Dan O’Brian | photo: Michael Persico, for Flying Kite
- Flying Kite reports on the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau’s (PCVB) initiative to make Market Street a truly sleepless corridor—ensuring that visitors enjoy their stay in Philly even after their conventions close shop for the day. PCVB—and several other groups—are realizing this “unofficial hospitality zone” by assisting, and thereby decreasing the confluence of panhandlers, helping street musicians obtain permits, beefing up video surveillance, and improving the streetscape with landscaping and blight removal. “Sometimes a visitor’s first and last impression of Philadelphia is what’s happening around the convention center,” says Danielle Cohn, PCVB’s vice president of marketing and communications. Market East represents our entire city,” she says. “If that street is doing well and thriving, that will certainly have a great spillover effect.”
- NewsWorks stops by the Navy Yard to talk to the team of high school seniors—from the Sustainability Workshop—to get a look at their solar powered hydroponic system for growing lettuce in a shipping container. This so-called “Greens-In-A-Box” is Sustainability Workshop’s entry into an urban agriculture competition organized by regional online grocer FreshDirect.
- Catalysed by December’s demolition of the Bunting House, Roxborough residents have begun the process to secure greater control over their neighborhood’s booming development, including more appropriate zoning and possibly making Roxborough a Historic Neighborhood.
About the author
Stephen Currall recently received his BA in history from Arcadia University. Before beginning doctoral studies, he is pursuing his interest in local history, specifically just how Philadelphians engage their vibrant past. Besides skimming through 18th century letters, Steve is also interested in music and travel.
