Plan Philly: Engaging in Urban Dialogue

Young-Hwan Choi arrived in Philadelphia from his native South Korea in August. By October, the University of Pennsylvania architecture student had devised an elegant new design for the sidewalk sheds that protect pedestrians during construction. And he was barely into his second semester when New York announced it was adopting his innovative system as its official prototype.

During the last decade, America's supermarket chains made a startling discovery: City residents have to eat, too. The chains went into expansion mode, erecting spacious, modern stores in Philadelphia neighborhoods that hadn't seen a fresh apple in decades.

Let's cut to the chase on the architectural merits of 10 Rittenhouse, the poshly proper apartment house that has lately assumed its place on Rittenhouse Square's northeast corner, as if the location were its birthright:

The television series Sex and the City debuted in 1998, the same year I began writing about architecture and cities for The Inquirer. Little did I guess back then that Carrie Bradshaw's glamorous gallivanting through the streets of Gotham signaled a major image update for America's cities, from lawless jungles to middle-class playgrounds. It's the city that's sexy now.

You can give Philadelphia's traffic engineers this much credit: Their design for a rebuilt South Street Bridge is a big improvement over its scary, interstate-strength Walnut Street cousin. But then, wooden huts were an advance over cave living.

Inga Saffron believes there is architecture and there are places, and you can’t write about one without writing about the other. Since becoming the Inquirer’s architecture critic in 1999, she has been just as likely to turn her eye toward Philadelphia’s waterfronts and sidewalks as to the latest glittering skyscraper. She is drawn to projects of all sizes and shapes, but especially those that form the backdrop of our daily lives.

Inga Saffron came to architecture criticism after five years as a foreign correspondent in Russia and Yugoslavia, where she covered two wars and was a witness to the destruction of two great cities, Sarajevo and Grozny. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2004, 2008 and 2009.

Read previous entries on her Skyline Online blog.

Given the proximity of the state prison across from Harrah's new Route 291 racino in Chester, the inmates probably enjoy the best views of the hall's dazzling neon marquee, with its oversized simulated slot machine. And given the cheerless design of Harrah's gaming floor, the state inmates are probably no less confined than the slots slaves tethered to their electronic consoles.

In the Art Museum's new Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Philadelphia has at last acquired a modern civic building that is a true Philadelphian.

Philadelphia's new Delaware waterfront manager isn't supposed to choose a master planner until its Monday meeting, but in characteristic fashion, the politicians are laying the dynamite to sabotage the effort.

In this winter of our discontent, when Philadelphia's City Hall is too broke to fund parades, keep libraries open on weekends, or even scoop up curbside piles of raked leaves, you can't help longing for a little brightness during the holiday season. Just don't count on finding that old seasonal twinkle in Rittenhouse Square.

Pamela Ellermann

Just a few blocks from campus, two programs link Penn with up-and-coming West Philadelphia artists.

The 40th Street Artist-in-Residence (AIR) and ArtsEdge programs aim to provide emerging West Philadelphia artists an opportunity to devote themselves to their art without distraction.

AIR, which offers local artists free work space, was founded in 2003 by artist Edward Epstein in collaboration with Facilities and Real Estate Services.

ArtsEdge, entering its second year, offers subsidized studio and living space for two artists per year — a writer and a visual artist — sponsored by the Kelly Writers House and the School of Design, respectively.

These programs provide artists a space where they can work independently, when emerging artists would otherwise experience geographic and financial constraints, said Ed Datz, executive director of real estate for the University.

AIR, having served almost 30 artists during its lifetime, has undergone several changes. Originally, the program supported four artists on a six-month residency, but has now added another artist, Epstein said. Residencies now run a full year.

The program has also modified its application system, allowing any artist from West Philadelphia to apply in an effort to make the program more inclusive. In previous years, applicants had to be nominated by previous artists or board members, said AIR manager Gina Renzi.

The program’s artists often hold workshops with local schools or contribute to public works, such as a mural at the Rotunda.

Epstein said some AIR artists have continued to work with the schools that they collaborated with during their residencies.

“Basically, we are interested in making the arts at Penn visible,” as well as making West Philadelphia artists visible to the University, Director of the Kelly Writers House Jessica Lowenthal said.

Previous ArtsEdge resident Greg Romero helped coordinate activities between the Philadelphia Dramatists Center and Penn by organizing shows at the Writers House.

This year, residents are working together to hold a panel about art that incorporates multiple genres to exemplify the “energy and creative impulses” that ArtsEdge supports, Lowenthal added.

