Philadelphia’s Latest Crackdown: Tinted Car Windows

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, who just signed a tinted-windows bill into law (photo via City of Philadelphia)

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Philadelphia’s Latest Crackdown: Tinted Car Windows

Since the mid-1990s, Pennsylvania has had some pretty clear rules governing tinted windows on cars. Essentially, the law says that any tinting on car windows must allow 70 percent of light to get through. Windows need to be more transparent than not. But anybody paying attention in Philadelphia these days knows there are tons of cars on the street with very tinted windows.

There are all sorts of reasons that window-tinting enthusiasts could give you for why tinting is a good thing. Sunlight can damage your upholstery over time, especially leather upholstery. Tinting also blocks those harmful UV rays that you smear your skin with sunscreen to avoid in the summer. You can see better thanks to window tinting in certain situations, because the tinting blocks glare. And the film used to tint your windows can prevent your windows from shattering.

Of course, heavily tinted windows can also make it pretty impossible to see what’s happening inside a car or who’s behind the wheel.

Well, thanks to a new bill passed unanimously in City Council and signed into law on Wednesday by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, officials now have a different tool in the campaign against darkly tinted windows. The new ordinance allows officials to issue $100 tickets to parked cars that have windows tinted darker than the state law allows. The difference here is that previously, law enforcement officials could only issue window-tinting citations during motor-vehicle stops.

The ordinance was the brainchild of Philadelphia City Councilmembers Mike Driscoll and Mark Squilla. Driscoll told Fox 29 that “the bad guys, the guys engaged in illegal activity … they’re tinting their windows so law enforcement, or cameras we have, don’t know who they are.”

Larry Krasner Gets In a Nice Jab at Columbia University

While cops in riot gear have moved in on various college campuses throughout the country amid protests over the war on Gaza, all is relatively quiet at the University of Pennsylvania, where the protests and encampment have just entered their second week. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner went on a fact-finding trip to the University of Pennsylvania campus on Wednesday afternoon. And according to a report in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Krasner had this to say about the way that Philadelphia should handle the situation: “The First Amendment comes from here. This is Philadelphia. We don’t have to do stupid like they did at Columbia. What we should be doing here is upholding our tradition of being a welcoming, inviting city, where people say things, even if other people don’t like them.” Hopefully, Philadelphia and Penn will continue to not “do stupid.”

Bradley Cooper Is Still Slinging Cheesesteaks

Back in December, I told you about Bradley Cooper and Danny DiGiampietro (a.k.a. the owner of Angelo’s in South Philly) turning up all of a sudden in Manhattan to sell cheesesteaks from a truck called Danny & Coop’s. Then Cooper had to go do all that Maestro and Golden Globe and Oscars stuff, and I kind of lost track of him and his cheesesteak adventures. The Danny & Coop’s Instagram account racked up a bunch of followers real quick but remains unpopulated. But Cooper and DiGiampietro just popped up again with the truck, this time in Las Vegas for some QVC event. Cooper served up cheesesteaks to Donna Kelce (she said that son “Trav” sent her) as well as to Martha Stewart, who snapped a photo of Cooper behind the grill looking like a bit of a deranged chef. No word on what’s next for Danny & Coop’s.

By the Numbers

$182: Lowest price on StubHub for a ticket to tonight’s Sixers playoff game in South Philly. If we advance to Game 7 — which we will, right?! — that game will be played in New York. And the lowest price for those tickets right now? (Yes, you can buy tickets for a hypothetical game, and yes, you’ll get a refund if the game doesn’t happen.) About $500.

5: Longtime Bernie Robbins employees who now own the jewelry company after husband-and-wife owners Harvey and Madalyn Rovinsky decided to pass it onto them instead of selling it. No word on if they have any of these old Bernie Robbins Howard Eskin bobbleheads sitting around in storage. One can only hope.

$15 million: What former Eagles linebacker Bill Romanowski and his wife allegedly owe in back taxes to the IRS. There are probably more than a few former NFL players out there cheering on the IRS. Romanowski wasn’t exactly a much-loved player, mostly because he liked to sucker-punch and spit at other players. His most memorable altercation while with the Eagles came in 1995, when he kicked a member of the Arizona Cardinals in the head. The refs kicked him out of the game. Sound like roid rage? Romanowski later admitted to taking steroids during his time as an NFL player.

Local Talent

Philly born-and-raised actor and former Hamilton co-star (he played Aaron Burr in the original cast) Leslie Odom Jr. had plenty to celebrate when he performed a concert at the Miller (née Merriam) Theater last night. Tony nominations came in on Tuesday, and Odom picked up a Tony nomination for Best Actor for his work in Purlie Victorious. In total, Purlie saw six nominations. If you missed the Broadway run, catch a televised version on PBS starting on May 24th. (You can read my post-Hamilton/pre-Purlie interview with Odom here.) Meanwhile, Philly music vet Adam Blackstone (yes, I interviewed him, too) received a nomination for his Hell’s Kitchen orchestration. We’ll find out the winners in June.

And From the Comin’-Home Sports Desk …

It takes more than an earthquake to shake up our Phils — though there was one in the second inning of their game against the Angels yesterday. That was the same inning in which the Phils scored on the Angels, with singles by J.T. Realmuto and Whit Merrifield, a walk by Cristian Pache to load ’em up, and a Kyle Schwarber single that brought two home. L.A. did get one back in the bottom half on a solo homer by Ehire Adrianza off our starter, Zack Wheeler, but nobody did much of anything after that except for a bunch of pitching changes.

The Phillies, who lead 2-1, have struck out 17 times today, their most in a game since July 23, 2019.

That night's lineup featured Scott Kingery, Cesar Hernandez, Maikel Franco, Adam Haseley, Roman Quinn and Nick Williams.

— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) May 1, 2024

In the eighth, off José Alvarado, the Angels got three singles but didn’t score, since one got runner picked off trying to steal. In our ninth, Merrifield doubled off reliever Luis Garcia; we’d been waiting for him to heat up.

Whit Merrifield is 2-for-3 today with a double, walk, steal and run.

He's 8-for-18 in his last five starts with two doubles and a homer.

— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) May 1, 2024

He then got to third on a wild pitch, but Brandon Marsh struck out. On came Gregory Soto, who got a ground-out, allowed singles to Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel, struck out Jo Adell with men on first and third, and … got Taylor Ward to fly out. Sheesh, that was close!

The @Phillies are headed home after winning 7 of 10 on the road! pic.twitter.com/ciO5dvD2Ty

— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024

They’re back at CBP on Friday vs. the Giants, with a 6:40 start.

Any Sixers News?

Uh, yeah, in a magnanimous gesture, the gazillionaire Sixers owners teamed up with Fanatics to buy Sixers tix for 2,000 fans to go see the Game 6 against the Knicks tonight at Wells Fargo, so they can cheer for our guys and keep the New York cheers at bay. They’re mostly going to charitable organizations. And in even bigger news, Bricken 4 Chicken will run through the entire game and not just the second half! Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. Make some noise, Philly! And we believe, Tyrese, Joel, Tobias. We really do.

While you wait for the game, feast on this lovely ode to Maxey‘s Game 5 heroics from Mike Vorkunov at The Athletic.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hinsgton.