From river to shining river Thirteen grants will help trail, park and entertainment efforts to heighten the publics relationship with the Delaware and the Schuylkill.

Despite an economic crisis that has left funding wells as dry as Vegas in July, $1 million in grants will flow today to 13 projects in Philadelphia aimed at encouraging more public access to two rivers long monopolized by private industry - the Schuylkill and the Delaware.

If the hoped-for traffic materializes, so, too, should economic development along the banks of the waterways and in adjacent communities hoping for revitalization, planning and investment experts said.

"We think the riverfronts are the city's most significant redevelopment assets," said Shawn McCaney, program officer for William Penn Foundation, which is funding the grants. "The right set of public amenities will help reinforce the waterfronts as desirable places to develop."

The grants will be administered by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission under its new, aptly named stimulus program - "Take Me to the River."

The grants will support a variety of trail, park and entertainment initiatives designed to heighten the public's relationship with the rivers - "rather than have the Wal-Mart parking lot be the main public access," said Karin Morris, the DVRPC's smart-growth manager.

Though not by design, the scoring system resulted in the grants being almost evenly divided between both rivers - seven for the Schuylkill; six for the Delaware.

The smallest allotment, $25,000, will go to the New Kensington Development Corp. to help establish an eight-week summer concert series for two years at Penn Treaty Park, a non-industrial oasis along the Delaware where Mayor Nutter will join DVRPC officials and grant recipients today for a 10 a.m. news conference.

The largest grant, $125,000, will be picked up by East Falls Development Corp. for renovations to the long-vacant Bathey House on the Schuylkill's edge at the gateway to the East Falls business district. Plans include a restaurant, bathrooms, a bike-rental outlet, and kiosks dispensing information about the Schuylkill River Trail and area businesses.

The DVRPC received 46 applications.

In most, if not all, of the 13 projects selected, the grants will not cover the entire cost but will fill "critical gaps in the funding stream," Morris said. Like land-preservation deals these dollar-tight days, capital projects by nonprofits are relying on multiple funding sources.