By Robert Field
A Philly.com op-ed by former Franklin & Marshall president John Fry, currently president of Drexel University, sets a new level of brazen balderdash, even given the source.
Veteran readers of NewsLanc may recall my describing Fry when at F & M as “doing the best possible things in the worst possible ways.”
His poisonous trail of ‘hardball’ can be traced to the construction of the Convention Center, the Steinman family’s choosing opportunism over civic responsibility, and the giving away of General Hospital to the Pennsylvania Hospital. With his arrival on the scene, the decades of local comity was replaced by an era of blatant opportunism.
Below are three excerpts from Op-Ed, followed by my attempt to explain what Fry really means:
“Giant step in Philly growth
By John Fry and Jerry Sweeney”
FRY: “Inclusion is not a side benefit here. It’s at the hIeart of what we hope to accomplish. Economic opportunity for neighborhood residents is a major part of the vision. And we’re not depending on a trickle-down approach. A commitment to job and business access is built into this project. Drexel and Brandywine will be actively partnering with building contractors, future tenants, and community leaders to maximize the hiring of residents and purchasing from local businesses.”
NEWSLANC: “Opportunism” to get out of the way of the bull dozers! We will replace the surrounding dangerous (for Drexel students) poor African-American neighborhoods with commercial and institutional construction surrounded by newly gentrified neighborhoods.
FRY: “With all this welcome growth, though, Philadelphia also includes some of the poorest urban neighborhoods in America. We don’t want Philadelphia’s success story to devolve into a tale of two cities. We can’t afford to develop one small city for the educated, upwardly mobile, and mostly white, surrounded by a much larger city whose residents are under-educated, under-employed, poor, and predominantly nonwhite.
NEWSLANC: His heart bleeds for these people who currently occupy the areas he desires to develop.
FRY: “Less obvious, but just as important, Schuylkill Yards has been designed from day one to provide maximum opportunities for residents of adjoining neighborhoods like Mantua, West Powelton, and Belmont. Because it’s being developed in a federal Promise Zone, we’ll be able to engage federal agencies in a discussion about how to supplement the high level of cooperation we’re already getting from city government…”
NEWSLANC: We are to believe Fry intends to turn these impoverished, undereducated residents into computer technicians! In reality he will drive them out of near West Philadelphia to shift for themselves.
If Philadelphia wants character references for Fry, let them ask the neighbors near to whom he relocated the Norfolk and Southern railroad freight yard, without even given them the courtesy of seriously exploring alternative sites or a fair public hearing.
West Philadelphians beware. You are under attack.
When I worked in Drexel in the 90s I saw the plans for West Philly . I told everyone what was going to happen. NOBODY BELIEVED ME. NOW I CAN SAY I TOLD YOU SO
John Fry did a lot of great things for Lancaster….he left it a better place….now he is continuing in West Philly….keep up the great work!