PennTags Feed for /tag/philadelphia

Philadelphia Vital Statistics

Local Health Statistics

A History of Philadelphia's University City

[Philadelphia, Pa. : University City Historical City]

U.S. censuses of population and housing: 1960., Census tracts. Final report PHC(1)-1-[180.

Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1961-62.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HA201 1960 .A54, copies of this volume and other geographic areas are located on 4th floor.

Census Tract Map - Philadelphia 1960

Survey and planning application, University City, unit no. 4, urban renewal area / Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia ; Walker & Murray Associates [consultants].

Redevelopment Authority. [Philadelphia, Pa. : Walker & Murray, 1962]
Call#: Fine Arts Library Fine Arts HT177.P5 P484 1962, 2 copies

University City unit 3 urban renewal area : [studies] / prepared for the Redevelopment Authority of the city of Philadelphia ... by Group for Planning and Research, Philadelphia ; Geddes, Brecher, Qualls [and] Cunningham, architects ; Joseph Oberman, econ

Group for Planning and Research [Philadelphia, Pa. : The Group, 1963-64]
Call#: Fine Arts Library Fine Arts HT177.P5 G76 1963, v. 1-3, 2 copies

Survey and planning application, University City, unit no. 5, urban renewal area / Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia ; Walker & Murray Associates [consultants]

Philadelphia (Pa.). Redevelopment Authority.
Call#: Fine Arts Library Fine Arts HT177.P5 .P485 1962

Proposal for redevelopment of a portion of University City Unit 3 urban renewal area : to the redevelopment authority of the city of Philadelphia from the University City Science Center / [prepared by Wallace-McHarg Associates].

Wallace-McHarg Associates. [Philadelphia], 1965.
Call#: Storage: 711.57 W157, use Request button in Franklin

Renewal of University City : studies of supply, demand, faculty housing / L. Sachs ... [et al.], C.P. Studio 603, May 1961.

University of Pennsylvania. Graduate Dept. of City Planning. [Philadelphia, Pa. : The Dept., 1961]
Call#: Fine Arts Library Fine Arts HT177.P5 U556 1961, 2 copies

Renewal study for the Clark Park area of the University City / [prepared] for the West Philadelphia Corporation by Grant and Todd, planning consultants.

[Philadelphia, Pa. : Grant and Todd, 1961]
Call#: Fine Arts Library:NA9127.P4 G68 1961

West Philadelphia : University City to 52nd Street / Robert Morris Skaler.

Charleston, SC : Arcadia, c2002.

Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF F158.68.W5 S53 2002

Ethnic history of West Philadelphia, 1870-1980 : a research tool for demographic studies / Daniela Pierson.

[Philadelphia] : Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1994.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF F158.68.W5 P5

Historical Study of Penn and West Philadelphia

Included here are research papers by Archives Director Mark Frazier Lloyd, by students in the Department of History's Senior Honors Program in American History, and Summer Research Fellows at the University Archives.

Philadelphia : a 300 year history / editor, Russell F. Weigley, associate editors, Nicholas B. Wainwright, Edwin Wolf, 2nd.

New York : W.W. Norton, 1982.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Desk REF F158.3 .P5664 1982

One-volume history of Philadelphia. Chronological arrangement of chapters written by subject experts. Good overview, but difficult to find material on neighborhoods or city regions.

History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 / by J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott.

Philadelphia: L.H. Everts, 1884.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Desk REF F158.3 .S4

Basic, older history of Philadelphia. Index, in volume III, provides subject access to all 3 volumes.

Encyclopedia of Philadelphia / by Joseph Jackson ..

4 volumes. Harrisburg: The National historical association.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Desk REF F158.3 .J15

Brief, often one-paragraph entries, some with bibliographic references.

PhilaGeoHistory Maps

View selected historic maps and aerial photographs, mixed with current data from Google in a Google Maps viewer. The "crown jewel" is a full-city mosaic of the 1942 Philadelphia Land Use Maps.

Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA)

Pennsylvania's official geospatial information clearinghouse. Included are Philadelphia municipal, census, and environmental shapefiles, as well as parcel maps.

Philadelphia Bicycle News: Schuylkill River Trail Map

this blog posting "Philadelphia Bicycle News: Schuylkill River Trail Map"

has a link to a good detailed google map of the trail, side trails, train stations etc

Philadelphia Migration Project

Working Paper

Immigrants and Suburbs: Growth and Distribution in Greater Philadelphia, 1970-2000: A Tract-Level Analysis

The late twentieth century witnessed a dramatic shift in the historic pattern of immigrant settlement within the United States. Since the nineteenth century, most European immigrants - with the important exception of farmers - had settled first in a small number of gateway cities where many rearticleed while a sizeable number fanned out to smaller cities along the coasts or to cities and large towns in the interior. After World War II, with the opening of suburbs huge numbers of these first generation European immigrants and their children, fresh with new prosperity, moved out of central cities. Following the 1965 lifting of nationality-based quotas, immigrants entered the United States in numbers that matched the great immigrant wave of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries... READ COMPLETE PAPER

iSepta

iSepta was created to make navigating the SEPTA schedules simple on your phone. It was designed by Jason Tremblay and developed by Chris Conley and Randy Schmidt of ümlatte.

Where Industry Once Hummed, Urban Garden Finds Success - New York Times

Where Industry Once Hummed, Urban Garden Finds Success

By JON HURDLE
Published: May 20, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - Amid the tightly packed row houses of North Philadelphia, a pioneering urban farm is providing fresh local food for a community that often lacks it, and making money in the process.

Greensgrow, a one-acre plot of raised beds and greenhouses on the site of a former steel-galvanizing factory, is turning a profit by selling its own vegetables and herbs as well as a range of produce from local growers, and by running a nursery selling plants and seedlings.

The farm earned about $10,000 on revenue of $450,000 in 2007, and hopes to make a profit of 5 percent on $650,000 in revenue in this, its 10th year, so it can open another operation elsewhere in Philadelphia.

In season, it sells its own hydroponically grown vegetables, as well as peaches from New Jersey, tomatoes from Lancaster County, and breads, meats and cheeses from small local growers within a couple of hours of Philadelphia.

The farm, in the low-income Kensington section, about three miles from the skyscrapers of downtown Philadelphia, also makes its own honey - marketed as "Honey From the Hood" - from a colony of bees that produce about 80 pounds a year. And it makes biodiesel for its vehicles from the waste oil produced by the restaurants that buy its vegetables.

Among urban farms, Greensgrow distinguishes itself by being a bridge between rural producers and urban consumers, and by having revitalized a derelict industrial site, said Ian Marvy, executive director of Added Value, an urban farm in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

It has also become a model for others by showing that it is possible to become self-supporting in a universe where many rely on outside financial support, Mr. Marvy said.

Boyd Theater makes endangered list | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/20/2008

Boyd Theater makes endangered list

By Inga Saffron Inquirer Architecture Critic

With the celebrated Boyd Theater once again for sale, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has placed the art deco movie palace on its annual list of the 11 most endangered historic sites in America.

