Grid Magazine October [#078]

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TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE PHILADELPHIA OCTOBER 2015 / ISSUE 78 GRIDPHILLY.COM

The Infrastructure Issue

NUTS & BOLTS

What you need to know about plans for a safer and stronger Philadelphia

INSIDE: CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE ANDREW STOBER ON BIKE SHARE AND LE BOK FIN • GREEN JOBS, CLEAN WATERS • HOME SWEET HOME AT THE NAVY YARD? • THE PERILS OF TOO MUCH COMMUNITY INPUT 

SPECIAL INSERT: Don’t Miss the Philly Bike Expo November 7 and 8

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CONTENTS

D E PA RT M E N TS

09 Market Watch

“The biggest limitation to the yield of any design is the designer’s imagination. You’ll probably run into the limit of your own ability long before you run into the biological limits of the system.”

– Toby Hemenway, permaculture expert

Fall flavors are out in force

11 Editorial The 5th Square’s Geoff Kees Thompson says “the tyranny of consensus” is costing lives

12 The Big Picture Is regenerative the new sustainable?

Thoughts from permaculture expert Toby Hemenway

14 Edible art from artist Meei-Ling Ng is feeding the homeless in Chinatown

18

49 Events

INSIDE THE ISSUE

Find out which doors are opening and closing, and who is on the move

36

55

Home Sweet Home?

Dispatch A bike helps a woman escape a life of addiction

O N T H E COVER

28 Making Tracks Can Philadelphia’s infrastructure stand up to climate change?

Our former Naval Base could be the new South Philly

40 Taking Stock Buildings, our greatest infrastructure asset

41 Here Comes the Neighborhood A West Philadelphia commercial corridor gets a new life

Made in Philly Get yourself some Good Spoon soup COVER B R IDGE SCU L PT U R E BY SA M A N TH A W I TTCH E N ; A BOV E PH OTO BY SAN G CUN

42 The Unexpected Wonk A Philadelphia architect and a new state policy that may affect design nationally

44 Profile: Andrew Stober Dark horse City Council candidate Andrew Stober sheds light on our city planning

46 Age of Aquarius The water department’s green infrastructure plan is creating jobs

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EDITOR’S NOTES

by

HEATHER SHAYNE BLAKESLEE

OUR INFRASTRUCTURE, OURSELVES A better future is out there. Will we build walls or bridges?

H

umans move in response to stimuli, just like most other living beings on this planet, whether it’s reflexively withdrawing our hand when we are burned by a pot on the gas stove, or deciding to take a back road when the highway is jammed.

Both are relatively quick decisions, and as we make them we’re as unlikely to question our nervous system as transportation planning. Most of us take our bodies and our tangle of pipes and roads for granted, though they affect us on a day-to-day basis. That’s a mistake.

Long-term decisions about our streets, parks, buildings, bus and rail lines, watermains and bridges—the structural elements that connect to one another to form our infrastructure—are critical. The decision-making timeline takes years and then impacts us for decades, but we usually relegate the conversation to the realm of planners, engineers and technicians. Instead, we should be channeling our impatience with traffic jams into the effort of calling our elected representatives about transportation funding.

It’s important to remember that these decisions also connect us as human beings, and our infrastructure says more about our values as a society than we might think.

Do we launch a bike share program only in affluent neighborhoods, or do we ensure that a broad range of residents benefit from this new, low-cost option for transportation?

Do we invest in public transit, or widen the highways to encourage car culture, suburban living and more consumption of fossil fuels?

Do we manage stormwater with expensive underground pipes or work with nature on systems like green roofs?

Residents of Philadelphia—planners and lay people alike—are asking these questions and carefully considering how the answers will affect us for generations to come. We have made progress, but the city we need in 2050 is the city that we are planning for now.

It’s imperative that we create the most stable and equitable infrastructure system possible—one that takes our city’s contributions

to climate change and our adaptation and resilience strategies into account—because we can’t control everything. The U.S. Defense Department has identified climate change as a “threat multiplier” that impacts national security. Weather and world politics are volatile, and both make us vulnerable as a city, country and world.

Just ask those living in New York City or New Orleans about the perils of being unprepared for superstorms. Or look to the state of California, which is suffering from their worst drought on record, and whose population is both embracing the potential rains of El Niño and bracing for destructive mudslides. Some scientists and political analysts believe the same kind of drought exacerbated deteriorating political conditions in Syria. Their refugees are reflexively avoiding the terror of war just as we might pull our hand from the stove, and they are also increasingly finding that there is no road that will lead them to safety.

It’s a heartbreaking scenario that we can expect more of if we don’t plan to mitigate climate change, and for our cities to be welcoming places for an increasing—and increasingly mobile—world population. “Climate refugees” are not something that we will see in the future. We are seeing them now. Will our infrastructure support them? Will we?

When we build a wall, we restrict travel, opportunity, information and human liberty.

When we build a bridge, we allow connection, commerce and creativity.

It’s time to set our intention as a society, and to create the conditions for regenerative growth. It is precisely the broad mix and the sheer number of people in urban areas that accounts for their status as wellsprings of innovation. Let’s replenish our natural systems and our own human potential. Let’s build bridges.

editor-in-chief

Alex Mulcahy alex@gridphilly.com 215.625.9850 ext. 102 managing editor

Heather Shayne Blakeslee heather@gridphilly.com 215.625.9850 ext. 107 Sales & Marketing Manager

Claire Margheim claire@gridphilly.com 215.625.9850 ext. 103 designer

Kathleen White kathleen@gridphilly.com 215.625.9850 ext. 112 ad sales

Wesley Kays-Henry wesley@gridphilly.com 215.625.9850 ext. 100 distribution

Megan Matuzak megan@gridphilly.com 215.625.9850 ext. 106 copy editor

Andrew Bonazelli writers

Alon Abramson Marilyn Anthony Noelle Bilbrough Katie Bohri Alex Dews Geoff Keys Thompson Emily Kovach Alex Jones Jon Hurdle Erin Patterson Peggy Paul Casella Emily Teel Alex Vuocolo Hannah Waters sculpture artist

Samantha Wittchen illustrators

Julia Tran published by Red Flag Media 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107

heather shayne blakeslee Managing Editor heather@gridphilly.com

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MARKET WATCH

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PEGGY PAUL CASELLA

FALL FAVORITES Farmstands overflow with the season's bounty

Broccoli & Cauliflower

Cranberries

Sweet Potatoes

Both members of the Brassica oleracea or flowering cabbage family, broccoli and cauliflower share many of the same attributes and nutritional properties. They are low in calories, high in vitamin C, good sources of folate, fiber and vitamin A, and they contain phytochemicals that can help protect eyesight and prevent cancer. Look for them in a range of colors and varieties. This time of year, you can find: regular green, looser “sprouted,” and deep purple broccoli, as well as regular white, yellow, and purple cauliflower.

USES: Pickle them. Serve raw with dip. Cut into florets and roast with garlic and other vegetables. Add to stir-fries, casseroles, frittatas, soups and stews. Steam for use in salads and side dishes. Smother with cheese sauce.

Cook and blend with feta, sautéed onion and garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and toss with pasta or grains. Boil and mash with flour,

These tart, North American natives are one of the most versatile fruits around. Closely related to blueberries, lingonberries and huckleberries, cranberries are exceptionally high in vitamin C and other antioxidants. They grow on trailing evergreen shrubs, preferring well-irrigated, loamy soil found in places like bogs. Fun fact: Cranberries are actually white when they reach full ripeness. The red hue you know and love develops a few weeks later along with subtle changes to the pectin and sugar contents.

USES: Juice them. Candy them. Pickle them.

Purée into smoothies. Cook down into jellies, jams and sauces. Bake into cakes, cookies and scones. Roast with olive oil and thyme. Add to stuffings and bread puddings. Mince with sugar, cucumber, cilantro, onion, jalapeño, lime juice and salt for a new take on salsa.

Stir into oatmeal and pancake or waffle batter.

Muddle for use in cocktails and punches.

Hailing from South America, sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family and are not actually related to potatoes at all. Likewise, though they are often used interchangeably, sweet potatoes and yams are completely different vegetables. There are numerous varieties of sweet potatoes, with flesh ranging from creamy white and yellow to orange, magenta and deep purple. Not only do they contain fewer calories and carbs—and more vitamins, minerals and fiber—than white potatoes, but they are also way more adaptable to different culinary applications.

USES: Bake and roast them. Make oven fries.

Dice along with peppers, onions, and tomatoes for breakfast hash. Shred to make latkes.

Boil and mash for smoothies, baked goods, pancakes, spreads and as a topping for shepherd’s pie. Add to soups, stews, chilies, curries and casseroles. Cook and toss with quinoa or

eggs, mustard and garlic to make fritters.

lentils for a hearty vegetarian main course.

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EDITORIAL

MUTING the FEEDBACK The tyranny of consensus endangers lives

I

f you live near Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, or traverse it on a regular basis, you’ve probably felt that this wide arterial corridor, a former rail yard, leaves something to be desired. Washington Avenue is a space given over to heavy car traffic, poor enforcement of traffic laws and very little reason for a pedestrian or cyclist to enjoy using it. Washington Avenue is also the site of frequent deaths and injuries caused by crashes involving motor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Last fall, one such crash caused the death of Sheena White, a 29-year-old mother killed near the intersection of 15th and Washington.

Though tragic, these crashes are not surprising—but they are preventable. Public safety studies confirm several key factors leading to the increased frequency and severity of crashes involving cars, and Washington Avenue exhibits all three: it’s a wide street with multiple lanes and no traffic calming infrastructure. The Planning Commission found that in a three-year period alone, more than 900 crashes occurred along Washington Avenue. Unless re-planned, it will continue to become the site of preventable tragedies.

Yet, rather than quickly address these problems, the City of Philadelphia has fallen victim to the tyranny of consensus and dithered on ways to improve this vital corridor. Community meetings on Washington Avenue have been going on since 2013, and still no action has been taken. Washington Avenue passes through multiple neighborILLUST RAT IO N BY KAT H L E E N W H I TE

by

GEOFF KEES THOMPSON

hoods, green spaces, housing developments, retail clusters and industrial uses, all with differing ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and—perhaps most importantly—two different councilmanic districts whose leadership is attempting to corral support from the largest base of this fragmented area.

Through this process, the limits of community feedback have come into focus. Last year, the city presented thoughtful plans that involved a road diet for Washington Avenue. Road diets remove one lane of traffic on multiple-lane roads to reduce crashes and aggressive driving.

Space freed up by removing travel lanes is given back to other uses on the street, with very little impact to drivers. For Washington Avenue, devising a better way for vehicles to load and park is also a means to improve street safety. The Spruce and Pine Street bike lanes are a great example of how this strategy has created safer streets with reduced crashes. On September 3, yet another community meeting on the future of Washington Avenue was held. But this time, instead of a plan being presented, the Planning Commission led a community brainstorming session to build more consensus about plans for Washington Avenue. In a rather ironic turn of events, folks on the west side of Washington chose a re-striping scheme nearly identical to what exists today, a scheme that is encouraging high rates of speed and higher than average vehicular crashes.

The tyranny of consensus here means our politicians are directing a Planning Commission that is not politically independent. Staff is sent back to the drawing board multiple times, only to water down their own professional recommendations informed by years of education and experience. Community preferences for the status quo, which don’t address the most serious problems facing the avenue, replace their expertise. This should trouble anyone who believes that city agencies should act using their professional knowledge to improve our lives, not bow to pressure from a general public who is not professionally trained to make such decisions.

Other cities like New York and Pittsburgh have become more nimble in addressing street safety. Pittsburgh planned, engaged community members and built a downtown network of new protected bike lanes in four months. In Philadelphia, waiting for an impossible consensus across widely divergent levels of planning expertise seems to be the modus operandi. What we need instead are bolder, quicker actions.

Our communities, though willing and capable of providing thoughtful feedback on projects, are ultimately not city planners. Our politicians, though hardly at risk for being challenged in a primary for reconfiguring a street, must make decisions, not wait years for consensus.

Streamlining our city planning models and trying new street configurations using paint and temporary infrastructure are critical. We need politicians to enable our Planning Commission to do so. What’s at stake is one of city government's most sacred duties: ensuring the safety and preservation of human life on our streets.

Geoff Kees Thompson is a co-founder and chair of the 5th Square, a non-partisan political action committee focusing on improving Philadelphia through better urban policy and city planning.

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REGENERATION NATION Permaculture’s design philosophy isn’t just for designers.

Expert Toby Hemenway believes it could be just what American cities need to move beyond “sustainability” interview by heather shayne blakeslee

L

ong before the triple bottom line, which takes people, planet and profit into a business’s accounting ledger, and biomimicry, which looks to nature to solve challenging design problems, there was permaculture. The word, first coined in 1978, was used to describe methods of farming that would feed the world’s growing population without the temporary solution of toxic fertilizers and pesticides. The definition of permaculture has since expanded into a philosophy or an approach that works with nature instead of against it, and it’s now just as suitably applied to planning a city as plowing a farmer’s field. In his book The Permaculture City, practitioner Toby Hemenway explores the ways that we can use permaculture principles to create regenerative urban environments.

Sustainability advocates are familiar with triple bottom line thinking. But the Venn diagram of permaculture is different. The three ethics are: care for people, care for the earth and return surplus. The third is a different way of talking about economy.

TH: The idea is that if you care for people, if you do good things for people and take care of them, then they will generate more than they need. We certainly know it with the earth. We know that if we’re good to the earth, if we take

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care of soil and biodiversity and those kinds of things, we will generate much more than we need. There’s always surplus. So, the question is, what do you do with that surplus? A good bit of it needs to get reinvested into the system that created it… If you just spend that surplus, then the system eventually gets depleted. It needs to be reinvested back to generate wealth.

You say in your book, The Permaculture City, that 50 percent of the world’s population

lives in an urban area, and postulate that, “if we can’t create regenerative urban cultures, what happens elsewhere hardly matters.”

Why regenerative?

TH: We’ve depleted so many of the earth’s systems that we need to be doing better than sustainable. We need to move to regenerative systems or regenerative ideas and regenerative behaviors, which actually create more than what you’d invested into them. And that’s really how living systems work. They take the resources available and create something new, create something more productive, bigger, richer, more complex. You plant one seed, and you end up with a plant that makes hundreds or thousands of seeds.

Sustainability is just kind of a midpoint between systems that are degenerative and systems that are regenerative. We really need to be working with regenerative ones to repair the damage that we’ve done... ecologically as well as socially and culturally.

Do you want to give an example of what you mean?

TH: Things like local currencies... supporting local agriculture and local businesses, where the money and the resources—instead of being drained out of the community, which is definitely a degenerative activity—are reinvested back into the community.

To what extent is permaculture a way of thinking versus a set of techniques and practices?

TH: I think of permaculture as a design approach, and that frees you to use really any appropriate technique. You’re not limited...

There are 50 ways to make a compost pile and 50 ways to make decisions in groups, and so the idea is… it helps you go through a process to arrive at which technique and which method we should be using of the possible ones that we have to use.

You wrote of you and your wife moving from Seattle to rural Oregon in the ’90s: “We lived in the wild, but our long umbilical cord to civilization used a lot of metal, plastic, rock, and fuel to build and sustain.”

