|
|
|
Maps
Here's something that's really important that you probably don't understand (I sure didn't): redistricting in Pennsylvania.
State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-Phila) is accusing right-wing State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) and Republican Majority Leader Mike Turzai of "push[ing] through a Congressional map that the public will have little to no time to examine or provide input on how it will affect their communities. This is not democracy. It is dictatorship."
Indeed, the redistricting bill, which Metcalfe announced they would vote on next week, has basically no content: no maps, no details. Just sentences like "The First District is composed of a portion of this Commonwealth."
So what is going on?
Mayor Nutter and Parks & Rec Commissioner Michael DiBerardinis announced today the beginning of an improvement project for the stretch of the Kelly Drive recreational path connecting Falls Bridge to City Line Avenue.
This is cool for few reasons but the main one is ... connectivity! Oh yeah.
Right now, the average bicyclist, jogger, or other user of the path would reach Falls Bridge and see stretching before him or her a strip of uninviting sidewalk that constutes, for some reason, the only connection between Fairmount Park, the Schuylkill River Trail — which extends past Valley Forge and will someday connect all the way to the Appalacian Trail, and the Wissahickon Valley: the great triad of free, lovely Philly recreation.
"Clearly, this crappy strip of sidewalk proceeding north isn't meant for me," he or she might say, then turn around and miss the great riches to be found ahead.
This is good news, but less great is the fact that this means that you'll have to detour around the area until at least June, 2011, when the work it supposed to be finished.
The city is recommending that bicylists use Ridge Avenue, which will be marked with "sharrows," — arrows, but for sharing, and "share the road" signs. And be careful: Ridge isn't ideal for bikes.
Get more info on the detours at the Bicycle Coaltiion's website.
 |
| Illustration | Eric Fischer |
| Click here to enlarge. |
Want to feel even more estranged from the city's tourists than you already do? Check out this sweet map by Eric Fischer, creator of "Locals and Tourists" series on Flickr, which tracks where in cities locals (users whose shots are pretty much always taken in the same city, over a long period of time) take photos, versus tourists (those whose images from a particular place last for a month or less, and usually come from another city). Red means tourists; blue means locals (duh).
No shockers, but pretty cool, right?
RELATED>> Map Geeked: What Philadelphia will (hopefully) look like in 2035
Pretty cool, but I don't understand why this should make me "feel even more estranged from the city's tourists". Tourists go to the tourist areas. This is not disappointing.
Cool! How do I make such a map for my city?
In case anyone else wants the answer to my question, look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/sets/72157624209158632/ I still don't know how to create my own, but it looks like many cities have had maps created already.
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
