Grid Magazine August 2021 [#147]

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East Coast Greenway inches to completion

Raising antiracist children: strategies for white parents

Streets Dept and the man behind the camera

p. 8

p. 24

p. 18

AUGUST 2021 / ISSUE 147 / GRIDPHILLY.COM

T O W A R D A S U S TA I N A B L E P H I L A D E L P H I A

MADE SHADE IN THE

The food forest philosophy takes root in East Germantown

Bakari Clark (left) and Jasmine Thompson of Philly Forests.

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AUGUST 20 21

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EDI TO R ’S NOTES

by

alex mulcahy

Keeping Our Cool

managing editor Alexandra W. Jones associate editor & distribution Timothy Mulcahy tim@gridphilly.com copy editor David Jack Daniels art director Michael Wohlberg writers Magdalena Becker Bernard Brown Nichole Currie Nic Esposito Constance Garcia-Barrio Randy LoBasso Lois Volta photographers Drew Dennis Chris Baker Evens Rachael Warriner illustrator Lois Volta published by Red Flag Media 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.625.9850 G R I D P H I L LY. C O M

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H

ere’s a nugget from The New York Times story “Extreme Summer,” published on July 20, 2021: “Summers in Boston have come to resemble 20th-century summers in New York. New York, similarly, has come to resemble Philadelphia, which in turn has become hotter than Washington, D.C., or Atlanta were only a few decades ago.”

Climate change has gotten real. If you live in Philadelphia, you don’t need any graphs or charts to be convinced that it’s getting hotter. If you are in an air conditioned room, all you have to do is step outside. If you’re not, best to find one. More on that shortly.

In March of this year, the city released its Municipal Energy Master Plan, which documents the progress the city is making regarding energy usage and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One line in the report showed a striking regression: The city’s electricity consumption increased between 2016 and 2018.

According to the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (MOS), there are a few reasons that account for the change, including one that you can rationalize as double accounting: Some newly built buildings were up and running while the old buildings they were replacing were in the process of being phased out.

However, one of the primary reasons for the spike is the expansion of air conditioning in recreation centers.

MOS Director Christine Knapp says, “This is an example of where our efforts to reduce carbon emissions are not in perfect alignment with our goals to support climate resiliency for our residents.”

Unfortunately, they are not only not perfectly aligned, they are diametrically opposed. To be clear, this situation is not unique to Philadelphia. Air conditioning, once considered a luxury, is now necessary to stave off heat-related deaths in previously more temperate climates.

How do we navigate this conundrum? It’s too hot, but using air conditioning worsens climate change. The Washington Post interviewed Eric Dean Wilson, a professor at Queens College in New York who teaches climate-themed writing and environmental justice courses. He’s been studying the impact that artificial cooling has on the environment.

Wilson says, “The problem is the unthinking and 24/7 use of air conditioning, which is not necessary.”

He suggests we should leave the A/C off when it’s 80 degrees outside; that we should use fans to achieve cross-ventilation in the home; that we should wear less clothing and become more comfortable with sweating.

I’ll add that if your bedroom A/C has a timer, setting it to turn off after you have fallen asleep is another way to cut usage. But the dilemma remains.

“The comfort that we desire for ourselves is making the world paradoxically more uncomfortable,” Wilson says.

2021 is the year when the perception of climate change has gone from an abstraction to a reality, ushering in the next phase of climate consciousness: the understanding that life is going to be more fraught with peril, and that we need to adapt.

Climate scientists have been warning us that we need to be thinking simultaneously about mitigation (reducing carbon emissions) and adaptation, preparing ourselves for the hardship that climate change will bring. In this summer of drought, wildfire, flooding and heatwaves, it’s crystal clear that the future is now.

ALEX MULCAHY Editor-in-Chief alex@gridphilly.com

COV E R P HOTO G RAP H BY RACHAE L WARRI NER

I L LU S T R AT E D P O R T R A I T BY J A M E S B O Y L E

publisher Alex Mulcahy

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by

lois volta

DEAR LOIS,

How do you press the restart button?

W

hen people go through a major life change, it’s not an uncommon occurrence to do a massive purge of items around the house. Cleaning and decluttering can be an act of rebellion and healing. Seizing opportunities for growth and maturity during times of change has the potential for major shifts in thinking, approach and circumstance.

There is no doubt that we are all going through a major transition and paradigm shift. COVID-19 changed everything, and we have some choices in behaviors that we need to make. Do we go back to the way things used to be or take a new approach?

Two weeks after my ex moved out, I feverishly cleaned and purged the whole house. I started in my bedroom; the most vulnerable and personal place in my home. I worked my way around the room, methodically addressing every item that was filling the space and the energy that enters my subconscious. I took every item out of the closet, each drawer and under the bed. I did a deep cleaning of the empty space and purposefully put things away, while placing everything that reminded me of my ex in a box.

As I chose what would stay or go, I had a decision I had to make: How long was it going to take for me to bounce back from the hardship I had been living in? Was it cold and heartless to make a clean break and “wash that man right outa my hair?” I got rid of every picture, card and sentimental (not-so-)keepsake. I knew that I needed to rip off the Band-Aid and press the restart button—the sooner the better.

Now that it’s been over a year since that 4

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deep cleaning, I look back in awe of my grit.

When I was at my lowest, I took control, washed away the heartache and made my bedroom a place where I could get proper rest, free from fault and addiction. I took ownership of my life right then and there, in the thick of it. I didn’t wait until I thought I was ready, I didn’t put the memories in storage, I removed his energy from my home, letting my mind and heart heal from years of wounds. What seemed harsh at the time was exactly what I needed: a reset.

Cleaning and purging my home was an intentional act that I chose to do to love and take care of myself and my girls. Afterwards, I saw firsthand what messes that I had made and the messes that I didn’t have to partake in anymore. I took back control

and made my home sacred, clean and intentional. I reclaimed our house so we could clear our hearts to forgive with the hope to not dwell on how bad it had gotten. I made a vow that I would preserve the true peace that I was creating with my domestic work.

I will never forget the work it took to clean my home from top to bottom so I never get myself into an unhealthy relationship like that again.

There was a beautiful and high-quality nature to life that ascended on the house after I had cleaned up the rubble of a tornado. My actions, decisions and work that I poured into my home were valuable. I honor domestic work as a healing practice.

Mud comes into the house on our shoes, grease builds up on stoves and soap scum happens; the same goes with heartache, loss and sorrow. It’s in how we engage with life that makes us who we are. Do we let apathy, indifference and neglect make us a self-fulfilling prophecy of shame and guilt?

Or do we get back on the horse and clean the kitchen again and again and again?

There is a temptation to chase fleeting pleasures during times that are trying, but where does that get us when we look at the

P O R T R A I T BY J A M E S B O Y L E

TH E VO LTA WAY

IL LUSTRATIO N BY LO IS VOLTA

I honor domestic work as a healing practice...

It’s in how we engage with life that makes us who we are.”

mess, dust and memories in our homes?

Escaping the hard work that life brings to us is a form of denial. The true gift that life brings is that the sublime is easily accessible through the mundane; we have to look for it, but it’s always right there, waiting for us.

For instance, now when I do a deep cleaning of my bedroom I use love as an action to take care of myself—my love feels good, and it is something that I savor and experience for myself. All of the love that I pour into my space is felt.

I take my time and enjoy the feeling of “love as a verb” and the fruit that it bears. I let it run through me to make me stronger and develop new habits, mindsets and approaches. But, I also let my actions be an example of my tenderness, kindness and care.

Experience yourself by how you treat yourself in your space.

Cleaning a toilet on your knees with a happy heart has the potential to teach you lessons that mountaintops never will.

Humbly being open and partaking in the actions of love change old patterns and lay new grooves in the brain for us to deepen with good form. Now that we know better, we can do better again, again and again. lois volta is a home life consultant, artist and founder of The Volta Way. Send questions to info@thevoltaway.com.