TH: I was going to use fewer resources there and do the “back to the land” thing, and live a more sustainable life. And what I found was really the opposite happened. Suddenly, I had to be driving really long distances, we were really dependent on long lengths of wire, and pipe... when the neighbors put in cable TV it was a quarter-mile of cable that had to run

THIS EXCE RPTE D IN TE RV IE W HAS B E E N E D ITE D FO R C LA RI TY

/ the big PICTURE from the street to their house.

Rural life as it’s presently constituted in the United States actually consumes more resources than city life. In the city, I was able to leave my car for days on end and just walk or ride my bike places or take public transportation, where living in the country I had to drive 20 minutes to get anywhere. The same infrastructure that supports us in cities is supporting us out in the country, but there are much longer distances that things need to be transported, so you wind up in this culture using more resources in the rural life than as an urban person.

You see people retreating to the suburbs or forced to live in ghettos as a design failure. At its heart, permaculture is a design challenge and call to action. How are we faring?

TH: Steps are being taking really slowly. People are recognizing—identifying, say—food deserts or places that are drastically underprivileged and really trying to do something about it on a local level rather than waiting for federal aid or that sort of thing I’m still not that optimistic at the moment about suburbia because you have all this infrastructure that is really dependent on the automobile and cheap fossil fuels… I think we’ll probably wait until new oil prices come up before suburbs start to become a little more self-reliant rather than being these appendages of big cities where everyone commutes.

You identify the three major functions of cities.

The first two are very practical—acting as places for trade and markets, as well as serving as a locus for security in the form of government and law. Why is the third, a city as an “inspirational gathering space,” so important?

TH: A synergy effect happens when we’re around other people ... There’s some really good research that shows that not only do most innovations and ideas come out of urban areas, that there is kind of exponential effect... a city that is 10 times larger than another will have 17 times more innovation in terms of new patents, music and books. It even scales up more where if you have a city that’s 50 times larger than another: it will have 150 more times innovation.

It breaks up the myth that innovation is coming out of cities because a different kind of person lives there, and puts the focus on the idea that there are more people [in cities] in general.

TH: Right. It is something that happens when

“Sustainable is good, and it’s better than what we’re doing right now, but we’ve depleted so many of the earth’s systems that we need to be doing better than sustainable.” we get together. I don’t think it is that there are special groups of people in cities; I think that it’s just that we inspire one another when we’re together in groups.

You say in the book that, “the urge to rationalize and give order to cities… culminated in the dehumanizing urban-renewal projects of the 1960s.” That top-down planning period was chronicled—and critiqued—in Jane Jacobs book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, where she argued that all planning should be local and transparent.

TH: When I looked at cities like, say, Portland, or Seattle or Chicago—cities that seem to be in pretty good shape these days—they have a very strong sense of neighborhood… That to me is a really good example of what Jane Jacobs is talking about—that cities are messy, and made up of loosely connected parts rather than being a unified organism. You get more creative ideas coming out of the grassroots, bottom-up system of organization rather than a mayor who is trying to run everything.

You compare designing the complexity of a city to a garden: you plan it, you plant it and then the garden takes root and self-organizes and behaves in ways that you didn’t anticipate. Sometimes that presents a challenge; other times you get a pleasant surprise.

TH: People in human systems are just inherently complex and inherently dynamic, and they constantly change... So, the idea that we can really dictate people’s behavior and plan exactly how we’re going to respond to things really doesn’t take anything about human nature or complex systems into account.

I like to talk about the idea of “design without design,” where... we’re creating the conditions for the things that we want to see happen rather than trying to force a particular set of outcomes. You set the conditions and stand back and let things sort of emerge from that.

This happens in things like a well-designed

park... if you create a park [in which] people are going to want to come together, then gatherings will happen. They’re spontaneous, and really interesting events will be supported by that park, as opposed to something that is 100 percent planned out.

In permaculture, there’s also a set of principles based on attitudes. So, it’s really also about intention.

TH: It’s really our own frame of mind, and experience and frame of reference, that really sets the stage for the design, or whatever it is that we’re doing. If we’re not aware of our own attitudes and our own prejudices and our own limitations, then we’re going to be making unwarranted assumptions about what we’re capable of… the biggest limitation to the yield of any design is the designer’s imagination.

You’ll probably run into the limit of your own ability long before you run into the biological limits of the system that you’re dealing with.

One of the attitudinal principles is that we can learn from our mistakes. Mistakes are not a bad thing. It’s rare that our mistakes are so catastrophic that [they] destroy everything. If we’re learning from our mistakes, we’re advancing, and if we’re not making mistakes, then we’re probably not trying anything new anyway. Mistakes are a really good indicator of learning.

A lot what is in here is very, very practical, and could be used by just about anyone who is approaching a design problem.

TH: It actually has a huge amount of application in a lot of different fields... permaculture is really wide ecology. We’re learning how natural systems work... That’s part of what permaculture really tries to build on: four billion years of an R&D program that nature has been doing for us.

Toby Hemenway is an author, professor and permaculture practitioner who lives in California.

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WALL GREENS An artist’s small oasis produces fresh food for the homeless in Chinatown by alex jones

T

he view from the north side of Vine Street just east of Broad is all high-rises and highways: concrete, brick and asphalt as far as the eye can see, with neat rows of street trees lining the road as a perfunctory nod to nature. But, north of the Vine Street Expressway, tucked in the back pocket of a parking lot of Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, a nonprofit that serves the city’s homeless population, artist and urban farmer Meei-Ling Ng has brought a burst of green into the concrete jungle of Chinatown North.

“Grow Food Where You Live” is the first stage of Ng’s 2014–2015 residency at Asian Arts Initiative’s Social Practice Lab, which funds artists to experiment “with processes that combine artistic excellence and innovation with building relationships and effecting positive change within the community.” Her project presents a practical approach to high-volume growing in a small space. Rows of colorful raised planters hold tomatoes, finger-sized eggplants, sweet corn and basil, while cucumbers, cantaloupe, beans and summer squash grow 12 feet high on a trellis along Sunday Breakfast’s wall, maximizing the yield of a small footprint.

Ng estimates that she and her helpers—men from the mission’s Overcomers recovery program and area volunteers—harvested around 1,000 pounds of produce since planting began in the spring.

And every bit of it helps. Sunday Breakfast serves nearly 600 meals per day—morning, noon and night— to men in their emergency shelter, to the Overcomers, and to anyone else, including women and children, who arrive hungry. Eighty percent of food served has been donated, but that means relying mostly on shelf-stable, prepackaged foods. A source for fresh produce right outside the dining room door makes a big difference in the quality of the mission’s meals.

“It’s little things, like putting fresh strawberries in the pancakes in the morning, or fresh tomatoes in the marinara sauce,” says Rosalyn Forbes, Communications and Marketing Coordinator at Sunday Breakfast.

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“This is what they refer to as a park poor neighborhood,” says Nancy Chen, senior program manager at Asian Arts Initiative. “With the exception of the incoming [Reading] viaduct park, there’s not that much green space and plants.” Chen is referring to a proposed project still in its infancy that would create parks and open space overtop of old elevated rail lines. With bustling development in Chinatown North, owners of vacant lots are loathe to turn over space to gardeners. The sliver of Sunday Breakfast’s lot would be the perfect place.

William Brown of North Philadelphia has spent more than eight months in the Overcomers program.

He and his cohort began weekly sessions with Ng in February, starting seeds indoors, constructing dozens of planters from wooden pallets, bringing in soil and transplanting. During harvest time, the farm provides not just food for the mission, but also much-needed green space for its residents.

“I come out here to relax my mind, because I’ve got a lot going on with school and doing the Overcomers work,” Brown says. “Amongst the greenery, it’s very relaxing.”

Ng grew up on a farm in Singapore, where her mother farmed orchids until the government relocated their village to build an army base. She studied graphic design, moving to Philadelphia to pursue study in 3-D imaging—a skill that’s informed her visual and installation work and helped her combine her passions for growing food and making art. In Philadelphia, she’s grown food everywhere from the erstwhile Broad and South community garden to Springside Farm at the Elkins Estate.

Ng’s residency is funded through the end of 2015, but she and her partners hope to build a team of volunteer gardeners who can maintain the “Grow Food Where You Live” space once Ng has moved on. “My ultimate goal, my vision, is to be able to help those homeless people off the street, [provide] training as farmers, and [for them to] be able to work or as their own—have their own urban farm in a vacant lot in the city, and then start as entrepreneurs.”

/ SPOTLIGHT

Artist Meei-Ling Ng in her edible art installation at Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission's parking lot

P HOTOS BY SA NG CU N

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SPECTACULAR

FALL COLOR

Autumn is for Exploring at BARTRAM’S GARDEN Come to Bartram’s Garden this fall and enjoy the landscape, now bursting with color and activity. Enjoy a workshop (Garden members get discounts), take a free kayak paddle on the river, picnic, or explore our paths and trails. You might even see a wild turkey!

5400 Lindbergh Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19143 • 215-729-5281 Take the #36 trolley.

BARTRAMSGARDEN.ORG Connect. Learn. Be inspired. Bartram’s Garden is a 45-acre National Historic Landmark on the banks of the Schuylkill River.

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made in

PHILLY /

LOVIN’ SPOONFUL Homemade soup from local ingredients, even when you’re on the go by emily teel

A

t any successful party, guests might remark over their plates, “This is really good. You should sell this!” While many hosts smile and wave off the idea, Kate Hartman followed through.

She started her company, Good Spoon Seasonal Foods, cooking grassfed beef chili that she served friends while watching football games.

Now, she makes countless soups from all local, seasonal ingredients.

A Philadelphia native, Hartman waited tables and tended bar, but after college she landed a corporate marketing job in New York City, promoting luxury brands of cosmetics. Eight years in, she felt uninspired by her work, so when her then boyfriend (now husband) began medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, she jumped at the chance to come home and get back into the food world.

“I was thinking, ‘What do I love to make? What do I love to eat?’

When I worked in an office, I ate soup every day,” Hartman recalls, “[but] it was actually quite difficult to find a good prepared soup that was made from scratch and not from a soup base…[with] preservatives, artificial flavorings, and… sodium.” Fueled by this knowledge, Hartman envisioned Good Spoon to offer prepared soup—a convenience food— that was just as natural and nourishing as something homemade.

At the time, Hartman was managing one of Farm to City’s farmers markets, and it was Bob Pierson, the organization’s founder, who gave her a push into Philly’s local food world. In the winter of 2010, she started making soup at night in commercial kitchen space borrowed from her father-in-law, Moshe, who has an established local specialty food 18

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company, Moshe’s Foods. Through Winter Harvest, Farm to City’s buying club, and then to the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market, she began selling frozen quarts of soup. When she began selling at local farmers markets, Good Spoon really took off. Market shoppers developed favorites and a lineup of six weekly offerings grew. Now, Good Spoon arrives at markets with a dozen different soups each week.

The menu is diverse, offering vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, all flooded with seasonal flavors from locally sourced ingredients. Summer means cool cucumber and yogurt soup with dill; peach gazpacho; and sweet corn and poblano bisque. Fall ushers in butternut squash with apple and ginger, as well as truffled cauliflower. Winter brings white bean with kale, and a wildly popular Senegalese peanut stew with chicken and coconut.

Though it started as a nomadic enterprise, Good Spoon planted roots in 2014 when Hartman opened the Good Spoon Soupery, a small café and production space in Kensington. Now, instead of only selling frozen soups, she can ladle up warm bowls topped with interesting garnishes. She also offers sandwiches, salads and baked goods. What’s more, opening the café gave Good Spoon a chance to see its customers every day, not just during the farmers markets. “It feels incredible,” Hartman says. “Even though it’s just a little shop, it’s become hugely important… it makes me and my team feel a real sense of pride to be able to share the Good Spoon experience with a whole new group of people and make them happy with our food. [It] is totally rewarding.”

P HOTO BY RYA N SCOTT

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NEWS /

COMINGS & GOINGS Who's in and who's out ANDY TOY JOINS SOUTHEAST ASIAN NONPROFIT Andy Toy, formerly of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, is now the development and communications manager for Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, Inc. (SEAMAAC), a nonprofit organization serving immigrants and refugees in the Philadelphia region since 1984.

“I’ve personally seen SEAMAAC grow and evolve over the last couple decades,” Toy remarks. “I look forward to contributing to its growth and bringing further opportunities to SEAMAAC that will advance its mission of improving educational, health and social services available to the immigrant and refugee community members of Philadelphia.”

SEAMAAC works to assist immigrants, refugees and their families by providing ESL classes, citizenship classes, after-school programs, summer camps, elderly services, health education and women’s support groups.

IMPACT HUB PHILLY CLOSING Impact Hub Philly, a co-working and social impact innovation space, will close its doors at 1227 N. 4th St., on December 1, 2015 due to what Executive Director Dominique Aubry called “considerable financial losses.” Plans about the future of the center and where, or whether, it may relocate remain unclear.

Aubry wrote in a letter to Impact Hub Philly members, “This pivot allows us to re-center our focus around identifying what we do best and how to best serve our community through our work. We are open to all suggestions and ideas, and I hope to have conversations with each of you on the next phase of Impact Hub Philly as we move toward a new solution by the end of this year.”

KATIE BOHRI, SPOKE CO-FOUNDER, JOINS MT. CUBA CENTER Katie Bohri, a founder of Philly’s bicycle advocacy magazine Spoke is now the marketing

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and communications coordinator for Mt. Cuba Center, a public garden and education center in Hockessin, DE. The center boasts over 50 acres of display gardens and 500 acres of natural lands. Bohri will join in their efforts to inspire visitors to develop a more passionate appreciation of the plants in their native ecosystem.

Bohri is excitedly transitioning into the position. “I feel as if I’m doing work I’m good at, with people I like, for an organization I respect,” she says. “This place is a wellspring of knowledge and passion for the environment and the natural world.”

NEW SPACE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD BIKE WORKS Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW) has announced that they will be relocating their nonprofit, whic provides educational, recreational and career-building opportunities through bicycling in underserved neighborhoods in Philadelphia. In addition to their outreach events, NBW’s Bike Church program offers free, supervised bike assistance and maintenance, granting access to inexpensive components and the sometimes uncommon tools necessary in maintaining a bicycle.

Their last scheduled Bike Church date at the 40th Street location was August 27. The re-opening at 3939 Lancaster Avenue was slated to begin with youth programs during the week of September 28 and adult programs resuming the week of October 5.

WEAVERS WAY CO-OP NAMES JON ROESSER NEW GM Jon Roesser has been named the new general manager of Weavers Way Co-op. After serving for seven years as their human resources director, the co-op’s board of directors concluded that he was the most suitable candidate in their nationwide search.

"Jon has been at Weavers Way for nearly seven years,” announced Board President Chris Hill. “In that time, besides doing a terrific job as human resources director, he has acquired a wealth of experience in the ways of

the co-op—experience that we know will be invaluable as we navigate the challenges ahead.

The Board believes Jon has the perfect temperament and set of strengths to guide us successfully through this interesting and challenging period of growth and competition.”

LATEST NICOLE MARQUIS RESTAURANT, BAR BOMBON, OPENS On August 24, Nicole Marquis, owner of HipCityVeg and Charlie was a sinner., opened Bar Bombon, near Rittenhouse Square. Located at 133 S. 18th St., Bar Bombon’s all-vegan Latin menu will be served both in the bar’s Old San Juan-style 10-seat barroom, 30-seat dining room, and also through the takeout window fashioned into the facade of the former Crumb’s Bake Shop building.

