Cyclospora in Philly, Policing in The Gayborhood & More Speed Cameras

This is CityCast Philly. We're talking about the nationwide bad lettuce outbreak. It's found its way to produce in Philly, what you need to know to stay safe. Public hearings are scheduled this week over policing in the Gaborhood. Plus, does Philly need more speed cameras or more speed bumps? It's Tuesday, August 4th. I'm Trinaney, and here's what Philly's talking about. This is, Yanni. Y'all know that Philly has an incredible food scene. I've got a friend coming to visit me out of town, and I'm trying to put together this like ultimate food itinerary. Where should I take them? And because it's still summer, can you incorporate like your favorite seasonal go-to spots that you'd recommend? Oh, this is tough. I know. I know. Well, I'll say this. Cheese steaks are given. They'll be eaten some... former fashion throughout the day. Can you not just say the cheese steaks to me is that they belong to the poppy stores now? Like I think you can get a good quality cheese stick at the poppy store. 100% agree. You agree. And I think a good poppy store is one that's on senseless plug, but don't be storing my poppy store. At 30th and Masters, the poppy store around the corner, they have the best cheese steak. You know, I'll always get my cheese stick added now with bacon and Cooper cheese with fried onions, salt pepper and ketchup. Bacon? Bacon. Oh. So good. And would you say, like, how much are you spending on that cheese steak? Oh, my God. It's $8 and you get french fries. Eight dollars? And fries? Eight dollars. So I will see you there. That's the thing. I feel like our cheese steaks at other spots are getting too pricey. I've seen a cheese steak. and no shade to this cheese steak, but at tastes, I think they had a cheese steak. I think it was an oxdale cheese steak. That thing was like $35. Oh, no. Okay. So what is like the ultimate food itinerary that I should do for my friend? Breakfast should be at Fork in Old City, Love Fork. Oh, we go at high level to start off. You should start high and then mixing your mid, and then you can finish off softly. And then you can, you know, I love Sampan. I think Sampan has like the best happy hour, even on a Saturday and Sunday you can go there and have happy hour. So Sampan double knock or Pearl and Mary, you got three great options that are a great price point between the three. I mean, you can have two drinks and a couple of appetizers or a happy hour and spend like less than 150 for two people. So I would say go there. dinner, if you want an elevated experience or you want something kind of like, what's you looking? I want to impress this person.

impressed this person. Okay, let me pause. Because you know what, to some degree, I mean, I could also impress them with that $8 cheesecake. Like, let's be real. Let's be clear. You could impress them with the $8 cheesecake. Y'all can go back home and catch up on some shows and just gossip on the couch. I don't know. That's something like a good night to me. I don't know. That's Jason Bowman, a serial entrepreneur here in Philadelphia. See, honey, where should we go? I feel like I got to throw out all my options after what Jason just pulled out here. I feel like for breakfast, I would start with like Sophie Corner Cafe. I think it's a really cute spot to just have brunch, French Moroccan cafe. It's right next to this garden. So it has if you're, whether you're sitting inside or outside, you just have a really beautiful view that is just so nice and peaceful as you munch on your pastries to start the days softly. Then for lunch, we head over to Fishtown for El Chingon because they have their outdoor dining space. And for dinner, you know, I like to end a day with a nice Italian meal. So a Grand Cafe Lakeila, if you want to try some different cuisine, I know for the 250 if they even had a special South Philly menu. So showing the, you know, Philly Italian culture as well. Because they also love to end with a nice dessert and they have the best gelato I've had in. City. That's Siani Cologne, our creative producer here. Y'all, these recommendations are amazing. My friend is going to be full, but I didn't hear anyone say salad. Well, who's eating salad? We are in the middle of a week haul right now. I'm not eating no salad. And I'm a greedy person. Salat is just not enough of me because if I get salad, I need two proteins. In the salad. In the salad, I need shrimp and chicken. I'm greedy, sorry. Meanwhile, I had a salad yesterday. You did? You weren't scared? If I closed my eyes, it's not real. It can't hurt me. That's how I'm coping. Oh, my gosh. I'm going to try that. I literally have eaten, I've eaten a salad once this summer. And as a substitute, I've been eating like tomato, cucumber, red onion salads. So like anti-letus. So getting your veggie fix. Right. And the reason why we're bringing this up is because of the bad lettuce outbreak called cyclospora, where it's an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite and you're going to get some bad diarrhea. The city's health department says... that there are now 13 confirmed cases in Philly. Now, this includes some cases that were documented before the outbreak. So as of July 29, 13 cases, more than 4,000 cases nationwide. And you can get this from contaminated food, water. So the city says check your lettuce before you get home. Make sure it hasn't been recalled from the Food and Drug Administration. You can check their website to see a list of different companies. Wash your produce under clean running water before you eat it, prepare it. And Jason and Siani, it's not just lettuce. There's more food that we have to be aware of.

