The path to better times for Philadelphia could well run along the Delaware River waterfront, so it was welcome news this week when Mayor Nutter pushed ahead with enacting the first phase for a newly accessible and thriving district, with homes, businesses, and recreational attractions.
In launching the planning and design for a recreation trail from Port Richmond to South Philadelphia, a park on Pier 11 at Race Street and Columbus Boulevard under the Ben Franklin Bridge, and a formal master plan for the seven-mile central waterfront, Nutter began work in earnest on what could be one of his major legacies. City Councilman Frank DiCicco seconded the motion by introducing enabling legislation for the plan.
Equally important, the mayor took these next steps without tapping into the city's operating budget. The city will combine a $1 million grant from the William Penn Foundation - a stellar supporter of the waterfront makeover - with $2 million in capital money and stimulus dollars.
At a time when library branches are threatened and amid talk of tax hikes, it's that much more difficult to justify new spending. But the Delaware project qualifies as a sound investment in the city's future growth, with the goal of realizing the so-far squandered potential of prime riverfront stretching north and south of Penn's Landing.
Not only has the riverfront been on every mayor's agenda for three decades, but Nutter is fortunate to be working from the promising blueprint drawn up after year-long stakeholder talks led by planners from the University of Pennsylvania. The genius of that plan is that it will reconnect the city to the riverfront. With the mayor's moves this week, the plan moves off the drawing board and closer to reality.