Marquis newest venture will maintain the non-GMO and strict vegan practices of her other establishments.

DEPARTMENT OF MAKING + DOING CLOSING IN DECEMBER After nearly three years of operation, the Department of Making + Doing (DM+D) has announced that they will be closing their space at 3711 Market St. on November 30, 2015.

DM+D was established in 2012 as a collaboration among University City Science Center, NextFab, Public Workshop and the Hacktory in an effort to provide hands-on education in various fields of design, fabrication, electronics and art.

Though their space will be closing, it is not the end for DM+D. “The DM+D community of partners and participants is moving beyond the bounds of one physical space to continue our missions, touch more lives and engage in making the world a better place,” said Evan Malone, NextFab’s president. I would like to express my gratitude to the Science Center and Wexford for their financial and operational support of DM+D, without which the partnership would not have been able to impact positively so many lives.”

START ME UP Fermentation author pens book for beginners and experts alike interview by katie bohri

E

ager to excite your palate and shake up your kitchen routine while adding nutrition and probiotics to your diet? Check out Philadelphia fermenting guru Amanda Feifer’s new book Ferment Your Vegetables. With time, a few vegetables, water and salt—key to keeping bad bacteria at bay—you can make vegetables last longer and taste better, all while increasing their nutritional punch. Feifer’s book covers the basics for a beginner and has plenty to offer the experienced fermenter, from classic pickles to imaginative recipes like “Mac and Kimcheese.” We asked Feifer some of the first questions a novice to fermenting might have, and learned that the age-old preservation technique is incredibly safe, and infinitely rewarding. And did you know that chocolate is a ferment?

How did you get your start in fermenting?

AF: It's a complicated answer. Technically, I started a long time ago by making sourdough bread, and yogurt, and vinegar, but I didn't know that what I was doing was fermenting. I really started five years ago when I quit my job and read Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz.

What's your favorite recipe in this un-cook book?

AF: One that I think is uncommon and that I really think is delicious is the sauerkraut satay. It’s my version of cold sesame noodles, and it’s full of sauerkraut.

What does a novice need to get started fermenting?

AF: A novice needs nothing. Really, just some kind of container, some kind of vegetable— nothing too watery, stick with carrots, beets or radishes—and a little salt and gumption.

What advice would you give someone who's interested in fermenting?

AF: The best advice you can give to anybody who is starting to contemplate fermenting is to just do it. There’s so many resources out there. There’s no record in history of any human getting a foodborne illness from ferment-

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ing. The likelihood that you would be the first is small.

There’s a great scientific debunking of the fear of germs in the beginning of the book. How big a barrier to entry is this unfounded fear of germs?

AF: It’s enormous; fear of germs is enormous in our culture. In other countries, people let food sit out a lot—even things I would feel uncomfortable leaving out. Fermenting teaches us that we can use our eyes, ears and nose to tell us if a food is bad.

What are some foods people may eat regularly, but do not know are ferments?

AF: Chocolate, for sure. Cheese, bread, beer, wine and vinegar are others. It’s pretty hard to get through a day without consuming a ferment.

It sounds like all the delicious foods are ferments!

AF: I like to say that if it makes your mouth water, it probably is—or used to be—a ferment.

Pick up Amanda Feifer’s Ferment Your Vegetables at Fante's Kitchen Shop, the Philly Homebrew Outlet and at major retailers.

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Don’t Lose the

Thread

Vintage clothing combines style, stories and sustainability by emily kovach

I

t’s a thrill familiar to anyone who’s gone thrift or vintage shopping: your hand skims along a rack packed with garments on hangers, fingers sliding over silk, leather, polyester, wool, lace. And then, without warning or fanfare, there it is: the perfect jean jacket that you’ve always longed for. In the dressing room, you nervously try it on, and yes!

It’s like it was expertly stitched just for you, like it’s always been yours. Vintage victory!

Right now, Philadelphia is home to dozens of vintage and thrift shops catering to every taste and price point. Of course, there are still the old-school shops, crammed with polyester dresses, wild ties, faded military fatigues and every wale of corduroy. There are also shops that resemble fancy boutiques, with tightly edited collections and a minimalist vibe. Is motorcycle boho witch chic your thing? There’s a Philly vintage shop for that.

Is a flawless 1930s trench coat on your wish list? A 60s letterman jacket? Nearly every neighborhood flaunts at least one great shop where you can excavate something one-of-akind, something that has survived for genera-

tions, something to add history to your closet.

In addition to the addictive adrenaline rush that comes with this kind of score, there are multiple reasons to shop for previously worn and vintage clothing. One is simple economics.

With the exception of antique or high-end designer pieces, most vintage clothes are cheaper than their brand new equivalents, and are usually of much higher quality. Affordability is especially attractive to younger style mavens.

Lindsay Fryer, the founder of Cactus Collective, a local fashion-forward, pop-up vintage shop, reflects: “I first started frequenting thrift shops at age 14… I don’t think anything was more than five bucks. The combination of being able to afford stuff with my ice cream scooping income—and the wealth of inspiration that came from hunting through decades-old items—had me completely hooked.”

Often vintage shoppers resist fashion conformity and are wary of having the same clothes as everyone else. Many also experience an almost mystical connection to the past when wearing garments that have survived for decades. Michelle Dewey, owner of Mesh

Vintage in South Philly, sums up this spirit of individuality and respect for the past: “A nightmare of mine is to be wearing something that someone else has on. And I think about the story. These pieces have memories and life. Something from H&M has no story… it’s soulless clothes.”

Sue Eggen, the owner of Giant Dwarf, a line of handmade accessories, is a lifelong vintage and thrift devotee. Used clothes, she explains, allow her to define her own singular style. “I never follow fashion rules or trends, so adding used clothing to my wardrobe lets me to mix and match all year, every year,” she says. “My collection of garments, shoes and accessories allows me to express myself without worrying about someone else looking just like me.”

Every vintage shop owner has his or her own outlook and approach to vintage, and their own story to tell, but common threads tie them all together: love of fashion, respect for and fascination with the past, and a strong belief that buying previously worn clothes— whatever the motivation—beats buying new any day.

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Mesh Vintage Affordable vintage for tonight’s party Michelle Dewey’s vintage obsession began at her very first job, working at Goodwill, where she stockpiled finds for herself. After managing a record shop (“Music and clothes were my whole life,” she says), she sold BMWs for 12 years. Though it was a lucrative gig and she was a nationally ranked salesperson, her love for vintage clothing never subsided. In Spring 2014, it was time for a change. “I was done [with car sales],” she says. “Opening a shop was always my dream, and every day I had off, I’d walk blocks in Philly looking for real estate.”

Dewey, who commutes each day from Delaware, chose East Passyunk Avenue for its vibrant retail scene, and opened in November 2014. Mesh, at once cozy and airy, features racks of men’s and women’s clothing organized by color, which pop against the clean white walls. She keeps her prices low to achieve what she calls “wearable vintage”: items you can put on and wear out dancing that night. In fact, Dewey tries to capture the party spirit in her store: she frequently invites DJs to spin records and stays open late during the Avenue’s Second Saturdays. “We play music loud; it’s fun!” she says. “I want people to engage and have a good time when they’re shopping here.” meshvintage.com 1820 E. Passyunk Ave. MON –TUES: Closed; WED–SAT: 12:00–8:00 p.m.; SUN: 12:00–6:00 p.m.

Wilbur In living color The sparkly, vivid clothes on display in the Wilbur Vintage window have been calling to curious passersby long before Fabric Row experienced its resurgence. For the past seven years, Daniel Wilbur has run his eponymous South 4th Street shop, filling the small space with clothes from every era. Some boast designer labels, others no label at all, but one thing unites the store’s aesthetic: fun. “I gravitate toward color, interesting textures and sequins!” he says. “At a lot of newer vintage shops now, it’s all drab flannel and southwestern stuff… It seems like no one likes color, and it’s very strange to me!”

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Wilbur is influenced by his studies in art history, the TV shows on the Style Network he watched as a kid, as well as old-school vintage shops in Greenwich Village in New York. “I always wanted to have pretty, colorful things around me,” he says. Wilbur’s reputation as a first-rate shop is owed as much to the store’s charming displays and hidden gems, as toas the owner himself. You’re likely to find him helping a customer discover the perfect frock, de-pilling a sweater while gabbing with a friend or tidying up while ’70s disco pulses from the shop’s speakers. “I just love creating an atmosphere,” Wilbur says. wilburvintage.blogspot.com 716 S. 4th St. MON–FRI: 1:00–8:00 p.m; SAT–SUN: 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Briar Vintage A suite of suits “Menswear doesn’t change—a suit’s a suit,” says David Lochner, managing partner at Briar Vintage in Old City. “What changes is where the buttons stand, the width of the lapels and neckties, and the fullness of the cut.”

If not for the copious tattoos and the iPhone in his hand, Lochner himself looks like he might have time-traveled from the 1930s: he’s got on a chambray shirt tucked into high-waisted chinos, wire-framed spectacles and a striped engineer’s cap. He’s been captivated with old clothing since the age of 13, informed by golden era Hollywood, and especially by the 1993 World War II drama Swing Kids. “I wanted to dress like that, listen to that music and punch Nazis in the face,” he says.

In 2010, Lochner was approached by Amanda Saslow, owner of Sazz and a handful of other Philly vintage shops, to open a menswear-only vintage shop. In August 2011, Briar opened, decked out with a Harvard Club-esque brand of masculinity: mounted buck heads, red walls, an American flag, and ragtime on the stereo. On the racks hang all manner of dapper attire from the 1890s to the 1960s, which Lochner and Saslow travel far and wide to source. Men’s fashion, according to Lochner, is all about rediscovery. “Guys to-

day work in these offices; they’re not as handson and labor-intensive as their grandfathers were. One way to recapture the past is to dress the way that they did,” he says. “Plus… if it outlasted their grandparents, it will last.” briarvintage.com 62 N. 3rd St. MON: Closed; TUES–SAT: 11:00 a.m. –7:00 p.m.; SUN: 12:00– 6:00 p.m.

Two Percent to Glory Your hunting partner Sarah Anderson’s personal bio reads like a whirlwind world tour: from Iowan farmlands to Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school, a semester abroad in Italy, college at NYU and then UPenn, multiple laps through the NYC fashion industry, back to Iowa, and then finally landing in Fishtown, where she moved in 2009. Along the way, Anderson collected beautiful old clothing and objects, and rented her first storefront on Frankford Avenue simply as a place to keep everything. Opening the space to the public, she says, just kind of happened: people knocked on the windows and asked to look around. “There is a real sense of community here,” she says of Fishtown. “It reminds me of the Midwest in that way, this loveliness and humility.”

In Two Percent to Glory (the name is inspired by an anti-war quote from Einstein), wares from across the 20th century coexist in thoughtful arrangements, which resist feeling overly curated. For Anderson, connecting the right piece with the right customer is the ultimate goal. “My whole motivation is like, ‘Let’s find it together,’” she says. “It’s a scavenger hunt of physical extensions of your soul.” The next phase of the shop will include her own original designs made with sustainable fabrics and vegetable dyes, as well as a deeper focus on, as she puts it, “tokens of earth and beauty.” twopercenttoglory.com 2031 Frankford Ave. MON–TUES: Closed; WED–SAT: 11:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.; SUN: 12:00–6:00 p.m.

“I wanted to dress like that, listen to that music and punch Nazis in the face.�

- David Lochner (on his fashion inspiration, the 1993 WWII drama Swing Kids)

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The Junior League Thrift Shop of Ardmore

Vintage Shops

jlphiladelphia.org 25 West Lancaster Ave.

As cooler weather approaches and you’re ready to switch over your wardrobe, you can find everything you need at Philadelphia’s growing cadre of vintage shops. A more sustainable choice than a run for cheap goods at a national chain, you’ll find handmade sweaters, fall boots, fancy holiday dresses and all the flair you need, at every price point and for every taste.

Dive into these shops and others when you’re ready to find that perfect new piece.

Bryn Mawr Hospital mainlinehealth.org/brynmawr/thrift-shop 804 County Line Rd.

Donation and consignment-based thrift shop that is legendary among those who shop there. With all proceeds benefiting the Bryn Mawr Hospital, there’s no reason not to stop by for some vintage furniture to enliven your living space.

Buffalo Exchange buffaloexchange.com 17th St. and Chestnut St.

With roughly 30 stores nationwide, Buffalo Exchange has made a name for itself by providing customers with a reliably-refined selection of clothing, jewelry and footwear, both vintage and modern.

maintain their communities. With proceeds going to the charitable works of the MCC Thrift Shop Network, every time you pick up some great vintage clothing at Circle Thrift, you’re also donating to your local community.

Franklin Flea franklinflea.com

2233 Frankford Ave. and 1125 S. Broad St.

With two locations, Circle Thrift provides both North and South Philadelphia with inexpensive clothing in an effort to build and

A nonprofit boutique that not only provides its customers with affordable name-brand business attire, but also supports women transitioning into the workforce.

Philly Aids Thrift phillyaidsthrift.com

This South Philly nonprofit packs its two stories with a wide array of clothing, books, electronics and jewelry. Their generous donations to local LGBT and Aids funds reflect well upon the quality and diversity of their inventory.

circlethrift.com

1822 Spring Garden St.

shops located in the historic Headhouse Square between Queen Village and Society Hill. From the 1950s stylings of Hoof and Antler to the Moroccan footwear of Souli & Souli, there’s something for everybody. A plus: you are surrounded by gourmet food trucks.

710 S. 5th St.

Circle Thrift

wardrobeboutique.org

An array of over 40 vintage and hand-made

bulkvintage.com

Wholesale vintage shop that fills its 10,000-square-foot warehouse with classic clothing for both men and women, dating from the 1930s to the 1990s. Need a dress shirt? They’ve got you covered. Need 25 pounds of (discounted) dress shirts?

They’ve got you covered.

The Wardrobe Boutique

October 24, Headhouse Square

Bulk Vintage Warehouse 2438 Coral St.

Award-winning Main Line thrift shop that donates proceeds to benefit the Junior League of Philadelphia.Offering high-quality clothing, furniture, kids’ toys and footwear, the JLP Thrift Shop has you covered whether you’re looking for a Prada zip-up or a vintage coffee table.

The Second Mile Center thesecondmilecenter.com 214 S. 45th St.

Faith-based nonprofit thrift store in the heart of West Philly. With a “Think Green” attitude, they provide an enormous selection of donated clothing and household items, so much so that they opened a neighboring store dedicated solely to furniture.

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s p e c i a l r e p o rt:

INFRASTRUCTURE

MAKING TRACKS If America wants to thrive in the future, we’ve got to invest in our infrastructure as if our lives depend on it.

Because they do by jon hurdle

ILLUST RAT IO NS BY KAT H L E E N W H I TE

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T

his year’s deadly Amtrak derailment in Northeast Philadelphia was a tragic reminder of the consequences of failing to invest in infrastructure in a way that ensures the safety of the public.

On that stretch of track, the absence of Positive Train Control, a technology that automatically slows speeding trains, might have prevented the crash that killed eight people, injured more than 200, and halted trains between Philadelphia and New York for days.

