Grid Magazine

Grid Magazine Grid: Toward a Sustainable Philadelphia

🌡️ A new climate resiliency plan is in development for Philadelphia, with a new focus: community vulnerability. The work...
06/30/2025

🌡️ A new climate resiliency plan is in development for Philadelphia, with a new focus: community vulnerability. The work is being funded by $600,000 the Office of Sustainability (OOS) received in March from the William Penn Foundation.

The City’s resiliency plan outlines climate change’s impacts on Philadelphia and how the City will meet the challenges they pose. The City aims to reevaluate regional climate projections every five to 10 years, identify vulnerabilities based on the data and, according Abby Sullivan, OOS’s chief resilience officer, devise solutions. A plan was last released in 2015.

The 2015 plan had a “public health” section that touched on heat-related health risks, but discussion of flooding focused on threats to City-owned property rather than to Philadelphians generally. And the plan was developed without community involvement.

That will be different this time around.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/27/city-gets-residents-input-about-how-to-weather-changing-climate/

✍️ Gabriel Donahue
📸 Jarosław Kwoczała

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!FRIDAY, 6.27Summer Fridays in the Field: Practice your scientif...
06/27/2025

Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

FRIDAY, 6.27
Summer Fridays in the Field: Practice your scientific skills of observation, identification, and questioning with local flora and fauna in the Wagner’s Teaching Garden! The Wagner’s Teaching Garden is our most valuable classroom. Not only is our green space full of pollinator gardens, but it is also a certified Wildlife Habitat, Bird Habitat, and Monarch Waystation—our milkweed plants provide valuable nutrients for Monarch butterflies during their cross continental migration.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/summer-fridays-in-the-field/

SATURDAY, 6.28
Tree Tending in Neshaminy State Park: Help reforest 2.5 acres in Neshaminy State Park, PA. This is a reforestation project remediating 2 acres covered by invasive plants back into native habitat.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/tree-tending-in-neshaminy-state-parkpa-river-trail-spring-fall-2025/

SATURDAY, 6.29
Birding with Pride with FOW and Philly Q***r Birders: Come celebrate Pride Month in the Wissahickon with a morning of birdwatching and community building! Join Friends of the Wissahickon and Philly Q***r Birders for a gentle hike along Forbidden Drive as we keep our eyes and ears out for birds spending the summer in the park.

➡️ Learn More: https://gridphilly.com/event/birding-with-pride-with-fow-and-philly-queer-birders/

🏠 Fairmount Park, often recognized as the largest landscaped urban park in the United States, features many of the ameni...
06/26/2025

🏠 Fairmount Park, often recognized as the largest landscaped urban park in the United States, features many of the amenities you’d expect in a major city park: forested trails, scenic ponds, expansive lawns, ball fields and numerous playgrounds. What sets Fairmount Park apart, however, is its collection of more than 20 historic houses — many of which existed long before the park itself. Eleven of these homes were built before the founding of the United States, with one dating back to the era of William Penn.

These historic estates offer a unique glimpse into what was once the rural outskirts of Philadelphia, where the city’s elite would retreat during the sweltering summer months to escape heat and epidemics such as yellow fever, smallpox and cholera.

Here are some of the notable historic houses located within the boundaries of Fairmount Park.

➡️ View the full infographic at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/infographic-green-houses/

✍️ + ✏️ Bryan Satalino

📝 Editor’s Notes: Holding Out for a Hero 📝Every year the Trust for Public Land releases its ParkScore ratings, and every...
06/24/2025

📝 Editor’s Notes: Holding Out for a Hero 📝

Every year the Trust for Public Land releases its ParkScore ratings, and every year Philadelphians have something to be disappointed about: how little the City spends on its parks.

ParkScore ranks the 100 most populous cities in the country using a list of measures gauging the size of the park system (acreage), what the parks have to offer (amenities), how easy it is for people to get to their parks (access), how equitably park resources are distributed (equity) and how much the City government and private entities spend on the park system (investment).

