also made to the homeowner to cover the cost of the work. Payments are placed in a revolving fund to help Home Preservation serve others in need.73

Other grants and resources include the City’s Restore Repair Renew program, Basic Systems Repair Program, and various funding programs at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). Residents may find the application processes for these programs difficult to navigate. Community groups have an important role to play in helping homeowners identify programs for which they qualify and assisting them through the application process.

Before and after: More than 30 volunteers helped military veteran Ken Houston work on critical repairs on his home in Germantown during Boots for Building 2014.

TENANT PROTECTION PROGRAMS With the increasing share of renters in Grays Ferry over the past two decades, tenant protection policies will be crucial in preventing the future displacement of local residents. No Evictions Without Good Cause is an existing policy for the City of Philadelphia that ensures landlords can only evict tenants for “good causes,” such as habitual non-payment of rent or material breach of lease.75 Many other tenant protection policy interventions exist but are not in place that could benefit the City and Grays Ferry more specifically. Rent stabilization is an effective measure at maintaining affordability amidst neighborhood change, as exemplified by New York City’s rent stabilized housing stock. Code enforcement ensures that landlords are doing their part to ensure safe and adequate housing. “Right to Return” is a policy that cities such as Portland, OR, have enacted to ensure that affordable housing is provided to families displaced by large infrastructure and other projects, especially through large scale government programs such as eminent domain or Urban Renewal.76 With the Schuylkill Expressway running right through Grays Ferry, a similar policy could be feasibly implemented and bring more affordable housing to the neighborhood. In addition to physical housing, financial assistance can be administered to displaced residents by community groups who obtain funding from grants and other sources. Finally, “No Net Loss of Affordable Housing” is a policy that ensures current levels of affordable housing are maintained, without any loss to the affordable housing stock being replaced by new construction.77

TOOLS

Furthermore, community leaders in Grays Ferry have Furthermore, community leaders in Grays Ferry have expressed dismay at the prohibitively low-income requirements attached to some of these programs that prevent some homeowners from conducting needed repairs.74 Community coalitions should work with city government to request a comprehensive review of income requirements to ensure that they are appropriate for the needs of the targeted populations in Philadelphia.

MIXED INCOME HOUSING

Potential Mixed-Income Housing Sites

To ensure long term housing affordability, it is also important to increase housing supply at mixed income levels, which Grays Ferry needs. Community organizations can work with major institutional partners in the neighborhood and utilize external funding sources, both public and private, for such an endeavor. Three possible locations within Grays Ferry for such publicprivate partnership are identified on the map. The riverfront site will likely involve an institutional partnership with Pennovation and private developers. Such development represents a significant opportunity for Pennovation to establish itself as a visible and connected institutional presence in the neighborhood. Building design should take a comprehensive approach and assess the flood risk at the riverfront and other environmental factors into consideration as well. The other two sites rely on development partnerships with neighborhood churches, important institutions with historical presences in Grays Ferry. The second site located at 2500 Reed St. is currently vacant and owned by Church of The Redeemer. A partnership with the church could be pursued through a land lease. The third site, located at 2530-32 Wharton St., is much smaller and currently an individual building owned by the Church of The Pentecost. This building holds redevelopment potential through a similar institutional partnership with the church. Such (re)development could be mutually beneficial to both the church, as an active and innovative use of the idle property, and the community as it provides affordable housing.

Legend Proposed Mixed Housing Locations

A mixture of large and small sites throughout the neighborhood can serve as mixed-income housing developments

CASE STUDY: GILLIAM PLACE ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

CASE STUDY: PROSPECT PLAZA BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

The Gilliam Place is a mixed-use six-story development located in the heart of Columbia Pike Town Center, Arlington, VA.78 It features 173 new affordable apartments, ground floor civic/ retail space, community rooms for resident programming, and an outdoor garden space. In addition, 11 apartments will be barrierfree in order to meet the needs of people with disabilities.79 The project is made possible through a partnership between the Arlington Presbyterian Church and the nonprofit affordable housing developer APAH (Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing), with the assistance of bonds, public investment fund, and LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit).80 This collaboration is a model for faith institutions across the nation and a testament to the power of faith in service for their communities through various partnerships.

Prospect Plaza is a 4.5-acre, three-block redevelopment project featuring health-centric retail, a grocery anchor, and affordable housing located in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. The $200 million project brought new commercial activity and a mix of 400 public and affordable rental units to a site that was strictly for residential towers. Chief among stakeholder concerns was a significant public health challenge in the surrounding area.

The project totaled $200 million in development and serves as a model for other affordable mixed-use developments with a focus on improving resident health and well-being. Access to affordable, healthy foods is one cornerstone of improving public health in the broader area, which is a critical issue in Grays Ferry. Moreover, showcasing the ability for numerous public health-improving design interventions working together in one site leads the way for affordable and market-rate developers to prioritize healthier living in a mixed-use environment at the site scale.

Rendering of Mixed Income Housing Site sponsored by APAH

TOOLS

The units comprise public housing units, project-based voucher units, LIHTC rental units set aside for families formerly experiencing homelessness, and LIHTC units available to families of four making up to $51,000 annually. The project includes community gardens, active staircases, proximity to active transportation, outdoor recreation areas, an indoor fitness center, a community center, and an on-site grocery store.

