Neighbors wary of Temple's stadium plan

Freddie Bolden was doing what she always does on Tuesdays from her perch on West Norris Street: feeding the neighborhood. She placed several boxes of donated canned goods on two tables outside her rowhouse with the yellow-painted cracked steps.

But now, a mere glance across the street prompted anger.

Temple University wants to build a football stadium on her block.

"Who wants to open their door and look at a stadium?" asked Bolden, who is 58 and called Mom Mom by the neighborhood children. "That's ridiculous. They don't need to put it here."

Temple owns the land, a large tract on the northwest corner of campus currently used for athletics, and has grand plans.

Excitement, indignation, and resignation greet the proposed 35,000-seat stadium that could forever change these blocks of West Norris and the surrounding area west of Broad Street.

"It's a waste of money, but money talks," said Daniel Briley, 69, who has lived on the 1500 block of West Norris all his life. "They're going to do it anyway. What I have to say, it doesn't mean anything."

A few doors away, where a Temple Owls flag hung in a third-floor window, Ryan O'Hare envisioned a bustling game day atmosphere from his steps.

"I know it won't be here in my time," said O'Hare, a 20-year-old junior majoring in geology, "but it would be awesome because I live right here."

O'Hare rents an apartment branded as a part of "Templetown," a name that rests uncomfortably with longtime residents. A "Temple Villas" sign hangs from a neighboring property.

People like Bolden and Briley view a stadium as the latest of Temple's encroachments. In a statement released Friday, 15 Now Temple, a campus organization that fights for a $15 minimum wage, decried the $100 million stadium proposal.

"There is no respect or democratic processes and it is clear that the university intends to use private funds and state funds to move ahead with plans to further gentrify North Philadelphia regardless of what the students or workers or community thinks about it," the statement said. "This university belongs to its students, its workers, and the residents of North Philadelphia."

A Temple spokesman said the school has constant dialogue with nearby residents.

Judith Robinson, a Realtor and community leader who lives a few blocks from the proposed stadium site, is organizing neighbors. She is worried decisions will be made without community input.

No residents, she stressed, will be displaced if a stadium is built.

But there are concerns such as parking, traffic, trash, noise, and light that come from having a stadium as a next-door neighbor.

Last week, a red Solo cup tumbled down West Norris Street in the wind. If a small number of "drunk students" create a disturbance at night, Briley said, how about 30,000 crazed fans?

"I don't see anything wrong with having a great institution in our community," Robinson said. "We should look at the benefits in that. But we still have an issue for some of the homeowners closer to Broad Street."

The benefits? There could be jobs and a boost to local businesses. When not used for Temple events, Robinson said, the stadium could be a space for the community.

Others are skeptical.

"There is nowhere to park," said Pamela Alexander, 54, who lives a block from the proposed stadium. "You're going to put that money into a stadium, but you have homeless people here."

Neighbors are worried that Amos Recreation Center, on North 16th Street near Montgomery Avenue, could be overtaken. The city owns that land, but it is surrounded by Temple property.

The playground and pool at Amos are popular spaces.

"Where are they going to put our kids in the summer if they take that?" Bolden said.

Mark Zwick, president of the Temple Area Property Association, an organization of landlords of student rental housing, said the neighbor complaints mimic those of the late '90s, when Temple constructed the Liacouras Center.

A football stadium, he said, would draw more students to live in the area. As a landlord for student apartments, he won't object.

"I think it'll be a nice, shiny new thing and another thing that will get people to come to the neighborhood," Zwick said. "Hopefully they spend money at the pizza shop or the liquor store."

The question, Zwick said, is whether Temple can book enough events to justify the reported cost. Temple football will play no more than seven home games in a season. Graduation could move from Liacouras to outdoors. Local high schools could host their games at Temple. Maybe some concerts?

"Who's going to come here for a concert?" Briley asked.

Bolden, who runs Little Africa Plus Community Outreach and a day care center from West Norris Street, is pessimistic. She wonders whether the neighborhood's character can survive in the shadow of a stadium.

"It's just wrong," Bolden said. "It's like they want us all out of here."

Source: Philly.com