p.
Next Stop: Nature
Gwynedd Preserve North Wales, PA | 279 acres
Photo by Randy Richard
publisher Alex Mulcahy
managing editor
Bernard Brown
associate editor & distribution
Timothy Mulcahy
tim@gridphilly.com
deputy editor
Sophia D. Merow
art director
Michael Wohlberg
writers
Marilyn Anthony
Kyle Bagenstose
Allison Beck
Tim Bennett
Bernard Brown
Kwanesha Clarke
Constance Garcia-Barrio
Julia Lowe
Bryan Satalino
photographers
Chris Baker Evens
Matthew Bender
Troy Bynum
Julia Lowe
illustrators
Malachy Egan
Bryan Satalino
published by
Red Flag Media
1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.625.9850
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Content with the above logo is part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The William Penn Foundation provides lead support for Every Voice, Every Vote in 2024 and 2025 with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Comcast NBC Universal, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, and Philadelphia Health Partnership. To learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters, visit www.everyvoiceeveryvote.org. Editorial content is created independently of the project’s donors.
Parks Need a Hero
Every year the Trust for Public Land releases its ParkScore ratings, and every year Philadelphians have something to be disappointed about: how little the City spends on its parks.
ParkScore ranks the 100 most populous cities in the country using a list of measures gauging the size of the park system (acreage), what the parks have to offer (amenities), how easy it is for people to get to their parks (access), how equitably park resources are distributed (equity) and how much the City government and private entities spend on the park system (investment).
In many ways, Philadelphia has a park system to be proud of. The acreage is about average but highly accessible: Philadelphians generally have a short walk to the nearest park, playground or recreation center, though the larger parks (the Wissahickon, Pennypack, FDR Park, East and West Fairmount Park) can be out of reach for residents of lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color. The park system also offers a lot of amenities: pools, playing fields, basketball courts and playgrounds.
The disappointing part is investment. The mayor and City Council do not allocate enough operating funds for Parks & Recreation to fix broken playground equipment, maintain fields in good condition, clean up trash and perform the myriad other tasks needed to keep the system in good working order.
This year Philadelphia got a boost from 32 to 28 in the rankings. This was based partly on how ParkScore accounted for amenities; sports fields did not figure in previously but now do. Philadelphia has a lot of playing fields, but Parks & Recreation maintains them in poor condition for the most part, with neighborhood groups or private sports leagues forced to step in to bring fields up to good playing condition, as Grid has reported As the ParkScore stats show year after year, Philadelphia relies on private groups for park system upkeep to a greater extent than most cities do. This year Philadelphia’s $112 in park spending per person breaks down to $82 from government sources and $30 in
private funds and volunteer labor.
In recent years Philadelphia has bounced up and down in the rankings as Rebuild, the initiative to renovate libraries and park infrastructure, spent a lot of money, then slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic and then, as reflected in the 2025 rankings, hit the accelerator again to make up ground.
Renovating park infrastructure is a good thing, but don’t let Rebuild fool you into thinking that the City has resolved to spend what is needed on the park system. The most recent bounce in Rebuild funding (added to spending on FDR Park’s controversial overhaul) still leaves Philadelphia well below the ParkScore average of $133 per person.
And since the City continues to fall short on paying for basic operations, all the nice, new playgrounds, rec centers, basketball courts and playing fields Rebuild produces will be left to fall apart, just like the old ones. This is a solvable problem. If Philadelphia could get behind a tax on sugary beverages, it could also get creative about dedicated sources of funds for ongoing park maintenance. Portland, Oregon, voters approved a small property tax increase to pay for park operations in 2020. (Keep in mind that Portland was already ranked in the top 10 on ParkScore at the time. Those people really love their parks.)
Given that Philly’s elected officials are content to not fund the park system, it could use some strong outside advocacy. Unfortunately, one of the strongest voices for park funding, Parks & Rec Heroes (formerly the Philadelphia Parks Alliance) folded last year. Parks & Rec Heroes spearheaded the drive in 2022 to get the City to pay for more recreation facility staffing. Today, the parks still need heroics.
bernard brown , Managing Editor
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A New Life
Germantown-based organization gives formerly-incarcerated women the tools they need to survive and thrive story by constance
garcia-barrio
First raped at age 12 and then throughout her teens, Reverend Dr. Michelle Simmons began using drugs. In her early 20s, thirsting for a new life, the Germantown native moved to Los Angeles.
“I took my old behaviors with me,” Rev. Simmons says. Convicted of prostitution and a felony, she spent six years incarcerated in Los Angeles County.
Released from prison in 1999 at age 27, she returned to her mother’s home near Philadelphia. That refuge gave her a solid start on the steep climb of reentry. “There was so much I didn’t know,” says Rev. Sim-
mons, who has since earned a doctorate in ministry and a master’s degree in clinical psychology and counseling. In 2001 she founded Why Not Prosper (WNP), a Germantown nonprofit that provides women in reentry with the mentoring and resources Rev. Simmons wishes she’d had.
“We help returning women build on their strengths for successful reentry,” she says.
The need for such services has soared.
Between 1980 and 2022, the number of women incarcerated in the United States jumped more than 585%, according to The Sentencing Project , a Washington, D.C., research and advocacy center working for
decarceration in the U.S.
Recidivism — rearrest or reincarceration of persons released from prison or jail — stands at 64.7% within the first three years after release, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Recidivism 2022 Report. Black women, who comprise the majority of WNP’s clients, have higher rates of recidivism due to the systemic racism that put them at risk in the first place, says the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, a Brooklyn nonprofit.
The Philadelphia District Parole Offices, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the Defender Association of Phila-
Reverend Dr. Michelle Simmons is the founder of Why Not Prosper, which provides housing and other resources for women coming out of incarceration.
You can’t build a stable life on the street or living in the back of a garage.”
reverend dr. michelle simmons, founder and CEO of Why Not Prosper
delphia recommend candidates for WNP. Completion of an online form helps WNP screen potential residents. “[Some women say,] ‘I’ve been raped, molested [and] can’t move [on],’” Rev. Simmons says. “I’m looking for people that have accepted their past and are ready to move forward.”
Selected applicants start weekly prerelease mentoring via Zoom. Topics include relapse prevention, anger management, avoiding domestic violence and financial literacy. WNP staffers also visit them in person.
Upon leaving jail or prison, clients are assigned to one of three WNP housing facilities, which together can accommodate 25 women. “You can’t build a stable life on the street or living in the back of a garage,” Rev. Simmons says. Besides shelter, the houses provide the supportive community critical for successful reentry, plus help getting the birth certificates and state IDs necessary to access other services.
WNP’s overall operation relies on funding from foundations, the government and donations, but program residents pay $400 per month plus $100 toward food. The money may come from Supplemental Security Income (Social Security), family support or part-time work, Rev. Simmons says. In some cases, WNP’s contract with the Phil-
adelphia Department of Prisons pays a client’s contribution for the first two months.
To begin rectifying such ills as the longterm effects of poor prison diets, the program offers healthcare resources. To promote emotional well-being, WNP residents get individual and group counseling and attend relapse-prevention sessions.
WNP also helps returning women with the wrenching issue of reuniting families.
More than 60% of women in state prisons and nearly 80% of women in jails have children under 18, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts nonprofit focused on “the harms of mass criminalization.” “The women feel guilt and shame about going to prison,” Rev. Simmons says. “Those feelings could lead them to use [drugs] again without support.”
Education is critical too. About 45% of the women arrive with low literacy, Rev. Simmons says. Besides addressing that need, WNP’s Workforce Academy gives residents workshops in résumé writing and interview skills to help them find and keep gainful employment and offers certifications in computer literacy and other fields.
Stays at WNP last six to 12 months, but Rev. Simmons reports that many residents, chafing under the rules, hit a wall after
three or four. But the longer they stay, she says, the more likely their success.
“Patience is a major thing about being here,” says C.M., released from prison after four years. She has a job and attends school but left WNP in the middle of one February night. She returned weeks later and asked to continue the program. “Sometimes I let them come back, sometimes I don’t,” Rev. Simmons says.
About 130 people pass through WNP yearly. About 57% graduate. That’s in step with the national rate of recidivism, which hovers at 59%, Rev. Simmons says. “The hardest thing is to see them go back out the door or … back to jail. I used to beat myself up when that happened, but now I accept [that] I did the best I could.”
WNP has had remarkable successes. “I sold drugs, committed check fraud and retail theft,” says Faith Bartley, a longtime resident and current staff member. Convicted of drug charges, she went to prison. Bartley has since become one of the fewer than 4% of formerly-incarcerated women who finish college, earning a bachelor’s degree in human services from Chestnut Hill College in 2023. Several current WNP residents and alums attend the Community College of Philadelphia.
