Opinion Eyes on the Street

Philly’s second casino coming? | Art Commission okays Paine’s Park, LightPlay | $12.8m for Wayne Junction substation modernization | airport expansion clears Tinicum’s legal challenge

PlanPhilly staff

July 12, 2012

(Paine's Park, a new skatepark designed by Friday Architects for an area near the Art Museum, got final approval from the Art Commission on Wednesday.)

Bidding is open for Philadelphia’s second casino license, reports PlanPhilly’s Kellie Patrick Gates. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was waiting to see if the state legislature would vote to make the license available to other locations throughout the state, but the Senate did not pass that legislation before the summer recess. If the Senate takes up that legislation in the fall the entire process could shift. For now, bidding is open and the city’s anti-casino activists vow to fight a second Philly casino.

The Art Commission gave its approval to the designs for Paine’s Park, the skate park planned near the Art Museum. PlanPhilly’s JoAnn Greco was on hand for the Art Commission’s meeting Wednesday and also reports that commissioners gave final approval to the master plan for the Phillies Urban Youth Academy in FDR Park, pedestrian improvements around the Zoo, and ultimately okayed “LightPlay,” a light installation proposed for the Dranoff development at Broad and South which will illuminate a blank wall and create a canopy over the subway entrance.

Historic Wayne Junction’s vintage substation equipment is being replaced thanks to $12.8 million federal TIGER grant, reports Amy Z. Quinn for NewsWorks/PlanPhilly. The equipment at Wayne Junction substation dates from the 1920s, and is critical to the regional rail network. Amy explains: “If the substation went down, it would halt travel in Northwest Philadelphia and Bucks County, and can severely limit trains south of Market East, causing ripples of delay through the entire system.” The equipment upgrades complement the preservation efforts the 100-year old Wayne Junction SEPTA station just down the tracks.

Plans to expand Philadelphia International Airport into Tinicum Township were upheld in a federal appeals court last week, the Inquirer reports. Tinicum challenged the need to raze 72 homes to relocate an airport UPS facility, and outside of the legal challenges officials have been working to develop an alternate scenario that would preserve the homes.

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