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Inga Saffron

@IngaSaffron

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Pulitzer Prize-winning Arch. critic @Phillyinquirer . Author of “Becoming Philadelphia,” 20 years of columns, from @rutgersupress ingasaffron @gmail .com

Philadelphia
Joined July 2010
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
It was clear since Moynihan Train Hall opened that the waiting area was too small and didn’t have enough seats. Today, the waiting room is full and dozens of travelers are sitting on the floor. @NYGovCuomo
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 months
The tension between growth and gentrification as expressed in two murals
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
I am always grateful to come home to Philly's awe-inspiring train station, with its generous and accessible seating, ample space for traveler flow and grand civic architecture. (h/t @HiddenCityPhila for the great photo)
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
First photo was taken at a construction site on NY’s Fifth Avenue. Second, on Philly’s Walnut Street. One city prioritizes pedestrians, the other doesn’t care if you die wading into traffic.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 months
Philly has three times the number of traffic deaths per capita as NYC and twice as many as Boston.
@SenatorSaval
Senator Nikil Saval
2 months
It bears stating plainly that these tragic occurrences can be avoided. The city needs to take proactive steps—invest in Vision Zero and create truly separated bike lanes, which protect cyclists as well pedestrians on adjacent sidewalks. (3/4)
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
8 months
I’ve been car-free in Philly for 30 years. Raised a child, saved enough money to pay her college tuition and take some nice vacations. Never looked back (except when crossing the street)
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
I’m angry at people like this who won’t let new, modern apartment buildings be built in their neighborhood and prioritize parking over places for people to live.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
8 months
Maybe you thought US learned its lesson about ramming highways thru cities. Maybe you thought we were starting to get serious about climate change. Then you haven’t looked at PennDot’s study for rebuilding I-95 in Philly. I did & here’s my column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 months
Only three years ago, the president of @UArts took me on a tour to show off the $3 million renovation of the Philly Art Alliance. How did they get from there to bankruptcy? We’re not just losing a university, but a whole arts ecosystem.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
I’m so glad the Pine Street bike lane was finally repaved so all the Uber and Lyft drivers could have a nice smooth surface to wait for their pick-ups.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 years
Can this happen in every city?
@MunicipalWorld
MUNICIPAL WORLD
6 years
The majority of Ottawa city councillors have committed to travel solely using public transit for the entire week, to gain first-hand experience of what riders go through daily.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
Like if you want to save Philly’s Jewelers Row...
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
7 months
Nearly every museum along Independence Mall has failed or nearly failed, going back to The Living History Museum built for the Bicentennial. To think, they removed three blocks of good city buildings to create an incredibly boring lawn that no one visits most days of the year.
@PhillyInquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
7 months
The American Bible Society is shutting down its $60 million Center City museum after 3 years.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Bye, bye canal.😢
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Philadelphia just created a big new hub for its Megabus service. And like the old stop, there’s no shelter, no benches, no trash cans and no restrooms. Intercity bus passengers deserve better. My column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
Remember when the Kenney Administration was going to require safe pedestrian passage at construction sites? This blockage is on the 1700 block of Walnut, the busiest retail street in Philly.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
10 months
No wonder it’s been a record year for pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in Philly
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 years
For half the price of a boring energy-guzzling digital screen, Amtrak could hire a Philly company to build a cloud-controller modern clipboard. #savethesign
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
It’s such a thrill to see the cover of my book even if there is still nine months to go before Rutgers University Press brings it out. It’s a collection of 90 columns from the last (gulp!) 20 years, plus a long essay about how Philly has changed in that period.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
When the head of a public radio station makes $757,000 a year and the staff makes 🥜🥜🥜....
@WHYYunion
WHYY Union
5 years
Big news out of Philly this morning! Content creators at @whyy are unionizing with @sagaftra . More than 80 percent of us signed the union recognition petition, and today we delivered that petition to management. Here’s why we’re organizing. #WeMakeWHYY
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 months
It’s just awful to allow the demolition of Philly’s Colonial-era buildings simply because the long-time owners can make more money tearing them down.