The program helps foster a sense of community by enabling artists to live and work on the same block, according to Renzi. Previously, artists were housed together. ArtsEdge now offers separate apartments for its residents.

“Trying to imagine how two strangers live together made sense in the abstract,” Renzi said. Practically, it added a “strange wrinkle” to the project, prompting the need for separate quarters.

Before they were accepted to ArtsEdge, the artists in this cycle were worried about finding affordable housing in Philadelphia, Renzi said.

In addition to providing space for artists, Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services helps carry the operating costs, Datz said.

PITTSBURGH - There was plenty of room to play inside Rivers Casino on a recent weeknight. The $780 million casino, which debuted six months ago on the North Shore waterfront as Pennsylvania's costliest slots parlor and its first in an urban setting, has struggled against nearby competition from the Meadows Racetrack & Casino and two established West Virginia gambling halls.

Becki Steinberg

The University has recently finished construction on Woodland Walk, a pathway linking Spruce and 38th streets.

All major work is complete, although the Facilities and Real Estate Services team will not finalize landscaping and furnishings on the path until spring.

The renovation of what was originally Woodland Avenue was part of an overall plan developed in the 1950s to create a contiguous campus, according to University Landscape Architect Robert Lundgren.

To achieve this goal, Lundgren explained, the FRES team has been pulling up asphalt and converting various city sidewalks into walkways and greens ever since.

The initial design of Woodland Walk, implemented in the 1970s, was crumbling and full of tripping hazards — simply “a band-aid solution,” he said, emphasizing the University’s primary focus on safety.

The refurbished walk, according to Design and Construction Team Project Manager Sheri Miller now features the most modern and durable materials — such as permeable paving, which allows water to drain effectively.

Moreover, Design and Construction Director Steve Becker said, the brick and granite used are not only the most enduring materials, but they also serve to uphold the aesthetic of College Hall.

“This is really a public park, which just happens to be between West Philly, Center City and Market Street,” he added. “We want to build something that is conscious of that, but still has a college feel.”

College senior Jacob Schutz, a residential advisor in Fisher-Hassenfeld, said he also values the collegiate atmosphere that the refurbished Woodland Walk offers.

“It’s maybe a little silly to bring in a bunch of new trees to put in,” he said, “[but] it’s definitely nice to have trees and green spaces and well-thought-out walkways in such a busy and complex campus.”

Valentina Zarya

Penn’s Medical Emergency Response Team has just moved its headquarters to the Lower Quad, allowing for faster response times in emergency situations.

Founded in 2006, MERT is a student-run service organization that provides emergency medical services to the Penn community.

For the past four years, the organization has been operating from Sansom Place East — a dorm located on 36th and Chestnut streets.

The team’s headquarters used to consist solely of two small rooms — each approximately the size of a Hill House double — into which they fit all of the equipment necessary to save lives, according to MERT Chief and Wharton and Engineering junior Sourav Bose.

The two rooms contained seven bikes, four beds, two desks, a computer station and a television, Bose said.

“There was a point at which we had a bike in the shower,” he added. “There just wasn’t enough space.”

In addition to being an uncomfortable work environment, the location of the former headquarters lowered the team’s response times significantly, according to Bose.

The team, which travels via specially equipped EMS bicycles, had to go through a series of doors, staircases and gates just to get out onto the street.

With their new, ground-level, more centralized location, the team has cut its response time from 4.5 to four minutes — a crucial difference when it comes to saving lives, according to Bose.

Additionally, the team can now respond to local calls on foot, which is especially valuable to residents of the Quad, who use MERT’s services most often, Bose added.

The new headquarters are not only closer to emergencies, but they are also much more spacious — an entire hallway in the Quad — and the organization now has room for group meetings and training sessions.

“We used to only be able to fit three people in a room at once,” Bose said. “Now we can fit basically everybody.”

He added that MERT got lucky in acquiring this new location.

“Al Zuino [the associate director for Housing and Conference Services] told me that there’s a place in the bottom of the Quad that floods and has mold. I said: we’ll take it,” Bose said.

The members of MERT were responsible for the set up of the new headquarters. They cleaned up the mold, moved all the equipment from the old headquarters to the new, and set up offices in the five rooms.

A less visible, but equally pertinent result of the move is the newly rejuvenated morale of the team.

“People come here to hang out all the time now,” Anita Deshpande, administrative director of MERT and a College junior said. “We’ve become more of a family.”