In many ways, Philadelphia has a park system to be proud of. The acreage is about average but highly accessible: Philadelphians generally have a short walk to the nearest park, playground or recreation center, though the larger parks (the Wissahickon, Pennypack, FDR Park, East and West Fairmount Park) can be out of reach for residents of lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color. The park system also offers a lot of amenities: pools, playing fields, basketball courts and playgrounds.

The disappointing part is investment.

➡️ Read the full note from our editor at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/editors-notes-parks-need-a-hero/

✍️ Bernard Brown

🌳 On April 16, halfway through the City of Philadelphia’s annual budget hearings, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation answer...
06/23/2025

🌳 On April 16, halfway through the City of Philadelphia’s annual budget hearings, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation answered City Councilmembers’ questions centering safety and the future of the department’s more than 500 facilities.

The department is requesting nearly $7.4 million less than last year largely because, as commissioner Susan Slawson testified, the FY2025 budget included one-time payments — for bonuses, new equipment and site maintenance.

While some questions remained unanswered — in large part because the two-and-a-half-hour allotment was shared by Parks & Rec and the Free Library of Philadelphia — the hearing highlighted issues top of mind for members of City government.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/heres-what-was-and-wasnt-mentioned-in-the-parks-recreation-budget-hearing/

✍️ Allison Beck
📸 Chris Baker Evens

Congratulations to Laurel Hill for being recognized as Green Business of the Year by the Main Line Chamber of Commerce a...
06/20/2025

Congratulations to Laurel Hill for being recognized as Green Business of the Year by the Main Line Chamber of Commerce at their Celebration of Business Leadership Awards ceremony! The organization’s dedication to sustainability is both commendable and inspiring and we are eternally grateful for the example its work has set within our community.

Way to go Laurel Hill 🌿

In the spring of 2024 the board of trustees of Parks & Rec Heroes, previously known as the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, ...
06/19/2025

In the spring of 2024 the board of trustees of Parks & Rec Heroes, previously known as the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, voted to wind down the organization’s operations.

Originally called Friends of Philadelphia Parks, the group was founded in 1983. It lobbied for increased funding as well as a more inclusive and transparent Fairmount Park Commission, which was then the park system’s governing body. The Alliance worked to preserve open space in the parks, and it was active in advocacy to shape Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, the department formed from the merger of the Fairmount Park System with the Recreation Department in 2010.

A decline in funding during and following the COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in the organization’s demise, according to board member and co-founder Robert Thomas. Grid talked with Thomas to learn about Parks & Rec Heroes’ 40-year history and the future of parks advocacy.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/parks-advocate-reflects-on-the-last-40-years/

✍️ Bernard Brown
📸 Mike Szilagyi

In honor of Juneteenth, here are a few events commemorating the day in and around Philadelphia this weekend!➡️ South Phi...
06/19/2025

In honor of Juneteenth, here are a few events commemorating the day in and around Philadelphia this weekend!

➡️ South Philly Food Co-op Juneteenth Fundraiser

When:
Thursday, June 19th (all day)

Where:
South Philly Food Co-op
2031 S. Juniper Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148

➡️ Juneteenth: A Day Of Jubilee

When:
Thursday, June 19th (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)

Where:
20*20 Gallery
20 Lansdowne Court
Lansdowne, PA 19050

➡️ Juneteenth Market & Block Party

When:
Saturday, June 21st (9:00 AM - 3:00 PM)

Where:
Veterans Landing
30 North Lansdowne Avenue
Lansdowne, PA 19050

➡️ Juneteenth Jubilee Fest

When:
Saturday, June 21st (11:00 AM - 3:00 PM)

Where:
Maplewood Mall
Greene Street and Armat Street
Philadelphia, PA 19144

➡️ Philadelphia Juneteenth Parade & FestivalJuneteenth Jubilee Fest

When:
Sunday, June 22nd (10:00 AM - 8:00 PM)

Where:
Malcolm X Park
5100 Pine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143

đź©ş Have you ever made an appointment with a physician, only to wait weeks or months to speak with your doctor for less th...
06/18/2025

đź©ş Have you ever made an appointment with a physician, only to wait weeks or months to speak with your doctor for less than ten minutes? Ashvin Vijayakumar, M.D., founder and physician at Fishtown Medicine, aims to eliminate obstacles to primary care visits by offering his patients unlimited access to his care.