In the ensuing weeks, Philadelphians saw the wreckage and the faces of the affected passengers all over the national news as officials sought answers and politicians renewed the debate over whose job it is to make sure needed upgrades happen quickly enough—as well as who will pay for them.

The mangled Amtrak cars in Philadelphia dented public confidence nationally, albeit temporarily. They also refocused attention on the ongoing need to provide infrastructure of all kinds that ensures public safety and advances sustainability goals such as conserving energy, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging transit use.

Philadelphia’s public agencies and some

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private companies are working to ensure the continued safe operation of all the things that we take for granted in our daily lives: rail and bus lines, water mains, gas pipes, bridges and transit services. Without them, our lives would grind to a halt, as residents of New Orleans or New York will tell you: We are one more Katrina or Superstorm Sandy away from a direct hit that will test our mettle as a city. We need to upgrade this infrastructure to meet both safety and new environmental goals in a city where many such facilities date back to the 19th century.

The process of renewal and enhancement is taking place in the national context of a massive shortfall in infrastructure spending, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. In its 2013 report card on U.S. infrastructure needs, the ASCE gave the country an overall grade of D+, or “poor,” saying roads, schools, transit and levees were among the facilities in the worst condition, while railroads and bridges earned only a C+. Getting it all up to the engineering society’s desired standard would require spending a breathtaking $3.6 trillion, or about three and a half times the federal stimulus during the 2008–

’09 recession, by 2020, the report said.

Pennsylvania got a similarly poor assessment, with seven D grades for different kinds of infrastructure, and the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges—almost one in four—of any state in the country. Dozens of those bridges are in Philadelphia. It’s important to note that being deemed structurally deficient does not mean that a bridge is unsafe to cross, but some of them are already showing signs of advanced deterioration of primary structural elements, which makes it imperative to fix them.

The age of Philadelphia’s infrastructure means that 75 percent or more of its agencies’ budgets will be dedicated to maintenance, says Barry Seymour, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which focuses on transportation planning.

“Because we have bridges that are 100 years old and power stations that are 100 years old, the majority of funding is always going to go to maintenance,” he says. “But at the same time, we are starting to look at expansion opportunities” driven largely by the 2013 increase in Pennsylvania’s transportation funding.

Although older systems demand most of

s p e c i a l r e p o rt:

INFRASTRUCTURE

the available infrastructure dollars, they can also make it easier for planners to pursue sustainable goals such as biking, walking and public transit because those cities were designed before the age of the automobile.

EASING OUR MINDS, AND OUR COMMUTES If you’ve ever sat in traffic on Route 76 or Roosevelt Boulevard, you’ve experienced firsthand what happens when we don’t invest in public infrastructure. Those who have tried to travel over the Ben Franklin Bridge during repairs have also experienced the flip side: disruption from necessary repair work.

While not all of our transportation problems will be solved any time soon, improvements are on the way. Pennsylvania’s infusion of transportation funds has given SEPTA much needed support. Its capital budget doubled to $600 million starting in 2013 as a result of that year’s statewide transportation bill.

The system-wide improvements and investments range from replacing ’20s and ’30s-era electrical substations to a possible new regional rail route connecting Center City to King of Prussia. Also slated for repair are about 350 bridges—around a third of which are more than 100 years old. Some improvements, like Positive Train Control (PTC) on our rail lines, will also put us ahead of most American cities when it comes to public safety.

The PTC installation on the regional rail network, a project that began some five years before the Amtrak accident, is on schedule for completion by the end of 2015, says Richard Burnfield, SEPTA’s chief financial officer.

Although the PTC installation began before the latest infusion of funds, Burnfield called the project the agency’s “most urgent” capital project because of its importance in ensuring public safety. He said only SEPTA, Amtrak and the Metrolink system in California will have the technology fully installed by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the agency is working on three possible projects that would, if realized, mark major developments in its infrastructure and lead to further gains in transit ridership.

The top of SEPTA’s priority list, and the

“In its 2013 report card on U.S. infrastructure needs, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country an overall grade of D+, or “poor,” saying roads, schools, transit and levees were among the facilities in the worst condition. ” most ambitious, is the proposed five-mile extension of the Norristown High Speed Line to King of Prussia, a project that would boost transit ridership to and from the suburban shopping mall and office park while reducing traffic on notoriously congested local highways including the Schuylkill Expressway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Route 422.

In considering the new line, officials are encouraged by the example of a rail service that was built into the Mall of America near Minneapolis. That service has been “extremely successful” in attracting riders and shoppers, says Byron Comati, the agency’s director of strategic planning and analysis.

Elsewhere, SEPTA is considering adding express bus service along the notoriously dangerous Roosevelt Boulevard in northeast

Philadelphia as part of the redevelopment of that highway, and it continues to evaluate the possibility of extending the Broad Street subway into the Navy Yard to serve that community’s growing work force and its anticipated residential population as the development continues in coming years.

Also underway is the restoration of three miles of regional rail track beyond Elwyn, a stretch that was closed in the early 1980s because it fell into disrepair, but is due to reopen in 2019 or 2020 with a new station and a park-and-ride for over 500 cars. A $105 million price tag for the project largely reflects the high number of bridges along the route, Burnfield said.

Meanwhile, SEPTA’s fleet is being upgraded. To its roster of 1,400 buses, it will add as many as 275 new hybrid diesel-electric buses to the approximately 475 already in operation.

The hybrid buses show a steady reduction in air emissions with successive models, are easier to maintain than conventional diesels, and have a longer useful life of up to 13 or 14 years, said Comati. Thirteen electric locomotives are also on their way, and SEPTA will soon invite bids to supply bi-level rail cars in anticipation of further increases in ridership, which has grown 50 percent in the last 15 years, Burnfield says.

“You can’t make the trains any longer, so we’re going with bi-levels,” he adds.

To encourage people to take the train, SEPTA will add 24,000 parking spaces to rail line lots, as well as bike parking amenities.

Asked whether the addition of parking lots runs counter to SEPTA’s stated sustainability goals, Burnfield says the lots are intended to deter people from driving their cars into the city, and construction standards will include the use of energy-efficient lighting and better management of stormwater runoff.

“There is a lot of transit-oriented development springing up around our stations,” he says, referring to development that is targeted in areas that have access to public transportation. “You have to balance the overall needs of the region by providing parking so that folks are driving to a train station rather than driving 20, 30, 40 miles down the Schuylkill Expressway or Interstate 95.”

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SEPTA’S UPGRADES

1.

Positive Train Control (PTC) on the regional rail network Though it has existed for decades, this technology was largely unknown to the general public prior to the Amtrak accident.

Since many rail accidents involve human error, PTC monitors train speeds and slows cars down before the conditions for an accident occur. SEPTA began planning to implement the technology over five years ago, and it should be completed by the end of 2015.

5.

Fleet upgrades SEPTA plans to purchase bi-level regional rail cars, doubling a car’s capacity, and trying to keep ahead of a growing ridership, which has increased 50 percent in the last 15 years. As many as 275 hybrid diesel-electric buses will also be purchased, adding to the 475 that are already part of SEPTA’s fleet.

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2.

High-speed rail to King of Prussia Designed to alleviate some of the traffic on 76, 476 and Route 422, this five-mile extension of the Norristown High-Speed Line would connect King of Prussia to Center City. It’s an ambitious and expensive project, but planners point to the success of a similar line in Minneapolis to the Mall of America.

6.

As a result of the Pennsylvania transportation bill, SEPTA’s capital budget doubled to $600 million beginning in 2013. Here are eight paths SEPTA is pursuing to improve our public transportation system.

3.

Express bus service on Roosevelt Boulevard and train service to the Navy Yard Express bus service would dramatically decrease the commute time for residents in the Northeast working in Center City, and extending the Broad Street Line to reach the Navy Yard would provide a much-needed link to help an already thriving business area reach its full potential.

7.

Extending the Elwyn Line

Parking upgrades at SEPTA stations

The Elwyn Line will be extended three miles to a new terminus at Wawa. Scheduled to open in 2019 or 2020, the new station will have a parking lot for over 500 cars. The $105 million price tag for the project reflects the number of bridges along the route.

Parking spots at train stations will encourage car commuters to convert to train. Construction of a 600-car parking garage at the SEPTA station in Lansdale will begin in October, part of a larger program to add to the 24,000 parking spaces throughout SEPTA’s network.

4.

Repair bridges There are approximately 350 bridges SEPTA plans to repair, and of those, a third are over 100 years old. Maintaining those may not be glamourous, but it is no less important a task.

8.

Bikes and the rails Improved parking for bicycles is also on SEPTA’s agenda, and the inclusion of bicycle-locking facilities at train stations is being discussed. SEPTA is also investigating ways to make the MarketFrankford and Broad Street lines more bike-friendly, possibly by reconfiguring seating.

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All the capital projects, whether actual or potential, are being underpinned by principles such as energy efficiency, transit-oriented development and stormwater management, Comati says. He argues that sustainability has become an integral part of the transportation planning process in less than a decade.

“Six or seven years ago, in the transportation industry, you didn’t find it,” he says.

“Now it’s core thinking.”

THE TANGLE OF UNDERGROUND PIPES CRUCIAL TO OUR DAILY LIVES A lot of the infrastructure that we rely on is hidden, although we depend on it every day.

We take for granted that we are able to turn on the tap and get unlimited clean water or fire up the indoor gas stove to set the tea kettle singing in the morning. When it works, we don’t think about it. When it doesn’t, our lives can be thrown into chaos with a flooded roadway or a dangerous gas leak in the kitchen.

On at least one front, Philadelphia is leading the way nationally: our plan to control the water from heavy rains that can cause havoc both in our basements and at our sewage treatment centers. When the system becomes overwhelmed by a heavy rainstorm, raw sewage flows into the Delaware River over 50 times a year in what are called “combined sewer overflows.”

Anthony Kane, vice president for research and development at the nonprofit Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), says older infrastructure such as wastewater systems that combine sewer and stormwater flows are prompting cities to look for sustainable solutions. One big constraint? Whether it is water or gas lines, it’s extremely expensive to replace all those pipes.

“These limitations are forcing cities to be more creative and to look beyond the traditional ‘gray infrastructure’ solutions often to more sustainable options,” he says.

Philadelphia’s long-term green infrastructure plan is called Green City, Clean Waters. It calls for solutions like planted road medians and green roofs to manage stormwater, rather

“The critical issue of funding was at the heart of last year’s heated standoff between City Council and the Nutter Administration about the potential sale of Philadelphia Gas Works. ” than solutions such as underground retention tanks, an example of the gray infrastructure Kane mentions. These strategies are keeping our rivers and creeks clean, as well as transforming the way that Philadelphia looks. In order to help fund the improvements, the water department had to change its rate structure, especially for commercial properties.

Properties that allow water to infiltrate into the ground now pay less; uses like parking lots or other impermeable surfaces pay more.

Overall, its 25-year, $2.4 billion plan, is a fraction of the cost of building new pipes underneath the city.

PAYING THE PIPER, NOW OR LATER The critical issue of funding was at the heart of last year’s heated standoff between City Council and the Nutter Administration about the potential sale of Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), the nation’s largest municipally owned gas utility. It has a network of cast-iron pipes so vast that the current replacement program is scheduled to take 88 years.

In a highly politicized vote that was in part a reaction to the Council’s claim not to have been consulted on the deal, it summarily rejected a $1.86 billion offer to buy the utility in December last year. UIL, the Connecticut-based energy-distribution company that had been selected to buy PGW, had said it would be able to replace the pipelines much faster than under public ownership because it had access to the capital markets.

If the private sector won’t be paying for the

upgrades, that means the public will. A new plan submitted by PGW to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Sept. 1 would accelerate the 88-year schedule to 48 years.

The utility proposed paying for the upgrade by charging customers an additional fee that’s designated to pay for infrastructure improvements—the Distribution System Improvement Charge. The new fee, if approved, would cost a typical residential customer an extra $1.65 per month.

Why should we care about replacement schedules?

Barry O’Sullivan, a spokesman for PGW, says pipeline replacement, at whatever rate, would reduce leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, but adds that PGW does not record leakage rates from particular locations.

He also says the pipeline-replacement program does not indicate there is any danger to the public from deteriorating pipes, or that there has been a shortfall in past investment.

“It’s not the case that the existing infrastructure is past its useful life,” he says. “That is the rate at which we can replace the pipe.

It’s not because we are playing catch-up.”

But PGW’s critics don’t see it that way.

Jonathan Peress, the air policy director for natural gas at the Environmental Defense Fund, says there is no “imminent safety threat” from PGW’s aging pipe network, but argues that the system is leaking an “unacceptably high level of methane into the atmosphere,” which is exacerbating climate change.

“There are no doubt many, many leaks in the underground system, and there are valid reasons for them to move forward,” he says,

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referring to PGW’s pipeline replacement program.

The Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, agrees that the pipes need to be replaced, and argues that past explosions show that the pipeline network does represent a danger to the public, and noting a study by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission that estimated that two-thirds of the system was “at risk.”

CLIMATE CHANGE IS TESTING THE RESILIENCY OF OUR INFRASTRUCTURE Our critical infrastructure is in a long boxing match with time and weather. Every year, as the temperature repeatedly goes up and down, causing “freeze thaw events,” our bridges, pipes and roadways are getting jabbed over and over again. Our concrete crumbles, the pipes rot and clog, and structural deficiencies start to become dangerous. When a big storm like Hurricane Sandy comes, it can be the knockout punch that takes something down.

Philadelphia climate models tell us that the city is going to be hotter and wetter, and that the hotter temperatures are not going to be in the winter. Katherine Gajewski, Director of the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability, says that sustainability is being promoted among city agencies around the issue of climate change. Officials overseeing areas such as water, gas and streets—all of which are vulnerable to higher temperatures, bigger storms or rising seas—have been taking a coordinated approach to planning for climate change.

“We’ve started to see the effects of a changing climate with more variable freeze-thaw events,” Gajewski says, “and we’re starting to see more negative impacts on those infrastructure assets.”

Gajewski adds that her office got an unexpectedly positive response from the affected departments in response to its call for a joint approach to climate change.

“Across the board, they recognized it as something that they really needed to be focused on, and as a result took very seriously.”

Funding, as always, will be a constraining

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factor, and Gajewski is not convinced that government can’t do things as efficiently as the private sector. Citing the example of the results of energy use in commercial buildings that are now complying with new law to disclose use, Gajewski says, “It’s a more nuanced answer than just saying the private sector is doing better than government because it’s not really the full story.”

Sarah Wu, Deputy Director for Planning in the Office of Sustainability, says city departments are already beginning to adapt to the warmer and wetter conditions that are projected to affect the Philadelphia in coming decades.

The Streets Department, for instance, is starting to move electrical systems for traffic signals from underground locations where they are vulnerable to flooding to elevated positions where they won’t be affected by the increasing number of heavy downpours that are expected to come with climate change.

And the Department of Parks and Recreation is thinking about shifting HVAC systems onto the roofs of recreation centers to remove the risk that the systems could be flooded, Wu says.

She adds that despite the higher expected temperatures, Philadelphia will still have to

deal with the freeze-thaw cycles that traditionally create problems for infrastructure, such as road surfaces.

