Pennsylvania

As cycling increases in Philadelphia, more bike parking is needed. But the common upside-down U-shaped rack won't provide enough for the city, according to this piece from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Supermarkets are moving back to urban areas like Philadelphia. But their big box designs are decidedly un-urban, according to architecture critic Inga Saffron, who calls for more relevant urban designs.

The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI) has provided $42 million in grants and loans to finance 58 locally-owned grocery stores, combating fresh grocery shortages in areas of rural and urban Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia is still trying to figure out where to put its two approved casinos as it prepares to become the nation's biggest city to host gambling. In this piece, Inga Saffron says a new proposed site could make gambling work for Philly.

The ACLU is helping a woman in Pittsburgh sue the city for violating her right of free expression. The city denied her occupancy permit to open a pole-dancing studio, teaching classes in "power lap dance" and "seXXXercise".

The mother of all toll road leases appears to come to a head next month, and though the chances of the near $13 billion lease of the the 537-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike to Citigroup-Abertis team are most uncertain, the PA saga is worthy of study.

Witold Rybczynski wrote The Last Harvest about a new development being created in an exurban cornfield. NPR visits the half-finished community with Witold, which is suffering from the economic crisis.

Pittsburgh becomes first city in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to hire a full-time bike/pedestrian coordinator.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the MPO for the Philadelphia metropolitan region, has introduced an innovate way of making people aware of the benefits of older, established suburbs: market them.

Hiking and cycling traffic on the Great Allegheny Passageway has brought jobs and prosperity to small towns along the route.

1,300 property owners in Camden, New Jersey whose homes are in a new redevelopment zone were sent letters explaining eminent domain, but the city says it has no intention of taking their homes.

The rising value of iron and steel has prompted thieves to steal an alarming amount of manhole covers from Philadelphia's streets.

A proposal to annually burn tens of millions of car tires to produce electricity at a facility in Erie, Pennsylvania is raising concerns among environmentalists and regional residents over mercury and other emissions.

Pennsylvania is putting its money where its mouth is with the Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a $120 million fund to encourage inner-city groceries.

Philadelphia has struggled to deal with its large supply of derelict housing, and it serves as a lesson for lawmakers when they try to find ways to stop neighborhoods from deteriorating.

A local nonprofit named SCRUB caught Pabst Brewing creating "guerrilla marketing" ads disguised as decorative murals in Philadelphia, a violation of sign restrictions.

Optical illusions painted on the streets of Philadelphia are being tested out as a method for getting drivers to slow down.

A report announced by Mayor Michael Nutter estimates that Philadelphia's park system has a combined economic value of $1.9 billion in services, income and taxes to the city.