Legend of Zelda, Lone Turkey in the Big City

This summer I was introduced to Battery Park's very own resident turkey, Zelda. I spotted her one afternoon, hanging out with some pigeons, allowing tourists to snap her photo. (As I did.) Evidently, Zelda has lived in Battery Park since 2003. As a single gal in the big city, she seems fine going about her business, making occasional sojourns to SoHo, Tribeca, the West Side Highway. She has also been profiled in the New York Times, NY Daily News, and NPR.

Yes, Zelda, you look good walking away too.

I think Zelda's probably in hiding for Thanksgiving. Or eating Chinese Food in protest. Still, I think she's a welcome reminder of nature in the concrete jungle. On this, most American of holidays, The Preservator wants to honor Zelda.  The humble American turkey was, after all, what Benjamin Franklin thought should be our national symbol, not the bald eagle. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin wrote that as compared to an eagle (a predator of ill moral character), "the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on."



Photos by The Preservator

A Glad Thanksgiving: Digitized

Among the good people, fortune, and places The Preservator will give thanks for this year, we wanted to take an especially nerdy moment to thank the good people of the world who work digitizing amazing collections, so that pieces of history can see the light of day on the internet. This is a big task and small armies of people help bring so many incredible resources to our fingertips.

I'm looking at you, PhillyHistory.org, the City Archives website, as well as your blog. I get lost in your geocoded image collections, culled from public agencies and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, mining the city's history. 

And you, Library of Congress, where to even begin? I am thankful for the digitized HABS/HAER/HALS "Built In America" collection and, my personal favorite,  "By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA 1936-1943 alone. That barely scratches the surface. 

This year, I've also loved falling down the rabbit hole of Flickr photostreams by powerhouse institutions like the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, U.S. National Archives, and DC Public Library, where public domain images have become even easier to find. 

On a more local note, Brooklyn Public Library, your Brooklynology blog makes me smile with images and strange tales of ephemera from your archives.

The Preservator will have a Glad Thanksgiving indeed. 

To see more of the NYPL's Vintage Thanksgiving Postcards, click here.


"A Glad Thanksgiving", Published by Whitney Valentine Co.
Vintage Holiday Postcard, NYPL
Image via New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Library / Picture Collection Digital ID: 1588314

Photo Friday: Blooming In The Noise

photo by The Preservator

Blooming, 1996. by Elizabeth Murray. Arts For Transit
59th and Lexington MTA station
 
The fantastical glass mosaic features lines poetry: from Gwendolyn Brooks is "Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind," and from William Butler Yeats, "In dreams begin responsibility."

There's so much noise and whirlwind in the big city, bloom away, dear reader.

Philadelphia Vacancy: Opportunities in Blight

27th and Girard Avenues. Photo via Flickr user MikeWebkist, Creative Commons License

What would you do with the thousands of vacant lots in Philadelphia? 

Like every rustbelt city in America, Philadelphia's population and economy has shrunk considerably since 1950. As the city has shrunk, vacant and abandoned properties are left dotting the city landscape, awaiting better days. A new report, "Vacant Land Management in Philadelphia: The Costs of the Current System and the Benefits of Reform," was released last week by the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia (RDA) and the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC), who are trying to grasp the depth of the vacancy problem and what to do about it.

The report estimates that of the 40,000 vacant parcels (identified using Water Department data for plots where water service has been turned off), 31,000 are held privately while 9,000 are public*. The result is serious tax delinquency that costs the city millions in lost revenue each year, and diminished property values of nearby parcels. While some of the properties identified as vacant still have structures on them, most are empty lots. Although these lots are pervasive, they are most concentrated in North and West Philadelphia.

By understanding the conditions surrounding property vacancies, Philadelphia hopes to create a more transparent, simple, and uniform process for the redevelopment of these properties. The report acknowledges that many of the problems and the solutions lie in the city's hands. Although Philadelphia could use its tax foreclosure powers to seize tax delinquent lots, it has been reticent to exercise this power. Now might be the time. Additionally, since no single city agency is responsible for acquisition, parcel assembly, disposition, or even planning for these properties. Mayor Nutter has, however, convened the different agencies responsible for pieces of the vacancy puzzle in order to develop a more coordinated approach.