Prospect Plaza streetscape and interior photos by Pennrose Development

COMMUNITY LAND TRUST Within Grays Ferry, there are a significant number of vacant land parcels owned by the Philadelphia Land Bank, representing development opportunities.81 This tool proposes creating a community land trust (CLT) to take advantage of this inexpensive land supply, help communities build assets through home ownership, and ensure long-term housing affordability. CLTs typically obtain funding from private donors, government subsidies, or anchor institutions to acquire land and develop housing, which they sell at below-market rates to serve low-to moderate-income households earning 50% to 80% of the area median income (AMI).82 An important benefit of CLTs is that the organization retains ownership of the land while the residents own the parcel occupying the land. Additionally, CLTs typically retain the ability to repurchase any improvement on the land and places restrictions on the resale value. While the homeowners can build equity on the structure, the prices are kept down to maintain affordability for the next buyers. Compared to standard subsidized rentals, this model can offer greater permanence, using a one-time subsidy to preserve long-term affordability. In contrast, subsidized rental projects often require ongoing funding to cover operating expenses, and many can also be at risk of market-rate conversion when federal tax credits expire. Typically, at least one-third of a CLT’s board is composed of community residents, allowing for the possibility of direct, grassroots participation in decision-making and community control of local assets.83

Vacant Parcels for Stewardship by Land Trust

Legend Land Bank Parcels

TOOLS

COMMUNITY JUSTICE LAND TRUST The Community Justice Land Trust in Port Richmond (led by the Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) in Philadelphia) currently has 36 rent-to-own townhomes with plans for more housing development.84 While not a widely used model, there is precedent for community land trusts in Philadelphia.

Goal 1|6

Leverage institutional and organizational partnerships

Partners Tool

Coalition Building Collaborative Community Space

NGO

Public

Private

Community Organizations School District

Pennovation

Open Pennovation Campus Penn as Partner in STEM School Citywide Partnerships

Pennovation, Private Developers

Local Universities City Agencies

COALITION BUILDING

CASE STUDY: SOUTH BALTIMORE 6

As was discussed in the Community Benefits Agreement tool, the most effective CBAs have been negotiated by a strong community coalition consisting of community groups, nonprofits, and other players. Grays Ferry is home to a deeply rooted community with strong neighborhood ties as well as many effective community organizations, non-profits, and longstanding institutions. Bringing these groups together under a new coalition will create a collective power to the neighborhood that is effective, if not necessary, in implementing many of the tools presented in this plan.

South Baltimore 6 is a coalition that consists of six neighborhoods surrounding Port Covington redevelopment in South Baltimore, which later included the Sagamore Development Corporation – the developer – and became South Baltimore 7. The coalition was pivotal in getting the CBA signed in both of its stages, which resulted in roughly $40 million for those neighborhoods devoted to affordable housing, local hiring, and other community benefits.85 Brooklyn Cherry Hill Curtis Bay Lakeland Mt. Winans Westport

TOOLS

Port Covington

Port Covington project CBA Coalition Meeting

COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY SPACE

High Visibility Locations for Community Organizations

A first step towards a powerful coalition is to bring together all the community organizations serving Grays Ferry and the residents. Currently there are four Registered Community Organizations that touch the boundary of the neighborhood, including Grays Ferry Community Council, Grays Ferry Civic Association, Tasker-Morris Neighbors Association, and Philly Thrive (SWPDC).86 They are all scattered in different parts of the neighborhood, making collaboration somewhat difficult. Establishing visible community infrastructure for both community organizations and community events will encourage and enhance collaboration, laying a foundation for future institutional partnerships. Within Grays Ferry, there are several options for such a collaborative community space, marked on the map to the right. A coffee shop for example, is a great profit generating model for the privately-owned vacant lot across Lanier Park, as an incentive for the owner to work with the community. An outdoor space, on the other hand, can be replicated on the Pennovation campus location. The King of Peace School is currently empty and can be ready to use with some light renovation. This location could be ideal for hosting community events and workshops of various kinds.

Legend Proposed Community Space Locations

0.6 Miles Potential sites for community organizations to relocate for better access to the community and more prominence and visibility. Co-locating organizations can better promote collaboration and partnerships.

CASE STUDY– HIGHLANDER ACCELERATOR NORTH OMAHA, NEBRASKA The Highlander Accelerator in North Omaha, Nebraska, is a community building space aimed to transform all who enter.87 An impressive number of organizations are housed within the building and work to connect the community through education, engagement, and enrichment. Located in the heart of the Highlander neighborhood, the Accelerator, which activates a once dormant community, could be an example for a future collaborative community space in Grays Ferry.

TOOLS

North Omaha, NE

OPEN & INTEGRATE PENNOVATION CAMPUS Occupying a pivotal site on the east bank of the Schuylkill River, the 23-acre Pennovation Works is currently a gated campus along 34th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue.88 The gated campus is disconnected from the surrounding neighborhood and the riverside trails, limiting outside engagement with the site. Therefore, the plan advocates that Pennovation becomes an open campus to share resources with the community, provide community use spaces, and expand employment and educational opportunities for residents of Grays Ferry. Additionally, the open campus will provide better and easier public access to the riverfront through the road network for automobiles, which connects to Grays Ferry Avenue, as well as the pedestrian network. Opening up the campus will create an enormous opportunity to show the positive impact that inclusive growth can have on innovative outcomes.

