When driving east down Germantown Avenue from Chestnut Hill, the number of vacant, deteriorating buildings steadily increases. Infrastructure blight is a chronic problem that has impacted neighborhoods across the city, not sparring Germantown. The combination [continue reading…]
In January 2014, President Barack Obama revealed the first five locations that will be designated as Promise Zones. The initiative, designed to provide vital investments to dilapidated areas, includes the Mantua neighborhood of Philadelphia. The Promise Zones are [continue reading…]
Walnut Hill Community Association President Horrace Patterson believes that the primary election and November general election could impact the community significantly. As president of the association for the past four years, Patterson finds that drugs, crime, [continue reading…]
Joe DeFelice is a true Mayfair man. Living in the city his entire life, DeFelice moved back to the neighborhood after graduating from La Salle University and began his role as a community leader. Even [continue reading…]
The Kensington housing market has been fluctuating throughout the past few years due to an influx of artists, new families and businesses moving in and various others moving out. Just what is bringing people in, [continue reading…]
Areas like Kensington, Fishtown and Olde Kensington have become synonymous with a new rising scene that was not there before. With each artist that moves into the area, the culture begins to shift and the [continue reading…]
Building and maintaining affordable housing urban centers like Philadelphia is complex. Forces like urban blight and gentrification make development difficult but essential. For Philadelphia’s most socio-economic vulnerable residents housing redevelopment plans mean the difference between having [continue reading…]
Stacy Redmond remembers when one of her neighbors used to unplug the fire hydrant on her small South Philadelphia block. Kids would play in the water, trash and grime would be washed away along with troubles at work [continue reading…]
Conjure up an image of the average incoming Newboldian, and you just might get a vision of someone like Jeff Goldman. Goldman, upon approach in a crowd of The Pharmacy rock-concert patrons that looks akin [continue reading…]
Seventy-year-old Tom Stack hobbles over to his ivy-green recliner and leans back, lighting a cigarette and hoisting his metal cane between his legs. He then stares over the room, points — sans hauteur or pomp [continue reading…]
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