On a chilly night in February, a group of young people gathered on the steps of City Hall, armed with hand-painted artwork, prepared speeches, chants and community speakers; the Philly Thrive interns had organized a press conference to support housing justice in Grays Ferry. They were calling on City Council to support affordable housing legislation
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On November 2, Grid journalist Jason N. Peters walked seven miles throughout Philadelphia, interviewing voters about tomorrow’s election. 67 people responded to an in-person survey and another 33 filled out online forms. To win all 20 of Pennsylvania’s votes in the electoral college, a simple majority must be won by either Donald Trump or Joe
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Politics are personal to Malcolm Kenyatta, a third-generation community activist born and raised in North Philadelphia. Kenyatta began his career in civic activism as a block captain at 11 years old, and he worked his way up the political ladder over the next few decades, studying political science at Temple and Drexel universities and serving
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Every day when I bike home from work, I pause at the corner of 11th and Spruce and look at the all-white "ghost" bike placed there to memorialize Emily Fredericks, who lost her life while biking at that intersection. It's a place where I momentarily reflect on the fragility of life and remind myself not
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Several days ago, our neighbors gave birth to a baby girl. My wife and I were discussing our newest and tiniest neighbor with our three year-old daughter, who suggested that we should bring a gift. “We could give her one of our books that we don’t like,” she suggested. Her unguarded offer, at once both generous
MoreIt’s not only the beginning of a new year, but the dawn of a decade. Time for fresh starts, kept promises and discarding all the stuff from the aughties that Americans would do better without (Hummers, commercially-made sausages wrapped in chocolate chip pancakes, Nickelback, Ed Hardy t-shirts, bottled water, to name a few.) Grid asked
MoreIn December, the City Council voted 17-0 to pass Bill No. 080025, introduced by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. The bill requires LEED-silver standards for all government construction projects over 10,000 square feet that are primarily funded by city capital dollars and controlled by the city. The measure is an important step towards reaching the Target
MorePhiladelphia's Director of Sustainability, Mark Alan Hughes, answers our readersThis month's column is my last as Director of Sustainability and my question comes from the editors of GridQ: What is the most important or surprising lesson you’ve learned during your time as Director of Sustainability?
MoreMayor Nutter announced his plans for making Philadelphia the “greenest” city in America last month, highlighting five areas of interest and 150 initiatives he hopes to achieve by 2015. He has defined the ambitious plan as a restructuring of Philadelphia towards a “green economy,” which, if it lives up to its alternate meanings, could definitely
MorePhiladelphia's Director of Sustainability, Mark Alan Hughes, answers our readersQ: The tax abatement costs the city millions in revenue, and discourages the renewal of existing buildings, thus causing the waste of huge amounts of energy and new construction material, while not requiring any more labor (that is, it doesn’t create jobs compared to restoring existing
MoreCan paperless government work in Philly?by Brian James KirkLong lines and mountains of paperwork await citizens seeking licenses and grants, trying to establish businesses or hoping to renovate their homes. City workers tap away at keyboards full-time, entering the requests into computers. The paperwork is then shipped to storage facilities to gather dust.
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