🚰 Why your water bills will go up (again)

🚰 Your Water Bills Will Get Worse

A Philadelphia Water Department staffer warns that its financial future is “pretty terrifying” due to pending capital projects, aging infrastructure, and inflationary pressures. PWD will need to double its revenue to $2 billion by 2036, and its customers will pay the price. [Grid Magazine]

⚖️ Philly Could Soon See Chicago-Level ICE Response

Philadelphians have been responding to increased ICE enforcement with workplace trainings and political art, but the status quo may soon shift as ICE prepares to shake up its operation in Philadelphia with more aggressive leadership. [The Latino Newsletter, 🔒 The Inquirer]

• Related: Mayor Parker’s response (or lack thereof) to how President Trump’s policies are targeting major cities has drawn mixed criticism, as Philly’s immigrant community navigates uncertainty. [🎧City Cast Philly, 🎧 City Cast Philly]

🚌 Don’t Block the Bus in Center City & South Philly

SEPTA will add new red bus lanes on sections of Chestnut Street, Walnut Street, and Oregon Avenue. Anyone parked or stopped in the bus lane will be ticked $76 in Center City and $51 elsewhere in the city. [6ABC]

☃️ Light Show and Dickens Village Return to Wanamaker Building

Two of Philly’s seasonal traditions are back this winter! The light show returns Nov. 28, Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., every hour on the half hour. A fundraising campaign saved the light show after the closure of Macy’s earlier this year. [CBS Philly]

Philadelphia has developed a unique streetscape, from quaint rowhomes to our iconic City Hall to the sleek designs of our modern skyscrapers. City Cast Philly spoke to photographer and artist Chris Hytha on how we can appreciate Philly’s architectural past, his personal project to restore a home from the 1800s, and what’s in store for the future.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full interview in the link above.

Do you know why architects chose to build rowhomes and not standalone single homes?

“ When you go back to the original plan for Philly that William Penn had, he wanted a garden city. Each block was a lot. It was supposed to have farms and a barn and like a big house. It wasn't the original vision of Philadelphia to have a dense city like we have today, [but] I think it's largely just economical. The rowhome is a really smart way to get a lot of density, get a lot of efficiency. When we're sharing walls you have less heat loss through the side walls…It's a firewall, so you have that type of protection and then a little cut out in the back so you're still getting light from almost every side of the building. So it solves a lot of problems. The density of the row home is really what makes our city so walkable.”

How can you appreciate the different architecture of Philly buildings?

“ It's just about looking around. One of the things I really love about photography and I would definitely encourage anyone who has an interest in it, even with their phone to start taking photos because it very much changes the way you see the world. It was really through photography that I was able to appreciate architecture more because you're then thinking about light and thinking about details and you just become a much more active observer of the world. When you're walking to work, you can be preoccupied by the tasks at hand or what's going on or in your own head. Or you can tune into the city and just look around and look up.”

What about these homes inspired you?

“ They used to call [Philly] the ‘workshop of the world.’…As such an old city, it has to keep up with the times to stay relevant and we've lost almost all of our manufacturing and we've had to redefine ourselves. In many ways our housing tells that story. Just because they're old houses compared to a new development, I think they tell their own stories visually without even having to know the whole story of Philadelphia."