IMMIGRATION: Borderline Realities - philadelphia weekly online

archives 2005 » jan. 5th
IMMIGRATION
Borderline Realities

When Mexican men and women living in South Philadelphia become crime victims, they're often too afraid to tell the police.

by Kate Kilpatrick

One day in his first year in the U.S., Rubén, now 26, left his apartment at 15th and Bainbridge, where he lived with seven other men, to go to work. With the other men at work too, the house was empty all day.

When Rubén returned that evening everything was missing--the TV, VCR, PlayStation, telephone, stereo, CDs (most of them Mexican), air conditioner, bed covers and clothes. Their collective hidden savings--totaling $11,000--were gone. None of the men spoke much English, or knew where to turn for help. One of the men told his boss, a restaurant owner, who said that because they were illegal, there was nothing he could do. No one contacted the police.

This story's far from unusual. Those in South Philadelphia's Mexican community say they're the victims of countless crimes--muggings, bike thefts, robberies, armed assaults, rapes--that never get reported.

...

Rubén's friend Jaime, 26, sums up a common experience: "You can drive, but you can't [legally]," he says. "So most Mexicanos go for a bike. In the restaurant business you get off at 12 or 1. If you're a dishwasher, you probably get off at 2. If you live at Seventh and Tasker, or Fifth or Fourth and Morris or Dickinson, mostly that part is bad. We can't afford to pay expensive rent to live on Fitzwater or Bainbridge. So most of the Mexicanos in South Philly live in dangerous places. I know a lot of my friends were assaulted by guys trying to get their bikes. We can't get a bank account, so we keep the money in our pocket. I don't know how they know that. We keep all our money until we send it home. So a lot of people get robbed."

Live Stop, Dead Cars

July 31-August 6, 2003

city beat
Live Stop, Dead Cars

City lots are filling up with seized vehicles.

by Daryl Gale

If you're one of the nearly 31,000 Philadelphians whose car was confiscated under the city's Live Stop program, you're probably already familiar with the contents of this story and have started cursing under your breath while reading it on public transportation. For many others, some questions remain: Whose car gets taken? How do you get it back? And what ever happened to the promise that auto-insurance premiums would drop, since not even a penny has been deducted so far?

Here are the hard numbers. Between last July, when the administration started enforcing Live Stop, and the end of May, 30, 909 cars had been confiscated from drivers without a valid license and/or an up-to-date registration. The program is administered by the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which hauls away the cars and stores them in five lots across the city.

There they wait for owners to reclaim them after paying the necessary fees and acquiring the proper paperwork. That means you have to pay up any tickets and fines, the state's $36 vehicle registration fee, and of course, get some insurance. If no one stakes their claim, the car is auctioned off to the highest bidder. Parking Authority spokesperson Richard Dickson says confiscated cars go to the highest bidder in about a month, which officials consider enough time for owners to get their paperwork in order.

Statistical reports of the Department of Instruction for the school year.

Philadelphia (Pa.). Board of Public Education. . Statistical reports of the Department of Instruction for the school year. series [Philadelphia, Pa.] : The Board,
Call#: Van Pelt Library 379.7481 P53.26

Public schools of Philadelphia : historical, biographical, statistical / by John Trevor custis.

Custis, John Trevor. . Public schools of Philadelphia : historical, biographical, statistical / by John Trevor custis. series Philadelphia : Burk & McFetridge co., 1897.
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8

School facilities survey : a report presented to the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1965.

Saunders, Harry B. . School facilities survey : a report presented to the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1965. series [Philadelphia : Board of Public Education, 1965]
Call#: Van Pelt Library 371.62 Sa89

:: Drexel Parking Services :: BikeShare

Drexel Bike Share Policy

Overview
Drexel Bike Share is open to all students and employees with a valid Drexel University ID and in good standing with the University. There is no rental fee to use a Drexel Bike Share bike. To be eligible to participate in Drexel Bike Share, the student or employee must complete a Drexel Bike Share Membership Agreement and, prior to each use of Bike Share equipment, a Drexel Bike Share User Agreement. The use of a Drexel Bike Share bike includes a helmet, u-lock, cable and lock key (the “Equipment”). All Bike Share Equipment is picked up and returned to the Drexel Bike Share hub located in the Parking Services Garage Office, Room #124, 3330 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (the “Hub”). Drexel makes no representations as to the availability of the Equipment. Use of the Equipment is strictly on a “first come, first served” basis. Reservations for Equipment will not be accepted.

Philadelphia story; a comedy in three acts, by Philip Barry.

Barry, Philip. The Philadelphia story; a comedy in three acts New York: Coward-McCann, 1939.

In one of his characteristic plays on lives of the American upper classes, Philip Barry pens the lively account of Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord's second marriage. When she decides to marry the up-and-coming George Kittredge, Tracy's ex-husband, a man of Philadelphia old-money stock comes back to town much to Tracy's chagrin. Two nosy tabloid newspaper reporters and a handful of eccentric relatives are thrown into the mix for an overall effect of hilarity and entertainment. Witty dialogue, memorable scenes, and charming characters make this play an enjoyable one to read.

The screen adaptation of "The Philadelphia Story" is more or less faithful to plot that the play is centered on. Because of this, many of the social issues that run throughout the movie are contained within the play as well. Themes such as anxiety about a changing society (here concerns on the part of the elite about social mobility and security in contemporary times and frustrations on the part of the working class about how the wealthy always have it so easy) and sexual tension the sexes fill both Barry's play and Cukor's film. Still, it is helpful to read the source from which the celebrated Hollywood film came in order to better appreciate the material it was adapted from.

Philadelphia, patricians & philistines, 1900-1950 / John Lukacs.

[Lukacs, John, 1924- . Philadelphia, patricians & philistines, 1900-1950 / John Lukacs. 0374231613 : series New York : Farrar, Straus, Giroux, c1981.]

Lukacs, John. Philadelphia: Patricians & Philistines, 1900-1950. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1981.

Lukacs begins this volume with an overview of what Philadelphia generally like at the start of the twenieth century. He notes mainly the cultural, politcal, and social dynamics within this society and affirms the widely held perception that Philadelphia was a sub-culture unto itself with its own conventions and social codes. Particular attention is paid to the evolutions of neighborhoods and details of where members of different social classes took up residence. The implications these had on class structure and the opportunities for members of each class are worthy of further analysis here. What Lukacs chooses to investage further though are in-depth profiles of seven of Philadelphia's most influential, and oftentimes maverick, inhabitants who managed to make their mark in the city of their birth between 1900 and 1950. Within five decades there would be major legal changes in city government, geo-demographic changes with the status of neighborhoods like Society Hill shifting, and shifts in social attitudes. Horne notes that over the first half of the twentieth century the upper classes only became more snootish, once a start of "distrust between certain classes of people in Philadelphia- or, more precisely, between people of different provenance and background (329) set in. The book ends with a description of Philadelphia in 1950, and notes the stark contrast between the way the city looked in 1900 and the way it did fifty years later.

Horne is a useful tool for understanding both the general social context that the Lord and Haven families would have been brought up in. It also sheds light on the personality traits of individuals who could have been easily related to figures like the characters in "The Philadelphia Story". Realizing just how much society had changed over the past few decades by the time "The Philadelphia Story" would have taken place helps to explain why the film's audience would have been so scared of change and why its characters would seem to resist change in social order.

Mobility in a nineteenth-century American city: Philadelphia, 1820-1860.

[Blumin, Stuart Mack. . Mobility in a nineteenth-century American city: Philadelphia, 1820-1860. series [Philadelphia], 1968.
Call#: Van Pelt Library F158.44 .B49 1968a]

Blumin, Stuart Mack. Mobility in a Nineteenth-Century American City Philadelphia, 1820-1860. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1968.

This book explores how demographics in Philadelphia shifted in the nineteenth
century. Blumin focuses primarily on the time period before, during, and after
the Civil War arguing that it was this phase in which a major transition occurred
in American culture. 1815-1845 is defined as the period in American history
most characterized by change. Blumin cites the classic popular notion that
the United States "is a country of self-made men" and spends this volume
assessing the accuracy of this statement; he seeks to determine if 1815-1845 was
indeed as 'open' a time period as popular history would suggest. Through archival
data in the form of tables, graphs, and charts, Blumin takes a look at the lives
of each of the social classes in Philadelphia in the nineteenth century. He looks
most carefully at data that reflects socio-economic status as manifest through
the value of real estate, occupation, and annual income. After collecting and
analyzing this data, Blumin determines that the idea that any American can
propel himself up in society by making money (and that the origins of one's
birth are meaningless in the modern era) is very much a myth.

A look into the history of Philadelphia society and historical shifts in general
American demographics helps give a bigger picture of the context in which
"The Philadelphia Story" transpires. Blumin informs his reader that Philadelphia
was a city with extremely stratified social classes for over a century. His
emphasis on the potential for economic mobility but lack of opportunity for
social mobility for the working man in the nineteenth century helps explain
some of the underlying issues that the characters in the film reference. We can better
understand Dexter's social laziness, Tracy's easy grace, George's insecurities, and Mike's
frustrations with the social system in Philadelphia after being briefed on the
historical context that bred these attitudes.

Greater Philadelphia Regional Transit Map

Includes a great map, plus septa on google maps and other features.

Issues Philadelphia

The Economy League launched IssuesPhiladelphia.org in 2007 as a source of timely analysis, polls and indicators, and thought-provoking columns – nonpartisan information that can help to spur conversation about what we want from our City Hall and all branches of city government now and into the future.

Globalization, Regionalism, and Urban Restructuring: The Case of Philadelphia -- Hodos 37 (3): 358 -- Urban Affairs Review

CENTER CITY DISTRICT / CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF PHILADELPHIA

East Falls Philadelphia PA | Parks, activities, and businesses in East Falls PA

Ambigrams, Logos, Word Art

In Chinatown, a $10 Trip Means War

Man Shot Dead In Chinatown Was Involved In Bus Rivalry

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: May 11, 2003

The operator of a Chinatown bus company competing with others in a bitter battle for riders was shot and killed on Friday night on a street near his home, and detectives yesterday were investigating whether the slaying was related to the unusual feud, police officials said.

The gunman, whom the police described as an Asian man in his 20's wearing a waist-length black jacket and a white baseball cap, was apparently waiting for the victim, De Jian Chen, 27, outside Mr. Chen's home on Henry Street, the police said. About 9:15 p.m., as Mr. Chen climbed out of a friend's white Lexus at Forsythe and Henry Streets, the gunman opened fire with a .45-caliber pistol, the police said.

But he missed his mark, and Mr. Chen ran down Henry Street and around the corner onto Market Street, the police said. The gunman followed, catching up with Mr. Chen in front of 32 Market Street and firing again, this time hitting him three times in the back and once in the arm. Mr. Chen collapsed and was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later at New York University Downtown Hospital, the police said.

The police and a business associate of the victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, provided different accounts of his relationship to the bus company. The police said Mr. Chen worked for the company, Dragon Coach U.S.A., at 87 East Broadway, and had an ownership interest in another bus company. The associate said Mr. Chen was an owner of Dragon Coach U.S.A. and ran buses from New York City to Philadelphia, Washington and Richmond, Va., and played a lesser role in a company that ran buses to Atlanta.

Over the last year, several Chinatown bus lines that offer low fares to Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and other destinations have competed so fiercely for riders that fistfights have broken out between rival employees, and neighbors have complained of ganglike violence.

Last year, the police and prosecutors investigated certain companies and people associated with them, according to a law enforcement official, but no charges were filed. Last May, Mr. Chen was arrested and charged with first-degree assault; he was accused by the police of deliberately driving his bus into a man affiliated with a rival company. That case is pending.

The Bulletin - Philadelphia's Family Newspaper - SEPTA Plans Service Upgrades

Inside Today's Bulletin
SEPTA Plans Service Upgrades
By: Dan Hirschhorn, The Bulletin
03/27/2008
Philadelphia - SEPTA riders can expect significant service upgrades in the fall, with the transit agency planning to spend more than $10 million increasing the frequency and capacity of buses and trains.

The planned improvements come as SEPTA is enjoying its first dedicated funding stream in a decade and ridership is increasing across the transit system, the country's sixth-largest.

SEPTA officials announced the plans for increasing service at a press conference yesterday, where they unveiled the agency's proposed operational budget for fiscal year 2009. The budget still needs to go through public hearings over the next couple weeks.

"All of these service initiatives are part of SEPTA's commitment to improve service and convenience for our customers around the five counties of Southeastern Pennsylvania," SEPTA's chief service planner Charles Webb said.

The proposed budget of $1.08 billion represents a spending increase of about 5.6 percent over the previous year. But SEPTA remains cautious about increasing spending, and is spending significantly less than it could. Even though a landmark transportation funding law enacted last summer is proving the transit agency significantly more in state subsidy than it has budgeted for, SEPTA is not using that money to improve service.

old phila photos

Next American City B; Magazine B; From LOVE comes Paine

Ideas
From LOVE comes Paine
Years after legislation criminalized one of the most famous informal skateparks in the country, a thoroughly planned predecessor, Paine's Park, finally nears completion. Is this Shangri-La for skateboarders? Or an expensive cover-up for NIMBY-pandering city policies.

By Liz Marklewicz

Red lights mean green for GOP | Philadelphia Daily News | 03/18/2008

Red lights mean green for GOP

By BOB WARNER
Philadelphia Daily News

warnerb@phillynews.com 215-854-5885

MORE THAN 90,000 motorists have been nailed for running red lights in the first three years of Philadelphia's camera-enforcement program. At $100 a shot, they've paid $9.1 million in fines.

Backers of the red-light program say the main beneficiary has been public safety.

"Incidents of death, injury and property damage are dramatically down at the intersections where cameras are installed," the Parking Authority's board chairman, Joseph T. Ashdale, said in a news release last month.

Other beneficiaries include Republican Party officials and their kin.

Like the explosive growth in the Parking Authority's staff and salaries, reported last year by the Daily News, the red-light-camera program has created more jobs for Republican ward leaders, committeemen and their families.

It has also led to thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for GOP organizations and candidates.

More than anyone else, the contributions have flowed to state Rep. John Perzel, the Northeast Philadelphia Republican who engineered a GOP takeover of the Parking Authority in mid-2001.

Universe Bus

Universe Bus Line is a premier provider of motorcoach services in the Northeastern United States.
They offers daily bus service between New York(156 E. Broadway) and Philadelphia.

New York(156 E Broadway) <--> Philladelphia
One way $12.00, Round Trip $24.00
Duration:about 2 hours
New York:156 East Broadway
Philadephia:Frankford Transportation Ctr. or 2801 Cottman Ave.

Mount Airy Philadelphia

Record: Cross Collection Search

The four seasons murals, Philadelphia on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Looking towards City Hall on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Philadelphia Noir on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

West Philadelphia 1956-present

A guide to finding current research on West Philadelphia. This guide is still a work in progress.

Urban Studies 012

A research guide created for Urban Studies 012. Included are links to help students find information about specific place in Philadelphia through History.

Historic Preservation GIS

This is a guide created to help students in Historic Preservation learn about the resources available for studying Philadelphia places.

East Falls Glassworks Philadelphia Glass Blowing Studio and Gallery

Well equipped glass blowing studio. Opened in the East Falls section of Philadelphia in Jan. 2006. Holds an Open House on the 2nd Saturday of some months. Check the website for details.

Offers classes and studio rental along with a small gallery of works by local artists.

Check out Jon Goldberg (the shop's owner) work.

Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime and Justice Data Online

From the Bureau of Justice Statistics, these data are available at the city level only. However, they provide a fuller and more completel picture of law enforcement trends for the city than the UCR reports alone.

Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime

Only available at the city-wide level, the Bureau of Justice Statistics provides Homicide Trends from 1985-2005

phillycrime.org

This is not an official site. However, it takes the data from the Philly Inquirer for the city in 1999, and for West Philadelphia from the Almanac and maps it in Google maps. A neat site, worth looking at.

Philadelphia Police Department :: Patrol Districts

Map of Philadelphia Police Districts

Philadelphia Police Department :: Patrol District Crime Statistics

Crime Statistics as reported in the Uniform Crime Report for 2001-2006 by Police District

Violence - Philadelphia Inquirer

The home of the Philadelphia Inquirer Crime coverage, includes links to the murder maps, plus stories about Crime and Crime victims in the city of Philadelphia.

Violent-Crime Rates in 2007 | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2008

A map of various violent crimes in city police districts in 2007

The Philadelphia Inquirer Homicide Map 2007

An interactive map of Philadelphia homicides in 2007 from the Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer Murder Map 2006

An interactive map of murders in the city of Philadelphia in 2006 from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia CrimeBase

Crime statistics for the city of Philadelphia available at multiple levels of geography, including Census Tracts, zip codes, neighborhoods, block groups, and councilmanic districts. Crimes do not inlclude murder and rape.

Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA)

Pennsylvania's official geospatial information clearinghouse. Included are Philadelphia municipal, census, and environmental shapefiles, as well as parcel maps.

Philadelphia Neighborhoods Planning History: Surveys and Images

86 neighborhood planning surveys prepared and published by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission between 1946 and 1990. These reports contain descriptions of current conditions of housing stock; population trends; property turnover; public transportation; community activity. Recommendations are made for future action.

DOR - Historic Streets Index

Changes to the names of certain streets, alleys, and courts were first effected by an ordinance dated September 1, 1858. A provision of this ordinance was an alphabetical index of former names, together with the location of the street and the new name given to it. By an ordinance of February 23, 1897 names of intermediate streets were indexed by old name, location and new name.

HSPV Other

PCPC Neighborhood Housing Market Area Profiles

Housing profiles of Philadelphia neighborhoods.

HSPV GIS

Philadelphia Architects and Buildings

PAB incorporates data from the collections of the AthenC&um of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives, the Philadelphia Historical Commission, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and more than 25 other area repositories.

PhillyHistory.org

Photographic images of Philadelphia from the Philadelphia City Archives, which holds approximately 2 million photos dating from the late 1800s, as well as the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

Sanborn Maps -- Pennsylvania

Fire Insurance Maps for Pennsylvania for the early parts of the twentieth century.

Philadelphia Geohistory Network

The Geohistory Network includes scanned images of historic fire insurance atlases and directories for Philadelphia. It is a pilot project of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) to develop a web-based repository of geographically organized historical information about Philadelphia, its geography, its buildings, and its people.

Ancestry Library Edition

The Ancestry Library Edition collection has approximately 4,000 databases including key collections such as U.S. Federal Census images and name indexes from 1790 to 1930; the Map Center containing more than 1,000 historical maps.

36th and Walnut 1952

38th and Market 1923

39th and Spruce 1912

38th and Market 1923

36th and Walnut 1952

Precious places 2005 [videorecording] : Philadelphia.

Precious places 2005 [videorecording] : Philadelphia. Philadelphia : Scribe Video Center, c2005.
Call#: Van Pelt Video Collection; ask at Circulation Desk. DVD F158.3 P74 2005

Historic Streets Index

Documents the street name changes within Philadelphia Streets. Try multiple variations of the street name to find it.

Sustainability plan for Philadelphia : an outline of a Local Agenda 21 Plan / by Kim Alison ... [et al.] ; with Peter Newman ; edited by Tim Frodsham.

Alison, Kim. . Sustainability plan for Philadelphia : an outline of a Local Agenda 21 Plan / by Kim Alison ... [et al.] ; with Peter Newman ; edited by Tim Frodsham. Philadelphia, PA : Dept. of City and Regional Planning, [c1998]
Call#: In Process In Process

Philadelphia Shapefiles

GIS Shapefiles from the City of Philadelphia. Includes building outlines, street centerline files, administrative boundaries, aerial photos, parcels, curbs, and contours.

Ancestry Library Edition

Genealogical collection covering the United States and the United Kingdom, including census, vital, church, court, and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. The Ancestry Library Edition collection has approximately 4,000 databases including key collections such as U.S. Federal Census images and indexes from 1790 to 1930; the Map Center containing more than 1,000 historical maps; American Genealogical Biographical Index (over 200 volumes); Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage (over 150 volumes); The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1630; Social Security Death Index (updated monthly); WWI Draft Registration Cards; Federal Slave Narratives; and a strong Civil War collection.

Opening Day Centennial 1876

Parkside and Belmont Ave 1879

Greys Ferry Bridge Construction 1900

37th and Walnut 1905

46th and Sansom 1880

West Philadelphia 1854-1906 Photos

43rd and Pine 1924

Market St. El at 40th St 1948

West Philadelphia 1907-1956 Photos

West Philadelphia 1907-1956

This guide is designed for students in Hist204 as a guide to resources about Philadelphia from 1907-1956.

46th & Walnut Apartments 1982

The Quad

39th and walnut

West Philadelphia 1956 - present Photos

Philadelphia CrimeBase

Crime statistics from 1998-2003, organized by census tract, neighborhood, zip code, and City Council District.

PolicyMap.

Includes a broad range of indicators, often to the block group or census tract level, including: real estate data, neighborhood conditions, mortgage originations, education, money & income, demographics, owners & renters, jobs, and energy.

West Philadelphia 1956-present

This guide is designed for students in Hist204 as a guide to resources about Philadelphia from 1956-present.