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AUGUST 20 21

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sponsored content

Nature and Nurture

At Kimberton Waldorf School, life follows a rhythm

C

elia Martin, the gardening teacher at Kimberton Waldorf School, stands in the middle of the two-acre garden that she and her students care for. Two high school students pull weeds while talking. Martin looks at her watch. “They don’t know it’s 11 already.” It’s another blazing hot July day, but despite the heat, they chat happily, so Martin reminds them that their shift is over.

Located in Phoenixville, Kimberton Waldorf sits on a whopping 450 acres, about 420 of which are leased to the dairy farm Seven Stars Farm. Every spring, all students—the school offers early childhood care and extends through 12th grade—witness the cows as they are released to graze in the grass for the first time for the season. The cows are so happy, Martin says, that they joyfully kick up their heels.

On the grounds in the garden is a structure made from woven willow wattle branches which houses some gardening tools. Third 6

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graders weaved the fibers; structure building is part of the curriculum they learn at that age. There’s also a greenhouse that was built by a student fifteen years ago.

Martin has been tending the garden since 2008. It’s a diverse and highly productive garden, one that supplies the school’s kitchen with tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, onions, garlic and many different herbs.

Martin points across a long, hilly expanse of grass toward the classroom buildings.

She says that, no matter the weather, students walk from their classrooms across the grass to the garden to work and learn.

“You come with your boots and your raincoat, and your jacket and your layers.

All students have an extra change of clothes, even in high school. It’s not just for early childhood,” Martin says.

Martin studied agriculture in college, but she says the focus of the curriculum was to teach people how to farm profitably. Her goal for her students is much different: to

get kids to understand that their food comes from plants that need to be tended. But her ambitions extend beyond that.

“These are the kids who will face the climate crisis that’s looming. These are the generations that are really going to have to work to do something about it. If they’re not exposed to nature, then they don’t know it.

And if they don’t know it, how are they going to care about making a change?”

Martin talks about the seminal book “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv, who coined the phrase “nature deficit disorder.” She stresses the importance of engaging all five senses, not just the ones you need to interact with a screen.

“Being outside in the garden opens kids up to this experience of discovery and wonder. When you’re sitting in front of a computer, there’s not a whole lot of sensory input. It’s basically your vision, you’re not even aware of what you’re touching.

But when you come out here, it brings your senses alive.”

Woven throughout this textured approach to education are the three pillars of Waldorf education: rhythm, repetition and reverence. Schedules are structured so the days “breathe,” which means a difficult math class might be followed by a nature

Left, students tend to the two-acre garden on Kimberton Waldorf’s campus.

Celia Martin has been the gardening teacher since 2008.

Being outside in the garden opens kids up to this experience of discovery and wonder.”

— c elia martin, gardening teacher at Kimberton Waldorf School

“Rhythm helps us to learn how to self-regulate, and that’s important at any age. Rhythm is something that we can rely on and ground ourselves in.”

Of course, within the stability of rhythm, there is a recognition that the world is constantly in flux. “Our education is a holistic education,” says Wetherall. “It’s really connected to what’s happening in the world around us. Our circle games, and our stories and our activities—they all are in line with what’s going on in nature.”

One of the tasks that middle schoolers undertake is outdoor journaling. “It’s actually deepening their understanding of the rhythms of the season, so it’s giving them a chance to be self-reflective, but also reflective of the world around them.”

Wetherall, as an early learning teacher, has a unique vantage point in the students’ educational experience.

“It’s really special for me, I get this privilege of seeing the students start their educational journey with me, and then I see them working their way up through the grades, which is really an amazing thing to witness.

The educational journey is really intentional. And so even when the kids are with me, and they’re two and three years old, I know, as a faculty member of the Kimberton Waldorf School, the intentional journey that I’m setting them up for. There’s a continuity that builds on itself.”

And cultivation, whether it’s plants or children, takes time, which brings us back to the garden. Martin says, “Everything in our society today is immediate. You want something, Amazon delivers it the next day.

In a garden, nothing is immediate. So, the third grade planted the pepper seeds, way back in the beginning of March, 60 days later, they were planting those plants out in the garden. You just have to wait and be patient, and finally, you get your reward.”

Kimberton Waldorf School is to teach students to be creative and critical thinkers with a strong moral compass. With a developmentally appropriate, experiential and artistic approach to education, we enable the unfolding of each child’s unique capacities to meet the world with confidence and a sense of purpose.

THE MISSION OF

hike. Again, the gardening component provides the perfect backdrop for these values.

“Fifth graders will have gardening in the spring,” says Martin, “and they will start the seeds and plant them in the garden.

When they come back as sixth graders in the fall, they are harvesting the exact plants that they planted. They will go through

multiple cycles with the garden, hopefully learning things a little more deeply with each repetition.”

Ona Wetherall has been teaching early childhood classes at Kimberton Waldorf since 2014, and recently served as the Interim Dean. Wetherall sees how critical rhythm is for the entire student body.

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bike talk

Atlantic manager, Daniel Paschall, who gave us the lowdown on the trail’s progress.

This interview has been edited for length, clarity and style.

Tell us a little about the ECG and why you think it’s such an important long-term goal for cycling in the U.S.

The power of this ambitious goal comes from its ability to link all types of East Coast communities together. It connects local, beloved trails to reach far beyond themselves. Like how a quilt is composed of many unique yet united patches. In this way, the Greenway rallies people around the idea that a connected network of high-quality biking and walking infrastructure is a necessity for creating equitable public space and access to a better quality of life for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

You work on the ECG in the Mid-Atlantic region. What are some of the sections of the trail you feel are most important?

The Long and Winding Road Mid-Atlantic Greenway representative talks to Grid about recent progress in our backyard by randy lobasso

I

magine this: You’re at the northern tip of Maine. You’re on your bike. You can start riding now and stay on offstreet, dedicated bike facilities for 3,000 miles, all the way to Key West, Florida.

Your journey will take you through 25 major cities, 15 states and Washington, D.C. Someday, you won’t need to imagine it.

8 GRID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

The East Coast Greenway (ECG), which will allow all those things mentioned above, is currently in development, and gaps in our region are being built in with planning and funding as I type.

To hear more about what’s going on with the project, Grid caught up with the East Coast Greenway Alliance’s (ECGA) Mid-

You just had a ribbon-cutting in Burlington, New Jersey. How do events like that happen from the ECG perspective? What kind of partnerships need to be cultivated to reach the actual opening of a trail that helps connect the Greenway?

Yes, the ribbon-cutting celebrated the 5.5mile segment of the Delaware River Heritage Trail from Crystal Lake Park to Roebling. In this region, the ECGA is fortunate to be a part of the Circuit Trails Coalition, which joins dozens of nonprofit members and public sector partners. The coalition works with the William Penn Foundation to plan, coordinate and advocate for the completion of the 800+ mile Circuit Trails network across greater Philadelphia. By rallying public and political support around this

P H OTO G R A P H Y C O U R T E S Y M AT T D E B R U Y C K E R

East Coast Greenway Alliance Mid-Atlantic Manager Daniel Paschall on the Schuylkill River Trail.

There are so many critical sections in the Mid-Atlantic region. The growing pieces of the Delaware River Trail, Schuylkill Banks and Cobbs Creek Trail segments that reconnect Philly residents to their waterways.

There are also beautiful scenic trails that link into major destinations, like Delaware’s Jack A. Markell Trail out of Wilmington; the Jones Falls Trail through Baltimore; the B&A Trail down to Annapolis; and the Anacostia River Trail from Prince George’s County through the National Mall.

shared goal—completing a trail network— the coalition is better equipped to pursue funding for things like trail development, programming and maintenance.

A ton of organizations are currently working toward the completion of the connection along Spring Garden Street. That’s a huge project and super important not just for the ECG, but for daily commuters. Can you provide some background on this project and what the connection means for Philadelphia?

The Spring Garden Street project has evolved over a decade of advocacy and planning work. It’s the answer to the question of how best to connect the ECG across Center City Philadelphia and link the Delaware River Trail to the Schuylkill River Trail.

