Old City: Job Itzkowitz and Old City District are Maintaining Historic Features, While Adapting for the Future
On the surface, Old City may seem like a neighborhood free of problems. It has a booming commercial district and it sits adjacent to Independence Mall, one of the busiest tourist areas in the city. In actuality, Old City residents and business owners still face hurdles in the process of developing and redeveloping the oldest neighborhood […]
Walnut Hill: Community Association Encourages Residents to Stand Up and Be Heard by Voting
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, cleanliness, schools, abandoned buildings and vacant lots are plaguing the community. “In my opinion, Mayor Nutter hasn’t done anything directly […]
Poverty Beat: Land Bank Program Offers Much Needed Change
In January Philadelphia became the largest city in the country to approve the creation of a land bank, an entity that will regulate the sale of the city’s 40,000 abandoned properties. A coalition of for-profit and non- profit entities came together under the umbrella of The Philly Land Bank Alliance to advocate for its creation. […]
Poverty Beat: Philly’s Abandoned Lots Leave Residents Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Although Philadelphia experienced population growth for the first time in decades according to the Census, neighborhoods are still struggling with disinvestment that left pockets of people throughout the city neglected and unable to develop. Philadelphia was once a major industrial center for textiles and locomotives. The deindustrialization of America’s manufacturing industry cost the cities like […]
Plan Philly: South Kensington Residents Volunteer for Philly Cleanup
[vimeo 63975571] The streets in South Kensington were fairly busy this weekend. Residents were saying goodbye to trash and blight and hello to clean streets. Thanks to help from the South Kensington Community Partners and the Olde Kensington Neighborhood Association, brooms, trash bags, gloves, shovels and other cleaning items were given away to residents to […]
Kensington: Urban Farm Brings Community Together
In Kensington, subservience is becoming a part of everyday life for those involved with the Emerald Street Urban Farm, located on the 2300 block of Emerald St. With the help of local residents and out-of-towners alike, the farm is beginning to blossom for the 2013 growing season. The farm was originally funded by Elissa Esposito, […]
Wynnefield: Urban Tree Connection Grows Business and Community Involvement
Many automatically assume that fresh produce like spinach, lettuce, carrots and tomatoes originates from farms outside Philadelphia in places like Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County or the ‘Garden State’ of New Jersey. However, Urban Tree Connection has made it possible for West Philadelphia residents to harvest and purchase locally grown produce. Urban Tree Connection is a non-profit […]
Kensington: Community Service to a Man’s Best Friend
South Kensington resident Stephanie Marsh has invested the past three years helping rebuild her community, people and dogs alike. Marsh’s mother always had a passion to save animals by providing rescue dogs with her love and home. That passion passed to Marsh so she opened her own private business Wag the Dog, located at 1730 […]
North Philadelphia: Residents Wonder If PHA Auction Will Have an Impact
[vimeo 33286225] The Philadelphia Housing Authority plans an auction today for 100 vacant, scattered-site properties throughout the city. Eva Gaymon, who has lived in North Philadelphia for 43 years, said she would like to see houses built on the many vacant lots in her neighborhood and hopes more houses and fewer vacant lots will make […]
Kensington: A Community Unites to Combat Blight
[vimeo 25660502] Nearly a quarter of the land in Kensington is vacant. No buildings, no structures, just grass, weeds or concrete. This land, if left untended, becomes a magnet for trash, illegal dumping and crime. South Kensington—the portion of Kensington that runs from West Girard Avenue north to Berks Street and from Front Street west […]