27152122
The presence of two "For Sale" signs adorning the brick and gold-painted building on the southwest corner of 18th and Wharton streets isn’t anything new to residents across the city. But in the case of this structure in the heart of Point Breeze, the buyer isn’t being treated to the usual neighborly welcome.
According to Mamie Nichols, executive director of the Point Breeze Federation, a community resource center providing assistance for housing and other necessities, the current two-story structure is fondly remembered by the area as "the first healthcare clinic for people of color to be served with dignity."
Today, it stands vacant. In the near future it may not be standing at all, rather demolished and replaced with a hub site for Comcast Cable of Philadelphia Inc. — a decision the residents of Point Breeze and many neighborhood organizations are not in favor of.
According to Nichols, a resident of the 1800 block of Reed Street, the community felt misinformed about Comcast’s plans for the site. The news spread through word-of-mouth starting in January, but Comcast never came directly to the Point Breeze Foundation or any other neighborhood organization to inform them of their plans, she said.
"It wasn’t done in a decent, respectful way," she said. "Nobody seemed to know anything about it."
Comcast spokesman Jeff Alexander said, "a decision regarding the Point Breeze site has not been reached." The 2,752-square-foot parcel was purchased by Comcast more than six months ago on Dec. 4, according to the Board of Revision of Taxes Web site.
April 28, Comcast held a community meeting it advertised in the April 24 Review at the Gospel Temple Baptist Church, 1327 S. 19th St., that was hosted by South Philadelphia Housing Opportunities Means Everybody Shares to provide details on the company’s plans. The meeting was initiated by South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S., which provides housing, education and social services to the area, to give the community information on the issue and a forum to voice an opinion.
Beginning in January, Comcast has held several meetings with 2nd District Councilwoman Anna Verna, block captains and local religious leaders, Alexander said.
"I have met with the residents of the community around this site and they are against the project," Verna said. "I support the surrounding community members and have notified Comcast of my opposition."
April 28 was the first meeting open to the whole community and fell weeks before the city Zoning Board meeting with Comcast’s plans on the agenda.
"We were a willing and active participant of the community meeting," Alexander said.
"We try to encourage people to come to community meetings before any Zoning Board meetings take place so they can form an opinion on the matter," Claudia Sherrod, executive director of South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S., which was contacted by Comcast in March to form a working relationship, said.
There were 55 Point Breeze residents in attendance; of them, 48 voted against Comcast’s proposed plan, seven were in favor. The vote will be presented to the Zoning Board, Sherrod, a resident of 21st and Federal streets, said. Alexander said Comcast has had several meetings with the Zoning Board already, but could not provide dates.
Gail Johns, spokeswoman for the Department of License & Inspections, which enforces the city’s zoning codes, did not return calls by press time.
As a resident of Point Breeze for more than half of her 90 years, Nichols has seen the neighborhood’s progression over the decades since race riots broke it apart in the 1960s. She feels things have improved, but tearing down the abandoned building at 18th and Wharton to replace it with a hub is not exactly her idea of moving forward.
"This is a residential area," she said. "For Comcast to put a box up there with no windows, with wires and generators and not tell people? You don’t do that. They disrespect all the hard work people have done here, and to just come in here and walk around people just because [they] have money … it’s a disgrace."
According to Comcast’s April advertisement, "hub sites are necessary to provide digital services to customers residing in the neighborhood. They pose no health risk to residents and are designed to fit aesthetically with surrounding architecture. According to the Board of Revision of Taxes, the hub site will have no impact on residential property taxes.
Although every hub site is designed differently, the proposed building would stand three stories high and serve as a connection point for the Comcast network of digital cable, high-speed Internet and phone services and the receiving and relaying of signals to customers’ homes. Currently, Comcast customers in the area receive services from other hub sites in Greater Philadelphia, but the customer base is growing, creating a need for more hubs, Alexander said.
The inside of the hub would have all of the network support equipment and hardware required to deliver services to area subscribers. According to Alexander, it would be an unmanned location that would house this equipment, fully contained within the building with the exception of a walled-in generator that would only be used in the case of a power outage affecting the area.
Standard hours of operation would be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Based on the potential need to perform routine maintenance, other augmentations or support, a technician or two could be required to visit the site after hours. On average, up to a couple technicians would visit the site during the workday.
Still, residents of Point Breeze feel there are better ways to utilize the space. For example, building senior housing or a senior center, "something more active in the community," Albert Littlepage, president of Concerned Citizens of Point Breeze, said. "It’s nice to have a beautiful building, but, basically, it’s just a dead building."
Littlepage added, while the community meeting offered presentations and information, he wanted to see the benefits to the area Comcast representatives talked about, like better service to customers and that it poses no health risks, backed by reports, studies or other written information that could be distributed to residents — although, for him, it would take a lot to justify building a hub in the neighborhood where he’s lived since ’99.
"One of the beautiful things about South Philly is there are plenty of commercial places where they could put a hub," the resident of 17th and Moore streets said, citing areas along Oregon Avenue and around the Stadium District. "Why would you want to put it smack-dab in the middle of a residential community when there’s other places that would benefit you just the same?"
According to Alexander, the site is "ideally situated to deliver services to homes throughout the South Philadelphia area. The location is ideal in relation to our current fiber-optic network."
According to Comcast, building in residential communities is done with the best intentions.
"A hub provides enhanced service to our local customers," Alexander said.
For now, a decision has yet to be reached, but residents’ frustrations remain.
"It’s hard-hearted," Nichols said of Comcast’s plans to come in without talking to neighbors first. "I felt like somebody had stepped in my chest. Why would you want to come to a residential neighborhood when you have the choice to go anywhere?"
Contact Staff Writer Caitlin Meals at cmeals@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
