From the Schuylkill, the view has certainly changed

It had been more than 19 years since I took a boat ride on the Schuylkill, and this time the accommodations were much better than they were in 1997.

The view was different, as well, but I'll get to that in a minute.

That May 1997 barge trip from the Market Street bridge to the now-closed Schuylkill Power Plant in Grays Ferry was brief, but the point was that both sides of the river were untapped resources that needed to be tapped.

There wasn't much going on then. In fact, the east bank was, in the words of one longtime resident, "a wasteland."

On the west side were 30th Street Station, the post office and I-76, with Penn and Drexel way in the background.

We didn't have iPhones with cameras in those days, my children, but no matter: Who wanted photos, that we couldn't yet post to somewhere like Facebook, of trash, floating lumber and warehouses bathed in graffiti?

This time, I was aboard the Patriot, one of the excursion boats that offers cruises on the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers.

The barge left from the foot of the Market Street bridge.

Passengers on the barge were city officials and investors, whom John Randolph, then president of the Schuylkill River Development Council, had invited to see the possibilities.

This time, the passengers were city real estate agents, young and eager folks mostly, whom Carl Dranoff had invited for a look at One Riverside and an hour-long boat trip.

The possibilities Randolph worked tirelessly for years to get people to recognize are realities now.

Both the east and west sides of the river bear slight resemblance to what they were nearly 20 years ago - from One Riverside rising on the east side, to the FMC Tower climbing to completion on the west.

The view from the 46th floor of FMC, the last piece of Cira Centre South, is breathtaking.

I have seen almost every view from every high-rise built since Willard Rouse took Liberty Place above William Penn's hat, but there has never been anything as tall in University City - the Cira Centre is just 29 stories - as the FMC Tower.

And with the 46th floor, the top floor of the AKA University City, open to the breeze, you can start at the Schuylkill and look across Center City to New Jersey and beyond.

The most important change in the nearly 20 years since my last river excursion is the number of people drawn to the east side of the Schuylkill.

Even in the depths of winter.

In nice weather, you almost need to reserve a place to sit down to sun yourself or eat your lunch - or even dinner, as I noticed looking down from the One Riverside topping-off event on an evening in late May.

When I interviewed him in June 1995, Randolph said he was sure that people would be able to walk or rent bicycles and in-line skates to use on the trail. They also would be able to ride boats on the river or dine in restaurants that would spring up nearby.

"Ultimately, we hope to bring the park all the way to Fort Mifflin, at the mouth of the river," Randolph said, envisioning a time when "you will be able to get on a bicycle and ride from Center City along the Schuylkill Trail to Valley Forge."

In fact, he said, "you could even commute to work by bike."

All that, and more and more to come.

aheavens@phillynews.com
215-854-2472
@alheavens