This was led early on by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council in partnership with the ECGA, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the Clean Air Council. More recently, the Philadelphia Streets Department has advanced the project, completing public engagement and a

feasibility study for the Spring Garden Improvement Project.

The project incorporates a pair of parking-protected, raised bikeways into a much larger multimodal project that features safer, more accessible intersections, green stormwater infrastructure and upgraded traffic signals to 22 intersections.

Ultimately, it will vastly improve safety for everyone living and working along Spring Garden Street and anchor Philly’s growing bicycle and pedestrian network to create access for people with mobility issues, children, families, older adults, delivery workers and people walking, using transit and biking.

Three thousand miles of trails is … a lot.

How does the ECG work together between Maine and Florida?

The ECGA is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, but we have additional field staff working remotely in every region along the East Coast.

Thanks to a combination of funding

The power of this ambitious goal comes from its ability to link all types of East Coast communities together.” sources, including individual members, major events, foundations, corporations and major donors, we continue to grow our team up and down the Greenway. This allows us to be more present at the ground level to better learn the needs of community stakeholders, while coordinating with local, state and regional partners to plan and advocate for the Greenway’s development.

The Alliance is also seeking to grow local engagement by hosting local and regional events to celebrate each trail along the Greenway, like our first ever New York City-toPhiladelphia ride on August 28 to 29.

A SANCTUARY OF TREES, A SANCTUARY OF MERCY.

cranaleith.org | @cranaleith

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP H ILLY.COM 9

urban naturalist

Fowl Territory The ballpark is the perfect place for fans of baseball, birds and bugs

I

met up with my friend Robin Irizarry at the third base gate of Citizens Bank Park. We made it through security and strolled the first level. Like a lot of fans at the game, we were looking for something to eat. Unlike presumably everyone else, we were also looking for birds.

I had been waiting years for this game. No, I hadn’t been waiting for the disappointingly sub-.500 Phillies to play the perennially sub.500 Marlins. Rather, I had been waiting to go to the ballpark with Robin to see nighthawks catch bugs around the lights.

Nighthawks, as their name implies, fly at dusk and dawn. They nest on gravel surfaces, and it turns out, flat urban roofs often suit them well.

Robin had once texted me from an eve10 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

ning game as he watched nighthawks hunt above the stadium. These long-winged birds with white elbow patches are favorites of mine, and the thought that I could see them at a ballgame amazed me.

I had made a mental note to keep an eye out next time I was at a night game, but a night game took a while to come to fruition.

As an extremely casual fan with kids, I usually only make it to a few afternoon games each season: weekend family trips or “businessperson’s specials” with the office.

As 2020 spring training opened, I declared that this would be the year I’d go to a Phillies night game and see some nighthawks. A novel coronavirus had other plans, of course.

This spring I repeated my pledge.

As Robin and I talked about nighthawks,

by

bernard brown

we kept an eye on other bird species as well.

Robin had spotted a mockingbird just outside the gate, and we had no trouble seeing house sparrows and pigeons flying out over the field before ducking into cover.

Our list grew slowly with a mourning dove briefly flying into view. We paused our stroll for the national anthem and then made our way up to the cheap seats. True, I have never been a big spender for baseball tickets, but on this trip we wanted especially good views of the lights towering above the stadium. Only the upper decks would do.

As we waited for dusk, we kept an eye out for any birds we could find. We walked back and forth beneath the deck, trying to do our birding in view of the field while the Phillies were at bat. Tthen looking out toward the Delaware River while the Marlins hit.

P HOTO G RAP HY BY D RE W DENNI S

Forty species of birds have been documented at Citizens Bank Park on the citizen science app eBird, including nighthawks.

We walked back and forth beneath the deck, trying to do our birding in view of the field while the Phillies were at bat.

Starlings flew up into the lights, as did some crows. We could just view a bald eagle’s nest near the shipping cranes along the river, and Robin thought he saw a peregrine falcon slip into the Linc, but we couldn’t get a good enough look to count it.

We were not the first birders to keep a list of birds seen at the ballpark. Forty species have been documented there on the citizen science app eBird. Over the years Robin had seen 21 species at the park. One of the crows called, revealing itself to be a fish crow (Philly’s two most common crow species are hard to distinguish by physical appearance but do have distinctive calls),

raising his total to 22.

We took our seats in the fourth inning as the sun slipped into the horizon, setting the clouds aglow. Birds were not the only flying animals in attendance. A mud dauber wasp flew by, as did a dragonfly and a large, ungainly June beetle. The Phillies and Marlins traded runs as we tilted our binoculars up to the lights. So far, no nighthawks, but we could see more and more flying insects—presumably moths, beetles and aquatic insects like caddisflies drawn in from the river.

We could also see a wall of black clouds collecting enmasse over Center City and West Philadelphia.

Phillies ace Aaron Nola was likely hoping for a downpour as the Marlins started adding runs in the top of the fifth. After Neftalí Féliz came to relieve him, lightning bolts flashed through the clouds and thunder cracked over the field. So did the Marlins’ bats, bringing their total to eight by the time the sky truly opened up.

The night was a washout in more ways than one. We figured the nighthawks weren’t going to show up. As the ground crew raced onto the field with the tarp, we knew the game, if continued, would stretch way past our bedtimes. The Phillies were down by three, and we didn’t expect a comeback.

In any nature outing, as in any trip to the ballpark, the joys of the experience can easily eclipse disappointment. We watched birds fly beneath a rich, glowing sunset. We enjoyed our crappy, overpriced dinner eaten in good company. We cheered (and booed) with thousands of other fans. We’ll happily do it again.

The season is long, and there are many more night games. Maybe at one of those we’ll see nighthawks in the lights above while down below, the Phillies walk off the field as winners.

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 1 1

water

Leo Sheng, of the popular YouTube channel “Extreme Philly Fishing,” kills the northern snakeheads he catches at John Heinz Refuge.

It’s Alive!

Pennsylvania and New Jersey have kill mandates on the invasive “Frankenfish” by bernard brown

I

stood on the bank at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum in June and cast my green frog top lure out into an open patch of water amid the weeds knowing somewhere in there swam northern snakeheads.

Twenty years ago, they probably didn’t.

The northern snakehead, or Channa argus, hails from East Asia and is relatively new to Mid-Atlantic waters. They are long-bodied fish with a brown reticulated pattern reminiscent of a python. In the right light and from the right angle, they look quite handsome. Zoom in on the wide, toothy mouth with its thuggish underbite, and they look like a fish you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

12 GR ID P H IL LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

Hence the moniker “Frankenfish.” In 2002 the northern snakehead burst onto newspapers across the country with its discovery in a pond in Crofton, Maryland.

Snakeheads can breathe air when there isn’t enough oxygen in the shallow, still water they prefer, and they can wriggle over land for short distances, helping them spread to new waters. These are big fish, getting to about three feet long, and as exotic predators they spurred fears that they could negatively impact aquatic ecosystems.

The result was not just a blizzard of news coverage, but at least three B movies: “Swarm of the Snakehead,” “Snakehead Terror,” and, most famous, “Frankenfish.”

Eventually the media storm died down,

but the fish kept spreading. They were found in the Potomac River in 2004, and around the same time in the Philly area, including at FDR Park. They make good eating, and they were possibly introduced by anglers hoping to establish neighborhood populations.

“It’s a really tough critter to manage, unfortunately,” says Sean Hartzell, aquatic invasive species coordinator with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. “They get established quickly. They travel.”

P HOTO G RAP HY BY RACHAE L WARRI NER

Today they swim in at least 15 states and as far up the Delaware River as the Delaware Water Gap. Hartzell says that when they get reports of snakeheads in a new body of water, they try to remove them. That can work in smaller ponds, but in bigger bodies of water snakeheads are nearly impossible to get rid of once they get established. It is hard to kill all of them without killing every other fish. Even if it was possible, most of our waterways are interconnected, meaning new snakeheads will move right in.

PA Fish and Boat relies on anglers to do much of the snakehead control. It is illegal to introduce a snakehead into Pennsylvania waters or possess one alive. Anyone who catches a snakehead is thus required to kill it. (Hartzell was careful to point out that two native fish, burbots and bowfins, resemble snakeheads and that anglers should learn the differences before killing anything).

New Jersey also requires anglers to kill any snakeheads they catch.

These rules run headlong into the deeply ingrained catch-and-release tradition.

“I’m an angler myself,” Hartzell says. “I release the fish that I catch. But if I catch a snakehead, I know I’m helping the ecosystem by taking that animal even though I certainly don’t enjoy killing anything.”

Not all anglers agree.

“When it comes to the snakehead community, there are definitely two sides to it,” says Leo Sheng, of the popular YouTube channel “Extreme Philly Fishing.”

“There are the people who want it to be the next sport fish,” he explains, and there are those, more-focused on conservation, who are deeply committed to killing every snakehead they catch.

Sheng says he always kills invasive fish species when he catches them in an isolated body of water or when the local land managers require it, for example at the John Heinz Refuge. But he isn’t so consistent when he fishes other open bodies of water, where, as he sees it, any fish he kills will be replaced by another moving in.

Meanwhile, Neaven Reevey (@boomerang_fisher on Instagram) says he releases the snakeheads he catches.

“I wasn’t raised to kill something I’m not going to eat,” he says. “I know they’re not

... I know I’m helping the ecosystem by taking that animal even though I certainly don’t enjoy killing anything.”

— s ean hartzell , aquatic invasive species coordinator

at Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

native, but to me it’s still a living thing. It deserves a chance.”

Both Reevey and Sheng pointed out that plenty of other exotic fish like smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and channel catfish, are embraced by authorities. Rainbow trout, native to rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean, and the European brown trout are raised in hatcheries and stocked for fishers to catch.

Several of these widely accepted exotic fish have caused ecological problems of their own. For example largemouth bass have been implicated in declines of bridle shiners, a kind of minnow, in New England.

Trout introduced to lakes in California’s Sierra Nevadas have caused declines in native frogs and other wildlife.

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where snakeheads have been established the

longest, it seems that their impact has varied. In the Potomac River they may be coexisting with the other fish without a negative impact, according to a researcher there.

However, a study in the Blackwater River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore looked at the fish community before and after snakeheads moved in. Researchers were unable to find two species of killifish, small fish that snakeheads often eat, and a third also declined.

It remains unclear what kind of impact snakeheads will have in our region, leaving a fishing community mixed on what to do with them.

I, for one, prepared myself to kill any that took my frog lure as I cast it into the weedy shallows, an act that wouldn’t come easy to this longtime vegetarian. Lucky for the fish, and perhaps lucky for me, nothing bit.

A northern snakehead, aka “Frankenfish,” swims at John Heinz Refuge.

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 13

healers in the city

Para La Gente Hispanic organization marks 35 years investing in North Philly community by

constance garcia-barrio

T

he reverend luis cortés jr., 62, gave the invocation prayer at Barack Obama’s 2013 Presidential Inauguration Luncheon, conferred with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about not separating migrant families at the border and sipped tea with Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Yet wherever Cortés goes, his heart stays in El Barrio: the streets of North Philly’s Hispanic community.

Thirty-five years ago Cortés founded Esperanza, a nonprofit that has since grown into a family of culturally relevant institutions that deliver what the organization’s name promises: hope for Philadelphia’s Hispanic community.

“We serve about 25,000 families a year,” says Cortés, president and CEO of Esperanza, which has 500 employees and an annual budget of $50 million.

In 2020 Cortés became the first Hispanic person to receive The Philadelphia Award, given annually to a city resident who acts in the best interests of the community.

Esperanza’s roots stretch back to Cortés’ rearing in Spanish Harlem in a home with his parents and two brothers.

“I didn’t realize we were poor,” he says. As a teen Cortés received guidance from the congregation of Harlem’s Second Spanish Baptist Church. He also credits Hispanic evangelical theologian Orlando Costas (1942–1987) and local Black civil rights activist the Reverend Leon Sullivan (1922–2001) as mentors.

“Reverend Sullivan put me on the board of United Bank,” Cortés says.

The biblical mandate to serve and advocate for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40) led Cortés to establish Esperanza. “We have 14 GRID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 20 21

From top: Esperanza students perform; the Hispanic Clergy of Philadelphia protests for jobs outside City Hall; Reverend Luis Cortés Jr., founder of Esperanza, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

developed a faith-based, community-based response to the needs of Latinos in Philadelphia,” he says.

Esperanza’s focus on community development and education led to institutions that addressed specific challenges. Community development, for example, includes the construction of affordable housing, critical home repairs, block beautification, neighborhood greening and community organizing. Cortés has also written five books, including “How to Buy A Home” and “How to Fix Your Credit” (both 2006, Simon & Schuster) that offer practical advice.

Other initiatives address employment.

“Our Workforce Development assists over 5,000 families a year, most of them headed by single women, in getting job training and placement,” says Cortés. “We aim to move more of the population off of public assistance and into the private sector.”

Esperanza considers employment

crucial, but the organization also seems to subscribe to the adage that all work and no play makes for tedium. Artístas y Músicos Latinoamericanos (AMLA) offers music lessons and workshops for children, teens

P H OTO G R A P H Y C O U R T E S Y O F E S P E R A N Z A

and adults. The new Esperanza Arts Center brings the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra to North Philadelphia. Since the pandemic, the center has produced a livestream series and the Virtual Latino Arts Festival.

Education constitutes Esperanza’s largest division, with more than 2,000 students. Eight-five percent of the students are economically disadvantaged and 84% qualify for the free school lunch program, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Ninety-six percent of the students are Hispanic while 4% are Black, according to that source. Most of the staff is Spanish-English bilingual so that parents find the atmosphere welcoming.

“I’ve been here for 17 years,” says David Rossi, 53, senior vice president and CEO of Esperanza Academy Charter Schools.

“I was intrigued by a faith-based community starting a non-sectarian school. I also believe that every child deserves a solid education regardless of their zip code, race or ethnic heritage. Our drop-out rate is less than 1%, and our high school has a graduation rate of 92 to 94%.”

Those numbers reflect innovations that make high school more attractive, according to Rossi. “Our high school looks more like a college,” he says. “Students choose from one of 13 majors such as engineering, health sciences and the arts.”

Students sometimes take the initiative in suggesting extra-curricular activities.

“When I asked about starting a chess team, the administration was responsive,” says Mateo Ruiz-Leal, 18, a senior and an Esperanza student since sixth grade.

“A group of us wanted to do AP Calculus,” says Ruiz-Leal of the Advanced Placement class that allows students who pass an exam to receive college credit.

Ruiz-Leal, who’s majoring in engineering and has received a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, continues, “We went to the principal about it, and soon the class was provided. The same thing happened when we wanted soccer and a robotics team.”

“Teachers here are very supportive,” Ruiz-Leal adds. “I live near Tacony [Academy Charter] High School, but it’s different there. Pre-pandemic, I used to catch the bus at 6 a.m. so I could get here on time.”

Besides academic grounding, Esperanza schools consider the cultural identity of the

Esperanza volunteers talk with community members about COVID-19 vaccines and community greening projects.

I grew up in this community. Esperanza was always here for us. I’ve come full circle.”

— m elissa l ope z, teacher, and former student, at Esperanza community they serve.

“We do things with care, including choosing textbooks,” says Cortés. “Lots of history books devote a chapter to George Washington [1732–1799]. However, many [books] say little about Simón Bolívar [1783–1830], El Libertador [The Liberator], a Venezuelan military and political leader who freed vast stretches of South America from Spain’s rule in the early 1800s. Our children need to know about Bolívar. If our children become aware of our accomplishments early in their lives, they cannot be psychologically subjugated. Our institutions help our children survive a cultural onslaught.”

Esperanza’s 17-acre site in Hunting Park includes a branch campus of Eastern University, a private Christian school; Esperanza College is a federally recognized, Hispanic-serving institution. “We focus on two-year degrees,” says Cortés. “We have over 200 students. Six out of ten of our graduates finish their BA at Temple, La Salle or

Eastern’s main campus.”

