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Opinion

We need new RCO rules to help promote development in neighborhoods badly in need of it

A six-year-old dispute over the construction of new housing in Strawberry Mansion illustrates the dangers of reflexive opposition to new projects. We need new rules for RCOs to empower more people.

A rendering of an affordable apartment building slated for construction in the 3200 block of Diamond Street in Strawberry Mansion. The project has been debated for six years — far too long for a neighborhood in need of development, writes Jalon Alexander.
A rendering of an affordable apartment building slated for construction in the 3200 block of Diamond Street in Strawberry Mansion. The project has been debated for six years — far too long for a neighborhood in need of development, writes Jalon Alexander.Read morePHA
    by Jalon Alexander, For The Inquirer
    Published 

I miss Strawberry Mansion — and I still live there.

Strong communities need jobs, food, safety, and identity to thrive. For a long time, the Strawberry Mansion section of North Philly had those things. But in the 1950s and ’60s, white flight robbed the neighborhood of residents, a healthy tax base, and access to essential services.

Elected officials in the neighborhood have fought hard over the years to increase development and affordable housing in the neighborhood as an incentive for residents to stay.

But the lack of resources in our community means that we’ve been unable to stop hemorrhaging people; since 2000 the neighborhood has lost a fifth of its population.

And those absences have been felt.

Ask anyone who’s lived or grew up around here. What happened to the infinite number of summer block parties? The pony and horse rides, live jazz, and marching bands on the corners of 32nd and Ridge? The community is not the same. Our neighborhood has long faced its share of challenges, but mentions of summers in the “Mansion” bring back fond memories for Philadelphians of a certain generation.

So, what’s stopping the kind of development we need to bring our neighborhood back to life?

One factor is what I call the “Army of One” RCOs, or registered community organizations, that seem to reflexively oppose development projects. They block proposed development because of their own self-interest, which can be something as simple as preserving the number of existing parking spaces.

» READ MORE: How many meetings does it take in Philadelphia to build 57 affordable homes? A lot.

Strawberry Mansion Community Concern (SMCC) is the RCO that, under city guidelines, developers must engage in our neighborhood whenever they seek to build on city-owned land. I’m not aware of any meetings this RCO might have held, nor does it have a website or a publicly available list of existing members. It also routinely opposes an overwhelming majority of development projects or commercial enterprises in Strawberry Mansion.

I live here. I know.

This Army of One advocacy has stunted our growth and safety as a community. The latest example is a 14-parcel, 57-unit senior citizen affordable housing project that was eligible for a $13 million federal grant, and is now in jeopardy of losing the funding due to the RCO’s opposition.

Despite this delay, the project, which was proposed in 2019, was finally approved to move forward. Six years to approve a beneficial addition to our community?

But wait. After all that, now a City Council member has filed a legal appeal as a delaying tactic that, as the Philadelphia Housing Authority puts it, effectively “terminated the project.”

Strawberry Mansion cannot afford to wait that long to house seniors or low-income residents during a housing crisis. Strawberry Mansion cannot afford to do nothing.

We need more opportunities to advance our community, not less.

Growing up, I saw Army of One RCOs oppose projects without input from other residents that could have made us safer. One was a police station to help provide safety when we had two of the most well-known youth gangs committing violent crime in the neighborhood. Proposals to build auto repair shops and other businesses were also shut down over concerns about parking.

Philadelphia must refine the criteria required to create RCO’s to ensure legitimate community concerns are heard, but also find ways to temper the influence of Army of One RCO’s. Doing so will stop these groups from putting their own narrow interests (and love for parking spots) over the needs of the community.

I will always believe in Strawberry Mansion. It’s why after graduating from law school at the University of Pittsburgh I moved right back home. But we have lost our neighborhood’s soul, and it will require community development to get it back.

It is unlikely our neighborhood will ever return to its former glory. But if we can eliminate the loudest and most self-interested voices from making the decisions — and empower more residents to influence development for change — we may get closer to becoming the kind of community we want to be.

Jalon Alexander is a cybersecurity lawyer who lives in Strawberry Mansion.