The Atlantic Cities: 

“15 Ideas for Making Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Better.

Eric Jaffe. April 4, 2013

Early last year, the Federal Railroad Administration launched NEC FUTURES — an effort to plan out the passenger rail investments needed in the Northeast Corridor through 2040. This week it released a short list of ideas [PDF] for improving the region. FRA is calling these 15 ideas “Preliminary Alternatives,” whittled down from a larger basket of about a hundred. The next step is an even smaller set of “Reasonable Alternatives,” and by early 2015 the administration is expect to arrive at what it may well call a “Single Alternative,” but what the rest of us will probably just call a decision.

NEC FUTURES is the latest attempt to prepare for growth in the country’s most important rail corridor, following the $151 billion “vision” [PDF] for the Northeast that Amtrak released last summer. The FRA has (rather wisely) chosen not to subject itself to the political ridicule that surrounded Amtrak’s price tag, but as a result it’s a bit tough to evaluate the options set forth by the administration. Generally speaking, they range from limited capacity upgrades to an enhanced high-speed service — as well as a “no build” option that more or less maintains the status quo.

The impetus for all these plans, of course, is that rail travel in the Northeast Corridor is both thriving and seemingly set to thrive even more. Amtrak ridership in the region is steadily growing, with trains now carrying a greater share of passengers than planes in the corridor, and yet there’s plenty of room for improvement. NEC FUTURES makes the case that the Northeast is also deserving of great investment given its economic importance to the country — generating a fifth of the nation’s G.D.P., according to an FRA chart.”

Photo: Reuters

“Philadelphia’s Katherine Gajewski is turning a gritty city green

By Darby Minow Smith. Sept 21, 2012

Katherine Gajewski was just 29 years old when Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter asked her to take on the role of city sustainability director. “I was concerned that people wouldn’t take me seriously,” she says. Three years later, those fears have all but disappeared. Using limited staff and resources, her office works long days to earn Philly a green reputation. “Once people see that you’re really serious and you’re working really hard, age isn’t a factor,” she says.

Gajewski works to implement the ambitious city-wide Greenworks Philadelphia plan [PDF], directs a five-county energy-efficiency program, and even organizes a social group of city employees nicknamed the “Young-ish City Government Workers.” For episode 2 of our Knope and change series, about women who are leading the charge to make our cities more sustainable, Gajewski tells Grist about Philly’s lovely bones and her vision for the future (while also making everyone here feel a bit unaccomplished-ish).

Q. Philadelphia has a rep for being a gritty city.

A. And we’re a really old city. We have great bones — modest-sized, energy-efficient row homes, an extensive public transit system, a really low car ownership rate, a 9,200-acre park system. Those are the type of bones that make for a sustainable city. We’re not a new city that’s building new. We were designed and built smart the first time around. That just happened to be 300 years ago.

We’re a very diverse city. We’re a very poor city. Twenty-five percent of our population is at or below the poverty level. The work we’ve been doing and planning to do raises interesting questions about what people think of as a sustainable city: What kind of environment can provide the highest quality of life and best environmental outcomes? It has cities thinking differently about themselves.

Q. What’s Philly doing that’s unique?

A. Over 1,000 communities in the United States are in non-compliance with the Clean Water Act because of old sewer systems that, in heavy rain events, mix outlets of cities’ wastewater into the waterways. Traditionally, [to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act], that’s meant billion-dollar plans that increase the piping and sewer systems underground so that excess water can be moved through bigger pipes.

Instead of just increasing our grey infrastructure, we’re spending about $2 billion over the next 20-25 years to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act with green infrastructure. We are the first plan of this scale to have approval from the EPA. [The city will use a variety of methods and projects — green roofs, rain gardens, streets with porous pavement, etc. — to slow, absorb, and evaporate stormwater before it overwhelms the sewers.] We are literally transforming half of the city to do this.”

Via: Grist

Photo: Katherine Gajewski.

“The Tricky Politics of Vacant Lots

Nate Berg. Sep 24 2012

The empty lot next door to Ori Feibush’s coffee shop in Philadelphia’s Point Breeze neighborhood wasn’t really empty. Though vacant, it was full of garbage and overgrown vegetation that made it – like many vacant lots in cities around the world – into a potentially dangerous eyesore. So Feibush did something about it.

