As city looks to ‘cap’ Vine Street Expressway, it seeks Chinatown community feedback

On a windy spring Sunday morning city administrators and local participants gathered at the th Street Plaza atop the Vine Street Expressway to set up the latest in a series of Chinatown Stitch pop-up events aimed at getting district feedback on the revitalization project First a little background The Vine Street Expressway has a contentious and traumatic history First imagined in the s begun in the s and completed in the s it had a practical effect of severing Philly into two parts north and south And in numerous options it cleaved apart the historic Chinatown neighborhood There were attempts over the years to stop it but they were overcome Those who protested the progress were in large part ignored The scars of that history were evident in the proposed advancement of the Sixers arena along Arena Street last year Now as the city plans the next chapter in rise the million capping of I- between th and th streets one goal is to restore and reunite the neighborhood and it is making sure to solicit locality feedback on their requirements challenges and desires Pop-ups are one of the approaches project leaders are reaching out and gathering feedback View this post on Instagram A post shared by PCDC chinatownpcdc They are part of Phase of community engagement during the Concept Advancement and Design stage of the project So on weekdays and weekends through May these officers and helpers will conduct outreach at a different citizens location in the neighborhood Those on hand to answer your questions will include representatives from the city s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems OTIS the Philadelphia Chinatown Expansion Corporation PCDC Connect the Dots and local assistants We re going to have in the first week of May an open house-style meeting but I think we get a more limited number of people than just showing up where people are and trying to grab them in their own neighborhood and talk to them explained Christopher Puchalsky director of Framework Strategic Initiatives at OTIS The purpose of the pop-up is to meet a wider audience that maybe is not as tuned in but we still want to hear what they have to say and get their input Construction on the Chinatown Stitch is expected to begin in spring and be completed by fall The project proposes three themes inspired by different elements of the Chinatown society a celebration space for festivals and gatherings a family-centered park with green spaces and a garden-inspired retreat with abundant shade Natalia Sanchez Loayza BillyPenn models There are three options or themes on which the neighborhood can weigh in inspired by different elements of the Chinatown region declared Rosa Zedek a designer at OJB Landscape Architecture a consulting firm leading the park design She was present on Sunday to explain the three concepts The first theme focuses on the celebratory nature of Chinatown its festivals and gatherings It features a large central plaza playground and spaces designed for getting together The second theme centers around families especially intergenerational ones with more green spaces a large central lawn and a more park-like atmosphere The third theme draws inspiration from traditional Chinese gardens emphasizing greenery and shaded areas to create a park that feels like a true garden space based on society feedback These three themes are illustrated and explained in English and Mandarin at the pop-up booth We re trying to have Mandarin at the events and to the extent we can Cantonese speakers so that we can speak the language of the people in this society Puchalsky declared On the day Billy Penn visited the pop-up at th Street Plaza there were at least three Mandarin speakers present I want to be part of something big and impactful disclosed Chloe Wu a volunteer at the pop-up event and a apprentice majoring in advertising at Temple University After building this park we ll bring more people together Everybody s going to come here and they re going to chill out have particular fun There are less people coming into Chinatown and I think it s a really good idea to bring the park for the population Wu was there to help communicate the project details in the two Chinese languages Mandarin and Fujianese Helpers and members of the Chinatown Stitch project s Consulting Group set up a booth at th Street Plaza a busy spot located above the Vine Street Expressway Natalia Sanchez Loayza Billy Penn While the neighborhood primarily has a Chinese population on the north side there are also multiple people from Latin America including Honduras Nicaragua and Mexico explained Angel Ballestero a Spanish speaker and Outreach and Neighborhood Engagement Assistant at Connect the Dots who was also present The greater part of them arrived here in the s So this the Vine Street Expressway was already here and for them it s not about recovering something because they didn t know the neighborhood before he declared But when we tell them they can have a say that there could be a small soccer field green areas picnic tables to have coffee or play dominoes they get excited because they also live and work in this area Ballestero commented that he will be at all the pop-ups to gather opinions including those from the Spanish-speaking region A large number of of the neighbors who stopped by Sunday morning to learn more and share their feedback responded with curiosity and enthusiasm about the project which would be built on the very streets where the table was set up We have a ton of promotion for this project People are excited They want it the preceding day Puchalsky explained The people in this district have been suffering from the ill effects of the expressway for the last years and they definitely want change So that s very encouraging he announced It s a little too early to tell which themes are standing out but we re having good engagement At the Chinatown Stitch pop-up visitors select images or suggest new ideas for amenities they d like to see in the cap tying their choices with colored strings red for Chinatown residents blue for workers or business owners green for frequent visitors and yellow for others Image courtesy PCDC Darren Tom a neighbor who often brings his young son to the th Street Plaza and approached the booth out of curiosity didn t know about the project However he is excited about the idea of having more family spaces and prefers the second family-centered theme It would be nice to have a nice space for the Chinatown public to really bring everyone together he noted Others like Kenji Fong a King of Prussia resident who visits the neighborhood at least one or two times per week knew about the project beforehand and approached to give his opinion I feel that it would heavily benefit the locality It would create more infrastructure-related jobs for people to build the structure of it and then eventually the landscaping I think the long-term effects would have very positive ramifications he explained For example I saw that there were two design alternatives that basically allow a series of bars and restaurants to be built We could see a rise of small businesses coming to fruition so that s something I assistance Other neighbors like Ray Scheinfeld a member of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and a co-organizer of the Ride of Silence attended the event with a different focus I want to make sure that people can have a place to relax and I want to make sure especially that it makes traffic people walking pedestrians bicyclists safe in the area The pop-ups will continue until mid-May You can find the upcoming dates and locations or share your feedback by completing an online survey on the Chinatown Stitch project s website The in-person open house is scheduled for Wednesday May at Holy Redeemer Church from to p m For those unable to attend in person a virtual Open House will be held on May at p m The post As city looks to cap Vine Street Expressway it seeks Chinatown region feedback appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY