69th Street
The “City Within Our Town”

For the past 40 years, our township's government has been planning on revitalizing 69th St., and we are still waiting for the results. To date, nothing has been done to improve the aesthetics, productivity, parking, or new businesses that can boost the area. A large percentage of Drexel Hill/ Upper Darby residents have not shopped, dined, or seen a movie there in many years. People have told me that they are afraid of crime and it looks “dirty”. Additionally, there are not enough hub stores to draw in shoppers.

I feel that 69th Street has tremendous potential. The Tower Theatre is a terrific venue for concerts and with the right look and marketing, concertgoers would also be potential visitors to our restaurants and stores. As it is now, most of the businesses on 69th St. close early due to lack of police presence and fear of robberies. I have talked to many of the business owners along this strip and they stated that crime, store hours and parking are their biggest concerns about running their businesses here.

One suggestion I have is to keep stores open late on Saturday nights. Perhaps we cannot afford a big increase in police protection every night right now, but “Late Night Saturday” would capitalize on scheduled events at the Tower, a popular night for movies at the 69th St. Theater, and the most popular date night. Stores could stay open late, offer free parking and have a chance to entice new customers. The UDPD has a new substation on the street, so this would give them a chance to highlight their increased abilities to control crime in this area. There are many great “mall” stores along 69th street, like NY & Company, Footlocker, GNC and the Children’s Place. There’s also Sears and Staples, and many cool independently owned clothing and shoe stores. So far, Tower Theatre patrons have been limited to window-shopping. Let’s change this now.

Another great way to capitalize on the city within our town as well as on our diversity is to create an International Restaurant District. The blocks of Fairfield Ave. and Garrett Rd., right across from the Municipal Building, are picture perfect for this idea. There is a public parking lot that is close to the terminal, has bus transportation, and is in close walking distance form the Tower and movie theatre. Currently, there are Latin, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Mexican, and American fare restaurants located here, with Jamaican and Indian foods nearby. Now picture International flags flying, bright lighting, benches, and most importantly marketing of this area. As towns like Media know, holding an International Food Festival attracts hundreds of people who would discover our restaurants and stores, and return again and again.

69th Street also needs more “anchor” stores. Imagine a Barnes and Nobles bookstore in the McClatchy Building across form the terminal. Wouldn’t a Starbuck’s do well here as well? How about a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s? I would be happy to act as an ambassador and meet with these companies. I can be very persuasive and would work hard to sell our town to these businesses. By the way, did you know that there are well over 100 nail salons in the township, but 0 bookstores? That’s right---zero!

There is no reason that 69th street cannot look like Media, West Chester, Manayunk, Glenside, even Center City and South Street. Our current government has failed time and again to capitalize on the city within our town. It is not only our business community that is at stake, but our surrounding residential area and our town’s reputation. It’s time for new and better ideas than the ones they have had. I would work hard to make this a reality.