If you build it, they will come - at least, that's part of the rationale behind SEPTA's massive reconstruction of the Market-Frankford El.
Improved public transit means more people can access nearby businesses, stimulating the local economy. That's the long-term goal.
But according to a recent Philadelphia Daily News story, many West Philadelphia businesses have been hurting, rendered inaccessible to their customers by the fencing and machinery.
SEPTA anticipated this, and over $2.5 million was appropriated from city, state and federal sources to sustain local establishments during the El renovation. The Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, a nonprofit, was even set up to disperse these funds.
But around 50 businesses have already collapsed - and many more are at risk - because the vast majority of the money hasn't been distributed, more than a year after the funding was approved.
This is unacceptable.
The money's stuck in a bureaucratic snarl, with various state and local agencies pointing fingers at each other and pretending that it was someone else's responsibility to deal with things in the first place.
While government officials pass the buck, hardworking people are struggling. Business owners are facing tough decisions, thinking about closing or relocating. Their workers are being laid off.
This is the last thing Philadelphia, especially West Philadelphia, needs. Government should be doing everything it can to encourage economic development. And it's not that plans weren't made to this effect - it's that no agency is willing to be accountable to those plans.
The Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation and other agencies responsible for handling the money need to act, and act now - before irreparable harm is done to more businesses.
Otherwise, SEPTA's entire reconstruction project will have been more or less in vain. Unless Philadelphians feel like touring a ghost town, that is.
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