Germantown residents wary of redevelopment

by MEREDITH SONDERSKOV

“I  have been coming to these meetings for 35 years and all we get are plans, plans and more plans and occasionally a little bit of money for another study. What we need is action!” So spoke a member of the audience at the Wister Neighborhood Council Block Captains Forum on Thursday evening, Oct. 13, at Germantown Friends School.

Other members of the audience indicated their approval of that remark. The speaker, Paul Curran, of the Philadelphia Planning Committee, had just explained details of redevelopment projects outlined on maps showing neighborhoods in lower Germantown bounded by Chelten Avenue, Chew Street, Wayne Junction and Wissahickon Avenue.

There is a great deal of potential in Wayne Junction, Curran said, mentioning in particular the 75-acre Budd site, which the Philadelphia Daily News reported earlier this month is being considered by Donald Trump for a slot machine parlor and vocational high school. Curran said that the Salvation Army is also looking at part of the former manufacturing site.

SEPTA is close to finishing improvements to the Wayne Junction train station, Curran reported. A $150,000 award will pay for a consultant who will provide workshops for local citizens. Four plans for Wayne Avenue and Germantown Avenue will be developed over the next several years, he added.

“We want to spur investment from both public and private sources,” Curran said.

Comprehensive plans for urban renewal were made in 1995, enabling the city to acquire abandoned properties by eminent domain, Curran said.

In response to the presentation, the audience of local community activists wanted answers to specific questions:

What is the definition of a blighted neighborhood? Which properties are considered blighted? What are the criteria for eminent domain? How do we prevent people from New York City coming in and buying houses and “flipping” them? Why can’t we get funds to improve our homes?

Leon Robinson Jr., community organizer for the Wister Neighborhood Council, interrupted the questioners to point out that this was an informational meeting and the time to go into all these questions would be at the Neighborhood Council meeting, held the third Thursday of the month.

Robinson then introduced Majeedah Rashid, executive director of the Nicetown Neighborhood Advisory Community. “You have to work together,” she emphasized. “Educate yourselves, find resources; determine the needs and wants of the community. Empower your block captains and put your own plan together; don’t wait for someone else to do it. We have acquired 40 parcels of land and we are putting the nice back into Nicetown.”

Jon Musselman, from Habitat for Humanity, gave a brief history of the nonprofit international organization, which has worked in Philadelphia for 20 years. Habitat builds and rehabilitates houses using labor, donated materials and money. Homeowners work alongside professional craftsmen and volunteers on the construction site. The houses are then sold with a zero interest mortgage.