March 13: Citizen Sam | The fanciest building | Surface parking craters | Progressive insurance

Scannapieco Development Corp broke ground on what is surely Philly’s fanciest building. Bonus points for robot parking.

Patrick Kerkstra admires the substance Citizen Sam Katz is bringing to the Mayoral race as a non-candidate.

Food Republic looks at how East Passyunk Ave became one of America’s most exciting foodie streets with the help of PARC, and the East Passyunk BID (and Vince Fumo.)

A fun map looks at which prices each state is most obsessed with, and for Pennsylvania, it’s liquor licenses. Last summer I explained why Pennsylvania’s liquor licenses are so expensive.

Mark Dent has an excellent take on our uncompetitive City Council elections, particular District elections that decide many of the land use and planning issues we cover. 

Camden’s nominated for the dubious distinction of having the nation’s worst surface parking crater in Streetsblog’s annual Parking Madness competition. Vote for your favorite parking crater here.

Lisa Nisenson on tech’s role in “transportation demand management” or TDM strategies – a hot new buzzword you’re about to start hearing a lot.

Ride-hailing services are among those TDM strategies, but insurance issues have been a sticking point because insurance companies have been hesistant to cover Lyft and Uber X drivers who alternate between personal trips and commercial activity. So it’s interesting that Progressive Insurance is piloting a new insurance product that tries to address the issue.