WNP anticipates growth. In 2026, Rev. Simmons hopes to open the Eagle Rock Retreat Center, a resort in the Poconos where residents can take a break from urban grit and learn skills like meditation. A capital campaign is helping to raise the necessary funds.
Meanwhile, WNP extends its reach through a hotline for women just released from incarceration at 1-866-263-6695. In addition, the organization’s Rolling Engagement Van travels throughout Philly twice a week, offering help with mental health issues, hygiene supplies, open warrants and more. The onsite Formerly Incarcerated Renaissance Museum collects, displays and preserves artifacts that highlight the struggles and triumphs of current and former inmates.
Rev. Simmons takes pride in this unique museum, but her deepest satisfaction comes from watching women blossom, “accepting that they are somebody and embracing it,” she says. ◆
To learn more about Why Not Prosper or to donate or volunteer, visit why-not-prosper org
HIGH CULTURE
Phoenixville kombucha brewer showcases local flavors with health-forward fermented beverages
julia lowe
Olga sorzano has a simple mission of making delicious, farm-to-bottle kombucha. In the ten years since she founded Baba’s Brew, the brand has bloomed, with a new boosted kombucha flavor hitting shelves, and even more new product ventures on the way.
Baba’s Brew is named after Sorzano’s grandmother, whose portrait hangs on the wall behind the bar at a Culture Factory, their Phoenixville tasting room.
To Sorzano, kombucha was the beverage she grew up with — the “magical little potion” that her grandmother would tell her to drink for minor ailments like stomach aches. Today, her kombucha offerings still follow her Baba’s “Old World” recipes, using only organic, farm-fresh ingredients.
Kombucha is a sparkling probiotic tonic made from fermented tea. The fermentation process involves adding a culture called a SCOBY — symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast — to brewed tea and sugar.
“So the end product you have is a really delicious, very low-sugar beverage that’s loaded with probiotics and enzymes and beneficial acids,” Sorzano says.
Kombucha likely originated in East Asia, spreading over time to southern Siberia, where Sorzano was born. But the beverage did not gain popularity in Europe and the United States until the early 21st century. “I literally thought everybody drinks kombucha everywhere. But when I moved from Siberia to Moscow, people were like, ‘What the heck is this thing?’”
Sorzano earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine in Moscow before moving to the United States in 2000. After some time in Nebraska, she got married and moved to Philadelphia. She then attended culinary school, where she says her current career started.
“I always approached all the cooking from the standpoint of microbiology or chemistry,” says Sorzano. “And I was always very fascinated with fermented foods.”
With this scientific interest in fermentation and a desire to eat healthier, she gained a renewed interest in the beverage of her childhood.
“I just couldn’t find the kombucha I real-
ly liked,” says Sorzano. “It would be either too sour or too sweet or whatever, just too much garbage. And so I told my husband as a joke, I said maybe we should make our own kombucha.”
Soon, her husband returned to her with a binder full of research, and the couple quickly had the beginnings of a kombucha business. Now, Baba’s Bucha is sold in stores across the region and on tap in their tasting room, which is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sorzano also hosts cooking classes and fermentation workshops in the space.
For Baba’s Brew, Sorzano sources as many local ingredients as possible, showing
story and photos by
Olga Sorzano couldn’t find kombucha she liked, so she made it herself.
tional adaptogens like cordyceps, lion’s mane and ashwagandha — the last of which is featured in a new orange vanilla flavor which was released in May.
I told my husband as a joke, I said maybe we should make our own kombucha.”
— olga sorzano , Baba’s Brew
love for the region’s agriculture, and even the city’s sports.
For the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl appearance, Baba’s released a flavor called Believe, which gets its green hue from chlorophyll and is flavored with juniper berries. Other flavors include the hibiscus-flavored Ruby Sipper and Flower Power, which was inspired by rosé wine and has lavender, rose petals and tulsi basil.
“Tulsi basil is an adaptogenic herb. It gives you energy when you need it and calms you down when you need it,” Sorzano says.
Baba’s also offers an “energy-boosted” canned kombucha called Turbo Squirrel.
The creation of Turbo Squirrel was inspired by Sorzano’s teenage daughters, who are avid athletes. Frustrated with the ingredient lists on many of the popular energy drink brands that her daughters consumed, Sorzano set out to make a kombucha-based alternative.
“I would read the ingredients and I’m like, this is not even for human consumption. So I would keep complaining and complaining, and they said, ‘Well, fine, just make it for us.’” Sorzano says.
Turbo Squirrel contains 100 milligrams of caffeine, derived from a combination of South American plants like guarana and yerba mate. Each can also contains func-
Later this year, Baba’s is also expanding into a new market with the launch of a skincare line. Sorzano uses byproducts from brewing kombucha, like spent tea leaves and even the SCOBY itself, as ingredients in beauty products like skin masks and balms.
“We don’t just compost, but actually upcycle it and turn it into a really phenomenal product,” says Sorzano.
Sustainability is “huge” for Baba’s, Sorzano says, especially when it comes to waste. “If you look outside, we have less trash cans than most of the households.”
On top of composting (or upcycling) all of their brewing scraps, the company is also plastic-free, selling their kombucha in resealable glass bottles and in returnable kegs.
Baba’s Brew products are available at all locations of Kimberton Whole Foods. “I love working with [them]. It’s a family business, a local business, but also, we have the same approach to sustainability.”
During his time in the Peace Corps, Alphonse Pignataro shared his mother’s Neopolitanstyle meatballs with the people of Barbados.
A Taste of Home
After a cancer diagnosis, a family meatball recipe brings mother and son closer together by marilyn
anthony
In 1965, Alphonse Pignataro, recently graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), boarded a plane bound for Barbados.
For the Elizabeth, New Jersey, native, this marked a moment of multiple firsts: his first jet flight, his first time leaving the United States and the first year of a twoyear Peace Corps commitment. Just as he couldn’t know what he would find in Barbados, he couldn’t anticipate what he would miss from home, perhaps most notably his mother’s meatballs.
That initial year in Barbados introduced Pignataro to many new people, experiences and food, especially the deliciously fresh fish. Near the end of his first year, Pignataro’s mother, Rose, was diagnosed with cancer. The Peace Corps granted him compassionate leave to return home to spend time with her. He’d been feeling a bit homesick, so coming home gave him an opportunity to reconnect with family life.
Central to Pignataro’s family life were his mom’s homemade meals, based on traditional foods from Naples, Italy. He had
grown up in a household “with little money,” and spaghetti and meatballs were in regular rotation as Wednesday night dinner and Sunday afternoon lunch. Although he had never cooked with his mother before, during his visit Pignataro asked her to share some of her recipes. Rose knew her recipes by heart and dictated them to her son. “I was her favorite child,” Pignataro says, “so she was glad to share them with me.”
When his mother’s health seemed stable, Pignataro returned to Barbados and began cooking some of his mom’s specialties for his new Bajan friends: “I made spaghetti, meatballs and tomato sauce for the minister of education and the prime minister’s wife.” They really liked the meatballs, Pignataro remembers, but were squeamish about mixing the ingredients by hand as the recipe instructed.
[My mom’s meatballs are] savory, soft, with a little sweetness of raisins. They’re incredibly tender and absorb some of the tomato sauce.”
alphonse
pignataro
Pignataro describes Rose’s Neapolitan-style meatballs as “savory, soft, with a little sweetness of raisins. They’re incredibly tender and absorb some of the tomato sauce.” Over time Pignataro has modified the recipe, preserving the core ingredients but adding pine nuts for crunch, soaking the bread in whole milk or almond milk instead of water, using sautéed instead of raw onions and increasing the amount of herbs. His mother fried the meatballs before simmering them in homemade tomato sauce. He prefers baking to frying in order to avoid greasy stovetop splatters.
Pignataro’s time in Barbados marked the beginning of a rich career of service. He has been a teacher; a baker; a chef; and, with his wife, Anita, a restaurateur. He was head of the Center City District, cofounded Freire Charter School and has, since 1996, been a family therapist specializing in addictions and working with groups, families, couples and individuals.
A love of food — cooking and sharing it with others — is a throughline. As the author Lin Yutang asked, “What is patriotism, but nostalgia for the foods of one’s childhood?” Looking back, Pignataro says that his Peace Corps years were “the beginning of [his] engagement with food.” Decades later, Pignataro still makes Rose’s meatballs, though not, he admits, “often enough.” He is happy to share this recipe for others to enjoy. ◆
THE PIGNATARO FAMILY MEATBALLS
Makes 12 to 15 meatballs
3 cups 1-inch cubes day-old Italian bread
approximately 2 cups whole or almond milk, whichever you prefer, enough to moisten the bread
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ pounds ground meat (½ pound beef, ½ pound veal and ½ pound pork)
¾ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
¼ cup golden raisins
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a shallow bowl, soak the bread cubes in milk (you can substitute water if necessary) to cover for 20 minutes.