@HiddenCityPhila
Hidden City Phila
5 months
Demolition Permits Issued for Revolution-era Stortz Buildings in Old City One of Philadelphia’s oldest industrial landmarks to be razed with no development plan in the works. Kyle Bagenstose has the details.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
Five minutes into Rem Koolhaas’ “Countryside, the Future” @Guggenheim I realize it’s complete BS, an incoherent stew of cherry-picked ideas, random examples and contradictory arguments. How does this guy get to take over FLW’s spiral for this?
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
10 months
1) Philly city planning staff testified at today’s Civic Design Review meeting of the proposed Sixers arena that 10 and 11th Streets would have to be closed before and after every event for crowd control. That suggests the site isn’t big enough for this use.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 months
PennDot cannot be trusted. The widening of I95 won’t just destroy these popular ball fields, it will Bigfoot thriving city neighborhoods and further cut them off from the waterfront.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
“Rarely has a single government decision unleashed such chaos. What’s happening on Market Street is a humanitarian disaster, a municipal disgrace, an economic assault on struggling businesses, and a major blow to SEPTA.” My column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
I love the new Grays Ferry Ave protected bike lane - except for the cars parked as far as the eye can see. @BartramsGarden @PhillyOTIS @bcgp
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
8 months
You wouldn’t want to promote story hour without the approval of the mayor’s comms people
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
If the city of Philadelphia or @PhilaHsgAuthPHA simply bought this portfolio for $7 mill, they could create 35 affordable houses for $200,000 apiece - less than half of what costs to build a new affordable unit. Even if they do need work.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
How beautiful Philly’s Logan Square looks with a canal going past the LDS temple and Free Library. (Formerly I676)
@F3DosEquis
F3DosEquis / Curtis Hoberman
3 years
9/2/21 Aerial View of The Vine Street Expressway River Philadelphia, PA (A civic improvement?) @r_barc @AIANational @AIAPhiladelphia @AIANJ @PhilaArchCenter @PHLPlanDevelop @IngaSaffron @chiarchitecture @BlairKamin
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Waiting for dedication of new Headhouse ‘Plaza’ and attendees are all waiting in shade of Twisted Tail, because , duh,no shade on plaza.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Say a final goodbye to the Belmont Plateau sugar maple, which is being removed any day now. After 90-plus years the tree that framed the Philly skyline has seen a lot of change. Blame the climate crisis for its early demise.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 years
When you privatize a park, it becomes a business, endlessly seeking new revenue.
@StreetsDept
Conrad Benner
6 years
Bad Leadership Leads to A Starbucks Being Built in Dilworth Park
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
If a regular motorist kills a pedestrian, Philly police will release the driver's name. Why won't they do the same when a police officer in an official vehicle kills a pedestrian? So many unanswered questions.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 month
It’s insane that @JoshShapiroPA wants to destroy 2 Philly rec facilities to widen I-95. But if there is no other way to repair the span, the least @PennDOTSec can do is pay to rebuild them elsewhere. It’s a rounding error in a massive project like this.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Wawa, the destroyer…
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
9 months
Imagine how great a city Philly would be if it cracked down on tax delinquents, required owners to maintain their buildings and put vacant properties back on the tax rolls. We’d have more housing and less blight. Good story from @wbender99 and @rw_briggs
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 months
This sentence from a recent federal report on bike lane safety!
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
I can’t believe that Philly officials are going to be clearing the Parkway encampments at the exact same moment the Delaware waterfront manager is picking a developer for Penn’s Landing.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
The pandemic is a chance to re-set Philadelphia’s relationship with the car, and its traffic engineers have some great ideas. Will Jim Kenney listen? My column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
I can’t imagine any other city, big or small, where the mayor would not be at the media briefing.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
10 months
V sorry to see my neighbors reject this variance for a cafe over fears of traffic. Don’t they realize there is a business on every corner of Lombard - Pub&Kitchen, Doobies, Rival Bros., Cafe Lutece, a barber - and we love these amenities?
