jdgriggs

Wrap-up

2006-05-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

My experience with GUS150 has been a good one. I have learned A LOT about the area surrounding Temple Campus. I didn't even know there was a grocery store 6 blocks from my apartment until this class. I used to think that Temple Campus was my community. Now I realize there is much more to my community. I had no idea there was so much gentrification going on in the Philadelphia area. I drive my roommates crazy everytime we walk around because now I am always observing my surroundings and picking things out. I'd like to thank Dr. Masucci for her insight into the Philadelphia area; an area I consider my home. I am leaving the links to the GUS150 blog and to my photo website for this class in this entry for those who want to know more about this class and to see more photos.

GUS150

Photos

Enjoy my blog!

Assignment #6: Healthscape, Gentrification & Industrialization

2006-05-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

To examine my community/chosen observation site’s healthscape, gentrification and industrialization I started out at Broad St. and Berks St. From there I walked down to Girard Ave where I walked East down to 6th and Girard. I walked down 6th St. until I ended back at Berks St. The blue line on the map represents Broad and Berks to Broad and Girard. The black line on the map represents Broad and Girard to 6th and Girard. The red line represents 6th and Girard to 6th and Berks.

Every street you walk down in a historical city such as Philadelphia tells a story. There are buildings, signs, people and construction that represent past and present communities. I have another website where I uploaded all the photos from my observation of the area described above. I will be linking directly to some of the photos but there are about 40 photos in all with short descriptions. They are in chronological order and may give some insight.

Healthscape, gentrification and industrialization can most likely all be found on any street you walk down in Philadelphia. The start of my walk was on Temple Campus. At Cecil B. Moore and Broad St. there is a lot of construction going on where they are building the Edge North. It will be student apartments and a shopping center. This is a sign of gentrification; Temple University itself has promoted and influenced much investment in the North Philadelphia area. The billboard advertises a super hip living area that does not seem to fit it with its surroundings at all which is juxtaposition. Across the street from the construction has been my site of observation: Progress Plaza. I am worried, as many people are that business to the stores in the Progress Plaza shopping center may decrease after the shopping across the street is built. There is also the possibility that the Edge North will bring more business to Progress Plaza which would revitalize the shabby shopping area. The next point of interest is in front of William Penn High School a few blocks down. There is an Avenue of the Arts post light right in front of the school. This is important because it signifies the extension of what is considered Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia. The Avenue of the Arts is generally cleaner and full of businesses compared to the dirtier, abandoned sight of North Philadelphia. This sign in front of the school could mean gentrification; renovations can already be seen in this area. From Berks and Broad down to Girard Ave I did not see any normal doctor’s offices. I found a blood bank about a block from Girard on Broad St that pays 20 dollars a visit.

If you have been down Girard Ave heading east from Broad Street in the last month you may have noticed roadwork. The roads have been ripped up in sections and repaving has begun. This could be normal roadwork but I like to think of it as gentrification. I think it is no secret in this city that areas that are more affluent or where this is a lot of investment going into have nicer streets. In the past three years I have been in Philadelphia, Girard has been a road of potholes and uneven pavement. Now that there has been more investment on Broad and Girard St there has been a lot of general maintenance going on to roads and even subway stations to clean them up and make them look nice. The thing I noticed most on my walk down was if you looked to the right you saw rows of new homes that look straight from the suburbs. I have heard that this is low income housing and the look of the homes is to promote a sense of community. This is a big sign of gentrification. It is also juxtaposition because these homes look terribly out of place in this area. They do not blend in with the row homes or older buildings around it at all. The most important thing I found on Girard Ave was at 8th and Girard. There is the Continuing Care Hospital of Philadelphia and North Philadelphia Health System along with Girard Medical Center. After not seeing much healthcare services for many blocks this was a pleasant surprise to the healthscape. These buildings are so important because they offer healthcare to the surrounding community and every community needs health facilities. Something else I also noticed on Girard is that there are several commercial buildings leasing along with a shopping center going up. More gentrification and investment? I can only hope that it brings money into this rather shabby section from Broad to 6th.

