EDITORIAL: What's best for Philadelphia

Jump Street USA is a positive step toward making one part of the city a destination spot for retail. The retail and entertainment complex slated for the intersection of Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue should inject excitement into North Philadelphia, creating both temporary and long-term employment for area residents. And for a mayor often accused of fostering downtown growth at the expense of the surrounding neighborhoods, Jump Street USA is the perfect chance to prove otherwise. The most important aspect of this project is the potential it brings for a Renaissance north of Center City. The three-level complex -- which will included hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and a multiplex movie theater -- will help draw area residents to a part of the city they might otherwise not find reason to visit. This project's success can also have lessons for us here in West Philadelphia, where the mention of added retail space, restaurants and a movie theater tends to make us think of Sansom Common and 40th Street development. And just as Mayor Ed Rendell hopes to attach the "destination" label to North Philly, additional development right here to the north and west of campus will undoubtedly draw people to University City. For North Philadelphia and the entire City of Philadelphia, projects like Jump Street USA make a good deal of sense. Though they come at great costs, urban retail and entertainment centers hold the promise of crowds and, perhaps even more importantly, jobs.