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 months
Septa’s 30th St station sparkles. Amtrak’s magnificent train hall is getting a chef-driven restaurant to attract locals. So when is Philly going to do something about the abysmal conditions for intercity bus travelers? My column explores all the issues.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
Wow. New York's MTA, Amtrak and New Jersey transit issue a joint report saying that the existence of Madison Square Garden on top of Penn Station is hindering their transit operations.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Let the record reflect that a Habitat for Humanity affordable housing project in N. Philly was rejected so a neighborhood could preserve a small parking lot, in a area with a surfeit of on-street parking.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
Philly, like many places, is facing a heat emergency this week, so it seems like a good time to repost this 2021 column on our failure to adapt to the new climate reality.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
When I wrote this piece in 2009, proposing a "Philly Dig" to get rid of I-95 in Central Philadelphia, so many people told me I was nuts. Just stumbled upon it and it still seems like a perfectly reasonable idea.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
It’s crazy to think that DuPont manage to run a research campus without a giant parking garage, but Pennovation needs a 10-story, 858-space multi-deck behemoth. How hard would it be to create a shuttle or walking route from University City station?
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
11 months
Even if I didn’t know him as my daughter’s former 6th grade science teacher, this is just a horrible tragedy. It’s been the worst year in a long time for Philly bicycle and pedestrian fatalities. We need a big change in driving culture. Slow down, please.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 months
How is it ethical for Philly’s managing directing to hold two outside consulting gigs without disclosing the names of his clients? That makes it impossible determine if a conflict exists. Good reporting from @rw_briggs and @anna_orso
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 month
Maybe the most shocking detail in the Design Impact study for the Sixers arena is that the team never provided a rendering or elevation drawing of the north facade - the one that would face Chinatown.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
When are we going to start designing parks and buildings that recognize climate change is really happening? My review of Headhouse Plaza.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
Remember when Minneapolis ended single-family zoning and became the poster child for equity?
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
My column on Wawa and its colonization of central Philadelphia.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 months
Philly’s government is so in thrall to development that it refuses to provide oversight of new construction, and now some of its poorest residents are losing their homes to irresponsible contractors. @samanthamelamed reports on the latest collapse.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 months
So much for claims that the Sixers arena would not require any city subsidies. Great reporting from @sbcmw
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
Lots of cities are removing their downtown highways. Philly’s I-95 is being built back bigger, even as the adjacent neighborhoods bounce back. My column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
That’s what local news can do!
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
8 months
This would take so much traffic off the highway
@BlvdSubway
Roosevelt Blvd Subway
8 months
@IngaSaffron We should be building things that will connect communities and encourage economic growth like the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway! Instead, they want to widen highways.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 months
Just two years ago @UArts raised a record $67 million from donors!
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 years
If anyone tried to build townhouses in the historic park behind Independence Hall, people would go nuts. Yet that’s what is happening to these important Underground Railroad buildings in Plymouth Meeting. Attn: @JamesMartinSJ
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
11 months
Bad day for poor people who need housing in Philly and its burbs.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Making construction sites safe for pedestrians was going to be one of @JimFKenney big initiatives when he was elected mayor. Like a lot else, it didn’t happen.
@StreetsDept
Conrad Benner
3 years
HOW is there not a protected path for pedestrians at Broad and Spring Garden during this construction?! @PhilaStreets
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
7 months
We are the only city in the country with four teams in the same place, accessible by transit, highway, bike and, even, foot!
@underratedgoaat
⭕️🅿️timistic 🅿️hilly fan
7 months
@IngaSaffron @JeffGammage Philly sports complex is unique , great for more investment for the city , not many city can do this because they have spread out stadiums
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
We’ve been so focused on whether people will go back to the office, we’ve failed to recognize that they’ve been in the offices in their homes all this time. And that their presence is transforming Philly’s neighborhoods into a ‘Bedroom City’. My column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
Everything becomes a block party in Philadelphia
@anna_orso
Anna Orso
4 years
Is it even noon
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 month
Just starting to read the economic impact studies on the Sixers arena and it’s no slam dunk for the team. Contrary to their claim that it would create $1.5 billion in net tax revenue over 30 years, report finds it would only generate $390 million. 🧵
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
7 months
Rittenhouse Square is the city’s living room, used by all, and the friends group is doing a great job maintaining it. But please note that no city money is paying for these lawn repairs. Philly’s City Hall has given up supporting our parks.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 months
Just a reminder on this horrible day that it has been less than a year since this great public school science teacher was killed on his bike in Philly.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
Kind of amazing that 2 parks in Philly - Eakins Oval and Franklin Square -are now surrounded by opaque fencing to enhance attractions that cost money. It is ‘free to enter” the Oval, but $12 to ride the Ferris wheel. Meanwhile, the Water Works has been turned into a banquet hall.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
Perhaps the stupidest government decision ever. Dedicated lanes are crucial to increasing the reliability of @SEPTA service &getting people back on buses. Now buses can’t use one of the most important stops in the system, Fed courts/Independence Mall.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
Bicycle mamas are why we need more protected bike lanes in Philly (and beyond).