You know what? I'm just sick of this. Like, what don't be doing? Like, I'm not washing my leg. Like, what don't, like, come on here. Like, I don't know about y'all. It's summertime. A good intestinal virus that's going to give me diarrhea is going to make me great on the beach. So, like, give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. You want to be on the toilet for two weeks? I mean, the taller for a week and a half will be cute. You'll get up, you'll be like 10 pounds lighter. It'll be great. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But listen, this is the other stuff that we have to watch out for. Basil, cilantro, raspberries, snow peas, and sweet peas. It's unfortunate that this is happening. Like, I can't believe that, A, it's actually cases now here in Philadelphia because I think a lot of times when you see this stuff circulating online and you are watching the news, you're kind of like, all right, y'all, like, this is crazy. But it's like, what are we supposed to eat here? Like, we can't eat nothing. Like nothing. Yeah. Yeah, I think because we've noticed with the outbreak has been with like large suppliers, like Taylor Farms, has been identified as one source with their iceberg lettuce, which is why like there has been a recall. And they also sell those like on the go salad kits too, which, oh my God, that's like so like easy for me to make for my family. And now I'm just like, nah, I'm not even doing it. So then when things get close to home, like, I think this is a good opportunity for people to stop and think about where exactly their food is coming from. And, you know, supporting local, like, you know, Any type of food unfortunately can get contaminated in some way, but I think there's a little bit more of a sense of relief when you have an idea of who are the people who are growing your food, being able to have close access to it and shorten that chain of like where it's coming from. So farmers markets have really been turned to, you know, doing a little bit of a shameless plug. The North Square Neighborhood Project where I have a community garden plot. They have a youth farm stand at their Raisis Garden. every Saturday from 1030 to 130. And I know some of us were joking at the garden and be like, yeah, we have our basil. It's parasite free. Just because we have a sense of like we've grown this from our own hands. We know what we're doing and, you know, hoping to have healthy food options for the community while keeping things safe. Have people like... asked you all at your community garden like about this parasite it was it was something i think just comes up naturally in conversation i think as people are you know wary about some of their veggies but feel a little bit safer of you know again like knowing who exactly is growing it and that's not coming from too far away um so like I think there's been more engagement there. I just had some cucumbers that was from the garden and kale as well. So definitely feeling safer about getting it from there than maybe like the grocery store, certain large suppliers at the moment. If you're looking for other local options, Germantown Kitchen Garden has a vegetable farm and plant nursery that's open on Saturday mornings. Sanctuary Farm in North Philly has a free farm stand. So what they're growing, they're giving away, you know, right.

back to the community. I love that. That's good to know. Yeah. And that happens every Tuesday from 930 to 12. And, you know, there are different farmers markets all over to city as impossible to name them all, which is a great thing to have this resource. So the Food Trust has a map of farmers markets across the Philadelphia area. Thanks, Siani, for those recommendations. We've got more news after the break. Okay, shifting gears. This week, folks can participate in public hearings. They are scheduled on Wednesday to examine policing in the Gaborhood. Now, this is following police clashes with the community on Sunday, June 7th, during Pride celebrations. Fifteen people were arrested that night. mostly for disorderly conduct. One person was arrested for aggravated assault on an officer. And then the following day, on Monday, June 8th, there was a protest about what had taken place in Center City. Jason, you are the president of Philadelphia Black Pride. I saw that you posted a video on IG this week talking about your experiences with policing in the Gaborhood. Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences, what you've been going through? Yes, you know, what happened during the Pride festivities in early June is something that happens and has continued to happen at nauseam, particularly at Black and Brown spaces within the Gaborhood. The Gaborhood has a longstanding history of racism and in a division within our own community. For people that may not be familiar with Philadelphia's neighborhood, let me paint this picture for y'all. When the bars closed, the neighborhoods get crowded. People are outside talking, waiting for rides, getting food. And sometimes, yes. But normal stuff. Like, people are intoxicated. Arguments sometimes happen. This is nightlife. And things happen outside bars throughout that entire neighborhood. But what I continue to see and what I experience personally this weekend is that the police president does not look or feel the same everywhere. Outside of those bars where it's crowded. primarily black and brown people is often heavier or more concentrated police presence. And those officers can immediately approach people with an aggressive tone. So meanwhile, outside the other largely white centered bars, including places like Woody's or like Ubar or McGillins, you don't see that same level of intimidation or enforcement. So I'm not saying that police should never be present. Officers have a responsibility to keep people safe. But the question for me is, why does public safety seem to require more force or commands more intimidation when people are standing outside of that are black and brown? Because that's exactly what I experienced. I mean, the officer, um, I have a relationship with the officers. A lot of my family members are police officers. Two officers I'm familiar with when I come to the game of hood. I announce myself as the president in case something does happen. They usually lean towards me to de-escalate situations. And when I was there on Saturday, nothing was happening. I was saying hi, the two of the officers I always speak to. One officer had his finger on my face the entire time in my video, and then he pushed me. So I pushed them back. And this happened to you on this past Saturday. This happened to me on this past Saturday. He pushed me.

