Bikes Not Beef!

The bike & pedestrian path along the Schuylkill River has been extended a bit farther south each recent year. This new piece, seen looking North from the South Street Bridge, had too little space between the water and the tracks, so they dangled the paths over the river itself. It would not have been feasible to make the stream more narrow.

It looks strange, but I like it! Everyone is happy stroll along the water and to have access between the bridges and the ground. This was a dreary, polluted zone without any working piers for about 75 years. The last time I know of when boats unloaded was several blocks farther south (behind me here) in the 1960s, when cattle were still herded along the street to get to a slaughterhouse. For the new construction, huge quantities of the poisoned soil had to be removed because no one wanted to guess at what it might contain.

For some reason I'm remembering picket lines where I walked among people who needed new slogans but were not the best of songwriters.

Bikes Not Beef! This Not That!
When it's clean, I'll tip my hat!

Grass Not Grease!
No clean-up, No Peace!