Above: The current site plan for the Pennovation campus Below: The plan for the opening of Pennovation’s campus for community use

Legend Road Network Pedestrian Network

Pennovation Gated Entrance

Grays Ferry Crescent Trail

With rich resources and investments, Pennovation and the larger University of Pennsylvania (Penn) network is a great asset within Grays Ferry and should be sought out for partnerships. A STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) school established through a partnership with Penn and Pennovation would benefit Grays Ferry’s youth both academically and professionally. In the short term, community groups and local schools can partner with Penn to expand existing programs, such as Penn’s Science Outreach program, to more directly and better serve Grays Ferry youth.89 This is both beneficial to the students within the neighborhood and foundational for any future partnerships between Penn and the neighborhood in the long term, ideally in the creation of the STEM school. The school could be located on Pennovation campus at the riverfront or the former King of Peace School which is now vacant. In the example to the right, planning and financing the $40 million project involved a range of philanthropies and institutions, including the Lenfest Foundation, the Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP), the AFL-CIO, and corporate supporters, including PNC Bank and PECO/Exelon. Support included $7 million in District funds; $7 million from the real estate investment firm Ventas; $3 million from Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program; and $1.8 million from PSP.90

CASE STUDY: POWEL ELEMENTARY AND SCIENCE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY MIDDLE SCHOOL In 2019, Drexel arranged a partnership for Powel Elementary School and Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMS) in West Philadelphia within its innovation district, uCity Square. The partnership involved both public and private efforts, where Drexel provided the land and bridge financing.91

TOOLS

PENN AS PARTNER IN STEM SCHOOL

CULTIVATE CITY WIDE PARTNERSHIPS Grays Ferry has active partnerships with many citywide agencies and is involved in their programs for community improvement, including CLEAN UP organized by Streets Department and green stormwater infrastructure projects led by the Water Department.92 Strengthening existing partnerships with citywide stakeholders and expanding on them help communicate the issues within the community and respective planning needs and efforts. A stronger partnership with the school districts, for example, would be greatly helpful in establishing the new STEM school or reusing the empty King of Peace School. Citywide partnerships would also expand local residents’ access to a wider range of resources and empower local organizations to bring about more effective and efficient delivery of programs.

Goals 1|5

Partners Tool

Public

Traffic Calming Measures General Street Improvements Intersection & Underpass Beautification

Streets Dept

OTIS

Water Dept

Parks & Recreation

TOOLS

Implement street and greening design interventions to improve connections for all

TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES The arterial street of the neighborhood, Grays Ferry Avenue, is currently auto-oriented, which not only experiences high traffic fatality rates but also shapes the surrounding commercial streetscape. With the highest traffic volume in the neighborhood, the intersection of Grays Ferry Avenue and 34th Street needs traffic calming measures to better accommodate non-vehicular travelers.

on both sides of the street will protect cyclists from the major road traffic. Trees can be planted along the sidewalks both as a buffer for the pedestrians and address the urban heat island effect. Rain gardens are also potential substitutes to consider, as they can be used to manage stormwater runoff.

Therefore, a road diet is suggested to improve safety and travel experience. A pedestrian island should be implemented in case pedestrians do not have enough time to cross the street. Bollards

Current Grays Ferry Ave Street Section

Proposed Grays Ferry Ave Road Diet

GENERAL STREET IMPROVEMENTS

Implement Sharrow Signaling

The non-arterial streets and intersections are more commonly used by the residents, but many are in poor condition and need improvement. Complete street design measures can be implemented to create a more comfortable environment for pedestrians, cyclists, and even drivers. Pedestrian signal timing allows pedestrians to enter the crosswalk several seconds earlier than vehicular traffic, which enforces pedestrian safety. Other street interventions that enhance pedestrian travel experience include curb extension, curb cuts, and mid-block crossing. Painted sharrows along neighborhood streets will protect cyclists by reminding drivers of their presence and effectively slow down.

Curb Cuts & Extensions

TOOLS

Pedestrian Signals

Mid Block Crosswalks

INTERSECTION & UNDER PASS BEAUTIFICATION The use of arts and beautification can enhance ignored or underused spaces and showcase the neighborhood’s unique characteristics. Painted crosswalks make pedestrian activities more prominent and bring vitality and safety to the streets. Painted underpasses ensure better safety for all users with more lighting and colors. Targeted sites include key neighborhood intersections and underpasses where the I-76 passes over Grays Ferry Avenue and along 34th Street.

Above: Rainbow colored crosswalk at 13th and Locust Streets enhances the Gayborhood’s sense of place while creating very prominent pedestrian crossing zones. Below: The 5th Street Tunnel employs bright lighting and public art to improve the pedestrian and biking experience underground.

