Philadelphia Weekly

"It really stuns me that I haven't been approached by any representative of the University of Pennsylvania in any capacity," says Mark Monaghan, owner of the Intermezzo Cafe on 30th and Walnut streets.

Monaghan's coffee shop sits in the center of a targeted landscape--unsightly surface parking lots and rotting infrastructure are to be transformed into vibrant green parks and accessible walkways right in his front yard. And while he's excited about the potential shot in the arm his business may receive from the neighborhood facelift, he's apprehensive about a project he knows nothing about.

"I haven't heard much of an effort to extend a hand to local merchants. The publicity has been more like, 'Look at what we're doing and how wonderful we are,' as opposed to looking at reality and how this will impact the community," says Monaghan, looking over the sea of construction between himself and the university's ice skating rink.

Talking to local residents, business owners and even university students, it's evident that most people are unsure of what's happening to the university or its $2 billion investment. For some, just identifying the countless names of developments and projects is a challenge.

Urban sprawl: Penn plans to expand to the Schuylkill. Here (above) is how. (Courtesy of University of Pennsylvania)

Glenn Bryan, a respected jazz musician and longtime West Philadelphia resident, is also the assistant vice president of community relations for the university. In an effort to clear up confusion, Bryan has extended an open invitation to the community to attend First Thursdays, held at the Walnut Street West Library at 8 a.m. on the first Thursday of every month. He's made it his mission to expand these meetings by including more neighborhoods.

"When we started out, we had about seven or eight people attending regularly--nine on a good day--mostly from the surrounding areas," says Bryan. "We've expanded these meetings to try to get more people from the neighborhoods to the west to come. Now we have a regular attendance of more than 80 people."

Asked how people find out about the meetings, Bryan says bulletins are posted in the University City Review, a 30,000-circulation weekly newspaper serving Penn and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Penn executive director of public affairs Anthony Sorrentino says he believes the First Thursday meetings have provided a new transparency to projects and programs at Penn. "Over the last several years the consistency of bringing together university planners to discuss projects with civic leaders and neighbors has enhanced the level of public dialogue," he says. "It's become a conversation that I think both Penn and its neighbors would agree has minimized the miscommunication that can occur from a lack of outreach."

But not everyone is getting the same message. Victoria Lawson, who works at the Drexel University comptroller's office (five blocks from the Intermezzo Cafe), says she knows nothing specific about Penn's plans, and has never heard anyone talk about them. "The only thing I heard was that they were going to shut down the 30th Street post office, and we were wondering why. They never said why it was being shut down or what was going on. They just said it would be closing. We get all kinds of press releases and community bulletins here. I've never seen anything posted about it," says Lawson standing outside of Drexel's Arch Street facility overlooking the eyesore of the 30th Street Station Amtrak lines. Lawson says she's still in the dark.

Bryan admits that getting the public to pay attention to details is difficult, especially when it comes to projects that may not be happening on their doorstep. "Some people may come to the meetings who are interested in 40th Street but aren't interested in 52nd Street," he says. "Some people make presentations on 52nd Street, but aren't interested in what's going on around 30th Street. What has come out of these meetings are other groups like Friends of 40th Street who are interested in working with local merchants and people who own businesses and work in the area."

Bryan urges local business owners to contact their landlords or Penn real estate (if their business is on Penn property) for more information. He also invites everyone from the Schuylkill River development areas to attend First Thursdays.

"They've been very successful," he says. "Not only does it help the university talk face-to-face with its neighbors, it also helps communities to collaborate and talk to each other. It's one of the few opportunities that neighborhoods and businesses have to talk to each other and to the university about their concerns about what's going on around them."

Jeffrey Hill is Web editor for Next American City. Comments on this story can be sent to letters@ philadelphiaweekly.com