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New book explores the 1950s transformation of Southwest Philadelphia and the social and environmental grassroots efforts that guided and opposed it

Will Caverly was one of the thousands of people who flocked to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum during the COVID-19 pandemic. And like most of those people, he didn’t know much about Eastwick, the neighborhood next door. He wasn’t aware how, during the mid-20th century, it was the site of the largest

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5 mins read
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Editor’s Notes: Parks Need a Hero

Every year the Trust for Public Land releases its ParkScore ratings, and every year Philadelphians have something to be disappointed about: how little the City spends on its parks. ParkScore ranks the 100 most populous cities in the country using a list of measures gauging the size of the park system (acreage), what the parks

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2 mins read
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Here’s what was — and wasn’t — mentioned in the Parks & Recreation budget hearing

On April 16, halfway through the City of Philadelphia’s annual budget hearings, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation answered City Councilmembers’ questions centering safety and the future of the department’s more than 500 facilities. The department is requesting nearly $7.4 million less than last year largely because, as commissioner Susan Slawson testified, the FY2025 budget included one-time

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5 mins read
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Multi-use trail on track to connect Wissahickon Valley Park to Fort Washington along an abandoned railroad right-of-way

When Robert Thomas, 78, was 11 years old, he envisioned a hiking trail in Northwest Philadelphia that would follow the corridor of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s abandoned Fort Washington branch. He even gave a presentation about the idea to his sixth-grade class. “It was my first feasibility study for a trail: ‘Why we should connect the

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2 mins read
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A gap persists between Philadelphians and their parks

For more than a decade, Philadelphia-based artist and educator Shira Walinsky has taken an interest in the lives of immigrants in the city. In 2016, she and fellow artist Laura Deutch teamed up to chronicle “47 Stories” from SEPTA’s Route 47 bus, which shuttles between immigrant communities in South Philadelphia and Olney. Riders talked to

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8 mins read
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Up Through the Ranks

Philadelphia climbed four spots in the Trust for Public Land’s latest ParkScore index, released today, May 21, rising in the rankings from 32 to 28 out of the country’s 100 most populous cities. The index scores city park systems in subcategories such as access, acreage, amenities, investment and equity. Two factors explain Philadelphia’s rise through

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1 min read
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The History of the Delaware River Deepening

Have you ever looked down into the depths of the Delaware River and thought, “It could be deeper”? The likely answer is no. Just last fall, however, The Port of Philadelphia released part of a 15-year plan to expand the port that includes dredging and deepening the Delaware River an additional five feet to a

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3 mins read
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