Urban Planner

United by a vision of thriving businesses in a quaint atmosphere, efforts to revitalize Souderton and Telford seem to be in full swing. The first phase - gathering from residents and business owners their ideas for the downtown areas - should be complete by the end of this month, said Chris Lankenau, an urban planner working with the two municipalities on Montgomery County's first joint-planning experiment for boroughs. So far, it appears residents have set their sights high.

ROUGHLY HALF of the neighborhoods in this city are considered "distressed" or "transitional" by the mayor's blight task force. Distressed neighborhoods, in particular, suffer from obvious signs of physical decay, have depressed housing values and have higher-than-average concentrations of old building stock and public-assistance housing. Perhaps even more critically, these distressed neighborhoods - concentrated primarily in the Northeast and along the Delaware River wards as well as in parts of South and Southwest Philadelphia - are home to a disturbing demographic: They have suffered substantial population loss.

Here are a few of the things Gary Hack has done in his career: He was the urban planner behind the winning design for rebuilding ground zero in Manhattan. He also helped plan Battery Park City in lower Manhattan. The Boston mayor recently invited him to serve on an elite panel that will help decide how to remake that city in the wake of its "Big Dig" project. In his day job, he is dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. Last year, he spurred the public process on the future of Penn's Landing that produced a set of citizen-crafted principles for developing Philadelphia's central waterfront.

The New Jersey Nets could leave the Meadowlands for Flatbush Avenue as early as 2008 under a deal the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved yesterday to sell the team a downtown Brooklyn arena site. The nation's largest transit agency voted to take team owner Bruce Ratner's $100 million offer for the rail yard where urban planner Robert Moses turned down the Brooklyn Dodgers' push for a domed stadium, helping prompt the team's 1957 move to California. Ratner opponents blasted the decision as a political fix that brought the MTA far less than the 8.3-acre site's $214 million appraised value.

About 10 years ago, when the Avenue of the Arts was created, an egalitarian approach was adopted. One avenue would be south of City Hall, and one would be to the north, each with thriving arts venues. Since then, South Broad Street has flourished as the epicenter of all sorts of arts. Conversely, there is hardly any notice of the north section, and little arts thereon. Only the lonely Freedom Theater struggles there. With recent developments between City Hall and Spring Garden Street, it is odd that the other Avenue of the Arts gets no respect.

Sam shone. Marty misfired. And Happy handled herself well on a stage-full of men. Those impressions of Republican Sam Katz and Democrats Happy Fernandez and Marty Weinberg were among the leading reactions of a random sampling of guests at the Rethinking Philadelphia candidates forum yesterday. There was a preference among the audience for clear, straight-forward answers, and low tolerance for anything that sounded like standard campaign pabulum. "I have to say, this is the first time I've seen them together," said public affairs specialist Sharon Gallagher.

What to make of all the beautiful projects sketched in the Daily News? Will this new architecture enhance the Philadelphia cityscape? Who benefits? What will be the effects on Philadelphians? How much will it cost us? As a certified curmudgeon, it's my duty to ask. As an architect/planner, at first blush, should I jump for joy? But there is a down side. "Destination:Philadelphia," pumping up a "new mindset," omitted critical details. Two big negatives are implicit in "Destination:Philadelphia": Bad planning.

There was a flurry of phone calls to the new president of the National Constitution Center (NCC) some months back - all but one from creditors pestering the then-financially ailing nonprofit. The other call was from University of Pennsylvania president Judith Rodin. Good thing she got through. Dr. Rodin called to ask if there was anything the university could do to help. As NCC president Joseph Torsella recalls, that led to the announcement yesterday of a multifaceted partnership with Penn.

Breaking out of its once-every-10-years cycle, the U.S. Census Bureau has released income and poverty figures for the Philadelphia area that show that from 1989 through 1993, the eight-county region experienced its worst recession since the Great Depression. "You have a region that was impacted in its entirety," said James Hughes, the dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Policy and Public Planning at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick. "Nobody was immune. " Philadelphia, Camden and Delaware Counties were hardest hit. The number of poor in those counties grew, while population figures in those counties decreased or remained stagnant.

What do squeegee hustlers, graffiti vandals, political signs and trees have in common? For City Council members, they are part of this season's political mantra - "the quality of life. " Council members yesterday continued their quest for establishing the ideal urban environment by legislating matters big and small. First up was Councilman Frank Rizzo, who said he was shocked by Daily News columnist Jill Porter's report of a cop who got smacked by a squeegee hustler. Rizzo's bill would require squeegee guys to get consent from the driver before cleaning any windshield.