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Published: May 27, 2009

Mall madness

The popularity of 40th Street as a destination for everyone should be seen as a huge success for urban planning [Naked City, "The Accidental Mall," Isaiah Thompson, May 21, 2009]. The 40th Street corridor is an ideal public space. It has a mixture of things for both adults and teenagers, including bars, sit-down restaurants, fast food restaurants, a movie theater, bowling alley and the strange public art project from Locust-Walnut, which serves as a nice place to sit and hang out. It's popular because it feels authentic and real.

Sure, safety is a real concern, as it should be. But generally crowds and "eyes" watching the street usually mean things will be more safe, rather than less safe.The real issue, I bet, which the article hints at, is that 40th Street is being used by a lot of people who don't seem to be affiliated with Penn. It would be nice to see Maureen Rush not overreact to the situation. Teenagers will, of course, act like teenagers from time to time, but I'm pretty sure that most Penn students, faculty and family can coexist with anyone else on 40th Street with minimal additional protection from the Penn police on the streets.

Tell those derby people to start buying houses in Kensington (Kensington & Somerset, K & Allegheny, etc.) [Editor's Letter, "Festivalé," Brian Howard, May 21, 2009]. Most of them are in very good condition and cheap. They are on the whole bigger than South Philly houses, also. Also, why can't Mr. Blatstein start putting his stamp on Kensington? We desperately need some development up here. These fools can't even keep a doughnut shop going (a Frankford Ave. doughnut shop closed after maybe a year).

Due to an editing error in last week's food review ["Rung Turn," Trey Popp, May 21], the cocktails mentioned in first paragraph — the Fireman, the Fireman's Sour and the Fire Engine — were inaccurately attributed to Ladder 15. While these are real drinks, they do not appear on Ladder 15's cocktail list. City Paper apologizes for the error.

The New Frugality
Editor, Unplugged