Water Park

M AYOR NUTTER, beleaguered by a major fiscal crisis, hasn't gotten many chances lately to announce good news, so Sunday's announcement of a grant that will create a park on Pier 11 on the Delaware waterfront must have been particularly sweet.

Besides, it's not every day that a city mayor gets to announce a new public space. But thanks to a million-dollar grant from the William Penn Foundation, to be enhanced by city funds, the pier will be home to a park, a fine beginning to a master planning process about to commence for the waterfront.

(Full disclosure: This paper, in partnership with WHYY, produces the "It's Our Money" budget Web site with money from William Penn.)

The Delaware riverfront could be one of the most squandered resources the city has: Largely inaccessible to the public, it has been subject to big-box development instead of a coherent plan that balances all interests. The fact that the initial projects - the park and a recreational trail from Penn's Landing to South Philadelphia -are public spaces is in keeping with the recently finished waterfront-planning process that involved thousands of citizens. Score one for public participation. *