I’M ALL HOPPED UP ON SUGAR AND FRESH FRUIT LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME WOODER ICE RANKINGS

In 2024, when SEPTA riders were threatened with massive fare increases and devastating service cuts, I stepped in and redirected $153M to keep the system running and fares affordable.

Very cool 25 minute mini-documentary on the history of skateboarding in Philly's Love Park and nearby plazas: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pifV...

Word on the reef is, shrimp are SO in this season. A crab told me. And bonus? These shirts fund our fall Philly Bug mural series. 3 Murals, 3 Artists, 3 Neighborhoods, All bugs baby. Don't get caught without a crustacean. Tell your friends. Get a shrimp shirt. At SquidFacts.net (pls RT)

This will not move the needle on traffic congestion. Shapiro's big leadership "wins" in Philadelphia have focused squarely on interstates and parts of the city connected to interstates. Philadelphia's main strength is not that I-95 runs through it, and I'm not sure Shapiro understands that.

Aside from this being a huge middle finger to SEPTA, this new on-ramp at 7th will also bring tons more traffic right next to SEYAA's baseball fields, endangering kids every day. The first step in the I-95 widening disaster

This is an 110+ year full circle moment for NYC. Over a century ago Lawrence Veiller was so disgusted by the density, living conditions, and "evils" in his native NYC that he became a fierce national advocate for laws to artificially discourage multi-family housing across the country.

A glimpse of Trolley Mod has arrived with the Island Ave improvement project, three years in the making

After the rebranding of their lines to LBTGDM SEPTA has finally released official LGBT merch as a limited run:

You love to see it!

People go to parks to get away from cars. Unfortunately to go between Philly's West Fairmount Park and Center City requires traversing the narrow & busy Lansdowne Drive underneath highway ramps. This bottlenecks park access. A few thoughts on low-impact ways to improve this situation:

Philly, the best

Fairmount Park is unsafe and unpleasant to get around when walking or biking. The city could pilot a small improvement: close this highly redundant stretch of Avenue of the Republic to cars. It'd reduce through-traffic by the children's museum and create a great space for kids to play & bike.

"On sunny weekends, especially along Boathouse Row, this area of the park overflows with joggers, bikers, and strollers all jostling and dodging each other along a narrow pathway. At the same time, the wide, winding drives are open to cars that could just as easily be using the Schuylkill Expy."

All of Fairmount Park has accumulated significant connectivity issues. Let's look at another case. The Belmont Plateau is one of the best views of the city, a natural destination! Walking to it from the south you have 2 options: a windy route along a quieter road or more direct along a major road.

Philadelphia's Fairmount Park was once core to the city's identity but now has many functional issues. The greatest issue is the degradation of the ability to safely & easily walk around the park. By looking at old maps and photos we can map where East Fairmount lost river trail connections:

Interesting stock image choice as the header for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's page on "Walking":

During the 1890s there was a few year period in Philadelphia where bicycles were exceptionally popular, before the rise of the automobile. Here is an 1898 photo of cyclists riding on Kelly Drive, about 1 year before pro-automobile protestors successfully lobbied to be allowed to drive on the road.

This Paul Levy-led group should take over the south block of Headhouse Square from the flailing South St Headhouse District and replace the parking with an exact replica

If the goal is to "attract people to the area" why not simply bring back the popular "Dining Under the Shambles" program that was very popular and backed by nearby businesses? There's a lovely Belgian brick street there that's underused. Why not make it a plaza as has been shown to work before?

In an age of increasing AI slop it's very cool to see Philly's Center City District commission a local artist to make such cool art for their annual report cover:

This is an incredible document. So many rabbit holes to go down here.

During Philly Jazz Month, meet the many jazz greats who have called Philadelphia home.

It seems like a missed opportunity that there are virtually no hotels along the PATCO line connecting to Philly. Contrast this with Montreal which has the new REM line with similar spacing from downtown with new hotels along its route.

On Philly's narrowest streets the city could really benefit from formalizing a sidewalk-less shared street design à la the Netherlands or Japan. Examples like this image show how some streets have practically performative sidewalks that check some regulatory boxes but don't help much:

I joined the Spruce bike lane cleanup a few weeks ago and I can’t even ride a bike. It’s just such an obvious way to give back to your community. We’re lucky to have a group like them organizing.

