On Dec. 11, an exercise in civic engagement began in earnest as more than 200 neighbors, businesspeople, developers, professionals, laborers, and public officials came together in cavernous St. Anne’s Social Hall in Kensington to kick off the first of a series of public forums and share what they value most for their neighborhoods and the Central Delaware River waterfront. The facilitators for this open and transparent process, PennPraxis, of Penn's School of Design; Harris Sokoloff, an expert in civic engagement with the Penn Graduate School of Education; and the Philadelphia Planning Commission, see the public meetings as a way to capture and use the voice of the people to help lay the foundation for creating a lasting vision for that waterfront. full story
