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Jeff Rush moved to Old Swedes Court 30 years ago. At the time, Queen Village was not the same crowd-drawing neighborhood it’s transformed into today.
“It was new construction on the east side of 95,” Rush said. “We didn’t have trash pickup or anything.”
Rush took an active role in bettering the burgeoning community, eventually landing as a board member of the Queen Village Neighbors Association (QVNA) and then moving through the ranks to become the current president. His work caught the eye of Mayor Nutter and led to a recent appointment to the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA).
“I put a résumé in some time ago. There was an opening on the board and I received a letter, well, first a phone call expressing an interest in having me be on the Zoning Board and I accepted. And then I received a letter from the mayor,” Rush, 65, said.
The ZBA has five members, a chairman, deputy chairman and three board members. The panel hears cases on Tuesdays and Thursdays in morning and afternoon sessions.
“It is a personal and intense experience for the applicant. People have made it clear what they want is a process that is predictable, fair and where the rules are known,” Rush said. “And the city right now is in the process of a zoning rewrite. The goal is to create a system that does just those things, and I support that. I was asked to sit on that board because I think that’s exactly what we need.”
Rush began fulfilling his duties Feb. 15 and is optimistic about the process, though he still recognizes “there’s a long way to go.” Luckily, he is working alongside a mayor that he strongly supports.
“Jeff is a lifelong Philadelphian and has demonstrated his tremendous commitment to his city through service in civic organizations across the city,” Mayor Nutter said in a press release. “I thank him for his willingness to serve on the ZBA.”
“I’m very pleased and consider it an honor to have been chosen to sit on the board. And it is every bit of my expectations and it’s a great challenge,” Rush said. “It isn’t all that different from a lot of the work we do with the civics in terms of zoning. It’s greater detail on the process and it’s more multi-dimensional. It has elements to it you don’t necessarily have at the local level.”
Rush, as well as his wife, Kathy, are South Philadelphia natives. Rush hails from Seventh Street and Oregon Avenue, where his parents used to own a mom-and-pop hardware store. Kathy is from Seventh and Jackson.
“I went to Central High School, then four years at Temple business and law,” Rush, who was drafted before completing his degree, said.
After serving for two years, Rush returned to the area and began work “to put food on the table.” He tried his hand at many things, including the flower business, before purchasing an auto repair facility in Mayfair that he still operates today. Through all of his jobs, he has continued to advocate on behalf of Queen Village.
“I helped initiate the sticker parking in Queen Village. It was a pilot program. I worked with setting up the South Street detail. That started back in the ’80s. I worked on the Penn’s Landing development selection committee in 1988 and tried to get Penn’s Landing developed,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of projects, small and large. I’ve seen a lot of growth in Philadelphia and done what I could where I could to promote positive development.”
The improvement of the Delaware River waterfront has always been a passion for Rush, and something he hopes to tackle in his new role.
“I think the biggest thing that I see potential over a long period is the development of our waterfront resources. We need a realignment of all the stakeholders in terms of adjusting expectations for a world-class waterfront,” Rush said.
He knows that civic matters take time and he realizes his duty on the ZBA will be arduous. Though he will not participate in any cases that affect Queen Village until his term as president of the QVNA expires at the end of this year, he believes his new position is one that can affect positive change.
“Zoning will play a very large part in determining what that’s going to look like as time goes by, specifically in Penn’s Landing… the six miles from Oregon to Port Richmond, the strength of those neighborhoods,” Rush said. “The challenge is to maintain the character of each neighborhood since they are really the strength of the city.”
As a ZBA board member, Rush will have the chance to play a role in the zoning of these areas and he’s looking forward to the promise a change in economic tides can bring the city.
“The City of Philadelphia is absolutely well-positioned to prosper in the coming years as we come out of this terrible economic situation. It started in the ’90s under Mayor Rendell and it’s continuing now and it’s exciting to be part of that,” the former vice chair of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group said.
In fact, the ZBA position is just a natural extension of a lifetime commitment to and pursuit of community service. Rush said he feels right at home and ready to continue what he has worked for 30 years to achieve.
“There are a lot of people in the City of Philadelphia that love this city and want to see it successful, especially regarding the development of the waterfront, but not limited to that,” Rush said. “A lot of us, including myself, want, when we leave this to our children and grandchildren, to leave it better than we found it.” SPR
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