Letters: Festival, Franklin Square worth price of admission

ISSUE | PUBLIC PARKS

Festival, square worth admission

A story about the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival in Franklin Square missed the mark ("Square is open, kind of," April 21).

As executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., I asked my staff to advise Historic Philadelphia, a nonprofit that leases the park, to bring this international festival to Philadelphia. It is an opportunity to spotlight Chinese culture; draw regional and local visitors to Franklin Square and its neighborhoods, including Chinatown; and increase use of the square in the evening, when there usually is little activity. We wanted to minimize the impact on access to the space and produce cultural enrichment and economic development.

The real issue is that a private entity has control of a public space because the city can't afford it. Ten years ago, the square was marred by drug addicts, trash, weeds, a broken fountain, and a shuttered PATCO station. Historic Philadelphia Inc. raised $6.5 million to restore the square and has the right to host an event that adds relevance and diversity of programming. This happens around Philadelphia, where we pride ourselves on our public spaces but overlook the cost to maintain those spaces.

|John Chin, executive director, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., Philadelphia

Namesake would be proud

Architecture critic Inga Saffron is normally persuasive, but not about the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival ("Privatizing park is costing the public," Friday). Historic Philadelphia Inc. has given us an eye-popping treat in Franklin Square. Philadelphia is the first city in the Northeast to enjoy the brilliant artistry and craftsmanship on exhibit. It won't cost a family any more than the cheap seats at a Phillies game to visit the square after dark, and they can see the exhibit for free during the day.

Historic Philadelphia rescued that dismal and dangerous, trash-strewn square from decades of neglect while isolated by a moat of traffic lanes. What an accomplishment to convert it into a popular public park.

Whatever the risks of public-private partnerships, Franklin Square follows a Philadelphia tradition dating to Ben Franklin's use of matching funds to build America's first public hospital. He was proud of tricking the Pennsylvania Assembly into coughing up half the construction costs for a building to serve the working class and "deserving poor."

|Edward A. Mauger, founding president, Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides, Philadelphia, philaonfoot@gmail.com

Fees are common

I am not sure what the concern is about the closing of Franklin Square each night at 6 p.m. through June 12 for the Chinese Lantern Festival. The park is used infrequently after dark because of the highways around it and because it has few neighbors other than the Police Administration Building.

Would we rather pay for the festival's set-up costs through taxes instead of with an admission charge? There are many examples of public park activities that involve fees, including spaces rented for picnics, park houses, Memorial Hall as home of the Please Touch Museum, last month's Sakura Sunday festival in Fairmount Park's Horticulture Center, and the Made in America Festival on the Ben Franklin Parkway on Labor Day weekend.

On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the square will host the annual Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Festival. It's free, and attendees can also see the lantern festival.

|Andrew Toy, Philadelphia

A minor inconvenience

Most of Franklin Square's regular visitors - a tai chi group, schoolchildren, and the lunch crowd - do so before 6 p.m. For the few who venture into the park after dark, the Chinese Lantern Festival is a temporary and minor inconvenience. How many people were inconvenienced during Pope Francis' visit and the Broad Street Run?

The festival gave me a taste of Chinese culture and makes me want to explore the arts and history of the Chinese people. I'm sure it gives the city's Chinese community a sense of pride, and it raises revenue to help the square remain attractive and vibrant.

|Gene Brumbach, Philadelphia, genebrum@gmail.com