A new climate resiliency plan is in development for Philadelphia, with a new focus: community vulnerability. The work is being funded by $600,000 the Office of Sustainability (OOS) received in March from the William Penn Foundation. The City’s resiliency plan outlines climate change’s impacts on Philadelphia and how the City will meet the challenges they
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In 1970, the City of Philadelphia closed off the East Park Reservoir at the edge of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. A gate blocked the ramp up from Fairmount Park. “I grew up in Strawberry Mansion, and the reservoir was used by the community as a recreational space,” explains Tonnetta Graham, president of the Strawberry Mansion Community
MorePhoto by Carrie Hubbard Six Waterlogged Days by Lauren Johnson It’s August, and the race is on to beat the heat, so pack a picnic, grab a towel and get ready to get wet. Swimming, tubing, kayaking and more are all available as options if you want to leave those hot sidewalks behind, cool down,
MoreCome on in, the water’s fine! by Brittany Barbato As I stared out at the water wobbling in front of me, I hugged my yellow and purple towel tight around my body. Should I have shaved my legs? What if my bathing suit doesn’t, you know, keep everything in? Everyone else is wearing sunglasses; should
MoreUp Your DIY Game by Neighborhood Bike Works Staff To many people, bicycles represent personal freedom. As a means of transportation, biking means self-sufficiency (and in Center City Philadelphia, it usually means getting there faster than by car). Gaining the knowledge and experience to perform basic bike repairs oneself can take that self-sufficiency to the
MorePhoto by Chaucee Stillman Pledged to the Plant Life by Karen Chernick When LJ Steinig won her Grand Champion title at Philly MAC-Down 2016, the city’s first vegan mac and cheese cooking contest, she had the whole group of Philly Vegan Lady Gangsters rooting for her. The gang is a closed Facebook group of more
MorePhoto by Jason Varney Four Walls and a Cup by Emily Kovach Backyard Beans Coffee Co.408 W. Main St., Lansdale, Pa.Since 2013, Backyard Beans Coffee Co. has been roasting high quality coffee in Lansdale for wholesale, always favoring responsibly sourced beans from small farms and co-ops. Owners Laura and Matt Adams began selling their beans
MoreSeeing Stars by Emily Kovach Maura Rosato, Lindsay Ferguson and Valentina Fortuna met the way so many chance encounters begin: at work. In 2013, they were all employed by The Farm and The Fisherman Tavern & Market, and all felt a natural connection with one another. A year later, Rosato and Fortuna kicked around the
MoreNice Ice, Baby by Emily Kovach 1. Milkshake Lattes at River Wards Cafe3118 Richmond St.In a stroke of genius, Joe Livewell at Riverwards Cafe in Port Richmond blends three scoops of Bassetts vanilla ice cream with milk and a double shot of espresso to create a creamy, sweet and caffeinated treat. If chocolate is what
MoreIllustration by Carter Mulcahy Celebrating V-Day by Kate Jacoby One evening in 1999, I ascended the monster of an escalator out of the Dupont Circle Metro in Washington, D.C., fresh from my idealistic internship at the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, African Subdivision. I was definitively out of breath because my angsty, prove-something-to-the-world, late-teen self
MorePhoto by StevieChris Photography A Well-Buttered Machine by Emily Kovach It’s a sunny Friday morning in South Philadelphia, and the wide ground floor of the hulking Bok Building, formerly Edward W. Bok Technical High School, is eerily quiet. A ride in the creaky elevator to the fourth floor reveals a different scene: Though many of
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