Cortés’ own hope is that Esperanza graduates will return to El Barrio to live and start businesses and institutions that will anchor it. He has already seen some graduates return.

“I grew up in this community,” says Melissa Lopez, 44, a teacher here. “Esperanza was always that pillar for us,” she says, her voice tearful. “I’ve come full circle.”

Lopez grew up near North 3rd and North Cambria streets and now lives in Mayfair.

“In 2023 our elementary school will open.

I can’t wait. We’ll have the full range [from kindergarten to college] then. I have high expectations for my students.”

Looking to the future, Cortés says, “In the past 30 [years] we’ve laid the foundation for an ‘opportunity community’ where anyone can access services that improve the quality of life. We are working on many other plans to address gentrification, health challenges and ensure our community is empowered.”

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 5

THE DAY HAS COME Philly’s plastic bag ban took effect in July.

Here’s what it means for businesses and you

I

story by nic esposito

t’s finally here.

After a one-year delay, Philadelphia finally implemented the long awaited plastic bag ban on July 1. By July 31, all businesses were required to post signage informing their clients of the ban. This gave stores time to use up any remaining plastic bags left in stock. And by October 1, businesses will be expected to be in full compliance with the law.

Although plastic bag bans are rapidly spreading across the country, with states such as New Jersey and New York implementing state-wide bans, this is a major paradigm shift for merchants and consumers. With more than 10,000 businesses affected by this legislation, many of which are independently owned, the city is taking a proactive education approach rather than punitive, reactive enforcement to initially establish compliance.

Philadelphia officials have decided to only issue warnings to businesses that don’t comply between October 1, 2021 and April 1, 2022.

After that warning period, businesses will begin to receive fines for non-compliance.

But even with this grace period, there is still the complex task of educating the thousands of businesses affected by the ban. For instance, what types of bags are actually banned.

16 GRID P H IL LY.CO M AUGUST 20 21

According to the city, the ban includes: ➔ All single-use plastic bags. ➔ Bags made from PLA (polylactic acid) or

other bioplastics. ➔ Any paper bag that does not contain at

least 40% recycled content and does not meet the labeling criteria set in the legislation.

Bags exempted from this legislation include: ➔ Dry cleaner bags. ➔ Bags sold in packages containing multiple

bags intended for use as garbage bags or to contain pet waste or yard waste. ➔ Bags used inside a retail establishment

by a customer to deliver perishable items to the point of sale (including bags used to package bulk items, meats or fish, unwrapped prepared foods, bakery goods, flowers, potted plants or similar items).

To assist with education, the Philadelphia Department of Commerce took proactive measures as well by offering three virtual business information sessions over the months of April, May and June to provide guidance on how to comply.

However, not all stakeholders are fully happy with the city’s overall approach with this legislation. Although many of these groups were ultimately supportive of the passage of this bill, a coalition of environmental advocacy groups are lobbying

Councilmember Mark Squilla, the lead sponsor of the legislation, to add a mandated fee to other types of non-banned bags such as paper bags and other bags such as canvas or woven plastic given out at the point of sale.

As Logan Welde from the Clean Air Council, one of the organizations advocating the change, explained: “The city’s ban on single-use plastic bags is an excellent start, and some retailers are already implementing the new policy. But transitioning to single-use paper bags must not be the solution. The most effective way to reduce single-use bags is to add a small fee in addition to a ban for any single-use bag in order to disincentivize the use; a ban/fee hybrid helps to reinforce the fact that bringing your own reusable bag is the most effective way to reduce excessive trash and litter.”

Regardless of future legislative action, the plastic bag ban is already being felt in the Philadelphia area. On a recent trip to the Port Richmond Target, the oversize plastic bags were gone and in their place were equally large canvas bags.

As shoppers left the store, carts full of canvas bags replaced the carts full of plastic.

If these consumers remember to bring these bags back is a different story. Meanwhile, the Lowe’s just across the street still had a full stock of plastic bags.

At the Wawa on Aramingo Avenue, signs were posted well in advance of the mandated July date, somewhat incorrectly stating “PA Bag Ban, No Plastic Bags.”

Shoppers didn’t seem to question the need to either hold their goods as they walked out or purchase one of the Wawa tote bags from behind the counter. While in line, one woman sent her husband to grab a cloth bag from the car.

It’s common that corporations have an easier time adapting to plastic bag bans since they operate in areas where bans are already in effect and have compliance plans already in place.

For local, small businesses, a persistent concern has been their ability to adapt to the legislation.

Anhban Tran, of the Vietnamese restaurant Thang Long in Kensington, responded to this concern without worry, saying: “We’re looking into various styles of brown paper bags to replace the plastic ones. It should be an easy transition.”

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AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 17

PARENTING WHILE WHITE Experts give advice on teaching young children about racism and how they can combat it

story by constance garcia-barrio — photography by chris baker evens

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here’s not a moment to lose, according to Ben Sand, 40, author of the 2020 book “A Kids Book About White Privilege.”

“By 2045 the majority of children born in the United States will be children of color,” says Sand, of Portland, Oregon, who reports receiving death threats for writing the book. “Today’s young people will parent that generation, so we need to work on anti-racism now.”

In Philadelphia, Mike and Amanda Finnell, a white couple, 38 and 37, respectively, felt an urgency to introduce their 3-year-old son Wesley to anti-racism.

“I grew up in South Central Pennsylvania,” says Amanda, an executive with a Philly nonprofit. “Few Black people lived nearby, and my family didn’t discuss race, but I sensed the importance of anti-racism because of another situation. I had two moms, and kids assaulted me and put chewing gum in my hair because of it.”

She saw a parallel with racism.

“Mike and I choose to live in Mount Airy because it’s diverse,” Amanda explains.

“Wesley has playmates of different ethnicities. We also found a Black woman–owned daycare with a STEM program, which supports the owner and brings more Black and Brown kids into Wesley’s life.”

Mike, an IT director at a local university, grew up in the largely white town of 18 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

Croydon, Bucks County. He recalls few family conversations about race, however he makes it a point to discuss it with Wesley.

“We read Wesley books like ‘Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race,’ ” he says.

“When Wesley’s older, we’ll talk about why his Black friends are more likely to be stopped by the police than he is. It’s an ongoing process.” like the finnells, many parents favor an anti-racist education for their children, but they have no road map.

“For white people living in North America, learning to be anti-racist is a re-education process,” writes Jona Olsson, 74, founder of Cultural Bridges to Justice, a social justice organization, in her essay

“Detour-spotting for white anti-racists.”

“This journey sends us into unfamiliar territory … None of us has ever been taught the skills of anti-racist living.”

Jen Bradly, 52, co-founder of the interracial Philly Children’s Movement (PCM), a collective organization of families and educators “rising up for racial justice” agrees.

“Most white people weren’t taught to have these conversations,” says Bradley, a visiting assistant professor of education at Swarthmore College.

That said, Philadelphia parents can draw on resources here to bring anti-racism into their children’s lives, as the Finnells did.

And local and national experts and organizations can bolster their efforts.

“Start with ‘the ghosts on your shoulder,’”

LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE “Learning a second language can help make children more open to diversity,” says Debbie LeeKeenan. “They realize that table, mesa and zhuo zi all express the same idea.”

Language and culture are intertwined. A second language gives children a window to another culture from an early age. Schools like Alliance Francaise, 1420 Walnut Street, have language classes for children as young as 2 years old.

“We like to say that you can’t start too early,” one staffer said.

Museums and cultural arts organizations like Taller Puertorriqueño, at 2600 N. 5th Street, offer family-friendly cultural events.

No-cost options for language exposure could include taking out foreign-language books from the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s children’s department. And YouTube has familiar fairy tales in many languages. Kids can hear Cinderella in Hindi.

Mike Finnell teaches his son Wesley about anti-racism and white privilege.

