Another future landmark is gradually taking shape at the intersection of Civic Center Boulevard and University Avenue, where a health care campus of national importance continues to expand. In the future, the existing medical and research complex (which includes the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Children's Seashore House and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center) is expected to expand onto the 19.5-acre Civic Center site. The City-owned Civic Center will be sold for private health care related development, providing a new land resource for the renewal and expansion of the health care facilities. This evolving medical campus is a prime economic asset for the City of Philadelphia. Jobs, investment and construction are concentrated here; and this activity should increase in a planned and coordinated manner in the years ahead.

These high-profile projects are very important to the city's economic future, and they will be recognized by people in all parts of the Philadelphia region. However, the Plan for West Philadelphia focuses most closely on the residents of West Philadelphia and their quality of life. Accordingly, the living environment for West Philadelphia's residents will be renewed so that the neighborhoods of West Philadelphia will be healthier and more attractive in the future.

North of Market Street and east of 52nd Street (the neighborhoods between Mantua and West Parkside), the trend of deterioration will be reversed. Parkside Avenue, along the edge of Fairmount Park, is already well on its way to becoming a model for historically renovated housing for low and moderate income households. The Parkside Industrial Park will increase its importance as a hub of activity and employment. Mantua's main street, Haverford Avenue, will become a lively and attractive Town Center. In the Belmont neighborhood, the blighting influence of a vacant mid-rise hospital complex is being turned into a community asset as a full city block is developed as new and rehabilitated housing. In the Cathedral Park neighborhood along the Girard Avenue trolley route, an area of high residential vacancy can become a housing and recreation resource and a neighborhood strength. Lancaster Avenue's busy commercial strip will function even better with the addition of convenient, safe parking for shoppers. The beneficiaries of these initiatives will be low and moderate income residents.

Improvements to the natural environment and improved utilization of existing parkland are also part of West Philadelphia's future. Vacant lots can become private yards or community gardens, and classic neighborhood parks such as Black Oak and Carroll Parks will be made safer and more inviting. In Cobbs Creek Park, a new bicycle and exercise trail will be used by residents of many Philadelphia and suburban neighborhoods; while along the Schuylkill, an expanded system of pedestrian paths will serve West Philadelphians.

The neighborhoods of Cobbs Creek and Haddington, stable communities with well-maintained housing, will benefit in the future from the renewal of properties along Market Street and 52nd Street which create deteriorated edges to these neighborhoods at the present time. The landscape and streetscape of these key image-making streets will also be improved; an example that will be particularly uplifting to these neighborhoods is the future refurbishing of the Market-Frankford Elevated structure with brightly colored paint, graphics, architectural lighting and improved street lighting. Homeowner support programs (home improvement loans and grants, street improvements and scattered new development projects) will also be targeted for these neighborhoods and for Carroll Park and Overbrook in particular.

While historic preservation, zoning protection and traffic flow improvements will be the goals for most of the City Line area, there are major changes in store for the Wynnefield Heights / Wynnefield area. New development must occur in a manner that enhances the surrounding neighborhoods. At City and Monument Avenues, a new retail complex will complement the offices, hotels and restaurants that already characterize the area. Another hotel will be added along City Avenue in response to the area's extensive employment base and its proximity to the Schuylkill Expressway. At City Line near 54th Street, the campus of St. Joseph's University will be significantly expanded according to a master plan, without encroaching on the nearby residential community. On Conshohocken and Ford Roads, large vacant institutional properties will be developed in a way that is appropriate for the surrounding residential area; and traffic congestion at Ford & Conshohocken will be eased with a reconfigured intersection.

University City's neighborhoods will continue to attract professional families, and the character and integrity of those neighborhoods will not be threatened by expansion of the universities. Instead, the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University will direct their largest expansion projects to the east, taking advantage of larger real estate opportunities and avoiding neighborhood conflicts. Again, economic growth will be accomplished in a manner that is compatible with the neighborhoods. Fortieth Street (from Locust to Market) will be the center of a larger retail, restaurant and entertainment area, while new development will replace obsolete commercial uses on Market Street west of 40th.

Major changes will occur in the heart of West Philadelphia near 46th & Market Streets, where new houses and stores will be constructed. These projects will enliven an area that is presently barren and underutilized except for the magnificent gold-domed Urban Education Foundation building which will be the centerpiece of the new development district. The effect of this development combined with all the other changes will be to give West Philadelphians a new image of their area and renewed pride in their surroundings.