New Philadelphia market location jeopardized by bald eagles and maritime alliance
New Philadelphia market location jeopardized by bald eagles and maritime alliance
PHILADELPHIA -- An agreement reached last year that would relocate the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market a few miles south of its current location to the old Philadelphia Naval Yard is now under fire with the discovery of a bald eagle nest on the site and protests about whether construction of the market would limit the future of the city as a seaport.
The long path toward a new Philadelphia produce market took twists on March 22 that no one could have imagined.
Eagles are suddenly more than just a football team in Philadelphia since the Philadelphia media reported March 22 the sighting of a bald eagle nest -- complete with birds -- 70 feet in the air overlooking the prospective site of the new food distribution center.
"You can't make this up," said Bill McLaughlin, public affairs director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
"You couldn't make this up," echoed Sonny DiCrecchio, general manager of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market.
Mr. McLaughlin said that a number of people are scrambling to read materials such as the Bald & Golden Eagle Act. Mr. DiCrecchio said March 27 that he had just finished reading a 32-page Environmental Protection Agency document defining the word "disturb" as it relates to Philadelphia's eagles (the ones who don't wear shoulder pads).
Also on March 22, a press conference was held involving where the media heard the point of view of a united group of Philadelphia political, port and labor interests. The purpose was to question the wisdom of placing a new produce market amid property that is extremely valuable to the development of a potentially immense ship container port.
Among the speakers at the press conference were Uwe Schulz, president of the Ports of the Delaware River Marine Trade Association, and global ocean container analyst Edward Zimny of the consulting firm Paul F. Richardson Associates Inc.
Messrs. Schulz and Zimmy presented the case that the plans for the new market -- and highway construction that would lead to the market -- would restrict real estate in such a way as to limit the future of Philadelphia as a seaport.
Mr. Zimny said that if the new Philadelphia produce market were built according to plan, it would eliminate Philadelphia's opportunity to eventually receive huge containerships that would inevitably come through the Suez Canal from China, and, in decades beyond, from India and Southeast Asia. Mr. Zimny claimed that the new facility would employ 100,000 people.
The press conference speakers made the case that a produce market could be located on property that is less specialized.
After working for years to relocate the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market, an agreement was reached last year to build a new Philadelphia Food Distribution Center. This, obviously, involved the big decision on where it would be located.
Since 2001, numerous sites were selected, only to be rejected. In 2006, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed an edict to move the produce market a couple of miles south of its current location into the old Philadelphia Naval Yard.
The Navy still keeps mothballed ships there, but the property is otherwise being converted to an industrial park. The property belongs to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., a private, not-for-profit Pennsylvania corporation.
Because of the location on the waterfront of the Delaware River, Gov. Rendell appointed the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority to become the produce market's landlord.
Construction has been on the verge of beginning for some time before one obstacle or another derailed groundbreaking.
Mr. DiCrecchio said that he had completed a critical permit process with one government agency on March 21, the day before the eagle finding was announced.
Mr. DiCrecchio was not as surprised by the recent public challenge from maritime interests. He said that rumbling has been quietly going on for six to eight months. He noted that some who were present at the March 22 press conference had been part of the planning for the move of the produce market and had made no protests at the time.
Political undercurrents are always a mystery, Mr. DiCrecchio said. Part of the political equation is controversy over the new market location's ties to the construction of new casinos on the Philadelphia waterfront.
Mr. DiCrecchio works with representatives from the governor's office on a weekly basis and he said that there has never been any indication that concerns about long-term plans for a containership facility would end the availability of the naval yard location.
Mr. McLaughlin said of the March 22 press conference, "I can understand their concern." The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority "is in a very awkward position" because those people protesting the produce market location "are our friends," he said. "We all want to see a successful port."
Still, the port authority "as a state agency has a directive from the governor to cooperate with the food distribution center at that location," he continued. "Unless that executive order is altered, we don't have the liberty of doing whatever we want to do."
Like the Philadelphia produce market, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority was not included in the March 22 press conference but Mr. McLaughlin said that the PRPA board -- and the governor's office, separately -- had heard the presentation. "Thus far there seems be no official change in the Rendell administration's intention to build the distribution center on that location."
As to the merits of the containership facility, Mr. DiCrecchio is not convinced that the market site, which is set somewhat off the waterfront, would preclude a containership facility. Also, he said, there is a solid piece of bedrock in the Delaware River off that site which is essentially immovable and makes the water too shallow for deep containerships.
He said that cruise ship service from the opposite end of the naval yard, which requires shuttling passengers in tenders to the ships, which must anchor in deeper water.
As to the eagles, Mr. DiCrecchio said that they are unique among U.S.- documented nests because they are not in a secluded area but instead are in a very urban area. The nest is in full sight -- and sound -- of Interstate 95 and immediately beneath low-flying jetliners as they use the runways of nearby Philadelphia International Airport.
Coincidentally, this June is when the bald eagle is to come off the endangered species list in the United States. Mr. DiCrecchio said that the naval yard nest, which has eggs now being incubated by its parents, is evidence that the bald eagle is becoming re-established.
