weeklypress.com • ucreview.com •april 3, 2013 7 Neighborhoods


Powelton Village, Spruce Hill and Cedar Park. April 5th


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is when the Greater Philadelphia Tour- ism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) officially launches the website of its Philadelphia Neighbor- hood’s Campaign, explained the organization’s Cara Schneider. It works like this. The Philadelphia Neighbor- hoods campaign spotlights 14 of the visitor-ready areas surrounding Philadelphia, Schneider said. For inclusion, each area had to be a fifteen-minute travel time from center city’s hotel’s, Schneider noted. Basically, the campaign encourages “locals and visitors to explore the neighborhoods’ storied streets, buzzed-about restaurants, emerging art gal- leries, independent shops, intimate music venues, plentiful parks and annual festivals. Components include a highly visual and compelling neighbor- hood section on visitphilly.com, strong social media programs and promotions, extensive press outreach and research,” Schneider continued. The website, Visitphilly.com/neighborhoods includes more “than 600 new attraction listings, along with itineraries, maps, videos and photos to provide a full view of the city’s happening neigh- borhoods,” Schneider explained, adding, “another fun and useful feature: user-generated content that will feed into the site via Instagram and Four- Square, enabling people to see what other visitors are doing and experiencing in the city’s neighbor- hoods,” Schneider said.


For Meryl Levitz, President and CEO of GPT- MC, “People want to explore the neighborhoods of a city in addition to the downtown to fully im- merse themselves in the destination and to really get to know it—repeat visitors especially,” Levitz explained. “We want visitors to go one more block, and this campaign is a win for visitors, a win for neighborhood businesses and a win for the city’s ‘cool’ factor.”


Highlighting the city’s neighborhoods remains a goal Mayor Nutter supports wholeheartedly. Ac- cording to Nutter, “Philadelphia is a city of neigh- borhoods, each with its own distinct personality and attractions, from museums and music, to res- taurants and historical venues, not to mention great shopping,” Nutter said. “Our goal is to encourage visitors and residents alike to look at what all of


A community garden located in Philadelphia’s Spring Garden neighborhood, the aptly named Spring Gardens was built and is maintained exclusively by residents. The former vacant lot now serves as an outdoor classroom, offering seasonal cooking workshops, gardening classes and tours. And the skyline view provides the perfect backdrop for the urban oasis. Photo by R. Kennedy for GPTMC


Philadelphia has to offer, beginning with these 14 vibrant neighborhoods surrounding Center City.” And Michael Harris, President of the South Street Headhouse District (SSHD) considers the campaign, “ a great economic tool.” The William Penn Foundation has lent great financial support to the campaign, Schneider said. In fact, the actual genesis for the campaign emerged through a similar project the Founda- tion had launched with Philly Homegrown. When working on this project, those involved realized the rich significance of neighborhood stories. From there, the William Penn Foundation provided the grant money for a veteran reporter to identify what made those neighborhoods special by conducting a year’s worth of interviews and research, Schneider explained. The William Penn Foundation continues to add its financial support to the project, Schnei- der added. Visiting Philadelphia has many appeals. Besides the endless possibilities of activities to choose from—there’s its accessibility. After all, one quarter of the country’s population can drive to Philadelphia in one day, Schneider said. And thanks to the concerted efforts of the GPMTC, the city’s tourism has grown exponentially over the last 15 years, Schneider noted. Ideally, Philadel- phia Neighborhoods will encourage both visitors and residents alike, to explore more of what the city has to offer.


For a greater look at what each neighborhood


has to offer, explore visitphilly.com/neighbor- hoods.


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