West Philadelphia Data

Includes housing, health, crime, business, education, at the census tracts, zip codes, school districts and neighborhood level, as well as school district profiles, neigborhood profiles, and zip code profiles.

Current West Philadelphia Data

Philadelphia NIS NeighborhoodBase

The neighborhoodBase website is designed to assist community-based planning and development organizations, government agencies, researchers and concerned individuals in their efforts to analyze, transform and revitalize Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Philadelphia Tribune

Full text archive of Phila Tribune (1991-present) are in Ethnic Newswatch.

[Van Pelt Library Microforms: News 487], 1912 to present.

[Van Pelt Library Current Periodicals Desk], latest 2 months

Philadelphia Inquirer (1981-present) Newsbank

Searchable fulltext of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Images, advertisements, and classified ads are not provided

[Van Pelt Library Microfilms: News 61], 1861 to present.

[Van Pelt Library Current Periodicals: recent issues].

Alt-Press Watch

Includes the City Paper (2001-present) and the Philadelphia Weekly (2002-present) among hundreds of other alternative news weeklies.

Daily Pennsylvanian

University of Pennsylvania's independent student newspaper, third-largest daily newspaper circulation in Philadelphia. Searchable archive from April 1990 to present.

An archaeology of fear and environmental change in Philadelphia

Title: An archaeology of fear and environmental change in Philadelphia

Source: Geoforum [0016-7185] Brownlow yr:2006 vol:37 iss:2 pg:227

Abstract

This paper examines how mechanisms of social control function to mediate human–environment relations and processes of environmental change in the city. Using the Fairmount Park System of Philadelphia as a case study, I argue that a history of social control mechanisms, both formal and informal, maintained viable socio-environmental urban relationships. Their decline over the last several decades has produced a legacy of fear towards the city’s natural environment that has had, and continues to have, profound socio-spatial and ecological implications. I argue that these changes have their origin in a set of racially motivated decisions made during the volatile years of the late 1960s and early 1970s and that African American women, in particular, have been impacted disproportionately by their consequences. Fear of crime in the natural environment and suspicion of environmental change have resulted in the exclusion of local women and children from what was, historically, a politically and socially viable public space. In this context, urban ecological change is locally understood as more an issue of social control than one of environmental concern.

PMAP Pricing.pdf (application/pdf Object)

From policymap.com, you can access all of the information you need about a place without having to visit multiple websites or task staff and consultants with collecting and analyzing data. Policymap.com houses thousands of indicators related to demographics, real estate markets, crime, schools, housing affordability, employment, energy and public investments. Much of this data is available to the public for free — other proprietary data, such as demographic and employment projections, and home sale trends — are only available to paying subscribers. All data comes with brief, reliable, easy-to-understand definitions. For a complete listing of data available in policymap.com, please refer to the Data Directory link in the upper right of the web page. TRF hopes that you will suggest other datasets you’d like to see incorporated into PolicyMap. Click on the Suggest a Dataset link at the bottom of the web page to send us your ideas.

Encyclopedia of Philadelphia / by Joseph Jackson ..

Harrisburg, The National historical association, 1931-1933.

Call#: Van Pelt Library F158.3 .J15

4 volume set published in 1933. Brief, often one-paragraph entries, some with bibliographic references.

Philadelphia - Maps and Geographic Information

a bonanza

Philadelphia Data and Maps

Philadelphia GeoHistory Network Maps and Atlases

Includes beautiful maps and atlases of the Hexamer Volumes from the 1850's through Philadelphia Land Use maps 1960's.

Philadelphia CityMaps Home

The City of Philadelphia provides maps of City Services, service areas, and zoning rules.

CML: Downloadable Data from the Cartographic Modeling Lab

The Cartographic Modeling Lab provides shapefiles for download of several Philadelphia files, most notably the Philadelphia Neighborhoods file used in the creation of the Neighborhood Base.

PASDA Geospatial Data and Shapefiles for Philadelphia

Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access Center files on Philadelphia. Includes shapefiles from the City of Philadelphia, as well as some state resources. Important files here are Street Centerlines, local area boundaries (planning commission, police, councilmanic districts) and aerial photos.

DOR - Historic Streets Index

This index was compiled from the original road records, docket books, jury decisions, and surveys held by the Philadelphia City Archives. From these sources the Philadelphia Department of Streets developed and maintains its comprehensive survey of official road records for the City. Changes to the names of certain streets, alleys, and courts were first effected by an ordinance dated September 1, 1858. A provision of this ordinance was an alphabetical index of former names, together with the location of the street and the new name given to it. By an ordinance of February 23, 1897 names of intermediate streets were indexed by old name, location and new name. Both indexes are held by the Philadelphia City Archives under Record Group 90.47.

PhillyHistory.org - Home

Visit 6 Philadelphia attractions for just $49, a $94.65 value!

Welcome to gophila.com -- the Official Visitor Site for Greater Philadelphia

Philadelphia Photos

PASDA Geospatial Data and Shapefiles for Philadelphia

Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access Center files on Philadelphia. Includes shapefiles from the City of Philadelphia, as well as some state resources.

Philadelphia Maps and Geospatial Data

Neighborhoods Online: Philadelphia

Local organizations and information. Don't let the clunkiness of the site deter you. There is a lot of great information about philadlephia here.

Subject Access to Philadelphia Newspapers - Research Guide

The guide to Philadelphia newspapers through history.

Philadelphia Studies E-Resources at Penn

This link presents the collection of electoronic resources at the Penn Library related to Philadelphia Studies.

Philadelphia NIS NeighborhoodBase

Philadelphia NIS NeighborhoodBas

NeighborhoodBase is a publicly-accessible, web-based, geographic data application developed by the University of Pennsylvania's Cartographic Modeling Lab. Along with parcelBase, muralBase, and crimeBase, neighborhoodBase is one of four applications that comprise the Neighborhood Information System. The neighborhoodBase website is designed to assist community-based planning and development organizations, government agencies, researchers and concerned individuals in their efforts to analyze, transform and revitalize Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Philadelphia Neighborhoods Planning History: Surveys and Images

The Philadelphia Neighborhoods Planning History Project creates a web presentation of the full content of 86 neighborhood planning surveys prepared and published by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission between 1946 and 1990. These reports contain descriptions of current conditions of housing stock; population trends; property turnover; public transportation; community activity. Recommendations are made for future action. The project will facilitate university and public research on Philadelphia's architectural and social environment by providing access to a body of material whose content is of current and future interest but whose printed format is ephemeral and subject to physical deterioration and loss. The reports are a primary resource for the study of how the problems and aspirations of Philadelphia neighborhoods were described during decades of debate about urban renewal in Philadelphia. School of Design faculty have affirmed the survey's continuing relevance to the curriculum of the school. At the same tiime, the initiative aligns with the University's stated commitment to Philadelphia as an urban environment.

Aerial Photograph Index for Philadelphia Area

Index to Aerial photos of the Philadelphia area taken between 1924 and 1960 held at the Library Company and (some) at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Phillyhistory.org

A phenomenal collection of photographs from the Archives of the City of Philadelphia

Philadelphia Research Guides

This is a useful collection of Research Guides from the Penn Libraries to help find information about Philadelphia.

