The South Street Bridge, an 80-year-old span across the Schuylkill River, is falling to pieces and must be replaced, but the plans for its reconstruction have left much to be desired. The new bridge will effectively be a gussied-up highway overpass, designed for cars first, and the pedestrian as a distant second.
Sadly, while Philadelphia may [...]

Philadelphia has belabored for all too long under its reputation as a second-class city. Poverty, economic deterioration, abandonment and crime have overshadowed our history and size. A proposed 1,500-foot skyscraper, termed the American Commerce Center could change all that.
As superficial as it may seem, skyscrapers lend legitimacy to downtown areas. They are not mere buildings, [...]

Philadelphia’s own State Sen. Vincent Fumo, among his other distinctions, sits on the board of trustees for the National Constitution Center, a museum enshrining the most sacred government document in the land. The man ought to know a thing or two about constitutional political conductSadly, the 30-year representative of Philadelphia’s 1st district has proven time [...]

Last week, the Society Hill Civic Association held a meeting to vote whether or not to approve a proposed 15-story, 150-room hotel to be built in a vacant crater near Front and South streets. The meeting ended with a tie vote of 12-12, and left the SHCA bitterly divided, with neighbors shouting and hurling personal [...]

After months of taking on the important issues, I’d like to address a subject far more universal in our society than politics: beer.
Yes, the sweet, simple beverage whose daily reward has made mind-numbing toil all too bearable. Social lubricant, engine of the American workforce, and finely crafted delicacy, beer is a delightful chimera.
For those of [...]

This week, Mayor Michael Nutter unveiled the 2008 City of Philadelphia budget, complete with risky new fiscal policies and some long needed funds.
The biggest revelation to come out of Nutter’s financial think tank was an announcement that the city would borrow $4.5 billion in order to relieve the burden of its pension payments to retired [...]

  Last Tuesday, the city’s unions and City Council took the first tentative steps toward ending a standoff over the billion-dollar, four-block expansion to the Convention Center. City Council had resisted contracting out the multitude of jobs associated with such a massive project to unions because of their lack of city-resident or minority status. Unions [...]

  Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey unveiled his new policing strategy for Philadelphia last Wednesday, receiving thunderous applause from the legion of assembled officers and cadets at the Wachovia Center. Their cheers were for something rarely seen in bureaucratic tangle of Philadelphia government: simplicity.
In essence, Ramsey’s plan is to steer Philadelphia Police back to some of [...]

SEPTA took its first tenuous steps toward becoming an environmentally friendly transportation network by finally placing an order for 400 hybrid diesel buses, the first hundred of which will go into service in July. In addition to the 32 proof-of-concept hybrids already in service, this will create one of the largest fleets of hybrid buses [...]

The new year of 2008 has offered a glimmer of hope for a city long on its knees. Michael Nutter, the 92nd mayor of our fine city, was sworn in Jan. 8, and with him came the promise of long-deferred reform for a metropolis mired in corruption
and mediocrity.
A deli to the board
The most important [...]