COLUMN: "Red Tag Sale, Maybe"

From Elizabeth Hunt's "One Man's Meat," Spring '92 Try, for example, to find out why the University is so sure that it will be able to purchase the site of the city's Civic Center to build a new hospital. Try asking Robert Zemsky, the University's director of planning, what makes him so confident that the City will sell us that giant deco arch and its surrounding farm-style outbuildings, home to trade shows and tractor pulls, and of course, the Philadelphia Flower Show. I bet you won't find out. Since November at least, Zemsky has been sold on the idea that the University should build a new hospital on the Civic Center's site, then use the present Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania site for new University buildings. Zemsky doesn't say as much, but in all likelihood, the new buildings would be dorms to replace the high rises, which, after all, are "stupid." Zemsky's plan is somewhat mysterious, given that until very recently, the City had evinced little or no interest in selling the Civic Center site. When Mayor Ed Rendell released the Philadelphia's Five-Year Plan for the City back in February, he noted that he'd consider unloading Veterans' Stadium on some unsuspecting buyer. He said he may put portions of Fairmount Park on the auction block. Penn Center may be up for grabs. But the Civic Center was not on the list of properties and facilities that may be sold in the municipal tag sale in the next five years. Could it be Mayor Rendell simply overlooked the Civic Center as a potential moneymaker for the City when he devised the Five-Year Plan? Could be, but it's not likely. Rendell was down on his hands and knees scrubbing toilets in City Hall last weekend; I'd have to guess he's leaving few stones unturned in his search for ways to alleviate Philadelphia's budget crisis. Since the story of Zemsky's plan hit DP, however, city officials are beginning to respond to the proposal. City Planning Chief Ernest Leonardo told The Philadelphia Inquirer last week that selling the Civic Center had a lot to recommend it. "Rather than losing big bucks, we could be gaining big bucks," was his concise assessment. And this week, apparently Rendell himself finally alluded to the proposed deal, saying in a recent press conference that Zemsky's plan could fit well with city needs. None of this, however, explains Zemsky's premature certainty that the University would be able to acquire the Civic Center site. What did he know back in November that made him think the University could get that site? What is this guy, a fortune teller? Obviously, something's going on behind the scenes here. The University's relationship with the City has a long and complicated past, as the Mayor's Scholarship issue clearly illustrated. For example, next week the city solicitor will ask City Council to remove the word "annually" from the Mayor's Scholarship agreement. It's not clear why we need to clear up what's supposedly crystal clear: according to the University, the agreement already specifies 125 scholarships at any time. It makes you wonder who's paying the city solicitor, anyway. But all this makes deciphering the Civic Center situation that much more difficult. All we know is that the University has publicly acknowledged its designs on the Civic Center, and expressed its confidence that it will, in time, have the site. City officials, for their part, are playing coy: it's a nice idea, but, gosh, it's the first we've heard of it. Any number of scenarios could explain this dynamic: there could be lots of high-level bargaining behind the scenes that we're not supposed to know about. The City's administration could owe the University a favor. Or they could be holding out to try to get the best price. On the other hand, the University could be throwing its weight around, noting how many jobs the Medical Center provides city residents and how much prestige this first-rate facility brings the city. Maybe the University is pointing out that it would certainly be devastating to the city if the Medical Center had to move to the suburbs to find adequate room for growth. But I've got no evidence for any of these scenarios. For all I know, things are just as the Inquirer has made them out to be: "Penn has quietly begun exploring" the Civic Center purchase, and "Penn and city officials have been striving to keep a low profile." (Someone should tell Bob Zemsky about the quiet, low-profile part). At any rate, as a Medical Center administrator told me in no uncertain terms, I'm just speculating. Just like the University is speculating that it can buy the Civic Center. Since we may never know what's really happening as the University attempts to land this deal, I thought I would use this forum to give the City's administration a little advice: Don't let the University bully you. If you want to sell the Civic Center, fine, just do it on your own terms. And whatever you do, don't trade the site for a promise of scholarships. Insist on cash. Elizabeth Hunt is a doctoral candidate in History and Sociology of Science from Bloomington, Indiana. "One Man's Meat" appears alternate Thursdays.