Fight Brewing

Protestors want the DA to halt development projects.

by Brian Hickey

Al Alston wants to stop developers from turning a vast swath of vacant industrial land off 31st Street and Girard Avenue into an enclave of luxury townhouses and lofts — complete with a restaurant, dry cleaners and coffee shop. As head of the African-American Business and Residents Association (AABRA), Alston says that in protecting locals from being priced out of their own neighborhood, he's "fighting the good fight."

Westrum Development spokeswoman Leslie Balzer says it's a noble endeavor to reclaim an area that sat dormant for two decades and turn it into the centerpiece of widespread rejuvenation. "We're doing the right thing and we know it," she asserts. "We're proud of our efforts."

A. Azim Muhammad, director of Brewerytown Community Development Corporation, also backs the plans that could soon bring nearly 200 more new units within walking distance of the Philadelphia Zoo, noting simply that nearby residents will benefit. He says, "We only see it having a positive impact on our community."

When it comes to Westrum's 144-townhouse Brewerytown Square project and Pennrose/Melon Green plans to gut a former Acme warehouse and bring nearly 200 more units to the shadows of the Red Bell Brewing Co. plant, all sides think they're in the right. As such, Philadelphia's latest gentrification war could either end as a Neighborhood Transformation Initiative success story or tear apart a community that, while not as bad off as others, remains steeped in North Philly blight.

On Friday afternoon, about 30 protestors from AABRA and Temple University went to the site to have their anti-gentrification voices heard. They toted "No $250,000 Houses" and "Westrum Go Home" signs, said they won't go away quietly and chided a man as a sellout when he said exclusion is wrong and that fellow African-Americans need higher-end housing, too. The racial undertones were unavoidable as one protestor said potential tenants would be "alien and hostile to us."

Making the case that the development projects were illegally rammed down the neighborhood's collective throat, the protestors passed around a wireless microphone and railed against the developers, Mayor Street, 5th District City Councilman Darrell Clarke and Zoning Board of Adjustment Chairman David Auspitz, all of whom back the projects.

"People living here deserve a good community," bellowed Alston. He has urged locals to snatch up property to protect mainstays like the horse stables that already met the wrecking ball. "And, they deserve to be able to stay here."

Alston maintains massive real estate tax hikes are inevitable despite Clarke's statements to the contrary. AABRA has urged District Attorney Lynne Abraham to investigate the Zoning Board, claiming they green-lighted the project after a hearing that wasn't properly advertised. (Using that same strategy, a community group successfully fended off a McDonald's proposed for 27th Street and Girard Avenue two years ago.) While Abraham's spokeswoman, Cathie Abookire, said Monday that the matter is "under review," Auspitz says the process was done properly. He added, "It's a good project for any neighborhood, but especially one that's trying to develop." (An unrelated hearing on the Pennrose project was scheduled for a City Hall courtroom after press time Wednesday.)

"Those projects will open the floodgates to gentrification," Alston says. "We believe this is a war. [Locals] don't want us to become the next Society Hill."

Clarke says he understands the concerns and, as councilman, "My responsibility is to the current residents of Brewerytown, not ones who might move there." But that's where he stops agreeing with Alston.

"At some point, something has to happen," he says of the site that stretches along 31st Street from Girard to Cecil B. Moore avenues. "I just have to make sure it won't effect the current residents in a negative way, and I had a series of meetings and discussions to make sure that existing residents got the appropriate support."

The city targeted the neighborhood as an NTI area in 2002. (Kevin Hanna, secretary for the office of Housing and Neighborhood Development, says NTI money was used to assemble the land for the project, but that nobody was displaced.) Muhammad's CDC then became the official group to negotiate on behalf of the community.

By August 2004, the CDC struck deals for affordable lofts, a computer center and free office space to be included in the Pennrose project. Pennrose, which will move its Center City headquarters to the site, also gave the CDC $75,000. Muhammad scoffs at Alston's accusations that his group has become a pawn and says it's time to move on.

"You can throw words like "gentrification' and "higher taxes' around all you want, but I don't see AABRA coming to the table with solutions," he says. "I've sat down with these [developers] to protect the interest of the small guys, and I can tell you they're acting in good faith. This will only have a positive impact for Brewerytown."

The impact could be seen soon enough. Come Saturday, says Balzer, the first batch of Westrum homes will be on the market.

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