• Drain the bread and squeeze out the excess liquid.
• Sauté the chopped onion in the olive oil until it begins to soften, around three minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
• Allow the mixture to cool completely.
• In a large bowl, combine the bread, ground meat, eggs, cooled onion and garlic mixture, Parmigiano, parsley, pine nuts, raisins, salt and pepper and mix with your hands until blended.
• Wet your hands and gently but firmly form the mixture into 12 to 15 large meatballs.
• Place the meatballs on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and add the meatballs to your favorite tomato sauce. Simmer in the sauce for another 15 to 20 minutes until fully cooked.
EXTENDING YOUR HEALTHSPAN
Fishtown physician offers data-driven care informed by functional, integrative and holistic medicine — with unlimited appointments story and photos by julia lowe
Have you ever made an appointment with a physician, only to wait weeks or months to speak with your doctor for less than ten minutes? Ashvin Vijayakumar, M.D., founder and physician at Fishtown Medicine, aims to eliminate obstacles to primary care visits by offering his patients unlimited access to his care.
“Whether it’s a text message, a quick chat, phone call, video, or me getting on my bike and going out to see patients at a home visit or a worksite visit, we meet people where they are,” says Dr. Ash.
Dr. Ash’s mission is to provide tailored, convenient care with an emphasis on preventive medicine. His approach incorporates tools from holistic health, stressing diet and
fitness. He says that his model of care, and offering his patients so much access, gives him insights that he would not be able to get if he only saw patients in an office.
“A lot of folks don’t feel heard in a traditional urgent care or office setting — no fault of the doctors. The insurance system is set up in a way where there’s about five minutes or seven minutes at a time for this conversation,” says Dr. Ash. Instead, he spends 30 to 90 minutes consulting with each patient.
“This conversation is about making sure that they’re able to fully embrace and understand their ownership of their health, and I serve as a guide in that process,” says Dr. Ash.
Fishtown Medicine offers two options for care. Patients can consult Dr. Ash as needed — with immediate access to care via text, voice and video chats, plus up to 90-minute consults with unlimited follow-ups for up to
two weeks — or choose the preventive care membership, which adds on comprehensive reviews of health history and data to create a plan for behavioral changes to offset potential long-term health issues. The former is a good fit for folks seeking immediate, same-day care and those who want to be seen one to three times a year, Dr. Ash says.
“I always keep the door open to preventive labs and genetic testing. We walk through what’s appropriate for them based on their offering of a complete and thorough history,” says Dr. Ash.
For $250 a month, the preventive care membership comes with unlimited messaging and consultations. By offering this level of access, Dr. Ash says he can provide care that is more convenient for individuals with nontraditional work schedules.
“I have a recent case of a bartender who messaged me after her shift and was going
Whether it’s a text message, a quick chat, phone call, video, or me getting on my bike and going out to see patients at a home visit or a worksite visit, we meet people where they are.”
dr. ash
through a few symptoms, and I happened to be up because my son couldn’t go to sleep that night. After I tucked him back in, I got on a phone call with her and was able to just listen to what was going on for her,” Dr. Ash says.
Fishtown Medicine’s model prevents patients from having to deal with the “shuffle of having to take time off work” and introduce themselves and their entire medical history to a new physician.
Dr. Ash also completes a full chart review every three months to update his patients’ care plans as needed. He even reviews supplements his patients are taking and integrates health data from wearables like Apple Watches and WHOOP fitness trackers.
“All of these tools come into play: how this is influencing your today, your energy level, your libido, your clarity of thought, your strength, your cognitive function,” Dr. Ash says.
This type of preventive care is targeted at enhancing longevity and “healthspan.” Instead of just extending one’s lifespan, healthspan refers to the idea of minimizing the risk of disease and extending one’s years of health and wellness as long as possible.
Dr. Ash looks at health across three domains: emotional, cognitive and physical. By incorporating tools from functional health, integrative and holistic medicine, and through a deep analysis of hereditary, family and genetic risk, he says he can catch chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease “decades in advance.”
“All of that allows us to understand where you are today and where you possibly could be,” Dr. Ash says. “And then: what are the things that we need to do to shift 1% or 2% today, that change [the] entire trajectory of your life?”
Dr. Ash serves clients in Fishtown, Northern Liberties, South Kensington, as well as Old City, Queen Village, and as far as Fitler Square, Fairmount and Manayunk. He can often be found riding his e-bike to home visits. He says that riding his bike isn’t just about his own fitness and enjoying the ride; it also brings him closer to his patients and neighbors in Fishtown and beyond.
“I live in a city. I’m very intentional about being in and a part of my neighborhood, so for me, this is the right way to get around.” ◆
fishtown medicine is located at 2418 East York Street; 267-360-7927; fishtownmedicine.com.
Curbside Enthusiasm
Washington, D.C.’s compost pick-up pilot is small but promising. Philadelphia should do something similar by
tim bennett
My last three columns have focused on ways that Philadelphia could launch or expand food scrap drop-off programs. And drop-off programs are the place to start. They build awareness, provide an option for motivated citizens who can’t afford private collection services, and they have relatively low operation costs. But when I saw that Washington, D.C., solicited proposals earlier this spring to expand its curbside pilot program from 9,000 households to 60,000 households by 2030,
I couldn’t help but wonder: What would it take for Philly to do curbside composting?
When you bring up curbside composting in Philly, people immediately tell you it’s not possible. Maurice M. Sampson II, the City’s first recycling director, called a citywide composting program a pipe dream in an article in last month’s Grid (#192, May 2025). He’s not wrong. The Department of Sanitation has said it does not currently have the fleet capacity to add a third set of collection routes. And there isn’t enough infrastructure in the region to compost all
of the material that would be collected. So, most people throw up their hands and say, “Can’t happen here.”
The problem with this thinking is that it is all or nothing. While Philly can’t launch a citywide curbside composting program today, it could launch a pilot program similar to the one in D.C. This would allow the City to start to learn what works and what doesn’t on a smaller (but still significant) scale in preparation for future citywide programs.
A Philly curbside composting pilot should be a public-private partnership, similar to the D.C. one, involving private companies providing the curbside collection under direction from the City. This has two distinct advantages. First, as mentioned earlier, the City doesn’t have the additional fleet capacity to run the pilot. Second, partnering with private companies would allow the City to test out the program without committing to the upfront expenses of purchasing additional trucks and hiring
The City could launch a curbside composting program through a publicprivate partnership.
additional staff. The pilot should be opt-in, meaning that interested residents would have to sign up for the program. The pilot should launch citywide, with a set number of households per City Council district, ensuring the program is equally available to interested residents. The pilot could be fully or partially subsidized. A fully-subsidized program would increase access, while a partially-subsidized program would cost less. The City should engage with multiple compost companies to provide the service. These companies should be responsible for providing education and outreach to residents and paid based on the number of households actually participating.
A curbside pilot of 5,000 households —
This would be a big swing for Philly. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a hard look at it.
the size of D.C.’s current program — could cost, depending on the level of subsidy, between $750,000 and $1.2 million per year based on the current market rate costs of household collection in Philadelphia. It could divert up to 2.6 million pounds of material from landfills. An expanded pilot of 10,000 households, which D.C. is hoping to scale to next year, would cost roughly double, not an insignificant expenditure but a fraction of the $11 million the City spent to launch twice weekly trash collection in Center City and South Philly.
This would be a big swing for Philly. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a hard look at it. This kind of pilot would help the city to be cleaner and greener, two of the mayor’s stated priorities. If we want to get to curbside composting citywide, we have to start with a pilot. Let’s do this, Philly! ◆
tim bennett is the founder of Bennett Compost. Alex Mulcahy, publisher of Grid, is also a partner.
The Bus Stops Here
Pilot program uses AI to issue tickets for illegally-parked cars that interfere with wheelchair ramp deployment in bus zones
by kwanesha clarke, Liberty Resources
We all have a routine that prepares us to conquer the day. We need our morning coffee, maybe, or to find the right playlist for our commute. If you take public transportation, getting the bus can be half the battle. For most, anxiety eases when you make it to the bus stop in time, but for some riders another potential hurdle looms. A SEPTA bus accommodates 49 ambulatory riders. When a stop is blocked by cars or delivery trucks, these passengers are typically able to board the bus in the street. This is not possible, though, for wheelchair users, who need the curb to stabilize ramp entry. A Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) enforcement initiative may deter drivers from blocking bus stops — and thus help disabled passengers board safely.
