Philadelphians are getting another shot at shaping the future of the Delaware River waterfront.

The first time, the Penn's Landing Forums of 2003, an energetic civic dialogue ended up getting somewhat obscured by the clouds of corruption wafting from City Hall.

This time the effort is broader and more ambitious. It begins with a mayoral blessing and ample foundation funding.

The William Penn Foundation has put $1.6 million into this bid to craft a master plan for a seven-mile strech of waterfront from Allegheny to Oregon Avenues. Mayor Street set up the process via executive order. New city planning czar Janice Woodcock is fully involved.

Lead consultant on the year-long project is the Penn Praxis team from the University of Pennsylvania, which helped lead the Penn's Landing Forum along with the Editorial Board.

Civic dialogue cranks up next week with three citizens forums open to all. (Sign-up information is posted at www.planphilly.com)

The goal is to map out a plan for the course development along the central riverfront should take - and not take.

The Penn's Landing forums in 2003 generated a wealth of creative ideas and some basic principles for how the city's riverfront should be treated.

In 2004, Mayor Street abruptly ended the search for a new Penn's Landing developer. That decision was in accord with the input received from the forums, since none of the plans seemed worthy of the public subsidy required. A year later, though, another explanation suggested itself: A federal indictment alleged that his search committee chair, Leonard N. Ross, had corrupted the Penn's Landing process. Ross pleaded guilty.

This time, the hope is that things will be different, with citizen input helping shape a plan that city officials can embrace and enact, not merely use it as a fig leaf for the usual deal-making.

Credit Street with launching this far-reaching new planning effort, and Councilman Frank DiCicco with agreeing to work with it, rather than regarding it as an encroachment on his council fiefdom.

In October, Street created the 45-member Central Delaware Waterfront Advisory Group. Street's ambitious charge to the group is to "create a civic vision for the Central Delaware that balances public good, access to the waterfront, open space, and quality urban development."

There are no better watchwords for such an effort than: "Make no small plans." Like the river, though, development won't stand still. Even amid this planning effort, City Council this week paved the way for a 725-foot condo skyscraper along the waterfront. And those city casino license decisions - four of five applicants seek sites along the river - will be handed down on Dec. 20.

So there's no time to waste.

Forum schedule: Monday, Dec. 11, St. Anne's Social Hall, Memphis and Tucker Streets, 6 to 9 p.m.; Wednesday, Dec. 13, George Washington Elementary School, 5th and Federal Streets, 6 to 9 p.m.; Thursday, Dec. 14, Independence Seaport Museum, Penn's Landing, 6 to 9 p.m.