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 1 9

says anti-bias lecturer, consultant and author Debbie LeeKeenan, of Seattle, former director at Tufts University’s childrens school in Medford, Massachusetts.

“We should be aware of our own history, heritage and biases,” says LeeKeenan, whose 50 years in early childhood education include a stint in Philadelphia. “We want to avoid letting our biases impact our interactions. Self-awareness is critical to be fully present and intentional with others.”

PCM’s Bradley recommends that parents curate the media they consume.

“Films, books and social media accounts

from BIPOC content creators can help families disrupt their bias and become more culturally fluent,” says Bradley, a mother of four who, years ago, sought a family-friendly way to protest racism. She and like-minded parents founded PCM as a result. parents may wonder when to start discussing race.

“We recognize that very young children are observing, experiencing and actively making sense of social identities and biases,” says LeeKeenan. Experts emphasize that if parents respond with embarrassment

CHOOSING BOOKS “Be intentional, even in the bedtime story you read to your child,” says Page Fahrig-Pendse of Germantown Friends School. “All the media you put in front of your child sends a message about your values.”

Choose books where BIPOC characters star in a rousing story, educators suggest. Also consider the author’s knowledge of the culture. Parents can also find discussion guides online for some books, like Joanna Ho’s “Eyes That Kiss in the Corners,” about a little girl of Asian heritage, that deepen one’s understanding of the story.

See embracerace.org/resources for tips on choosing diverse children’s books.

or silence or change the subject, it gives children the message that something’s wrong or that the topic is taboo.

Bradley advises parents to “… get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Some questions may be unsettling, she notes, but it’s important to explore the conversation.

“If you can’t answer a question, buy yourself time,” says LeeKeenan, the daughter of Chinese immigrants and married to an Irish-American man. “Say something like, ‘That’s a good question. I need to think more about how we can talk about it together.’ ” When children don’t bring up questions about race, parents can start the conversation, notes Randi Boyette, education director for the Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia.

“The tips and lesson plans are scaffolded according to the child’s age or grade,” Boyette says.

Sand stresses the importance of kids’ understanding of white privilege and proposes a

Mike reads the children’s book “Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race” to Wesley.

20 GRID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 20 21

four-step approach to addressing it. “I explain that it means unearned advantages,” he says.

“It means that you’re ahead of your [Black or Brown] friend just because you’re white.”

In step two, he encourages white kids to listen to kids of color in order to learn about their lives.

Sand then asks children to consider the possibility of giving up some of their white privilege. “For example, white children could learn about a leader of color and raise funds for that leader’s organization,” Sand says. “The money could be from their allowance or from a lemonade stand. Kids would learn about the issue the organization addresses and use networks to which people of color might not have access to support that group’s work.”

“This step is harder for parents than for kids,” he says. “Parents may face a loss of income or prestige. And kids are way more courageous than parents,” says Sand, who has two white daughters and a Mexican-Vietnamese son.

As a fourth step, Sand suggests encouraging kids to use their white privilege to advocate for changing the racist system.

Amanda Finnell hopes for that outcome for her son. “I’d like Wes to reach the point where he gives up white privilege or uses it to help dismantle racism,” she says. parents who begin discussing race at home may seek schools that further their child’s anti-racist education.

“We’ll look for a school with an anti-racist curriculum when the time comes,” says Finnell, “maybe one that incorporates The 1619 Project Curriculum,” a curriculum that reframes American history by placing slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the heart of the nation’s story.

Germantown Friends School (GFS) stands among the schools that prioritize anti-racism.

“We begin introducing children to anti-racism when they’re 3 years old,” says Page Fahrig-Pendse, 45, associate head of GFS. “At that age, they already notice differences in people.”

Diversity, equity and inclusion are folded into the GFS curriculum.

“For example, math may include looking at the distribution of wealth in different ethnic groups while our diversity curriculum considers systemic issues,” says Keino Terrell, 48, director of the middle school. He notes that virtually everyone in the GFS community “must engage in anti-racist education.”

GFS senior Martina Kiewek, 17, co-founded the Intersectional Equity Club (IEC) thanks to a class she took.

“In an English course we learned about intersectionality—how systems of inequity like racism, classism and other oppressions—interconnect,” she says. The club acknowledges that the privileged position of GFS students makes it easy for them to overlook injustices. Club members spotlight inequities through the IEC website and invite fellow students to read about issues, sign petitions and contact local and federal legislators about racist policies, voting rights and more.

The club also joined other students in asking that Black history become a required course.

“There’s a … level of growth that happens by being in a diverse community,” says Kiewek of GFS, which is about one-third Black and Brown students. “You … need to experience people who are diverse in all kinds of ways. You learn how to advocate for yourself and others.”

Children at other schools are also learning to stand up for themselves and for racial justice through PCM. PCM has “… organized with students, stretched educators and supported parents on their anti-racist journeys,” says Bradley.

Even kindergartners are up to the task, Bradley notes.

“We take poster-making materials to schools and discuss how to deliver the poster’s message through images, affect and lettering,” she explains.

“One year, a student at Independence Charter School wanted to do a march to honor Martin Luther King’s activist legacy,” she says, explaining that in PCM, adults provide support for children to lead. “We talked with the children about why they wanted to march. A 5-year-old girl gave a speech about what Black Lives Matter meant to her.”

Marches often take children around their school or around their neighborhood.

“In one case, a 4-year-old came up with a new way to protest,” Bradley recalls. “She wore the Black Lives Matter banner she’d made as a cape.”

PCM also presents workshops such as “Gearing Up: Preparing to March,” “Understanding the Black Lives Matter Movement” and “Using Children’s Media to Build Antiracist Communities.”

“We would like to do more, but we have only one part-time staff person. We rely heavily on grants and donations,” Bradley says.

Despite training and intention, anti-racism work may not come in a neat package.

“It can be messy,” LeeKeenan says, “mistakes will be made, but I am hopeful. Mistakes are part of the learning process.”

As one anti-racism educator put it, “the worst anti-racist conversation with your kid is the one you never have.”

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HILLY.COM 21

RUNNING ON FUMES More warehouses are moving into Philly. Clean air advocates want officials to monitor the pollution story by nichole currie

F

our new warehouses are setting up camp in Philadelphia, and clean air activists are concerned about the pollution of their vehicles.

The four new sites include an Amazon facility in Southwest, a redevelopment of the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philly, a UPS site in the Northeast and a redevelopment of the Philadelphia Coke Company plant in Bridesburg. (Coke as in the industrial coal product, not Coca-Cola.)

“Transportation is the dominant source of pollution in the city,” says Clean Air Council Advocate Russell Zerbo. “Now we’re going to have these four permitted warehouse transportation hubs. That’s not going to improve air [quality].”

Between 1990 to 2017, according to a New York Times analysis, greenhouse gas emissions in Philadelphia from cars and trucks 22 GRID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

—

photography by drew dennis

increased 22%. Today, motor vehicles produce 60% of Philadelphia’s total air pollution, while 21% of Philadelphians suffer from asthma.

Zerbo says the warehouses would worsen the city’s smog levels if not regulated. He and other advocates are requesting the city’s Air Management Services (AMS), an arm of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, utilize a complex air permit to help regulate the number of vehicles at warehouse sites.

AMS has a network of 10 air monitoring stations that measure ambient levels of air pollutants throughout Philadelphia. But it is collecting little data on transportation pollution from warehouses.

Zerbo says the permit is one way to help measure and regulate motor pollution at the proposed sites and would address the pollution problem already present in the city.

Adopted in the 1970s by the city’s Air Control Pollution Board to regulate pollution

from complex sources, the permit is known as Air Management Regulation 10, or AMR. The permit defines a complex source as a “facility, building, structure or installation, or combination thereof which emits, or in connection with which secondary or adjunctive activity is conducted which may emit, an air pollutant for which there is a National Ambient Air Quality Standard.”

The permit applies to a site that has a garage capacity of 250 cars or more within a metropolitan area, a garage capacity of 500 cars or more outside a metropolitan area, or a site that dispatches 100 motor vehicles per hour, 25 diesel buses per hour or 12 heavy-duty diesel vehicles per hour.