As a power wheelchair user and a public transit rider, I know the potential risks when boarding. All SEPTA buses are equipped with ramps. When one of these ramps is deployed on a sidewalk, it lays flat for easy wheelchair entry. If it is deployed in the street, however, the ramp slants steeply, making wheelchairs more prone to tipping. The risk of a user falling is further increased if a chair has durable medical equipment — like a walker or an oxygen tank — on the back, because of the added weight. If one bus cannot deploy its ramp safely, a would-be rider must wait for the next bus, which could be met with the same obstruction from cars or delivery vehicles. This can cause riders to be late for appointments and other activities.
On May 7, the PPA began using AI-assisted cameras mounted on SEPTA buses to issue tickets to vehicles parked in bus lanes or in front of bus stops. The cameras identify vehicles parked in areas restricted to buses, photograph violators and send this documentation to PPA for review. The aim is not to punish drivers but to ensure that all public transit riders can get to their destinations safely, allowing them to explore and engage with their community. ◆
Liberty Resources Inc. has been working toward civil rights for the disability community since 1980. libertyresources.org
Bait and Switch
Pennsylvanians trying to buy clean energy face misleading offers, unclear terms and questionable environmental impacts by kyle bagenstose
The offers come with a knock on the front door, a white envelope in the mail or a greeting from a freshfaced salesperson at the farmers market. “Make the switch to clean energy.” But the rates promised and the actual sources of the energy can be difficult for a consumer to understand. Enter PA Power Switch.
That’s the name of a website the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) launched in 2010 to allow consumers to
choose an “energy supplier” for their home. Building on deregulatory legislation in the State House, the idea was to allow homeowners across the state to shop for their electricity supplier rather than simply accept the standard product from their default transmission company (PPL in the west, PECO in Philadelphia).
PA Power Switch enables consumers to filter their choices by a number of variables, including whether or not a supplier uses renewable energy.
But the number of choices can be overwhelming. As of April 2025, Philadelphia residents were presented offerings from a whopping 56 companies, with an overwhelming alphabet soup of names, from AEP Energy to WGL Energy Services. Naturally, the first instinct — as with any shopping excursion — is to sort by price. But on PA Power Switch, that gives rise to a new conundrum.
On the most expensive end of the spectrum, 100% renewable energy products cost more than double PECO’s standard price.
Pennsylvania wind turbines have the potential to reduce air pollution from fossil fuels.
That would add about $114 a month in electricity costs for the average Pennsylvania homeowner.
Then there are companies advertising renewable energy for less than one-third of the price of their more expensive competitors. Their cheapest options actually cost 25% less than PECO’s market standard rate. That’s a very enticing offer.
But how can renewable energy cost less than the primarily fossil fuel-derived standard mix from PECO? And why is one renewable energy option so much less than another?
As Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project (PULP), would later tell me: “We advise people that if the offer seems too good to be true, it is.”
Unwieldy energy
Companies supplying electricity to consumers via PA Power Switch generally aren’t the ones who make it. Instead, generators — think wind farms or conventional power plants — feed electricity into the regional grid from which users then draw it to power their homes and businesses. Suppliers
in practice, it gets very messy, says Jenya Kahn-Lang, an economist and a fellow at Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
“There is really poor transparency” in REC marketplaces, Kahn-Lang says.
Not all RECs are the same, largely due to geography. For example, Pennsylvania is rich in natural gas and nuclear power. The sun doesn’t shine as brightly as often as it does in, say, California, where the solar industry is booming, nor does the wind blow as freely as it does in Texas. So it’s harder for a wind or solar farm in Pennsylvania to make ends meet, and so a REC from Pennsylvania costs more.
Why would anyone want to buy a more expensive REC? Experts say it’s for many of the same reasons someone would buy something local: to grow the renewable economy and jobs in Pennsylvania, fueling a statewide energy transition. Consumers can theoretically benefit from a reduction in local air pollution from fossil fuel combustion.
But there are other reasons for the cost differential in RECs, and they get shadier. RECs come with vintage years, just like
A chief concern is predatory tactics used by companies who approach people at mall kiosks or go door-to-door, often with gift cards in hand, looking to lock customers into a contract with swiftly escalating rates.
function as middlemen, helping users connect to the grid and pay for the electricity they take from it.
Electricity from all generators feed the same transmission lines, so even if you’re signed up for a “100% renewable” product, your energy — like everyone’s — is mixed.
Renewable energy is instead tracked through something called a Renewable Energy Certificate, or REC, issued to a generator for creating a unit of electricity, typically one megawatt-hour. That’s the amount of electricity the average Pennsylvania household uses in about five weeks.
Renewable energy suppliers ostensibly commit to buying enough RECs to cover your energy use. In theory, it works. But
wine. But in this case, newer is better. A REC is created along with the corresponding megawatt-hour of energy, so buying an old REC — for energy generated in 2015, say — does less to support the generation of new renewables.
RECs can also be bought and resold, passed around in nationwide marketplaces. That opens the door for them to get double counted, for two or more entities to end up claiming the benefits of the same electricity at different times. Kahn-Lang offers an example where a Texas wind plant produces energy that they sell to a large company, who puts out a press release touting their investment. But the utility also sells a REC out of state to a Pennsylvania-based supplier. Now two
different entities are claiming the benefits.
“There are a lot of concerns about what we call additionality…or double counting,” Kahn-Lang says.
Or, perhaps the wind farm in Texas was only built by an energy company to meet instate regulations. While selling RECs may help recoup costs, whether or not they’re purchased may have little to no impact on whether the company decides to build more windmills.
It’s a space so confusing that even the experts are still working on demystifying it. But there’s enough known unknowns that some companies are building a brand around eliminating uncertainty for consumers. In the Philadelphia market, the Energy Co-op, a nonprofit cooperative supplier of energy, says it only purchases RECs created in the past two years, to cut down on any potential tomfoolery and signal legitimacy to consumers. The company also “retires” each REC they purchase to make sure they cannot be claimed by another party.
“The Energy Co-op matches 100% of our members’ usage with high-quality renewables, wind and solar,” says Divya Desai, executive director of the co-op.
Electric regulator
At this point, you may be thinking, where are the regulators? If you have a stick handy, get ready to shake it.
Across the country, there are no fewer than 10 independent entities responsible for administering registries for RECs issued across state lines. In our region, that’s PJM Interconnection, the company that handles electricity transmission across much of the Mid-Atlantic. But each state can also set up its own REC marketplaces, typically used to ensure that energy producers in the state are meeting a minimum standard for renewable energy.
Then there are adjacent entities, like the PUC, which doesn’t have a direct role in verifying RECs but does have a responsibility to consider consumers’ needs, such as through PA Power Switch.
Marx is critical of the PUC. She says recent analysis of marketplace data by her organization found that, over the past 10 years, Pennsylvania energy consumers who switched suppliers wound up paying billions of dollars more for energy than if
The Energy Co-op charges more than competitors, but Divya
says the organization is careful about how it purchases the clean energy it provides to consumers.
they had just stayed with the standard mix. And the extra costs appear to be borne disproportionately by low-income individuals.
Marx says it’s difficult to discern exactly what’s going on. A chief concern is predatory tactics used by companies who approach people at mall kiosks or go door-to-door, often with gift cards in hand, looking to lock customers into a contract with swiftly escalating rates.
But she’s also concerned about a lack of transparency for those using PA Power Switch. The tool does have filters that purport to remove suppliers who are only offering introductory rates or add ones that offer fixed prices. But Marx says it’s not enough. The fixed rate option, for example, applies to suppliers whose advertised rate is good
for as little as three months.
“There are an awful lot of ways to bake fees in,” she adds.
The renewable energy filter also leaves much to be desired, as it doesn’t differentiate between what kind of RECs a company purchases. A prior option to view only Pennsylvania-based wind and solar was also removed from the website several years ago. Marx says she doesn’t believe the site as it’s currently set up will help drive renewable growth in the state as many had hoped.
“It’s really scary when you start to look at how much we have paid and whether or not that investment in competitive shopping is paying off in terms of what was promised, which is an increase in the presence of renewables in our state.That’s a big question
that I don’t think we’ve been asking enough yet,” Marx says.
Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary for the PUC, pushes back on these criticisms. He says electricity suppliers on PA Power Switch are “required to disclose” all terms and fees to customers, who also receive contract summaries and two separate notifications prior to the end of any fixed-rate term. He notes that the commission does not set pricing for products and instead focuses on “clear and accurate disclosure.” The option to filter out everything but Pennsylvania-sourced renewables was removed, he adds, because it sometimes yielded zero results.
“This change improves visibility and makes it easier to compare offers side by side,” Hagen-Frederiksen wrote in an email.
Desai
If a supplier is not transparent about the quality of the product, you probably are not getting what you think you are.”
— divya desai, Energy Co-op
“For consumers looking for more specific sourcing details, we encourage them to check supplier websites or contact the supplier.”
