🧹 How Philly’s alleys get clean | Morning Newsletter
And ball-field dreams at Northeast High.
The Morning Newsletter
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Welcome to partly sunny, but breezy and chilly Wednesday, Philly.
Thousands of the city’s narrow alleys are nearly impassable because of trash, tree roots, and illegal gates. Keeping them clean and clear is a big job. Our top story today digs into how it gets done.
And softball players at Northeast High School must cross Cottman Avenue to play home games at a rec center. Thanks to alumni, they could be getting a field of their own.
— Julie Zeglen ([email protected])
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Philadelphia has around 16,000 alleys. As rowhouse dwellers know well, many are dangerously cluttered with debris due to dumping and plant debris.
🧹 While it’s up to residents to keep these foot-wide passageways clean, they can also request that the city step in and help. Philly’s Future Track program, which hires and trains young adults for public service work, has already cleared 2,000 alleys this year.
🧹 They have their work cut out for them in the face of overgrown mulberry trees, downed electrical equipment, drug paraphernalia, and animals.
🧹 “These alleys have been sitting like this for decades,” Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, told The Inquirer. “This didn’t happen overnight.”
Northeast High’s softball team has never had a field to call its own.
That could change with support from the School District of Philadelphia as well as the Northeast Alumni Association, which has been fundraising to build a softball field and revitalize the baseball field. Together, they would be the first ball-field supersite — one other schools could use, too — in the city’s Public League.
But the construction process has been slow, the price tag keeps climbing, and concerns about gender equity linger.
Sports reporter Isabella DiAmore has the details.
In other sports news: The Eagles Autism Foundation set a fundraising record in 2024 with $8.1 million, and is already on pace to surpass it this year. Here’s where the money goes. Plus, meet the Philly-area finance CEO who played in the Masters.
What you should know today
A 69-year-old man has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while driving under the influence in the death last July of Barbara Friedes, a 30-year-old doctor who was riding a bicycle near Rittenhouse.
Two men have been found guilty in the murder of a sanitation worker who was shot to death while on the job in Mayfair in 2022.
Montgomery County’s district attorney cleared officers in a fatal March shooting. Now, the family of the man who died is demanding transparency.
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, a Camden Democrat, is being treated for a gallbladder infection that progressed to sepsis.
Several more students at Temple University have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration. The school has also received 14 stop-work orders or terminations of federal grants totaling $3 million.
Ahead of Tax Day, local IRS employees faced their own deadlines — to submit their resumes for review by agency leaders, or resign.
The Philly school district is changing the process for teachers assigned to “rubber rooms” after they are accused of wrongdoing.
Twenty city school buses will be equipped with artificial intelligence-backed cameras that aim to catch drivers illegally passing them. Plus: Some New Jersey schools are embracing AI to help students learn French, edit papers, and more.
🧠 Trivia time
A shocked Bethenny Frankel called Philly’s Four Seasons “the nicest hotel in the world” after a recent visit. Which Reading Terminal Market snack also got a positive review from the reality star?
A) Georgian cheeseboat
B) Beiler’s doughnuts
C) Shoo fly pie
D) Alligator sausage
Think you know? Check your answer.
What (and who) we’re...
✈️ Absolutely trying: The viral Tokyo cheesesteak at Nihonbashi Philly’s local pop-ups.
📸 Jealous of: This Philly photographer who tours with Lucy Dacus, Jonas Brothers, and Death Cab for Cutie.
🎸 Noting: Who’s playing XPoNential Music Festival this fall.
🎨 Visiting: The Museum of Modern Art to see Philadelphia artist Odili Odita’s latest large-scale work.
🎒 Considering: The “quietly brewing crisis” of disconnected young Americans.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: South Philly bar devoted to all things Phillies
TRUCKMEN SCARVES
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Annellyse Chan, who solved Tuesday’s anagram: Càphê Roasters. The Vietnamese cafe — a 2025 James Beard semifinalist — is expanding to a former roller rink across the street from its current Kensington cafe.
Photo of the day
Wait ... can Gritty read? Ponder that as you go about your Wednesday. See you tomorrow.
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