In Philadelphia, many of the pedestrian, bicycle and recreational amenities we appreciate were born from resident-driven ideas. Here, in a partnership with PlanPhilly, SPOKEexplores what it takes for citizen-driven projects to succeed, what still frustrates these projects in Philly compared to our peer cities, and lessons in advancing change.
John Randolph was paddling a canoe on the lower Schuylkill when inspiration struck. There really ought to be a riverside park, he thought, one that would link his Fitler Square neighborhood to the river next door. It was the late ’80s and the riverbank was lined with an overgrown tangles of vines and weed trees, cut off from the rest of the city by a freight railroad line. It looked nothing like it does today.
Like Randolph, we all daydream from time to time about some of the little things we’d like to see in Philadelphia — a new bike lane on a scary road, say, or a cute pocket park on a tiny, empty lot.
Most times, that’s all they remain: dreams. And like dreams, you might tell some friends about them, maybe even tweet or blog about them. But on that sublime day on the Schuylkill, long before blogs or tweets were a thing, Randolph decided to do something to turn this particular reverie into reality.
Realizing a dream for a new neighborhood park or streetscape improvement can be especially difficult in Philadelphia, where small-town politics collide with big-city problems. Even the smallest proposed community amenity can be interpreted as an attack against a sitting politician or turned into a referendum on gentrification. So how can members of the public advance change?
For Randolph, actually doing something meant recruiting a small army of supporters, raising money (first thousands, then millions), creating a non-profit, lobbying public officials, negotiating with corporations, knocking on doors, and picking up trash. All told, Randolph spent more than a decade working full time on what might have been just another idle thought on the idyllic river.
[For more of this story, written by Jim Saksa, go to http://www.spokemag.co/how-reg...eshape-philadelphia/]
Comments (0)