The buyers: Eric Murchison, 35, vice president and commercial loan officer
The house: A 2,617-square-foot townhouse in East Falls with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths built in 2025.
The price: Listed for $525,000; purchased for $490,000.
The agent: Marvin Capps, Marvin Capps Realty, Inc.
The kitchen of Murchison’s new East Falls townhouse.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
The ask: The idea of buying in Philly had begun to feel impossible to Eric Murchison.
Born and raised in North Philly, he’d watched prices in the city skyrocket for years, convincing him that in order to own a nice home, he’d need to move somewhere like Texas. He’d already begun telling friends that he’d be gone within two or three years.
But when a work client urged him to think about buying in his home city — Why would you leave your hometown? Why not own a piece of it? — he began to think seriously about the possibility.
“I kind of couldn’t sleep at night after he said that to me,” Murchison said.
What he was looking for wasn’t extravagant. He wanted a garage and a rooftop space, along with a separate bathroom for his 16-year-old daughter — which he didn’t have in his rental in Bala Cynwyd. And to be “in an area where you could visually see that developers are in this space.”
He hoped to find all that under $500,000, even as his real estate agent tried to temper expectations.
“When I said ‘under a half-million,’” Murchison recalled, “he said, ‘Eric, are you kidding me? That’s [probably] not going to happen.’”
Eric Murchison, 35, on the front steps of his new East Falls townhouse.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
The search: By his own admission, Murchison’s search was “very spontaneous and random.” He’d see a potential home while searching online during his lunch break and decide to go check it out.
One — a duplex near Temple University — was well over his budget, at $750,000. (He’d liked the idea of buying a duplex and renting out one of the units while living in the other.)
Another home he liked in South Philly was priced around $550,000, with no wiggle room. “The guy just was not budging on the price,” Murchison said.
Discouraged, he let his property manager know that he was renewing his lease for the following year.
The primary suite includes a walk-in closet.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
The appeal: The first time he came across his future home was on Zillow. It was also on his drive to work, so he’d passed it on his commute, admiring the newly constructed townhouses.
But when he randomly met the developers through work, he said, it felt like kismet.
The development was across from a cemetery and a bit over budget at $525,000. But it was just a 10-minute drive to Center City and a half-mile walk to Kelly Drive, where Murchison liked to go running. He liked the neighborhood, too, which he felt was poised for a boom.
Murchison turned one of the home’s four bedrooms into an office and meditation space.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
Because it was a newly constructed home, it was part of a city program that provides a 10-year tax abatement to buyers who bought into certain new construction projects in the city.
“But what ultimately made me move on it was that feeling like, ‘This feels like it could be home,’” he said. “I remember having that feeling, and seeing my daughter, envisioning us like having popcorn and watching TV, and I kind of had in mind where I could put the furniture.”
By the time he toured a second time, he was sold.
The first floor of Murchison’s new townhouse. At 2,617 square feet, it’s more than twice the size of his previous rental. Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
The deal: Listed at $525,000, Murchison initially offered $480,000 before settling on $490,000, with a 6% seller’s assist.
Though it was a new home, an inspection turned up some minor issues — a loose faucet and a noisy kitchen range fan — that the developer agreed to fix.
The money: Murchisonwas prepared to put 3% down on the new home.But when he inquired with another lender, he said, he was able to get a more attractive deal, in which a down payment wasn’t required.
“I actually got a refund at settlement because I had the 6% seller’s assist,” he said. “So the only down payment was like transfer tax, closing cost, all those things.”
Today, his mortgage is $3,400 — $400 more than his previous rent — and because of the tax abatement, he pays just $68 a month in taxes, he said, instead of the roughly $500 he’d otherwise owe.
The primary bathroom in Murchison’s new townhouse.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
The move: With the money he was able to save by not putting down the 3% down payment, he was able to pay for movers, plus a nice dinner for his first night in his new home.
He moved in the same day he closed on the home. “Iclosed Feb. 6, I think at like 10 a.m., [and] the movers were done by 1 p.m.,” he said.
Life after close: At more than 2,500-square-feet, the new home dwarfs Murchison’s previous rental, which was about 1,000 square feet.
In addition to bedrooms for both him and his daughter, he also has a meditation/prayer room.
Eric Murchison’s daughter’s bedroom in his new East Falls townhouse.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
So far, he’s had one small renovation project done — removing some shelving in a hallway between his bedroom and bathroom — with plans to make two more improvements in the not-too-distant future: adding a sauna, as well as some shade to the rooftop.
He considers himself “very happy” with his new home, and hopes his story inspires other Philadelphians that homeownership in the city remains possible.
“People need to know — especially Philadelphia natives who think they have to leave — like, hey, if you have a good real estate agent and you have creative financing, you might as well buy.”
A rooftop deck is one of amenities Murchison was seeking in his new home. He got it.Jessica Kourkounis / For The Inquirer
Did you recently buy a home in the Philadelphia area or South Jersey? Share the story of how you did it. Email Inquirer real estate reporters at properties@inquirer.com.
All Jeremy Asch and Abby Armstrong wanted was a good breakfast sandwich close to their Point Breeze home.
“At some point, you say, ‘Screw it, I’ll do it myself,’” Asch said. “If we want it, I’m sure somebody else wants it, too.”
The result is Schmaltz, a new breakfast-and-lunch café at 18th and Wharton Streets serving a deliberately tight menu of latkes, blintzes, and egg sandwiches on house-baked English muffins. Since opening earlier this month, it has drawn lines during its Friday-through-Monday service.
Cheese blintzes, latkes, beet salad, and breakfast sandwich make up most of Schmaltz’s menu.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
The sandwich that Asch and chef Sam Chertock devised satisfies that craving with an oniony potato pancake perched atop a slow-baked egg, whose firm texture helps the sandwich hold together. Tallarico’s hoagie spread, blended with seasoned mayo, supplies a Philadelphia accent.