Asked about PULP’s findings indicating that deregulating the marketplace may be costing consumers billions more for electricity in aggregate, Hagen-Frederiksen said the PUC “can’t speak to the methodology or assumptions behind third-party studies.” He said that any consumer who felt they had been misled by a supplier should contact the commission. “We take those concerns seriously and have an established complaint and enforcement process to investigate and address those issues.”
Make money moves this summer
Exercising your power
Marx says it’s important for customers to do their homework. Crucial details to evaluate are how long an introductory rate is fixed for and what happens when that period expires. Potentially, information about what kind of RECs a supplier purchases may be included up front, but if not, Desai says shoppers should simply call the supplier and ask.
“If a supplier is not transparent or up front about the quality of the product, you probably are not getting what you think you are,” Desai says, adding that the Energy Coop tries to address the trust issue by regularly communicating with their members
and providing educational materials
But for Kahn-Lang, asking the average consumer to personally vet energy suppliers feels like an unreasonable proposition. For her doctoral dissertation, Kahn-Lang studied whether educating consumers actually helped them make good choices in selecting an energy supplier.
“It didn’t find much effect of education,” she says.
Marx agrees that the marketplace is simply too complex, with too many actors and variables, to leave it to the consumer to ensure they’re getting a fair price on RECs that truly drive the growth of new sustainable energy. She wants regulators to step up and do a better job for consumers.
“We need some real fundamental changes. I think it goes beyond marketing. There need to be some stronger restrictions on what and how energy is sold,” Marx says. “And we should probably even have a much larger policy debate [about] whether there is a better approach [than PA Power Switch] to make energy affordable.”
PARKS YOUR LOVE
Philadelphia’s park system is many things. It is big, but much of it is difficult to access. ¶ Some sections are practically ancient, home to historic buildings hundreds of years old; one even dates back to New Sweden. At the same time, the system is constantly being renovated. If you’re lucky, you might have a new recreation center or playground down the street. But too few Philadelphians are so fortunate. ¶ A park is not just a plot of land, of course. It is a community. That community is local — the people who enjoy and rely on the park and the friends who maintain or even expand it — but also citywide. Think of the advocates who hold the system and the City accountable to the people who depend on it. ¶ We hope that you learn more about your parks in this issue, that you join the parks community or recommit yourself to it, that you get inspired to both enjoy our green and historic spaces and advocate for their improvement.
A birds-eye view of FDR Park in South Philly
PHOTO BY CHRIS BAKER EVENS
A bus shelter map shows how to get a ride to Philadelphia’s parks.
GETTING THERE
A gap persists between Philadelphians and their parks
story by kyle bagenstose
For more than a decade, Philadelphia-based artist and educator Shira Walinsky has taken an interest in the lives of immigrants in the city. In 2016, she and fellow artist Laura Deutch teamed up to chronicle “47 Stories” from SEPTA’s Route 47 bus, which shuttles between immigrant communities in South Philadelphia and Olney.
Riders talked to them about just about everything: music, work, diversity, the challenges of moving to a new country. In short, their lives. But another topic, perhaps a bit unexpected, came up, too.
“I saw this great understanding and knowledge of the natural world that I didn’t have, and also the desire to get to more green spaces,” Walinsky says.
Now, Walinsky and Deutch are the vanguard attempting to solve the vexing challenge of inequitable park access in Philadelphia. And they’re doing it by trying to leverage a perennially cash-strapped resource: public transit. Their ongoing project, Getting to Green: Routes to Roots, aims to increase awareness of SEPTA services that travel by parks or near trailheads, using online mapping resources, in-person signage and organized ride-alongs. They don’t “sugarcoat” the challenges that can come along with taking transit across town, Deutch says. But for Philadelphians of lesser means, particularly for those who don’t have a car, what else is there?
“We all know it can take a really long time to get to the park on the bus,” Deutch says. “But for some people, there’s no option, right? You’re not going to pay 50 bucks to take an Uber to the Wissahickon.”
More indeed can be done — and has been done, in other U.S. cities — says Alessandro Rigolon, an associate professor of city and metropolitan planning at the University of Utah, who studies transit-to-trail initiatives across the country. A century ago, he notes, many cities specifically designed transit-totrail services, such as a 16-stop trolley route that ran through East and West Fairmount Parks in Philadelphia from 1896 to 1946. Many of those kinds of services fell with the rise of the automobile, but some cities have started to reverse course.
A leading example is King County Metro’s Trailhead Direct, an every-half-hour summer service that shuttles riders on a bus from Seattle directly to trailheads in the Issaquah Alps, up to two hours away, for $2.75 each direction. And it’s not this gold standard of formal and affordable transit service or nothing, of course. Rigolon points to a federal grant of about $1 million for a nonprofit in Pasadena, California, to create a simple van service connecting riders from a metro station to trailheads in the 700,000acre Angeles National Forest, currently only accessible by car.
In such places, ideas about how to better connect riders to natural spaces often start at the grassroots level, Rigolon says. Somebody in the parks space — often a nonprofit — decides to do something about inequitable access and starts pushing. In Philadelphia, Getting to Green is backed by
Mural Arts and receives funding from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC).
“There needs to be a kind of community-driven effort. It’s rare that this comes from the top down of an agency,” Rigolon says.
But higher levels of success happen when local transit agencies start buying in, he adds. So several years into the Routes to Roots project, is the idea getting anywhere?
“The relationship with SEPTA — it’s challenging. We know how much they’re going through,” Walinsky says.
On one hand, Walinsky and Deutch say they’ve made allies in SEPTA’s sustainability office. They’re currently working with the agency to put up maps at bus stops to educate and excite riders about current recreational connections. In the spring, a new poster advertising bus lines running to Fairmo unt Park went up at Jefferson Station. Metal signs advertising Getting to Green, complete with a QR code, have gone up on key bus-stop poles around town.
But new levels of service feel like too big an ask. With SEPTA regularly staring down financial armageddon, even preservation of the status quo is no guarantee. In prior years, Getting to Green paid to charter a special express bus on Route 7, which runs from South Philadelphia to Fairmount Park. But that is now off the table.
“They’re not doing that anymore because of funding cuts,” Deutch said. “So we’re just doing what we’ve been doing in the past, which is ‘show up at the bus stop.’ And we get a group of 15 people or so and get on.”
This spring, Grid sent several requests to SEPTA over the course of three weeks asking for an interview to discuss the agency’s perspective on ways to better connect Philadelphians to parks. At deadline, spokesperson John Golden emailed limited responses to select questions. For parks in the dense urban core, like Rittenhouse Square, Golden said, transit often already runs nearby without needing special service. In outlying areas with “less demand for transit,” Golden says that whether or not SEPTA runs to a park depends on what other attractions are nearby and variables such as access.
“Overall, recreation does not typically drive demand for transit service,” Golden wrote, adding that the agency has also not evaluated data from its keycard program for
Transit-To-Trails Tips
Although advocates would like to see Philadelphia make better connections between public transit and parks, they say some exciting services already exist. Here are some of their suggestions:
GETTING TO GREEN FEATURED ROUTES
•
Route 7
This hook-shaped bus route runs from Columbus Boulevard, across Oregon Avenue and up to the Art Museum and East Fairmount Park, connecting South Philadelphians to lovely open spaces.
Route 9
This bus loops most of Chestnut and Walnut Streets in Center City before taking the Schuylkill Expressway to Ridge Avenue, all the way up to the Schuylkill Environmental Center. A ride from Washington Square in Old City to the Wissahickon Bike Trailhead at Lincoln Drive can take less than 30 minutes.
BICYCLE COALITION ’ S GREAT ADVENTURES
•
Center City to New Hope
The West Trenton regional rail line runs from 30th Street Station to Yardley in an hour.
There, cyclists can bike the Delaware and Raritan Canal and perhaps have lunch in New Hope, about an hour’s ride. Those in a hurry can rent e-bikes from a service station across the street in Yardley.
Bus to the beach
The Bicycle Coalition’s John Boyle notes that NJ Transit’s 313, 315 and 316 buses depart from 30th Street Station, stop along Market and travel to Stone Harbor, Wildwood and Cape May in two to four hours.
We all know it can take a really long time to get to the park on the bus, but for some people, there’s no option, right? You’re not going to pay 50 bucks to take an Uber to the Wissahickon.”
// LAURA DEUTCH, Getting to Green
potential insights about the intersection of transit and recreation.
The Fairmount Park Conservancy, the city’s largest parks nonprofit, also declined an interview, citing a leadership transition-in-progress. In a statement, the organization said that “public transportation is a key factor in equitable access to parks” and cited recent designs for FDR Park’s redevelopment in South Philadelphia and West Fairmount Park’s Parkside Edge project, which it says will better connect green spaces with both existing transit stops and routes frequented by cyclists and pedestrians.