SPRING GARDEN CONNECTOR The Spring Garden Connector in Philadelphia was formerly a poorly lit underpass which created unsafe conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. Through implementation of colorful lighting, the previously dingy underpass is now transformed into a safer and more welcoming connection to a major transit station, bikeshare hub, the waterfront, and river trail. The Spring Garden Connector lit for pedestrian use

Partners Tool

NGO

Riverfront Public Easements Green Loop Wayfinding Signs Pedestrian-centered Connections

Schuylkill River Development Corporation PA Horticultural Society

Public Parks & Recreation

Streets Dept

Private Zoning Board

Private Developers

Water Dept

TOOLS

Goals 3|5

Provide easy and complete riverfront access

RIVERFRONT PUBLIC EASEMENTS Proposed Easements

The riverfront is a major asset to the Grays Ferry neighborhood. However, the residents currently lack access and connection points for more widespread use of this community asset. The creation of public easements will help better connect the neighborhood to the riverfront. One way to accomplish this is to include the easement in the zoning overlay proposed along Grays Ferry Avenue under Principle 1. Private developers will be required to contribute to safe and easy riverfront access with active edges. This could take the form of trail connections or paths through which pedestrians can reach the riverfront. They will be beneficial to residents and visitors going to the riverfront as well as developers and tenants enjoying this unparalleled location for their businesses. Legend

Potential Access Pathways Christian to Crescent Trail (2021)

Riverfront public easements would allow access to the river at various points that are currently not open to the public.

CASE STUDY: RIVER STREETS, DELAWARE RIVER PHILADELPHIA, PA River Street

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The Master Plan for the Central Delaware emphasizes the importance of physical and visual connections to the river. The Central Delaware plan includes an abundance of riverfront parks at the terminus of each “river street.” Maintaining view corridors promotes connections from the neighborhood to the river, while pedestrian and cycling connections promote access to the riverfront as an amenity.

PEDESTRIAN CENTERED CONNECTIONS

Rendering of possible pedestrian connection over CSX rail

Proposed Connections

TOOLS

Following themes presented in the riverfront public easements, this tool further prioritizes the pedestrian experience of and connection to the riverfront. While the riverfront easements work to open up the connection between the core of the neighborhood and the riverfront, other infrastructures such as a pedestrian bridge can be put in place to further enhance this connection. It also takes advantage of and works with the topology and elevation of the area along the riverfront. This makes for an interesting but practical user experience that amplifies the riverfront as an asset. Potential directions for such a pedestrian bridge are marked on the map below, connecting either to the different parts of the trail or directly to the Christian to Crescent Bridge proposed by Schuylkill River Development Corporation ( The empty lot next to the bridge and along 34th Street can also be activated for different uses as an extension of the pedestrian connection.

Legend Path to New Trail Connection Christian to Crescent Trail (2021) Existing Trail Connections Proposed Connections Proposed Open Space Proposed Overlook Proposed Active Space

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CREATE NEIGHBORHOOD GREEN LOOP Neighborhood Green Loop

Legend Existing Trail Christian to Crescent Trail (2021) Proposed Green Loop Proposed Connections Proposed Open Space Proposed Overlook Proposed Active Space

The Green Loop will also create new green space both within in the neighborhood and along the riverfront, while creating more access points

The creation of a green loop will incorporate all interventions mentioned previously for better access to the riverfront, including the riverfront public easements, pedestrian bridge, and Wharton Street as a connection to the trail head. Extensive coverage of street trees, rain gardens, and planters will be implemented to make the neighborhood more environmental-friendly, as it currently suffers from the urban heat island effect and lack of sufficient tree cover. Ultimately, the green loop will bring the riverfront amenity closer to community members by extending its reach from the direct shoreline into the community beginning at 29th Street and Wharton Street.

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WAYFINDING SIGNS & ART In the heart of the neighborhood, Wharton Street directly leads to a trail head but is currently underutilized due to the lack of navigation signs. To activate this existing connection and provide better access to the riverfront, wayfinding signs and painted indicators can be implemented along Wharton Street and at the pedestrian bridge at Wharton Street. A green line will also be painted down the sidewalk to indicate the path of a green loop and lead to the trail. Wayfinding Sign for Tacoma Park, MD

TOOLS

Painted Wayfinding Signs in Davis, CA

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conclusion: Newcomers have already entered the neighborhood and have altered the socio-economic dynamics. In the face of this change, however, many historically critical issues in the built environment remain unchanged. The area continues to suffer from urban heat island effect due to low tree cover, aggravating myriad health issues that many longtime residents face such as asthma, lung disease, and cancer. There is limited access to fresh food, which compounds negative health outcomes. Poor street conditions create an unsafe environment for residents walking and biking to get around. However, some residents justifiably fear the engines of change to create better outcomes for all these solutions. In the face of such pressing issues, institutional investment in creating safer streets, improving area tree cover, and increasing access to fresh food stands to ripen the neighborhood for attention from outsiders. Such attention threatens the staying power of longtime residents who may not have incomes to compete with high-earning, college-educated newcomers, considering Grays Ferry’s long history of segregation and the opportunities

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that were historically limited because of it. Rents have already doubled over the course of two decades, and as residential and commercial changes continue to come down the pipeline, as well as the introduction of 19,000 jobs for the former refinery site, more eyes will look to Grays Ferry than ever before. With the right tools and strategies, community members can be equipped to participate and benefit from positive change in the neighborhood. With consensus between public agencies, private developers, and the community, residents should feel empowered to advocate for better conditions without fear of being displaced.

