Gotham City: Parking on North Third Street: Classic Urban Politics

Gotham City:
Telling Tales of Our Capital Region's Politics

by Frank Pizzoli

Parking on North Third Street:
Classic Urban Politics

In her classic book on urban life, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Scranton’s Jane Jacobs remarks, “Chessman cannot be strewn hither and yon in a city.” Regarding the current situation with North Third Street’s former Medical Arts Building, a legion of chessmen is lined up on the board.

A potential tenant for the vacant, three-story anchor property is the proposed Ronald H. Brown Charter School. A condition accompanies the deal: demolish three nearby historical buildings at 916-920 North Third Street for parking and playground space to accommodate several hundred kindergarten through fifth grade students who may be joined two years later by seventh and eighth graders.

The situation is a microcosm of urban conflict playing out like a classic political chess game.

The queen, city council member Peggy Grove (executor of the estate of Oliver “Ollie good stuff cheap” Rosenberg — who was a real peach of a guy in his day), is a stakeholder in the development of the Medical Arts Building. Grove recently purchased the three properties at 916-920 North Third Street proposed for demolition. As a member of City Council, Grove must remain silent on the issue for obvious reasons. A final demolition order would require a vote by City Council.

There is potential for a great deal of controversy with this volatile situation. The block could become a “compromise” location for the smoldering controversy on whether to build a parking garage on Liberty Street (behind State Street), near the State Street Office Building — and here’s why. The city’s plan to develop the old 5& 10 Furlough Building on North Third Street, just three blocks north of the Medical Arts Building, calls for a multi-level parking garage to be built adjacent to that site. That’s part of the deal in order to secure city permits. The problem is that the Furlough site’s $2 million plan announced months ago is rumored to be defunct. According to whispers, the developers never had or couldn’t secure adequate funding. “It was all city money. None of theirs,” is what one source said.

On the other end of the corridor is an on-again, off-again proposed parking garage site for Liberty Street. That site is mired in controversy and subject to regular citizen protests. Fate leaves the city and stakeholders with a third site — about equal distance between the other two potential sites — one defunct, the other controversial in its own right. The Medical Arts Building could evolve into a compromise site for a multi-level parking garage — with or without preserving or demolishing the three buildings and/or saving their facades.

In addition to another “parking” spat, there are other concerns, voiced by the chessboard knight — Harrisburg Superintendent Lucian Yates. He worries that the charter school will drain precious money from a financially stressed district set to raise taxes. Seventy percent of each child’s state allocation follows the child to a charter school, resulting in a loss of income to the abandoned school district.

Another interest group nudging players to make a move are the historic preservationists. They are the chessboard’s bishops, advising here, elbowing there, and reciting history when needed. For example, the city’s last remaining example of Queen Anne architecture, at Third and Walnut streets, was demolished for parking. The wrecking ball also flew at the classic Senate Hotel to accommodate the much-needed center city anchor Pennsylvania National Insurance Company. (Thank you for locating in center city and keeping the development cycle alive.)

The “Save the Senate Hotel Façade” idea fell through, literally, when the crumbling front portion of the edifice wasn’t able to withstand the demands of construction and its own preservation. To be fair, many have scoffed, claiming that there never were any serious intentions to preserve the façade. The promise of its preservation was seen by some as a hollow gesture made to keep the project on track. Consequently, we have those involved in the current situation who are mistrustful of another “façade preservation” deal.

Midtown retailers must feel like the pawns. They are nervous because further demolition of precious retail space could make the creation of the vital “critical mass” an even more difficult task to achieve. The corridor is already an odd mixture of mixed use lending itself to no one “identity.” Knocking down more storefronts only exacerbates the situation.

“How are we to survive, yet alone prosper, when the corridor is being cannibalized? We’ll have no real comfortable draw or critical mass for bringing people into the neighborhood,” said one observer.

Critical mass is the key to North Third Street’s success. The popular Garden Vietnamese Restaurant is located on a corner near the anticipated City Cinema location and has recently expanded hours. Expected to open in the spring near the corridor’s northern most section, the addition of the first city theater to open in 30 years makes the location of a parking garage nearby very attractive. (For the “Yes, but” crowd — Yes, the City Cinema proposal included ground-level parking of 19 slots next to the theater and another 50 or so across the street by gracious agreement with the owner. More parking will be needed when the cinema facility is at full capacity with three screens and is home to one or several related tenants.)

On the plus side, the opening of a charter school in the neighborhood would bring critical mass to the corridor. Plus, a charter school is a victory for “school choice” and the long sought-after excellence expected when parents and communities take education into their own hands.

Another plus is that the neighborhood would finally have achieved a much-needed “mixing point” for a neighborhood that represents a splendid diversity — young, old, African American, Caucasian, and gay and lesbian. Perhaps the right ebb and flow will finally evolve so that North Third Street’s beleaguered shop owners and services can make a few bucks and stay put for a change — even if the three retail spots are leveled.

The question is whether we can we work out the conflicts without strewing chessmen hither and yon.

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