|
|||
 |
Rebirth of a Railroad |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
By Audrey Morrison and Simone Brown The Reading Viaduct, a once-bustling commuter rail line high above the city streets, has been an empty wasteland for 20 years, and residents are taking action to change that. The Reading Viaduct Project is the driving force behind transforming the lifeless viaduct into a cultural, historical and social hub. Sarah McEneaney, a local artist, and John Struble, a local furniture maker, co-founded the Reading Viaduct Project in December 2003 with the idea of reclaiming the viaduct as public space to bring together diverse and growing communities. "It was always in the back of my mind living here for 25 years,"said McEneaney, " In 1984, the last trains left Reading Terminal, so I have lived with this structure and even walked on it. It has this wonderful feeling when you get on it because you're 30 feet off the ground and you have this amazing view in the city." The Callowhill neighborhood, also called Chinatown North, rests under the huge, rusted rail tracks that the Reading Railroad began constructing in 1838. The line ran from Broad and Callowhill streets, across the Schuylkill in Fairmount Park, and on the west side of the Schuylkill through West Manayunk. "It travels north toward Callowhill Street and connects the neighborhoods of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, Avenue of the Arts, Chinatown, West Poplar and Brandywine East. It pulls in a number of communities and it will be a great way to bring people together," explained Amy Hooper. Hooper, president of Callowhill Neighborhood Association, got involved in the community when the new baseball stadium, Citizens Bank Park, was proposed to be located in Chinatown. She fought the fight and won and is now hoping to prevail again. Graduate students from University of Pennsylvania devoted a semester of design work to the viaduct last spring, and Drexel University architecture students also explored the viaduct and its surrounding neighborhoods last year. Kyle Gradinger, a member of one of the Penn Design teams, believes that, rather than acting as a barrier between the two neighborhoods, the viaduct could bridge them with public spaces for both of them to share. Students came up with many different plans for the viaduct, including gardens, trails for bike riders, walkways, artists lofts and studios, affordable and market rate housing, galleries, cafes, general commercial space and presented them to the community in the summer. At a meeting in October between Reading Viaduct Project, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. and Young Involved Philadelphians, some people mentioned they are frightened to walk underneath these massive structures at night and would be relieved if they were removed. Others, however, were able look beyond its current, ominous presence and envisioned the potential it has to become a great asset to the community. Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. would like to see most, if not all, of the viaduct demolished and replaced with affordable housing for Chinatown residents, Board Vice President Andrew Toy said. In a letter to the City Paper on July 22, 2004, Toy said, "This is Chinatown's and the city's best hope of populating and improving the desolate area to the north and east of 11th and Vine." The members of the Reading Viaduct Project are not completely opposed to the idea of implementing housing in the area, but they want to do it in conjunction with the renovation and landscape of the viaduct, not the removal of it. According to the Reading Viaduct Feasibility Study performed by Urban Engineers, Inc., the cost of renovating the viaduct and the cost of demolishing it are drastically different. Full removal of the existing viaduct will cost an estimated $35.5 million compared to $5.1 million for renovation and landscaping. One thing that everyone can agree on is that the streets below the viaduct need to be made safe immediately, so people, like those who raised the issue at the October meeting, can feel safe walking through the neighborhood at night. McEneaney and Struble are trying to obtain funds from the city to clean up the litter and to light the underside of the viaduct so people can walk around at night without hesitation. Other visionaries have shared the dream of the Reading Viaduct Project and have seen it to fruition, in major cities like New York City and Paris. In New York City groups are transforming Manhattan's High Line in to an oasis in the sky. Paris, however, claims the title of being the first city to let this idea leave their minds and enter people lives. The promenade once was originally an elevated freight railroad, much like the Reading Viaduct. Recently, it was transformed into a pedestrian promenade with artist studios and cafes. Whether this type of project will be a success in Philadelphia is still yet to be seen. The answer depends on what a vision of what Philadelphia needs: an elevated, urban oasis or housing for a community that feels neglected. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and Amy Hooper has voiced hers loud and clear. "I think it's so important for the entire city of Philadelphia to have the enclaves, green space; these community gardens to go to bring community together give people a chance to reconnect with nature which is so important in dealing with the stress level of living in an urban environment," she said. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
