A proposal to bring auto racing to Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway is facing opposition in City Hall and from the institutions that would be affected by the estimated $800,000 cost of renovations
source: Sanluisobispo.com The proposed 1.8-mile route on the parkway would take open-wheel racers around Alexander Calder's Swann Fountain and up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, providing racers with a thorough - albeit quick - tour of the city's museum district. But the proposal by actor and racing team co-owner Paul Newman and his colleagues includes recommendations for at least four pedestrian bridges and the widening some of the roads to meet Champ Car World Series minimum requirements. But the Parkway Council Foundation - a coalition of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Moore College of Art and Design, the Academy of Natural Sciences and other institutions - opposes the changes. "We collectively feel that the weeks of construction, preparation, street closures and traffic disruption will result in irreparable damage to all the parkway institutions as well as the parkway itself," the foundation said in a letter to city officials. Moore College president Happy Fernandez said she found the proposal "unacceptable." "Turning our most beautiful boulevard into a high-speed racetrack goes against everything we want," Fernandez said. "It's really a cultural destination." The racing proposal praised the parkway's open spaces and proximity to downtown hotels, and supporters said that a Champ Car event could bring in millions of dollars in hotel, restaurant and shopping revenue from tourists.
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