News

Philadelphia to Actually Start Sweeping Its Streets Today

We swear: This isn’t an April Fools' joke. Plus, the world is descending on the city for WrestleMania.

By ·
One of the vehicles used for street sweeping in Philadelphia

One of the vehicles used for street sweeping in Philadelphia (photo via City of Philadelphia)

Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Thursday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!

Philadelphia to Actually Start Sweeping Its Streets Today

It’s April 1st, which means a few things. Today is, of course, April Fools’ Day. Then there’s National Sourdough Bread Day. It’s also National One-Cent Day, in which we celebrate the lowly penny. But here in Philadelphia, April 1st brings with it hopefully cleaner streets, because today is when the city starts its street-sweeping program for the year.

Street sweeping in Philadelphia has a long history of failure, incompetence and ineptitude, which you can read all about here. But I’m inclined to keep my cynics membership card in my back pocket (for now) and hope that the city finally has this street-sweeping thing figured out.

Not every neighborhood will benefit from street sweeping. In fact, my neighborhood in West Philadelphia won’t see a single street sweeper, even though I live on a busy residential corridor that’s home to two bus routes. The city bases its selection of streets primarily on a 2019 report on litter in Philadelphia. Fourteen neighborhoods will see street sweepers out and about. The full list is here.

Street sweeping runs Monday through Thursday from April 1st through November 1st. And though residents are, no doubt, happy with the idea of cleaner streets, some will, also no doubt, be irked with one annoying aspect of street sweeping: the no-parking signs.

In order for the mechanical brooms on the trucks to clean the streets from curb to curb, the streets must be devoid of cars. So the city has put up signs indicating when residents have to move said cars. The city is giving residents a grace period to get used to the idea of not leaving their car in the same place for weeks at a time. Officials say they won’t start enforcing the no-parking signs until April 29th. That means literally nobody will move their cars until April 29th.

If you live in a neighborhood on the street-sweeping list, I’d love to hear from you a few weeks from now to see how it’s going.

Vandal Targets Jewish Temple with Swastika Graffiti

On Sunday, a resident of Wynnewood made a disturbing discovery: Somebody spray-painted a swastika on a sign at Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El. The vandal painted the swastika over the words “Our Community Stands With Israel,” which appeared below the synagogue’s main entrance sign on Remington Road.

CNN’s Jake Tapper took notice of the incident:

As did Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who also attended Barrack:

Lower Merion police are investigating.

By the Numbers

60: Number of countries we’re expecting to have visitors from this weekend thanks to WrestleMania. Plus, visitors from all 50 states.

58: Protesters arrested by Pennsylvania state troopers over the weekend after members and allies of the Party of Socialism and Liberation moved their demonstration onto I-676. Police shut down portions of the roadway for about two hours.

$2.25 million: Amount this condo in Wildwood just sold for, making it the most expensive condo ever purchased in the town.

And From the Sweet-Redemption Sports Desk …

It all started out so well for the Phils last Thursday on Opening Day vs. the Braves. There was Bryce Harper’s jacket.

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1773740282493694156

There was Brandon Marsh’s fifth-inning two-run homer. There were starter Zack Wheeler’s six scoreless innings. And then there was a horrible eighth inning in which Jose Alvarado gave up five earned runs and Connor Brogdon let in two more in what turned a pleasant afternoon at CBP into a bloodletting. Final: 9-3 Atlanta.

It was another slugfest on Saturday, with the Braves up 6-3 in the third but Atlanta starter Max Fried already outta there. Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson had homers by then, too. J.T. Realmuto got his first hit and first homer of the season in the bottom half, to make it 7-4, and that’s where it stayed for a while as things calmed down and starter Aaron Nola was pulled for Luis Ortiz. Ortiz got some outs, then got hurt, which brought in Seranthony Dominguez. Oh, damn — Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer in the seventh, ruining Dominguez’s day. Enough pain; let’s skip to the final score: 12-4 Braves.

Sunday’s series closer was a humdinger. The Phils were down 2-1 after the first as starter Ranger Suárez got dinged early, including by an Albies two-run homer in the first (his second such in as many days). We were down 3-2 after the fifth, but put up three in the seventh to go up 5-3. Seranthony Dominguez gave up another in his inning of relief, but this time, the Phils hung on and got the 5-4 win. That’s more like it! They play the Reds at home this afternoon at 6:40.

Temple grad and Eagles sack master Haason Reddick finally got traded, to the Jets. We’ll miss him.

How’d the Sixers Do?

First of all, we should all chip in to help pay Kelly Oubre’s $50,000 fine for that magnificent hissy fit at the end of last week’s Clippers game. He was one of the starters Friday in Cleveland, along with Tobias Harris, Kyle Lowry, Mo Bamba and Tyrese Maxey.

The first quarter wasn’t pretty — there were plenty of turnovers — but with some concerted Kelly effort near the end, the Sixers finished only down 28-25. Was that Georges Niang hitting treys for the Cavs? But Tobias matched his three long ones. Good thing, because Tyrese was a little off; he only had five points in the half. But a three by Paul Reed gave the Sixers their first lead with two minutes to go — briefly. The Cavs led at the break, 57-55. The third was lots of back-and-forth before an 8-0 Cleveland run, but the Sixers recouped with a matching run and took the lead again with five minutes to go in the quarter; Lowry was cookin’, and Reed was finally getting rebounds.

https://twitter.com/sixers/status/1773883675106791724

We were finally back on top to start the fourth, 87-85. Niang, of all people, led the Cavs three minutes in with 23 points. We were up one thanks to a Tyrese layup with 30 seconds to go, but the Cavs pulled it out. Again. This team is killing me.

And then there was Sunday and a road game against the Raptors with Maxey out with hip tightness and an unspecified illness. Despite that, the Sixers jumped out to a good start behind Harris, Bamba, Lowry, Cam Payne and Oubre and were up 35-27 headed into the second quarter.

Oubre took a hard fall early on but shook it off, thank God. Then the Raptors went on a 10-0 run and closed it back up to a 10-point game as Gary Trent Jr. hit a streak. An Oubre trey at the buzzer made it 71-55 at the half. Toronto cut it to 12, but two more Oubre threes — his fifth and sixth of the night — helped. They kept it close and closer, though: 101-93 to end the third. The Sixers reestablished themselves in the final frame, with Payne coming through with six threes. In fact, the Sixers set a franchise record for threes on the night, with 24. A big win!

Any Doop News?

They had a home game on Saturday vs. Minnesota, and it was a soggy mess, but the Union prevailed, 2-0, on an early goal by Daniel Gazdag and a late one by Julián Carranza.

That canceled home bout with the Seattle Sounders has finally been rescheduled by the way, to Tuesday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. Oh, and midfielder Quinn Sullivan’s baby brother Cavan — he’s all of 14 — nailed himself quite a deal.

The Flyers also played, and play again tonight.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.

Read More About:

Trending

  1. Joe Forkin’s Vision to Transform the Delaware River Waterfront

  2. Hall Against Oates

  3. The Unwritten Rules for Riding SEPTA

MEET TEAM TOYOTA

Tune-in to the 2024 Summer Olympic | Paralympic Games starting July 26!

Countdown to Opening Ceremonies
:
:
:
DAYS
HRS
MIN
SEC