corruption: Philadelphia Metropolis

Vincent's Lament

It's hard to keep a megalomaniac down, or at least quiet. Witness the emails that emanated from former state Sen. Vince Fumo from his prison in Kentucky, railing against the feds, the media, his former loyalists, comparing himself to "Caesar... (Comments)

The Cardinal Forgets

I got a queasy feeling reading details of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua's testimony in 2003 before what would turn out to be the first of two grand juries investigating cases of priest sex abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. It wasn't... (Comments)

Creating the New City: Part One

By Ada Kulesza» This is a story about lovers. It's no love story; rather, it is a story about people who love a city they have inherited, an ancient place founded by Quakers and built by Revolutionaries. Pockets of that old world are still scattered around Philadelphia, but the men who first built it wouldn't recognize it. Philadelphia is the bone yard of the Industrial Revolution. The ruins of extinct businesses stand like empty monuments to an economy that's gone. But, many of the young people living here today see beauty in its post-industrial shell. Look inside and you'll see people working, slowly, to create the city's new eco (Comments)

Changing City: Passyunk Ave.

Philadelphia is a city of change. In the coming weeks Metropolis will profile that change with a series of stories about its people, its neighborhoods and its businesses. We begin with a look at three major commercial corridors in the city and the changes they have undergone - positive and negative - in recent years. Part Three chronicles the revival of Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. (Comments)

E Pluribus Unum? Nah.

The dispute known in the media as The Mosque at Ground Zero bubbled up while I was on vacation and, coincidentally, reading a book about the religious wars of an earlier era in American history. It was an odd experience:... (Comments)