I'm a big fan of Philly Bike Action's approach to street safety advocacy. They use kindness & fun as a tool, hosting 'parties' with music or giving out free soft pretzels. At the same time they're unafraid to push hard for timely actionable change. billypenn.com/2026/04/14/p...

It's common sense to allow Philadelphians to build generational wealth and age in place by adding bonus units (ADUs). This is one way we can prevent displacement and create affordable housing in one go. share.inquirer.com/geX7Mb

AOC is speaking out against widening I-95 in NYC. www.amny.com/news/aoc-hoc... As expressways reach their end-of-life we should weigh their impact rather than widen them. A similar situation is playing out with I-95 through South Philly, but PennDOT would prefer to remain blind.

5th Square, Philadelphia's urbanism advocacy group, is looking for their first Executive Director. It's a great organization that has played a significant role in all sorts of forward looking policy and civic improvements around Philadelphia.

This is a good decision, and hopefully it sticks through appeals. Historic districts are designed to protect well defined areas with a cohesive narrative, not huge swathes of urban downtowns. Preservation is good, but not the only good, and in cases like this a large district was too blunt.

Trying to identify the location of this diner that was demolished to build the Vine Street Expressway! That's the spire of the St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church (4th and Vine) in the background, so I figure the diner might be at this lot at 6th and Callowhill (and shown in a 1962 land use map!)

It is great to see Philadelphia's City Council firmly pushing back on the status quo of I-95. Long-term there is significant opportunity in revitalizing the waterfront while looking big picture at regional planning. City council has the right message: phila.legistar.com/LegislationD...

O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be! www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147907...

The Trump admin does not respect Americans or American values. The US was founded by regular men with no kings and no state religion. The founders expected future generations to reflect on past failings to build a better future. Sanitizing history, patriotism without values, is deeply un-American.

Ever wondered what a downtown pedestrian streets looks like on a Monday evening in the middle of January in Montreal?

Demand that the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) cut its ties to ICE

Preaching to the choir here, but if you ever needed more proof of how dangerous X / Twitter is look at the difference in engagement on this Inquirer article. On X it got 2 retweets and 2 likes over 5 hours on an account with 400k+ followers. X is a tool for mass social manipulation via algorithm.

A promising candidate, Kofi Osei, is running next year against one of the politicians who chose to put rural grievances over the needs of their own constituents. Pennycuick must go. Move somewhere else if you don't want to better the region that elected you.

YIMBY transit advocate and elected official running against one of southeast PA’s biggest SEPTA traitors from the budget right this year 👌

In his budget speech @governor.pa.gov was careful to not say the word 'Philadelphia' once over the 30 minutes, even when talking about next year's 250th anniversary of the US: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjNN... He's treating Philadelphia as too politically toxic to even mention, let alone defend.

It's one thing to make painful choices. It's another thing to make them and not lay out a plan to address the harm. Philadelphia's transportation is falling apart, threatening its well-being and economy. When Shapiro speaks to the "good people" of PA he is increasingly leaving out Philadelphians.

Tremendous credit to Saval for being one of the Democrats representing Philadelphia to not gloss over the failure to secure transit funding in the PA budget.

This deal apparently includes no funding for transit, and major concessions to Republicans. Democrats tossed Philly under the bus yet Republicans continued to press for more and Dems caved further. Republicans and Democrats alike have failed Philly and SEPTA.

I won!!

Had the opportunity to tour 5 SEPTA Chestnut Hill stations which were sold to local developer Ken Weinstein for adaptive reuse to retail + housing. Starting with the Furness' iconic Gravers station, with a fully intact 1880s waiting room + agent office

If PennDOT wants to pretend we have a ten-lane highway instead of a 6-lane highway, then just finish the deed and sink the local lanes so at least we can prevent needless deaths

"The community preferred that Vine Street become one lane eastbound. PennDOT would not approve the change. Vine Street is an alternate route for the expressway, and PennDOT says it needs to stay at least two lanes." PennDOT puts Philly's highways over Philly itself. www.phila.gov/2025-10-17-c...