Philadelphia neighborhoodBase

NeighborhoodBase includes maps and data from a number of city agencies, plus census data. All data is available for aggregation at a range of geographic levels (ie, wards, census tracts, etc). A great source for data and maps about life in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Architects and Buildings

BRT Property Search

BRT Property Search
Current property assessment information for Philadelphia real estate. Searchable interface allows retrieval by block and specific address. Data items include land area, improvements, market value and assessed value, latest sale date and price, real estate tax, and recent valuation history.

2004 IBC Report - Uninsured Adults in SEPA1.pdf (application/pdf Object)

PACSCL -- The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries

"Mission

The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) encourages diverse audiences to explore and engage with member libraries' uniquely rich holdings and, through collaboration, strengthens these collections and the institutions that preserve them.

Vision

PACSCL is the most extensive and diverse collaboration among a region's libraries and archives in the United States. Its collections, in their depth and variety, comprise an internationally important body of unique and rare materials for students, scholars, and life-long learners of every background."

Mad, Bad and Sad: Defining, Preventing and Treating Mental Disorders in Children

This is a collection of mental health resources for Mad, Bad and Sad. It consists of databases, websites and books to aid in researching the question: "How would you improve mental health services for children with a specific mental disorder in Philadelphia?" Also included are basic information evaluation resources.

PACSCL Consortial Survey Initiative

The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) Consortial Survey Initiative is a 30-month project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to assess backlogged archival collections at 22 Philadelphia area libraries, archives, and museums.

Historic Preservation Data

The American Studies Association

Seeing in Color: Visual Culture and Racial Politics in Philadelphia (Sponsored by the Visual Culture/Art History Caucus)

Schedule Information:
Scheduled Time: Thu, Oct 11 - 10:00am - 11:45am Building/Room: Philadelphia Marriott / Room 404
Title Displayed in Event Calendar: Seeing in color: visual culture and racial politics in Philadelphia

Session Participants:

Session Organizer: Tanya Sheehan (Rutgers University, New Brunswick/Piscataway (NJ))

Chair: Tanya Sheehan (Rutgers University, New Brunswick/Piscataway (NJ))

"If this war is to be forgotten, ...what shall men remember?": The African American presence at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition
*Susanna W. Gold (Temple University (PA))

Imprinting race: The Philadelphia Fine Print Workshop and the visual politics of race in the 1930s
*Erin Park Cohn (University of Pennsylvania (PA))

From Africa and the streets of Philadelphia: Georges Adéagbo's America in "Abraham - the Friend of God"
*Emily Hage (Philadelphia Museum of Art (PA))

Commentator: Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw (University of Pennsylvania (PA))

Phila. taxi strike ends after one day | Inquirer | 09/06/2007

Phila. taxi strike ends after one day
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

Leaders of Philadelphia's striking taxi drivers ended their 48-hour strike a day early yesterday but promised to continue fighting problematic new high-tech dispatch and credit card systems mandated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Leaders of the drivers and Parking Authority officials disagreed about how many cabbies stayed off the streets and about the strike's effectiveness. But officials of the authority, which since 2005 has regulated city cabs, said there was no shortage of taxis yesterday at Philadelphia International Airport and only brief rush-hour delays at Amtrak's 30th Street Station.

All 1,200 members of the Taxi Workers Alliance will be back at 6 a.m. today, alliance president Ronald Blount announced yesterday during an afternoon rally in front of Parking Authority headquarters at 3101 Market St.

"We've made our point. We've proved that we can launch a two-day strike," Blount told reporters in front of about 25 supporters. "This system is not working. It's been almost a year now. How long are we supposed to be patient?"

Taxi Driver Update: Video by Philly IMC | Young Philly Politics

Taxi Driver Update: Video by Philly IMC
Submitted by BradyDale on Mon, 08/27/2007 - 1:12pm.

Public Authorities continue to be one of the best means for taking control out of the hands of voters and putting it in the hands of bureaucrats two or three or four steps removed from anyone elected. I've written about the Taxi Drivers in this space several times now, but now Philly Independent Media Center has a great new video coming out a week or so in advance of a two day taxi strike.

Check the video out here.

I'm really glad IMC is paying attention to this issue. It's a fascinating case. It's one that I'd think the Nutter Butters would be going NUTS over. Closed door decisionmaking. Gouging a group of workers and the public. Capricious rulemaking. Lack of access to decisionmakers and no voter oversite. Everything that should be making them crazy mad. I hope they do pick up on it and take action. It really sucks that nobody is in control of the Parking Authority any more and that it has control of Taxis (isn't that ironic? Taxis hardly ever park, you know?).

As an Organizer, I find it exciting because this is a very diverse group of people who are hardscrabble and refuse to be victimized. If they have even close to the participation in their strike that they anticipate in the video, it's a real coup. A beautiful show of worker solidarity. It's so great to see these guys excited to take action, and any time I've sat down with them they really have been.

Now if the taxi cab drivers could just drive a little nicer...

41794.mov (video/quicktime Object)

indymedia film on GPS / taxi-workers from philadelphia

Transit crisis awaits a mayor | Inquirer | 04/06/2007

Campaign 2007
Transit crisis awaits a mayor
SEPTA, parking fees and a regional outlook are crucial issues facing the primary contenders.
By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

One gauge of a city's health is its mobility.

A city that thrives is one where congestion doesn't become gridlock, where commuters, shoppers and beer trucks can coexist. Bustle is good, immobility is bad.

For Philadelphia's next mayor, the big transportation challenges will be to improve mass transit and deal with chronic traffic and parking problems. And the mayor will have to persuade skeptical suburbanites to help because the city's transportation network is the hub of a vast regional web.

"Where does transportation land on your priority list? It has to rate very highly," said Steven Wray, executive director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, citing transportation's importance to the region's economy.

Center City "can't continue to boom without a transportation policy," said Vukan Vuchic, a professor of city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

Resurrecting PATCO's ghost station | Inquirer | 07/30/2007

Resurrecting PATCO's ghost station
The abandoned stop beneath Franklin Square may find new life as a transportation hub for Phila.'s evolving waterfront.
By Paul Nussbaum

The long-slumbering ghost station under Franklin Square, sealed in the era of Frank Rizzo and Rocky II, may be shaken awake, dusted off, and put back to work.

Silent dark hallways now blocked with plywood may echo with commuters' footsteps once again. Stairways that end in concrete slabs may be reopened to daylight. And the gaudy orange foyer that only a '70s decorator could love may get a 21st-century face-lift.

A proposed expansion of PATCO rail service could press the 71-year-old subterranean station back into service. And even if PATCO doesn't extend its lines, the changing face of Philadelphia above the ground could mean new life beneath the city, too.

The subway station, built in 1936, opened intermittently and last used in 1979, lies beneath newly refurbished Franklin Square at Sixth and Race Streets. There, a fountain, carousel and miniature golf course have brought new life to the once-seedy park that was one of William Penn's original five squares.

