Individuality; distinctiveness; sense of place — it’s what makes a city interesting to residents and visitors alike. Plus: creative entrepreneurship in Portland; it’s all in the details; and does Portland work for everyone?
In Portland, food carts have really sizzled. Head downtown and you’ll find an entire city block (home to a parking lot) completely lined by food carts. A look at “food cartology.” Also: the importance of public engagement in planning.
The small city of Bath, Maine, calls itself the “City of Ships.” We’ll see why in this report about Bath and its giant employer, the Bath Iron Works.
This is the hard reality of Flint, Michigan, today. Population falling from 195,000 in 1970 to 117,000 in 2006. Abandoned housing units since 1970: 31,200. A staggering 32 percent of all residential parcels in Flint are abandoned. Can anything be done?
Can a privately managed urban park in the center of downtown Detroit help spur the city’s recovery?
I walked along Oil Creek in Titusville, Pennsylvania, on a sunny afternoon. But if you could find a time machine and go back 150 years, 4 months, and 22 days (that is, to August 27, 1859), you’d be with Colonel Edwin L. Drake as he struck oil right here for the first commercially drilled oil well in the United States.
Two leaders in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, speak of how diversity can lead to a healthier regional economy.
No, I’m not encouraging Red Sox fans to take down Derek Jeter! What I’m talking about is Tom Buchanan, a member of the Windham Regional Commission, and his encounters with the Entergy Company, owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
PCJ Editor Wayne Senville is back from his six week trip across the USA on Route 50. All of Senville’s more than 50 trip reports are posted on our companion Route 50 web blog.
