Right Angle Club (RAC) Monthly Member Newsletter
for
August, 2021
Zoom Speakers & their Presentation Topics
August 6: Sean Connolly, Executive Director, Arch Street Meeting House Preservation Trust, to speak on the origins and history of the world’s largest Quaker meeting house and what it is doing to be a relevant part of historical tourism in Philadelphia.
August 13: Carol Kuniholm, Chair and co-founder of Fair Districts PA, a grassroots coalition founded in 2016 addresses gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. Gerrymandering, the manipulation of electoral district lines, has been a growing problem in Pennsylvania for decades. Legislative leaders have so far resisted efforts to address this.
August 20: Richards Dilworth, Department Head, Department of Politics, Director, Center for Public Policy, Professor, Department of Politics, Center for Public Policy, Drexel University. He will speak on his book, entitled, “Reforming Philadelphia, 1682-2021.” The book is designed to provide a comprehensive but short political history of the city, organized around the concept of “reform cycles,” or moments when new ideas regarding the purpose and functions of a city inspired “reformers” to try to take control of and change city government.
August 27: NO LUNCH or SPEAKER
Previous Month’s Speakers’ Presentations Summarized
(prepared by Bob Haskell)
July 9, 2021. Kate Quinn, Executive Director of the Mitchener Art Museum in Doylestown, discussed the purpose of museums in general, and the characteristics and current status of the Mitchener Art Museum in particular. The question was posed: what is a museum? The answer to this question is important, to provide criteria for funders in evaluating an application for funding, and for helping a museum define and describe its mission to the public. Are museums places meant for collections or for creating ideas? Are museums places meant for education or entertainment? The definition of a museum was an important topic of discussion at the last meeting of The International Council of Museums (ICOM) meeting in Kyoto, Japan in 2019. The objective is to seek a common museum definition that reflects the purpose and position of museums in the 21st century, which must address and be defensible against normative, legislative and ethical criteria. The definition being carried forward from 1971 is: “A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment”. The ICOM meeting in 2019 considered a new definition: “Museums are democratising, inclusive and polyphonic spaces for critical dialogue about the pasts and the futures. Acknowledging and addressing the conflicts and challenges of the present, they hold artefacts and specimens in trust for society, safeguard diverse memories for future generations and guarantee equal rights and equal access to heritage for all people. Museums are not for profit. They are participatory and transparent, and work in active partnership with and for diverse communities to collect, preserve, research, interpret, exhibit, and enhance understandings of the world, aiming to contribute to human dignity and social justice, global equality and planetary wellbeing.” Needless to say, they didn’t vote on this in Kyoto…way too broad. All work stopped when the pandemic hit. During the pandemic, 1/3 of museums worldwide closed. 20% of museums in the US closed. Many have also laid off staff and cut educational programs. Museums need to change to survive. They need to fully understand their strengths and weaknesses. Typical revenue sources are earned income, donations, leasing the space for events, investments. Revenue models are different today. The top US museum issues are Place (how use the building) and Education (how to leverage their resources). James Michener wanted to establish an art center in 1988 to highlight Bucks County art. He also said that museums must be run like a business. What is the best business model? Among other things, it must include good art and a good building. Overall, the Michener Art Museum has survived the pandemic nicely. It has an excellent space in a repurposed prison. It has an excellent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings (e.g., Redfield), as well as many special and permanent exhibitions that include the work of historical and contemporary painters, sculptors, photographers, and furniture designers (e.g. Nakashima). Overall, it has a permanent collection of over 2,700 objects, and attracts over 135,000 visitors annually from around the world. To enhance the value of what they have, they are expanding beyond art and art history to incorporate storytelling in what they provide (telling stories through the art) by establishing a partnership with the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. Very simply stated, the mission of a museum is that the things we have today are preserved for the future. There were 25 participants.
