A Re-Renewal

Locals hope a pair of City Council bills will bring peace to Manayunk.

by Jason Tomassini

Stuart Shils came to Manayunk in the mid-'80s hoping for a quiet, affordable place to raise a family. An artist from West Philadelphia, he was drawn by the quaint streets and seemingly harmonious mix of ethnic groups. But when he quickly saw a neighborhood that accepted crime, and a police force unable to stop it, he figured he was in the wrong place.

"I used to go out there with a snow shovel and sweep up the crack vials," recalls Shils, 53. "There would be people sitting there with legal notepads and piles of $100 bills. And all night long, cars would come and go; guys were getting blown in cars, prostitutes were working. I mean, this was unbelievable."

Fast forward 20 years and that disbelief is back. Gone are the tough streets and traditional working-class families. They gave way to a wave of loud, college-age professionals who Shils says took over his street about four years ago.

"The house diagonally across Terrace Street was a party house," Shils remembers. "One night they had a party and it woke my wife up. The next morning I go outside and one of the kids is sitting on the front steps with his cell phone checking his text messages. So I say, 'You woke my wife up last night, I want you guys to calm down.' And he said, 'Why don't you tell your wife to go fuck herself.'"

About a year ago, with the money he inherited, Shils gave up on Manayunk and moved to Mount Airy. "By the time I put my house on the market," he says, "I wasn't sure which group I held in greater contempt, the local drug dealers or the post-college white suburban trash."

Shils wasn't alone, and local leaders are beginning to push for change.

Three weeks ago, a pair of bills were brought before City Council. First, outgoing Fourth District Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell proposed raising public-urination fines from $300 to a maximum of $1,500; her idea passed full council unanimously on Nov. 1 and will soon head to the mayor's office for a signature.

Another bill, which will face full council vetting this morning, would set up mandatory local agents for absentee landlords to help keep tenants licensed and up to code. It was proposed by Councilwoman Joan Krajewski after a two-year investigation of nuisance renters in her Sixth District sliver of Northeast Philadelphia.

To Krajewski's surprise, the Manayunk Development Corp. is showing support. This is because the bills fall in line with new MDC President Hillel Levinson's effort to attract middle-aged, home-owning families back to the neighborhood.

"Kids will be kids and when they drink, they act like kids," Levinson says. "Without sounding like I'm preaching, when I was raised, I knew my freedom was not unlimited. It was limited until it imposed on someone else."

Levinson, the managing director of the Frank Rizzo administration with a good track record when it comes to lobbying City Council, has also spoken with administrators at Saint Joe's and Philadelphia University. He asked them to stop busing students to Main Street and also plans to toughen up on bartenders over-serving drunks.

While the push for a higher quality of life seems to be a top priority, a new conflict is brewing that may trump public urination or frat parties. The Venice One project, a plan to put 280 condos designed by prolific Manayunk developer Dan Neducsin on the Venice Island plot in the Schuylkill River, was met with fervent opposition by the Neighborhood Council at an Oct. 24 zoning hearing, but garnered support from Levinson and MDC.

Besides concerns with flooding, traffic, parking and overall aesthetic, Kevin Smith, president of the Manayunk Neighborhood Council, believes Venice One will only perpetuate the wave of young, irresponsible renters. (Smith says homeownership has decreased from 70 percent to less than 50 percent, and renters tend to act more irresponsibly than homeowners.)

"The condo market is not there and it's run by Philadelphia Management, whose business is rentals," Smith says. "With the proximity to Saint Joe's and Penn, even if the intentions are honorable, it's going to turn into rentals."

Ironically, Levinson says the project, which won't be finished for at least two years, will spark the local economy and can't possibly be deemed a rental property just yet. "To think their crystal ball is clear on this is foolishness on their part," he says. "I'm sure developers would love for them to predict the market."

For Shils, though, the evolution of Manayunk from steady owners to transient renters speaks to a troubling vision of the neighborhood's future. "I used to speculate that I'm going to come back here some day and see a scene similar to when I go over to Brooklyn or Old City or Northern Liberties and see young couples pushing around baby carriages and people sitting outside the way they sat outside years ago," he sighs.

But that diverse, cohesive Manayunk that was once a real possibility, he says, will probably never materialize.

(jason.tomassini@citypaper.net)