The station's platforms, with their green and white tile walls, can still be glimpsed dimly from passing trains, a tantalizing view in a time tunnel. But the interior that resembles its Broad Street Subway cousins, and the orange foyer with its old fare lists (35 cents to Philadelphia stations, 75 cents to Lindenwold), and the multilingual instructions on "How To Go PATCO" are hidden from view.

Places in Time: Front door

This is an effort to bring together some resources -- images, documents, tools, and links -- for pursuing historical information about place in the five-county Philadelphia area: Bucks, Chester, Delaware. Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. The project has been building incrementally, as opportunities have permitted, since 1997. The overarching idea is to use new media to more effectively disseminate information about place, to enhance cross-institutional access to documentary materials of this sort, to better connect people with the history of their environment, and to thus enrich their lives here.

SEPTA approves fare hike, eliminates use of transfers | Inquirer | 06/29/2007

SEPTA approves fare hike, eliminates use of transfers
Bus, subway and trolley fares won't rise, but passes will cost more. Transfers will be eliminated.

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

SEPTA bus, subway and rail fares will increase by an average of 11 percent on July 9, following a 13-2 vote yesterday on the agency's new operating budget.

The SEPTA board also approved a "doomsday" plan to take effect Sept. 2, with 24 percent fare hikes and 20 percent service cuts, if the state legislature does not increase annual state funding by nearly $100 million.

For subway, bus and trolley riders, cash fares will remain at $2 and tokens at $1.30 under the new fare plan. But transfers will be eliminated on Aug. 1, meaning transit riders wanting to transfer will have to buy an additional token or use a daily, weekly or monthly pass.

Weekly passes for transit riders will increase from $18.75 to $20.75, and monthly passes from $70 to $78. Regional Rail riders will see costs rise as well; the price of a Zone 3 monthly pass will increase from $126.50 to $142.50.

SEPTA board readies for doom | Daily News | 06/27/2007

SEPTA board readies for doom
By DAN GERINGER

Cash-strapped SEPTA's board of directors is expected to approve two drastically different survival plans tomorrow: one a modest 11 percent fare increase for existing service, the other a "doomsday" plan - raising fares 24 percent while cutting service 20 percent, which could devastate low-income workers, fixed-income seniors, the physically disabled and students.

If the state Legislature comes up with $100 million this summer to fill the chronically underfunded transit agency's budget hole, then the "doomsday" plan will be ditched, and only the 11 percent fare hike will go through.

But if the Legislature fails, riders will be forced to foot the bill by enduring longer waits for fewer buses and trains, and by paying much more for service:

SEPTA's base cash fare would rise from $2 to $2.50, tokens from $1.30 to $1.80, a TransPass from $18.75 to $25 weekly and from $70 to $95 monthly, and one-way Regional Rail fares would rise by as much as $1 during peak times and $2.50 off-peak.

Roads not taken in funding SEPTA? | Inquirer | 06/17/2007

Roads not taken in funding SEPTA?
The state leaves it little leeway for a local, dedicated source of revenue.
By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer
When Pennsylvania legislators complain that SEPTA already gets more state funding and less local funding than most transit agencies in the United States, they're right.

But whose fault is that?

In Pennsylvania, the state prevents regional transit agencies and local governments from raising money in many of the ways used by their counterparts elsewhere.

Colorado and Georgia provide none of the money to operate Denver's and Atlanta's mass transit. Instead, they authorize local sales taxes, approved by local voters. New York, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio are among the states where local property taxes are earmarked for mass transit. Los Angeles County uses a 1 percent sales tax, approved by county voters.

Thirty-three states have authorized local or regional sales taxes specifically for transportation.

Not Pennsylvania.

DVRPC - Environmental Justice Technical Work Program Activities: Annual Update: 2005

Annual update of DVRPC EJ activities

German Society of Pennsylvania. Horner Memorial Library

The Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library is both a lending library and a research facility, housed in an original 1888 reading room built for that purpose and recently restored by the Society. The library houses more than 70,000 volumes, three-quarters are in German. It is considered the largest private collection of German books in the United States (outside of universities)

New Amtrak Service Could Boost 'the Sixth Borough' - April 20, 2007 - The New York Sun

New Amtrak Service Could Boost ‘the Sixth Borough'
BY ANNIE KARNI - Special to the Sun
April 20, 2007

Amtrak is planning to roll out new service on its much-maligned and often-delayed Acela route this July, providing nonstop service between New York and Philadelphia for the first time. The new route would also provide nonstop service to Washington from Philadelphia.

Cutting three New Jersey stops from the trip and shaving down commute times between New York and Philadelphia to about an hour could help solidify the "sixth borough" status of the City of Brotherly Love, real estate brokers and developers said.

About 1.5 million passengers a year use Amtrak to commute between New York and Philadelphia on a regular basis, and the number is growing, particularly among people in their 20s and 30s seeking more affordable housing, real estate brokers said. Amtrak expects the new line to boost its business clientele, a spokesman said.

National Liberty Museum

This museum is actually focused on celebrating and encouraging America's history of freedom and tolerence.

They are included as part of this tagging project because they hold a collection of over 100 pieces of art glass (intended to signify the fragility of liberty). The collection includes Dale Chihuly's 20 foot tall 'Flame of Liberty' and a 6 foot cast sculpture by Libensky and Brychtova.

One of the Liberty Museum's main supporters is the Coalition of Glass Collectors and Artists. The Coalition holds an annual weekend event, called Glass Now that includes an impressive auction of work by contemporary glass artists.

Hot Soup Glass Studio

Glass blowing, fusing and flameworking studio in the Olde City neighborhood. Offers classes in multiple forms of glass work. Studio is available for rental. Takes part in First Fridays - offering demonstrations from 6 to 10 PM. Closed in August.

The Point | A direct route to a SEPTA crisis | Inquirer | 03/25/2007

The reasons for tepid transit support.
By Mark Bowden

Once more, SEPTA is on the ropes. It faces a $130 million budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, and unless the state finds a way to plug the hole, services will be cut and fares increased.

In other words, business as usual. Mass transit gets short shrift most places in this country, but nowhere is the political deck stacked against it more deliberately than in Philadelphia. This despite the fact that the city is blessed with a transit infrastructure that would be prohibitively expensive to build today, is being used by about a third of the city's commuters (a percentage that is inching up), and is . . . you guessed it, gradually rotting away.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/13/2007 | Study suggests shift of gears for Phila. commuters

Posted on Tue, Mar. 13, 2007

Study suggests shift of gears for Phila. commuters
Indications of a surprising gain for mass transit.
By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

For the first time in nearly half a century, Center City vehicle traffic dropped while mass-transit ridership was up, according to new data from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

After decades of increasing dependence on the automobile, the question is whether this a blip or the beginning of a transforming trend.

The numbers were gathered in 2005, when gas prices rose sharply after Hurricane Katrina. Experts say that may have been a big factor.

The number of vehicles crossing Center City's boundaries was about 1.015 million on a typical weekday in 2005, down slightly from 1.020 million in 2000, according to the commission's preliminary, unpublished data. In 1995, the number of vehicles was 990,000. Meanwhile, the number of mass transit riders entering or leaving Center City was 486,326 a weekday in 2005, up from 442,023 in 2000 and 484,151 in 1995.