“Are we breaking culinary boundaries? No,” Asch said. “It’s a latke on an egg-and-cheese sandwich.” Customers can also add gribenes — chicken-skin cracklings — and have the English muffin slathered with schmaltz, or rendered chicken fat.
Chef Sam Chertock (left) and owners Jeremy Asch and Abby Armstrong at Schmaltz’s kitchen counter.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Schmaltz joins newer neighborhood arrivals including Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie and Hannah K Cafe. American Sardine Bar, which opened in 2011, is about two blocks north.
The couple bought the building at 1300 S. 18th St. in 2023, creating a wide-open room with an espresso station and order counter, six stools facing the kitchen, six more along the window, table seating, and a small merchandise counter. The couple built a ramp leading toward the rear of the dining room, which toddlers have happily treated as a runway while their parents wait for food.
The building previously housed the Pharmacy, a DIY music venue, art gallery, and coffee shop. Before that, it was the medical practice of Walter Lomax Jr., a pioneering Black physician.
Chef Sam Chertock works at Schmaltz. A pot of jam is on the stove as a side for the blintzes. Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
That neighborhood accessibility is central to Schmaltz’s approach.
It’s a casual counter, not a full-scale Jewish restaurant or deli, Asch said. The opening menu is deliberately small. Besides the signature sandwich, cheese blintzes, and latkes, there’s a roasted beet salad and a shawarma-spiced chicken salad sandwich on rye, plus coffee, cold brew, espresso drinks, teas, and soda.
But no bagels.
“I will die on this hill,” Asch said. “There’s a lot more to Jewish restaurants than the bagel.”
Selling bagels, he said, can quickly define a restaurant, requiring staff and equipment to produce large quantities while pushing the rest of the menu into supporting roles. Schmaltz may eventually serve a locally made bagel as part of a specific dish, but Asch does not want it to become a bagel shop.
Table seating at Schmaltz.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Instead, the cooking draws broadly from the Ashkenazi and Eastern European food Asch and Chertock grew up eating. The blintzes, made from Asch’s recipe, are filled with lightly sweetened farmer’s cheese and served with Chertock’s jam.
Asch, who grew up in Bryn Mawr and attended Episcopal Academy, did not initially plan a restaurant career. After graduating from Brandeis University, he returned to Philadelphia in 2015 and spent several years working in clinical research at Penn Medicine.
Around the start of the pandemic, he left research and began cooking professionally, first at Grace Tavern. He later worked at Baology with Judy Ni and Andy Tessier before joining a.kitchen.
The tip jar and business cards at Schmaltz.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Ni and Tessier became mentors as Asch and Armstrong navigated zoning, vendors, construction, and the operational details that cannot be learned on the line.
“They took a huge weight off my shoulders of that knowledge burden,” Asch said. “They’re the reason we were able to do this.”
Armstrong, who grew up in Portland, Maine, studied theater at Brandeis before moving into investment and wealth management. She later earned an MBA at the Wharton School. Her work included chief-of-staff and operations roles, experience she likens to staging a complicated production.
“How do we make this whole orchestra, this whole production, work?” she said.
Chertock brings the deepest restaurant résumé of the trio. Trained as an architect at Syracuse University, he worked at a Lambertville firm while cooking nights at Charcoal BYOB in Yardley, his home town. He later joined the opening team at K’Far Cafe, worked his way up to sous chef, and went on to Zahav and Vernick Food & Drink.
Schmaltz merchandise has its own counter.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
He found Schmaltz almost by accident. Chertock, who once lived nearby, was biking through South Philadelphia when he noticed the restaurant name on the freshly painted building.
“‘Schmaltz’ immediately caught my attention,” he said.
Despite the term’s cultural focus, Asch said Schmaltz is neither kosher nor intended as a political statement. Asch said his parents worried that openly identifying the restaurant as Jewish might invite problems, but he said the response has been overwhelmingly supportive.
Schmaltz at 18th and Wharton Streets.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
“We make food,” Asch said. “Maybe calling it Schmaltz is in itself a statement, but we can’t live in fear about what might happen.”
For now, the more immediate challenge is keeping up with the crowd outside. Asch expects most regulars to come from within a few blocks rather than from Center City.
That suits the couple, who bought the building with the idea of investing in the neighborhood where they live.
“We want to nourish it,” Armstrong said. “We want to be a part of it.”
Schmaltz, 1300 S. 18th St., schmaltzphilly.com. Opening hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday to Monday.
A previous version of this article incorrectly described the ramp in the restaurant. The owners added it to comply with ADA requirements.
The work has stopped on the 100 block of North Mole Street, where developers have been attempting to remake this redoubt of historically protected below-market-rate housing.
The developer Purity Homes Inc. and its architect Canno Design got permission from the city’s Historical Commission last year to redevelop a handful of these almost 200-year-old rowhouses.
They planned to build expansive additions on the rear of the houses to allow for more square footage and rentable space and to eventually transform the rest of the block.
However, following an Inquirer article about the project, the Department of Licenses and Inspections issued stop work orders in June for “work not according to approved plans.”
“The Historical Commission had approved modest alterations to the properties,” said city spokesperson Karen Guss.
“The PHC staff member who managed the process of reviewing the developer’s proposed alterations observed out the window that the work actually going on seemed way out of line,” Guss said, referring to the fact that the 100 block of North Mole Street is visible from the offices of the commission, a block to the site’s south.
Armando Ahmad, whose name and address in Arlington, Texas, is listed on several permits for the project, did not respond to requests for comment. Further attempts to reach Purity Homes were unsuccessful as well.
