Five pieces on a Philadelphia neighborhood — its runners, its art, its pools, its trails — and the institutions that get built by people who just keep showing up.
Five pieces on a Philadelphia neighborhood — runners, art, pools, trails. Read in any order.
114 articles
68,553 Philadelphia block party permits from 2006-2016, mapped block by block. Find yours on the interactive map.
A Love Letter to Fairmount · Part 1 of 5
Bennett is the guy everyone in Fairmount knows — from college students to 80-year-olds walking their dogs. He has been running around the neighborhood for twenty years.
Philadelphia Code § 10-810(b) bans bow-and-arrow sales to anyone under 21. A 2025 bill extends the rule to crossbows, slingshots, and peashooters.
I expected the library to be a library (a place full of books, y'know). Instead it's basically a giant rec center with resources I hadn't envisioned as part of a library. Thank you to the city for this awesome resource
The Office That Tripled · Part 8 of 8
SDP's roster grew 40% while enrollment fell 13%. The District now has 1 employee for every 9 students, up from 1 in 14.
The Office That Tripled · Part 6 of 8
SDP payroll grew 27% over eleven years — under inflation. School-based, central admin, and central operations each tell a different story.
The Office That Tripled · Part 7 of 8
In SDP's central office women earn 21% more than men at the median; in schools they earn 10% less. The 99-cent overall ratio hides both.
The Office That Tripled · Part 5 of 8
SDP's 26,433 positions split into ten role families. School support, per-diem, and central office drove 98.8% of growth.
The Office That Tripled · Part 4 of 8
21,543 people work for Philly schools in three pay bands: ~14,000 earn $40K-$120K, ~700 earn $120K-$200K, 23 earn more.
The Office That Tripled · Part 3 of 8
SDP's operations workforce fell from 1,589 to 572 in 11 years. 562 were genuinely cut; 425 moved to contractors.
A massive playground with potato sack slides, the art museum steps since before he could walk, and the Broad Street Line that refuses to let me on.
On a Sunday morning walk with my son I found two orange stick figures scratched into a dirt patch in Fairmount. I had no idea what they were. Reddit did: stikman, who has been putting them on the street since 1992.
The Office That Tripled · Part 2 of 8
SDP's $175K+ tier grew from 5 to 53 in eleven years. 19 of the 53 are Assistant Superintendents, one per Learning Network.
On the night the Eagles won the Super Bowl, my three-month-old wore an Eagles onesie to a neighbor's party. Half the block showed up. Most of them ended up holding him before the night was over.
The Office That Tripled · Part 1 of 8
The Philadelphia School District's central office has nearly tripled in eleven years. The 2026-27 cuts barely dent it.
Six months after Judge Patrick's order, Philly's sheriff office has filed no numbers, no master, no follow-up press.
Philadelphia Code § 9-813 makes rental price coordination a code violation. $2,000-per-violation penalties, private right of action. Passed in 2024.
After You Call: A Deep Dive on Philly 311 · Part 9
The eight articles above make the case. This one makes the ask — five policy moves, each anchored in a number the city itself generated.
My son builds towers and knocks them down, builds them and knocks them down. I've been thinking about what that means and why Kipling was right about triumph and disaster.
After You Call: A Deep Dive on Philly 311 · Part 8
In lower-income Philly zips, 28% of closed 311 tickets ended with real action; in higher-income zips, 50%. The 22-point gap is what 'closed' means.