Fishtown : Development News

In science fiction novels and books about the future, a few technologies are boilerplate: flying cars, meals in pill form and the ability to teleport instantly from place to place. National commuter rail company Amtrak took another step toward teleportation on Tuesday with its announcement of a high-speed rail vision plan. In Tuesday's news conference from University City's 30th Street Station, with Governor Ed Rendell on hand, Amtrak officials laid out their goal to create a line with average speeds well over 130 mph, saving passengers between one and two hours on average.

"Amtrak is putting forward a bold vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast for generations," says Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The plan, entitled A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor, proposes a full build-out to be completed by 2040. Its construction, Amtrak says, would create more than 40,000 full-time jobs annually over a 25-year period, building new track, tunnels, bridges, stations, and other infrastructure. Predictably, the cost for such a project is high, $4.7 billion annually over 25 years. But Amtrak's feasibility studies peg the Northeast as a "mega-region" capable of drawing the type of rail traffic to make such an investment profitable. And with some premier legislative voices like New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg and Massachusetts' John Kerry already voicing their support, we may be teleporting out of 30th Street Station sooner than we think.

"Amtrak's High Speed Rail plan will create jobs, cut pollution and help us move towards a modern and reliable transportation system network in the Northeast," said Kerry in a recent statement. "As countries around the world continue to build out their transportation systems, we
cannot afford to fall further behind. This is an important down payment on the massive commitment necessary to bridge our infrastructure gap." 

Source: Joseph Boardman, Amtrak
Writer: John Steele

When Erica Zito and her partner Mary Button moved to Fishtown five years ago, they didn't know anyone. The New Jersey natives arrived from Baltimore and began getting to know their neighbors on regular dog walks. Since those days, the pair have dreamed of owning a coffee shop. So when their dream becomes a reality this fall, they couldn't think of any name better than the name of the dog who started it all. With The Lola Bean, Zito and Button envision a dog-friendly environment and even a little corner of the shop dedicated to Lola herself.   

"She's a staffordshire-husky mix...she's a mutt basically," says Zito of the now-famous Lola. "When we moved here about five years ago, we were not familiar with the neighborhood. We spent a lot of time out and about with the dog and meeting other people. It really helped us integrate into the community and make some, what I consider to be lifelong friends. I look at Lola like a bridge that helped cross the gap between us and Fishtown at that time."

Being accepted into the Fishtown fold is not always an easy feat. But Zito and Button feel they are up to the challenge. After living in the neighborhood, getting to know the people and mining the blogs and message boards, they feel they understand what the Frankford corridor needs. Construction is complete and now the pair put the finishing touches on a community coffee shop that they hope will provide not only great coffee but a friendly, neighborhood environment that they found in the dog parks and plazas of Northeast Philadelphia five years ago.

"I think we bring something different to the neighborhood than the other coffee shops so it will be interesting to see if we can really pull in people the way we want to," says Zito. "I feel hopeful because a lot of businesses have sprung up from the families being here, have been sustaining themselves and have been welcomed by the neighborhood. I think there is a large part of Fishtown that is definitely ready for more."

Source: Erica Zito, Lola Bean
Writer: John Steele