Neither the City’s Parks & Recreation Department nor its Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, which oversees the Indego Bike Share program, responded to requests for an interview on the topic.
Taking a bus to the Wissahickon?
Welcome to the 1%.
If there’s a poster park for the challenges Philadelphians face in accessing the outdoors, the scenic Wissahickon Valley might be it. Tucked into the Northwest corner of the city, many of the park’s trailheads are only accessible by car (or by bicycle or on foot for those in fitness-plus-proximity sweet spots).
Sarah Marley, interim executive director of the Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW), is well aware of the challenge. In the past several years the nonprofit has surveyed park users twice and found that only about 1% of visitors take the train or bus to get there.
“We would definitely like to see that increase. Because the park has really limited parking lots and on busy weekends in the high
season … those are usually full,” Marley says. “This is a main priority for the organization.”
On its website, FOW currently provides information about how to use public transit to get to the park. But Marley says that the group is currently redoing its maps to better highlight the proximity of SEPTA stops, including seven regional rail stations on the Chestnut Hill West (CHW) line, which runs parallel to the park. They’ve also increased engagement with Save the Train, a coalition of dozens of neighborhood organizations fighting to maintain service on the CHW line. Marley would like to do “more of that” kind of engagement, including with SEPTA, such as potentially placing signage about the park at nearby stops.
Ultimately, Marley says she does believe Philadelphia has the “connective tissue” between park nonprofits, the City and SEPTA to foster better accessibility. But it’s “hard when your City partner is so underfunded,” she adds.
I’ve seen places where [SEPTA misses] the trailhead by like a quarter mile. They can easily fix that situation by putting a stop right there.” // JOHN BOYLE, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
John Boyle, research director for the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia, is more critical. He has been impressed by efforts to connect trains to trails on the New Jersey side of the river. Over the past several years, the DVRPC has provided grant funding to use NJ Transit’s River Line to span gaps in the Delaware River Heritage Trail, part of the Circuit Trails network, he says. Sometimes that takes the form of simple signage, letting riders know about the proximity of the riverfront and trails. Other times it’s “cutting 25 feet of trail” to completely connect a station to an existing pathway.
In Pennsylvania?
“I think there’s been talk about doing that
[kind of work] with SEPTA,” Boyle says. “Though I haven’t heard any proposals lately.”
Boyle voices even more fundamental concerns. He says he used to take his bike on SEPTA and ride it to recreational destinations but has scaled back. Nine times in 10, the conductors are accommodating and aware of the agency’s rules, but the other 10% of the time the experience is unpleasant.
“They may not have the rules correct. People will be in designated [bike] spaces, and they won’t ask them to move and just sort of leave you there hanging,” Boyle says.
Then there’s the lack of level boarding for trains, which often forces cyclists to hoist their bikes up steps and through tight spaces. The racks on the front of SEPTA buses can hold only two bikes at a time. Boyle points out that these kinds of shortfalls have been addressed elsewhere: Princeton’s TigerTransit buses have three-bike racks, and the New York MTA’s Long Island Rail Road designates specialty “bicycle trains” on summer weekends with extra capacity.
Finally, Boyle perceives missed opportunities in planning, where a SEPTA bus travels near a recreational asset but doesn’t stop there. Rigolon, the Utah researcher, calls such near misses “last mile” challenges — city planner trade lingo! — in the quest to better connect existing transit stops to trailheads. But Boyle says that in Philadelphia, the distance is often, frustratingly, even less than that. It all suggests to Boyle a lack of prioritization at SEPTA to pluck even low-hanging fruit for park access.
“I’ve seen places where they miss the trailhead by like a quarter mile,” Boyle says. “They can easily fix that situation by putting a stop right there. Or making minor pedestrian improvements: Get across the street, whatever.” ◆
PHOTO BY CHRIS BAKER EVENS
John Boyle, of the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia, would like to see SEPTA help riders get to parks.
REVEALING QUESTIONS
Here’s what was — and wasn’t — mentioned in the Parks & Recreation budget hearing story by allison beck
On April 16, halfway through the City of Philadelphia’s annual budget hearings, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation answered City Councilmembers’ questions centering safety and the future of the department’s more than 500 facilities.
The department is requesting nearly $7.4 million less than last year largely because, as commissioner Susan Slawson testified, the FY2025 budget included one-time payments — for bonuses, new equipment and site maintenance.
While some questions remained unanswered — in large part because the two-anda-half-hour allotment was shared by Parks & Rec and the Free Library of Philadelphia — the hearing highlighted issues top of mind for members of City government.
Parks & Rec staff still using cancer-causing herbicides
In the past year alone, Philadelphia juries have awarded plaintiffs over $3 billion in
lawsuits related to the weed killer Roundup. It contains glyphosate, an endocrine disruptor that has been found to nearly double high-frequency users’ risk of developing certain cancers. Councilmember Jim Harrity asked about the department’s use of the chemical.
He referenced City Counc il’s Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces (HOPS) bill, which banned use of synthetic herbicides on City grounds beginning in 2023, unless approved by the Department of Public Health.
The legislation also requires annual public information releases on what is sprayed, and where. As of the time of reporting, the information was not available on the City’s open-access database at opendataphilly.org.
Susan Buck, deputy commissioner of operations at Parks & Rec, said that the department is in compliance with the law and trains its staff on how to use herbicides safely.
“Our staff were trained too — it didn’t stop them from getting cancer,” said Harrity, a member of the Laborers’ International
Union of North America Local Union #57 “We’re talking about a place where kids play.”
Buck pushed back.
“What we were spraying is similar to the products like Roundup that you would use at your home to spray the weeds,” she said. “Honestly, it’s very labor-intensive to remove all the weeds. We’re following the guidelines outlined in the HOPS bill the best that we can.”
City Council president Kenyatta Johnson put further pressure on Buck and Slawson, who agreed to additional meetings outside of the department’s budget hearing.
FDR
Park renovation fully funded, some new spaces to open this spring
Slawson testified that two parts of the over $250 million FDR Park Plan — Gateway Plaza and the Welcome Center — are set to open this spring. They include new wayfinding information, walking paths, seating and a rain garden, as well as misters for the hotter months.
What wasn’t mentioned? The millions of dollars poured into raising portions of the park to avoid rising floodwaters and turning other portions into wetlands, despite neighbors’ protests and experts’ suspicion that the changes will be no match for the climate change-fueled deluges to come.
Multipurpose playing fields also got a nod; according to Slawson, they are fully funded, but construction “is not moving yet.”
The $96 million project, a core part of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s plans for the influx of visitors set to come to the city next year, has been the subject of additional scrutiny. Proposals included synt hetic turf fields that risk exposing users to cancer-causing chemicals . The fields’ overhaul has also raised concerns in immigrant communities whose members frequent the space; they fear they may be shut out once the renovations are completed.
Safety and violence prevention top of mind for Council
While gun violence is decreasing citywide, Councilmembers raised concerns about violence at recreation centers, especially ahead of the summer.
Council president Johnson floated the idea of a public-private partnership to increase security staff around the facilities and promised that the City would “spare no expense to keep our children safe.”
A perfect day for a picnic in FDR Park
Slawson said, however, that the first priority should be filling regular staff positions and taking care of Parks & Rec’s own.
“It’s not just traumatic for the parents, the children, the relatives. It is traumatic for our staff members that have to run out and try to save the lives of the young people that have been attacked,” she said. “This affects our community all around.”
Multiple Councilmembers recommended Level Up Philly as an alternative to police or private security presence. The West Philadelphia organization, founded by Pastor Aaron Campbell, works to empower at-risk youth through therapeutic, social, educational, tech and career programming.
Forestry Division doubles number of trees pruned, still faces major backlog
In last year’s budget, Parks & Rec saw a $500,000 boost to its tree maintenance fund to address an often-cited complaint to
But, with 3,000 trees still on the waiting list, Smith Fichman said it would take several years, additional staff and about $2.6 million to catch up with demand.
Logistics remain a core issue — with a potential solution
As Rebuild projects continue, Councilmembers asked Slawson what her department was doing to ensure that its buildings wouldn’t fall into such disrepair again.
Slawson said she has been touring facilities, with plans for an in-depth inspection of each one and creation of a new asset management system to keep staff accountable.
“There’s been a neglect in the system for decades,” she said. “And just like your home, if you have a little leak in your roof, and you allow it to go for a year or two, and you continue to patch and it’s a 20-year-old roof, you’re going to eventually have a roof that’s going to cave in.”
Honestly, it’s very labor-intensive to remove all the weeds. We’re following the guidelines outlined in the HOPS bill the best that we can.” // SUSAN BUCK, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Deputy Commissioner
district Councilmembers — damaged, dying and dead street trees.
Erica Smith Fichman, the city forester at Parks & Rec, testified during the April budget hearing that the extra money allowed her team to double the number of trees pruned and will allow removal of the most hazardous trees on the department’s list this year.
