The Circuit Trails: An Active Civic Space

Patrick Starr serves as Executive Vice President of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. He leads PEC’s southeast regional office located in Center City Philadelphia and coordinates several statewide initiatives.  These include planning and implementing multi-purpose trails and water trails, promoting and implementing green stormwater infrastructure, coordinating education and outreach to community-based watershed organizations, and piloting a statewide Outdoor Towns initiative.

Starr was one of the founders of the Circuit Trails Coalition in 2012, and he’s served for the last decade as the PA Vice Chair. He’s coordinated trail planning and development projects including portions of the East Coast Greenway, Tookany Trail, and Liberty Bell Trail. He launched the planning for the North Delaware River Greenway (Northeast Philadelphia) and was a founding member of the Riverfront North Partnership (formerly DRCC). He’s advocated for the Spring Garden Street Greenway since 2010.

For the last decade he’s served as the convener of the Philly Upstream Suburban Watersheds of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative. He is the President of the Board of the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers. In years past, he served on the boards of the TTF Watershed Partnership, the GreenSpace Alliance, and the Schuylkill River Development Council.

Prior to joining PEC, he was Public Affairs Director for the Philadelphia Department of Streets, and Director of Civic Issues for the Foundation for Architecture. He resides in Center City Philadelphia, and is a lifelong Pennsylvanian having grown up near Chambersburg, Franklin County.

Bob Thomas is a founding partner of Campbell Thomas & Co. Architects, founded in 1976 and a firm noted for historic preservation, energy conscious design, community development, greenways, accessible design and appropriate technology. As Partner in Charge, of numerous architectural, planning, greenway, solar, bicycle and public transportation projects and has worked with such agencies as the Fairmount Park Commission (Fairmount Water Works Master Plan, Chamounix Mansion Carriage House, Fairmount Park Bikeway and Rail Trail), the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Radnor Multi-Purpose Trail), and the Montgomery County Planning Commission (Philadelphia - Valley Forge Bikeway, all four phases). All these projects have required significant planning goals, often in conflict.

Mr. Thomas’ accomplishments in historic preservation, particularly related to the revitalization of older towns and cities, led to his being appointed to the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 1998, where he served as Chair of the Architectural Committee for four years and currently serves as Chair of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Also an expert in handicapped accessibility, Mr. Thomas has applied this knowledge successfully towards historical structures such as the new elevator wing at American Swedish Historical Museum; the historic Metropolitan Baptist Church, which included the insertion of an elevator into an historic 19th century church; and Lower Merion's historic Affordable Housing for the Elderly in Bala-Cynwyd.

In recognition of his achievements and advocacy for accessibility, he was appointed to, and served as the Chair of the City of Philadelphia’s Accessibility Advisory Board for over 10 years. In this capacity he reviewed over 800 projects, assisting in the development of innovative solutions to meet the spirit of the code and law; thus resulting in a President’s Access Award. In addition to his architectural skills, Mr. Thomas previously worked as a planner for SEPTA, and has worked on the transportation-planning project of the Philadelphia Zoo Transportation Center that will serve Fairmount Park as well. His knowledge and use of public transportation is invaluable in planning sites to be accessible by all sectors of the population.