Although City officials have been receptive to the calls by Wu’s office for a systematic approach to such resiliency planning, some have already been making localized changes to their systems in response to changing climatic conditions.

“They are saying, ‘This is not news to us; we know the weather has been getting wetter,’” Wu says. “We’re not starting with zero knowledge of what warmer and wetter weather looks like.”

Asked whether Philadelphia’s infrastructure is ready for climate change, Wu says the city will be better positioned to withstand rising sea levels than other big East Coast cities such as Boston and New York because it is 90 miles from the mouth of the Delaware River, and so is not directly exposed to the ocean, as some other cities are.

Wu explains that a flood in the Schuylkill River, for example, is more likely to affect just the river’s walking trail rather than a large residential area.

Given the city’s relatively low exposure to projected floods, planners such as Wu expect to defend specific infrastructure that is seen as vulnerable rather than building resiliency across wide areas of the city.

“The way the city is approaching it is to recommend an asset-by-asset screening,” she says.

Wu said her office expects to release its first report on climate adaptation in October.

Nationwide, planners are looking beyond the traditional sources of government funding and toward public-private partnerships to fund much-needed infrastructure improvements, and private partners are shifting toward seeking stability and social improvement and away from the traditional search for the highest returns, says Anthony Kane from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure.

“Even private investors without a social or environmental motive are starting to realize that unsustainable infrastructure investments have a higher risk,” Kane says, “and they are building that into their frameworks.”

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HOME FRONT Redevelopment at the Navy Yard has made it a successful office park. Will it be able to lure residents into a sustainable living community? by alex vuocolo

I

t’s happy hour on a Friday at Lo Spiedo, a Marc Vetri-owned Italian restaurant located beside the main gate of the Navy Yard. There are only a few patrons sitting at the bar. One pair sips their draft beers as they

stores and day care centers.

“Residential is inevitable,” Morgan says, echoing a sentiment shared by many of the Navy Yard’s boosters, as he wipes down the top of the bar.

look over paperwork. Another is getting the check, ready to head home.

The bartender, Anwar Morgan, says Fridays are one of the slowest days of the week.

This is because employees from the Navy Yard make up the bulk of Lo Spiedo’s customers, and they tend to rush home for the weekend.

Other Vetri joints are likely filling up around this time, but then much about the Navy Yard doesn’t work like the rest of the city.

First and foremost, no one lives here. The 1,200-acre sustainable urban business campus is entirely commercial and industrial.

Among its 145 business tenants are Urban Outfitters, Iroko Pharmaceuticals, Tasty Baking Company, GlaxoSmithKline and the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation, a federally funded research hub devoted to making buildings more sustainable.

When the U.S. Navy transferred the property to the City of Philadelphia in March of 2000, the deed banned residential development, setting the course for the next 15 years of business-centric growth.

Today, home is inevitably a car ride or shuttle bus away for the 11,000-plus employees that work at the Navy Yard.

That could be about to change. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), a nonprofit entity that manages the Navy Yard for the city, is in talks with the Navy, which maintains a presence there, to end the ban. PIDC is also trying to bring amenities to the area that would help attract residents once the ban is lifted. That means more restaurants like Lo Spiedo, but also amenities like grocery

Yet the transition won’t happen on its own.

First, PIDC and the Navy need to iron out a new agreement. Then comes the much harder job of making the Navy Yard a place that people actually want to live.

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TURNING THE SHIP AROUND Before it was a modern business campus, known for green building methods and innovative office design, the Navy Yard spent over a century earning its namesake.

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, as it was originally called, churned out vast steel warships from 1876 to 1970, when it built the Blue Ridge, the last new ship to leave its port. After that, most of its work came from repairing old ships. Rumors of an impending shutdown circulated for years. Then, in 1996, after a determined, if futile, effort by then-Mayor Ed Rendell’s administration to delay it, the shutdown came.

Terry Gillen, now an economic development consultant and recently a candidate in Democratic mayoral primary, was among the first officials at PIDC to begin working on setting a new course for the Navy Yard (a story she recounted in talk at TEDxPhiladelphia 2014). She and a small team developed an outline for what the Navy Yard should become.

From the beginning, she says, their focus was on creating jobs.

“Back then, one of the reasons that we decided not to do residential was that what the city really needed most was jobs,” Gillen says.

An aerial view of the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia looking north into Center City

“The city lost about 10,000 jobs when the Navy Yard closed.”

Other factors included some unfortunate geographic variables, such as the lack of transit access and the constant sound of airplanes taking off from the nearby Philadelphia International Airport.

“We had a blank slate, and we had to consider any and all ideas,” Gillen says. “And we deliberately decided on creating a business park.”

The thinking around residential began to shift about 10 years ago, according to Will Agate, senior vice president of Navy Yard management and development at PIDC. It was no

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longer considered unrelated to job growth, but key to making the Navy Yard more appealing to employers and employees alike.

“I think as a society we have become much more holistic,” Agate says. “There are not these black and white lines between your work day and your private day.” There is a growing expectation among professionals, he adds, that they be able to work, play and live in the same area, especially for those concerned about sustainable living.

PIDC’s 2004 master plan proposed that a segment of the Navy Yard, dubbed the Marina District, be designated for residential and retail. The 2013 update of the plan also

included residential, though in a different part called the Historic Core, which stretches from the main gate to the Delaware River and encompasses much of the Navy Yard’s historic architecture.

So, why the delay?

“Most of the complexity really relates to the fact that the Navy is such a large organization.

There are several branches of the Navy that actually function at the Navy Yard,” Agate says. “It’s a little like herding cats.”

That’s not to say there is a lack of interest.

The Navy has a stake in residential as well, according to Agate. “Their specific needs are very much aligned with ours in that they are

“As a society we have become much more holistic. There are not these black and white lines between your work day and your private day. ” - Will Agate

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“[In the ’90s], you could not get young people to work in the city.

They wanted to work out in Montgomery County, out in the suburbs.”

- Terry Gillan also trying to attract employees to work at the Navy.”

PIDC’s goal is to work out a new deal by 2016 and start issuing requests for proposals from residential developers soon after.

NEW WORKERS, AND NEW NEEDS Where do the workers themselves stand? At least some think it’s a great idea, assuming there are some changes first.

“I think it would be great,” says Dan Flynn, 26, an employee of GlaxoSmithKline. “The only thing is how removed [the Navy Yard] is from anything that’s not commercial or industrial.”

There would need to be “more essentials,” he adds, like grocery stores and pharmacies.

Those types of amenities are exactly what PIDC is trying to bring to the Navy Yard now, before residential development occurs.

“I think what we will start to turn the corner on is what I call the convenience amenities,” Agate says. These include grocery stores, bar-

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bershops, and shoe repair shops, which “appeal to both workers and residents.”

Already, Agate points out, some basic amenities exist, including a hotel, a paved riverside path, six public parks, and a network of pedestrian and bike-friendly streets.

One of the biggest opportunities for making the Navy Yard more amenable to residential development is the possible extension of the Broad Street Line from AT&T Station, formerly the Pattison Avenue station.

“The fact of the matter is that every single thing that we’ve talked about really relates to the whole reason why the Broad Street Line extension makes so much sense,” Agate says.

“It’s a way of connecting the Navy Yard as a hub to Center City, of bringing residents both down to the Navy Yard, where they work, and up to Center City and the other hubs of the Philadelphia market.”

Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and SEPTA are conducting a study to detail how the extension could be done. “This is the more detailed study that

needs to be done to clear the way for funding opportunities,” Agate says, which would include a mix of local and state dollars, as well as federal transportation grants. The study will be complete by next year, he adds. From there, the timeline depends on the political will of local lawmakers.

“If everyone gets behind this project on a reasonably expedited basis, you’re talking about a project that’s five, seven years out,” he adds.

Much has changed at the Navy Yard since it first shut down and set out on a course to become its own version of an employment hub, where green building technology, fashion and pharmaceuticals have replaced shipmaking.

“We were losing jobs and people at such a rate,” Gillen says, about the early 1990s.“You could not get young people to work in the city. They wanted to work out in Montgomery County, out in the suburbs.”

“It was a very different time," she says, “so it’s important to rethink all of these plans from time to time.”

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The view from inside City Hall's iconic clock tower

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INSIDE THE WALLS From the lights in the City Hall clock tower to super-insulated affordable housing, green building practices are a critical part of updating our infrastructure—and saving money. by alex dews

S

treets, bridges and power lines all come to mind when we think of infrastructure, but the reason all those things exist in the first place is to connect and power the buildings we inhabit. In Philadelphia, our building stock is perhaps our most valuable infrastructure asset.

Earlier this year, the Healthy Rowhouse Project built a broad coalition to support a basic, but powerful, concept: invest in the building “infrastructure” that defines our city to improve quality of life for its residents. We already have the tools we need to make buildings (both old and new) healthier and more efficient. When we do, residents save money, cut carbon emissions and create opportunities in the local economy.

Almost 40 percent of owner-occupied homes in Philadelphia are owned by people with low incomes, and they are particular40

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ly vulnerable to high energy costs and the health impacts associated with poor indoor air quality. Healthy, efficient and affordable housing is an essential part of our city’s infrastructure, from rowhouses to large multi-family buildings.

As is the case in the city’s many rowhouses, there is tremendous opportunity to improve large, multi-family buildings. As a first step, all four of the city’s utility companies (PECO, PGW, PWD and Veolia) have supported building energy and water benchmarking, providing the performance feedback building owners and operators need to maintain and improve their facilities. At the Navy Yard, PIDC is spearheading cutting-edge work on developing and demonstrating smart grid technology, recognizing that buildings are a part of our infrastructure (and not apart from it).

Finally, when it comes to serving people, all

roads lead to City Hall; this magnificent building stands at the center of Philadelphia, with infrastructure literally running through it. In the basement, two subway lines and a massive water main connect all corners of the city.

Way up in the clock tower, the familiar yellow glow remains, but newly installed LED bulbs are quietly saving taxpayers $40,000 every year.

An energy efficiency contract to retrofit four city-owned properties—City Hall, One Parkway Building, Municipal Services Building and the Center for Criminal Justice—will save taxpayers $1.4 million each year.

Green buildings are a smart investment that pays financial dividends as well as yielding a better quality of life for our residents.

Alex Dews is the Executive Director of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE

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BEFORE: 213 South 60th Street

Behind the colorful new facades on West Philadelphia’s 60th Street District commercial corridor are cutting-edge building practices By alon abramson

W

e all love before-and-after pictures, but sometimes it’s hard to see beyond the superficial even when a radical transformation has taken place. At first glance, you might think the brightly painted storefronts and homes on 60th Street in West Philadelphia are simply spruced up versions of their neighbors.

But the real story is the long-term plan, and the serious green building practices, behind those beautiful faces.

Once a thriving business district, the 60th Street commercial corridor slipped into decline after decades of disinvestment, changes in neighborhood demographics and a shrinking population. It suffered another blow in the early 2000s when construction on the Market-Frankford El cut off one of the main transportation modes to the area. A vibrant commercial strip once ran for seven blocks from Market to Catherine Streets in the form of two-story rowhomes with businesses on the first floors and apartments above.

Wells Fargo drew up a redevelopment plan for 60th Street that laid the groundwork for a partnership between the Partnership Community Development Corporation (PCDC) and West Philadelphia Real Estate (WPRE).

Their study found that the neighborhood

economy wasn’t yet strong enough to support former levels of commercial activity, and proposed concentrating businesses to the three blocks from Market to Spruce Streets instead.

Properties south of Spruce Street were developed as single-family homes or duplexes. WPRE redeveloped 45 vacant properties and empty lots into 81 units. All residential properties are priced for residents with low incomes, and rents are adjusted as necessary based on financial need; six of these properties were made ADA-accessible. At press time, all but one property had been leased.

All properties are being certified to Energy Star standards for their excellent energy performance, as well as the more comprehensive LEED standards from the U.S. Green Building Council, which also takes into account the site, air quality, water use and materials used in construction. The new and remodeled buildings include efficient appliances, lighting, mechanical systems and water heaters.

The highly insulated roofs and walls and efficient doors and windows were used to make sure the building contain cooled or heated air.

The 60th Street District development proves that it’s possible to build new and retrofitted high-efficiency green buildings that blend into existing neighborhoods.

AFTER: 213 South 60th Street

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PUSHING THE ENVELOPE A change in affordable housing policy, championed by a local architect, could be a game changer

by Alon Abramson

A

recent change in how low income

housing is financed in Pennsylvania, spearheaded by sustainability leader Tim McDonald of Onion Flats, could create a sea change in how all housing is built.

To entice developers into building affordable housing, the government provides funding at the federal, state and local levels. On the state level, tax credits are offered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) through a highly competitive process wherein developers achieve points, as many of them as possible, to win assistance.

Tim McDonald, principal at design-build firm Onion Flats, in partnership with Temple University Architecture Program’s Architectural Research Center, encouraged PHFA to add a new point category for buildings that would be net-zero on energy. The agency decided to use the already existing Passive House standard, a rigorous design approach to energy efficiency that demands nearly airtight homes, as its benchmark.

Through their successful lobbying efforts, in the first year alone, an astounding 20 percent of the projects that received PHFA financing planned to build to this new standard. McDonald’s belief is that, since the same architects, engineers and developers that build affordable housing also build standard market-rate housing, they will use their Passive House experience and learn to apply them at the same cost in commercial projects.

This will cause the sea change in the housing market in Philadelphia and beyond.

McDonald and his firm are leading the charge. In 2012, two years before approaching PHFA, Onion Flats had already designed and

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built three homes at 1735 Belfield Ave. in conjunction with affordable housing developer Raise of Hope and the Urban Affairs Coalition. It was the first Passive House accredited project in Pennsylvania, and served as a powerful proof of concept.

Almost as impressive as the energy performance of the units was the fact they were built at the same cost as market rate homes--all while earning praise from architecture critics. To keep costs down and the construction timeline as compressed as possible, the firm used modular building technology; component blocks were constructed and finished off site in specially designed facilities. They were then transported to the site and pieced together like blocks to assemble the three-story homes quickly.

It’s an approach that significantly reduces labor costs, one of the factors with which Philadelphia developers must contend. In the end, the Belfield homes cost $250,000 to build, a number that’s in line with comparable construction projects that will be sold for as much as $700,000 a piece. The Belfield street homes, though, will be rented to formerly homeless and qualified-income families.

Other Philadelphia design firms with deep experience in sustainable design, such as Wallace Roberts and Todd, are also working to develop affordable housing locally by educating their development partners—such as Pennrose Properties, LLC—about using Passive House.

The design revolution has begun, and firms in Philadelphia will continue to set a high bar for what’s possible when developing affordable housing—and its market rate equivalents— nationally.

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Green Homes for the Homeless Project HOME, which seeks to empower homeless individuals and families to break the cycle of homelessness, continues to bring their social consciousness to a string of green building projects, most recently in Fairmount and Chinatown.

JBJ Soul Homes 1415 Fairmount Avenue

JBJ Soul Homes offers units for formerly homeless individuals. Within its four stories are 55 residential units split between subsidized permanent supportive housing for adults and affordable efficiency apartments for young adults. The building also contains ground-floor retail, administrative office spaces and spaces for supportive services. The project team, led by architects Kitchen and Associates, will likely earn LEED Silver certification. The building was designed with the well-being of its occupants in mind, featuring plentiful daylighting and low-emission materials for flooring, paint, adhesives and sealants.