According to Deshpande, members come to the headquarters to study, eat their meals, do homework and take naps.

The new headquarters went from being a UA proposal to a resolution to reality in just one semester, according to Bose, who is enthusiastic about MERT’s new home.

“We all enjoy coming down here,” he said.

Julia Graber

With its financial influence on the rise, “China will probably be the largest economy in the world for the rest of this century,” stated Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Carlyle Group David Rubenstein.

He made this prediction in his keynote speech, “Why China is the Future of Private Equity” during the annual Wharton China Business Forum, held Saturday in Huntsman Hall.

The all-day forum featured presentations by notable speakers such as Rubenstein, President and CEO of Walmart China Ed Chan and Jose “Zito” Sartarelli, Johnson & Johnson Company Group chairman for Asia-Pacific, Japan and Latin America.

The forum was an opportunity for aspiring international business professionals to learn about China’s economic climate, talk to experts on China and network with others in their field.

In addition to the speeches, attendees participated in case study sessions, networking sessions and panels on topics such as China’s real estate bubble or challenges of industrialization.

“My career path is going to take me between the U.S. and China,” Jeffery Zou, a Wharton sophomore studying Finance, said when explaining his motivation attending the event.

The forum also drew many participants from outside of the Penn community: local businesspeople, students from other universities and two groups of students from Peking and Tsinghua University who flew in from China.

“If I went back to college I would really like to have this kind of interaction with professionals,” said Ping Chen, a Philadelphia businesswoman who also attended the forum last year.

“There are very well-known, high quality speakers here who bring a lot of insight,” she added.

While Saturday’s speakers shared lessons learned from years of doing business in China, as Warren Clark, a Deloitte partner and contributor to the Capital Markets panel said, “No one knows as much about China as they think they do.”

Nadine Zylberberg

Penn often makes major renovations on campus over the summer. This summer, the University’s infrastructure will be getting a facelift — on the web.

The Penn Library System, which administers Penn’s Blackboard system, plans to unveil Blackboard Learn 9.0 to students and faculty after the spring semester, according to Penn Libraries Director of Public Services Marjorie Hassen.

Because the system must be shut down before the new version is installed, programmers decided to proceed with the update when the program is at its minimum usage. The update is tentatively scheduled for May 21, according to Hassen.

“Penn never really closes,” Hassen said. She explained that this timeframe gives programmers a small window in which to shut down the current system and upload the new program to Penn’s server.

Though programers do not plan to release Blackboard 9.0 throughout campus until May, program testing will begin at the end of February or in early March. According to Hassen, the procedure will include upgrading local servers, uploading and installing the new system and running it, all in order to “anticipate anything” that may delay its release. The system will then go through a multitude of tests, including trials by selected faculty members, before it is released to the Penn community.

Once released, Blackboard 9.0 will present a new, more interactive user interface with a “drag-and-drop” feature, customization capabilities and a user “dashboard” that will provide users with course notifications and alerts, Courseware Manager and Educational Technology Librarian Amanda Chudnow said.

“Instructors can set up tasks, groups, blogs [and] group-specific assignments,” along with other features not available on the current version, Chudnow added.

Though not all of Penn’s schools use Blackboard, the system has become increasingly popular over the last few years. From the School of Engineering and Applied Science to the Dental School, Blackboard course sites at Penn have expanded from 1,123 in the 2002 fiscal year to 4,241 in fiscal year 2009.

Apart from a rise in course site numbers, Blackboard 9.0 may also see an increase in users on mobile devices. The new version offers an iPhone and iPod Touch application through which students can receive notifications about grade postings, read discussion boards and view assignments.

Release 9.0 of Blackboard “goes beyond the conventional course management categories and boxes to help bridge the gap between the way students live and the way they learn,” President and CEO of Blackboard Michael Chasen said in a press release announcing Blackboard’s new version in January 2009.

Trishula Patel

The Class of 2010 doesn’t just refer to this year’s graduating seniors. It also refers to the recently announced Penn Fellows class that begins its two-year term this semester.

The Penn Fellows program is an initiative for mid-career faculty who display “outstanding academic achievement and strong leadership potential,” Director of Faculty Development and Equity at the Office of the Provost Lubna Mian said.

The program aims to nurture the development of future academic leaders and diversify faculty leadership.

The main focus of the initiative is a series of monthly dinner meetings with distinguished leaders in higher education, including President Amy Gutmann, Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and Provost Vincent Price.

