🪴 Philly’s best plant stores

🚧 Deadly Intersection Getting A Makeover

A $7.3 million redesign of the intersection of Broad Street, Germantown Avenue, and Erie Avenue will begin this week. During a four-year period in the mid-2010s, seven people were killed or hurt in traffic collisions in the area, according to official data. The new street plan, based on community input, calls for increased safety, accessibility, and amenities such as green spaces and bike lanes. The project should be complete by the end of 2024. [WHYY]

🧠 Addressing Youth Mental Health in Philly

Over the past few years, youth mental health issues have reached crisis levels. To combat this epidemic, The Pew Charitable Trusts is distributing $6.55 million among five Philly nonprofits to improve access to mental and behavioral healthcare for kids and teens. The majority of the money, $4 million, will go to Children's Crisis Treatment Center to build a new clinic in North Philadelphia. [PhillyVoice]

🏀 Wilt Chamberlain Documentary

A new 3-part series is showcasing the life and legacy of the late Philadelphia Warriors player Wilt Chamberlain. The documentary includes interviews with Chamberlain’s remaining sisters and basketball Hall of Famers like Pat Riley. Filmmakers also hired an actor to read Chamberlain’s quotes and used an AI program to match Chamberlain’s voice. Streaming is available on Paramount+. [Inquirer🔒]

👀 Offbeat Philly Attractions

Philadelphia is known for the Liberty Bell, the Rocky Statue, and the LOVE sculpture, but we also have plenty of strange places to visit and unusual characters to meet. Dylan Thuras, co-founder of Atlas Obscura, shares a bunch of weird and wonderful things to explore in our city. [City Cast Philly 🎧]

Remember that proposed development in West Philly that gained the nickname “poop building” in 2021?

After two years of heated debate, the owner of the lot on 48th Street and Chester Avenue, Meir Gelley, has withdrawn his application to build a 76-unit apartment building, including 15 rent-restricted units.

Back in April, Gelley was granted preliminary approval to build 13 luxury duplex apartments on the site, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. That outcome is not guaranteed, but now looks more likely.

On Twitter, users reacted to the fact that even more expensive housing could now go up on a site where gentrification was already a major concern:

“It is interesting how on the one hand this building [in the old plan] was going to gentrify a neighborhood (where homes list for $1.3 mil), and on the other hand it is a “slum,” wrote Inquirer columnist Daniel Pearson.

“Right off a trolley line, some apartments going for 800 [dollars], I already live nearby but would have jumped at the opportunity to live here. Shame the project is now only duplexes,” wrote Cameron O.

“My rent went from $1,200 a month for a one bedroom apartment in a house on 46th and Chester to $1,350 last year. If it goes up any higher I’m out of here, and I’m already struggling,” wrote Michael Munson, on the Cedar Park Neighbors Facebook page.

Another neighborhood group however, is celebrating the change.

“This is not the first or last time that greedy developers will try to prey on our community, but we have power when we stand together,” Protect Squirrel Hill wrote in a statement.

💅🏽 Mean Girls Trivia | Tuesday | 7 p.m.

Head to Monster Vegan and show off your knowledge of the classic 2000s comedy. It would be so fetch. [free, Center City]

💃🏽 Ecstatic Dance | Wednesday | 6 p.m.

Explore dance as a form of somatic therapy at Fort Mifflin. [$15-$25, Southwest Philly]

🤣 Comedy | Wednesday | 9 p.m.

Laugh away your worries at Fergie’s Pub. [free, Center City]

🍩 Murder Mystery | Thursday | 7 p.m.

Head to Federal Donuts to solve a Shakespeare-themed murder mystery. Berry Bloody donut included with ticket purchase. [$21.72, Logan Square]

When Philly Evictions Turn Violent

Philadelphia uses private security companies to carry out many evictions. This practice came under fire recently, after two attempted evictions resulted in private security officers shooting off their weapons. Host Trenae Nuri talks with Aaron Moselle, housing and community development reporter with WHYY’s PlanPhilly, about why the city handles evictions this way and what possible reforms are in the works.