Food plaza faces opposition

Hill House administrators and residents asked Penn officials to not put vending near the dorm. University officials want to put two fresh air food plazas near the busy intersection of 34th and Walnut streets. The problem is, no one seems to want one in their backyard. Yesterday, it was representatives from Hill House who met with Managing Director of Economic Development Jack Shannon to express their strong opposition to a possible plaza next to the residence, leading officials to say they will probably search for other sites, people who attended the meeting said. Fifteen residents from the dormitory, including its faculty master, assistant dean and 13 students, met with Shannon for 45 minutes yesterday to voice their concerns about the plazas, which they said would result in problems such as noise, odors, rats and disrupting deliveries to the building's commissary. "It was pointed out that no University administrator would have a cluster of food trucks 10 feet from his bedroom," said Philosophy graduate student Michael McShane, a Hill House graduate fellow who attended the meeting. "We asked them to extend us their own courtesy." At the meeting held in Shannon's Franklin Building office, Shannon presented a proposal to place four carts and five trucks in or near the parking lot between Hill House and the Zeta Psi fraternity house, attendees said. The student and staff representatives expressed their concerns with the proposal and agreed to put them in writing in a letter to Shannon, attendees said. University officials have spent the last two weeks trying to identify two to three locations for plazas to replace the two sites -- next to Bennett Hall at 34th and Chancellor streets and behind Van Pelt Library on the 3400 block of Walnut Street -- which they abandoned on February 12 in the face of faculty and staff protests. Some faculty members opposed the Bennett Hall site because of potential food odors and noise, while staff members opposed a location behind the Van Pelt Library because of potential overcrowding and the hindering of deliveries to the library. Shannon said Penn officials have already identified a site for another food plaza, but he declined to identify the site. But on Tuesday, Executive Vice President John Fry said that one of the new sites would likely be located near Meyerson Hall. University officials had previously announced three other locations for food plazas: on 40th Street between Locust and Walnut streets; between Gimbel Gymnasium and the parking garage on the 3700 block of Walnut Street; and at 34th and Spruce streets near the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Because of protests from various groups, University officials have postponed the announcement of their comprehensive plans for the plazas indefinitely, Shannon said. "We will not announce the locations until we reach consensus as to what the best food plaza locations are," he explained. The plazas, which will provide outdoor seating as well as electrical hook-ups, sewage and water lines and improved lighting at a cost of $1 a month for five years, are designed to offer vendors an attractive place to operate away from the crowded streets of campus. The University will build the plazas while it awaits City Council's approval of an ordinance banning vending on many streets and sidewalks around campus. Plans for the plazas are separate from the ordinance. McShane said that since Hill House is a dormitory, its situation is different from other buildings near potential plazas. "Unlike other places, the plaza is in our front yard. It would be only five yards away from our bedrooms," he said. Since the meeting was resolved to their satisfaction, Hill House representatives decided to cancel a larger meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. yesterday, during which Shannon was scheduled to present the proposal to all interested parties, attendees said.

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