FUNDING: The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, Leigh and John Middleton, Elizabeth Moran, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of Philadelphia.

Francis House of Peace 801 Arch Street

Named in honor of Pope Francis, Francis House of Peace is a partnership between Project HOME and Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC). The eight-story, 94-unit project will be LEED certified, and will serve homeless individuals as well as those with low incomes, including young adults in the LGBTQ community; applications for housing are now open to qualified individuals, and the innovative project is set to open in January of 2016. Francis House will enliven a pedestrian-unfriendly area marked by parking garages and uninviting commercial buildings, and will have ground-level retail facing Arch Street. The

The JBJ Soul Homes at 1415 Fairmount Ave. are adorned with the mural “Fire Beacon� by local artist Meg Saligman

Philadelphia Redevelopment Corporation donated the land for the project.

FUNDING: Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Leigh and John Middleton.

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MAN WITH A PLAN City Council candidate Andrew Stober gets emotional over infrastructure

by Heather Shayne Blakeslee

A

ndrew Stober is perhaps best known as one of the architects of Indego, the Philadelphia bike share program, which he helped launch while working as the Chief of Staff at the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU). Now, he’s running as an independent for City Council for one of the two at-large seats reserved for non-majority party candidates. He’s hoping that his planning background will be an asset while a new council and a new mayor set the stage for Philadelphia’s next act.

Stober has witnessed how infrastructure— our roads, bridges, buildings, utilities and public transit—affect us all. “What I’ve loved working on for so long in transportation is, from the least privileged person to the most resourced person, the system touches their lives every day,” says Stober. “[People] will talk your ear off about it.” His observation is no doubt the result of holding many public meetings and impromptu listening sessions during the course of his work in Boulder, C0, and more recently in Philadelphia.

“When you are dealing with infrastructure,” Stober says, “you aren’t dealing with things that are just physical. You are dealing with things that are very emotional.” One topic we discussed is the controversy swirling around about Le Bok Fin, a pop-up bar on the rooftop of a closed vocational school in South Philly that was sold by the Philadelphia School District to a private developer.

The temporary use of the building was meant to activate the space and ready it for more extensive redevelopment plans, but the bar has been seen as insensitive to some in the com-

PHOTO BY L INDSAY DO C H E RTY

munity still grieving the loss of their school.

Stober can see both sides. “The people who are like, ‘This is having a party on a gravestone that we just laid’ are very sincere, and the people who are saying, ‘This is going to be a national model for how we recover beautiful infrastructure that is no longer serving its historical public use’ are coming from an equally sincere place,” he says. “It’s a really great example of just what a powerful symbol our infrastructure is.”

He relates the controversy back to the bike share plans, which had a stated goal to make the program affordable and accessible to diverse Philadelphia neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods were leery about becoming a bike share location because they were concerned it signaled that gentrification was on its way. Stober says public outreach was essential in assuring residents that the bikes were intended for their use, not a new stream of neighbors waiting in the wings. “Infrastructure does not have a very savory legacy in the United States as it relates to low-income communities,” he says. “The legacy is either one of ignoring them, or just rolling through them with no regard for community. So, we wanted the introduction of this new piece of infrastructure to be very different in that regard.”

It’s a point he echoes when we switch gears from transportation and urban planning to talk about energy. Stober is clear, for instance, on the pitfalls of blindly following the path of making Philadelphia a petrochemical hub, a proposed plan that would dramatically increase the amount of natural gas refined in the city, and potentially bring the manufacturing

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of plastics, fertilizers and other known polluters to our already compromised air quality.

“We need to have a really clear understanding of what the environmental and health impact of these projects are so we can make an educated decision,” Stober says, “because we don’t want to have a project that creates a few hundred jobs and then tens of millions of dollars in healthcare costs that the city has to pick up.” He acknowledges that refining and manufacturing are arguably the best use of an otherwise unusable and highly contaminated piece of land in South Philadelphia, but that we also need to consider the consequences, and who will bear them. “Given the kind of industry we are dealing with—these are very hazardous materials—what are the potential impacts? We need to remember that these are on some of our most vulnerable communities.”

Before resigning from MOTU in order to run for City Council, Stober’s job gave him a front row seat to last year’s negotiations on whether to sell Philadelphia Gas Works, and he’s vexed about the fact that there wasn’t a more transparent process. “The Council spent $500,000 on a report,” he says, “and then didn’t let the public have a debate.” He then then rattles off exactly what he would have done to push the sale through, including earmarking part of the sale proceeds for investing capital projects in every district.

Stober also cites his work reconstituting the city’s Municipal Energy Office as one of his proudest legacies at MOTU, and says if he’s elected, he’d be driving energy efficiency investments, supporting local renewable energy projects, enacting litter reduction programs, expanding the bike and pedestrian trails, and “lastly, making sure that we are continuing to work on how the city is going to both adapt to climate change, and how the city is going to reduce its own impacts.”

Stober is clearly comfortable weighing both sides of tricky issues and making longterm plans, but he also wants action. When asked why he was running for City Council, he answered without hesitation: “We can’t complain our way into a better city.”

Elections for Mayor and City Council are November 3, 2015.

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DIVING INTO A NEW LIFE Philadelphia’s green infrastructure plans are creating jobs and opportunity by marilyn anthony

P

aul Johnson is an Aquarius who believes he has found his life’s work with water.

A few years ago, Johnson, a 24-year old Strawberry Mansion resident, didn’t have promising prospects. An aimless year at community college, followed by a series of low-paying jobs in security, maintenance, fast food and summer camps characterized his early adulthood. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I just did anything I could get,” Johnson says. “I didn't have any goals, long or short term. I’m an Aquarius and I was kinda going with the wind.”

Then Johnson joined PowerCorpsPHL, an AmeriCorps jobs program, and discovered the Green Stormwater Infrastructure Partners Initiative. PowerCorpsPHL introduced Johnson to stormwater management, but even more importantly to Pat Edouard, a Senior Crew Leader, who teaches life and work lessons that are contributing to Johnson’s success. Edouard believes that “green jobs are nothing but upward mobility… there’s going to be local GSI companies who all live, work and play in Philly. It’s gonna be huge.”

His words sank into Johnson’s ears, and changed his perspective. “Pat Edouard told me it’s better to have goals, and if you want to work, make yourself invaluable.” Johnson says his PowerCorpsPHL work convinced him there were people who wanted him to succeed.

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After six months at PowerCorpsPHL, Johnson joined a field crew on a Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) job, then advanced to assistant field crew leader, teaching a group of 10 youths. Johnson applied for a position at the environmental consulting firm AKRF, and was hired last March as a Green Infrastructure Landscape Maintenance Technician.

With additional training, he was able to pass a certification exam, and in June was promoted to an office position as Pipe Assessment Inspector, troubleshooting water systems.

In addition to his work at AKRF, Johnson serves as a mentor with PowerCorpsPHL, attends Community College, aims to pursue an Environmental Engineering degree at Drexel University, and to join Drexel’s Co-op with the Philadelphia Water Department.

A $2.4 BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT IN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE In 2011, PWD launched the Green City, Clean Waters program. They pledged to spend $2.4 billion over 25 years to augment the city’s water system with thousands of innovations to mitigate stormwater, making Philadelphia a national leader, according to Shandor Szalay, AKRF 's senior vice president for water resource practices.

Creating green jobs is a key component of the Green Stormwaters Initiative (GSI).

Jamie Gauthier, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia (SBN), helped form the GSI Partners Initiative in 2012. With seed money from the Surdna Foundation, SBN gathered 60 locally owned businesses working in sustainable water management. GSI member businesses include systems engineers and designers, materials manufacturers and suppliers, contractors, builders and certified maintenance technicians. “There’s a huge opportunity [for young adults] to learn, to work in local businesses, to start their own businesses, and to be innovators in this field.” Gauthier says, noting that “over the last year, we’ve seen a

A photo taken Paul Johnson shows his fellow PowerCorpPHL participants out on the Paul Johnson painting a streets, where they are wall at a PowerCorpsPHL learning how the city for Peace Day manages stormwater

13.5 percent increase in total revenues for our GSI businesses and the creation of 40 new full-time positions and 25 new seasonal jobs.”

Both Gauthier and AKRF’s Szalay expect accelerated job growth as more water projects come online. Szalay says AKRF has already installed hundreds of sites maintained by crews, but ultimately anticipates “thousands of sites… [generating] a lot more activity and job creation.”

PowerCorpsPHL alumni might fill many of these new jobs. The AmeriCorps green jobs incubator began in 2013, designed in part to support Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s environmental stewardship initiatives.

According to their website each year, PowerCorpsPHL enrolls 136 at-risk 18-to-26-yearolds in a six-month AmeriCorps program that “provides participants with the opportunity to develop the skills required to become environmental stewards, secure meaningful work and become civically engaged members of society.”

A few years ago, Paul Johnson’s relationship with water was as common as most people’s. “I drink it, wash up with it,” Johnson says. “Now I know how important water is. I like what the water systems do and how many benefits they have for society… it makes me feel good that I’m one of the people making

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P hilly B ike E xpo.com | November 7 & 8 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | 3

WELCOME PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015

No matter how long you bike, you never stop learning. There are so many exciting new features lined up for the 2015 Philly Bike Expo— our sixth year!—including a gravel bike seminar, a live demo from custom headbadge artist Jen Green, our framebuilders’ panel (which will include two female framebuilders this time), and a crash avoidance demo in the indoor test ride area. Back by popular demand are Erick Cedeño’s presentation on Retracing the Underground Railroad by Bicycle, live bicycle pinstriping and Yoga for Cyclists.

As much as we value Philly Bike Expo as a place to learn, there is an even higher goal: community. After I posted a photo on our Instagram page, the comments revealed two exhibitors from opposite ends of the country making plans to have lunch together when they were in town for the Expo. Personal connections like this are among the things I cherish most about the Expo. I am grateful that my work creates business opportunities, strengthens friendships and fosters unity throughout the cycling community.

So hop on your favorite wheels, and join us for the Philly Bike Expo.

You will deepen your personal commitment to sustainable transportation, and meet the people who share your passion.

BINA BILENKY Event Director, Philly Bike Expo

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4 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | November 7 & 8 | P hilly B ike E xpo.com

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P hilly B ike E xpo.com | November 7 & 8 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | 5

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THE LONG, WINDING ROAD Philadelphia offers a bike trail for everyone, from families to professional mountain bikers by alex vuocolo There are over 300 miles of trails in the Philadelphia region, ranging from paved riverfront paths to winding dirt tracks. For those just learning the system, there are a number of factors to consider when planning a trip: How challenging is the trail? What is there to see along the way?

If you’re bringing kids, is there a bathroom, a place to eat, something fun to do? There are enough trails in Philadelphia alone, let alone the surrounding area, for almost every type of trip, but here are three perfect—albeit very different—rides you can take.

P hilly B ike E xpo.com | November 7 & 8 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | 7

1.

THE OFF-ROAD WORKOUT Philadelphia’s most celebrated bike facilities are accessible to almost all cyclists. For experienced and even intermediate mountain bikers, finding challenging trails inside the city can be a struggle. Yet, nestled around the Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park is a cluster of short trails that test the mettle of even professional mountain bike riders.

These trails are loosely referred to as the Belmont Trails, but the Department of Parks and Recreation is still in the process of identifying and labeling them in an effort to make them more well-known and navigable. For now, the best way to find them is to go to the Belmont Plateau and take any one of the trails that snake into the woods. A basic map of Fairmount Park can help you find the plateau, which sits at the center of West Fairmount Park, just off Belmont Avenue. It’s also a short hike or ride from Girard Avenue in West Philadelphia, or from East Falls on the other side of the Schuylkill.

The trails are tight, rocky and often quite steep. A good mountain bike is essential. “It really makes good riders, because you’re forced to learn how to ride something that you don’t find in a lot of places,” says Harlan Price, a mountain biking skills instructor and formerly a professional rider based in Philadelphia. He notes that a lot of people start off hating the trails, then loving them a year later after getting a handle on them. “There’s always a section or a place that’s going to challenge you,” Price says.

2.

THE SCENIC ROUTE The Wissahickon Trail is a classic, of course, but for good reason. The mostly-flat 20-mile trail passes through one of the most beautiful natural areas in the region. The trail winds through a deep-cut gorge surrounded by deciduous forest that follows the course of the Wissahickon Creek. The trailhead is located in Philadelphia, but the trail extends into Montgomery County.

All along its length, early 20th century stone bridges arc overhead. Side trails branch off from the main path for those who want to combine biking and hiking. The Valley Green Inn, a historic inn and restaurant located toward the end of the Philly section of the trail, offers public bathrooms, benches and a snack stand. A mountain bike is best for rolling over the crushed gravel that constitutes most of the trail, but a hybrid bike or street bike with thicker tires should be able to hack it.

The trail begins just above the Wissahickon Transportation Center, located on Ridge Avenue, just south of the neighborhoods of Manayunk and Roxborough in the city’s Northwest section.

Riders can also reach the Wissahickon Trail via the Schuylkill River Trail, which is a scenic route in its own right. The trail, which runs down the east bank of the Schuylkill River, contains a number of civic monuments and historic architecture. It also contains a cross-section of Philadelphia, from joggers and families pushing strollers to skateboarders and marathon trainers.

8 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | November 7 & 8 | P hilly B ike E xpo.com

3.

THE FAMILY FIELD TRIP John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge Park is an open secret of sorts in Philadelphia. Tucked against I-95 in Southwest Philadelphia, the 1,200-acre refuge is a little off the beaten path but nonetheless perfect for a bike trip with the little ones.

Dena Driscoll, a family bike advocate and coordinator for Kidical Mass Philadelphia, which holds periodic group rides for parents and young children, says that the best bike trails for family trips include amenities such as bathrooms, places to eat and things for children to interact with. “For my kids, it’s throwing rocks into water or climbing a tree,” she adds.

John Heinz has all 0f the basics, including bathrooms, parking and a number of areas for children to play and interact with nature. The trail, which roughly follows the perimeter of the refuge, is flat and meandering, making it ideal for slow-paced trips. In addition, it is completely insulated from the city around it: children can ride freely along the path without parents worrying about traffic or speedy adult riders.

The refuge can be reached via I-95 or Lindbergh Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. The Circuit, a local coalition of trail advocates, has a comprehensive map of the regional trail network on its website if you want to bike to the refuge.

Safety concerns aside, the park is filled with wildlife and lush natural environments. So, there is more than enough to keep parents engaged as well. “When you go out on a trail, you want a sense of adventure for everyone,” Driscoll says.

P hilly B ike E xpo.com | November 7 & 8 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | 9

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YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE From across the pond, redcoat Simon Firth has settled in Philly and made a splash with Firth & Wilson Transport Cycles by erin patterson

S

imon Firth of Firth & Wilson Transport Cycles has a passion for bikes that started early with his days as a bike messenger in London.

After making connections with American cyclists during the Cycle Messenger World Championships, he traveled to the U.S. for a visit and ultimately decided to stay. In 1996, he traversed the entire country on a bike.