This studio has developed a suite of advocacy tools aiming to: 1: Empower residents to shape future neighborhood change 2: Center economic and racial justice to address decades of disinvestment and injustice 3: Prioritize residents as new capital flows into the community 4: Ensure residents benefit from neighborhood investment 5: Allow safe and easy access to neighborhood amenities throughout the neighborhood 6: Ensure clear paths for residents to address their concerns with city agencies and other stakeholders Resident groups in Philadelphia have mounted impressive and impactful opposition to highway construction through tightknit communities and to the environmental degradation of the neighborhoods they have called home for decades. It will take a concerted effort from public, private, and advocacy actors to combat the pernicious issue of rising unaffordability, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly widened the economic wealth gap in America with few protections for neighborhoods like Grays Ferry. This plan aims to shift the power dynamics and equip Grays Ferry with tools and principles to shape neighborhood change and thrive in place.

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appendix: endnotes Figures Cited

INTRODUCTION Figures Cited Cover Image, Photo by Chelsea Zhang Introduction Transition, Photo by Dennis Coleman

EXISTING CONDITIONS Figures Cited Existing Conditions Transition, Photo by Dennis Coleman

HOUSING 8 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 9 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 10 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer

Figures Cited

DEMOGRAPHICS

Grays Ferry Housing, Photo by Jose F. Moreno with the Philadelphia Inquirer

1 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer.

New Construction, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020

2 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer.

Workingman’s House, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020

PHA Housing, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020

3 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer.

ENVIRONMENT

Figures Cited

11 Villarosa, Linda (2020, Jul 28). “Pollution is Killing Black Americans,” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/magazine/pollution-philadelphia-blackamericans.html

James Alcorn School, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020

INCOME 4 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 5 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 6 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 7 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year

estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer

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Man Commuting, Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

12 Villarosa, Linda (2020, Jul 28). “Pollution is Killing Black Americans,” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/magazine/pollution-philadelphia-blackamericans.html”

Figures Cited Simple GSI Measures in Philadelphia, Photo by National Association of Transportation Officials (NATCO) Schuylkill River Trail, Photo by Schuylkill River Greenways NHA Stinger Square, Photo by Philly Public Pools https://phillypublicpools.com/ Vare Recreation Center, Photo by Emma Lee with WHYY

TRANSPORTATION 13 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 14 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer 15 SEPTA Open Data. Fall 2020 Routes 16 OpenDataPhilly. Bike Network. 17 DVRPC GIS PORTAL. Circuit Trails 18 Briggs, R. (2019, August 07). Grays Ferry Bridge is scary for cyclists and PennDOT’s rebuild won’t solve the problem. WHYY. https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/ grays-ferry-bridge-is-scary-for-cyclists-and-penndot-s-rebuild-won-t-solve-the/ article_8beeeec9-3c0e-5b74-8c41-bf3892c4cbfd.html 19 Schuylkill River Development Corporation. (2020, September 11). Schuylkill Crossing. https://www.schuylkillbanks.org/projects/schuylkill-crossing 20 City of Philadelphia, Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability 21 Kummer, F. (2020, June 23). Philly proposes $43 million Schuylkill trail extension to include bridge with scenic overlook. The Philadelphia Inquirer. https://www.inquirer.com/ science/climate/philadelphia-schuylkill-trail-bridge-bartrams-garden-20200622.htm

Figures Cited Grays Ferry Ave, Photo by Chelsea Zhang Route 49 Bus, Photo by SEPTA Gray Ferry Crescent Trail, Photo by Chelsea Zhang Grays Ferry Bridge Rehabilitation, Rendering by PennDOT Schuylkill Crossing, Rendering by Schuylkill River Development Corporation Christian to Grays Ferry Crescent Trail, Rendering by Schuylkill River Development Corporation Washington Ave Improvements, Photo by NYCDOT

ECONOMY 22 ESRI and Infogroup. ESRI 2020 Updated Demographics. ESRI 2017 Retail MarketPlace.

23 ESRI and Infogroup. ESRI 2020 Updated Demographics. ESRI 2017 Retail MarketPlace 24 U.S. Census Bureau (2018). 2014-2018 American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2018. Retrieved from Social Explorer

Figures Cited 30th and Grays Ferry, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Point Breeze, Photo Brandon Baker with Philly Voice South Street, Photo by Project for Public Spaces on August 13, 2015 Washington Ave, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Snyder Ave, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Corridor Signage, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Grays Ferry Commercial Corridor, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Aerial view of Grays Ferry Shopping Center, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Fresh Grocer in Grays Ferry, Photo by Mapquest Convenience Store in Grays Ferry, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020 Pennovation Works Flagship Building, Photo by Penn Center for Innovation Penntrification, Photo by Connor Augustine through Activism Beyond The Classroom

LAND USE 25 City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment

ZONING 26 Philadelphia 2035: South District Plan. https://www.phila2035.org/south

DEVELOPMENT 27 City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment 28 ULI Philadelphia. Grays Ferry Avenue Healthy Corridor National Study Visit. https://

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www.design.upenn.edu/pennpraxis/work/grays-ferry-healthy-corridor-workshops 29 City of Philadelphia, Licenses and Inspections Building and Zoning Permits 30 City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment. 31 OCF REALTY. (2020, Jan 16). Subaru Dealership Makes All the Sense Next to I-76 in Grays Ferry. http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/subaru-dealershipmakes-sense-next-76-grays-ferry

