Articles
You are viewing 9 articles concerning Desolate to Dynamic
Special Report: Salvation, optimism and perseverance in Eastern North Philadelphia
On June 3, 1993, Norma Morales and her three children woke up on a mattress on the floor of a drafty two-bedroom apartment in the Parkside section of West Philadelphia. They…
How APM turned growing pains into gains
It is hard to imagine what Eastern North Philadelphia would look like today without Jesus Sierra, the city worker who in 1970 founded Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha and built it into…
Special Report: How the city serves Eastern North Philadelphia
The handball court on the 2300 block of N. 5th Street is not much to look at. Weeds grow out of cracks in the pavement. The tiny playground beside the court…
The rewards of redevelopment: stabilization and safety
A five-minute tour of Eastern North Philadelphia is enough to convince most anyone that the neighborhood is on the rebound: the abundance of newly built homes and cleaned and greened lots…
Special Report: A surprising mix of bricks, mortar and imagination
On a six-block stretch of Berks Street just east of Temple University, the past, present and future of low-income architecture and urban planning is on display. It is a mixed picture.…
Special Report: APM set its own rules
In a city like Philadelphia, where big deals still get hammered out in back rooms and close ties to politicians are a basic part of doing business, even the well intentioned…
Special Report: A new face on race relations
In the 1970s the city of Philadelphia was less a melting pot than a cauldron: a combustible mix of ethnic and racial tension, economic collapse and an aggressive police force that…
Vacancy victories are rare, but city says reform is coming
For experienced and savvy developers like Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, navigating Philadelphia's bewildering system for acquiring and developing vacant land is a tedious chore, but doable. For developers who are…
Special Report: Vacant land, focused plans
In the 1990s, the best that could be said of Eastern North Philadelphia was that there was almost nothing there. Acres of vacant land stretched in all directions, the empty expanse…
