A collective spirit of optimism and pragmatism characterized the first meeting of Friends of 40th Street, which was held at The Rotunda on Walnut Street on May 28.
This new group -- made up of community leaders, business owners and Penn representatives -- plans to facilitate dialogue among the members of the University City Community with regard to the evolution of a developed 40th Street.
"How to come together for common cause is really what we're trying to create as a model for civic governance," said Harris Steinberg, executive director of Penn Praxis.
By the end of the meeting, the group had assigned members to task forces to work with a developer north of Chestnut Street, to maintain an ongoing initiative with the Philadelphia Public Library and to enhance the quality of life at the corner of 40th and Market Streets.
Steinberg and Sokoloff led the meeting, which was attended by the other members of the Friends of 40th Street steering committee -- some of whom have been present since the beginning of the process.
The committee consists of other representatives from Penn -- including Director of City and Community Relations Glenn Bryan, Chief of Penn Police Tom Rambo and Special Projects Coordinator in the Office of the President Lucy Kerman -- as well as representatives of the University City Community, such as Jennifer Rodrigues and Sharreeff Ali of the Spruce Hill Neighborhood Alliance.
Facilitating dialogue with the West Philadelphia community has been "a process guided through the University," Bryan said.
"The University needed to develop a process that would include the community," he added.
The formal charge of the Friends of 40th Street is to advocate for principles developed through the community forum process.
Sokoloff said that Friends has been authorized as an "advisory and advocacy group." It seeks to "advocate for the evolution of 40th Street as it relates to the principles developed by the community."
As the conversation developed, some members pointed out what they saw as the more practical side of the group's mission.
"We are not developers, we don't have money," said Matt Wolf of the Spruce Hill Community Association.
Sharreef Ali added, "The traditional role of Friends groups is fundraising."
"We do some talking, but we also do some projects," Steinberg said.
Many of the group's members seemed to agree when Bob Christian, Vice President of the University City Business Association, referred to Penn as "the major presence and determining factor" in the 40th Street development plans.
This prompted some community leaders to articulate their concern that voices other than Penn's may be excluded.
Steinberg allayed this concern by emphasizing that the development of 40th Street is "not a single vision."
"The folks at Penn have said that Penn wants to be one voice among many at the table," Sokoloff said.
Sokoloff added that the structure of the group would be based on "distributed leadership.
