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Fear & Zoning At Mt. Sinai: A One Act Play
Lights up on a church meeting hall set with eight tables and fifty or so folding chairs, facing a screen and projector. The room, though large, is packed with members of THE CHORUS, some of whom are standing at the periphery of the seating area, their number too large to be adequately seated. Beside the projector, THE PROJECT MANAGER stands, as THE DEVELOPER and THE ARCHITECT talk in low tones to one another. THE FACILITATOR sits off to the side.
THE FACILITATOR: Welcome! We'll get started in just a moment. Come in from the cold, have a seat! If I could just remind everyone to please be civil. Let's wait until after the presentation is over to ask questions and give comments. Okay, let's get started.
THE PROJECT MANAGER: We're very excited to announce our plans for the Mt. Sinai hospital. We're approaching it very much as a question of urban repair: do you see these empty spaces? We'll call them voids. Yes, voids [directs attention of THE CHORUS toward screen, where aerial view of site is displayed] ...wouldn't it be lovely if they were activated? Reintegrated? Made part of the neighborhood again?
[THE CHORUS rumbles assent and dissent: wisps of conversation ripple through the crowd: a word beginning with "p" and ending in "ing" is heard in several places across the audience, barely a whisper]
You'll see, as we go on, that we've thought about the neighborhood. Yes. And we've thought about how to reactivate this site: such a shame, vacant so long, since '97, well, I'm sure you know. I'm sure you all know, some areas of the site are badly blighted. Yet others seem to be holding up well.
[THE CHORUS rumbles again, somewhat louder. That word, what is it? P-p-parrr...paarking? Is it parking? Is that what you hear?]
The process we're looking at here won't take too long. Well of course we'll need zoning. The site is zoned as a single family home. How silly! Well it is. And we'll be doing...have you heard of a process called Civic Design Review. It's new. You may not have heard of it. CDR. Early January. And the zoning meeting? Late February. Maybe Mid-February. We'll see.
[The word 'parking' rings out scattershot across THE CHORUS]
...
CHORUS MEMBER A: Will 137 parking spots really be enough? What if people bring 2, 3, 4 cars?
THE DEVELOPER: We're providing parking for about 50% of the units which is more than zoning requires for similar projects in correctly zoned areas. This zoning here doesn't require any parking because it's zoned single family.
THE CHORUS: PARKING. PARKING. PARKING.
THE FACILITATOR: I'd just like to remind everyone to be civil and...
THE CHORUS: [Working to a crescendo] PARKING. PARKING. PARKING!
[Lights fade and dim as CHORUS continues to chant]
-FIN-
http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/13/fear-zoning-at-mt-sinai-a-one-act-play.php
THE FACILITATOR: Welcome! We'll get started in just a moment. Come in from the cold, have a seat! If I could just remind everyone to please be civil. Let's wait until after the presentation is over to ask questions and give comments. Okay, let's get started.
THE PROJECT MANAGER: We're very excited to announce our plans for the Mt. Sinai hospital. We're approaching it very much as a question of urban repair: do you see these empty spaces? We'll call them voids. Yes, voids [directs attention of THE CHORUS toward screen, where aerial view of site is displayed] ...wouldn't it be lovely if they were activated? Reintegrated? Made part of the neighborhood again?
[THE CHORUS rumbles assent and dissent: wisps of conversation ripple through the crowd: a word beginning with "p" and ending in "ing" is heard in several places across the audience, barely a whisper]
You'll see, as we go on, that we've thought about the neighborhood. Yes. And we've thought about how to reactivate this site: such a shame, vacant so long, since '97, well, I'm sure you know. I'm sure you all know, some areas of the site are badly blighted. Yet others seem to be holding up well.
[THE CHORUS rumbles again, somewhat louder. That word, what is it? P-p-parrr...paarking? Is it parking? Is that what you hear?]
The process we're looking at here won't take too long. Well of course we'll need zoning. The site is zoned as a single family home. How silly! Well it is. And we'll be doing...have you heard of a process called Civic Design Review. It's new. You may not have heard of it. CDR. Early January. And the zoning meeting? Late February. Maybe Mid-February. We'll see.
[The word 'parking' rings out scattershot across THE CHORUS]
...
CHORUS MEMBER A: Will 137 parking spots really be enough? What if people bring 2, 3, 4 cars?
THE DEVELOPER: We're providing parking for about 50% of the units which is more than zoning requires for similar projects in correctly zoned areas. This zoning here doesn't require any parking because it's zoned single family.
THE CHORUS: PARKING. PARKING. PARKING.
THE FACILITATOR: I'd just like to remind everyone to be civil and...
THE CHORUS: [Working to a crescendo] PARKING. PARKING. PARKING!
[Lights fade and dim as CHORUS continues to chant]
-FIN-
http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/13/fear-zoning-at-mt-sinai-a-one-act-play.php