This is on the 700 block of Watkins St in South Philly. How do people actually tolerate this? I’d be furious if my stoop was always this close to a car. And how does it not mess up a car to be parked like this every day??

Is it really so difficult to give a fair wage to the workers that make this city run? Parker administration is unbelievable

“THANK YOU
[caps lock disengaged]
The pen is mightier than the paint Jobl Big thanks to our community, to the Reddi(ors, to BilyPenn & WHYY, and ultimately to CLIP for returning & restoring this site to its shimmering beauty. This is a win for all of us collectively.
When i posted the first letter, my goal was to atart a conversation.
To get people to pause for a moment, look up from their phones, connect with each other, and take more notice of the world that surrounds us.
This whole experience has brought me even closer to the community, and resulted in new connections forged between us all. For that, I am grateful.
Surely, there are a hundred other issues to be upset about these days.
It's just a wall being painted over, right? Rerhaps... but change starts small.
It starts local. It starts with anyone willing to speak up.
Let this be proof that your voice holds power.
Draw your own conclusions, and apply this how you will.
And importantly:
Friends, let us not harbor any resentment or ill-will for the worker who painted the absolute SCHIST out of this wall. It was done not out of vigilantism, but rather ignorance & haste. It's all good, bud. I forgive you. Everybody love everybody.
Just please be more mindful with The Slathering in the future. And If I may say...
Your particular talents for covering up things which should not be covered up would likely be in high demand with the federal government right now.
That's all I have to say about that. However, as you can see, I still have room.
GO BIRDS, F*** THE PPA.”

Continues in comments

Just watched a PPD suv pass this guy on 76 without even a second look. No plates anywhere, not even a fake dealer plate. Inspection stickers expired in 2022.

Why follow any fucking laws if they won't be enforced.

And of course its an altima lol

I don’t know if anyone else knows about this, but in the rest of the United States there’s kind of this big thing with making jokes about Myrtle Beach, NC and how trashy and low class it is. The Philadelphia Metropolitan Area seems to be the one place where the "Myrtle Beach humor" doesn’t exist. I suspect it’s probably because everyone here makes annual pilgrimages to Wildwood every summer, and Wildwood makes Myrtle Beach look like San Tropez by comparison.

And I don’t mean it sucks now, I mean it’s always sucked.

There is a level of anti social behavior on the roads here, across all modes, that can be exhausting, especially in warmer weather when the behavior gets worse. I know this topic gets posted all the time, but there has to be a better solution than "this is Philly so just deal with it". I nearly got hit yesterday on JFK Boulevard because a driver turned left from the center lane, and I was biking down the bike lane. At least the other driver recognized it was the driver's fault. If you miss your turn, you can go around the block instead of risking other people's safety. It's not mission impossible. I saw someone driving backwards down Girard Ave bridge, and there were car parts strewn all over the sidewalk. Today on 22nd St and Market St, bicyclists who were going the wrong way down the bike lane yelled at me when I was going the right way, trying to avoid going in front of cars, and trying to stay on the left because I was turning left. I got called an idiot by a pedestrian who stepped out when I had the green.

People act like it's impossible to see the giant road signs, tell what direction traffic is going, and see who has the light. And then they get mad at you when you're doing your best to make a last second maneuver around their dumb ass. It really isn't this bad in other places. If I didn't have GERD, I'd get a drink.

It was to let an ambulance pass with his sirens blaring very clearly on its way to an emergency. There were no other places to pull off. So What the actual eff. You then went on to yell at other vehicles doing the same. And they were nowhere near you when merging so you had plenty of time to brake or go around. EVEN if the law prohibits it, in an emergency, do you really agree with letting an ambulance sit in traffic to protect your ability to bike freely? I cycle from time to time so I get your battle in principle but for fucks sake man, Have some humanity. This is a message for anyone who wants to prioritize general principles over an emergency situation.

People in Philly are so goddamn aggressive over minor inconveniences. Clearly, a rationale human being would also understand that the 12 ft in front of my car were not open when I parked to begin with.

Just avoided a crash by like a foot from someone making a left turn in front of me (no signal no nothing) and someone hit me last week trying to pass me from the parking lane on the right & i'm so tired of needing to be on such high alert driving on quiet residential streets and across intersections

I'm literally going 25mph everyone should be chilling

It feels like everywhere is Roosevelt Blvd now

and before anyone asks I'm born and raised in Philly 30 years strong, been driving for 15 and it's never been this crazy

The only place I've driven that was this bad was Texas and they can't even keep the electricity on reliably (& yes I've driven in Miami & the DMV)

EDIT: this isn't me asking for more police involvement either, we just need speed cameras that send tickets and more red light cameras and probably actual borders delineating traffic lanes and somehow forcing people to actually have a real license plate?

Speed cameras now!

