Your Ideas for Philadelphia Development (Reading, Franklin Park: appointed, loft, condo)

[asiandudeyo]

Hi guys.

I am not sure whether this topic has been explored. (I know there is one about Chinatown - but not sure about Philadelphia in general).
DO you have any ideas as what changes; small or big, can be made in order to make Philadelphia better?
Things to attract more people to live in the city to urge developers to renovate vacate buildings, build new buildings, etc.
You never know one of these guys would actually come here to CD and check this forum!

Here's my idea:

Chinatown:
1. Make another chinatown gates at its fringes by Market East Station.
I assume the old gate is located somewhat in the middle of Chinatown because it used to be the real gateway to Chinatown before the area expands. I always see people looking at the gate in awe and take picture. I think putting a gate by Market East (by where the Shanghai Dumpling and Greyhound station are) will attract tourists / suburbanites to come to Chinatown. There are alot of suburbanites who are not aware of Chinatown anytime they go to Philadelphia Convention Center for various expos. Putting gates there would serve advertisements to the area.
2. We need some type of zen Garden / park somewhere in Chinatown with a teahouse; similar to Japanese Tea House by Fairmount. It does not have to be an enclosed area. It could be just a park with a small cafe serving asian tea in the middle. A garden / park where people can relax, read their books / pads just like in Rittenhouse Sq. A garden maybe half size of Rittenhouse Sq. with maybe koi fishes pond, asian inspired trees (cherry blossom so that people can enjoy its blossom in the spring on the park?), small fountain with water generated windmill made from bamboo, and red curvy bridge. ARGH only if I had a money tree!!!!!
3. I said this before in other forum, maybe we can have colorful lanterns (could be made of plastic since rice paper would get destroyed by rain and snow) zigzagging across the streets. Plan some more cherry blossom trees on the sidewalks.
4. A nice CLEAN asian department store will being people into the area. Dept store that sells various asian imported stuff. Not only chinese-new-year related and ancient stuff like the ones they sell in that store across of TenTen Condo. BUt something that has more pop-culture flair in it, selling stationery, clothing (thanks cnote! ), anime figures and mangas . Something like Takashimaya or Isetan for middle class.

TO BE CONTINUED

[Cnote11]

Yes, please. I'm honestly perplexed by the lack of shopping in Chinatown. When other Chinatowns have malls dedicated to this! Toronto, for instance, has two Chinese malls, a Chinatown with a lot of shopping, and two Koreatowns stuffed with shops, along with a lot of Japanese shopping. We don't even have a Japanese candy shop in the city for my sweet tooth! There is space there in Chinatown for development of at least some shops to connect to the modern Chinese culture. I just find it odd how the cultures here are apparently fine with being cut off from parts of their modern culture when they come here. I don't see this anywhere else! Is there even a real video store or music store, for example? No demand on behalf of these demographics? We even had these back home from the small Japanese community in Novi, Michigan. We may have a huge influx of Chinese immigrants within the next decade and we should definitely expand rapidly (but smartly!) to accommodate them.

Chinatown should more than double in size, in my opinion. It should move north of Vine and make it an attractive place to be, while providing more job opportunities and housing for the community. I spend so much time in Chinatown that I certainly wouldn't mind having an even larger area to explore. Also, please get a park, Chinatown. I know there are plans to have a park if they expand north. I wish they would get on that! I hope I'm still able to be in Philadelphia when (if) it finally happens.

An idea that will not happen anytime ever! Change the Gallery to a Chinese shopping mall; demolish the entire Market East area and incorporate it into Chinatown; make the rest of the city a haven for Italian meats; have a city-wide "Jerk Chicken Day" every week, where the city gives out jerk chicken to whoever wants it for free.

[RightonWalnut]

1. Would LOVE to see Vine Street Expressway capped. Also would love to see the Reading Viaduct Park. This would create park connections between Fairmount Park, Schuylkill River Trail, Ben Franklin Parkway, Logan Square, Vine Street Parkway and the Reading Viaduct Park

2. Would love to see the whole Callowhill area/Loft Distrit/Chinatown North area filled in with highrises. Would love to see the Delaware River lined with highrises/midrises in the Center City area. Also, would love to see a better connection made between Center City and UCity with skyscrapers and highrises filling in the area.

3. Would love to see the Navy Yard built out and a small highrise/midrise district centered around the Sports Complex.

4. Would love to see a better connection between Temple U and Center City

5. Would love to see City Ave lined with highrises/midrises

6. Would love to see a Germantown historic district with a small "highrise" downtown area created.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by Summersm343

6. Would love to see a Germantown historic district with a small "highrise" downtown area created.

Agree on this. Especially because Germantown already has some high rises in its downtown. There used to be a bunch of big legit department stores there. As recently as the 80's - 90's there was Sears, JCPenney, George Allens, and two Woolworths within a couple of blocks of Germantown & Chelten. Not to mention the big buildings that held the Ashers Candies factory/outlet the Cunningham Piano Factory, Rowell's Dept Store, etc. A bunch of those buildings still exist, even where the businesses don't.
It would be great to see some of that come back (albeit in a different form, as the age of downtown department stores and factories seems to have passed).