During a Las Vegas bike show 15 years ago, Firth met business partner and friend David Wilson. They both felt there was a need for cargo and transportation bikes in Philadelphia, and Firth & Wilson Transport Cycle opened their doors in June of 2013, originally on Spring Garden Street, as a full-service bicycle shop and retail showroom, selling predominantly cargo and transport bikes. Firth’s wife Victoria is also an owner.

Firth & Wilson Transport Cycle moved to its Frankford Avenue location in Fishtown in 2015, and all of their bikes are neatly on display in a spacious showroom.

“We have a great space, in a great growing neighborhood,” says Firth. “We are lucky to be here.”

Firth and Wilson handpick bikes and styles that accommodate customers looking for a reliable form of transportation.

Although they sell many specialized bicycles, including a cargo bike with a front car to haul anything from a baby to your groceries, they don’t want to limit themselves to being seen as a niche shop.

“We strive to cater to the commuters, transport cyclists and people who just want to get to work on a bike” Firth says.

They consider their bread and butter to be one-speed bikes that are meant for casually tooling around town, and they sell a variety of bicycles and accessories from companies like Pure City, Xtracycle, Brooklyn Bicycle Co. and Larry Vs. Harry.

Customers also have the option to purchase customized frames—made by the owners to fit any specific need—under the labels David Wilson Industries (DWI) and Hanford Cycles.

When you’re in the shop, it’s hard to miss the oversized antique shoe-shaped sign pointing to the area reading, “Repairs—This Way.” Casual bikers who need to fix a flat shouldn’t be intimidated by their specialty shop status.

“Fixing bikes is also a huge part of what we do,” Firth explains. They have a frame shop, as well as several repairing stations connected to their showroom.

Firth is passionate about bicycles and also about creating community. When he and Wilson were opening their original location, they had plans to include a cafe in the space, and in their current home they’ve hosted events for organizations like the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the Indego bike share program.

Firth is also one of forces behind the Philadelphia Bike Expo, now going into its sixth year. When the events of 9/11 made it too difficult for New York to continue having a regional expo, organizers in Philadelphia picked up the baton.

It’s been a long road from Firth’s birthplace of Stoke-on-Trent in middle England, but he’s now firmly rooted in his adopted country, and he’s a believer in his new hometown. He’s committed to growing both his business and the cycling community here.

“This is what I do,” Firth says. “This is what will make Philadelphia a better city.”

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FEMME FRAMEBUILDERS The Philadelphia Bike Expo welcomes two far-flung custom builders by hannah waters

L

os Angeles is not known for being bike-friendly. To the transportationconscious, its wide looping highways, traffic jams and car culture define the city even more than its celebrities or bustling art scene. Regardless, L.A. is where Megan Dean fell in love with bikes. A short six months after moving to the city in 2005, she sold her car and never looked back. “It was a whole other version of the city, to get out of a car and onto a bike,” she says. “It opened up a whole new world of freedom.”

So, when an eagerly anticipated bike trip conflicted with work, her choice was clear: quit her day job as a storefront designer for Urban Outfitters and dedicate herself to bikes. Dean had always been crafty, with ex-

perience in woodworking, setting tile, painting and photography—“there are lots of dying arts in my past,” she jokes—and so building custom bike frames was a natural move. After studying with a master framebuilder, she opened her Las Vegas-based shop Moth Attack in 2009.

Luckily for Dean, framebuilding doesn’t seem to be a dying art. Although large commercial manufacturers still dominate the U.S. bicycle industry, there is a growing demand for handcrafted bikes that are made especially for the buyer.

The number of U.S. framebuilders has increased fourfold in the last couple of years, from less than 50 working in 2010 to more than 200 today, estimates Stephen Bilenky,

12 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | November 7 & 8 | P hilly B ike E xpo.com

founder of Philadelphia custom shop Bilenky Cycle Works.

People from around the country, including from Philadelphia, order custom bike frames because “they want something that fits them specifically, and they like the idea that they know where it comes from,” says framebuilder Lauren Trout, who founded her Austin, Texas shop Saila Bicycles in 2013. “They like knowing that it’s something specific for them made by a real person that they can communicate with, as opposed to coming off a ship that comes from China with thousands of bikes made in some factory by someone they don't know.”

Building a frame starts with a conversation. Trout talks to the customer about what

kind of bike they want and what they want to do with it, and then takes measurements and comes up with a design. After ordering the parts—metal tubes of different widths, mainly—she cuts them, lines them up and welds them together, before doing some alignment checks and putting on the finishing touches.

“Welding is my favorite part,” she says. “I like the process of getting metal hot and sticking it together. There's something meditative about it.” It takes her anywhere between 24-30 hours of work to build a single frame, and she estimates she’s built 60 bikes on her own from start to finish.

While many customers invest in a custom frame for the feel and aesthetics, others have a greater need: they can’t find an off-the-shelf frame that fits. Sometimes it’s due to an injury, or they are very tall or very short—or because the industry doesn’t have great options for women. Off-the-shelf women's bikes are made with little consideration given to women’s proportions, are “usually just like a dude’s bike with different paint thrown on it,” Dean says. Furthermore, few bike shops cater to women by stocking a range of sizes. By ordering a custom frame, a female cyclist can get a bike built to her body that will be more fun to ride and strain her body less.

Dean says that she has more female customers than the male framebuilders she knows, possibly because women trust her to get the fit right. But there aren’t many femme framebuilders for female cyclists to choose from.

Bilenky estimates that no more than 15 female framebuilders work in North America, and that’s rounding up. Dean adds that “a lot of women who are working at other companies aren't noted because it’s not their name on the bike.”

Being in the minority doesn’t bother Dean or Trout, who will share a booth at the Philly Bike Expo in November. Like most of the bike industry, the Expo will be a “dude party,” says Trout, and she expects the usual comments about her gender—but doesn’t let them define her.

“People don’t see it that often, so they’re kind of like, ‘Oh, badass, a chick making bikes, that’s cool.’ But in the same sentence I’ll say that I don’t want someone to like my bike that I make because they know I’m a girl building it,” she says. “I put my heart into my work and I think you can see it. If you look at something I welded, that’ll show you that I know what I'm doing and that I love what I'm doing, and that's what I'm giving you.”

BADGE OF HONOR One of the world’s only custom bike headbadge makers is here in Philadelphia by hannah waters

I

f you are looking for a bespoke touch for your beloved spokes, wheel over to Jewelers’ Row in Center City Philadelphia. There, jeweler Jen Green masterfully crafts custom headbadges, which adorn a bike’s front tube like the carved figurehead on a ship. She’s been at it for 15 years, and she is one of the only people in the world who make custom headbadges.

Each badge is made of several layers of cut metal soldered together. “It’s miniature sculpture, and takes molding, cutting, soldering and finishing,” Green says. On one September afternoon, she used a jeweler’s saw to cut an owl from a six-inch square of sheet metal with precision and ease. Next, she solders it onto a second metal sheet—this customer chose rose colored copper and silver colored nickel to add some color—before bending it to fit around a head tube.

Some badges are simple, but others feature several layers of intricately cut metal for a complex design. Recent orders Green filled include a hand cut piece that looks like an etching of a beloved dog and a naughty garden gnome created as a gift for a friend. Many of her customers are framebuilders themselves; Green crafts the logos that adorn each of the bikes they make, and some order frequently enough that she keeps a mold in the studio to cast as many are needed. “I’m surprised at how many custom framebuilders there are,” she says. “It’s unbelievable.”

One of those framebuilders, Colorado's Black Sheep Bikes, made her a custom bike in exchange for her headbadges. Of course, she made a headbadge for that bike: an idyllic scene of a field of sheep, with a bike cog for a sun rising in the distance. Surely it helps her stand out from the herd.

P hilly B ike E xpo.com | November 7 & 8 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | 13

14 | PHILLY BIKE EXPO 2015 | November 7 & 8 | P hilly B ike E xpo.com

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EVENTS /

OCTOBER 6 Intro to Mapping with cartoDB This class covers the basics of geospatial data: what it is, how it’s organized, and a description of common formats. No programming or GIS experience is required.

OCTOBER 15

dmdphilly.org WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: $25 WHERE: 3711 Market St., Ground Fl.

OCTOBER 7 Tropical Conservation via Biodiversity Development: a Real World Case from Costa Rica Join Daniel Janzen, professor in Conservation Biology at Penn, and his wife Dr. Winnie Hallwachs for a discussion of biodiversity in Costa Rica and how one may use conserved tropical wildland in a non-destructive way. morrisarboretum.org WHEN: 2 p.m. COST: $15 for members; $20 for non-members.

WHERE: 100 E. Northwestern Ave.

Conversation: Hilton Als and Anthony Elms on Christopher Knowles Join the the New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als and the Institute of Contemporary Art's Chief Curator Anthony Elms as they discuss their work and showcase the artist-poet Christopher Knowles. icaphila.org WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, 118 S. 36th St.

OCTOBER 8 Sustainable Philadelphia Alliance of Regional Campuses Kick Off Join SPARC for their 2015-2016 kickoff event, where students and professionals will meet to learn and discuss sustainability in the Philly area. Attendees will be also be able to share ideas for SPARC’s 2016 Sustainable Food Week. sparcsite.weebly.com WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: 3421 Walnut St.

OCTOBER 10 Small Trees for Small Spaces Tour Join guides for a look at Morris Arboretum’s smaller specimen trees in the garden’s new tour, Small Trees for Small Spaces. Arboretum Guides will point out small trees that make a big impact. morrisarboretum.org WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: Free for members; Free for non-members with admission.

WHERE: 100 E. Northwestern Ave. 49

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Hand Crafted: Beer and Mezcal Tasting with Dock Street Brewery Mingle in Clay Studio's galleries and sample seasonal, limited release and staple brews from Dock Street Brewery, as well as Vicio Mezcal, the first in a line of exploratory spirits from Dock Street Spirits. Clay Studio Resident Artist Daniel Ricardo Teran will make traditional mezcal clay cups. Each guest will receive one cup to take home. Sasha Certo-Ware, brewer at Dock Street, will also host the tasting amidst a display of ceramic growlers and beer mugs by Maine artist Wm. Reeder Fahnestock. theclaystudio.org WHEN: 6:30 to 8:30pm COST: $35 for members, $40 for non-members • WHERE: The Clay Studio, 137 - 139 North 2nd St.

Neighborhood Bike Works' Grand Opening Celebration Celebrate the Grand Opening of the new Community Shop & Bike Education Hub at 3939 Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia. Enjoy snacks and activities, and learn how to get involved in their youth and adult programs. neighborhoodbikeworks.org WHEN: 2 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: 3939 Lancaster Ave.

Philadelphia Orchard Week Kick-Off & Plant Sale Celebrate the fifth annual Philadelphia Orchard Week with harvest festivals, plantings, and other events at Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP) sites. Things kick off at Awbury’s Fall Harvest Festival with live music, family activities, cider-pressing and POP’s fall plant sale. phillyorchards.org WHEN: 10 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: Awbury Arboretum, 901 E. Washington Ln.

Intro to Sewing Become the crafty envy of all your friends and learn to sew your own tote bag. Instructors cover all of the basics of sewing, and provide all of the materials and sewing machines. dmdphilly.org WHEN: 1 p.m. COST: $45 WHERE: 3711 Market St., Ground Fl.

Betsy Ross House's Colonial Chocolate Making Learn the history of chocolate during a delicious day celebrating the roots of the original all-American treat. The Betsy Ross House will partner with American Heritage Chocolate for hands-on demonstrations, chocolate tastings and more. historicphiladelphia.org/betsy-ross-house WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: Free with admission WHERE: 239 Arch St.

OCTOBER 11 Leaf It Alone Each week, Sundays on Station with Sustainable Haddon Heights will host demonstrations on various aspects of sustainability and gardening. “Leaf It Alone” will show you how to use fallen leaves for free mulch or fertilizer. sustainablehaddonheights.org WHEN: 9:30 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: Adjacent to the Farmers Market, Station Ave., Haddon Heights, N.J.

Harvest Apple & Asian Pear Gleaning and Cider-Pressing with Greener Partners Join the Philadelphia Orchard Project’s new POPHarvest program and Greener Partners at Longview Farm in Collegeville, Pa, to discuss recipes and glean from their several acres of apples and asian pear trees. phillyorchards.org WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: Longview Farm and Market, 3215 Stump Hall Rd., Collegeville, Pa

OCTOBER 12 Lauder Lecture on Contemporary Art: Robert Wilson Attend a lecture on contemporary art with Pulitzer Prize nominee Robert Wilson, director of the opera Einstein on the Beach.

Wilson has had his drawings, painting and sculptures presented in galleries worldwide. icaphila.org WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Glandt Forum, Singh Center for Nanotechnology, University of Pennsylvania, 3205 Walnut St.

/ EVENTS

OCTOBER 13 Gardening with Roses: Easy-Care Climbers , Ramblers and S hrubs and A nnual Fall Flower Show The Horticultural Society of South Jersey presents known rose authority Judith McKeon will discuss ways to grow roses without the use of harmful chemicals. The annual fall flower show will be presented and judged during the presentation. hssj.org WHEN: 7 p.m. COST: $25 for membership WHERE: Carmen Tillelli Community Center, 820 Mercer St., Cherry Hill, N.J.

OCTOBER 14 Nature's Art Photography Spend the afternoon with instructor Michael S. Miller for a discussion on “The Great American Landscape: Nature’s Art.” Following this presentation on landscape photography, you’ll be encouraged to view the natural world with fresh eyes and test new skills while photographing the stunning landscape at the Grounds for Sculpture. A digital point and shoot camera or digital SLR camera is required. groundsforsculpture.org

PennDesign Fine Arts Lecture: Heather Rowe Hear directly from Heather Rowe about her processes, ideas and the obstacles that inform her work, which has been exhibited in museums and galleries including PS1/ MoMA and featured in The New York Times. icaphila.org WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, 118 S. 36th St.

Seed Sovereignty:Saving Seeds & Building Community Find out the connection between seed saving and food justice in this meeting that will include a seed swap, a talk by Keith Monahan about seed saving and food sovereignty and a group discussion about establishing a community seed library. GMOFreeNJ.com WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Collingswood Public Library, 771 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, N.J.

OCTOBER 17 Autumn Clean-up and Work in the Border Instructor Emma Seniuk will discuss lifting and dividing perennials, replanting and restructuring them in the garden, how to incorporate biennials for the following year and inter-planting with bulbs.

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. COST: $85 for members; $95 for non-members.

WHERE: Grounds for Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Wy, Hamilton, N.J.

pennhort.net/chanticleer

Birchtree Catering Supper Club

Kefir and Kvass Fermentation with Phickle

Join the Birchtree Catering Supper Club on October 14 at Globe Dye Works for a multi-course meal of local and seasonal autumn flavors, complete with cocktail hour, dessert and live music. birchtreecatering.com

Amanda Feifer, fermenting enthusiast behind phickle.com, comes to the Greensgrow Community Kitchen to discuss two popular drinks: milk kefir and kvass. Attendees will make their own kvass and flavor their own milk kefir to take home. greensgrow.org

WHEN: 7 p.m. COST: $120 WHERE: Globe Dye Works, 4500 Worth St.

Sauerkraut and Kimchi Making Workshop Discover why humans have been preserving food through lactofermentation for centuries with herbalist Kelly McCarthy, who will teach the basics of making your own sauerkraut or kimchi. Bring the required items and leave with a jar of fermented treats. mariposa.coop WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: 4824 Baltimore Ave.

