| In Spring 1999,
the West Philadelphia Landscape Project entered a new
phase in partnership with the Mill Creek Coalition (MCC),
a group of residents, businessmen, politicians, and
clergy from across the Mill Creek neighborhood.Together
WPLP and WCC are engaging in a community planning and
development.In response to concerns of MCC members, the
focus of WPLP was extended from public school education,
water resource management, and open space planning to tie
in other community development issues as well, including
housing conditions, health and safety related to the
presence of the buried creek, employment, and creation of
local business opportunities. Assessing Subsidence and
Flooding Conditions: Pilot Research Project (Summer 1999)
Mill Creek
History, Challenges, and Community Development:a course
sponsored by MCC and WPLP, February-April 2000.
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| Assessing Subsidence and
Flooding Conditions: Pilot Research Project (Summer 1999)
In July 1999, two officers of the Mill Creek
Coalition (Crystal Cornitcher and Preston Nasir), two
WPLP research assistants (Laura Lanza and Rafael
Jiminez), and Anne Whiston Spirn conducted a pilot
investigation to assess housing conditions related to
flooding and subsidence in the buried floodplain of Mill
Creek.They went house-to-house within a ten-block area,
talked with residents, and examined basements and site
drainage. Besides the anticipated findings, the study
yielded some unexpected results, namely that there is
also significant, serious water-related damage to
building foundations outside the former floodplain due to
poor site drainage.The scope of future work was revised
to address these problems and the opportunities they
represent for home-owner education and small business
creation.
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