What Philly Can Learn From New York's Waterfront

"In normal cities - and, yes, that includes New York - riverfront development is guided by a civic master plan that specifies everything from the height of the condo towers to the width of the adjacent bike paths. In Philadelphia, each riverfront project has been a separate Let's Make a Deal episode, in which unarmed residents attempt to wheedle neighborhood concessions from developers and their posse of lawyers and architects."

"In normal cities, waterfronts are considered the property of all residents. And because the river belongs to everyone, developers who need zoning variances are expected to compensate the public by offering some civic payback, such as subsidized units for low-income residents or land for a waterfront trail. It is normal for cities to ban big-box stores and above-ground garages on their rivers, unless those eyesores are camouflaged with housing."

But as a wide variety of plans and stakeholders push for the redevelopment the waterfront, it seems to many that Philadelphia is not quite as 'normal' as some other cities.