After efforts to get the city to clean up the site failed to progress, Feibush took the cleanup efforts into his own hands, removing, he says, upwards of 40 tons of debris from the site. He also leveled parts of the ground, planted trees, built picnic benches, sidewalks and fencing. He invested roughly $20,000 to turn the vacant land into a small neighborhood park. Neighbors were ecstatic.

Less pleased was the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, owner of the lot. They contend that Feibush – also a real estate developer in the area – trespassed on their property and illegally transformed a piece of land he had no legal right to use. “Like any property owner, [the authority] does not permit unauthorized access to or alteration of its property,” a Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority spokesperson told the Daily News. The PRA claims that Feibush had not made any efforts to express interest in the site or the possibility of buying it.

This is a clear instance of good Samaritanism, but it’s also a smart business move. Cleaner, more friendly environments tend to draw more people to a place. And as this recent research shows, even making moderate cleanup efforts to vacant lots can dramatically reduce crime in the surrounding area.

But it’s also a clear case of someone illegally using land that does not belong to them. The Redevelopment Authority is threatening legal action against Feibush, demanding that the site be returned to its original condition. That probably doesn’t mean putting back the 40 tons of garbage and overgrown brush, but it likely will mean re-vacating the lot and closing off access to the public – thereby reducing any liability for accidents or incidents on the site.

Though the intent here was a good one – cleaning up a blighted, garbage filled lot and replacing it with a park – it also creates an unplanned administrative headache for the owner of the site. It’s a shame that the two sides – those with the energy and means and those with the deed to the land – couldn’t have come together to jointly address the issue. Instead, the owner will likely get its way and a community amenity may go back to being a neighborhood disadvantage.”

Via: The Atlantic Cities

Photo:  Flickr user The Shopping Sherpa

“Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture

Silvia Gugu. Sept 17, 2012

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedom Park in New York City is finally approaching completion, with the official opening scheduled for October 24. The latest photographs convey the unmistakable mastery of space demonstrated by the architect Louis Kahn, who designed the park right before his sudden death at 73. Kahn’s only project in New York City, the park embodies the architect’s reverence for President Roosevelt, with whom he shared the desire to enrich the lives of all people.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, Kahn’s belief in the social role of architecture is the subject of a new exhibition running September 8, 2012, to January 6, 2013. Suggestively titled “The Power of Architecture,” it is staged at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam. Read more.

The first retrospective of the American master’s work since 1969, the exhibition is organized into six major themes, showing the vast diversity of Kahn’s projects. Through architectural models, drawings, photographs, plans of 40 of his projects, and information about the influences in his work, alongside videos and publications written on or by him, the curators strive to reveal the stories behind his buildings. Visitors can expect to be surprised by themes that are not usually associated with Kahn’s work, including biophysics and engineering, as well as visions for the city of Philadelphia.

Sponsored by Swarovski, the show is curated by the NAI, the Vitra Design Museum, and the University of Pennsylvania (Kahn’s alma matter). “A song of praise to the beauty, strength and consolation that good architecture can offer,” the exhibition reminds the public how important architecture can be for society, in a time when many think the future of the profession should be re-envisioned.”

Via: Architizer

Photo: Government Building Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962-1986). Image © Raymond Meier

“WAYS & MEANS: Disrupting City Hall to Open Government

MARK ALAN HUGHES | NEXT AMERICAN CITY

August 21, 2012

You probably know more about the locale for tomorrow night’s House Hunters International, or the flavors on next week’s Cupcake Wars, than you do about construction planned for across your street or building code violations on your block.

Ever since Walter Annenberg invented TV Guide (in Philadelphia, by the way), the accessibility of programming data has been continuously improved. And since one thing leads to the next, these days you can access that TV schedule from a device in your pocket and then program your DVR to record shows, post the fact that you’ve scheduled a recording on social media, etc., etc. and, let me just say, etc.

The technology that enables this very contemporary reality TV-topia isn’t restricted to one’s viewing habits. Innovations in digital media and wireless technology have literally remade how we consume information, putting formerly ubiquitous technologies such as the traditional boob tube on the fast train to obsolescence, “disrupting” the existing market and, in turn, the way we perform basic activities.

In Philadelphia, there has been lots of talk — and progress — about disrupting the way we as citizens interact with our government. In particular, there has been quite a bit of interest in open data — or the release of data by governments, transit agencies and others to empower citizens and engage entrepreneurs.

