New Albany knows all too well how highways ruined cities.

"If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves...There's so much talk about the system. And so little understanding."
-- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Interstate 64 and the Sherman Minton Bridge severed New Albany's west side and destroyed the city's first public park. Whether "ruined" is the best word to describe the situation, it can be posited with confidence that the interstate irreparably altered for the worse this place where we live, while enabling suburbanization out yonder.

We've managed to take back some of what was lost, though the interstate's perpetual noise and visual blight is always there to remind us of the price we've paid.

Philly Fed economists: Here’s how highways ruined your city, by Darryl C. Murphy (Plan Philly)

No one should be denied a good taco, but the Vine Street Expressway has often deterred Jeffrey Lin from visiting a nearby taqueria for lunch.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia economist channeled that frustration into a working paper about the negative effects of highways on cities.

“Just the experience of getting there is so unpleasant,” he said. “That was kind of one early inspiration for thinking what are the effects of highways on cities.”

Lin and senior economist Jeffrey Brinkman took a broad look at how highways have contributed to suburbanization, and the subsequent decline of U.S. cities during the 20th century ...

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: New Ür Brewery in Philadelphia will recreate 18th- and 19th-century beer recipes.

I'm reminded of the Silo brewpub, Louisville's first, which opened in 1992. The following year, brewer David Pierce shed the brewery's shambolic ownership group and opened Bluegrass Brewing Company for the Hagans. Eileen Martin stepped into the Silo's brewhouse with panache, but unfortunately the owners remained as oblivious as before.

The Silo went down, then bobbed back to the surface with new money and an idea to rebrand as a restaurant: Louisiana Jack's at the Silo Brewery, or some such. I believe this was around 1995. Experienced homebrewer Brian Kolb started making beer for the new management, and for a while the entity survived. Ultimately it came crashing down a second time, and stayed that way.

The point to this sad remembrance is I can recall a conversation several of us had one evening to the effect that the Silo should just brew some history; Conrad Selle, author of the original Louisville Breweries book, had already done the research, and while the copyrights for old Louisville brands like Falls City, Fehr's and Oertel's might be out of circulation owing to having been acquired, dozens of other defunct breweries could serve as sources of names and recipes.

A few years ago when NABC at Bank Street Brewhouse was struggling, this idea came to me a second time. Why not completely overhaul and be historic? Forget the triple IPA and trend-chasing, and retrench strictly old school; be a taproom and museum, and build a monument to the Victims of Prohibition in America.

Personally, it's my view that I tend to give great idea. Not being able to pull these great ideas down to earth is another story for another time.

Accordingly, I simply adore what these guys at the Ür Brewery in Philadelphia metro are proposing to do. I've never been to Philly, but damn it, when they're up and running I want to go visit.

A new brewery in Lansdale will brew old-time Philadelphia beer, by Joe Six Pack (Philly Beer World)

One of Philly’s newest breweries is going to look – and taste – a lot like one of its oldest.

It will re-create long-lost beers that helped establish Philadelphia as the brewing capital of America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Brands like Robert Smith’s India Pale Ale, Tiger Head Cream Ale and Robert Hare’s Colonial Porter will soon be brought back for the enjoyment of modern-day beer drinkers.

And the new brewery will feature open fermentation and krausening – traditional beer-making methods that – though they create a distinct, flavorful character – have been largely discarded in America ...

Video: "Philly Without Cars."

Or, "subverting the parking-space-by-the-door suburban ideal for downtown."

Thanks, W.

Welcome to the sneckdown, in which snow informs us about better public spaces.

Unless, of course, you're a city planner busily pushing back, against two-way street advocates. Then it's probably not something to photograph.

Thanks to K for the link. Photo credit: The piece itself.

PHOTOS: What Snow Tells Us About Creating Better Public Spaces on E. Passyunk Avenue, by Jon Geeting (this old city)

After record amounts of snow this year in Philadelphia, you could be excused for not wanting to see any more of it. But today's snow actually brought us some pretty cool ideas for public spaces and traffic safety improvements along E. Passyunk Avenue in South Philly.

If you haven't heard of a "sneckdown" yet, it's a clever combination of "snow" and "neckdown" - another name for a curb expansion - that uses snow formations on the street to reveal the space cars don't use. Advocates can then use these sneckdown photos to make the case to local transportation officials that traffic calming interventions like curb bumpouts and traffic islands can be installed without any loss to car drivers.