A city spokesperson says the permit isn’t underused, as Zerbo described it, but is only applied to facilities defined as a complex source.

Activists, however, want facilities like

Russell Zerbo, of the Clean Air Council, stands beside the lot in Southwest Philadelphia where Amazon is building yet another warehouse.

I fear that there is a potential that in the future [we] could be producing the same amount of air pollution as the old refinery.”

— r ussell zerb o,

warehouses to be classified as complex sources. The group says the permit should be applied to Amazon, which have more than 50 sites in the Philadelphia region already.

Historically, the complex source permits have been used for parking garages at Temple and Thomas Jefferson universities.

Once the permit is applied to warehouse facilities, Zerbo says it can reveal how much transportation pollution is happening right under our noses.

“I fear that there is a potential that in the future [we] could be producing the same amount of air pollution as the old refinery,” Zerbo says. “But it would be completely unregulated because it would be the infinite actions of an infinite amount of vehicles.”

The AMR permit can be one of several solutions to prevent public health ailments, but the city is very clear that only facilities classified as complex sources utilize the permit, and it’s unclear if that permit can be applied to warehouses in the future.

The city released the 2020 annual report

by AMS in July. It includes a summary of the 10 air monitoring sites in Philadelphia and air pollution findings. The report finds an improvement in air quality, but a city

spokesperson says the government is also exploring several other approaches for transportation pollution.

“While mobile sources are among the most difficult to regulate, AMS continues to identify novel ways of identifying problems and working to lessen mobile air pollution,” the spokesperson says.

Mobile sources of pollution, compared to stationary sources, are the dominant source of smog-causing nitrogen oxide in the city, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent National Emission Inventory.

Vehicles emit nitrogen oxide, which reacts with heat in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone. Director of Environmental Health for the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic Kevin Stewart says the combination is unhealthy.

“Those are both components of ozone, smog,” Stewart says. “And we know that according to the last ‘State of the Air’ report that we put out, the Philadelphia-ReadingCamden metro area ranks 21st worst in the country for ozone smog.”

Stewart says ozone smog contributes to short- and long-term effects for residents.

Clean Air Council advocate

As a result, groups with lung diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may see an increase in medication use and hospital admissions.

But Stewart says ozone smog can affect more than your lungs.

“There are some studies that show people can have problems with metabolic disorders,” he says. “So, your glucose intolerance, diabetes, it can affect the central nervous system, it can be linked with brain inflammation and exacerbate cognitive decline.”

According to the city, solutions to regulating mobile source pollution include seeking alternative funding sources for the transportation sector of the air program, planning and coordinating with other authorities to reduce the impact of air pollution from the transportation sector, proposing an update of regulation for onroad and non-road sources (diesel buses to construction equipment) by the end of the year and more.

In the meantime, the Clean Air Council submitted about 100 comments and concerns regarding AMS’s Air Monitoring Network Plan in May. Zerbo says after focusing on the policy aspect of the proposed sites, activists will shift their energy on the surrounding communities.

“I envision that, in the future, there will be kind of individually addressed actions in Southwest, South Philly and in the Northeast, to get specific about each proposal,” Zerbo says. “I think it’s the next step.”

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 23

A 2021 street art project

by People’s Paper Co-op helped raise funds to free incarcerated Black mothers

by Mother’s Day.

STREET TALK

Ten years into his photoblog, Conrad Benner reflects on its genesis, evolution and future story by magdalena becker

24 GRID P H IL LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

Can you tell us about how you started Streets Dept?

I was working at Cappuccino Gelato at the time and was going to community college as well. I was just interested in creating some sort of platform of my own.

Blogs were still relatively new back then.

Photoblogs were brand new, and I was really interested in photography. I had done a few years of freelance writing, working with Frequency and Philly Mag. I was interested in skipping over an editor and skipping over an approval process and just posting whatever I wanted.

I wanted to develop a very focused sort of blog. So I examined my own interests, I examined my photography and realized that so much of it was street art. I realized that there weren’t blogs back then—and there

really aren’t today—that focus on Philly street art. So it came out of that.

I got a $25 WordPress site, started putting photos up, and then very quickly after, started meeting with artists, interviewing them and learning more about the practice in different art forms.

Did it slowly become more collaborative as the years went on?

Yeah. The blog wouldn’t exist if I didn’t have the support of so many street artists around Philly who text me when new stuff is up or invite me to go out for shoots.

I have some artists who will, when they go out, send me Google pins to the 17 spots they put up art at—all of that’s so helpful.

Some of the earlier posts that did really well were photographing artists while they were

P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F P E O P L E ’ S PA P E R C O - O P

F

ishtown native Conrad Benner was in community college, working at a gelato shop in 2011 when he started capturing Philadelphia’s street art. Connecting his love of photography and writing, Benner began what is now Streets Dept, a full-grown photoblog and community news source that documents street art and artists.

From WordPress to TikTok, Benner has adapted the blog to various media, and is now starting a Patreon account, where subscribers can sign up to pay a certain amount per month in exchange for exclusive content.

In this Q&A with Grid, Benner looks back at his last decade running Street Dept.

This interview has been edited for length, clarity and style.

installing. This is before Instagram, before Instagram Stories, before all that stuff, so seeing an artist’s work was something maybe you saw in, like, a book, but you rarely saw it outside of that.

What would you say are some of the things that you’ve most learned the past decade with this project?

I think I made the right decision to hyperfocus on something. Even today, I have a couple of people who help me with the blog, but it’s still run, effectively, by me, having a singular focus and being able to devote myself and my interests and my passions to that.

I’ve just really learned how valuable this space is and how much people really value our super-diverse art scene here. A lot of cities don’t have public art and some cities that do might have super-curated public art pieces and super-curated murals or no street art.

Philly’s in this unique place where we have these historic, groundbreaking arts institutions—like Mural Arts, Percent for Art, Association for Public Art—and the culture here, based off just who Philly is.

Philly in the ’60s was arguably the first city, maybe the Bronx as well, that invented the modern-day graffiti movement. And of course, street art is an evolution of graffiti.

I think all that plays into the fact that we have so many art schools in this city, the fact that we’re a super walkable city, the fact that most artists go up on construction materials or abandoned spaces, which there’s a lot of in pretty much every neighborhood in Philly. There’s a lot of blank canvases and we just have this deep and beautiful culture here of street art, muralism, public art.

P H OTO G R A P H Y C O U R T E S Y C O N R A D B E N N E R .

I saw you’re on TikTok and various social media. I’m sure that the increase in social media was not something you could have foreseen 10 years ago.

Ten years ago I wasn’t “the face.”

I wrote the blog and wrote all the blog posts, but you rarely saw my face, you barely knew who I was. But social media has become so personal over the last number of years where now I’m doing TikTok videos and getting recognized at bars.

I’m having to be strategic but also real and organic about, like, ‘Okay, these are my passions, this is a story I’m ready to tell, this is a story I’ve been working on for a decade-plus now.’ If the storytelling tool now is face-tocamera video, then I have to adapt to that.

What would you say has been one of the biggest challenges for you?

The biggest challenge for me is figuring out how to make this sustainable, which leads us to the Patreon.

The blog will always remain a free news

From top: Artist Nilé Livingston with her 2020 Fishtown mural “Entanglement;” Conrad Benner of Streets Dept; a 2019 wheatpaste by street artist Blur in South Philly; abstract art by Le Josh created in October 2020 on Fairmount Avenue under I-95.

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 25

which will be like walks around the city with a handful of Patreon subscribers, and then there’s a year-end magazine that we’ll be developing.

What have been some of the most exciting parts of working on Streets Dept throughout the past decade?

Street art by its nature is political—you are creating stuff for the public space without permission, without commission.”

— c onrad benner source. We write about new things that are happening for the most part—new street art installations, new murals, new public art.

In the past, it’s been funded by advertising on the blog. The whole Streets Dept operation has also been supported by various campaigns we would do on Instagram or partnerships I do with advertisers where I would create content for them for their channels.