It turns out that someone in City Hall was listening to all the clamor. Under the leadership of Commissioner Carlton Williams, the Department of Licenses and Inspections has launched a new public tool that provides meaningful access to data, allowing people to search and map information from a huge list of topics: Vacancy and code violations, building permits, zoning appeals, food licenses, sign permits and so on.

On its face, this is pretty simple stuff: Taking information that has been around for decades, even centuries, and simply putting it into a map on a web-accessible screen. There are similar moves happening in local government, such as the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Philly LandWorks simple tool for finding and buying property, and the Office of Property Assessment’s Property Search simple tool for determining the assessed value and taxes due on property.

But this simplicity is deceiving. These tools could be the “disruptive technology” we’ve been waiting for, and could very well rock the status quo by the very virtue of their slightly retrograde simplicity. (The key citation here is Clayton Christensen’s 1997 book, The Innovators Dilemma.)

The layering and accessibility of these data sets have the potential to change the practice of both policymakers and private citizens, as well as how these two relate to each other.”

Via: Next American City

Image: An interactive map gives data about the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections, such as the L&I violations shown in this screen grab. Credit: City of Philadelphia

“In Philadelphia, a Porch for an Entire City

Kaid Benfield. Aug 9, 2012

If you care about green cities, you have to like a lot of what’s happening in Philadelphia lately, from land use planning to watershed management to the greening of vacant and blighted lots and, now, the opening of a lively new public space that makes the city a better place to live, work and visit. In particular, last week I learned about The Porch at 30th Street Station, a very promising new plaza just outside the city’s iconic train station. The creation of University City District, an organization dedicated to revitalization and community improvement, The Porch opened last fall and has been hopping all summer with activity. It is at once ambitious and low-key.

The new 50-foot-wide, block-long plaza replaces an unnecessary outer parking lane and barren sidewalk on one side of the station with seating, tables, shade, plantings and, depending on the week or day, perhaps music, a farmers’ market, a beer garden, or even miniature golf.  It is ambitious because, in its statement when The Porch opened, UCD said that it “sees this new space as Philadelphia’s front porch, a welcoming entryway to the city, as well as a place to linger and socialize, and to entertain and be entertained. The Porch serves to balance the indoor grandeur of 30th Street Station with the wonder and expanse of Philadelphia.

What a great idea. The space is adjacent to the country’s third busiest train station and within easy walking distance of over 16,000 jobs. UCD’s executive director, Matt Bergheiser, says that 1,800 pedestrians on average stroll along the sidewalk every hour on weekdays. With some nine acres of developable land now covered only by surface parking lots, the area also has the potential for further walkable development linking Center City, the station, and University City. 

According to a fact sheet on the project, UCD was able to take advantage of a larger state transportation project to rehabilitate six bridges adjacent to 30th Street Station. Key partners highlighted in the fact sheet include Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the city’s Streets Department, Amtrak, and Brandywine Realty Trust. ”

Via: The Atlantic Cities

Photo: Courtesy of Shaping Spaces

“Reimagining an Entire Neighborhood Through Murals

LUKE BARLEY AUG 02, 2012

The dynamics of a band of musicians playing jazz depend heavily on communication, both verbal and nonverbal. All players involved need to listen to and respond in the moment, hanging onto the musical structures of rhythm and melody to bring a group of sounds into a cohesive whole.

The Dutch art duo Haas and Hahn, comprised of Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, have embarked on a mural project that is strikingly similar to the high wire act of jazz improvisation.

The artists were commissioned by the City of Philadelphia and its Mural Arts Program to paint a section of Germantown Avenue as part of an ongoing revitalization effort targeted at stagnant commercial corridors. Located in the central part of North Philadelphia a few blocks east of Broad Street, the neighborhood is better known for its abandoned houses than its arts scene. The pair began the project a year ago, moving into a tiny white house directly behind the Village of Arts & Humanities.

Urhahn credits El Sawyer at the Village of Arts & Humanities, a community-based nonprofit organization dedicated to neighborhood revitalization through the arts, with orchestrating the duo’s introduction to the neighborhood. “We didn’t just show up and start painting. We showed up and started making friends, talked to people, tried to get to know the neighborhood,” says Urhahn. “Basically the first half-year we talked to everybody form the police officers to the guys on the corner and everyone in between. Especially the store owners.”