Last year, Purity Homes bought eight of the 30 North Mole Street homes for $3.1 million. More purchases are in the works, although the original architect has left the project.
“We have terminated our agreement with the client, no further comment at this point,” said Carey Jackson Yonce of Philadelphia-based Canno Design.
A Department of Licenses and Inspections spokesperson noted that work continued on the house at 127 N. Mole St., despite the city’s order.
Mole Street in Center City.John Duchneskie
“The police have been assisting with enforcement efforts,” L&I spokesperson Shemeka Moore wrote in a June 26 email.
She also noted that 108 N. Mole had been approved for only a small addition and that a new construction permit would be required for the company’s more expansive plans.
However, following the stop work orders, preservationists and the Historical Commission said Purity Homes was reacting to city regulators in good faith.
“The Historical Commission’s staff is engaged in ongoing, productive discussions with the development team for the 100 block of North Mole Street,” said Jon Farnham, executive director of the Historical Commission. “The developers have acknowledged their missteps and are working diligently to develop a plan to bring the block into compliance.”
For decades, this block of North Mole Street has been a holdout of inexpensive rental rowhouses in an area of Center City otherwise dominated by tall buildings and surface parking lots.
Just west of the Central Friends Meeting, the street has been owned by a family trust, which dates to the 1800s and belongs to descendants of founding father Robert Morris. In 1960, the 30 homes on the block were given historic preservation protections.
The buildings were largely carved into group houses, where airline workers, artists, students, and journalists (including Inquirer reporters) have made their homes.
The block had a reputation for a vigorous party scene, culminating in an annual bacchanalia at the Molestice Festival block party. The celebration began when Jimmy Carter was president and was ended by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Molestice 2019 takes over the 100 block of Mole Street, in what would prove to be the final iteration of the decades-long tradition. Philip Gabriel Photography
As Purity moved on to the block, the company wrote letters to tenants promising to “minimize disruption.” Leases have not been renewed for residents living in the houses controlled by the company.
Tenants who remain have complained about developers starting work extremely early in the morning, parking trucks on the sidewalk in front of their homes, and cutting down all the trees before a scorching summer.
“They definitely don’t mean what they said about minimizing disruption,” said Alex Numan, a resident whose home is not yet owned by Purity, although his lease has been switched to month-to-month in preparation for a sale.
A cartoon by The Inquirer and Daily News’ Signe Wilkinson, dating to the 1980s when many reporters lived on the block.Signe Wilkinson
Since the stop work orders, construction has paused, but many longtime tenants still anticipate being made to leave their homes.
“The planning is still underway, and nothing has been submitted to the Historical Commission yet, but we will ensure that the revised plans preserve the historic character of the designated buildings,” Farnham said.
The polluted campfire-like vaporfrom Canadian wildfires plummeted air quality Thursday, lowered visibility enough that flights were delayed at Philadelphia International Airport, and prompted cancellation of a concert at Cooper River Park in Camden County.The Phillies moved Thursday night’s game up one hour due to air quality concerns.
The smoke, which was expected to blanket the region at least through Friday, originated from fires burning in Western Ontario, said Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office.
It was swept in by winds that mixed to keep it closer to the ground.
“It’s just a factor of the winds at all levels kind of working together,” Johnson explained.
It is difficult to pinpoint when the air quality might return to normal, she said. Those forecasts come from state environmental protection departments and are usually no more than 48 hours out.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has declared a Code Purple Air Quality Alert for Friday. Code purple signifies very unhealthy air, meaning people should avoid long or intense outdoor activities, and sensitive groups should avoid all outdoor activities. The department suggested not using gas-powered lawn and garden equipment, and avoiding the burning of leaves or trash.
Rain forecast for Saturday could help suppress the smoke, Johnson said, but on Thursday afternoon it was too early to be sure.
Poor air quality caused by the fires remained the biggest issue as they burned through forests and buildings before their smoke swept south, collecting ambient pollution from Boston, New York, and other areas before reaching Philadelphia.
Philadelphia issued a Code Red Air Quality Caution Day on Thursday, meaning some people were at risk of experiencing health effects, including elevated risks forpeople with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults, children, pregnant people, immunocompromised people, people experiencing homelessness, people who use drugs, people without access to air filtration, and outdoor workers.
The city advised people to limit their time outdoors and consider rescheduling activities.
“Today is not the day to start your marathon training plan,” Palak Raval-Nelson, commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, said in a statement.
Penn State graduate student Ray Boone waits for the bus with a face mask on because of the air quality, on Thursday, July 16, 2026 at 17th Street and JFK Boulevard in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has declared a statewide Code Red air quality day due to Canadian wildfire smoke blowing into the Philadelphia region.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
High temps increase risks
The smoke affected thousands of square miles in the region, from the Poconos to the Shore through Delaware.
The Air Quality Index, or AQI, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was in the unhealthy range for all of the region as of 4 p.m. Thursday. The index ranges from 0 to 500. Unhealthy is from 151 to 200.
Censors in Centre County, Pa., recorded a hazardous AQI of 345 by Thursday afternoon, the highest and most dangerous level. Other sensors in Lycoming and Bradford Counties recorded AQIs above 200, or very unhealthy.
Not helping: Temperatures in the 90s with humidity so high that it made it feel in excess of 100 degrees.
Julie and Bill Guise, 66 and 72, respectively, basked in the somewhat cool breeze billowing from a giant fan inside the President’s House complex at Independence National Historical Park, hoping to get relief from the oppressive air. The Flagstaff, Ariz., residents, however, were unaware of what exactly was causing it.
“We couldn’t figure out what it was,” Bill Guise said of the haze in the atmosphere.
But it did not change their plans. The couple are used to wildfires.
