Housing for All? Who Really Benefits in Philly By: Jordana Rubenstein| PhillyCAM, The Philadelphia Citizen February 18, 2026 | Melissa Monts of One PA Renters United speaks on an episode of "Philly Unpacked" produced by PhillyCAM. Each month, “Philly Unpacked” breaks down one of the current issues affecting life in Philadelphia. In this episode we…
Philly will get a ton of benefits if its first-ever Tree Plan succeeds. Right now, our trees store 99,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year. That number will increase as the canopy grows.
“SAVE MY TREE!”
That’s what Nicole Fakhoury heard her two-year-old son crying and begging over the phone, over the sounds of a chainsaw.
On a recent Saturday, more than 30 volunteers gathered in Malcolm X Park to plant street trees on sidewalks in front of homes around West Philly. Despite the rain, they showed up ready to dig out tree pits, spread mulch and get around 30 trees into the ground.
“Trees are the only piece of [public] infrastructure that appreciates in value,” says Dominique London, director of the nonprofit Tree Tender group UC Green.
A decade ago, Jordan Parisse-Ferrarini was already a successful contractor. A skilled carpenter, a licensed electrician, and a certified construction manager, his company, Ferrarini Kitchens, Baths and Interiors, was doing brisk business. He wanted to take the next step and become a developer, and went to some trade shows. But he struggled, and felt frustrated…
La escuela primaria Willard, en Kensington, está a punto de recibir su primer parque infantil. Sin embargo, también tendrá algo menos extravagante: una verja resistente a balas. Ambos tienen una fuente de financiamiento inusual: las compañías farmacéuticas responsables de alimentar la crisis de opioides en el patio trasero de la escuela. La directora de Willard,…
On the stretch of Kensington Avenue between the Allegheny and Somerset SEPTA stations, wound care vans, mobile drug treatment clinics, drop-in centers and harm reduction sites offer daily care to the hundreds of people who openly use drugs on the neighborhood’s sidewalks. And still, the 19134 ZIP code sees the highest number of overdose deaths citywide as…
On a windy afternoon in November, a busload of seniors arrives on a verdant campus in West Oak Lane. Passing by persimmon trees and a koi pond, they enter a building with an array of services and activities, everything from health care and vocational training to bingo and mahjong. These grounds belong to the nonprofit…
For several years before the 2020 election, the elderly residents of Germantown Home needed only to take the elevator downstairs to cast a ballot in the polling center set up in their lobby. It was convenient, and it was busy: Older voters are the most consistent voters, even among the high voter turnout neighborhoods of Northwest…
Recycling in Philly has lost its way. In recent years, between Covid-caused labor shortages and China no longer buying U.S. recyclables, residents lost faith in the system. Recycling rates plummeted. By spring 2022, Philadelphia’s recycling rate was 8 percent. Today, we’re at a not-much-better 13 percent. (For more on why this is, read this piece from The Citizen.) But there are ways…