How much this plan would cost — and how long it would take — remains unclear.
Councilmembers question accessibility
Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Cindy Bass pressed Slawson on expanding accessibility in playground and aquatics programming.
In 2016, Bass successfully spearheaded a bill requiring that any city park undergoing renovations include play areas for children with special needs, including Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and hearing, vision and mobility impairments. Because the hearing was nearing its scheduled end, she directed Slawson to explain in writing how the department is working to adhere to the law.
Brooks focused on Carousel House, the city’s only recreation center designed to serve those with disabilities. It has been closed since 2020, after years of deferred maintenance caused the building’s roof to begin caving in.
While the City has released its plan for the new space, Slawson testified that the project likely will not be completed until 2028. In the meantime, much of Carousel House’s programming has moved to Gustine Recreation Center in Northwest Philadelphia.
But the Councilmember, articulating a position held by many advocates in the Philadelphia area, said that accessibility — both in terms of facilities and programming — should be a priority citywide, not just at a few locations.
“People with special needs live in every community,” Brooks said. “I think if we’re not going to use the Carousel House for much longer, we need a long-term plan to make sure that those of varying ability have the ability to enjoy our Parks & Rec system.” ◆
GREEN HOUSES
Boelson/Boelsen Cottage
Years Built: 1678–1684
Location: West Fairmount Park
Architecture: Dutch/Swedish Visiting: Not open to the public
Belmont Mansion
Year Built: 1745
Location: West Fairmount Park
Architecture: Palladian style
Visiting: Ticketed access, Underground Railroad Museum
Ohio House Year Built: 1876
Location: West Fairmount Park
Architecture: Gothic Revival Visiting: Offices of Fairmount Park Conservancy
Location: East Fairmount Park
Architecture: Federal Visiting: Open to tours
fairmount park, often recognized as the largest landscaped urban park in the United States, features many of the amenities you’d expect in a major city park: forested trails, scenic ponds, expansive lawns, ball fields and numerous playgrounds. What sets Fairmount Park apart, however, is its collection of more than 20 historic houses — many of which existed long before the park itself. Eleven of these homes were built before the founding of the United States, with one dating back to the era of William Penn. These historic estates offer a unique glimpse into what was once the rural outskirts of Philadelphia, where the city’s elite would retreat during the sweltering summer months to escape heat and epidemics such as yellow fever, smallpox and cholera. Here are some of the notable historic houses located within the boundaries of Fairmount Park.
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY BRYAN SATALINO
Chamounix Mansion Year Built: 1802
Location: West Fairmount Park
Architecture: Federal Visiting: Youth hostel
Strawberry Mansion Years Built: 1783–1789
Location: East Fairmount Park
Architecture: Federal/Greek Revival Visiting: Open to tours and events
Smith Memorial Playhouse
Years Built: 1897–1899
Location: East Fairmount Park
Architecture: Victorian style Visiting: Ticketed access
The Cliffs Year Built: 1753
Location: East Fairmount Park
Architecture: Georgian Visiting: Currently a ruin
Sedgely Porter’s House Years Built: 1799–1802
Location: East Fairmount Park
Architecture: Gothic Revival
Visiting: Not open to the public
SCHUYLKILL RIVER
SCHUYLKILL RIVE R
HOMES FOR BIRDS, HOMES FOR PEOPLE
New book explores the 1950s transformation of Southwest Philadelphia and the social and environmental grassroots efforts that guided and opposed it
story by bernard brown
Will caverly was one of the thousands of people who flocked to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum during the COVID-19 pandemic. And like most of those people, he didn’t know much about Eastwick, the neighborhood next door. He wasn’t aware how, during the mid20th century, it was the site of the largest urban redevelopment project in U.S. history as city planners imposed their vision on thousands of residents, displacing them from homes and neighborhoods they had loved for generations. But a conversation Caverly had with Lamar Gore, manager of the refuge, got him started on the journey that led to his 2024 book, “ Tinicum and Eastwick: Environmental Justice and Rascial Injustice in Southwest Philadelphia.” Grid talked with Caverly about the book and the history it tells. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I bet a lot of people who visit the wildlife refuge don’t think much about the neighborhood next door. What drew you to writing a book about the two together? Lamar and I talked about this documentary film “A Field of Weeds,” made about the rededvelopment project, which was conducted at the same time Heinz was created. Soon after, a publisher reached out asking about book ideas, and I said I have these two threads: one about homes for birds and another about homes for people. They are geographically adjacent to each other and wrapped up in the same ecosystem, what this land is going to look like in this low-lying place in Philadelphia. It was serendipitous, but that’s where the best books come from.
Aside from being marshy and flood-prone, what did Eastwick look like before the redevelopment project? There were multiple neighborhoods — including Clearview and Elmwood — in the area referred to in the redevelopment project and now as Eastwick. This area of Philadelphia was semirural. There were freestanding homes, unlike the row homes of most Philadelphia streets. It was an affordable place to live for working-class families. People used the marsh [what would become the wildlife refuge] as a source of sustenance:
Author Will Caverly tells the story about how a wildlife refuge and a new neighborhood were created in Southwest Philadelphia.
fishing, hunting, collecting berries to make jam. It was almost a different world, next to the airport and 15 minutes from Center City. It was a redlined area, and the racial makeup was fascinating. There was a slight majority white, about 40% Black, a Chinese contingent and Jewish merchants. There were stories of a neighborhood doctor, Dr. George Marshall, treating white and Black patients, doing that kind of work in that time period, something you didn’t see in the 1940s and ’50s, but people didn’t think anything of it. Dr. Marshall was the doctor you went to. The flip side of this was that it was a place of heavy pollution. There was heavy industry ringing the entire area. There was the Hog Island shipyard. Who knows what was dumped over there. There was the Fels-Naptha plant dropping pollution into Cobbs Creek. It was a place people loved to live in and a precarious place.
What was the Redevelopment Authority?
It’s an entity that a lot of people have never heard of, but it wielded a lot of power. Essentially it was a quasi-public entity that could receive funds and was given legal powers of eminent domain over areas that they saw as problematic. The strategy in other parts of the city was to use it as a scalpel to carve out small parts and replace individual buildings using Redevelopment Authority power. In the Eastwick project, instead of the scalpel it was vivisection, a complete carve-out with bulldozers. It was special because it was the largest parcel, geographically, redeveloped using these powers anywhere in the country.
I could be sympathetic to the City. After centuries of growth it was looking at running out of space. There was white flight. Leaders were asking, “How can we create an integrated city while also balancing economic priorities?” It was an extremely complicated question and at its heart political, but they decided to carve out part of the city.
Do you think they succeeded? I would call it a partial failure. The wounds it left are still raw, but people now have more homes. People now like living in that part of the city.
Something that struck me was how explicitly City leaders talked about race, about wanting no more than a specific percentage
of Black families in order to avoid triggering white flight. It was frightening to read the philosophies and thoughts of people 60 to 80 years ago. It seems totally alien to how we think today. Part of my book was trying to wrap my mind about how people thought.
A constant throughout the book is that the southwest tip of the city has always been a trash magnet, both for illegal dumping and for shady landfills, which have left the refuge and Eastwick with two Superfund sites. First, it was a rural area, an open space that’s dark at night. There was some of that. And it’s a marsh. You could just dump it in the water. There’s an element of that.
The turning point for the landfills was when Mayor Dilworth, thinking he was doing the right thing, banned open-air landfills in the city. It seemed to me that
“This is ridiculous. We worked so hard to get this done.” Fired-up citizens on the Delaware County side were watching developers come in and try to put in a road through the marsh and later I-95. Concerned Area Residents for Protection (CARP) had their canoe cavalcade, taking people out on canoes to tour the marsh. It was about as grassroots as you can get. They were able to harness the environmental movement of the 1960s. Also at the same time there was a weakening of the Delaware County Republican machine. Between activists like CARP and the Philadelphia Conservationists — the Sierra Club got involved — they were able to get federal attention drawn to it.
The action in the book took place decades ago. How do we see similar issues play out today? Obviously this isn’t all in the past. Eastwick still floods. The trash battles con-
You have to be conscious of ideologies that change over time. Sixty years ago they had very different ideas of how to use this land, and 60 years from now they might have different thoughts than we do
now.” //
WILL CAVERLY, author
and historian
this is what precipitated dumps opening at the edge. You put the dump in Delaware County, that had its own political machine, which gets into the 1970s advocacy to get the marsh turned into a refuge and not just a municipal park.
You describe the original, successful push by the Philadelphia Conservationists, the group that later became Natural Lands, to have the Tinicum marsh preserved as a City refuge. What led to the push to make it a national wildlife refuge? There were a couple pressures there: the City stopped taking care of the municipal bird sanctuary. It was trashy. Someone burned down the headhquarters a couple times. People from the Philadelphia Conservationists were like,
tinue, and the Redevelopment Authority still owns a lot of land around Eastwick.
