By: Shannon Curley
It’s no secret that many of Philadelphia’s public schools have the odds stacked against them. The district suffers from a teacher shortage, large class sizes, and lack of supplies. Improving education was a cornerstone of then candidate Michael Nutter’s 2007 mayoral campaign. Earlier this month, Nutter as mayor, outlined his vision for Philadelphia’s [...]

A three-day meeting is underway in Atlanta, GA where many of this region’s top civic leaders are hoping to learn how to duplicate the southern city’s successes and avoid its failures. The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia meeting began yesterday with an introduction to what’s been called the “Atlanta Way.” According it the summit blog, [...]

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said Daniel Giddings, the man who shot and killed Philadelphia police officer Patrick McDonald on Tuesday shouldn’t have been on the street. Speaking yesterday on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, Nutter said “I want to know everything about him (Giddings) and why he was even on the streets in the first [...]

How can the crime rate be lower when things seem out of control on the streets of Philadelphia? That’s what’s been going through my mind lately, especially after yesterday’s shooting death of a Philadelphia Police officer. But if you check the police website you’ll see that the homicide rate is down 20% over this time [...]

One of the big differences between former Mayor John Street and the current Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is their attitudes towards the media. For Street, his idea of media was anything on his Blackberry or IPhone. It’s too bad because there may have been things he did right but we’ll never know. He hated the [...]

The idea that where you live affects your opportunities is not new. As America’s major industrial cities began shedding jobs and population to the shiny new suburbs, cities were left to fend for themselves with smaller budgets. That had a huge impact on the quality of services government could provide. But a new book by [...]

Today the City’s Managing Director’s Office says it will sell off up to 500 city-owned cars from its 6000 car fleet in an effort to save money. The fleet reduction along with stricter rules on when city employee can drive city cars could, according to the Managing Director Camille Cates Barnett, save between $1.2 to [...]

The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia is looking for your input as it puts together its annual list of Endangered Properties.
The deadline for submission is October 1, 2008 so if you’ve been walking along in your part of town and noticed that a particularly unique, historic property is in danger - either because of neglect [...]

PlanPhilly recently wrote about a fact finding trip by some Philadelphia planners who visited the Big Apple to learn a little about its trails - water trails.
Fun fact: Philadelphia has 37 miles of shoreline, providing a great opportunity to get a unique, almost detached, view of the city from the water.  New York, with its [...]