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Philadelphians and Their Neighborhoods

Posted on April 6, 2012 by cmires

Albert Lee, one of the discussion facilitators at our recent “City of Neighborhoods, City of Homes” roundtable program, provides this account of his group’s conversation:

Make no mistake. Philadelphians are passionate. Whether it’s sports, food, or where they live, you know what they’re thinking at all times. Call it a blessing or a curse, but it’s nothing if not honest.

For the last program in the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable Series, the topic was Philadelphia: City of Neighborhoods, City of Homes.

Here is a sample of where people call home and why:

“I lived in Mayfair until I was 21. I have since moved to University City near the University of Pennsylvania. I loved NE Philly. I loved the family atmosphere and being able to converse with neighbors on our stoops. Here at U City, there are lots of students. It feels like an extension of Center City. You can get access to all kinds of cuisine. There is so much diversity and everything is at your fingertips. In Northeast Philly, everything was a little homogeneous with many moving to the suburbs. “

“I moved from the Northeast to Wissahickon and just absolutely love all the green and easy access to public transit.”

“I’ve lived in Rittenhouse for 25-30 years. I’m not a native, but my family is from here. It’s close to everything. I work in Center City. I don’t have or need a car. I just walk everywhere. I love it.”

“We’re from Minnesota and used to live in an all-white area. We have lived here for four years in Brewerytown. We wanted an adventure and we got it. Culturally, it’s an edgy place since it’s going through some big changes. We see our building as a tight-knit community because everyone is from someplace else. We have that as a bond. We’ve tried to communicate with the home-grown folks as well, a.k.a. the locals. In fact, we’ve signed another lease for three more years.”

“I grew up in Torresdale. I used to take the 66 Bus and the El everywhere. When I lived there, it wasn’t too diverse. It’s still a bit homogeneous but I’ve seen some positive change and it’s only going to get better.

“I was born in New York and lived in North Jersey. I chose to live in Philly and called Rittenhouse home since the 80s. Rittenhouse Square is such a hodgepodge. From the blue-haired ladies to the young mothers, to the artists, people talking to themselves and just the whatever – It’s all races, all economic backgrounds, it’s my favorite spot in the city.

“I don’t live in Philly but plan on moving back. My family moved here in 1955 and lived in Society Hill. In 1960, they moved to the Northeast. Everything was beginning to develop. Folks didn’t have a car until 1962. I remember taking the bus to Drexel. It’s a great city.

Thanks to Al and to all of our volunteers for making the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable series such a great success.

Planning Grant From Barra Foundation

Posted on March 28, 2009 by cmires

On March 17, 2009, the Barra Foundation approved the application of University of Pennsylvania Press for a Planning Grant for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project. This grant will allow us to launch the project with a Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on April 16-17, 2009. The workshop will create a collaborative foundation for the Encyclopedia and seek to identify points of cooperation with other projects and civic organizations. The workshop also will identify information needs and seek advice from the participants about the future form and content of the Encyclopedia. This workshop adds to the Barra Foundation’s arts and culture initiatives, such as the documentary television series with the working title America’s First Great City: Philadelphia (History Making Productions), which will be represented at the event. Additional support for the workshop comes from Southwest Airlines and the Union League of Philadelphia. For further details, see the “Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop” link on this page.

Program Update – Greater Philadelphia Roundtable

Posted on March 12, 2010 by curator

We are pleased to announce an addition to the March 18 Greater Philadelphia Roundtable, “Striving for Equality: LGBT Activism in Greater Philadelphia.” Professor William L. Hewitt, the recipient of the 2009 Bayard Rustin Compassion and Courage Award, will speak on the topic of Bayard Rustin’s activism and legacy. This evening also features a panel discussion with Stephen Glassman, chairperson, Pennsylvaina Human Relations Commission; Michael P. Williams, City of Philadelphia Law Department; and Stacey Sobel, Western State University, former executive director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania. Kathy Padilla will facilitate. (Kevin Mumford from the University of Iowa is unable to participate.) For details and registration, visit our Events page.

Program Updates – April Roundtables

Posted on March 26, 2010 by curator

We’re so pleased by the brisk registration for the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable events in April. Unfortunately, we have already reached the capacity of our room for the roundtable on April 22, “Imagining Philadelphia’s Future,” at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Please add your name to the wait list by visiting our “Events” page, and we’ll let you know if we can accommodate more people. Also, consider joining us for our other roundtables this spring. An added attraction for the roundtable on April 1 is a book-signing for Women of Industry and Reform: Shaping the History of Pennsylvania, 1865-1940, by Marion Roydhouse, published by the Pennsylvania Historical Association.