Groomed to be future higher education administrators, the Fellows’ meetings are expected to allow participants to interact with leaders in higher education and become familiar with the issues currently being tackled by these leaders.

In doing so, Fellows can contemplate how they would shape the academic communities at Penn, according to Mian.

This year’s fellows are: Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Vice Chair for Education and Inpatient Services in the School of Medicine Lisa Bellini; Director of the Center for Africana Studies Camille Charles; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine and Director of the Community and Minority Cancer Control Program Chanita Hughes-Halbert; Associate Professor of Pathology in the School of Dental Medicine Kelly Jordan-Sciutto; Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and Chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation in the School of Design Randall Mason; and Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Classical Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences Program Peter Struck.

The Fellows are nominated across the University by deans and department chairs. According to Mian, there are no strict quotas applied in the selection process.

“While there are no particular school or disciplinary guidelines applied, efforts are made to include Fellows from across the University, and from a mix of areas of scholarship, backgrounds, and of diverse race, ethnicity and gender,” Mian said.

Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education Marybeth Gasman, who was appointed as a Penn Fellow last year, described her experience as a Fellow as “a lot of fun and a great learning experience.”

The Fellows’ meetings with University administration have tackled issues from “the neighborhood to the city to the nation,” according to Gasman.

Recently-named fellow Camille Charles is looking forward to learning as much as she can.

“As head of the Africana Studies Department, it’s a great opportunity to get a better sense of how things get done in the University,” Charles said. “It’s not just about the power brokers here, but a chance to see how ideas and initiatives are turned into reality.”

Peter Struck, who is also one of this year’s Fellows, said he is “very thrilled” to be a part of the program.

“I’m definitely interested in the larger community at Penn, and making it the best place it can be,” he said.

Nikki Seligman

Wharton junior and Daily Pennsylvanian senior staff writer Kathy Wang has been elected to the position of Vice President of External Affairs by the 2011 Class Board.

The post was vacated by Wharton junior Rohan Grover in November and since then the Class Board has been searching for someone to fill this position.

Wang was chosen because she had experience through Wharton Women in contacting businesses, and the Class Board felt that she matched with its dynamic, according to 2011 Class Board President and College junior Adam Behrens.

“We thought she would be great for the position in not just fulfilling it’s duty, but also the added duty of being part of the community in general,” he said.

The tasks of the position include coordinating corporate sponsorships and external funding from local businesses for Junior Class Board events, according to Wang.

“I would like to increase student interest in what the 2011 Class Board is doing and to build up more unity among the juniors,” Wang said.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to make students realize that the Class Board is here for them and be a part of the organization that can improve the lives of students at Penn,” she added.

Mohana Ravindranath

For students new to Philadelphia, PennSavers — a weekly e-mail notification about Penn and Philadelphia cultural events — provides “a one-shot flavor” of the city, according to Platt Student Performing Arts House Director Ty Furman.

PennSavers contains discounted tickets to city and campus events, encouraging students to take advantage of the arts scene without financial strain. The initiative launched in the fall and is now gathering momentum on campus.

PennSavers is a collaboration between Penn and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The e-mail notification is an offshoot of the PhillyFunGuide web site, an online listing of Philadelphia events.

Several of Penn’s student groups, including Front Row Theater, New Spirit of Penn, PennNatak, PENNaach, Penn African Performing Arts, Freaks of the Beat, as well as the Department of Music, have become members of the Alliance, according to Furman. Membership allows student groups to advertise in PennSavers’ weekly e-mails, and gives admission to any Alliance marketing training sessions.

Penn’s arts and cultural groups could draw a new, larger audience as a result of participating in the PennSavers program, according to Alliance Vice President of Marketing and Communications John McInerney.

He added that he would like to see the number of student group members grow.

About 650 people have signed up for PennSavers, according to McInerney.

The goal is to get all members of the Penn community signed up and for the whole region to become “an extension of campus,” according to Facilities spokesman Tony Sorrentino.

Approximately 83,000 people currently receive either FunSavers — the Philadelphia-wide weekly notification — or PennSavers, according to Furman. PennSavers offer all of the Philadelphia events, as well as the Penn-specific ones.

“[PennSavers] is using arts as a way to get people out and about, and to see Philadelphia at its best,” Sorrentino said.

He explained that Penn’s theme year, “Arts and the City,” was the “impetus” for the initiative.

“We’re focused on trying to tie together as many communities as we can,” McInerney said. “The cultural groups [in Philadelphia] could benefit from getting more engagement from Penn’s campus.”

