October 19: Planetizen on Nutter’s planning legacy | Cleaning strike averted | Bethlehem zoning for new downtown

Planetizen interviews Gary Jastrzab of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission about Philly’s planning and zoning changes over the last seven years. These changes will all be familiar to PlanPhilly readers, but it’s striking to see them all in one place as we begin to consider the Nutter administration’s planning legacy.

The janitors’ union and Center City building owners averted a cleaning strike, inking a new four-year contract, reports Tom MacDonald. 

Holly Otterbein games out the City Council race for the two guaranteed minority party At-Large seats, widely considered to be the only competitive municipal contest this fall. 

Emily Previti at Keystone Crossroads checks in to see how the CRIZ economic development districts in Bethlehem and Lancaster are performing. CRIZ is a watered-down version of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone tax district unique to Allentown. 

Diana Nelson Jones says the success of Open Streets PGH inspired a copycat open streets event in Brentwood, a small borough outside of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. 

A vivid illustration of the case for “safe passing” laws, from the San Diego Bike Coalition. Pennsylvania passed a state law in 2012 requiring a four-foot berth for motorists to pass cyclists. 

Up in Bethlehem, officials are considering zoning the area around the long-vacant Martin Tower, formerly Bethlehem Steel’s headquarters, as a new mixed-use downtown area. 

Boston’s MBTA considers raising more revenue from expanded parking fees and “aggressive” development of station parking lots as transit-oriented development. 

WBEZ looks at how Chicago became America’s alley capital.