The big scandal a decade ago was that land next to the refuge was going to be developed into hundreds of units by the developer Korman Communities. The neighbors got together to shut it down because it would have been a flooding nightmare. There’s a reason they didn’t build on it during redevelopment. That 128-acre parcel, if you go to leaveittonature.org, the Friends of Heinz Refuge are now advocating to have that piece flipped over to the refuge.
You have to be conscious of ideologies that change over time. Sixty years ago they had very different ideas of how to use this land, and 60 years from now they might have different thoughts than we do now.
WHEN HEROES COME ALONG
Parks advocate reflects on the last 40 years
interview by bernard brown
In the spring of 2024 the board of trustees of Parks & Rec Heroes, previously known as the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, voted to wind down the organization’s operations. Originally called Friends of Philadelphia Parks, the group was founded in 1983. It lobbied for increased funding as well as a more inclusive and transparent Fairmount Park Commission, which was then the park system’s governing body. The Alliance worked to preserve open space in the parks, and it was active in advocacy to shape Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, the department formed from the merger of the Fairmount Park System with the Recreation Department in 2010.
A decline in funding during and following the COVID-19 pandemic played a major
role in the organization’s demise, according to board member and co-founder Robert Thomas. Grid talked with Thomas to learn about Parks & Rec Heroes’ 40-year history and the future of parks advocacy.
How did you come to feel a connection to the park system? Growing up in West Oak Lane, I spent more time in the Wissahickon than most other places. I loved our park system, and I loved our greenway system. My grandparents lived in Brewerytown. And although we would go in the Studebaker to visit them on Saturdays, I would occasionally say no to the ride, and I’d walk over to Cresheim Valley. I would go down to the Cresheim Valley Trail and down Forbidden Drive. Now, at the time there was no Wissahickon Trail to Ridge Avenue connection, but there were upper trails. I would take those to get down to Ridge Avenue to walk through Fairmount Park and on to Brewerytown.
busy with the Schuylkill River Trail — the Philadelphia to Valley Forge Trail Committee.
I met my [professional] partner, who was a chair, and we ended up starting our architectural firm. Job one was the Schuylkill River Trail, which we got hired to do, and we’ve been busy with trails, greenways and heritage parks ever since.
What we noticed was that there were some problems we were being asked about in Fairmount Park, and we said, “Well, let’s call up the Friends of the Parks,” thinking that such a group existed, and there wasn’t any.
There were any number of park groups, like Friends of the Wissahickon, and of other smaller parks, but not all of them. Even Fairmount Park didn’t have a friend group. Well, who gets on our board? Nancy Longstreth, [City Councilmember] Thacher Longstreth’s wife. And then [prominent feminist, Fairmount Park commissioner, and past director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society] Ernesta Ballard, who was the big activist. The two of them were some of our original board members. More than that, we had organizational meetings at Nancy’s house in Chestnut Hill. She started the traditional pattern of fundraising every year. We’d have our celebration in the spring, and it was always at someone’s estate. And that brought in a lot of unrestricted money for the lobbying that we had to do.
How did you get involved with the founding of a parks advocacy group? This would have been in the ’80s. I was very
The Alliance had long advocated for a more representative and transparent Fairmount Park Commission. In the 2000s as the drive to merge the park systems picked up, how was the Alliance involved in the process of merging the Fairmount Park Commission with the Recreation Department? The reason for the combination was that the Fairmount Park Commission just wasn’t getting enough money from the City, and the City said, “Why should we give money to a commission that we have no control
What we noticed was that there were some problems we were being asked about in Fairmount Park, and we said, ‘Well, let’s call up the Friends of the Parks,’ thinking that such a group existed, and there wasn’t any.” // ROBERT
THOMAS
over?” The other thing we would run into is you look at a map of all the open space but we would go there and for example see a tree that needed maintenance, and hear “Oh, no, that’s a recreation department tree. We can’t take care of that.” That [overlap] is a waste.
We also saw that there was this constant assault on the park to demolish this and that, so [along with the charter change for the parks merger] we actually got the Open Space Protection Ordinance passed.
We had situations like [in 2013] Temple University deciding that the boathouse at the Strawberry Mansion Bridge wasn’t the right shape for the newer boats that they used, and they wanted to tear it down. So, the Parks Alliance gets all involved about saving the boathouse. And we showed that saving it was doable, of course. Now Temple is very proud and a great steward of this beautiful historic building.
Another thing was somebody proposed a velodrome down in FDR Park [in 2014]. It would have been on the west side of Broad Street, and it would have taken up all the room from there right to The Lakes [the waterways in the center and south of the park]. So I remember being at hearings with people saying, “The Parks Alliance hates South Philly. The Parks Alliance hates bicycles.” I said, “Well, that’s my bicycle outside. How many of the rest of you came here by bicycle?” And we kept the park from being spoiled.
Most recently, under the two most recent directors, George Matysik and Alex Doty, the Alliance expanded its advocacy to the recreation system (pools, playgrounds and rec centers) and changed its name to Parks & Rec Heroes. Why did it make that shift? What we realized was that one of the most difficult things for people in the city was that these recreation centers often had no staff. And we actually changed our name to Parks & Rec Heroes to reflect our commitment to these often poorly supported resources, and that was really important.
The last thing I would say is that other groups really need to continue to do advocacy. There are really two elements of advocacy that are important. One is simply getting adequate funding. The other thing is facilities that are needed — either are needed new, or they need to be maintained. That’s where we need advocacy. ◆
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A CHILDHOOD DREAM
Multi-use trail on track to connect Wissahickon Valley Park to Fort Washington along an abandoned railroad right-of-way
story by julia lowe
When Robert Thomas, 78, was 11 years old, he envisioned a hiking trail in North Philadelphia that would follow the corridor of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s abandoned Fort Washington branch. He even gave a presentation about the idea to his sixth-grade class.
“It was my first feasibility study for a trail: ‘Why we should connect the Wissahickon with Fort Washington,’” says Thomas, partner and founder at Campbell Thomas & Co. architecture firm and commissioner at the Philadelphia Historical Commission. “This is 67 years ago, and here we are, still working on it.”
In 2008, Thomas conducted the first official feasibility study for the Cresheim Trail: a six-mile, multi-use recreational trail that
would reclaim abandoned railroad right-ofway to connect existing trails in Wissahickon Valley Park and Fort Washington State Park in Montgomery County.
Now, his childhood dream is finally on track to be realized.
“We’ve built such momentum with planning and designing the trail. And now things are starting to take shape,” says Bradley Maule, executive director of the Friends of the Cresheim Trail
The Friends of the Cresheim Trail, a nonprofit initiative working to extend the trail, has been active since 2012, building almost three miles of natural surface trail in City-owned parkland on an almost entirely volunteer basis. Thanks to recent grant funding from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and the Penn-
sylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, via the Regional Trails Program and the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, respectively, the complete Cresheim Trail route is in its planning and early design phases.
The existing Cresheim Trail starts near the Richard Allen Lane Regional Rail station, eventually following Cresheim Creek as it approaches Germantown Avenue from the southwest. The Cresheim Rail Trail will begin on the other side of Germantown Avenue.
“The first phase that we want to do goes from Germantown Avenue up to Stenton Avenue, which is the border between Philadelphia and Montgomery County,” says Maule. This first segment is considered a “rough draft” of the formal trail, which Maule encourages hikers and bikers to use and get familiar with while its full design is in progress. Connecting the rough draft to the existing trail will require SEPTA to rehabilitate a trestle over Germantown Avenue for use as a pedestrian bridge.
Maule says that the difference between building natural surface trail and building rail trail is “night and day.” Whereas volunteers can build trails on City-owned parkland with tools and manual labor, the multi-county rail trail will require collaboration and license agreements with various public utilities and municipalities that own the old rail corridor.
For the first phase, the Friends of the Cresheim Trail has a license agreement with PECO, which owns the land under the rightof-way, to follow the former Pennsylvania Railroad corridor. But from Flourtown to Fort Washington State Park, the trail would turn onto a former Reading Railroad right-ofway, which is municipally owned.
Once the design phase is completed, the project will go out to bid. It could be another two years before trail construction begins.
As part of the Circuit Trails network, the completed Cresheim Trail will be 10 feet wide and ADA accessible. The central mission of the trail, Maule says, is to connect communities with green spaces dedicated to transportation and recreation, while reenvisioning infrastructural relics.
“It builds on this — especially in Pennsylvania — rich tradition of reusing these old and historic corridors for new purposes.”
Bradley Maule and the Friends of the Cresheim Trail are working to connect a city park with a suburban state park.
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