BUILDING AN ENGAGEMENT AND ADVOCACY FRAMEWORK

32 OCF REALTY. (2017, Feb 23). Finally, Construction on a Forgotten Bottom Corner. http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/finally-construction-on-a-forgottenbottom-corner

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION

33 OCF REALTY. (2020, May 11). Explaining Some Steel Near Grays Ferry Avenue. http:// www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/explaining-steel-near-grays-ferry-avenue

37 Sierra Club (2020) https://www.sierraclub.org/about-sierra-club

34 OCF REALTY. (2018, Apr 04). http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/ point-federal-something-altogether-different-grays-ferry 35 OCF REALTY. (2020, Apr 02). Apartment Building Proposed a Few Steps From Grays Ferry Avenue. http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/apartment-buildingproposed-steps-grays-ferry-avenue

Figures Cited PHA’s Greater Grays Ferry Estates offers low-rise housing options to qualifying residents, Photo by Apartments.com Vacant parcels susceptible to increased litter in the neighborhood, Photo by Chelsea Zhang 3536-40 Wharton St, Photo by OCF REALTY. (2017, Feb 17). Finally, Construction on a Forgotten Bottom Corner http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/finallyconstruction-on-a-forgotten-bottom-corner 1400 S. 33rd St, Photo by OCF REALTY. (2020, Jan 16) Subaru Dealership Makes All the Sense Next to I-76 in Grays Ferry http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/ subaru-dealership-makes-sense-next-76-grays-ferry 1100 &1102 S. 27th St, Photo by OCF REALTY. (2020, May 11) Explaining Some Steel Near Grays Ferry Avenue http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/grays-ferry/explainingsteel-near-grays-ferry-avenue 2736 Federal St, Photo by OCF REALTY. (2020, Apr 2). Apartment Building Proposed a Few Steps From Grays Ferry Avenue http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/graysferry/apartment-building-proposed-steps-grays-ferry-avenue 2728-34 Federal St, Photo by OCF REALTY. (2018, Apr 4). The Point on Federal Would Be Something Altogether Different For Grays Ferry http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-philly/ grays-ferry/point-federal-something-altogether-different-grays-ferry

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CHANGE 108

36 City of Philadelphia. Office of Property Assessment, Parks & Recreation, Department of Revenue.

38 Citizens Planning Institute https://citizensplanninginstitute.org/about

Figures Cited Building an Engagement and Advocacy Framework Transition, Photo by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of African American Research Black Communities Conference Community Organization Background, Photo by Jake Blumgart (2016) with WHYY “What should Philly expect in a new Zoning Board chair?” A class of Citizen Planners and Instructors, Photo by Citizens Planning Institute / Philadelphia City Planning Commission Community Organization Meeting, Photo by Louis Freedberg with EdSource “Community engagement is the key to making California’s school funding formula work”

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 39 Local Initiatives Support Corporation (2006) Joint Ventures with For-Profit Developers: A Guide for Community Development Corporations https://communitywealth.org/sites/clone.community-wealth.org/files/downloads/tool-lisc-joint-ventures. pdf 40 Briggs, Xavier de Souza. (1998). “Doing Democracy Up Close: Culture, Power, and Communication in Community Planning.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 18:1-13. 41 Davidoff, Paul (1965) “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners 31:4, 331-338. 42 Wilson, Barbara Brown. (2018). Resilience for All: Striving for Equity Through Community-Driven Design. Chapters 1 – 3, pp. 1-54. 43 Briggs, Xavier de Souza. (1998). “Doing Democracy Up Close: Culture, Power, and Communication in Community Planning.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 18:1-13.

44 Futurewise (2014) Community Engagement Toolkit 45 Futurewise (2014) Community Engagement Toolkit 46 Ritzel, Rebecca. (2019, May 08). Offering Childcare at City Meetings May Be Key to Diversifying Civic Engagement. Next City. https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/offeringchildcare-at-city-meetings-may-be-key-to-diversifying-civic-engage

57 South Kensington Community Partners Zoning Variance Approval Procedures. https:// www.southkensingtoncommunity.org 58 San Pablo Team for Youth. https://www.sanpabloca.gov/1035/San-Pablo-Team-forYouth 59 Philly311 https://www.phila.gov/311/pages/default.aspx

47 Vancouver Public Schools (2020) Family-Community Resource Center

Figures Cited

48 BLDG Memphis “The Mobile Porch”

Community schools at the City of San Pablo, Photo by City of San Pablo, CA

49 Jacobs Family Foundation (2015) “Community Engagement”

Community Housing Protest, Photo by Philadelphia Tenants Union

50 Public Meetings popups 51 Chang, Candy “Before I Die Project” http://candychang.com/work/before-i-die-innola/ 52 International Association for Public Participation (2017) Year in Review Annual Report 53 Crim Fitness Foundation (2020) Neighbors Changing Flint - Community & Conversation https://crim.org/category/crim-community-conversations/ 54 CommunityWalk https://www.communitywalk.com/

GOALS & PRINCIPLES FOR ADVOCACY Figures Cited Goals & Principles Transition Slide, Photo by Dennis Coleman Goals Background, Photo by Dennis Coleman

