“In some respects, this property is almost the riverfront gateway into the beginning of Fishtown,” Broder said. Jon Broder, Conrail’s vice president for corporate development, said he expected the new park to “spur and catalyze” the redevelopment of the company’s adjacent vacant property. In Graffiti Pier’s case, the project seems likely to add fuel to the area’s hot real estate market. They can also contribute to rising property values, and stoke fears of displacement among longtime residents. While well-maintained public spaces can provide needed green space and add to the quality of life in a community, these amenities also may inadvertently end up changing the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood, adding to tensions. Philly last year opened the Rail Park on two once-overgrown train lines.īut Graffiti Pier’s rebirth comes at a time when the planners behind these new destinations are grappling with the power they wield over changing urban communities. New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington D.C.and New Orleans just recently spent millions of dollars to transform abandoned infrastructure into hip new parks. Conrail and DRWC are following an increasingly familiar playbook with their plans. It’s a unique vision for a park that could marry several urban trends into a single highly Instagrammable six-acre attraction. That could even mean allowing graffiti writers to continue to use the pier as their canvas, DRWC officials said. As it extends its presence farther north with Graffiti Pier, the organization has stressed that the park will be designed first and foremost for the communities that converge there now: residents hungry for river access, street artists, and others seeking to experience this untamed piece of the waterfront. Like other recent DRWC projects such as Spruce Street Harbor Park and Cherry Street Pier closer to Center City, the genesis of the park is a desire to connect Philadelphians to the river. The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation has signed an agreement to buy the property from railroad operator Conrail with plans to fundraise to connect the six-acre parcel to its burgeoning network of public trails and waterfront parks. ![]() Graffiti Pier is on track for reinvention into a public park unlike any other in the United States. They won’t have to trespass for much longer. They came to take pictures of the street art covering the old coal-loading dock, to take in the stunning views of the city skyline, to cast fishing lines into the river, or to spray the walls. But Graffiti Pier appeared as popular as ever, drawing visitors that day from South Jersey, Ohio, and England. About a year ago, the Philadelphia Police Department, citing safety concerns, said it would begin cracking down on trespassers and towing vehicles that parked outside the gate. He was one of dozens who flocked to the Delaware River pier on that golden summer evening, undeterred by the barricades and the risk of criminal trespassing. “My brother started doing art just because my people used to take us back here,” Kemp said. ![]() He has been coming to the concrete ruin decorated with the brash lettering and bold colors of graffiti art since he was a kid when his parents first took him. “I was about to be mad as hell,” said Kemp, 24, of Germantown.ĭespite being off-limits, visitors can easily slip behind barriers at the trailhead for Graffiti Pier. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor
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