There was little public fanfare when Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell’s bill establishing new parking regulations in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia passed, easily, in City Hall.As any Philadelphian will tell you, parking is perhaps the most contentious issue in the entire city—and Blackwell has often acted as the commander-in-chief of parking wars, most recently fighting
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Someday the row of young elm trees will transform this sunbaked stretch of Delaware Avenue, but first they have to survive the next couple years. To the west is the Northeast Water Pollution Control Plant. To the east is a Sanitation Convenience Center (where you can drop off hard-to-dispose-of items like tires and mattresses) and
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As a preschool teacher at Moonstone in South Philadelphia, Kate Leibrand was always thinking of new, creative lessons to do with her students. After mastering the art of papier-mâché, Play-Doh making, and the always-popular slime, she attempted to make chalk with her class. It was a disaster.“Between inaccurate measuring and drying times, we were left
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"Subversive cards and other awesome sh*t,” read artist Katie Novak’s business card at the Go West Craft Fest at The Woodlands Cemetery, 4000 Woodland Avenue, a gathering with the liveliness of a Bruegel painting, splashed with light and laughter and layered with the scent of organic edibles and spring buds, against a backdrop of tombstones.
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After watching 2016’s Hidden Figures, a movie that documents the contributions made by three brilliant African-American women to the space race, then-10-year-old Cordelia Dunston decided that she wanted to be an engineer. Her father, who works on Drexel’s campus, heard about a program called TechShopz, managed by the nonprofit TechGirlz, and led by Drexel’s chapter
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The Department of Homeland Security’s “zero tolerance policy” for undocumented immigrants crossing into the United States has caused a major uproar around the country. The protests intensified as images of children being held in cages started to circulate on social media. People across the nation could not believe that our country would do such horrible
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On a tree-lined street in West Mount Airy, solar panel installer Thomas Glenn confesses to a less than green past.“I was a litter bug,” Glenn, who was born and raised in Kensington, says. “I’d get a bag of chips, throw the wrapper on the ground, get some Kandy Kakes, throw those on the ground. I
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Some might say that lingering spirit energy has helped the Historic Fair Hill burial ground become a fount of goodwill, good food and learning in a struggling neighborhood. The 4.5-acre cemetery and gardens at 2901 Germantown Ave. sit on land that William Penn gave to his friend and fellow seeker of religious freedom George Fox,
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An entomological research project might bring to mind expeditions through far-away jungles or at least meadows out in the countryside. It probably doesn’t conjure up an Old City chocolate factory rooftop. But to reach this field site we walked into Shane Confectionery. From there we hiked up the stairs through one of the most delicious-smelling
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Future’s So Bright by Emily Kovach Ice cream trucks may be an iconic symbol of summer in the city, but are they really worth celebrating? Nostalgia may inspire a moment of happiness, and there is something wonderful about being out in the world and having dessert come to you, but the ice creams vended from
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