Water quality has been a hot topic in Philadelphia from the beginning. Early promotional materials for William Penn’s new city hyped the many streams that would carry away waste, and in the 1730s the likes of Benjamin Franklin tried to regulate industry to clean up the horribly polluted Dock Creek. (These efforts failed, and later
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Black Birders Week is back for 2022 — it will run May 29 through June 4 — and Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences is celebrating on May 28 with a black-tie Black Excellence in Birding evening. Philadelphia birders have been at the forefront of the movement to elevate Black birding, and the event features
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A black bear was spotted in Montgomery County in Hatfield Township near Rt. 309 on Monday evening. Another black bear was captured by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on May 4 in Clifton Heights in Delaware County and relocated to a less populated area. The DelCo bear had been spotted in Montgomery and Chester Counties as
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Anti-gentrification activists including Protect Squirrel Hill and West Philly United Neighbors are celebrating a victory in the zoning process for a proposed 76-unit apartment building at 48th and Chester, in the Cedar Park neighborhood. The land is currently zoned for duplexes, so the apartment building requires special approval by the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment
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The Clean Air Council’s Feet First Philly program is encouraging Philadelphians to demand better sidewalks. According to the Clean Air Council, more than 230 miles of Philly sidewalks are in poor or very poor condition. Broken sidewalks make travel particularly difficult — impossible even — for people in wheelchairs or with other mobility impairments, often
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The Olney Culture Lab is bringing back its Revival Walk series in Tacony Creek Park this summer. The walks, created by dance artist and activist Lela Aisha Jones as a healing outlet during the pandemic, will be hosted by storyteller Mama Carla Wiley and special guest artists, including poets, drummers, dancers, and storytellers. According to
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The Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF) has launched a master planning process for North Philadelphia’s Tacony Creek Park. The 300-acre park, one of Philadelphia’s five watershed parks, directly serves the Olney, Lawncrest, Feltonville, Juniata Park, and Frankford neighborhoods. The last master plan, dating back to 1997, focused on the park’s ecological assets. The current process will
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Philadelphia City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson will introduce legislation on May 12 intended to close some of the loopholes that plague Philadelphia’s tree protections. “As Chair of City Council’s Committee on the Environment, I know trees and green spaces are not amenities, but necessities that improve the health and quality of life of our residents,”
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Philly Tech Sistas will be hosting a networking brunch on Friday, May 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to help women of color break through into leadership roles in the tech industry. Women face barriers to employment in the technology sector at every level, and women of color even more so. Philly Tech Sistas
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YouthBuild Charter School has announced that it will relocate to what is planned to be a stellar example of green building. The school will invest $15 million to renovate a former PECO building at 2309 N. Broad Street, with plans to move in July 2024. The new building, designed by Atkins Olshin Schade Architects (AOS),
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