Pennsylvania Ping!
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The Amerikan Taliban's "cultural revolution" overreached.
Posted on 01/08/2024 6:22:30 PM PST by lightman
Independence National Historical Park has withdrawn the review of a draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park and closed the public comment period, the National Park Service (NPS) said Monday.
The preliminary draft proposal, which was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review, is being retracted. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned, according to the press release, which continued: “The National Park Service remains committed to rehabilitating Welcome Park as the nation prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Upon completion of all the necessary internal reviews, the park looks forward to engaging in a robust public process to consider options for refurbishing the park in the coming years.”
A proposal to renovate and redesign a Philadelphia park steamed some members of the state GOP as well as many online commenters, mainly because it involved removing a statue of William Penn. The National Park Service unveiled its proposal on Jan. 5 to make Welcome Park a “more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors.”
The redevelopment would offer an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia” as well as a new planted buffer on three sides, and a ceremonial gathering space with circular benches, according to the proposal.
Said Gov. Josh Shapiro in a post Monday evening on X: “My team has been in contact with the Biden Administration throughout the day to correct this decision. I’m pleased Welcome Park will remain the rightful home of this William Penn statue — right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Penn founded.”
Pa. Sen. Bob Casey added similar sentiments on his X account: “I heard concerns that there were plans to permanently remove William Penn’s statue from Welcome Park. After checking in with the Department of the Interior, I’m pleased to report that there are no plans to remove William Penn at this time.”
The park is located on the site of William Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, which transported Penn to Philadelphia. The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982, the release said.
Updates on the project can be found on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/INDE.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
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The Amerikan Taliban's "cultural revolution" overreached.
Typically the leftist pukes wait for the heat to die down and then commit their crimes later in the dead of night (with no prior announcement)
Rachel Levine is a professor at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine.
A statue of they/them would make a fitting representation of the current administration.
College student: What did that guy Penn have to do with Pennsylvania, anyway?
2nd student: Dunno.
I used to walk through there five days a week. That park needs NO work. Simply flabbergasting waste of taxpayer dollars.
And FWIW, William Penn was a pathetic individual, the state was named after his father.
“After checking in with the Department of the Interior, I’m pleased to report that there are no plans to remove William Penn at this time.”
. . . at this time.
I'm afraid you're going to have to provide documentation to prove that.
To the best of my knowledge, William Penn (the Quaker) founded Pennsylvania. His father Admiral Sir William Penn was a member of the House of Commons in England, and AFAIK had nothing to do with Pennsylvania.
Now, it's possible that William (the son) named it after his father, but I haven't read than anywhere, and it hardly qualifies him as "pathetic".
Cites, please?
The Crown owed a substantial debt to William Penn’s father and offered land in the colonies to the heir.
William Penn accepted the Crown’s offer and embarked on a “holy experiment” of religious freedom which paved the way for disestablishment and the First Amendment.
WP also negotiated a “walking purchase” with the indigenous people even though he owed them nothing.
I find none of that “pathetic”.
Many of my ancestral roots extend deep into the Pennsylvania Colony.
That’s only until it leaves the news cycle and nobody’s paying attention
William Penn is not looked highly upon in the U.K. and neither were the Quakers. The Quakers were seen as a really oddball religion that pretty much defied the King’s role as head of the Church of England and even questioned his ‘divine right to rule’. To make matters worse, they openly declared that they would not take up arms to defend England against invasion.
The Quakers had this odd notion that everyone was equal to everyone else, which wan’t a popular view amongst the elites of England (or practically anywhere else) at the time. Charles II, the ‘Merry monarch’ owed a lot of money to Penn’s dad and settled the debt by giving Penn a huge tract of land English America.
Both New Jersey and Pennsylvania were seen as places where the troublesome Quakers could go and practice their ‘odd’ beliefs without bothering their neighbors.
It was a nice ethnic neighborhood, Polish, Lithuanian, Italian,... we all got along, looked out for each other. But it changed, and by the end of the 70's I was out of there.
I remember walking down to South Philly to go to the Italian Market, stop in at 8th St Music and play a guitar, all that stuff. Good times. But you wouldn't catch me after dark down there these days, no sir. Maybe not even in the daylight. Everything's gone sour.
Make an issue of it. Charge the left with wanting to change the states’ name.
Follow up ping!
It’s a disgrace. Joe Biden was BORN in Pennsylvania and represented Delaware in the Congress, the two colonies of which Penn was the proprietor.
Yup, two Pennsylvania-born Presidents.
Buchanan and Biden.
Both B-listers.
Whittier, Calif., my hometown, which was founded by Quakers, has a Penn Street and a Penn Park, named for William Penn. Those will have to be renamed—and Whittier will also have to change its name because like Penn, John Greenleaf Whittier, its namesake, was an abolitionist and a pacifist—and also a white guy.
There was once an Italian restaurant in Orange County, Calif. called the South Philly West.
It was a weird park. The only time i saw it was when i went to the cinema next door. Kept my MG up the street. Across the street was the City Tavern great restaurant that served period menu and now is closed. we had a great day at the museum of the American revolutionary and dinner at city tavern.
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