“It’s much worse out West,” Julie Guise added, likening the western smoke, when it’s extra bad, to sitting next to a campfire.
Eric Balaban, a pulmonary and critical care fellow at Temple University, was hesitant but still went running Thursday morning.
“If I didn’t have an addiction to running, I would not have gone. And I would recommend other people not to run. Do as I say, not as I do,” he said with a laugh.
But exposure to the smoke is a serious matter, Balaban said. He noted that the smoke that travels “carries a uniquely toxic profile that poses severe health risks to both healthy individuals and vulnerable populations.”
Ruth McDermott-Levy, a professor at Villanova University’s school of nursing, said that air quality had become a risk not only for those already suffering from health issues, but for everyone.
“All of us are at risk,” McDermott-Levy said. “Certainly there are groups of people at greater risk, from pregnant women, children, older people, and those with cardiac and respiratory illnesses. But we’re at an unhealthy level for everyone.”
The Philadelphia Museum of Art behind a smokey haze on Thursday, July 16, 2026 in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has declared a statewide Code Red air quality day due to Canadian wildfire smoke blowing into the Philadelphia region.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
What’s in the air?
The two major pollutants of concern are ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter known as PM2.5.
Ground-level ozone is a pollutant that forms when nitrogen oxides and volatile organics emitted by vehicles, power plants, and industry react in sunlight, especially during hot days. It can cause airways to constrict, leading to shortness of breath. It can especially affect those with asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
Fine particulate matter is so small that it can cross from the lungs directly into the bloodstream, bringing a body-wide exposure that can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, in addition to causing acute chest tightness, shortness of breath, and dizziness in otherwise healthy people.
The sun sets in a hazy sky over the Pennsylvania Turnpike Wednesday, July 15, 2026 as the Canadian and Great Lakes wildfire smoke moves into the region’ This at the Highspire Service Plaza], eastbound near Middletown.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Staff writer Nate File contributed to this article.
The city government will assume control of the Philadelphia Sexual Assault Response Center, the only program in the city that offers free sexual assault exams, after years of uncertainty over how the center would be managed and financed.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration announced Wednesday that the Philadelphia Department of Public Health will take over PSARC, a nonprofit program that is currently operated by Drexel University and serves about 300 patients a year.
The center is staffed 24-7 by nurses trained to conduct sexual assault exams that are performed to collect DNA and other evidence, sometimes known as “rape kits.” The center is located at 300 E. Hunting Park Ave., in the same building as the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit; patients are not required to report sexual assault to police, however.
PSARC was founded in 2011 and contracts with hospitals that do not have staff specially trained in handling sexual assault response. It was previously managed by Hahnemann University Hospital, the historic Center City facility that shuttered in 2019 after filing for bankruptcy.
Since then, Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions has managed the center.
But PSARC has struggled to survive amid years of funding challenges. Prior to last year, it did not receive dedicated funding from the city — it was funded entirely by Drexel, and the state reimbursed the center $1,000 for each patient treated there.
Drexel officials told members of Parker’s administration last year that the university could not continue managing the program, according to two sources involved in the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Last fall, Drexel was in the midst of cutting staff and benefits university-wide amid a massive operating deficit and low enrollment.
The Parker administration explored transitioning the program to the control of another crisis center, the sources said.
But other nonprofits were facing their own funding-related disruptions last year. For example, in October, Philadelphia’s only rape crisis center, the Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence, paused some of its services and laid off staff amid the monthslong state budget impasse.
Ultimately, Drexel continued operating PSARC, with the city allocating $250,000 in emergency funding last year to support the program.
This year’s city budget, which took effect on July 1, includes $300,000 in funding for PSARC. That money was allocated to the health department.
In a statement, Crystal Yates-Gale, the city’s deputy managing director for health and human services, thanked Drexel “for supporting PSARC since its founding and for making this transition seamless so there is no pause in operations.”
Emily Roper, the dean of Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, said in a statement that the transition “has been thoughtfully planned in close collaboration with the City of Philadelphia to ensure continuity of services for survivors.”
“For more than a decade, PSARC has provided compassionate, expert care to survivors of sexual assault,” she said, “and we are deeply grateful to the dedicated clinicians and staff whose unwavering commitment has made that possible.”
Even as it grapples with having less money to award next year, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund on Wednesday announced this year’s grants to arts and culture groups across the city. The fund is dispersing $5.6 million to 322 organizations representing arts and culture of all types, said Cultural Fund executive director Gabriela Sanchez.
“We have theater, we have dance, we have visual arts, poetry open mics, historic sites, sculpture gardens — it truly ranges across all genres,” Sanchez said.
The 2026 grants also reach beyond Philadelphia’s downtown marquee groups into all sections of the city.
“We are funding Districts 1 through 10, and that is exciting,” she said, referring to the city council districts into which the city is divided.
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund is an important source of money for arts groups, but especially for smaller ones. It is drawing more attention this year after the city’s budget process for fiscal year 2027 left the agency with a cut in funding. Instead of the $5 million it received from the city in FY26, it will now see only $3.5 million.
As a result, it will have to cut the number of grants it gives out in 2027. Although there is currently no specific target for how large that reduction will be, it could mean grants going to 100 fewer groups.
“When you look at 100 organizations that could be funded, that’s terrible, a painful thing to navigate,” said Sanchez. “We have to get creative to find other pathways to meet the need.”
Shakespeare in Clark Park in 2023 performing “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in its rock musical adaptation by composer Galt MacDermot and lyricist John Guare.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
In the wider world of arts funding, the grant amounts are relatively modest — either $12,875 or $23,375 — but they are critical to many groups, and the funding can have a compound effect.
