Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

El of a relief for West Philly merchants

After a decade of toil and trouble, SEPTA threw a West Philly "Elebration" party yesterday, toasting its total reconstruction of the 102-year-old Market Street El - 11,000 feet of track and support structure, and six new stations - from 46th Street to Millbourne in Delaware County.

After a decade of toil and trouble, SEPTA threw a West Philly "Elebration" party yesterday, toasting its total reconstruction of the 102-year-old Market Street El - 11,000 feet of track and support structure, and six new stations - from 46th Street to Millbourne in Delaware County.

General Manager Joseph M. Casey said "the largest construction project in SEPTA history" required $740 million, 84 community meetings, 206 El progress reports distributed door-to-door, and 50 Market Street cleanups that disposed of 50 tons of trash.

But the neighborhood crowd at the Enterprise Center on 46th Street near Market - a one-stop resource center for minority entrepreneurs - reserved its loudest cheers for SEPTA Assistant GM Frances M. Jones, who pointed to 10 years of project photos on the walls and said, "It is OVER!"

Remembering so many times when "it wasn't really clear if the project would ever end," Jones - the on-site community liaison throughout the decade of street closures and stressed local businesses - pointed to an early photo and said, "See? My hair was black."

As laughter filled the room, Jones pointed to a more recent photo and said, "I decided I needed a change because this project was driving me crazy, so over here it's red. Now, it's just about gray."

Introducing Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell to a welcoming crowd, Jones said, "Even when she slammed us, she slammed us with love."

Blackwell, who often battled SEPTA over getting compensation for small businesses that suffered losses when streets were shut down for El construction, brought the "Elebration" full cycle when she praised Casey.

"He's the first head of SEPTA who comes out on cleanups," Blackwell said. "I have pictures of him picking up trash just like the rest of us."

WDAS (105.3-FM) DJ Patty Jackson then insisted that everyone get up and dance on the Enterprise Center's original 1960s "American Bandstand" studio floor, complete with markings for TV cameras one, two and three.

Jones asked the crowd, most of which was long past its teen years, to remember getting all dolled up to dance at the Aqua Lounge and the Pony Tail Lounge on 52nd Street - and to party like it was 1960.

As sax-driven funk filled the room, many "Elebration"-goers seemed to grow younger by the minute.