If you are not a regular or even occasional patron of the regional rail system from Northwest Philadelphia into center city, you may not have seen first-hand the depressing dichotomy one finds when the R7 or R8 trains pass from Mt. Airy stations to those within the defined borders of Germantown .

 

Shameless neglect is the only word for the worst of the lot, the Germantown Station on the R7, a nearly-isolated overgrown shambles that would make any citizen nervous to use it in the daytime; let alone after dark.  The smaller Wister Station, and the much larger deteriorated hulk at Wayne Junction complete the trio that are by far the worst maintained stations on the  entire SEPTA regional rail network. Not much better are the Germantown Stations on the R8 Line at Queen Lane , the perpetually-decaying Chelten Avenue and Tulpehocken ones.  How does a thriving community that was considered so important that two competing railroads built expensive parallel lines only blocks apart (The Reading R7 and Pennsylvania R8) fall into such disregard?

 

What an incredible reversal of history is wrapped up in that portion of our rail system that would deter anyone from seriously considering the regular use of what was the in fact the pride of the American transportation system, when first built.  In fact what today is the R7 is the exact route of the first passenger-carrying railroad in Pennsylvania and arguably only the second or third in the nation.  When city planners (yes we definitely had them then) determined where that first railroad was to be built, Germantown was the clear first choice, as it was the suburb held in the highest regard and the most productive economically and socially by a wide margin.  Opened in 1832 it followed the same route from 9^th and Spring Garden Street it does today with the only change being it was diverted from the original terminal at Price Street and Germantown Avenue when the line was later extended to Chestnut Hill.  The train made the trip to Germantown in an incredible 28 minutes; lightning speed for the time.  By the 1920s one could board any number of express trains to New York at Wayne Junction and by the late 1930s streamlined air conditioned trains took folks directly to New York or Washington from that station without changing on schedules faster than one could obtain today by auto and turnpike.

 

In an incredible reversal of fortune, today Germantown is by far the most neglected community in this city when it comes to retarded development, numerous expensive failed studies that produced few effective results, and a real estate debacle second to none in the loss of the productive tax-paying residential and commercial enterprise. It takes hard work to keep this managed decay a deterrent to development, but our local political system wants to keep it that way. It is always easier to control a dependent community. Let us never confuse control with governance. Non-producing and deteriorating properties are a part of the landscape in virtually every sub-community in Germantown , and their presence deters even the most dedicated of serious investors from aggressively reinvigorating this most worthy example of historical survival in the United States .

 

Manayunk, a fairly unremarkable mill town, blossoms into full-fledged renaissance far outpacing its original history, and Northern Liberties and Brewerytown do the same, as well as portions of other Philadelphia neighborhoods, none of which has anything close to the character, history and architectural diversity of Germantown . There seems to be no limit to how many pubic and private dollars perform these urban miracles in relative short time frames while Germantown runs a steady downhill course from its second-only-to-center city prominence as a shopping and residential district in the 1950s.  There is no other explanation other than the lack of political will to spark the resurgence.  Instead of well-planned carefully-selected enterprises that will jump-start progressive redevelopment we have the largest city concentration of subsidized and substandard care centers and half-way houses that often are poorly run and regularly appear without community awareness.  Recent Philadelphia Inquirer exposes point to the failure of Germantown Settlement enterprises (a large group of subsidized non-profits with common management) as being among the worst in the city and still receiving funding despite multiple failures in performance and record-keeping.  Despite many millions of study and development dollars that have been channeled through the 8^th District over the last 15 years, nothing resembling a cohesive development plan has emerged.  What we do have however, are unfinished projects along with failed and foreclosed facilities standing empty consuming, rather than paying, tax dollars.

 

The well-attended Philadelphia Planning Commissions’ neighborhood inclusion project held Thursday September 13 only underscored these points.  While the community meeting was intended to center around the long-overdue rebuilding of the SEPTA stations in Germantown mentioned above, the meeting actually served as a conduit for all manner of citizen complaints focusing on specific long-term problems in all Germantown neighborhoods that threaten the quality of life. The study groups produced a continuous stream of outpouring from citizens with clear levels of outrage.  The meeting went far from focus on the stations and their present shortcomings to the perception of those who live here that the stations only mirror what is in the bone marrow of Germantown- - uncontrolled decay with little remedial action that would bring security and quality of life to these communities. 

 

No one is his or her right mind would wait for a train before or after rush hour at most Germantown stations. Some of those who were “urban planners” at that meeting seemed very naïve to these facts and one questions whether they ever visited the sites personally.  Wayne Junction should be reconstructed, possibly saving the architecturally historical original ticket office/restaurant into a combination station/tourist center for all of Northwest Philadelphia .  Surface transit lines should loop at the Junction in well secured adjacent shelters where interchange would be facilitated.  A manned tourist bureau should be open regular hours providing information for the multitude of historically-designated buildings in the Northwest with maps and special fare tickets that would allow tourists on-and-off use of surface systems to access many of them in one day.  The long neglected and overgrown property next to the Germantown Station (former freight yard) should be developed and again, all surface lines in that part of Germantown should loop immediately adjacent to that station for easy of access and to encourage use of mass transit.  Lincoln Drive can only handle so many cars and new expressway development should be considered out of the question in this urban setting.

 

While we focus on transit in this area we must not overlook the results of shortsighted City and SEPTA management who for years dialed out city neighborhoods in a quest for only suburban to city in-and-out service with little regard to the changing demographics of work places relative to residence.  On the R7 two stations were eliminated in the 1980s that would very well serve folks who now live there and work in suburban locales.  This is known as the “reverse commute” and I strongly recommend the re-opening of the Tioga and Nicetown stops at Allegheny and Hunting Park Avenues respectively.  Residents could access every regional rail line from those stations and avoid long surface travel in many cases. Intentionally by-passing and neglecting the inner city service on these lines has become all too obvious when compared to the service and facilities elsewhere. 

 

It is time we took back our city and its services from those who run it more for personal gain and the interests of “selected citizens”.

 

Jim Foster

Independent Candidate

8^th District City Council