Artcinia, for instance, is a small nonprofit with a Center City business address, but the organization brings concerts into a wide swath of neighborhoods — 200 performances in a five-year period, reaching 9,000 audience members in Fox Chase, Nicetown, Hunting Park, Manayunk, and elsewhere, according to a recent summary prepared by the group.
Its largest chunk of revenue comes from foundations, of which the money from the Cultural Fund is a part.
That grant is “significant, about 12% to 15% of our operating budget this year,” said Jake Kelberman, Artcinia’s artistic co-director and director of operations. The group presents music in various genres and has engaged hundreds of professional musicians, and, if the funding disappears, “it’s sad that it’s going to affect the volume of programming we can do,” he said.
Colored Girls Museum founder and executive director Vashti DuBois at the museum in Germantown.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Two notable aspects of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund are the fact that it’s money that can be used for general operations (as opposed to being restricted to a specific project, which often requires raising additional money); and that there is no requirement that the money be matched with money from other sources.
These factors makes the kind of funding available from the fund increasingly rare, says Eric César Morales, development director of Movimiento Administradores de Arte en Pensilvania.
“This money from the Cultural Fund is what stabilizes the sector as a whole, because it allows grassroots organizations to become competitive and grow,” said Morales.
Movement of Arts Administrators in Pennsylvania, or MAAP, has often received money from the fund since its inception during the pandemic, Morales said, including $23,375 in this latest round. The money has a salutary effect on the local arts ecosystem; MAAP aims to increase arts access for BIPOC individuals and communities in Pennsylvania by giving Spanish-speaking artists training and resources in navigating the often tricky process of applying for funding.
Morales says that the $1.5 million reduction to the Cultural Fund may not sound like a lot, but with other sources of funding decreasing or threatened, “it’s evidence of a shrinking sector.”
Of the impending city cuts to the fund for FY27, Sanchez said:
“It’s obviously the worst-case scenario that we have to plan for, and I think that it’s also the reality. I hope that people take note of this change and become engaged in the way that they see fit — to talk to their council members around the importance of arts and culture in their neighborhood. That is a form of resilience and also action.”
Philadelphia City Council is already looking to 2027. And with all 17 seats on the ballot next spring, the elections are shaping up to be a pivotal test of whether the city’s established politicians can withstand a rising tide of frustration with the party among Democratic voters.
All of the incumbents have said they intend to run for reelection, and several are likely to face serious challenges from new candidates focused on grassroots organizing and progressive groups — hoping to seize the opportunity presented by a nationwide leftward shift amid President Donald Trump’s second term.
Three districts have emerged as key battlegrounds.
And the city’s progressive organizations, emboldened by a series of wins locally and nationally, are targeting two other districts: the 1st, which stretches from South Philadelphia to Fishtown and is represented by Councilmember Mark Squilla, and the 8th, which includes parts of North and Northwest Philadelphia and is represented by Councilmember Cindy Bass.
“We’re definitely feeling confident,” said Robert Saleem Holbrook, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Straight Ahead. “Anyone who is going to be running under a progressive banner or a progressive movement is going to have to be running against the establishment, not toward it.”
A competitive race also appears to be taking shape for the seven Council seats that represent the city at-large.
Five of those seats are all but certain to be won by Democrats, making the May 2027 primary the key election in deep-blue Philadelphia.
The other two at-large seats — set aside for Council members outside the majority party under the city’s Home Rule Charter — will be decided in the November 2027 general election. Currently, the two minority party seats are held by Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke of the left-leaning Working Families Party.
Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, takes the stage during the dedication of the Super Bowl LIX mural at Spike’s Trophies on June 17, 2025 in Philadelphia.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Golden, 73, said last week that she is not currently running for Council, but acknowledged she has thought about it for years.
“It’s always something that is tempting to me, because I just love the city so much,” she said. “I feel honored that people even think of me.”
Progressives eye Bass’ North Philly seat
Philadelphia’s progressive activists this year see two key opportunities to expand the loosely organized left-leaning bloc on Council, which currently consists of four members. Winning additional seats could also grow their influence by enticing more moderate members to vote alongside them if they believe primary voters are moving left.
Leftists have notched high-profile wins in Democratic primaries across the country this year, including in Philadelphia, where democratic socialist State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia) bested more moderate candidates for a seat in Congress representing about half of the city. The district is one of the most Democratic in the nation.
Anderson-Oberman, 55, the executive director of the progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia, said last week that he is “leaning” toward taking another swing.
“We’re in a moment in this country and this city where people have had enough,” he said. “People are looking for new answers. … Cindy represents the old way of doing things.”
Union organizer Seth Anderson-Oberman, running for 8th District City Council, joins in a small rally with community and Happy Hollow Advisory Board members along Wayne Avenue at Happy Hollow Playground in Philadelphia on April 2, 2023.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Another Council run by Anderson-Oberman may test how far progressive momentum can go in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Communist Party USA in his 20s, and has said he is proud of that experience.
Bass, 58, said she is ready for the race no matter who her opponent is.
In June, she survived a contentious fight for another four-year term as Democratic leader of Mount Airy’s 22nd Ward. She was criticized for her handling of the process, and the party ordered a redo of the election.
She and her progressive opponent, Octavius Price, tied, then struck a power-sharing agreement. Through it all, Bass said, longtime residents stuck by her — and she is confident voters will do the same next year.
“My voters are people who are based in this community, committed to this community, intend to stay in the communities that they are in,” she said.
City Councilmember Cindy Bass (center) attends the watch party for Democratic candidate for mayor Cherelle L. Parker at Laborers 332 in Philadelphia on May 16, 2023.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer
Jeff Jones, a community leader and social justice advocate from Germantown, has also said he intends to run in the 8th District.