But 2020 really changed everything. So many of our sponsors just had to go on pause, our podcast sponsors, our Instagram sponsors, everything paused.

Strategizing, I’m thinking about, ‘How can we build a system that’s a little bit more sustainable, where I hope and suspect advertisers will come back?’

But I also want to have this other thing where, if you’ve been reading my blog for a number of years, or even if you’re new, and you want to get something extra, aside from that free news content, we’ll work our butts off to get you more content and do stuff for you, and you can show your support with a monthly financial donation of $5, $10 or $35.

26 GRID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 20 21

What are some of the things that come with those memberships?

We’re going to do a newsletter, and in that there’ll be various updates, including curated public art maps.

So every month, we’ll tell you a different spot in the city that you can walk around for about a half-hour and see five to six different installations, public art murals, or if it’s like a street art area, and we’ll give you a map, we’ll give you a Google link to the route itself and that’ll include information about all the places you’re stopping at.

We’re also going to include a longer form article called Local Tourist that’s written by my blog partner, Eric Dale, where he’ll deeply dive into various attractions in and around Philadelphia that we think are worthy of people’s time and energy.

We’re gonna play games, we’re gonna have drinks, we’re gonna have fun because I think that that’s what people want. This will just be a place for me and the artists and the Patreon subscribers to hang out. And then we’ll be doing street art excursions,

What do you hope the next decade will bring for Streets Dept?

I just want to keep growing this.

I think these are important conversations to have. I think our public space is so valuable—the art in our public space is so valuable. It deserves a constant critical eye and constant conversation.

P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F J O E B O R U C H O W

Joe Boruchow’s 2019 ad takeover at a Broad Street bus shelter critiques the Union League of Philadelphia.

When Instagram came out. All of a sudden street art could be even more ephemeral than it was before.

Street art by its nature is ephemeral, like stuff can get buffed the day you put it up, someone can rip it off, if it’s near a bus stand, people will pick at it. But with Instagram, artists could either invite me out or just photograph it themselves and put something out and it could be gone within minutes of them installing it but the photos would last forever.

Street art is always evolving. I think artists are always kind of trying to outdo each other and outdo themselves and innovate and be different and set themselves apart.

One other big trend I saw there, of course, was with the election of Donald Trump, there became so much political street art.

Street art by its nature is political—you are creating stuff for the public space without permission, without commission.

So in its nature, it’s political. Plenty of artists created political street art before Trump, but with Trump, it felt like everyone wanted to have their values and their opinions reflected in the public space. And I started to see really interesting, dramatic, poignant street art pieces that would stay up for a very long time, and wouldn’t get buffed, so it seemed like everyone was sort of approving of it.

So the entire Trump administration produced a lot of energy in this country, period.

The good side of that energy, I would say, activated a lot of street artists who saw the public space as a tool to get their emotions out and to reflect their values and hopes and dreams.

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THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Bakari Clark (left) and Jasmine Thompson of Philly Forests work on their East Germantown food forest.

story by

nichole currie photography by

rachael warriner

“Food forests” help Black and Brown communities gain access to fresh produce and cooling shade

O

n a quiet street in East Germantown is a small farm blooming with red bok choy, turnips, Brussel sprouts and nasturtium, all grown organically. Located within the confines of Awbury Arboretum, this is one of Philly’s “food forests,” also known as forest gardens. Food forests are a modern name for an ancient practice—historically found 28 GRID P H IL LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

in Asia, Africa and the Americas—that involves cultivating a variety of edible plants to mimic patterns found in nature.

This forest was started by Jasmine Thompson and her social enterprise, Philly Forests.

Her goal with the organization is to help influence food choices in the city’s Black and Brown communities and encourage more people of color to become stakeholders in the

food system. She wants to grow food that not only nourishes consumers but also rebuilds and sustains the environment.

“There are so many people who care about food and its source,” Thompson says.

She sees the value of “facilitating the opportunity to have very meaningful and visceral relationships with the land.”

The farm works as a three-pronged program that pushes sustainable farming, urban forestry and equitable food system initiatives.

“In addition to farming sustainably, we also have an urban forestry edge to

A Seed Planted

our mission, by using trees to combat environmental racism, [to] remedy the effects of environmental racism,” Thompson says. They supply free trees to select zip codes throughout the city.

Bakari Clark joined Philly Forests with a strong interest in the reforestation effort.

“We’re trying to create a more equitable distribution of trees within the city of Philadelphia,” Clark says.

The inspiration behind Philly Forests began five years ago in northern California. While working in Crescent City, near the border with Oregon, Thompson was exposed to agricultural justice, which according to the Agricultural Justice Project, “seek[s] empowerment, justice and fairness for all who labor from farm to retail.”

For two years the Philadelphia native worked for the Community Food Council of del Norte County and Adjacent Tribal Lands. The organization’s mission is to build food forests on two native lands for the Yurok Tribe and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation.

Throughout her experiences, she learned that societal barriers like food access can keep native groups away from sustainable food systems.

“I liked the food sovereignty facet of food system work,” Thompson says. “Bridging people to nature, whether it’s through food or through trees ... is major.”

Thompson moved back to Philly two years later, determined to bring the food forest movement back home. She says Black and Brown people suffer immensely from disconnection to healthy food systems.

“Historically, Black and Brown communities are not invested in. Therefore, the infrastructure for food systems was not invested in,” Thompson says. “So we have a lot of corner stores, with high fat, high salt, sugary options—and we have fast food heavily centered in those areas as well, which just further disconnects people from food.”

After volunteering at The Farm at Awbury Arboretum, Thompson decided it was the perfect place to have a food forest.

In 2019 she began farming and later transitioned the project into a no-cost CSA. Thompson says the program held a conversational education aspect at the time. She spoke with a dozen neighborhood families about healthy food options.

Time was spent “talking about where food is purchased and the importance of voting with your dollar,” Thompson says.

“If you care about your food, you care about what goes into your body. You care about local food producers. You can vote for them by where you purchase that food.”

One year later, the farm has converted to a traditional CSA, and adopted the reforestation program.

AUGUST 20 21 G R I DP HI LLY.COM 29

Right: Thompson adjusts a stake. In her food forest, all produce is grown organically.

Trees for the Forest Philly Forests has a mission to plant 500 trees by 2026. Philadelphia’s tree canopy covers approximately 20% of the city’s land. However, most trees are clustered in wealthy neighborhoods, while low-income areas without trees experience poor air quality and scorching summer sun.

Clark is leading the reforestation at Philly Forests. She says the lack of tree canopy is troubling for several public health factors: rising temperatures, air quality and even crime. In addition, she says the lack of green space distribution is a contributing factor to environmental racism.

“That’s just really what we’re trying to tackle, environmental racism,” Clark says, “through ... creating more green spaces and activating green spaces.”

Philly Forests aims to plant more than 30 trees in seven high-priority zip codes this summer. Pentecostal Bridegroom Temple 30 GR ID P H I L LY.CO M AUGUST 2021

in East Germantown applied for the tree program and received a willow last month.

Pastor Kevin M. Young of the church says he signed up for the program when he learned Thompson was a neighbor.

“I love trees,” Young says. “Just a symbol of life. I love watching trees grow.”

The church, like many, has been closed for more than a year due to the pandemic.

Young says the church usually has plants surrounding the building, but since the pandemic, the number of plants has dwindled. He looks forward to being part of Thompson’s program.

Additionally, Thompson says green space and tree canopy influenced her emotional well-being as a young adult.

“It has so many benefits on air quality,” she says. “It affects the physiology of your body, which affects the cognition of your mind, which affects how you handle stress, which makes you ... less impulsive and contributes to crime in that way.”

Looking Ahead After Thompson and Clark wrap up the 2021 summer season, the two have longterm plans for Philly Forests. They hope their program inspires other farmers in the city to launch similar programs and pledge reforestation goals.

“We have to be the change that we want to see,” Clark says. “As long as we take action, I have faith in our future.”

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