After you turn onto 6th Street from Girard Ave, it is mostly residential. Walking down the street I saw some cute row homes and a well kept little garden area. There is a recreation center that has an outdoor swimming pool. Overall, you get the impression of a close-knit community. The reason I chose to go down 6th St. is that I know the farther I headed down, the more signs of industrialization I would find. This area was once very prosperous. In this class, we have focused on the Stetson Hat Factory which is close to this area. At 6th and Masters looking towards 5th there is a huge building that looks like it was a factory at one point that is currently under reconstruction. At 6th and Jefferson I looked east down the street to see an old sheet metal factory. At 6th and Cecil B. Moore there is a dirt lot that has been leveled. It looks like possible construction could be happening there soon. My walk ended at 6th and Berks in front of what looked to be an old warehouse.

Definitions

2006-03-13T22:13:00.000-08:00

Assignment #1:
activists-someone who acts on the behalf of something they believe in, for example, animal activist, political activists, health activists. Alexis Stewart is an animal activist who is lobbying for carriage horse rights.
New York City-located in New York, large metropolitan area. This is important to recognize in relation to the carriage horse debate because in a large metropolitan area there are many dangers to animals such as traffic and pollution that may not be found in smaller towns or areas.
PETA-organization that seeks better treatment of animals. Their website can be found here.
ban-to prohibit or not allow.
technology-the application of science, some modern technology would be ipods, cell phones, plasma TV's. We live in a technological filled world. Dr. Masucci talks about the tween generation who she says were born with mouses in their hands. Today many people use newer technology like computers and cell phones.

Assignment #2:
juxtaposition-contrast, something that does not fit in with surroundings. This is an important defintion for this class because in the Philadelphia are there are many juxtapositions because of the gentrifcation of older neighborhoods.
gentrification-The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people. This can be found in places such as Brewerytown, Northern Liberties and Fishtown.
healthscape- human well-being, individually and in a community, distribution of public health. The healthscape of a community is important because it determines the amount of access the surrounding community has to healthcare.
Kardon-Atlantic-renovated warehouse that is now apartments located on 10th between Berks and Montgomery. This is an area of interest because there are many old warehouses within blocks of Kardon that are abandoned.

Assignment #3:
Cecil B. Moore- crosses Broad Street east to west.
residential-suitable for residence, where homes are located.
higher education-college, trade school, professional school.
community-people living in the same general area, experiencing similar things. There is many ideas of what a community may be. Some people consider their block their community while others may consider miles of area to be their community. People who live in the same community are exposed to similar experiences. Communities can contain parks, recreation centers, homes, schools and shopping areas.

Assignment #4:
Love Canal-unfinished canal filled with toxic waste.
Hooker Chemical Corporation- responsible party for filling Love Canal with toxic waste.
hazards-dangerous to those close to or nearby.
toxic waste-generally harmful chemicals that can cause many problems if not disposed of properly.

Assignment #5
institutional racism- oppression inflicted by entire corporations, businesses or other institutions. for example, segregation of schools.
economic revitalization- investments and money put into neighborhoods, communities, shopping centers or other places to spur more investment and interest.
public transportation- buses, subways, trains. SEPTA
potential-capable of becoming something but not something yet. North Philadelphia is full of potential. There is a lot of investment coming into the neighborhood. As of now the North Philadelphia area has high crime rates and a lot of trash on the streets. With money and more respect for one's surroundings, North Philadelphia has the potential to become something greater than a crime ridden, dirty area of Philly.

Assignment #5: Community Description

2006-03-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

The unique setting I picked in Philadelphia was Progress Plaza. What makes it so fascinating is the history involved with the shopping center. Even after the abolition of slavery and the Civil Rights movements, African Americans were still subjected to individual racism and institutional racism. Investors and other companies joined in a project to assist African Americans in getting jobs and owning businesses. In 1968, the Progress Plaza was opened as the nation’s first black-owned and developed shopping center.