A strong cultural connection with Philadelphia, McInerney noted, might encourage Penn students to stay in the region after graduation.

While PennSavers targets students, anyone can subscribe to the notifications, Sorrentino explained.

Rebecca Kaplan

Despite the uncertainty surrounding healthcare legislation in Congress, lobbyists and higher education institutions are coming together to make sure the bill will preserve the low-cost, high-quality insurance that is currently available to students.

Administrators are optimistic that the 9,363 students covered under the Penn Student Insurance Plan will continue to enjoy the standard of care they now receive without seeing a large increase in cost, regardless of the bill’s outcome.

Due to the young average age of those enrolled in PSIP, the cost of care for the group — and therefore the cost per person — is cheaper than many other insurance plans.

An early Senate draft of the healthcare reform legislation would have prevented colleges and universities from continuing to offer cheaper, group-rate plans.

Jake Baggott, the advocacy chair for the American College Health Association, said his organization successfully lobbied with other higher education advocates to protect student insurance plans. They convinced legislators to insert language into a draft of the bill that would insure the continued ability of colleges and universities to offer cheaper health insurance to their students.

He cited the bill’s original language as the reason it is important for higher education groups to closely monitor the bill. However, he said he doesn’t necessarily believe that the first draft of the bill intended to increase students’ rates, but was rather the unintended consequence of dealing with such complex legislation.

The University’s representative in Washington, Bill Andresen, said he is closely watching the legislation. But Andresen, who serves as the associate vice president of Penn’s Office of Federal Affairs, said there is little that anyone can do until a more permanent version of the bill is crafted.

“Even the leaders of the two Houses [of Congress] can’t agree,” Andresen said. “At this point it’s not clear at all what will ultimately be in the bill.”

The potential consequences of reform for Penn Med and the University of Pennsylvania Hospital System are too nebulous to predict — but that uncertainty hasn’t stopped the University from supporting efforts at legislation.

“Dr. Gutmann and Penn have been very clear to our representatives in Congress that she strongly supports passage of legislation,” Andresen said. “It’s in the interest of our students and the University, and the community in Philadelphia.”

The good news is that students enrolled in PSIP will likely see little change in their insurance plans.

Student Health Services Director Evelyn Wiener said that of the 9,363 students enrolled, approximately 7,000 are graduate students and 2,300 are undergraduates — the latter number has been “creeping up” over the past few years, Wiener said.

At the moment, many undergraduates are still covered under their parents’ insurance, so most students in PSIP are international students, undergraduates whose parents no longer have coverage or whose coverage does not meet Penn’s requirements.

Wiener said the number of students enrolled in PSIP may be rising because SHS is more rigorously auditing students’ outside insurance to make sure it meets Penn’s requirements.

“We’ve seen our student plan become increasingly rich in benefits and comparable to employer plans,” she said of the coverage. “Compared to the market, it is a very good value for the cost.”

Wiener predicted that enrollment in PSIP would only see a decline if employers make coverage available to part-time employees, which would apply to Penn students who hold part-time jobs.

She said Congress increasing the age until which children can be covered under their parents’ health insurance may also cause a decline in PSIP enrollment. Usually, the age limit is 23, unless the child stays in school for a certain number of years.

On the other hand, she said, healthcare reform might make employer plans less rich, making PSIP a more attractive option for students who are currently covered under their parents’ health care.

For now, the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee — a group of Penn administrators and students that evaluate PSIP — is holding off on making any big changes to the insurance plan, said committee member Mike Baiocchi, a fourth-year Statistics doctoral student studying health care outcomes and systems.

Baiocchi and Baggott both said a continuing concern about the legislation is whether it will combine the lower risk level of college students with the higher risk of a more general population.

“Because we’re students, we’re young, and we cost less per person,” said Baiocchi. A larger risk pool would force students to assume some of the costs associated with older age, and could possibly increase the cost of insurance — though this possibility is still very uncertain.

Nonetheless the healthcare services available to students at Penn are unlikely to change, said Wiener and Associate Vice Provost for Health and Academic Support Services Max King, who oversees health services for students.

Though the bill might have a profound effect on the way Medicare is delivered to health centers, that would not affect SHS, which does not have Medicare patients, said King.

Overall, though, administrators stressed that only time will tell what actual changes the bill will bring.

Wiener said even if a bill is passed, it could still be two to three years before changes are implemented.

“It’s a Ping-Pong ball that keeps going back and forth and back and forth,” King said. “Where it’s going to end up, who knows.”