Politics & Government

Keystone Crossroads: Rust or Revival?

Keystone Crossroads: Rust or Revival? explores the urgent challenges pressing upon Pennsylvania's cities. Four public media newsrooms are collaborating to report in depth on the root causes of our state's urban crisis -- and on possible solutions. Keystone Crossroads offers reports on radio, web, social media, television and newspapers, and through public events.Our partner stations are WHYY in Philadelphia, WPSU in State College and witf in Harrisburg. Read all of the partner stories here.Pittsburgh’s WQED joins the collaboration as an associate partner. Support for this project comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

With New Tools to Fight Blight, Communities Look to Arm Themselves to Reclaim Neighborhoods

90.5 WESA

Published July 24, 2014 at 5:23 PM EDT

With the heavily boarded up community of Homestead as a backdrop, the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania released a toolkit to fight blight today.

The event, attended by about 150 people and requiring a venue change to accommodate them all, was an indicator of just how much interest there is in the fight against blight. The new toolkit provides strategies to both prevent and eliminate existing blight. They include adopting clear rules and building maintenance standards, and the use of fines and criminal charges to encourage compliance.

Read more of this report at the website of our partner Keystone Crossroads.