Today the center caters to some of the Temple University students and faculty along with the residential community surrounding the center. Any shopping center that caters to the social needs of a community is important. The stores and services inside these shopping centers tend to cater directly towards the needs of the people living nearby. Inside this shopping center is Helen’s Wigs which I’m guessing caters more towards the African American women in the community. There are also two banks which I feel, are very important because of the lack of banks in lower income areas in relation to check cashing places. There is also a Popeye’s chicken, a Radio Shack, Avenue (a women’s clothing store), Payless Shoes, a Dollar Store, and some other places that I’m not sure are open or not. There is a dry cleaners and a chiropractic place but I’m not sure if they are actually open. There is also what seems to be an empty building that used to be a pharmacy judging by the sign for prescriptions on the window.

Another interesting thing is an empty lot that will soon be a Fresh Grocer Supermarket. There used to be a grocery store but it was closed down. The next closest chain full sized grocery store is Path mark a couple miles north on Broad Street. $500,000 was given to Fresh Grocer to come into the Progress Plaza. The money is being given through The Reinvestment Fund (a regional financer of neighborhood and economic revitalization) as a way to bring jobs and healthy food to the community. It could revitalize the Progress Plaza since there is competition moving in across the street in the Edge and down Cecil B. Moore in the form of other stores. This new grocery store is very important because it can be hard to access healthy, reasonably priced food in urban settings and it could bring more prosperity to the Progress Plaza.

In the pictures it is easy to see a less than prosperous looking shopping center. I’m not sure of the exact financial situations of the businesses but many of the store fronts look run down. The parking lot is also fairly empty which may be due to public transportation or just lack of customers. I have visited some of the stores such as Avenue and Payless Shoe Source. I bank at the Citizens Bank in the Progress Plaza. When the grocery store is built, I will most likely use that also. The Progress Plaza has a lot of potential since it is right next to Temple Main Campus and on Broad Street. I think the Fresh Grocer will bring in a lot of new customers and more investors. For some opinions on Progress Plaza and Fresh Grocer, visit PhillyBlog.

Assignment #4: Environmental Ethical Dilemma

2006-03-13T20:53:00.002-08:00

Love Canal started in 1892 by a man named William T. Love. He wanted to connect the lower and upper Niagara River by digging a canal to contain the water in the upper Niagara river and create a man-made waterfall to provide cheap energy. With only a portion of it built, sixty feet wide and three thousand feet long, the country fell into an economic depression and Love lost his financial backers. The land was sold at public auction in 1920, and was a municipal and chemical disposal sight until 1953. The company who did most of the dumping was subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum called Hooker Chemical Corporation. The United States Army and the City of Niagara also contributed waste and possible other chemical waste. Hooker sold the canal, after covering it with dirt, to the Board of Education for the sum of one dollar. The deed cleverly placed a warning about the chemicals and a disclaimer taking all liability from Hooker Chemical Corporation.

In 1954, an elementary school was built upon the waste site. A community also began springing up around the area. These new homeowners were not given any warnings about their houses being located on or near a toxic waste dump. Since the canal looked like a field, there was no reason for anyone to be concerned of the 20,000 tons of chemical waste where houses and schools were being built. Though for many years residents complained of smells and substances, the most the city did for them was cover the substances with dirt. By 1978, there were 800 private single family homes and 240 low income apartments around the canal with the school placed close to the center of the landfill. Approximately 10,000 people were located within a mile of the site and about 70,000 were located within three miles of the site. Though there had been complaints, no one was doing anything about the problems being experienced by residents. done. The small community came together to fight the injustices they were suffering. In August of 1978, the Love Canal Homeowners Association (LCHA) was formed to “give the community a voice”. 500 families living within the 10 block area around the landfill were involved. They were mostly blue collar workers that mostly worked in chemical industries in the surrounding areas. The LCHA led to the Love Canal Parents Movement. It was started by Lois Gibbs, a name almost synonymous with Love Canal. Her son was sickly and realized that living so close to the landfill could be the reason. The Board of Education denied the transfer of her son to another school. After speaking with many in the community, she realized not only her child was affected.