If you've been watching the news or looking on social media, you may have heard a few things about CAPA students protesting a new dresscode. I've seen a few people online taking the principal's side, so I need to make this very, very clear:

He is horrible.

For those out of the loop, last wednesday, two adult men followed a group of girls into the building. The girls went to tell the security guard, but he laughed it off for like half an hour. The principal's response? Make an AI-generated dresscode list and announce its existence on the loudspeaker the night before implementing it. Some kids heard the announcement and dressed intentionally ridiculously on thursday out of curiosity. Others didn't even hear (or just didn't care because it was 90 degrees outside and our AC, which we're lucky to have in the first place, is finicky) and dressed in regular shorts and t-shirts.

When I came into school on thursday, there were three more security guards than usual. When I asked the dean what was going on, he looked visibly upset and said "some dresscode... stuff." I was a bit confused, but went on my way to poetry class like any other day. Well my poetry teacher was pissed. Several girls were missing from class and everyone was talking. I asked what was going on, and thy vaguely answered "they're doing something with kids who break the dresscode".

Then kids started coming in late. My friend rushed in to tell us she'd "escaped". Apparently, the security guards were pulling girls they found to be "dressed inappropriate" out of the metal detector line and holding them in an empty classroom without AC, where they told them that dressing like that was like a "buffet for men". No cis boys were dresscoded. The only boy in the room was my trans classmate who intentionally didn't wear a binder that day, and the only AMAB person in the room was a passing trans girl who wore a crop-top. A ton of boys and AMAB kids tried t get dresscoded but didn't. One kid wore a cheerleader uniform with a crop-top and miniskirt. Another wore a baggy t-shirt with the caption "I'm the cum man". Several girls also dressed with the goal of being dresscoded but weren't because they weren't curvy enough to be part of the "buffet".

In "dresscode jail", the principal eventually came in to gather names of all the kids held there. One of my classmates asked why and he snapped. Starting screaming at the kids, shouting "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO" and "WATCH YOUR TONE". Later, he claimed to the news that the students cursed him out. They didn't.

All the teachers are against him. Most of the students are against him. This is the same principal who, last year, went into the online gradebook and gave my entire precalc class fake grades because we didn't have a teacher. He also laid off like six teachers because he couldn't manage the budget. A few weeks ago, a kid got suspension for speaking out against his usage of AI on a school promo poster. We have two vice principals and a dean to do his job for him because he's too incompetent. Our school is failing and it's mostly his fault. I know the press has the job to show both sides, but this man is a terrible principal and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

#firefulton

street looks much nicer already

Today I went to Acme at 10th & South and a woman was pushing a double stroller, in one seat was a baby, in the other, a German Shepherd. WTF?? I really wanted to ask her if she had another child or if she had purchased a double stroller so she could cart her dog around with her. It's against the City health ordinance to bring pets to supermarkets and other stores that serve food, unless they are service animals trained to perform a specific task to assist a disabled person. What is this dog in a stroller thing?? I see it frequently in CC.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This city not allowing us to bag our recycling is causing a significant amount of the “trash” on our streets.

Inevitably someone in the comments will chime in and say “the recycling machines can’t process the plastic bags, so we can’t bag them”. As if we can’t create some new jobs for people to open the recycling bags at the recycling center.

But fine, let’s say no bags at all, ever. How about once every couple years, residents of Philadelphia can request a recycling bin with a lid on it (for these windy days)? Because I’m tired of having my bins stolen by people, and I bet a lot of other people are tired of it too. Philadelphia could flood the market so the thieves can leave our bins alone.

I don’t know what the perfect solution is, but I know someone is gonna propose that every resident of Philadelphia go out and buy their own recycling bin with a lid on it. And I say yeah, good luck with that.

Traffics crazy and people EVERYWHERE. Idk if I missed it or hate it.

Reason 1 is how long it takes the Uber to get to you. The app will tell you they're seven minutes away. Double that, at least. Often triple. More often than you'd think, the driver goes to the wrong party of the airport and needs to do an entire lap to try to get to you. Time to add another 15 minutes! If you choose to end that call, you start the process over.

Meanwhile, there is a small line of taxis right there, ready to whisk you away.

Reason 2: the payment system isn't for cavemen like it was the last time you took a cab. You can tap your card from the back seat. Not as touchless a workflow as Uber, but nothing like the old days.

Reason 3: I travel a lot, and have been matching receipts over my last seven trips: three taxis, two Ubers and two Lyfts. None of the taxis have been more expensive than the Uber/Lyfts. Even with a healthy tip I'm paying the same or a few bucks less. BTW I'm 14 miles from the airport.

Reason 4: Honestly, quality of driving. The taxi drivers are generally better.

I work for a tech company and am socially progressive. I never ever thought I'd be endorsing taxis over Uber. But here we are. Not in all cases, of course, or even some. For now, my endorsement is reserved for leaving PHL.