Day: February 3, 2006

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Trolleys and Buses

  By NW Philly, Philadelphia, Transportation

Another Trolley Dustup in Mt. Airy We in Mt. Airy have been having one of our periodic dust-ups with SEPTA. Without giving us any warning SEPTA covered over the trolley tracks on a few blocks of Germantown Avenue. To add insult to injury, they did this right in front of our local eatery, the Trolley Car Diner. SEPTA argued that this was the most efficient way to fix the road bed around the tracks, whose deterioration has lead to a number of accidents in the last few years. When SEPTA covered over the trolley tracks, many of us in the Northwest got upset because we want our trolley back on Route 23, which was once the longest trolley line in America and, perhaps, the world. When buses replaced the trolley SEPTA committed itself to eventually bringing the trolley back. (That same commitment recently led to the restoration of the route… Continue reading

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The Slavery of Today

  By Philadelphia, Urbanism

Activism and Serendipity I sometimes ask activists I know how they chose to get involved in a particular issue. Often the answer is serendipity. An activist had a friend who got them involved in an issue or were working for an organization that took a new issue. That is more or less how I got involved in public transit activism. SEPTA threatened to close the R8 train line, which is vital for West Mt. Airy and, at the time, I was the President of our civic organization, West Mt. Airy Neighbors. So I jumped into the frey not because I played with toy trains as a kid but because I had to do something to save the train line around which Mt. Airy grew. Continue reading

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The reforms we need now

  By Philadelphia, Politics, Progressive Politics

The Reforms We Need Now I wrote this essay in June 2005, as a way of delineating my vision of the goals of Neighborhood Networks, the grass roots political organization I helped found. I have revised it from time to time. But the basic thrust of the essay remains the same and is described in the first paragraph. I should add that the ideas in this essay have never been officially adopted by NN. But I do think they described why NN is devoted to a broad idea of reform. In light of the corruption scandals in Philadelphia, reform is in the air. But people mean very different thing by reform. As I see it, there are two kinds of reform we need in Philadelphia politics today. For want of better terms, I will call them progressive or good government reforms, on the one hand, and liberal or social justice… Continue reading