Project Milestone: 300 Topics Online

Posted on March 14, 2016 by curator

This month we passed a new milestone in the creation of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia: our 300th topic published online. Published on March 8, topic number 300, “Board of Health (Philadelphia),” by James Higgins, added to our growing category of topics about health and medicine. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many contributors, civic partners, and staff members at Rutgers-Camden who are devoting their talents and good will to the service of this resource for the Philadelphia region. Our current phase of expansion is made possible by generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust.

Project Milestone: 400 Topics Published Online

Posted on October 6, 2016 by curator

This week The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia reached and surpassed 400 topics online with the publication of the essay Community Development, by Howard Gillette Jr. and Domenic Vitiello, two of our editors. The continuing growth of this regional resource is made possible by the talents and good will of hundreds of writers, our civic partners, and the staff of editors, fact-checkers, and digital publishers working at our home base at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden. The current phase of expansion is funded by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, and Poor Richard’s Charitable Trust.

Prospectus Update

Posted on April 1, 2009 by cmires

Our Draft Prospectus has been updated to include the steps taken to launch The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia project from January through March 2009. We look forward to applying the advice of the Civic Partnership and Planning Workshop when we create the next evolution of this guiding document for the project.

Putting the Delaware River Port Authority in Context

Posted on April 10, 2013 by hgillette

News that a grand jury is considering possible corruption in the award of economic development funds by the Delaware River Port Authority to politically connected recipients makes Peter Hendee Brown’s posting on the DRPA on this site especially timely. What the DRPA is supposed to do and how it operates is hard to grasp from the many news accounts that has put the agency in the news over time. Brown provides the background that helps make sense of the agency’s central importance to the region and the structural problems that arise from its operations.

When I first returned to the area after a long absence to write a book on Camden in the late 1990s, I was surprised at the way DRPA operated, not as an agent for regional development but as a cash cow that directed funds in equal portions to Pennsylvania and New Jersey without an overall strategic plan. Some projects made immediate sense, such as refitting the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the aftermath of the government’s departure from the site. Other investments were harder to sell. Spokesmen for the agency often talked about building tourism, for instance, by making investments on both sides of the Delaware River, and some good results came from that vision as well, not the least funds that helped make the President’s House memorial in Philadelphia a reality. But building tourism—which might conceivably generate returns by increasing tolls over bridges connecting the two states—was never central to DRPA’s goal. Supporting allies and garnering political credits appears to have topped the list of priorities, to say nothing of the financial benefits that might be gained through related contracts and political donations, among other things.

As Brown indicates, the creation of the DRPA was part of a movement to remove from politics certain public investments operating as non-partisan authorities. As Louise Dyble’s devastating critique of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, Paying the Toll: Local Power, Regional Politics, and the Golden Gate Bridge, demonstrates, reigning in such authorities can be difficult indeed, and holding them accountable nearly impossible. DRPA may not reach that standard, but accountability remains a concern to the many people who continue to pay tolls into this organization’s coffers.

Whether an indictment will follow the grand jury’s investigation, DRPA deserves close scrutiny. We hope that our fellow citizens in the greater Philadelphia region will be aided in their assessment of the DRPA by Brown’s essay. Certainly, none of us have heard the last about controversies surrounding this important player in our region.

Read about Bob Skiba in the Inquirer

Posted on April 30, 2011 by cmires

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday published a front-page feature story about Bob Skiba, who helped to form our partnership with the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides. Bob is currently president of the Tour Guides and heads the archives at the William Way Community Center in Philadelphia. Read all about it. Congratulations also to the Tour Guides on completion of their recent certification training and examination — as a result, twenty-nine newly certified guides are prepared for the tourist season of 2011.

Register now for the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable

Posted on January 6, 2012 by cmires

Registration is now open for the final three programs in the “Phrasing Philadelphia” series of the Greater Philadelphia Roundtable. Please join us for these discussions and contribute your suggestions for the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia:

“City of Firsts” – Thursday, January 19, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Franklin Institute.
“Philadelphia, the Place That Loves You Back” – Wednesday, February 22, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Independence Visitor Center.
“City of Neighborhoods, City of Homes” – Wednesday, March 28, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent.

For information on all programs and to register in advance, please visit https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/events.
We look forward to your participation in this unprecedented exploration of Philadelphia’s history and experience.