Inquirer: City Life's Better with Fewer Paved Surfaces

An editorial in today's Philadelphia Inquirer both lauds the city's plan to depave 500 acres of impervious surface and leaks the news that a groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Thursday to kick off the second phase of the Green 2015 action plan. A partnership of several organizations—the Philadelphia Water Department, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Trust for Public Land and the Mural Arts Foundation—will implement the effort, which has both recreational and environmental benefits:

The Water Department’s role is significant. Replacing pavement with planted and porous surfaces will pay environmental dividends by reducing the polluted runoff that ends up in streams and rivers when it’s not backing up into homeowners’ basements.

Pictured above is the city's first depaving project, completed in Frankford last week.