In some neighborhoods, where the purchase prices of existing buildings exceed the cost of new construction, there is real potential for many vacant parcels to be developed into housing or some commercial use that will add value and vitality. In other neighborhoods where the problems of vacancy are greater, there is potential for some really interesting and different uses beyond housing, such as urban agriculture - a vibrant and important movement in Philly. The city will announce its ambitions for the creation of 500 acres of new open space next month, an initiative that will likely be aided by the extent of property vacancies. Overall, the goal is to reduce the number of long-term vacancies and to encourage transitioning these lots into productive use.

Diversified redevelopment of these vacant parcels would create jobs (construction and commercial enterprises), and generate badly needed revenue. Perhaps more importantly, it could help declining neighborhoods reverse course and stabilize.

*As an aside, the Preservator wonders, however, how many of the 9,000 publicly-owned parcels were razed by the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative under former Mayor John Street? This ambitious initiative (think creative destruction) sought to create development opportunities, but often resulted in blighted, vacant lots.

Related News:
"RDA Vacant Land Report Released" on PlanPhilly
"Growth Report: Reimagining Philly's Vacant Land" on The Griddle
"New Study Puts a Hefty Price on Philadelphia Blight" Jennifer Lin, Philadelphia Inquirer (check out the graphic with this article)

Photo Friday + Hot Links

Austin Limestone. It's everywhere and really suits the environment. Photo by Preservator.

 In the spirit of sharing, here's some interesting stuff from across the transom this week:

Scouting New York on the Smallest Plot of Land in New York City

Inga Saffon's Philadelphia Inquirer Architecture Critic on the new South Street Bridge design. It's not as beautiful as it could be, but there are bike lanes and chunks of it shouldn't be fall onto the expressway or the Schuylkill River anytime soon. We hope.

The New York Times reports on the Underbelly Project, a top secret art exhibition mounted in an abandoned subway station.

NYT City Room also reports on the removal of Roberta Brandes Gratz, whose books The Preservator has long enjoyed, from the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and will likely move toward the Mayor's advisory panel on sustainability. Her voice on the LPC was appreciated, and it will serve preservation well to have her in the room as PlaNYC is revised. Here's hoping preservation is better represented in the city's strategy for creating a more sustainable future. We're counting on you Roberta.

Crumbling Coney

Coney Island's classic boardwalk. Photo by Preservator

In the ever-saddening annals of Coney Island, two bummers surfaced this week:

The New York Times reports that 9 boardwalk establishments are losing their leases. And one of The Preservator's favorite sites, Lost City, waxes nostalgic on Ruby's Closing. News like this confirms the fears that the homogenizaiton of Coney Island knows no end.

In other bad news, the Department of Parks and Recreation has proposed replacing part of the boardwalk with concrete. This ticked off Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who trashed the idea in a letter to Parks Commish Adrian Benape. The NY Daily News's coverage (here) said that Parks was trying to comply with the city's policy of reducing use of tropical hardwoods. Surely, Marty says, there's another sustainable option that keeps the boardwalk real. There's a part of me that thinks even if everything else changes at Coney Island, at least there's the boardwalk and the beach. The BOARDwalk (not concrete sidewalk) is part of what makes the place what it is, and speaks to its history. To ditch it is remarkably disrespectful and uncreative.

Modernistic Austin

The Preservator has, dear reader, been on a brief hiatus. It wasn't you, it was we. In part, The Preservator has been on the road. One recent stop was at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference in Austin, Texas.

In Austin, The Preservator was lucky enough to take a a walking tour of downtown's Art Deco buildings. Evidently, Art Deco came late and stayed late in Texas, leaving behind a rich mixture of public and private buildings in the Texas Hill Country. In Austin, here's some of what we saw.


At the time these buildings were constructed, they weren't called Art Deco, but simply "Modernistic." The Depression-era building boom that led to the construction of these buildings also helped create a more modern image of Texas and its cities.

Our tour was led by the wonderful historian David Bush from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. Along with his colleague Jim Parsons, Bush wrote Hill Country Deco, which was the impetus for the tour.