Articles
You are viewing 316 articles by the author Diana Lu
20 years after a deadly robbery, a neighborhood market is reborn
Muhammed Aslam died in the South Philadelphia business he built. It was a cold December evening in 1999 and the shop owner’s son, Zakria, then 12, had just gone to their apartment…
Implicit in tackling racial biases, an expert says: Knowing the history
The Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel on 17th Street hosted racial-sensitivity training for about 50 front-line employees Thursday after a hotel staff member wrote a three-letter slur against those of Japanese ancestry…
Make no little pints: Bringing taste and memory into community storytelling with Watershed Ice
What’s the next level of community reporting? For many, printed text and visuals make complex issues clear. Others absorb information best with audio and video. And the internet brings news to…
WHYY Listening Post: "The Gang Goes to Burholme"
What happens when people have access to a microphone and a platform, with an invitation to tell the invisible listener about their neighborhoods? PlanPhilly decided to find out. Last Thursday, we…
Philly Parks: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
In Philadelphia, park love knows no bounds. Unseasonable rain didn’t stop hundreds of people from coming out to clean up their favorite neighborhood green as part of the city's biannual Love…
A familiar Philly development dilemma hits Mount Airy
“The ritzier sections of Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy look pretty much the way they did 50 years ago...until now,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer's Inga Saffron. With two completed mid-rise…
Philly tops other U.S. big cities on food access and walkability
Philly is more walkable and has more access to healthy food than other large American cities yet it still struggles with higher rates of violence and chronic school absence than peer…
Kensington’s luxury townhouse kings experimenting with lower-priced condos
The very busy River Wards developer responsible for a large portion of those luxury townhomes you see popping up across Kensington and Port Richmond is at work on a new South…
Cyclist killed while riding on Spring Garden bike lane
An SUV knocked over and fatally ran over 34-year-old Pablo Avendano on Saturday evening, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Chris Palmer reports. Authorities said that Avendano, a courier for Caviar, a food-delivery…
Be PlanPhilly's Eyes on the Street at Night Market Burholme!
Ever wish you could share how it feels to have tens of thousands of people smashed into a few blocks, along with an explosion of smells, sounds, and tastes, and capture…
Rail Park announces June 14 opening, new executive director
Philadelphia's hotly anticipated, High Line-esque Rail Park will open to the public on June 14 with a new leader and freshly installed benches for summertime people watching. The June 14 opening will…
Domb: City must step up collections on out-of-town tax delinquents
Before we ask Philadelphia residents to pay more in taxes and fees, let's collect from delinquent property owners who are shirking their bills from out of town, argued Councilman Allan Domb…
Northeast Philly kosher bakery returns to its roots in South Philly
“If you see knishes anywhere in Philadelphia, they’re made by us.” After more than four decades in Northeast Philly, the beloved Lipkin's Bakery returns to its original stomping grounds in South…
A neighborhood walk that's healthy for you — and the city, too.
"Walking Philadelphia like this is an act of civic empathy and public power." Ashley Hahn, in an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer, shared how walking with fellow passionate Philadelphians can be…
Audit uncovers security problems at 30th Street Station
Amtrak’s staff don’t have the keys to lock 30th Street Station in the event of an emergency, but someone else might, according to Amtrak's inspector general in an audit released Monday.…
"Dead parish walking": The last bell sounds for historic Port Richmond church
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has announced that the Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Port Richmond will close due to financial strains, CBS 3 reports. The 100-year-old-plus congregation has attempted…
‘Schooled’ back in session in East Germantown
Across Philadelphia, charter schools have been a force of change in neighborhoods, providing opportunities for some families, alienating others and all the while, bringing new people, resources, and conflict into communities…
What happened when Pokémon went to the library?
Can Pokémon Go, a game that encourages people to run around town with their eyes glued to their screens actually encourage civic participation? Well, the Free Library of Philadelphia thinks so, …
Philly Fed: Homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods suffer tax delinquency but not displacement
With gentrification comes an increased risk of delinquency on homeowners’ tax bills, but in Philadelphia, the phenomenon hasn't resulted in a significant increase in displacement of owners, not even among those…
El Carnaval de Puebla returns to South Philly on Sunday
Philadelphia's El Carnaval de Puebla, the largest festival of its kind outside of Mexico, will march on this year in spite of deportation fears, WHYY News’ Angela Gervasi reports. For…
