Best Towns in Pennsylvania

Explore the best towns to live in the US. Niche ranks towns based on livability using grades for weather, safety, schools, and access to activities, jobs, housing, and transportation. A high ranking indicates that a town offers a high quality of life to its residents.

See the list:

https://local.niche.com/rankings/towns/best-towns/s/pennsylvania/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=RankingsList&utm_term=RLP

Does Philly Deserve To Be On ‘Worst City’ List?

English: This is my own work, Public Domain Ph...

English: This is my own work, Public Domain Photograph, not copyrighted Ed Yakovich http://www.flickr.com/photos/10396190@N04 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BOY, I SURE know how to pick ’em – cities, not men.

Although if those cities were men, they’d apparently be a couple of big ol’ hairy losers.

Both Hartford, Conn., whence I came, and Philly made a recent top-10 list of the worst places to live, in part because of their “general malaise that seems to infect the entire population.”

Did I not tell you that the Philly Shrug was going to bite us on the . . . well, you know. (Hartford was No. 2, Philly was No. 6. Detroit was No. 3.)

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131121_First_Hartford__now_Philly__Is_the_worst_city_title_following_me_.html#SDuy6W1kzFlhuuTk.99

Pittsburgh Building Comprehensive Growth Plan With Participation From Thousands Of Residents

Duquesne University's view of the Pittsburgh s...

Image via Wikipedia

Pittsburgh is establishing a comprehensive growth plan to “right size” the city after years of population loss.  Year one has already been completed with thousands of residents taking part in helping to shape a way forward for Pennsylvania’s second largest city.

This plan, which is expected to be completed in 2014, will focus on the following areas in order:

Open spaces and parks – wrapping up

Cultural heritage and preservation – up and running

The next ten have yet to be started:

Transportation

Public art

Design

Energy

City-owned buildings

Infrastructure

Economic development

Housing

Education

Zoning

Land Use

The Pittsburgh planning department is enthusiastically seeking participation from city residents!  The cost of this long-range plan is $2.3 million dollars.  Cities are not required to submit comprehensive plans but they can opt to do so.  Only a handful of cities have done this.  Pittsburgh is once again being a leading innovator in their approach to managed growth and sustainability.

These components were not accidentally chosen.  Open space is first because vacant land use will influence every other category on the list.  Pittsburgh has 5,500 acres of open space.   Half is parks and 14,000 vacant lots make up the rest.  Pittsburgh realizes that green space has an impact on property values.

These meetings last two hours and are held on various nights and in several locations around Pittsburgh to maximize citizen involvement.

Pittsburgh is consistently ranked as one of America’s most livable cities.