EDITORIAL & OPINION: No stadiums in U. City's future

Residential and commercial development is the appropriate future for our eastern boundary. On the one hand, we have Penn's recently announced plans to build luxury apartments in an abandoned factory at 31st and Walnut streets. We applaud this vision, both for Penn's wise partnering of University property with private financing, and for the attempt to build a commercial and residential neighborhood where abandoned factories and warehouses now stand. The other vision -- one that we strongly oppose -- envisions a new baseball stadium on the site where Philadelphia's central post office currently sits. The issue has come to the fore in recent days as state funding has been pledged for the construction of new dedicated facilities for the city's professional baseball and football teams. The problems with this plan are manifold and those who favor the 30th Street stadium have not provided answers. Traffic -- both pedestrian and automotive -- is our first and overriding concern. University City's infrastructure is ill-prepared to handle an influx of Phillies fans 81 times a year. The roads are too small, the Schuylkill Expressway is already overburdened and parking in the area is completely insufficient. Nor should the problems of pedestrian traffic be underestimated. The influx of fans into the campus area raises security concerns, as would any dramatic increase in the number of visitors to campus. Also, preliminary construction proposals have suggested, among other inconveniences, closing the South Street bridge during a multi-year construction period and rerouting ambulance traffic to area hospitals. The degree of inconvenience to established area institutions far outweighs any potential future benefits to the neighborhood. It also bears noting that we are skeptical of a stadium's economic benefits. But perhaps most importantly, our hopes for this area -- a vibrant residential and commercial district -- stand in sharp contrast to the stadium proposal. The GE building is but one of several abandoned factories and warehouses in the area, all ripe for residential and commercial development. And the proposed stadium would stand on land Penn one day hopes to use for a fieldhouse and playing fields -- the need for such facilities and spaces is overwhelming. For all of these reasons, we gratefully acknowledge Mayor Rendell's stand against a 30th Street ballpark and we strongly urge city leaders to look elsewhere for stadium sites.