Aerial #62

Aerial #62 by Sarah McKenzie on view at the Jen Bekman Gallery in Soho.

O beautiful for spacious skies

I Often Dream of Trains

Disused trolley tracks in the median of Columbus Boulevard are a silent reminder to motorists stuck in a failing left-hand turn lane of the great city that was.

There Will Be Shale

No thank you, Bob Moses

It was tempting. Because I just finished reading The Power Broker, Robert Caro's masterful biography of master builder Robert Moses, it seemed only too right that I live next to one of the many highways he built through residential neighborhoods in New York, so that I could be reminded of his legacy with every breath of smog-filled air. But in the end, I passed at the chance to live in what was actually a pretty nice apartment with a seemingly pretty nice lady because the building faces the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Poorly placed concrete planters outside of the Morris Animal Refuge reduces the usable area of this Lombard Street sidewalk. As shown above, a 2' 10" sliver of walkway separates stoop from planter - barely enough space for a typical manual wheelchair.

Jubilee

Celebrate Parking

Nevermind the crumbling garage operated by 5 Star Parking across the street, the Parkway lot next to that, or the enormous CPS lot just next door on the former Gimbels department store site, the re-opening of a pay parking lot at Eight and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia is a cause for celebration complete with bunting.

New Acquisitions: Deed

1804 Deed to farm near Newark, Delaware purchased for five shillings.

Slotbridge & Croupier

A proposal afoot would put a slots-only casino, or "slots parlor" (no croupiers actually), in the former Strawbridge & Clothier flagship store at 8th & Market in Center City. Despite not being a great time to go into business, let alone the business of encouraging people to gamble away their money, our city fathers are determined to rescue the dream of bringing gaming gold to city coffers.

Adaptive Reuse