Schools Vital to Mt. Airy's Future, Panel Says

Every panelist at the West Mt. Airy Neighbors’ annual meeting on Tuesday said one thing was vital to the future of Mt. Airy—schools.

“The lynchpin to Mt. Airy’s future is the schools,” said Mt. Airy USA Executive Director Anuj Gupta.  “If things don’t change with the neighborhood schools we will only have residents who can afford private schools or who don’t have any choice.”

West Mt. Airy Neighbors Executive Director Marilyn Cohen added, “The schools are vital to preserving the quality of life in a diverse urban neighborhood like ours.”

The West Mt. Airy Neighbors hosted the panel as part of their annual meeting.  Panelists included State Sen. LeAnna Washington, City Councilwoman Cindy Bass, Realtor Larry DiFranco and Mt. Airy USA’s Anuj Gupta.

Panelists were asked to provide their vision for what Mt. Airy would look like in the year 2020.

Every panelist, down the line, said that schools were vital to the future of the neighborhood.

“I wouldn’t be where I was without the Philadelphia public schools,” said Bass.  “We can’t advance as a city until we fix the long-term problems at these schools.”

Realtor Larry DiFranco said that Mt. Airy’s housing market has been “ahead of the curve” compared to other neighborhoods in the city when it comes to withstanding the effects of the economic downturn.

“Mt. Airy has a unique and varied housing stock,” DiFranco said.  “The future of Mt. Airy looks good.”

Gupta added, “Mt. Airy is poised to be the next area of growth in the city.  As those people who moved into Center City or Northern Liberties move to the next phase of their lives-having children or wanting more real estate-Mt. Airy is best situated for that kind of growth.”

“However, all of that could be mitigated by the school situation.”

“When they asked me to provide my vision for 2020, I had to stop and think about it,” Bass said.

Bass added, “West Mt. Airy has a vision of what it wants to be.  This is a neighborhood that thrives on self-determination.  You don’t have to have things here that you don’t want.”