55 GreenMaps https://www.greenmap.org/ 56 SocialPinpoint https://www.socialpinpoint.com/

Figures Cited Community Engagement Background, Photo by Center for Public Health Practice Colorado School of Public Health Mobile Family Resource Center, Photo by Family-Community Resource Center Vancouver Public Schools Mobile Porch in Memphis, TN, Photo by Andrew J. Breig with Daily News “Livable Memphis’ “Mobile Porch” rolled into MEMFix East to capture public input and ideas for community revitalization” San Diego Dinner Party Engagement, Photo by Pit River Country, Shasta County, CA Candy Change Before I Die Wall, Photo by Before I Die Project New Orleans Engaging the Digital Age, Photo by Raw Pixel https://www.rawpixel.com/ image/585101/likes-social-media Woman on Her Laptop, Photo by Christina Morillo with Pexels

WORKING WITH STAKEHOLDERS

TOOLS FOR AN EQUITY AGENDA PRINCIPLE 1 60 Pew Charitable Trusts (2016, May) “Philadelphia’s Changing Neighborhoods” https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2016/05/ philadelphias_changing_neighborhoods.pdf 61 Allen, Taylor (2020, Dec 1) “Philadelphia moves toward creating a new construction tax and delaying abatement change” https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-movestoward-creating-a-new-construction-tax-and-delaying-abatement-change/?utm_ medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_ content=PlanPhilly+Weekly+12/3/20 62 Allen, Taylor (2020, Dec 1) “Philadelphia moves toward creating a new construction tax and delaying abatement change” https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-movestoward-creating-a-new-construction-tax-and-delaying-abatement-change/?utm_ medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_ content=PlanPhilly+Weekly+12/3/20 63 CBA Workshop Philly Thrive (2020 Dec 5) 64 Ciocca Dealerships “Subaru Of Philadelphia To Open In Spring 2021” https://www. cioccadealerships.com/SubaruPhiladelphia

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65 ForWorkingFamilies (2016 Jan) “Common Challenges in Negotiating Community Benefits Agreements and How to Avoid Them,” Partnership for Working Families & Community Benefits Law Center (https://www.forworkingfamilies.org/sites/default/ files/publications/Effective%20CBAs.pdf) 66 De Barbieri, Edward. (2017)”Do Community Benefits Agreements Benefit Communities?”, Spring. Albany Law School. https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/ communities-and-banking/2017/spring/do-community-benefits-agreements-benefitcommunities.aspx

PRINCIPLE 2 72 Telander, Luke (2016, Jun 28) Community Progress Blog “Heirs’ Property, Part I: Preventing “tangled titles” and subsequent blight in Philadelphia” https://www.communityprogress.net/blog/heirs-property-part

67 Debraggio, Andrew (2018). “Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs): Lessons from Baltimore’s Port Covington” http://www.gpprspring.com/community-benefitsagreements-cba

73 Randolph, Hannah (2017, Sep 26). “Boots for Building 2014: “Get Your Boots On and GIVE BACK!” https://habitatphiladelphia.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/boots-forbuilding-2014-get-your-boots-on-and-give-back/

Broadwater, Luke (2016, Sep 14) “Baltimore officials approve $100 million community benefits deal with Port Covington developers” https://www.baltimoresun.com/ maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-port-covington-mou-20160914-story.html

74 Focus Group with Community Stakeholder (2020 Sep)

Evans, Michelle (2017, Sep 15) “Goldman Sachs Invests $233 Million to Port Covington Redevelopment Sagamore Development keeps promise to bring commercial investment to the city.” https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/goldman-sachsinvests-233-million-to-port-covington-redevelopment/ https://pc.city/about/ 68 Lower South District Plan, Planning Commission of the City of Philadelphia, 69 ESRI and Infogroup. ESRI 2020 Updated Demographics. ESRI 2017 Retail MarketPlace. http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/esri-data-retail-marketplace.pdf 70 Focus Group with Community Stakeholder (2020 Sep) 71 Philadelphia Parking Authority (2020) “Residential Parking Permits “http://philapark. org/residential-parking-permit/

Figures Cited Tools for an Equity Agenda Transition, Photo by Dennis Coleman Principle 1 Matrix Background, Photo by Bradley Maule with Broad Street Review Exactions and Construction, Photo by Construction Coverage , The new Subaru dealership located across from Stinger Square Park, Photo by Ciocca Dealerships “Ciocca Subaru Of Philadelphia To Open In Spring 2021” Kingsbridge National Ice Center in the Bronx, NY is a Recreation Facility with programming funded by CBA, Photo by SCI Architects. Port Covington in Baltimore, MD is the planned mixed-use waterfront district that will host the Under Armour headquarters, Photo by Sagamore Development

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Crowded Street in Grays Ferry, Photo by Chelsea Zhang