“I want to bring that new vision and a new voice to the 8th District, where residents and children and families can know that their voice matters, their concerns will be heard, and their challenges will be met,” said Jones, 61, a first-time political candidate.
Squilla could see a lefty challenger
Leftists are also eying Squilla’s seat, which represents the area along the Delaware River from Pennsport to Kensington. Since Squilla took office in 2012, the district has transformed from a bastion of working-class white voters to one of the most progressive swaths of the city.
Squilla, 63, who has strong labor ties and is one of the most pro-development district Council members, said being a centrist has likely put a target on his back in the 2027 election.
Another contributing factor may be Squilla’s support for controversial legislation in 2024 to approve the 76ers’ since-abandoned plan to build a new arena in Center City. The project, which would have been in Squilla’s 1st District, was opposed by advocates for Chinatown, which the arena would havebordered.
Councilmember Mark Squilla arrives in Council chambers on Nov. 12, 2024, before the start of a public hearing on a proposed Sixers arena.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Despite the fierce objections, Council approved the project with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s support in December 2024. Weeks later, the basketball team announced it was abandoning its Center City plan and would instead build its next arena in South Philly.
Squilla said he is prepared to defend his actions, noting that he worked to ensure any arena deal would benefit his district and that many of those promises are moving forward despite the 76ers withdrawing their proposal.
“The goal as an elected official, and also as a leader, is not always to make the popular decision,” he said. “The goal is to have a process to make the decision that would be best for the people around it.”
One prominent opponent of the Center City arena plan was Will Gross, the owner of Ox Coffee in Queen Village and a progressive who is the Democratic leader of the 2nd Ward. He is seen by political insiders and progressive organizations as the most likely candidate to take on Squilla.
Gross declined to comment.
In this 2023 file photo, Will Gross and Kay Yoon, of the No Arena in Chinatown group, deliver petitions to Councilmember Mark Squilla. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
A progressive challenger may also emerge in the North Philly and Kensington-based 7th District, which is represented by Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Some insiders have speculated that Celin may run again. He declined to comment.
Lozada, 55, said she “can’t focus” on potential challengers.
“If I spend my time listening to the buzz about who is running,” she said, “we won’t get any work done.”
A battle takes shape in the 5th District
In the 5th District, a seat that represents parts of North Philadelphia and Center City, a handful of Democratic challengers are lining up to take on Young, 40, who is seen as one of Council’s most vulnerable members.
That is in part because of the unusual way in which he was elected in 2023. He ended up being the only Democrat on the ballot after several others, including party officials’ preferred candidates, were removed amid legal challenges.
Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. in chambers as City Council meets Dec. 11, 2025.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
One of those candidates was Curtis Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to former City Council President Darrell L. Clarke. Two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the campaign dynamics, said Wilkerson is considering running for the seat again next year.He did not respond to a request for comment.
Also likely to run is Jalon Alexander, an attorney who unsuccessfully ran for an at-large seat on Council in 2023. Alexander, 33, formed an exploratory committee last year and is expected to formally declare his candidacy later this summer.
Two others are also considering running.
Dustin Dove, a lawyer and the president of the Fairmount Civic Association, said neighbors and community leaders have encouraged him to get in the Council race, and he is “taking the possibility of running seriously.”
“I think our city government should work for everyone by keeping our neighborhoods safe and streets walkable, making housing affordable, and ensuring fairness and access in public services,” Dove, 38, said last week.
Jalon Alexander, an attorney and community advocate, speaks to attendees at a meeting about potential SEPTA budget cuts hosted at Garden of Prayer Church in Strawberry Mansion on June 9, 2025.Erin Blewett / For The Inquirer
And Max Tuttleman, 37, a philanthropist who unsuccessfully ran for an at-large seat in 2023, said he “cares deeply about the 5th District and would never close the door to serving Philadelphia.”
He added that “Center City and the neighborhoods around it should be growing faster than they are.”
Young said in an interview last weekthat he intends to run for reelection, but that challengers are not his focus.
“I‘m focused on serving my constituency, serving my community,” he said. “The work that we’ve been doing will hopefully earn the support of the residents of the 5th District.”
A smaller, but competitive, at-large field
Over the last several election cycles, dozens of candidates lined up to run for at-large seats during a time of immense turnover in Council.
But with seven incumbents all looking toward reelection in 2027, there may be fewer challengers who line up to take them on. So far, only Golden and a handful of others have emerged as possible contenders.
David Alexander Jenkins, a cultural strategist known for delivering impassioned speeches during Council’s public comment section, said he is considering a run, encouraged by fellow community members.
“When the community that is around you constantly pushes you to intercede on their behalf, then it’s because they have trusted you to do what it is that you do best,” Jenkins, 39, said. “I think it would be incredibly unwise to ignore that.”
And Jude Husein, 28, a Palestinian-born community activist who was raised in North Philly, has already launched her campaign. If her bid is successful, Husein, a former staffer for State Sen. Art Haywood, would be the first member of Gen Z on Council.
In this 2023 file photo, Jude Husein, of North Philadelphia, speaks at a rally for a Day of Solidarity event at the Art Museum steps.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Leaders of progressive organizations said they are closely watching her candidacy. However, Husein is not exactly running as a leftist. She said that her policy positions are varied and that she will seek endorsements from any institution that is “values-aligned.”
“I’m running because I think government should work for the people who pay for it, and should make neighborhoods affordable and safer,” she said.
Also in the running for Council at-large seats are Billy McCann, 46, a former teacher who lives in Port Richmond, and Isaiah T. Martin, 26, who lives in West Philly and leads a community development nonprofit. The pair, who both said they are progressive, have established something of a slate with Jones, who is challenging Bass in the 8th District.