[Cnote11]

I'm quite excited for the Reading viaduct park and I hope they actually do something with it when it goes under production. I don't want it to end up being a half-baked project.

[mancat100]

I'd like to see the dead zone between Old City and Northern Liberties redeveloped - everything between Vine to Spring Garden and from I95 to 9th Street. It needs to be bulldozed and rebuilt from scratch.

[rraC ynnaD]

I'd like to see more done with
the Delaware River waterfront. The Race Street Pier in Old City, the Pulaski Park Pier in Port Richmond, the Levick Street Pier next to the Tacony Palmyra Bridge, Penn Treaty Park and the Sugar House Casino in Fishtown and the riverfront park behind Holmesburg Prison are all great, but, imo, Penns Landing is pretty lame. And so are those waterfront clubs. Something nicer should be done with the waterfront in that area.
The waterfront property in Bridesburg should also be developed - and in a big way.

[rraC ynnaD]

Originally Posted by Cnote11

Yes, please. I'm honestly perplexed by the lack of shopping in Chinatown. When other Chinatowns have malls dedicated to this! Toronto, for instance, has two Chinese malls, a Chinatown with a lot of shopping, and two Koreatowns stuffed with shops, along with a lot of Japanese shopping. We don't even have a Japanese candy shop in the city for my sweet tooth! There is space there in Chinatown for development of at least some shops to connect to the modern Chinese culture. I just find it odd how the cultures here are apparently fine with being cut off from parts of their modern culture when they come here. I don't see this anywhere else! Is there even a real video store or music store, for example? No demand on behalf of these demographics? We even had these back home from the small Japanese community in Novi, Michigan. We may have a huge influx of Chinese immigrants within the next decade and we should definitely expand rapidly (but smartly!) to accommodate them.

Chinatown should more than double in size, in my opinion. It should move north of Vine and make it an attractive place to be, while providing more job opportunities and housing for the community. I spend so much time in Chinatown that I certainly wouldn't mind having an even larger area to explore. Also, please get a park, Chinatown. I know there are plans to have a park if they expand north. I wish they would get on that! I hope I'm still able to be in Philadelphia when (if) it finally happens.

An idea that will not happen anytime ever! Change the Gallery to a Chinese shopping mall; demolish the entire Market East area and incorporate it into Chinatown; make the rest of the city a haven for Italian meats; have a city-wide "Jerk Chicken Day" every week, where the city gives out jerk chicken to whoever wants it for free.

Chinatown has a park, Cnote, it's Franklin Square. And don't hold your breath for anything Japanese in Chinatown - there really aren't too many Japanese hanging around Chinatown. Although, I do think there's a Japanese karaoke club on 11th Street. And I don't see how they can have malls when there's already the Gallery and the shopping district on Chestnut and Walnut.
My girlfriend lives in Chinatown, I'll let her read this and she can reply. She's very involved in the community.
She claims the only people clamoring for a park to be made out of the Reading Viaduct are the white yuppies moving into the Loft District who want a place to play with their dogs. Let's be honest, there's probably a lot of truth to that.

[Cnote11]

I know there are only about 1,000 Japanese people in Philadelphia, so I'm not holding my breath. I qam aware of Yakitori boy. I'm not actually calling for a Chinese mall. That last bit was just a joke. Don't read too much into my wild fantasies. Perhaps I'm just disappointed by how Chinatown got pinned in by things like the Convention Center and the Gallery. Read my ramblings as such. I certainly feel like the area could have been more. I believe it will be more with development north, as there has been continuous immigration after all. The park I would like to see is a community park that is established in "North Chinatown" with community events and things such as that in order to beautify the neighborhood and facilitate foot traffic, etc.. I don't know if Franklin Square fits that bill.

Regarding the viaduct thing, I'm not familiar with anything about the Loft District, so no comment. I'm pretty sure more than just those people would like the park. I don't think either Summer or I are white yuppies from the loft district. It is always a good thing to see a space that isn't being used for anything turned into a useful green space.

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by rraC ynnaD

I'd like to see more done with
the Delaware River waterfront. The Race Street Pier in Old City, the Pulaski Park Pier in Port Richmond, the Levick Street Pier next to the Tacony Palmyra Bridge, Penn Treaty Park and the Sugar House Casino in Fishtown and the riverfront park behind Holmesburg Prison are all great, but, imo, Penns Landing is pretty lame. And so are those waterfront clubs. Something nicer should be done with the waterfront in that area.
The waterfront property in Bridesburg should also be developed - and in a big way.

I love Cavanaugh's River Deck and Morgan's Pier. Ever been there?