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 month
No one takes transit to Philly’s Sports Complex
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
I was glad to see @PhillyInquirer respond with this apology and explanation for the unfortunate headline that accompanied my column Tuesday. I am deeply sorry for the trauma it caused black people in Philly, and my black and brown newsroom colleagues.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
This is just horrific. 13 people dead in fire that swept through a Philly Housing Authority-owned house. Unbelievably 26 people lived in this Fairmount townhouse. The investigation will have to go beyond the immediate cause of the fire. via @phillyinquirer
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
In 1991, I crossed into Albania on foot to cover to the Communist collapse, lived on boiled eggs & stale bread for weeks, scrounged aspirin from aid workers to treat a terrible fever. And now there is a @nytimes lifestyle piece about mixologists in Tirana.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
The argument that NW and West Philly neighborhoods need MLK Drive reopened for driving, rather than for recreation, misreads the real needs of those communities.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
Cars park in the medians on Broad, Washington & the Parkway - no enforcement. Somebody guerrilla-landscapes the central median of Philly’s new Dutch-style traffic circle - immediate enforcement. Story from @tomfitzgerald
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
19 days
The line for Mayor Parker’s town hall on the Sixers arena is wrapped around to the Arch Street side of the convention center. The contingent of building trade guys (yes, all guys) appear outnumbered by people opposed to the arena.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 months
Cool project. I hope there’s a covered waiting area and restrooms for the Megabus riders included in this.
@jblumgart
Jake Blumgart
6 months
Breaking: The University City District plans a $60 million bi-level park on the Schuylkill River, with amenities like an Olympic-size pool, a beach, and slide between the two floors
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
6 years
My innovative colleagues at the @lenfestlab have come up with a cool new app that lets you access my architecture pieces whenever you walk by a building/place I’ve reviewed. Try it, it’s free!
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
11 months
Just smh reading this Kenney Administration statement on Philly’s Greyhound debacle. After abruptly moving the bus depot to a Market Street sidewalk with no shelter from the elements and no restrooms, they are now blaming bus riders for the chaos.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
Cry the beloved city
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
3 years
We like to call Philadelphia a city of neighborhoods. It also happens to be one of the most segregated collection of neighborhoods in the U.S. @MichaelleBond and @aseemrshukla gather the numbers.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
2 years
As a mayoral candidate, Jim Kenney promised to make construction sites safer for pedestrians. But as with so many campaign promises, execution proved harder than talk. My column:
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
It’s sad to see @MariaQSanchez leave the Philly mayor’s race for lack of funds, but it would be tragic to lose such a deeply knowledgeable and passionate voice from our civic life. Hope she finds a way to remain active.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
You know you've been around a long time when you're about to cover your fifth master planning effort for the same flawed stretch of roadway.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
We’ve already monetized the Philadelphia Fairmount Water Works, now the art museum steps are being used as a movie billboard. It’s a slippery slope.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
5 years
I spent a day on New York’s new 14th Street busway to see what Philly could learn. No. 1, get over the myth that the Chestnut Street Transitway was a bad idea.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 years
This building has got everything my architecture critic’s heart wants: texture, articulation, preservation and a civic mission. So why don’t the neighbors like it?
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
4 months
So glad ⁦ @PhillyOTIS ⁩ created this really nice protected bike lane on 15th street next to the Municipal Services building.
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
10 months
Thanks to Philly’s broken system of councilmanic prerogative, one person decides whether the Sixers arena is the cure for Market Street’s problems, one with no expertise. It becomes a matter of choosing between the people shouting in his ears.Shouldn’t city planners weigh in?
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@IngaSaffron
Inga Saffron
1 year
Philly has been trying for over a decade to gain control of the Reading Viaduct. Now it’s about to deputize the CCD’s Paul Levy to go after them. What happens then? My column:
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