Pier power on the waterfront

By MARILYN JORDAN TAYLOR 

A ONE-ACRE pier-park opening on the Delaware last week might not sound like a big deal, but it packs a wallop for changing our Central Delaware Riverfront from an overlooked backwater into the front door to our city and region.

The pier, formerly a commercial shipping berth that recently served as a parking lot, is an early project in our effort to develop the Central Delaware into a welcoming urban place with continuous connections to the city’s renowned, dense, walkable downtown.

As chairman of the planning committee of the Delaware River Waterfront Corp., the nonprofit managing the transformation of the riverfront, I’m proud that

we’re developing a master plan that will honor the forward-looking principles of the “Civic Vision for the Central Delaware,” which resulted from a Penn-Praxis-run, citizen-driven process.

At the same time, we’re making incremental progress on providing public access to the river, with the creation of a no-frills, interim trail along the water’s edge from Lombard to Tasker streets, and a pop-up park at Pier 53 south called the Washington Avenue Green. FULL STORY