“Whether it’s a text message, a quick chat, phone call, video, or me getting on my bike and going out to see patients at a home visit or a worksite visit, we meet people where they are,” says Dr. Ash.

Dr. Ash’s mission is to provide tailored, convenient care with an emphasis on preventive medicine. His approach incorporates tools from holistic health, stressing diet and fitness. He says that his model of care, and offering his patients so much access, gives him insights that he would not be able to get if he only saw patients in an office.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/fishtown-physician-offers-data-driven-care-informed-by-functional-integrative-and-holistic-medicine-with-unlimited-appointments/

✍️ + 📸 Julia Lowe

🍝 In 1965, Alphonse Pignataro, recently graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), boarded a ...
06/17/2025

🍝 In 1965, Alphonse Pignataro, recently graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), boarded a plane bound for Barbados. For the Elizabeth, New Jersey, native, this marked a moment of multiple firsts: his first jet flight, his first time leaving the United States and the first year of a two-year Peace Corps commitment. Just as he couldn’t know what he would find in Barbados, he couldn’t anticipate what he would miss from home, perhaps most notably his mother’s meatballs.

That initial year in Barbados introduced Pignataro to many new people, experiences and food, especially the deliciously fresh fish. Near the end of his first year, Pignataro’s mother, Rose, was diagnosed with cancer. The Peace Corps granted him compassionate leave to return home to spend time with her. He’d been feeling a bit homesick, so coming home gave him an opportunity to reconnect with family life.

Central to Pignataro’s family life were his mom’s homemade meals, based on traditional foods from Naples, Italy. He had grown up in a household “with little money,” and spaghetti and meatballs were in regular rotation as Wednesday night dinner and Sunday afternoon lunch. Although he had never cooked with his mother before, during his visit Pignataro asked her to share some of her recipes. Rose knew her recipes by heart and dictated them to her son. “I was her favorite child,” Pignataro says, “so she was glad to share them with me.”

➡️ Read the full story (Pignataro Family Meatballs recipe included!) at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/after-a-cancer-diagnosis-a-family-meatball-recipe-brings-mother-and-son-closer-together/

✍️ Marilyn Anthony
📸 Matthew Bender

First r***d at age 12 and then throughout her teens, Reverend Dr. Michelle Simmons began using drugs. In her early 20s, ...
06/16/2025

First r***d at age 12 and then throughout her teens, Reverend Dr. Michelle Simmons began using drugs. In her early 20s, thirsting for a new life, the Germantown native moved to Los Angeles.

“I took my old behaviors with me,” Rev. Simmons says. Convicted of prostitution and a felony, she spent six years incarcerated in Los Angeles County.

Released from prison in 1999 at age 27, she returned to her mother’s home near Philadelphia. That refuge gave her a solid start on the steep climb of reentry. “There was so much I didn’t know,” says Rev. Simmons, who has since earned a doctorate in ministry and a master’s degree in clinical psychology and counseling. In 2001 she founded Why Not Prosper, a Germantown nonprofit that provides women in reentry with the mentoring and resources Rev. Simmons wishes she’d had.

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/germantown-based-organization-gives-formerly-incarcerated-women-the-tools-they-need-to-survive-and-thrive/

✍️ Constance Garcia-Barrio
📸 Troy Bynum

My last three columns have focused on ways that Philadelphia could launch or expand food scrap drop-off programs. And dr...
06/12/2025

My last three columns have focused on ways that Philadelphia could launch or expand food scrap drop-off programs. And drop-off programs are the place to start. They build awareness, provide an option for motivated citizens who can’t afford private collection services, and they have relatively low operation costs.

But when I saw that Washington, D.C., solicited proposals earlier this spring to expand its curbside pilot program from 9,000 households to 60,000 households by 2030, I couldn’t help but wonder: What would it take for Philly to do curbside composting?

➡️ Read the full story at https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2025/06/01/washington-d-c-s-compost-pick-up-pilot-is-small-but-promising-philadelphia-should-do-something-similar/

✍️ Tim Bennett
📸 Albert Yee

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