Google Maps to stop using 'Temple Town'

Amid complaints from some community leaders and residents, Google has decided to stop using the name "Temple Town" on Google Maps to describe the North Philadelphia area around Temple University.

In a statement issued late last week, a spokesman for Google Inc. said the company could not say how the name came to be on its Web application or how long it had been there, but added that it was "working on updating the map so that Temple Town no longer appears."

Community members had complained that the name "Temple Town" shifted the focus of the neighborhood to the university.

Relations between the university and neighborhood have become strained as an increasing number of students have chosen to live in off-campus housing over the last decade.

"The residents feel like they're being shoved out," said Christine Brown, director of community services for Beech Interplex, a community development corporation serving North Philadelphia.

Brown said the community is widely known as the "Cecil B. Moore area" or simply "North Philadelphia," and that many residents felt insulted by the use of "Temple Town."

The influx of students has brought significant change to the community, particularly with new housing being developed and a large number of rowhouses being converted to student housing.

Officials also note that there is a real estate company in the area known as Temple Town Realty that specializes in student housing.

Ray Betzner, a spokesman for the university, said he welcomed the change by Google. He said Temple had no role in Google's use of "Temple Town."

Betzner said that during university president Peter J. Liacouras' tenure in the 1980s and '90s, "Temple Town" was used to describe an effort to bring more amenities to campus, but it was never meant to describe the surrounding neighborhood.

James Hilty, a Temple professor emeritus of history, agreed, adding that the name was used to try to attract businesses that students wanted on campus, such as restaurants, banks, and bars.

"It's a good thing that they are taking it [Temple Town] down," Hilty said, "because that phrase was never intended to imply or to cover anything other than the university development itself."

Brown noted that some developers in the community use "Temple Town" on their websites.

"It's not like we're trying to protest Temple University, the institution," Brown said. "It's the way it's described by people who are renting properties."

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