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You are viewing 20 articles by the author Thomas J. Walsh
Olson Urtecho resigns Planning, Zoning commissions in wake of Sestak fundraiser
Natalia Olson Urtecho, a rising star in Philadelphia public, private and nonprofit circles – with myriad connections up and down the political spectrum – resigned her volunteer posts on both the…
We're #20!
William Penn’s grid plan for Philadelphia is the 20th best city planning effort, like, ever.So says Public Servant Blog, "where politics meets reality" in the field of public service and…
Book review: The Philly Stock Exchange, and the city it left unfinished
The familiar battle between city planners and real estate developers is hardly a modern era phenomenon. In macro ways, it is as old as the United States republic – the planner…
Burning Man 2010 to feature ‘untidy hubs of social interaction’
The 2010 Burning Man festival in Northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert (Aug. 30 -- Sept. 6) will take an unlikely art theme: “Metropolis.” But then, is any theme “unlikely” if it…
Confident, proven private developers biding their time
Blatstein, Caplan, Goldman and Dranoff. It’s not a law firm. They are the names of four of Philadelphia’s most consistent, well-financed and connected private developers, and very likely the ones to…
Commercial developers have concepts drawn but markets prevent groundbreaking
Enjoying the Philadelphia skyline, with the shimmering Comcast tower punctuating the end of the 20th century? Get used to it. In late November 2008, as world markets were reeling from the…
Philly to add 100K folks within 25 years, planners say
Twenty five years ago this month, Philadelphia hosted Live Aid at the dear, departed John F. Kennedy Stadium, a sprawling venue that could jam in 100,000 people without breaking a sweat. …
Development will be topic du jour at PCPC
Tuesday's regular meeting of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission will be dominated by development proposals and another major look at how Central Delaware River development will be regulated going forward. In…
ZCC gets Module 3, the last chapter
With just a few months before the Zoning Code Commission is due to deliver the city’s first new code in decades, the mayor stopped by Wednesday morning to lend some moral…
PlanPhilly book review: “Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities”
An urban planner can learn a lot from a grizzled Irish cop. Especially when said Irish cop has spent a career in three large American cities, “from beat cop to top…
A brisk agenda for Planning Commission, sort of
Clocking in at a speedy one hour and forty minutes, Tuesday’s monthly public meeting of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission was one of the briefest since the Nutter administration took over…
Nutter breaks ground on Parkway, Temple projects
Ground was broken late Monday morning by a sizable chunk of Philadelphia’s leadership, gathered at 21st Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to celebrate three of the latest improvements to the…
Greetings from Hebi, China
Heading into the homestretch of her three-week trade mission to China with representatives of the World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia (WTCGP) and Drexel University's LeBow College of Business, Planning and…
‘Radio Times’: discussion about zoning, neighborhood issues
In advance of tonight’s third high-profile meeting of city developers and community groups, the second hour of Wednesday morning’s “Radio Times” call-in program on WHYY-FM in Philadelphia discussed citywide…
Cracks in the ice that's hemming in commercial real estate?
When developer Michael Samschick of Core Realty stood before the city Planning Commission on Dec. 8 with his architect in tow, something that’s been unusual over the past 18 months occurred:…
Postcard from the Windy City
Previous postcards: Detroit Part 1, Austin, China, San Francisco, Germany, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, New York City, Boston, San Antonio, Minneapolis,…
Reading Viaduct ‘another opportunity lost’
Lost in all the recent talk about the Reading Viaduct – the elevated, abandoned railroad bed that slices through the city from Vine Street northeast to Fairmount Avenue – is that…
One-on-one with Alan Greenberger
Photo: Next American City Magazine With the dog days of summer upon us and no August monthly meeting of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, PlanPhilly sat down last Friday, August 21,…
Springtime for Spring Garden Street (part 2)
Photo: Delaware Ave, view south (early 1929, with new Benjamin Franklin Bridge, not yet open) Part 2 of a 2-part series. (Click here for Part 1). From the Delaware River…
Hard questions, tough calls
When planners, developers, government officials, architects and real estate brokers get together to knock heads about big-picture problems, it’s often the private-side people who end up mixing things up.Are we…
