Mayor announces grant, plan for Delaware riverfront

Today Mayor Nutter, Councilman Frank DiCicco and the William Penn Foundation will announce a major grant to help make the Delaware riverfront a major destination. For years, some city officials and residents have said the waterfront is poorly used and not easily accessible for pedestrians.

Today Mayor Nutter, Councilman Frank DiCicco and the William Penn Foundation will announce a major grant to help make the Delaware riverfront a major destination. For years, some city officials and residents have said the waterfront is poorly used and not easily accessible for pedestrians. WHYY’s Elizabeth Fiedler reports.

Script: The funding will help implement the Action Plan for the Central Delaware, which called to revitalize the riverfront and bring more people there. Mayor Nutter didn’t offer details on the annoucement. But he said his recent decision to dissolve the Penn’s Landing Corporation and form a new body in charge of developing the Delaware waterfront, was an important early step.

Nutter: “We’ve talked about opportuntiies to have more people down there, greening and cleaning up the area. So we’ll be talking about those efforts and future efforts to develop the waterfront area.”

Councilman DiCicco is also expected to announce legislation to protect public access to the river, and lay the groundwork for recreational, cultural and commercial uses in the future.

Listen: Click on the play button below or right click on this link and choose “Save Link As” to download. [audio: reports20090301water.mp3]