City leaders in Philadelphia are promoting “an eminently sensible proposal to extend the existing city street grid down to the edge of the Delaware River. The new street network would break up the central waterfront’s large, formerly industrial tracts into manageable blocks that could be developed into something resembling a real Philadelphia neighborhood.” But developers who view the waterfront as prime space for closed, gated luxury communities are working furiously to scuttle the proposal. Inga Saffron says that the debate comes down to a simple truth: city streets are (and should remain) public space.