The pressure put on by the community spurred the New York State Department of Health to declare a state of emergency at Love Canal on August 2, 1978. The 99th Street school was closed and pregnant women and children under two were encouraged to evacuate. On August 7th, Governor Carey evacuated all 239 families due to pressure from the public. The mandatory cleanup started. More pressure was put upon by the 660 families that were not given the option to relocate. A health study that revealed high rates of birth defects and miscarriages resulted in President Carter signing a bill on October 1, 1980 to relocate the families who wished to leave. Sixty seven families remained.

Frightening data showed the increase in miscarriages by how close people lived to the dump site. Prior to living in Love Canal, women from the south side experienced 9.3 miscarriages per 100 pregnancies. After living in Love Canal it jumped to 23.7 miscarriages per 100 pregnancies. For women living on the north side the numbers jumped from 8.5 to 18.6 miscarriages per 100 pregnancies. The women living on the south side also experienced a rise in birth defects. 2.2 of children prior to living in Love Canal experienced malformations; during residence at Love Canal that number jumped to 13.3 which is over 6 times the prior living number. Some of the birth defects experienced were cleft palate, deformed ears and teeth, hearing defects, mental retardation, congenital deafness and club foot.

The importance of Love Canal is not to be overlooked. It spurred Superfund which prevents and corrects incidents like these that happen. The bad part is that people are still subjected everyday to environmental hazards like these. These hazards are in general economically driven. In a society such as we have in the United States, many times dollars mean more than people. Low income housing areas are more likely to have garbage dumps and other hazardous places located within their communities. A good book that really deals with children and the environment that would supplement this is Jonathan Kozol’s “Amazing Grace”. My viewpoints on ethics in regards to the environment in relation to toxic dump sites is that low income people are targeted. In the case of Love Canal, blue collar workers had to deal with this and really had to fight hard to make changes. If it was a bunch of lawyers, I doubt it would have been the same.

Assignment #3: Community Map

2006-01-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

I live in University Village right off of the main campus. Across the street from my building is a football field utilized by city sports teams and others. During fall semester I would go and watch community kids play sports and cheerlead. It was nice to see something positive in North Philadelphia. To the left of my building is Cecil B. Moore, a main road for the campus and to the right is the Kardon-Atlantic building which houses more students. Next to Kardon is the train station which many students use as main transportation to school. Many faculty also use the train. I use it to go to the airport and it’s very convenient and easy to use. To the right of the football field is the dirt lot which is my community juxtapose in assignment #2.

Across from the dirt lot is the Temple Police Station. I feel safer living closer to the police station since there are always cops circling around near where I live. To the left of the police station is Dunbar Elementary school. Many education majors I know do work at Dunbar in relationship to their majors. They say it is a great learning experience. Then past these places is Temple University Main Campus.A landmark is Kardon-Atlantic which used to be a warehouse. It is an example of beautiful architecture. I’ve been inside the building a few times and the apartments have extremely tall ceilings and huge windows. Living on campus, or just a block from campus in a mainly residential area means a lot of houses and buildings. I don't even have any shopping of any sort in vision unless I walk out a few blocks.

The purpose of my community is residential and higher education. There is also a police station to protect the area. Some interesting things would be that University Village keeps the trash picked up and the landscaping well kept when across the street the football field usually has many empty liquor bottles and other trash. Temple University and the city seem to keep the rest of my community in a fairly good trash free are.

My juxtaposition in my community is actually the one I discussed in assignment #2 in regards to the dirt lot on campus.

After looking at my map a second time, I really hope I get a better sense of community and my surroundings after this class. I realized that I look north, south, and west from my building but I don't look east at all. I don't think I've ever been to anywhere behind my building.

I wrote most of this entry at the end of January. Looking back now after a month or so of class, I’ve decided to start working on a new community map which I hope shows what I have learned. I feel my community is much larger now (ranging all the way to 15th and Cecil B. Moore) and I hope to continue updating this entry with more stuff that I learn in class. Every time I go to class, I learn something new or different that makes me look at my community a different way. I want to keep this entry up and then add my new community map as a new entry to show the comparison.