The slight shift interrupted a 45-year trend. In 1960, when the commission began keeping track, 53 percent of all Center City trips were by mass transit; by 2000 the percentage was down to 26.5 percent. In 2005, the percentage rose to about 28.5 percent.

DOR - Historic Streets Index

census2000.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Phila City Planning Comission outline map of Philly census tracts.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/01/2007 | All aboard to ride The El

All aboard to ride The El
On Sunday, the Market Street Elevated will mark a century of service. SEPTA plans to celebrate with free rides.
By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

The Market Street subway-elevated line turns 100 years old on Sunday, and riders get the birthday gift: free trips for the afternoon.

The birth of the Market Street Line, which allowed passengers to travel easily from 69th Street to the Delaware River, linked Center City to burgeoning new development in West Philadelphia. And it helped spawn more growth west of the Schuylkill, as 69th Street Terminal sprouted in the midst of cow pastures.

Philadelphia's oldest high-speed line - which has since grown into the Market-Frankford Subway-Elevated - emerged at the dawn of intraurban rail travel, coming just a decade after the last horse-drawn car finally left the streets, following the rise of cable cars and electric trolleys. New York, Chicago and Boston already had built elevated rail lines to whisk riders above congested streets, and Philadelphia had been contemplating one since the 1890s.

Built in optimistic boom times of a city whose population was growing by 2,000 people a month, the new train line was an instant success. Within three years of its opening on March 4, 1907, the Market Street line was carrying 29 million riders a year, at a nickel a ride.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/19/2007 | Fattah's plan: Lease airport

Fattah's plan: Lease airport
He would use the proceeds of the deal to reduce the city's child poverty rate.
By Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer

Mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah wants to lease out Philadelphia International Airport and use the proceeds to fund an ambitious initiative to slash the city's child poverty rate.

Fattah, a U.S. congressman, is to unveil the idea, part of a plan he calls his "opportunity agenda," this morning. He said in an interview yesterday that the agenda would also include proposals to reduce business and wage taxes, as well as details about how to pay for the many new programs he has promised on the campaign trail.

Under Fattah's proposal, the airport would be leased to a for-profit firm, an arrangement Fattah estimated would generate $3 billion. After retiring the debt on the airport, he estimated, the city would have nearly $2 billion left to finance the new social programs.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/13/2007 | Fattah calls for studying Center City drive-in fee

Posted on Tue, Feb. 13, 2007
Fattah calls for studying Center City drive-in fee
By Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer

Mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah yesterday proposed examining a "congestion charge" that would require drivers to pay to bring their cars into traffic-clogged parts of central Philadelphia at peak hours.

Fattah offered few specifics about what his plan would cost or just how it would be implemented. He said he hoped only to "study" the idea.

"We cannot have a city in which everyone expects to be able to drive their car everywhere they want to go," Fattah said.

The Cosmopolitan Canopy -- Anderson 595 (1): 14 -- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 595, No. 1, 14-31 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0002716204266833
© 2004 American Academy of Political & Social Science
The Cosmopolitan Canopy
Elijah Anderson

University of Pennsylvania

The public spaces of the city are more racially, ethnically, and socially diverse than ever. Social distance and tension as expressed by wariness of strangers appear to be the order of the day. But the "cosmopolitan canopy" offers a respite and an opportunity for diverse peoples to come together to do their business and also to engage in "folk ethnography" that serves as a cognitive and cultural base on which people construct behavior in public.

Key Words: urban ethnography • cities • public space • race relations

Fletcher Street Photographs

Fletcher Street

Photographs by Martha Camarillo

Deep in the heart of Philadelphia, past row houses and vacant lots, run-down playgrounds and dilapidated schools, is a little place called Fletcher Street. It has everything one would expect to find down an alley in the ghetto, with one addition: horses. The men and boys of Fletcher Street have used their passion for riding and bonds with their rides to build their and their community's sense of worth. They describe their passion for horses as having kept them from the temptations of street life. Fletcher Street by Martha Camarillo documents the lives of these men and the boys they mentor, who board their horses in abandoned houses or makeshift stables, and ride them through the streets of Philly.

Camarillo's work is valuable not only because it illuminates a fascinating new aspect of culture, but also because it challenges those who see it. Her photographs force viewers to confront their own preconceptions of sport as representative of social status, and race as a demarcation of class. The power of Camarillo's exploration of this underrepresented community is based on the strength of the men themselves: urban horsemen who have ridden away from the 'hood and toward a better future.

Martha Camarillo is a self-taught photographer from Texas. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Telegraph, Numéro, Journal, i-D, and many others. Her first book, Remote Photos (Janvier/Léo Scheer, 2005), a collaboration with artist Avena Gallagher, was an in-depth look at the identity of teenage male and female models, made by giving the models themselves disposable cameras to be used by whomever they saw fit. Work from the project was exhibited at Léo Scheer Gallery, Paris, in 2005. Camarillo was the winner of the Hyères Festival 2001, and the 2002 Art Director's Award.

Horses/Photography/Urban Cowboys

Hardcover, 10 x 11.7 inches, 128 pages, 65 four-color photographs

ISBN 1-57687-328-5
$39.95 / Cnd $53.50

Look Inside
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Plan Philly: Planning Philadelphia's Future | Planning Philadelphia's Future

Planphilly is a new city planning and urban design web site for Philadelphia and the region. It will be a place you can come to for timely news about major projects being planned or under way in the city and a place to learn about, and participate in, the challenges and opportunities that our developing city faces.

PCPC Neighborhood Housing Market Area Profiles

Housing profiles of Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/12/2007 | Changing Skyline: Zoning board thumbs its nose at laws

Posted on Fri, Jan. 12, 2007
Changing Skyline: Zoning board thumbs its nose at laws
By Inga Saffron
Inquirer Architecture Critic
In the marbled corridors of Philadelphia's government, he is often invoked by nickname, sotto voce, with a touch of grievance: Lord Auspitz. In the sunny hearing room, however, it's always Mr. Chairman.
The gentleman in question is David Auspitz, the powerful head of the city Zoning Board of Adjustment. When the voluble Auspitz likes a project, he's not shy about letting his colleagues know. Just recently, he gushed about the glassy 23-story Americana, a condo building proposed for Old City by Yaron Properties. Despite one member's warnings about allowing a high-rise in a historic neighborhood, the board gave the 268-foot tower a green light.
There's just one, not-so-little hitch: The legal height limit in Old City is 65 feet. It's been that way since 2003, when City Council passed, and Mayor Street signed, a law to control the incursion of skyscrapers into a neighborhood that includes Christ Church, Betsy Ross' house, and a rich collection of cast-iron buildings.

Health: Healthy People 2010

Factors associated with intention to breastfeed among low-income, inner-city pregnant women.

Lee . "Factors associated with intention to breastfeed among low-income, inner-city pregnant women." Maternal and child health journal [1092-7875] 9.3 (2005). 253-61.

MPIP - Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project

The Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project combines two types of information to illuminate conditions and trends in our 9-county region (defined as the central cities of Philadelphia and Camden along with the Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery, and the New Jersey counties of Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem). The first is a set of social, environmental and economic indicators that portray the quality of life in the region