July 16, 2021. Terry Tracy, President & CEO (and co-founder) of Broad + Liberty, Inc., discussed the efforts of his organization to improve and provide balance in civic discourse, by advocating for ideas that need to be heard but that are missing. Their mission is to give voice to ideas and perspectives that will help improve outcomes for people, and give oxygen back to the problem solvers. Broad + Liberty is a non-profit digital news and editorial outlet and public policy think tank focused on metropolitan issues (e.g., urban development, funding for critical social needs, public infrastructure). They advocate for political, cultural, and economic freedom in local and regional discourse in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburban counties. Civic health requires an informed public, informed solutions, and an engaged public. The major news media play an important role, but they are not doing enough. He discussed three primary initiatives of Broad + Liberty. 1) Digital Media Advocacy. They provide a platform (i.e., website) for giving voice to important stories, and other lesser known but important issues of the day, that are not being told by mainstream media, and to consistently inject diversity of thought into civic discourse. All views need to be considered. 2) Policy Entrepreneurship. They offer substantive policy ideas (solutions) to address the issues being raised. 3) Civic Engagement. They offer fellowship, to build networks of like-minded people, and to encourage collaborative responses to local issues. Influence and change cannot be achieved by one person alone. They perform investigative journalism, to root out facts, but with a bias on finding what is not being otherwise reported. They ask questions the established media is not asking. Without all the facts, the public cannot make informed votes. The emphasis is on stories that could affect social change. Population density in the Philadelphia region is high, which necessitates a local government role. But local government (both parties) is doing a bad job of executing legislation to address major challenges. What principles are guiding decisions and how effective is the government response? What questions are not being asked? Questions are not being asked as part of a witch-hunt, but as a means to enable a balanced and informed discussion. Several examples were given. 1) A “right to know” request was given to the Philadelphia school system regarding the number of failing students. The requestor was told that the school system didn’t track failing students, and that it was irresponsible question to ask because of its potentially racist implications. Broad + Liberty exposed issue, and eventually the data were released (1/3 of students received failing grades). 2) The Montgomery County school board was ignoring a mother’s request for information regarding collateral damage from remote learning in the Covid environment. The issue was exposed, mainstream media kicked in, an organization called Keeping Kids in School was formed, and a new slate of school board members was established. 3) There was a public campaign to remove armed police officers from an Abington high school. Only one side of the issue was being heard until Broad + Liberty, and consequently mainstream media, picked it up. 4) Pennsylvania government did not focus attention on long term care (LTC) deaths due to Covid. There was no focused information and no policy response during the second wave. PA was fourth worst in LTC deaths. Again, attention brought a response. There were 16 participants.
July 23, 2021. Liz Maille, Director of Leasing & Marketing at Scout, Ltd., discussed how the Bok building in South Philadelphia has been transformed from a vocational high school to a thriving entrepreneurial space for small, local businesses. Scout is an urban design and development practice in Philadelphia interested in reimagining how once neglected places can be transformed. The Bok building opened to students from across Philadelphia in 1938. It was built to accommodate 3,000 students and was known as the Bok Vocational High School, specializing in subjects from wallpapering to cosmetology to auto mechanics to bricklaying. Many classrooms were built for trade-specific study. Because of declining enrollment (under 1,000 students) and escalating maintenance costs, the School District of Philadelphia closed the school in 2012 and put the building up for public auction. Scout stepped in and purchased the building in 2015 for $1.75M with the objective of forming an adaptive reuse project to repurpose the former classrooms of the historic building into affordable space for makers, nonprofits, small businesses, and artists. It was a large undertaking, but as Liz quipped, “how do you eat an elephant….one bite at a time”. By any measure, the project has been very successful. The first “bite” was the rooftop Bok Bar, which has a great view of the City. Bok’s first three tenants were a haberdasher, a textile designer and a jewelry designer; all three lived in the neighborhood and had outgrown their rowhome work spaces. Today, the 340,000 square foot structure houses close to 200 businesses, artists, makers, entrepreneurs, and non-profits — ranging from fashion designers, filmmakers, glassblowers, architect practices, woodworkers, wholesale bakery, day care, hair salon, tattoo parlor, ESL classes, and coffee shop. Irwin’s, a Sicilian fare restaurant in the Bok, was recently awarded Best of Philly. Parking remains a challenge. The tenant community is comprised of 70% South Philly residents, 53% women-run businesses, 15% minorities, 80% self-owned businesses. Scout has created a platform for local business growth by listening to business owners’ needs. Community, and thoughtful redevelopment, are at the core. New ideas must fit the local community and must fit the old building space. All tenant applicants must pass implicit criteria for overall synergy with current tenants and overall community. Bok was awarded a 2020 Charter Award from the Congress of the New Urbanism, which recognizes exemplary work by those who design and build places people love. So far, Scout has been cautious about promoting their approach as a model for other projects in Philadelphia and other cities. They are reluctant to dilute their efforts and wonder how transferrable this specific situation might be. Upcoming events include weekly building tours, a block party in September, and open studios in October. There were 23 participants and 2 on Zoom.
