Maybe a graboid got him?

October 16, 2005 6:05 PM

Ed Bacon, friend to skaters, died Friday. He presided over a successful urban renewal campaign (a rarity), yet leaves behind a complex legacy in the city he loved. [bugmenot]
posted by deafmute (18 comments total)

Heads up! The last link is forbidden! Thou shalt not look at it!
And most of the others require registering, dang it. I do like the picture of him on the skateboard, though.
posted by brundlefly at 6:52 PM on October 16, 2005

Forbidden, really? That's weird. Shows up fine for me.

Using the bugmenot login should prevent it from asking for all the other articles.
posted by deafmute at 7:09 PM on October 16, 2005

The last one is a huge 2.6 MB JPG that doesn't allow direct linking for obvious reasons.
posted by smackfu at 8:01 PM on October 16, 2005

Well anyhoo, I hope that doesn't detract too much from the rest of the post.
posted by deafmute at 8:12 PM on October 16, 2005

Interesting post, thanks.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:47 PM on October 16, 2005

Picture worked for me. Nice pic. Farewell Ed Bacon. Any friend of a skater is a friend to me.

Er, was.

.
posted by Balisong at 8:57 PM on October 16, 2005

Hat tip... I've skated Love Park a couple of times... the place really felt like it was meant to skate. Cheers.
posted by grimcity at 9:25 PM on October 16, 2005

Friend to criminals?
posted by HTuttle at 10:44 PM on October 16, 2005

Skateboarding is not a crime.
posted by Pseudonumb at 2:15 AM on October 17, 2005

Yeah, I can't see the picture either. Maybe it's a regional thing?
posted by Deathalicious at 2:48 AM on October 17, 2005

Picture worked fine. I'd say his legacy is mixed. Penn's Landing? Fiasco, though he did say if I-95 was not routed underground, below grade and covered over it would cut off the waterfront from the rest of the city which it has done. He tried to keep the 'gentleman's agreement' in place (don't build taller that Billy Penn's hat) but that didn't work. Society Hill? That one is a winner.
posted by fixedgear at 4:03 AM on October 17, 2005

Penn's Landing was his only flop...and only because of access issues (it's cut off from the city and almost impossible to get too). From what I've been reading lately, my fair city was having quite a renaissance during the mid to late 50's (at the start of Bacon's career).
posted by rzklkng at 5:24 AM on October 17, 2005

Here's a list of his projects and such from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. If that doesn't work, go back to http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org.
posted by rzklkng at 5:27 AM on October 17, 2005

I lived in Philadelphia until recently; Bacon's a winner.

It's not only that well into his eighties he remained available for interviews for college newspapers and alternative newsweeklies.

It's that in a city with a Godzilla-sized inferiority complex and a deep rooted aversion to the new, Bacon remained a consistent voice for urban improvement and revitalization.

We'll miss him. A tip of my wawa coffee to you, Mr. Bacon.
posted by huskerdont at 8:55 AM on October 17, 2005

Having an interest in everything urban, the FPP caught my eye. Sadly, I got (respectively) 1 subscription required, 1 jpeg, 4 login requireds and a forbidden.
posted by Kiell at 8:58 AM on October 17, 2005

For those who may have missed it: here is the login for philly.com

That's strange that the Time Magazine cover page asked for a subscription; works fine for me.

Back to the topic at hand, I ultimately think that Bacon was a net good for the city. Society Hill is a beautiful success (although the towers themselves, designed by that hack Pei, take up far too much street real-estate). Penn Center and the Market Street corridor become completely deserted after 5pm, due to their devotion to a single use. The Gallery is his only abject failure; It's a hideous concrete block that tears up the area east of city hall.

He unfortunately comes from a school of planning that emphasized the dominance of the automobile and the merits of compartmentalization above all else. Planners like him assumed that life in the city would comform to whatever models they drew up, rather than basing ideas on how cities actually worked.

Inga Saffron's article (the link on "complex legacy" - beware! Login required! [[e-mail]:realcities]) is dead on.

Seemed like a great guy personally, however.
posted by deafmute at 10:42 AM on October 17, 2005

Another interesting tidbit: He's Kevin Bacon's father.
posted by nevafeva at 12:34 PM on October 17, 2005

Thanks, deafmute - I should have clicked the bugmenot link but assumed it was a "via" in the style of many FPP vias. (Long day, my bad.)

Times magazine requests a subscription if you would like to read the article as I (rather arrogantly) clicked past the cover and looked for the article. Apologies, and thanks for your help. :)
posted by Kiell at 1:49 PM on October 17, 2005