As the 13 weeks of Mayor Parker’s block clean-up plan came to an end and another is set to begin, I was incredibly disappointed with the Mayor’s press conference on the subject last month. She touted the impact of so many thousands of blocks cleaned with no real context as to how many needed to
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On a drive through Tacony Creek Park in the spring of 2020, Lawncrest resident Dallas Herbert Sr. could barely get around illegally-dumped construction debris and tires. He was appalled. An executive board member of the Lawncrest Community Association, Herbert asked his older neighbors about this particularly trashed stretch called Snake Road; many informed him that
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Today, Weavers Way Co-op counts more than 10,000 member households, with storefronts in Ambler, Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy, and a new store due to open this year in Germantown. But long-time member Sylvia Carter can remember 50 years back to its humble beginnings as a buying club in a church basement. Carter moved to
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Sheetal Bahirat was a graduate student studying to become a food researcher at the prestigious Drexel University Food Lab when inspiration struck. On a day Bahirat will never forget, the assignment was simple enough. She was tasked with making guacamole for her class to study the textures and tastes of the classic Mexican dish. But
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After the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the racial reckoning that followed, enterprises from major corporations to independent businesses around the globe released statements of support for the protests and commitments to do better. But Weavers Way, a cooperative grocery store founded in the historically diverse neighborhood of Mount
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The year was 1970. The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” was a number-one hit. The New York Knicks were the NBA champs. And Amira Abdul-Wakeel had made her first pound cake. Although she was extremely proud of her creation, her pride was quickly tempered when her mother tried it and proclaimed, “Sweetie, this is the
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As a black woman, Taneesha Maxwell may be an outlier in the waste hauling business that has historically been dominated by men. But as owner of T Maxwell Junk Removal and Cleanouts (@tmaxmovesjunk on Instagram), she is bringing a new face to the cleanout game, serving residents and property managers throughout Philadelphia and Delaware County,
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Like many retirees, Vicki Moody wanted to spend what she calls her “seasoned years” doing something that fused her professional experience with making a product which she’d be excited about devoting her precious autumn years. After Moody’s career with Drexel University as a budget coordinator, starting a business made sense. But when she thought about
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When Kiera Thompson lost her job at a consignment store at the onset of the pandemic, she looked for something to occupy her time. She decided to invest in a candle making kit and try it out as a possible hobby. “This was literally just a little tiny kit, and I just found it really
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After growing up around his uncle’s restaurant and later working as a barista, Will Maggs realized that he wanted to have his own coffee shop. So, just a few months before the pandemic hit in 2020, Maggs realized his dream and opened Adelie Coffee House at 6610 Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy. “I like seeing
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