Mr. DiCrecchio and his attorneys have been meeting with state and environmental attorneys to seek a satisfactory means to resolve the eagle matter. It is a given that nothing will happen before the eggs hatch.
The long path toward a new Philadelphia produce market took twists on March 22 that no one could have imagined.
Eagles are suddenly more than just a football team in Philadelphia since the Philadelphia media reported March 22 the sighting of a bald eagle nest -- complete with birds -- 70 feet in the air overlooking the prospective site of the new food distribution center.
"You can't make this up," said Bill McLaughlin, public affairs director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
"You couldn't make this up," echoed Sonny DiCrecchio, general manager of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market.
Mr. McLaughlin said that a number of people are scrambling to read materials such as the Bald & Golden Eagle Act. Mr. DiCrecchio said March 27 that he had just finished reading a 32-page Environmental Protection Agency document defining the word "disturb" as it relates to Philadelphia's eagles (the ones who don't wear shoulder pads).
Also on March 22, a press conference was held involving where the media heard the point of view of a united group of Philadelphia political, port and labor interests. The purpose was to question the wisdom of placing a new produce market amid property that is extremely valuable to the development of a potentially immense ship container port.
Among the speakers at the press conference were Uwe Schulz, president of the Ports of the Delaware River Marine Trade Association, and global ocean container analyst Edward Zimny of the consulting firm Paul F. Richardson Associates Inc.
Messrs. Schulz and Zimmy presented the case that the plans for the new market -- and highway construction that would lead to the market -- would restrict real estate in such a way as to limit the future of Philadelphia as a seaport.
Mr. Zimny said that if the new Philadelphia produce market were built according to plan, it would eliminate Philadelphia's opportunity to eventually receive huge containerships that would inevitably come through the Suez Canal from China, and, in decades beyond, from India and Southeast Asia. Mr. Zimny claimed that the new facility would employ 100,000 people.
The press conference speakers made the case that a produce market could be located on property that is less specialized.
After working for years to relocate the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market, an agreement was reached last year to build a new Philadelphia Food Distribution Center. This, obviously, involved the big decision on where it would be located.
Since 2001, numerous sites were selected, only to be rejected. In 2006, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed an edict to move the produce market a couple of miles south of its current location into the old Philadelphia Naval Yard.
The Navy still keeps mothballed ships there, but the property is otherwise being converted to an industrial park. The property belongs to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., a private, not-for-profit Pennsylvania corporation.
Because of the location on the waterfront of the Delaware River, Gov. Rendell appointed the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority to become the produce market's landlord.
Construction has been on the verge of beginning for some time before one obstacle or another derailed groundbreaking.
Mr. DiCrecchio said that he had completed a critical permit process with one government agency on March 21, the day before the eagle finding was announced.
Mr. DiCrecchio was not as surprised by the recent public challenge from maritime interests. He said that rumbling has been quietly going on for six to eight months. He noted that some who were present at the March 22 press conference had been part of the planning for the move of the produce market and had made no protests at the time.
Political undercurrents are always a mystery, Mr. DiCrecchio said. Part of the political equation is controversy over the new market location's ties to the construction of new casinos on the Philadelphia waterfront.
Mr. DiCrecchio works with representatives from the governor's office on a weekly basis and he said that there has never been any indication that concerns about long-term plans for a containership facility would end the availability of the naval yard location.
Mr. McLaughlin said of the March 22 press conference, "I can understand their concern." The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority "is in a very awkward position" because those people protesting the produce market location "are our friends," he said. "We all want to see a successful port."
Still, the port authority "as a state agency has a directive from the governor to cooperate with the food distribution center at that location," he continued. "Unless that executive order is altered, we don't have the liberty of doing whatever we want to do."
Like the Philadelphia produce market, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority was not included in the March 22 press conference but Mr. McLaughlin said that the PRPA board -- and the governor's office, separately -- had heard the presentation. "Thus far there seems be no official change in the Rendell administration's intention to build the distribution center on that location."
As to the merits of the containership facility, Mr. DiCrecchio is not convinced that the market site, which is set somewhat off the waterfront, would preclude a containership facility. Also, he said, there is a solid piece of bedrock in the Delaware River off that site which is essentially immovable and makes the water too shallow for deep containerships.
He said that cruise ship service from the opposite end of the naval yard, which requires shuttling passengers in tenders to the ships, which must anchor in deeper water.
As to the eagles, Mr. DiCrecchio said that they are unique among U.S.- documented nests because they are not in a secluded area but instead are in a very urban area. The nest is in full sight -- and sound -- of Interstate 95 and immediately beneath low-flying jetliners as they use the runways of nearby Philadelphia International Airport.
Coincidentally, this June is when the bald eagle is to come off the endangered species list in the United States. Mr. DiCrecchio said that the naval yard nest, which has eggs now being incubated by its parents, is evidence that the bald eagle is becoming re-established.
Mr. DiCrecchio and his attorneys have been meeting with state and environmental attorneys to seek a satisfactory means to resolve the eagle matter. It is a given that nothing will happen before the eggs hatch.
