[CPEO-BIF] Philadelphia workshop on development and environment - a report

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Report on CPEO's Philadelphia Regional Workshop
June, 2006
Lenny Siegel

On June 10, 2006, in cooperation with the Northern Liberties 
Neighborhood Association, CPEO held a day-long workshop in Philadelphia. 
Titled "Neighborhoods in Transition: Redevelopment and the Environment," 
the workshop drew forty to fifty people from at least six different 
neighborhoods. Maximum attendance, at any given time, was thirty-five.

The ten presentations included introductory material on risk, risk 
management, and existing city planning and state environmental programs. 
There was an emphasis on the issues of demolition, debris, and dust. 
Steve Smith of Computer Sciences Corporation discussed the problems with 
leaving contamination in place at development sites, and he introduced 
the concept of Land Use Control Implementation Plans-necessary to 
restrict use and access at such sites in an effective way. Afternoon 
presentations provided visions of what redevelopment could mean in this 
part of Philadelphia. Feedback from participants was positive: We were 
able to emplace key pieces of the Brownfields jigsaw puzzle.

The workshop created an opportunity for representatives of different 
areas of the city to meet each other and share their experiences. Local 
organizers of the event plan to establish a network that will link the 
neighborhoods in an ongoing way. Future organizing will need to focus on 
drawing in more African-American, Latino, and Middle Eastern 
communities. Only one local black community leader took part.

One of the speakers was Dave Hess, Director of the Land Recycling 
Program at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. As 
he explained, he works at the policy level, not on individual sites. He 
described how Pennsylvania's Act 2 functions in theory. The question and 
answer period following Hess's talk gave residents of a few 
neighborhoods the opportunity to explain how the program works from 
their perspective. In particular, projects are approved or ground is 
broken before residents know about them. Matt Rubin, outgoing President 
of the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association, made a series of 
constructive suggestions to Hess about how the program could work better 
with communities in the future, laying the foundation for a continuing 
dialogue.

In the evaluation forms and direct conversation, participants asked for 
more such events. CPEO will work with local community groups as well as 
organizations within the region to provide continuing support.

Much of Philadelphia is experiencing unprecedented development, and most 
development properties appear to suffer from some level of 
contamination. Residents are waking up to the realities and 
opportunities of brownfields, and CPEO believes this workshop was an 
unqualified success in informing and empowering people from several 
neighborhoods to constructively engage in the process.



--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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