July 30, 2021. The Honorable Kathryn Ott Lovell, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department, discussed the REBUILD Plan for Philadelphia, which will allow Parks & Rec to activate neighborhoods across Philadelphia, and to connect members of the communities with the parks and recreation centers serving them. The REBUILD Plan is a collaboration with various organizations and individuals within the city and beyond. As Commissioner, Kathryn oversees 700 employees and over 10,000 acres of land. The Parks & Rec department is a steward to a massive system of facilities and events (e.g., 159 recreation centers, 130 summer camps – 7,000 campers, 2nd largest meal provider in the City – 2M annually, 1,200 athletic fields and courts, 5 ice skating rinks, 6 older adult centers, 25 digital access centers, 70 swimming pools, 184 miles of trails, 150 neighborhood parks, 31 historic sites, 4 golf courses, 60 community gardens and orchards, summer movie nights, Dell music center, Broad Street Run, Mummers Parade, 118,000 trees on City streets, etc.). The massive system does not have a massive budget. The department has an annual capital budget of only $10M. The first parks were defined in William Penn’s 1683 city layout with the five original squares, which still exist today. But prior to 1800, there were no other public parks. This changed with industry threatening the water supply, and the Fairmount Water Works was built in 1821, and pieces of Fairmount Park began to be acquired along the Schuylkill. Going into the 1900’s, Philadelphia was the “workshop of the world”, but for many reasons industry started leaving the city. Population declined, neighborhoods declined, and budgets for public spaces were slashed. But Mayor Rendell, during his term 1992-2000, began the effort to revitalize public spaces in Philadelphia. Most recently, Mayor Kenney initiated the REBUILD effort. It has been a data-driven effort, focused on identifying neighborhoods in need and establishing equity in resources. Because of the restricted budget, priorities had to be carefully established, and external funding acquired. 72 sites were ultimately approved for REBUILD funding. With Covid social distancing requirements, there has been a 50% increase in park and trail use. Also, outdoor initiatives such Play Streets (close a neighborhood street from 11-4 and deliver meals) and Philly Drive-In theaters were created. Also, the Digital Access Centers adapted to the pandemic (e.g., sponsored a free eGaming tournament for Philadelphia residents). Major upcoming projects include: 1) an Urban Agriculture Plan, which includes creating a 10 year plan for the growth and care of Philadelphia’s urban forest; 2) bridge connecting Bartram’s Garden to the Schuylkill River trail; 3) Cobb’s Creek golf course restoration; 4) a reimagined Ben Franklin Parkway that is more people focused; 5) restoration of the 350 acre FDR Park, which includes the lakes, a picnic woods, the wetlands and marsh, an entrance gateway and plaza, a great lawn, a formal lawn, athletic fields, and historic reuse of two houses. There were 23 participants and 2 Zoom attendees.
Carter Broach
Corresponding Secretary
broach@udel.edu
