My Hometown: Preservation or Development? (2005)

Controversial 25-minute documentary short film co-created by collaborators architect Benjamin Nia and journalist Maralyn Lois Polak, on the impassioned struggle to save four historically certified downtown Philadelphia buildings known as "Rindelaub's Row" from demolition--a hardware store, a pizza parlor, an art gallery, and a bike shop, places that made "a neighborhood" for all kinds of people from all walks of life--to make way for yet another a luxury condo high-rise tower near Rittenhouse Square. Taking to city streets for a sidewalk's-eye view of the coming chaos, the filmmakers focus upon the real people affected by these changes--a street vendor, a sidewalk artist, a print-shop operator--as well as perspective from preservationists, and heated footage shot at city zoning hearings.