February 5: New property activism tool | Italian Market beer garden | Epic bus commercials

Tom Wolf picked a bi-partisan pair of appointees to fill vacancies on the state Supreme Court.

We’re geekily excited for the PDQ Property Intelligence roll-out. Soon, for a fee, you’ll be able to search all public documents on any property in Philadelphia in seconds. 

PHS is looking a bit further afield from Center City this year for some of its pop-up beer gardens, and they are considering two lots near the Italian Market.

Only 21% of US city planning departments offer online permitting. Philly’s getting there.

Seattle’s Metro Transit will be funded, in part, by carbon offsets. Here in PA, Tom Wolf has expressed interest in joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the cap and trade permit system that northeast states participate in, so this could become an option down the line.

Charles Marohn at Strong Towns, who’s trained as a traffic engineer, shows an example of a road built to the current standards of the engineering profession that is plainly unsafe for pedestrians.

Mikael Colville-Andersen shares the sequel to that epic bus commercial produced by the Danish M2 Film company, and rounds up some other cool bus commercials from around the world.

And the Golden Tea House, one of West Philly’s more popular house venues for DIY concerts, and a national destination for many touring bands, is closing up shop after two years.