Dinner's on hold

Remember the promise "If your pizza isn't there in 30 minutes, it's free?" The developers of the Moravian Cafes apparently don't. And instead of waiting an extra half hour for a hot slice of pie, the Penn community will be waiting an extra 30 days for restaurants that should have opened by now.

Legal wrangling and construction costs have pushed back the opening of what will be a great addition to campus. The new Cafes will feature name-brand eateries that should appeal to a wide range of students and others who frequent the northeast corner of campus.

But the timetable for this project is troubling. Instead of opening at the beginning of September when most people returned to campus, the restaurants at Moravian were originally slated to open mid-October. Now it looks like that will be mid-November.

What is most bothersome about this situation to outsiders is that little physical work was done over the summer. Windows were covered over in the spring, and they remain covered, with little progress made.

Further, the impending construction prematurely shuttered viable businesses such as Famous Famiglia, which could have been open this summer. It would have made sense to hold off on shutting down the entire operation -- even if that meant granting temporary leases to tenants -- until the actual construction was to begin.

Obviously, extenuating circumstances such as contract negotiations are contingent on the cooperation of large national franchisers and can hold up a project such as this. But why were these details not worked out last winter when the deal was made in the first place?

And what about construction costs? Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have caused an uptick in raw materials costs nationwide, but this is not a viable reason for delays. If the project had been completed over the summer, this would be a non-issue. Even now, though, whatever price increases are in the market will also be there later this month and may yet increase further as reconstruction begins in the Gulf Coast region.

Many on this campus are anxious for a toasted sub or a slice of pizza from Famiglia. It's time for Penn to deliver.

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