Inquirer Editorial: Life in Center City

It's an audacious undertaking to try to revive the entire downtown of a major city just one scrap of litter at a time.

But that simple idea - and then some - is behind the success of Philadelphia's Center City District, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

With funding provided by Center City property owners, the district on a daily basis fields uniformed street cleaners, as well as roving guides who advise tourists and serve in an eyes-and-ears role to report crime and other problems to police and City Hall.

As district officials gather Tuesday evening to celebrate two decades of work - and to honor real-estate mogul Ronald Rubin, the district's founding board chairman - they can look back with pride on a record of achievement that, in part, was built with each day's sweeping of the sidewalks of Center City.

The trashy downtown of 1991 is recalled by district officials as "dirty, dangerous, and dull."

The state-chartered agency was created as a business-friendly response to the very real perception that a littered landscape was uninviting, and that neither City Hall nor private property owners were looking after the downtown properly.

Under Paul R. Levy, the district's chief from the start, the agency has played a major supporting role as the downtown became cleaner and safer.

From the first week, the litter was gone. But the district fortunately expanded far beyond that core function with other initiatives that enhanced the downtown, no doubt contributing to its becoming today's bustling residential and nightlife hub.

Whether it was mounting campaigns to encourage weeknight activity downtown, curbing panhandling, taking on the maintenance of the Center City concourse, erecting tourist signs, or promoting the replacement of Beirut-style store grates, the district has taken the lead in attending to important details that have helped make Center City more attractive.

Increasingly, though, Levy's group has focused on projects with the potential for an even bigger and more lasting impact on Center City. As part of $56 million in capital and streetscape improvements, the district rallied the city and other stakeholders for the makeover of Logan Square, the addition of a cafe to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, an interim trail along the central Delaware River waterfront, and other efforts.

In what could be a capstone project for its anniversary, the agency is close to pulling off the $50 million transformation of the bleak Dilworth Plaza on the west side of City Hall. Under a design that has been refined over several years, the granite plaza will be reconfigured as an inviting park setting - with a lawn, state-of-the-art fountain, outdoor sculpture, cafe, and entrances to the transit lines at City Hall. There's a huge potential audience for the plaza: commuters, office workers, tourists, conventioneers, and more.

With the key role that Center City growth has played in driving the city's recent population gains, it's even more fortunate that the Center City District will be around to help polish this gem.