Without life to animate it, to hold it in a characteristic pose or to propel it through the air, a dead bird on the sidewalk can look like a rag or clump of dead leaves. But when I got a little closer to the mystery clump next to the Ciocca Subaru dealership in Gray’s Ferry,
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For residents of West Philadelphia, spring is a season for the senses. As trees and flowers break into full bloom, some of the city’s greenest neighborhoods reach their most beautiful state. The air feels fresh, the sun seems brighter than ever, and the community is rejuvenated. But there’s an unwelcome companion that also emerges at
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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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Tim Eads pulls out his box cutter, slices a panel from a flattened cardboard box and then feeds it through a tabletop perforator. What goes in as waste comes out as packing material. What began as a way to source more-sustainable packing material for Tuft the World, the rug tufting company Eads owns with his
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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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Sitting by the front door at my house are a couple bags of old toys. The next time one of us plans to be near the Goodwill, we’ll drop them off. A few weeks ago I bought our oldest (11) a new/used bike from Neighborhood Bike Works and dropped off two outgrown ones that had
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My boomer dad doesn’t do social media. So when he wanted to unload a decades-old desk ill-suited to his new condo, he went old school: He posted a flier on the bulletin board at MOM’s Organic Market in Bryn Mawr. “Free to a good home: pine desk in good condition.” He included the desk’s dimensions,
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As the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery transforms into a 1,300-acre warehousing and life sciences hub termed the Bellwether District, South Philadelphia residents are pushing the developer to create a legal agreement to address their needs. The past two years have seen little direct dialogue beyond virtual community meetings, but Hilco Redevelopment Partners announced on
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The venue for the Climate Mayoral Forum presented by Green Philly couldn’t have been more fitting. The auditorium of the Academy of Natural Sciences, home to decades of research about dwindling biodiversity and exhibits of extinct animals, was sweltering. The heat on this early April evening served as yet another reminder of how the seasons
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After her job at an investment bank in New York City came to an end, Rebecca Catacalos planned on becoming an interior designer. But, inspired by her daughter Brittany’s culinary talents, Catacalos decided to rethink her post-banking days. “I thought it might be fun just to have a small family business,” Catacalos explains. “So I
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