They said they would prioritize public education, affordability, housing assistance, and government accountability, and they argued that establishment Democrats are failing to connect with voters.
“A new day is coming,” said Martin, another member of Gen Z who would make history on Council if elected. “It’s time we get people who are going to do the actual work and not just sit here and talk about it.”
Restaurant group CookNSolo will close three Center City Federal Donuts & Chicken locations and shrink its Goldie falafel chain from four shops to one as owners Steve Cook and Michael Solomonov retrench, citing weakened demand for fast-casual dining, particularly at weekday lunch.
Federal Donuts’ shop at 1909 Sansom St. — designated only months ago as the company’s flagship after the South Philadelphia location closed in February — shut down after business Sunday. Locations at 21 S. 12th St. and 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway are expected to close by July 31, although Cook said staff departures could accelerate the timetable.
Of Federal’s 45 employees, 27 will be laid off, Cook said. Eighteen employees will be retained to staff the two remaining Philadelphia stores, on Fairmount Avenue and on South Street. Federal launched in 2011 in South Philadelphia with a menu of fried chicken, coffee, and hot doughnuts from a robotic fryer.
Federal Donuts founders (from left) Tom Henneman, Michael Solomonov, and Steve Cook at the Federal Donuts & Chicken location at 1776 Ben Franklin Parkway in 2022.Michael Klein / Staff
Goldie, which debuted in 2017 with a menu of falafel, fries, and tehina shakes, will close its restaurants at 1218 Sansom St., Franklin’s Table food hall at 34th and Walnut Streets, and the Whole Foods Market at 2101 Pennsylvania Ave. in late July or early August. The lone remaining Goldie, at 1911 Sansom St., will absorb the chain’s delivery, takeout, and catering business.
Eighteen of Goldie’s 36 employees will lose their jobs. Cook said the company is working to help find former Federal Donuts and Goldie workers other roles. Hourly staffers will not be given severance, Cook said, as is standard industry practice.
Cook said the closures reflect a restaurant landscape that has changed dramatically since the pandemic.
Dozens of fast-casual and quick-service restaurants have opened in recent years. “We feel like we’re oversaturated in the city, given the economy right now and the demand for fast-casual restaurants,” he said. Federal Donuts has experienced “significant” year-over-year same-store sales declines, he said. He hopes the closures stem the losses.
“We have two great brands here that are worth saving, and we feel like economically this is the best way to preserve those brands.”
Falafel from Goldie.Craig LaBan / Staff
The company’s full-service restaurants — including Zahav, Dizengoff, K’Far Cafe, Jaffa Bar, and Laser Wolf — are unaffected by the shutdowns.
“Post-COVID, while we’ve seen really good rebounds in the dinner, more fine-dining side of our business, weekday lunch traffic has never really returned to full strength,” he said. “The $10-to-$15 lunch is an easy thing to kind of do without.”
Cook’s assessment reflects broader industry trends.
Tehina shakes are a signature product at Goldie.Tim Tai / Staff Photographer
While some national fast-casual brands such as Chipotle and Cava continue to post strong results, many regional chains are struggling as consumers increasingly choose prepared foods from grocery stores and convenience stores instead of restaurant meals, according to R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, a location analytics and foot-traffic company.
While fine-dining restaurants have generally continued to gain traffic through much of 2026, “fast-casual has been more of a mixed bag,” Hottovy said.
Placer.ai’s findings show visits to grocery stores, convenience stores, and wholesale clubs increasing from a year earlier while overall restaurant visits have declined. “Middle-income consumers are increasingly substituting restaurant visits with meals at home,” Hottovy said.
Restaurants also continue to battle rising labor costs while customer traffic softens as menu prices rise. “Price increases are increasingly showing up as lost visits,” he said.
Federal then operated 11 locations and arena concessions, and executives envisioned a franchise system that eventually could reach 150 stores.
The company’s largest franchisee later closed its restaurants in Radnor, Conshohocken, and Willow Grove and returned several Philadelphia stores to the company. In April, Cook and Solomonov announced plans to regain control of those city locations, simplify operations, and improve execution.
At the time, the Sansom Street restaurant was designated as the flagship to redevelop menu items. “I thought we would get a significant bounce in sales [there] and it just didn’t happen,” Cook said.
Cook said NewSpring remains the majority owner of Federal Donuts, while he and Solomonov retain a significant ownership stake and seats on its board. Representatives of NewSpring did not respond to requests for comment.
Under the restructuring, two Philadelphia stores will remain. CookNSolo will take over the location at Seventh Street and Fairmount Avenue, now owned by the company, as a franchisee around Aug. 1.
Federal cofounder Tom Henneman confirmed that he was in talks to operate the location at Sixth and South Streets as a franchisee.
Cook said those stores were chosen because of their historical performance and geographic separation. Consolidating delivery and takeout in two locations instead of five should improve profitability, he said.
Besides the two city stores, Federal will continue operating independently owned franchises in Marlton, Lancaster, and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, along with its licensed airport and stadium locations.
Goldie, unlike Federal Donuts, is owned entirely by CookNSolo.
CookNSolo has also been the focus of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and boycott campaigns since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. Activists have criticized the restaurant group for raising money for an Israeli emergency medical nonprofit as well as Cook’s and Solomonov’s outspoken support for Israel. The chefs have said their support for Israel was “not unqualified” and have criticized the Netanyahu government’s efforts to thwart a two-state solution.
A group with the Instagram handle @boycottcooknsolo on Monday reported word of the store closings, contending that the boycott had softened sales.
Cook disagreed. “Any time there’s been a protest, it’s always resulted in a short-term increase in business,” Cook said. “This is really an economic decision that goes back many years at this point.”
