Editorial: The Delaware River Waterfront

For years, Philadelphia has been playing Let's Make a Deal when it comes to development.

But not with the stunning, 21st-century design for the Delaware River waterfront that's been handed to Mayor Nutter.

Tonight, Nutter has a chance to give that plan a bear hug - and to signal his support for the first concrete moves needed to implement some very good ideas to reshape the waterfront.

The mayor will join a crowd of hundreds at the Independence Seaport Museum on Penn's Landing for a briefing. There, private planners will set out the initial steps that should be taken in the waterfront's renewal and transformation (details at www.planphilly.com).

That rebirth would reconnect the city to the Delaware - not by building more gated condo projects, but by encouraging urban-scale development mixed in with parks and trails, all of it reachable by transit.

To foster this, the plan proposes a simple idea of extending the city street grid to the river. That's controversial with some waterfront property owners.

What may be a 30-year build-out, though, has to start somewhere. That's why the University of Pennsylvania planners tasked with developing ideas for the seven-mile stretch along the central riverfront have come up with 10 action steps.

Topping that list is another simple idea: This grand civic project needs a lead agency. The sensible recommendation is to remake the existing Penn's Landing Corp., converting it from an insular and politically inbred land management and leasing entity into the standard-bearer for the waterfront's make-over.

Good news: The mayor likes this idea, since he controls key appointments to the Penn's Landing board. Other stakeholders need to support the revamping.

Other smart early-action goals from PennPraxis, Penn's design arm that crafted the riverfront plan, include: building a hiking trail along the river, improving existing parks, managing traffic better, adding trolley service, and creating zoning rules that encourage a 100-foot greenway along the Delaware.

Nutter is well-positioned to be the mayor who transforms the waterfront from its present status as a traffic-clogged big-box mecca. (Yes, let's move the casinos, too.) He's hired as his chief planning advisor Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman, a waterfront development expert in his own right.

And if Nutter wants to make Philadelphia a green city, the riverfront can play a key role.

It's time to get to work.