Assignment #2: Juxtaposition

2006-01-30T22:17:00.000-08:00

When I first started this class I had never heard of a juxtaposition so I had some trouble trying to find one in my community. Though I know now that there are a ton of juxtapositions in my community since I live two blocks off Temple Campus, there was one site that jumped out at me in particular. I know most people have been focusing on sites of gentrification or discrepancies in health landscapes or many of the other terms we’ve learned in class but my juxtaposition is a little different.

My site is the dirt lot located between 10th and 11th on Montgomery.
In my little community in North Philly, it is mostly residential. I live at University Village on 10th street so I am close to Temple and family neighborhoods. There is Kardon, U-Village, a football field and other developed areas. Then in the middle is a lot with dirt and some bricks...and probably some glass. This is the infamous dirt lot. It is used as a dangerous parking lot.

Every other lot in this area is developed yet there is this mysterious lot that no one seems to know what was there or what will go there. There used to be a building there and remnants of it remain. It stands out greatly on this city campus. Since everything else in and around Temple University is receiving a face lift, I found it odd that this lot has not been made into something more useful or usable. I think the bumpy, brick infested lot is an eyesore to the Temple campus which has made such strides in the past few years. With so much development and money, one would think that the dirt lot would be paved or built on to fit in with the surroundings and over a service to Temple students and faculty.

The two pictures I took and chose to post on this blog show how uneven the surface is and what an eyesore it is on an urban college campus. I tried finding some information online about the dirt lot but I only one article from the Temple News about the dirt lot being a cheap alternative for

Assignment #1: Carriage Ban

2006-01-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

January 2, 2006 a carriage horse in New York City became spooked, threw the driver and ran into a car. The horse was injured and had to be put to sleep. One person in the car was in critical condition while two other passengers were severely injured. This incident sparked an uproar for animal activists. The question of whether or not to ban the carriage horses once and for all has become an important issue with people such as Alexis Stewart speaking on the behalf of PETA, who is for the banning of carriage horses.

Just by typing in carriage horse bans brings up a plethora of sites for banning. One site listed all of the accidents prior to 2000 on the site and gave many reason as to why there should be a ban. Some of the reasons listed were overwork of the horses, inadequate food, water and care, shortened life spans, and exposure to exhaust fumes. At this website, Alexis Stewart, Martha Stewart’s daughter is quoted saying “"As evidenced by this catastrophe, horse-drawn carriages aren't just cruel to the horses who are forced to work long hours in extreme weather conditions while walking on hard pavement and inhaling exhaust fumes all day long; they are equally dangerous to riders, drivers, pedestrians and motorists." I feel that there could also be people who feel that horse drawn carriages are outdated and unneeded in such a technology driven society. Overall, the carriage ban seems to be driven by the danger to the horses and those who may interact with the horses such as cars and people.

My opinion on the carriage horse accident would be that they should not ban carriage rides/horses from New York City. Yes, there have been many cities that have banned it but there are also cities that still use them such as Philadelphia. I believe that there are not enough accidents to warrant a ban. Horse carriages are part of the historical culture of NYC, many tourists love to ride through on the carriages and people also may use them for weddings. Horse drawn carriages could also offer a greener solution to pollution. Most importantly, if we are going to ban carriage horses, then where do we stop from there? Do we start banning police horses and other service animals? Not to mention that economically it is not a wise choice. There are people who make the carriages, breed the horses, take care of the horses, drive the carriages and many other related things that would lose jobs.

Though both sides I have shown offer the extremes of either keeping the horses as is or completely banning them, I feel a compromise would be the best solution. The carriage horses should probably only be kept within Central Park where they would not be exposed to car fumes, automobiles and other dangers. The beauty and culture of the carriage horses could be upheld without endangering drivers or further endangering the horses. By keeping the horses in the park, all auto accidents could be avoided but the appeal of the horse drawn carriage could be upheld.