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Tue
Aug 7
2012

Explaining the Other Lot Near Pat’s Steaks

Last week, we wrote about the surprising vacant lot next to Pat’s Steaks, and in response, a reader checked in with some questions about another nearby lot. If it’s been a little while since you’ve been to Cheesesteak Row, you probably remember the southwest corner of Passyunk & Wharton looking something like this:

Looks awful

As we alluded to the other day, this lot was totally transformed by the Rachael Ray Show about a year ago. With local contractor Mr. Contractor running the site, the show transformed this blighted, concrete lot into a neighborhood garden paradise. In about a week’s time, the workers restuccoed the adjoining buildings, constructed 18 garden beds, built a living garden wall, installed a gutter system, established two rainwater platforms, and built the pergola that you see pictured below. Also, a couple of water cisterns were brought in, and a new fence erected. Once the stucco job was finished, two murals were painted on the walls behind the new garden space.

From a distance. Digging the murals.

Under the pergola

Check out the cisterns

Looks delicious

As you can see, the garden has thrived in the year since its creation. The Camden City Garden Club was retained to see to this, and locals in the neighborhood are also involved in plantings, harvesting, and keeping the space clean of cheesesteak wrappers and the like.

While it’s encouraging to see this lot transformed, we can only wonder, what took so long? And is there any way that the City can do a better job forcing the hands of property owners who own vacant land in desirable locations and happen to pay their taxes, but have no apparent interest in developing, selling, or maintaining it with any sort of consideration for the surrounding neighborhood?

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COMMENTS
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Posted in Passyunk Square | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments
  • Christopher Jurek

    Admittedly, I haven’t checked it out yet.  But where the heck are they collecting the rainwater from?  I don’t see any gutters feeding the cisterns from the adjoining buildings.  Maybe it’s just not visible from the angles the photos above were taken?

  • Mememe

    Nice writeup! The Camden Children’s Garden has been donating plants throughout the past 2 growing seasons at the garden, which has been invaluable to us, but it’s the dedication of volunteers from the Passyunk Square Civic Association and the surrounding neighborhood that are the reason behind this garden’s continued success. There are open harvest evenings every Sunday from 4-6pm, and if you have any questions or concerns, you can email beautification@passyunk.org. We need help with waterings, harvesting, planting, and creating events to help eat the food that’s grown! Many of the leftovers are donated to nearby groups that can use them, but locals also have the chance to harvest much of what we grow.

    Until the City passes a law making keeping a vacant lot vacant illegal, little is bound to change on a wide scale. Hopefully the 2-year agreement we have with the propertyowner here can be extended, and perhaps this model of “free leasing” can be repeated in other locales as well…..

  • String Cheese

    beautiful a true treasure in philadelphia!

  • http://nakedphilly.com/passyunk-square/yo-wanna-buy-three-lots-on-passyunk-avenue/ Yo, Wanna Buy Three Lots on Passyunk Avenue? | NakedPhilly

    [...] located just below Wharton Street, steps away from Pat’s Steaks and one door down from the Rachael Ray Garden. They’re owned by Maria Oliveri, a member of the family that owns Pat’s, but not one of [...]

  • PSquare

    The Rachael Ray show never connected the cisterns, so we’d been getting out water from the water lien in the garden, until that broke. We filled up the cisterns but the future of them is up in the air; they might be for eventually. But good eye!

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