By Jadon George, Philadelphia Inquirer
Early in Lance Butler’s days at the Philadelphia Water Department, his boss pulled him aside and took him to the Manayunk Canal.
Once a key player in America’s industrial might, the canal had been closed for nearly 60 years. Its stagnant waters were full of mud, weeds, and algae. And the gatehouse had become a run-down graffiti canvas.
“I feel sorry for whoever has to take this project on,” Butler, now a senior scientist at PWD, remembered saying.
Turning to look at him, the boss replied: “Congratulations.”
That was in 1998. At an event last month, Butler recounted that first visit, and what a different place the area around the canal had become.
That was evident in the venue for his remarks: the stage of the Venice Beach Performing Arts and Recreation Center, which opened in 2014 as a theater and outdoor playground with athletic courts bathed in floodlights.
Now, PWD is hoping the canal itself can have a revival.
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