75 Fair Housing Commission (2020) Good Cause Eviction https://www.phila.gov/ FairHousingCommission/Pages/GoodCause.aspx 76 The Gentrification Project (2020). Portland, Oregon “Right To Return” 77 PolicyLink (2015, Sep). “Equitable Development as a Tool to Advance Racial Equity” Government Alliance on Race and Equity 78 Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (2020, Nov 20) https://apah.org/ gilliamplacewinsvadhcdaward2020/ 79 Arlington County Government (2020) Gilliam Place (APAH) https://projects. arlingtonva.us/projects/arlington-presbyterian-church/ 80 Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing “Gilliam Place” https://apah.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/01/Gilliam-Place-Investor.pdf 81 City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment. 82 Gabobe, Nisma (2019, Sep 25) “The Role Of Community Land Trusts In Cascadia’s Quest For Affordable Housing The Clt Model Has Been Well Proven Throughout The Region For 45 Years, But Must Scale Up To Deliver Its Full Potential.” https://www.sightline.org/2019/09/25/the-roleof-community-land-trusts-in-cascadias-quest-for-affordable-housing/ 83 Duda, John (2017, Mar 17) “Infographic: Community Land Trusts “ https://communitywealth.org/content/infographic-community-land-trusts 84 Women’s Community Revitalization Project (2020) “Community Justice Land Trust “ https://www.wcrpphila.org/cjlt

Figures Cited Principle 2 Matrix Background, Photo by Dennis Coleman

Education Achievement Program, Photo by Starbucks Coffee Company Starbucks College Achievement Plan

Before and after: More than 30 volunteers helped military veteran Ken Houston work on critical repairs on his home in Germantown during Boots for Building 2014, Photo by Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia (2014). Boots for Building

Local Small Business, Photo from Google Earth Grays Ferry, PA 2020

Rendering of Mixed Income Housing Site sponsored by APAH, Rendering by KGD

Architecture Prospect Plaza Streetscape and interior, Photos by Pennrose Development, Dattner Architects.

Highlander Outdoor Space, Photo By Seventy Five North Highlander Accelerator Pennovation Gated Entrance, Photo by Chelsea Zhang

CLT Graphic, Photo by Benzamin Yi with the Democracy Collaborative

Stem School, Photo By Michael Bryant with the Philadelphia Inquirer, “With $40M in public and private money, a new building is rising for two West Philly schools”

PRINCIPLE 3

PRINCIPLE 4

85 Baye, Rachel (2016, Jul 14) “Port Covington developer inks $40 million deal with South Baltimore communities” https://www.wypr.org/post/port-covington-developerinks-40-million-deal-south-baltimore-communities

Figures Cited

Debraggio, Andrew (2018). “Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs): Lessons from Baltimore’s Port Covington” http://www.gpprspring.com/community-benefitsagreements-cba http://www.gpprspring.com/community-benefits-agreements-cba

Implement Sharrow Signaling, Photo by Christ Church Cycling, New Zealand

SB7 Coalition https://www.facebook.com/SB7Coalition/

Pedestrian Signal, Photo by Chelsea Zhang

86 City of Philadelphia Map of RCOs (https://openmaps.phila.gov)

Mid Block Crosswalks, Photo by Chelsea Zhang.

87 Highlander Accelerator (2020) “About the Accelerator” http://highlanderomaha.com

Biking, Photo by Philadelphia Home Collective Passyunk Square

88 Pennovation Works (2020) “About the Works” https://www.pennovation.upenn.edu/ about-the-works

Painted Rainbow Crosswalk, Photo by Matt Slocum, AP LGBTQNation

89 Penn Arts and Sciences Science Outreach Initiative (2020) “About Us” https://www. sas.upenn.edu/STEMoutreach/

Principle 4 Matrix Background, Photo by A. Ricketts, Courtesy of Visit Philadelphia

Curb Cuts & Extensions, Photo by Chelsea Zhang

Painted 5th Street Underpass, Photo by Steve Weinik Philadelphia Mural Arts Spring Garden, Photo by SEGD

90 Hangley, Bill (2019, Dec 9) “Powel-SLAMS construction project finally breaks ground The new building, backed by a public-private partnership, will open in fall 2021.” https://thenotebook.org/articles/2019/12/09/powel-slams-construction-project-finallybreaks-ground/

PRINCIPLE 5

91 Ucity Square (2019, Dec 9) “With $40 M in public and private money, a new building is rising for two West Philly schools” https://ucitysquare.com/with-40-m-in-public-andprivate-money-a-new-building-is-rising-for-two-west-philly-schools/

Principle 5 Matrix Background, Photo by Ashley Hahn with WHYY

92 Beck, Tom (2020, Aug 4) “Grays Ferry residents, CLIP join forces to clean neighborhood’s alleys “ https://southphillyreview.com/2020/08/04/grays-ferryneighbors-clip-join-forces-to-clean-neighborhood-alleys/

Figures Cited River Street, Photo by Delaware River Waterfront Race Street Connector Pedestrian Bridge, Rendering developed by Charrette team finalized by Divya Khandke Painted Wayfinding Signs in Davis, CA, Photo by UC Davis

Figures Cited

Wayfinding Sign for Tacoma Park, MD, Photo by Takoma Park

Principle Matrix 3 Background, Photo by Dennis Coleman

Wayfinding Rendering by Divya Khandke

Port Covington project CBA Coalition Meeting, Photo by Weller Development Company, PC City Port Covington , Highlander Community Space, Photo By Seventy Five North Highlander Accelerator

CONCLUSION

Highlander Coffee Shop, Photo by Lund Ross Constructors Highlander Accelerator

Figures Cited

Highlander Lounge Space, Photo By Seventy Five North Highlander Accelerator

Conclusion Background, Photo by Chelsea Zhang

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