Starting a dialog with the store owners was an integral part of the process, says Urhahn. Participating owners so far have not only given permission to paint their storefronts, but also collaborated on the design process. The owners have had final say on what colors and design schemes are implemented on their façades.

Some store owners have refused to participate in the project, only to change their minds after the storefronts around them are painted.

The entire project is based on the likelihood of such occurrences. “The whole concept of the design is built around the idea that change can happen,” says Jeroen. “Maybe you plan on painting something and then you’re not able to paint it, or the other way around… because of that it’s growing and becoming different.”

The project also employs local residents, as contractors certified to operate lifts, to do the actual painting. Demand for the work has been so high that flyers had to be posted saying that Haas and Hahn were no longer hiring in order to not be interrupted while painting. 

“The point is not to change the neighborhood,” Urhahn says. “We don’t bring answers, we have to define questions and to start the conversation.”

Via: The Atlantic Cities

Photo: K. Scott Kreider

“The Rise of Economic Segregation

Emily Badger. Aug 2, 2012

Income inequality has been on the rise in America for several decades now (for complicated reasons that we’ll let Richard Florida explain), and the trend has been starker in some regions of the country, and in some cities, relative to others. Now, however, we are also beginning to see – all the way down to the neighborhood level – that America’s growing gap between the rich and poor is also affecting where (and with whom) we live.

A new report from the Pew Research Center documents that it’s not just income inequality that’s increasing. Residential segregation by income is, too.

“Growing income inequality does not automatically lead to growing residential segregation by income. Conceivably, we could still have a middle class hollowing out but people still living in mixed neighborhoods,” says Paul Taylor, one of the report’s authors. Turns out this is not, however, what is happening. As Americans are growing farther apart on the income scale, we are also effectively moving apart from each other within cities, into our own economic enclaves. So why is that? The answer, Taylor says, may lie more in human behavior than economic data.

“We know over the whole entirety of human history that people have a tremendous tendency to cluster among themselves, whether in tribes, whether in nations,” Taylor says. “Like attracts like. That’s not always the case for some people who value diversity. But it’s sort of hardwired into human nature.”

In 1980, the report found, 85 percent of census tracts in America were either predominantly middle-class or mixed-income (this is a pretty impressive number). As of 2010, that figure had fallen to 76 percent. Today, considerably more upper-income Americans live in neighborhoods where the majority of their neighbors are upper-income, too (18 percent, up from 8 percent in 1980). And lower-income households are increasingly clustered in the same neighborhoods, as well (28 percent, up from 23 percent in 1980).

Combine these two effects, and residential income segregation has been increasing in 27 of the 30 largest cities in the U.S. over the last three decades. Looking at census tracts from 2010, 41 percent of lower-income households in the New York metropolitan area were economically “segregated” in low-income communities. At the other end of the spectrum, Houston has the highest share of upper-income households – at 24 percent – living mostly among their own kind, too.”

Via: The Atlantic Cities

Map: Pew Research Center

“Planning Commission adopts Central Delaware Master Plan

March 6, 2012. Kellie Patrick Gates

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission unanimously adopted the Master Plan for the Central Delaware Waterfront in its entirety, on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s an ambitious plan,” said Commission Vice Chairman Joe Syrnick before the vote. “It’s not perfect, but this area has languished for far too long, and it needs a road map for moving forward.”

The action was a great relief to advocates for the master plan - which aims to reunite the city and the waterfront with a system of linked parks and extended city streets - and the quasi-city agency that oversaw its development.

As recently as Saturday, top planning staff was still in discussion over whether to recommend that the commission adopt the full plan or accept portions on the northern and southern end. See previous coverage here and here.

Because it was adopted, the Central Delware Plan is now part of the city’s comprehensive plan. It must be considered by any city governing body - such as City Council or the Zoning Board of Adjustment -  when making a waterfront decision. Had the plan been accepted instead, consideration would have been optional.

“We’re thrilled,” said Matt Ruben, chairman of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, which is comprised of representatives from waterfront civic and other organizations and advocates for the vision the public expressed for the central Delaware during years of public input sessions.

CDAG and other fans of the plan say it will re-tie the city to the waterfront, create new recreational and green space and spur economic growth. Queen Village Neighbors Association President Jeff Hornstein told commissioners that his is one of the communities most cut-off from the waterfront by the creation of I-95. “We see the plan as a remedy,” he said.”

Via: PlanPhilly