In NID fight, a question of who vs. what

LEE QUILLEN, an architect who helped launch opposition to creating a neighborhood improvement district in Callowhill with boyfriend Philip Browndeis, says that she would rather see portions of the Reading Viaduct torn down to make way for affordable housing. That would make way for street-level parks, "and it doesn't kill the budget," Quillen said.

The idea echoes that of John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., who said that a 2004 Chinatown Neighborhood Plan proposed taking down parts of the stone structure supporting the viaduct to provide room for more housing.

But Paul Levy, of the Center City District, has said his studies indicated that it would cost more to tear it down than convert it to a park. He said that he has offered suggestions for more affordable housing to PCDC.

Unfortunately, Levy said, "there has been a public framing of this debate as new people versus Chinatown North, and less-industrial versus residential [interests]."

Going forward, he said, it will be important to consider the types of services that could benefit the many industrial business owners in the area.

For instance, he pointed to a business-improvement district in Bridesburg, where the additional tax assessment is spent on security rather than street-cleaning and tree-planting.

John Struble, a furniture maker and activist who worked to create the NID, said that his group will continue to talk with people who voted against the NID.

" We might reduce the tax rate, or make the district a little smaller," Struble said. "I still think it's a good idea."

-Valerie Russ