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Law enforcement officials seized nearly $6 million worth of crack-cocaine destined for Philadelphia as well as thousands of fentanyl pills in a monthslongdrug operation, authorities said Monday.
The seizure was the culmination of an 18-month joint investigation into several men who supplied or sold the potent synthetic opioid and other deadly drugs in the city’s Kensington neighborhood and elsewhere, according to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who said the cocaine seizure happened last week.
In all, Krasner said, law enforcement recovered 58 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $5.8 million and fentanyl pills worth around $200,000.
The bust is the latest eye-grabbing effort to stem the flow of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the city, and specifically to Kensington, considered one of the nation’s largest open-air drug markets.
The FBI targeted a sprawling criminal syndicate in the neighborhood last year when it arrested 33 members of the Weymouth Street gang, which was accused of running a 24/7 market for fentanyl and other drugs on the narrow block for nearly a decade.
In the latest raid, investigators were tipped off to the criminal activity in December 2025 when members of the Delaware River Port Authority Police pulled over 46-year-old Raabitah Reynolds as he drove back to Philadelphia from New York City.
After obtaining a search warrant for Reynolds’ vehicle, officers recovered a 9mm handgun and equipment for packaging drugs.
Later, when they searched a South Philadelphia stash house tied to Reynolds, they recovered 2 kilograms of fentanyl that was ready to be packaged, a gallon jar of PCP, various pills, and more firearms, according to Assistant District Attorney Stephen Girman.
Reynolds was charged with two counts of felony possession with the intent to deliver, two counts of criminal conspiracy, and related crimes. He is being held at the Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility with bail set at $500,000.
The haul was “a significant drug seizure in and of itself,” Girman said, but investigators did not stop there.
Reynolds’ arrest led them to one of his buyers, Khalil Dandy, a drug dealer who is accused of effectively controlling sales on a block at Kensington Avenue and E Street, according to Girman.
Dandy, 36, ran that operation from his home at a Center City condominium located near 12th and Chestnut Streets, Girman said.
Officers began visiting the Kensington block to conduct undercover buys, according to Girman, learning that Dandy was supplying fentanyl and crystal meth to street dealers in the neighborhood.
Dandy was arrested on March 18 and charged with possession with the intent to manufacture or deliver and related crimes. He was released from custody on bail as he awaits a preliminary hearing.
Meanwhile, investigators offered information about Reynolds to the DEA field office in New York, which led to the raid of a “pill mill” operating out of a Brooklyn apartment.
There agents recovered more than 20 kilograms of fentanyl that had been pressed into blue pills to pass off the deadly drug as oxycodone, Girman said.
These pills “are exceptionally dangerous, because people can take them thinking they are a regular prescription painkiller, and they can be filled with a fatal amount of fentanyl,” he said.
And as investigators traced Reynolds’ network, they learned he was also involved in bulk cocaine sales that came from a supplier on the West Coast.
Those shipments were shipped to Philadelphia in crates to be sold throughout the region, according to Girman.
In early July, investigators intercepted two of those containers, and with the assistance of a K9 unit, recovered a total of 58 kilograms of cocaine from within.
They arrested another Philadelphia man, 51-year-old Ephraim Ramsey, who had showed up to pick up the drugs.
Ramsey was charged with one count of felony possession with the intent to deliver and one count of criminal conspiracy.
And when Philadelphia police went to arrest Reynolds at an apartment in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood, he led them on a chase through a second-story window and into a back alley before being apprehended.
From a separateapartment on City Avenue, investigators recovered more than 2,000 of the blue fentanyl-laced pills as well as counterfeit Adderall, according to Girman.
In a third residencein Olney — a house being prepped to stash the cocaine shipments — officers recovered an AR-15 rifle with an obliterated serial number.
Krasner, touting the success of the operation, said he was pleased that law enforcement officers had targeted large shipments of contraband as opposed to targeting “young people with a small amount of drugs in their pocket.”
“This, in my opinion, is a much more important and much more effective approach,” he said.
A Philadelphia judge has blocked the city from resuming work to upgrade protections for the bike lanes along Pine and Spruce Streets in Center City, the latest turn in a high-profile legal battle.
In an order dated July 6, Common Pleas Judge Damaris L. Garcia denied the city’s motion to dissolve an August 2025 injunction that had stopped the Streets Department from making certain changes.
“This is a very significant ruling in this case,” said George Bochetto, the lawyer for FOP.
The Streets Department intended the zones to give residents, delivery trucks, and contractors places to stop without parking in the bike lanes.
A ban on stopping in bike lanes was enacted in 2024 after a physician, Barbara Friedes, was killed by a drunk driver while cycling on Spruce Street. The crash helped galvanize support for a a parking ban in the bike lanes, and a planned upgrade, including with curb-styleconcrete barriers between traffic and the bike lanes.
“It’s a disappointment,” Jessie Amadio, an organizer with Philly Bike Action, said of the latest ruling. “There has been a tremendous amount of grassroots support, keeping the civic pressure on for two years.”
City Council passed an ordinance last year empowering the Streets Department to make any parking changes it deemed necessary. That cleared up any ambiguity, city lawyers argued in a hearing last month.
The judge’s decision dealt a blow to the loading zones, but did not address the bigger question of whether the city has the right to improve bike-lane protections.
FOPS amended its lawsuit to include a new complaint that the ordinance violated Sunshine Law requirements that lawmakers conduct business in the open. In addition, it alleges that Council violated the separation of powers in the city charter by delegating lawmaking to the executive branch.
That challengeis pending and set for trial next year.
“I’ll also say this: There are a lot more dangerous things happening in those bike lanes, with e-bikes and e-scooters,” Bochetto said. He said a girl on an e-scooter crashed into a light pole near his house, captured by security cameras.
Garcia did not write an opinion explaining the order.
