Also this issue: Crass Transit Riders are gearing up to fight SEPTA’s proposed service cuts. -Daniel Brook

April 24-30, 2003

cityspace

Hot Spot

by Daniel Brook

With the data finally compiled from the 2000 census, the University City District (UCD) has issued its "report card" on the state of the neighborhood. According to UCD executive director Eric Goldstein, the document "quantifies what we at University City District already know -- University City is quickly becoming one of the city’s most desirable and vibrant neighborhoods."

But the changes that have swept through the neighborhood have not been without controversy. Neighbors Against McPenntrification (NAM) have worried that efforts by the University of Pennsylvania to "revitalize" the area could result in a less diverse neighborhood.

According to the report card, at least when the census takers marched through in 2000, the neighborhood had maintained its diversity. There were roughly equal numbers of whites and blacks -- the neighborhood was actually less white than in 1990. Additionally, while there were a number of six-figure-earning households, they were outnumbered 10-to-1 by extremely low-income households (earning less than $10,000 a year) though a significant number of these households were made up of students. In terms of education, residents were as likely to have graduate degrees as they were to have just a high school diploma.

But changes since 2000 were not taken into account, like the University of Pennsylvania’s joint-venture public school which has sharply raised property values in the catchment area for the nation’s only Ivy League elementary school. This has resulted in housing prices doubling since 1995. As the Philadelphia Business Journal put it in a headline: "UCD Housing Market Through the Roof."

The Rev. Larry Falcon, a NAM leader, says his group works for "development without displacement." But with the new elementary school and the University of Pennsylvania’s guaranteed-mortgage program for its employees, Falcon says, displacement is inevitable. "People are moving out," he says. "It’s not just blacks moving out. It’s not a race thing, it’s an economics thing. Whites are moving out left and right." If UCD just sees a "vibrant neighborhood" but not the displacement, Falcon says, "They must be in denial. All around us, we see it."