Blog > 2008 > May

A photo of the July 4, 2003, street fair
at the old firehouse, taken from Cedar Park.

Originally uploaded by Studio 34: Yoga | Healing | Arts

A good May 27 CityPaper article tells the story of how our neighbors a few blocks down Baltimore Avenue helped turn Cedar Park from a trouble magnet to a community focal point. They enlisted the aid of Philly’s Community Design Collaborative, who recommended, above all, the removal of the ugly chainlink fence that surrounded the vestpocket park. It took (too much) time and effort to get the city to agree, but eventually the fence came down. Local politicians, groups and individuals kicked in nearly a quarter-million dollars to renovate the park, and today it gleams.

One nit to pick: the article says the park got cleaned up once a year, for a spring street festival. This July 4, 2003, pic of the old firehouse across the street from the park shows that there was at least one other annual tidying.

5-7-07 074

Originally uploaded by jimc167

We have a soft spot for trolleys; we did, after all, name our business after the Green Line’s Route 34. But we’re big fans of public transit in general. Herewith, five good sites for keeping up with SEPTA news, learning about its history, and even appreciating occasional moments of commuting transcendence:

1. SEPTA Watch: The best blog we’ve found about our transit system. Recent posts have aired reader complaints, spotlighted a nice collection of Reading Viaduct photos, and, remarkably, noted in non-eyeglazing fashion that SEPTA is among the investors who got snookered in the mortgage crisis.
2. Philadelphia Trolley Tracks: Come here for a good collection of historical info, maps, photos, charts, and more about the streetcars of our fair city.
3. The SEPTA discussion board at Railroad.net: Here’s where people who are REALLY INTO trains in general, and SEPTA in particular, hang out. It’s not unusual for a post to be read by a thousand people, or to receive a dozen or a hundred (more or less) well-informed replies.
4. The SEPTA Haiku: The author of this wonderful site writes one 17-syllable poem each day about a person seen while riding the train. This was originally a project for Fun-A-Day 4, which challenged artists to create one work every day in January; she’s just kept going.
5. SEPTA Made Better: OK, so it’s probably against some rule to post helpful signs when SEPTA does not; for example, noting exactly when tokens are available for sale at a given station. But it shouldn’t be. SEPTA riders can’t fix squeaky bus brakes, but they can print and post the signs posted at SEPTA Made Better.