March 9: Market East revival | Domb eyes Council | School bus cameras | Suspicious homesteaders

Jeff Gammage has an excellent, long piece on Market East’s difficulties since the 1960’s, and the exciting prospects for a big comeback. What do readers think? Will the Gallery’s design and orientation to the street still present challenges even if the stores are more upscale, or won’t that be an issue?

And don’t miss Bob Ford’s gut-puncher of a piece on Tom Palermo’s tragic cycling death, which looks at the hazards of city biking and the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities’ lonely efforts to improve street conditions for cyclists. “We’re making headway when, frankly, the political support is not always there,” says Andrew Stober.

Powerful condo developer Allan Domb may jump in the race for City Council At-Large.

People parking on the curb in Philly may soon be able to pay by phone.

If the city’s Homestead Exemption for property taxes is only supposed to be for people who live in their homes, what are these people with out-of-state mailing addresses doing on the application list?

Rep. Curtis Thomas has sponsored a bill to put traffic enforcement cameras on school buses. 

Here’s an old SEPTA map from 1976, when commuter rail service was still run by the Reading Company and Penn Central.

Joshua McCarty at Strong Towns wonders why, if reducing drunk driving is a priority, zoning codes allow bars that are only practically accessible by car.