OCTOBER 15 “Philadelphia is a Fair Trade City” Celebration

Celebrate Philadelphia officially becoming a Fair Trade City. fairtradephiladelphia.org WHEN: 10 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: City Council Chamber, City Hall

WHEN: 9 a.m. COST: $20 for members; $30 for non-members.

WHERE: Chanticleer, 786 Church Rd., Wayne, Pa

WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: $35 WHERE: Community Kitchen, 2139 E. Cumberland St.

Yarn Spinning Workshop Instructor Lisa Charleson from the Greensgrow Holiday Bazaar will demonstrate a few different techniques for spinning and plying yarn, as well as what goes into prepping raw wool for spinning. greensgrow.org WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: $35 WHERE: Greensgrow Farms, 2501 E. Cumberland St.

Harvest on Henry Farm Festival The fifth annual Harvest on Henry Festival at the Henry Got Crops Farm at Saul High School celebrates urban farming and farm education with a day of fun, benefiting Weavers Way Farms. You’ll find family events, live music, food trucks and more.

Don't Waste the Harvest Festival & Barn Dance Enjoy a day of shopping, eating and sustainable conversation with many local vendors of all crafts at the Triple Oaks Nursery. Donate to the seed bank, learn about important food waste issues, and find new and delicious uses for pumpkins. libraryseedbank.info WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: Free; $8 per person for the Barn Dance.

WHERE: 2359 Delsea Dr., Franklinville, NJ

From Friendly Flowers to Friction Fire Join Phyre Dojo founder and former Boy Scout and Wilderness Survival School instructor Joseph Lau for a demonstration of friction fire methods from around the world.

In this program, attendees will learn about the science and art of friction firemaking. bhwp.org WHEN: 1 p.m. COST: $6/$4 for adult and children members; $10/$8 adult and children non-members.

WHERE: Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Rd. (Rt. 32), New Hope, Pa

OCTOBER 18 RAIR: Please Crush Museum Register your team and join in for an intense fort-building competition at the recycling center’s yard. Ten teams will compete to build the best cardboard fort and then take turns destroying their creations. rairphilly.org/forts WHEN: 1 p.m. COST: $100 per team WHERE: 7333 Milnor St.

Bloomfield Farm Day Celebrate Bloomfield Farm’s agricultural history. Tour the rustic Springfield Mill and enjoy the farm-related exhibits and demonstrations, music and activities. Yards Brewing Company will be on site from 1–3 p.m. with a variety of samples and giveaways. morrisarboretum.org WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: Free for members; Free for non-members with regular garden admission WHERE: 100 E. Northwestern Ave., Bloomfield Farm

Fall Yard Clean-up Engage in informative conversation and be rewarded for your interest at the Sustainable Haddon Heights table. After perusing the farmers market, present your reusable bags for an entry to a contest and learn about the “Stop Using Plastic Bags” project. sustainablehaddonheights.org WHEN: 9:30 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: Haddon Heights Farmers Market, Station Ave., Haddon Heights, N.J.

weaversway.coop WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Saul High School, 7095 Henry Ave. O CTO B E R 20 15

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OCTOBER 20 Creek to Craft: Watershed Wit Tapping The Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership and Guild Hall Brewing Company have announced a new partnership that celebrates the critical relationship between clean water and good beer. They will be tapping their Watershed Wit with revenue donated to improving TTF urban watershed. watershedwit.eventbrite.com WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: $35 WHERE: 208 York Rd., Jenkintown, Pa

OCTOBER 22 GLOW in the Park 2015 GLOW in the Park is the Fairmount Park Conservancy’s fourth annual showcasing Philly's amazing parks. Enjoy the Smith Memorial Arch and join fellow park lovers for a night of fun. fairmountpark.ticketleap.com/ glow-in-the-park-2015/ WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: $75 WHERE: Smith Memorial Arch, Ave. of the Republic and North 41st St.

OCTOBER 23 Halloween Hikes & Hayrides Take a nighttime journey through the woods and meet its nocturnal inhabitants while learning what makes them so special. Finish the moonlit hike at the campfire for s’mores, pumpkin painting and hayrides. Food trucks will be on-site. schuylkillcenter.org WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: $6 for members; $9 for non-members. Family discounts available.

WHERE: Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd.

Nature Night Walk at Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary

Sustainable Cherry Hill Third Annual Food Day

Experience nature at night with hooting owls and other nocturnal critters. Wear sturdy shoes and bring a flashlight for a quiet evening walk in the woods. Registration required. natlands.org

Celebrate local, healthy and sustainable food while enjoying samples from local food purveyors. Learn how to eat sustainably on a budget while moving toward a greener diet at this event. Bring a canned food donation.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary, 240 Sunnyside Rd., Easton, Pa

sustainablecherryhill.org

OCTOBER 24 ChesLen Chase Runners of all ages are invited to race through scenic terrain for Natural Lands Trust’s second annual ChesLen Chase for Open Space. Participants will join together for food, beer and live music. Proceeds will benefit Natural Lands Trust’s ChesLen Preserve. natlands.org WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: $45 for the 10k; $35 for the 5k; $25 for the 2-mile run/walk.

WHERE: 1199 Cannery Rd., Coatesville, Pa

Bird Walk with BirdPhilly Join the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club for a guided BirdPhilly walk at the Schuylkill Center. As the largest privately owned preserved land in Philadelphia, they offer a diversity of habitats to attract birds, from eastern bluebirds to pileated woodpeckers. schuylkillcenter.org WHEN: 10 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd.

Kensington Community Food Co-op Annual Membership Meeting & Oktoberfest Be the first to see the up-and-coming Kensington Co-op. Check out the store layouts, ask questions, meet members and become a member. Food trucks will be on-site. kcfc.coop

WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: Free with registration.

WHERE: Cherry Hill High School East, Kresson Rd., Cherry Hill, NJ

Tree ID Walk at Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary Join in for an afternoon walk and learn how to identify Mariton’s magnificent trees. Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary preserve manager Tim Burris shares his knowledge about trees, honed from years of experience stewarding these tremendous natural resources. natlands.org WHEN: 1 p.m. COST: Free with registration.

WHERE: Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary, 240 Sunnyside Rd., Easton, Pa

Woodland Pumpkin Hunt Take a journey in the woods through the eyes of Mousekin, as he prepares for the coming winter. You’ll search for food, watch for predators, then find your own “golden house” to decorate and take home. bhwp.org WHEN: 2 p.m. COST: $14 members; $17 non-members.

WHERE: Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Rd. (Rt. 32), New Hope, Pa

Franklin Square’s OktoberFestivus Enjoy some of Philly’s finest food trucks, activities and a beer garden presented by Frankford Hall. Admission is free, with food and beverage available for purchase from participating vendors. historicphiladelphia.org WHEN: 4 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: 200 6th St.

WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: 2670 Coral St.

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OCTOBER 25 Hope in the Age of Climate Disruption: Finding our Moral Compass Pa Interfaith Power & Light's annual conference will bring together people of all faiths for a dynamic afternoon of nationally-recognized movers and shakers on climate change. Co-sponsored by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College paipl.us WHEN: 1:30 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: The Brossman Center, 7301 Germantown Ave.

Creepy Kitchen Prepare for some Halloween fun creating creepy kitchen concoctions. Bring out your inner mad scientist, get messy and explore different states of matter. Create magnetic slime, glow-in-the-dark oobleck and even make instant ice cream with dry ice. dmdphilly.org WHEN: 1 p.m. COST: $39 WHERE: 3711 Market St., Ground Fl.

OCTOBER 27

Nature Buddies: Sensational Seeds Discover the magic of the “sleeping” seed.

Nature Buddies programs include a story, an outdoor walk, and a take-home craft.

This program is appropriate for ages three through seven. Children must be accompanied by an adult. bhwp.org WHEN: 10 a.m. COST: Free for members; $7 for non-members WHERE: Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Rd. (Rt. 32), New Hope, Pa

OCTOBER 30 Halloween Owl Prowl Join the Land Conservatory for Southern Chester County for a spooky evening exploring Bucktoe Creek Preserve’s woodland habitat, looking and listening for owls.

Observe great horned owls, eastern screech owls and barred owls while wearing your Halloween costume. tlcforscc.org WHEN: 5:30 p.m. COST: $5 for members; $10 for non-members.

WHERE: 432 Sharp Rd., Avondale, Pa

OCTOBER 31

Orinoka Civic House Groundbreaking

Leaves Drawn in Clay

Help the New Kensington Community Development Corporation break ground on their newest project, the Orinoka Civic house. The Civic House is an textile warehouse to be converted into housing units, a retail space, a community space and NKCDC's home offices. nkcdc.org

Create ceramics that are influenced by the natural world in this three-part ceramics workshop where participants will explore hand building techniques, from working with slabs to unique methods of creating surface textures that evoke the forces of nature. groundsforsculpture.org

WHEN: 11 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: 2700 Ruth St.

WHEN: 1 p.m. COST: $110 for members; $125 for non-members.

WHERE: Grounds For Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Wy, Hamilton, NJ

Co-ops and Social Justice Book Club Visit Mariposa for a reading of chapters 2 and 21 of Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability by Alison Hope.

Cultivating Food Justice describes efforts to envision and create environmentally sustainable and socially-just alternatives to the current food system. mariposa.coop WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: 4824 Baltimore Ave.

OCTOBER 29 DVGBC Groundbreaker Awards The Delaware Valley Green Building Council presents its annual Groundbreaker Awards. Honor groundbreaking leadership and celebrate the green building movement at the networking event of the year. Enjoy food, drinks and music and the sustainable accomplishments of the nominees. dvgbc.org

NOVEMBER 1 TreePhilly Yard Tree Giveaway, Kensington This TreePhilly event donates up to two free trees for registered residents. Free mulch and tree planting demonstrations will be held at each event. treephilly.org WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: NKCDC Garden Center, 1825 Frankford Ave.

NOVEMBER 4 South Philly Green Drinks Join the South Philly Green Drinks group on the first Wednesday of each month to enjoy specially priced drinks while engaging in conversation about sustainability. greenlimbs.com WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Bridget Foy's, 200 South St.

NOVEMBER 5 Hackensack Dreaming: Nancy Cohen in the Gallery The landscape of the wetlands of the Hackensack River spoke to artist Nancy Cohen as an “isolated puddle of the organic in a deluge of the human-made.” Cohen’s installation transforms the gallery, creating its own environment and transporting viewers to a wholly new place. .schuylkillcenter.org WHEN: 6 p.m. COST: Free WHERE: Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd.

NOVEMBER 7

TreePhilly Yard Tree Giveaway, West Oak Lane Library

Walking the River Trail: Nature & History by the Schuylkill R iver

This TreePhilly event donates up to two free trees for registered residents. Free mulch and tree planting demonstrations will be held at each event. treephilly.org

In a lovely walk between the Shawmont and Miquon train stations, director Mike Weilbacher introduces you to birds, creeks, trees, flowers, weeds, rocks and even the human history of the area. schuylkillcenter.org

WHEN: 10 A.M. COST: FREE WHERE: 2000 E WASHINGTON LN.

Franklin Square’bvbvvvs Trick or Treat Trail & Lightning Bolt Express

WHEN: 10 a.m. COST: Free WHERE: Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd.

Decorate your very own Trick or Treat bag and follow the map to the Trick or Treat Trail stops in the park. Then, take a train ride on a fall day on the Lightning Bolt Express. historicphiladelphia.org WHEN: 12 p.m. COST: Free for children 10 and under WHERE: 200 6th St.

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. COST: $135 for members; $195 for non-members; $35 for students.

WHERE: Union Trust, 717 Chestnut St. O CTO B E R 20 15

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THE ROAD AHEAD After addiction led to a jail sentence, bicycling set one woman free by noelle bilbrough

A

door slams shut, a guard calls count, and that’s when it hits me. This is my reality now: an 8x12 jail cell.

All control over my life is gone, and all I can do is think about my regrets. I’d spent more time running from life than I had living it. My childhood, education, family and friends—all had suffered because of my lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol.

At 35 years old, I was at my lowest. I was in jail, and it’s easy to get caught up in the lifestyle—at first, I was more concerned with commissary and “street cred” than changing my life.

But a few months in, I had a moment where I knew that if I didn’t change, I was going to die.

I joined a spin class ran by Gearing Up, a nonprofit organization that helps women like me who are transitioning from a life of addiction, incarceration or abuse. My first class, all I could think was, “Why anyone would put themselves through this?” The ladies just smiled and said, “See you next time.” Every time I walked

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in the gym for that hour, I felt free. I felt alive.

I felt loved—for the first time in a very long time, someone was genuinely happy to see me and truly wanted to help me in my life.

They accepted me as I was, addict and all. I learned about patience, teamwork and friendships, and most of all I learned about myself.

I no longer worried about my fair-weather friends or what was going on back on my unit.

Through the love and friendship of my spin class, I began to care about my life again. We laughed, cried and learned together. Gearing Up is not just a bunch of women riding bikes, they are changing lives one bike ride at a time.

I began to see that this was not the end of my life, but the beginning After my release, I was at my halfway house just three hours when I called an outpatient women’s addiction program that partners with Gearing Up and signed up for their “Street Program.” On my path to recovery, no matter what, there was always someone by

my side. I would get phone calls, emails and texts checking in on me. These women really loved me and I loved them. When I was upset, they were upset, and when I was on top of the world, so were they. I was taught unconditional love and respect, and little by little, I began to believe in myself again. I worked hard and rode harder. I was able to earn a free bike in just seven short weeks. Every sore leg, every tight muscle was worth it.

Then, I got a phone call about a job they felt I was perfect for. A company called Wash Cycle Laundry needed a customer care agent, and within two weeks I had two interviews and a job offer. Had someone told me three years ago that this would be my life today, I would have said they were crazy. One bike, one ride, a changed life, and lifelong friends. I’m ready for the road ahead.

Noelle Bilbrough is now a customer care manager at Wash Cycle Laundry.

IL LUSTRATIO N BY J ULI A TRA N

Changer in a strange land A planner brings a unique perspective to the city she loves.

Stephanie Chiorean Master of Environmental Studies ’08, University of Pennsylvania To hear how Stephanie is transforming Philadelphia’s public spaces and schoolyards into lean, green stormwater draining machines, visit www.upenn.edu/grid

Not many 10-year-olds are mulling over how cities impact the environment.

But when Stephanie Chiorean (Master of Environmental Studies ’08) emigrated from post-Communist-era Romania to Southern California when she was 10, the drastic change created a lifelong awareness of the relationship between nature and urban spaces. “Observing the differences in these two places, I thought about the diverse range of challenges that arise from the built environment of cities. I realized that water quality issues are universally challenging.”

Stephanie chose Penn’s Master of Environmental Studies program after college to turn her interest in cities into a career. Her capstone project on green stormwater infrastructure helped her land her dream job as a planner with Philadelphia Water.

Staff from Penn’s MES program are here to answer your questions

“I was able to be a part of Philadelphia Water’s groundbreaking green stormwater plan, Green City, Clean Waters, from the beginning,” Stephanie says. “The program prepared me for the opportunity, allowing me the flexibility to take interdisciplinary classes in other departments.”

face-to-face on the second Wednesday of each month.

www.upenn.edu/grid

Walk right in.

www.upenn.edu/grid

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