I pushed them back. Because like, who are you pushing? Like, respect to giving to a dog. Like, don't do that. So I think my situation could have escalated even higher. Had I not been who I am, I understand I have a certain levels of access and privilege most people don't have. But even the two female officers were able to get in the middle of me and kind of like, you know, diffuse the situation. But I heard cops in the gaybohood use homophobic slurs because they don't want to be in the neighborhood policing gay people. So this is something that has been ongoing. The hearing that is happening on August the 5th is important for people to come out and show up and show out to. I know after the situation that happened in the neighborhood, we did have meetings with Commissioner Bethel with the Parker administration about our experiences. Tito Baldez, who is the executive director of the mayor's office of LGBTQ affairs, has sat down with myself and other communities to express what has transpired. So this is an ongoing conversation that's happened. I also consensibly plug an update. I did reach out to the Parker administration in regards to my experience. I was given information to contact Deputy Commissioner Dales. who I spoke to. I have a meeting with the police internal affairs about the officer's situation. So again, I'm not going to stop until this officer is reprimanded and accountability happens. But again, I know how to navigate systems. I know how to use my privilege and access in a way to advocate for my community. Imagine if you're not somebody like me that knows how to do this. Right. Yeah, I was just about to say that because even when you were telling that story, I just thought about. Well, damn, like, why do you have to constantly tell people who you are? And you can't just be Jason. Like, you have to be Jason, the Associate Director of Digital and Creative Strategy at the Human Rights Campaign. Jason, that is the president of Philly Black Gay Pride. How have the powers that be received your... your complaints and your criticism about your experiences that happened to you in Gaborhood. I always feel like I have a balanced approach when it comes to policing and a balanced approach when it comes to a lot of things. So they have received my complaints a little bit different. I will say that I have seen tangible action actually happen. But for me, tangible action is not going to happen just because it happened to me. I need tangible action to happen to the entire community. For others. Right. I was not there and someone else that was not Jason Bowman had experienced this. They wouldn't even know who to turn to or who to talk to or they wouldn't even have felt comfortable reporting the situation because they have to also now frequent that bar again and who knows if they weren't into that cop again. And now it's an ongoing situation with that police officer. Do I believe that all cops are bad cops? Absolutely not. I had police officers in my family. My uncle was a big cop in the city of Philadelphia for years before he retired. But we cannot. separate what happened to me this weekend from what happened during Pride. And during the Pride celebration, videos show people confined the sidewalks behind barricades while officers attempted to clear the area. There were physical confrontations. There were motorcycle officers used to dismiss the cloud. I mean, I even seen them use tasers as a de-escalation method. I mean, Commissioner Bethel later did acknowledge mistakes that...

the planning and said that the streets were open to vehicles while confining people on the sidewalks may have not been the best decision. But the officers who allegedly were investigated for violating the police department and covering their faces, who are those officers? And are we actually going to see things happen in public accountability about what we've seen and what has happened with these people? Is it only Gabriel, where you've experienced this and feel this? Yes, because I can go to any other part of the city, go to any other nightclub or bar and join myself. I mean, I can go to a hood bar, and I hate to call it a hood bar, but I can go to a loo and choose. I can go to Lou and Choose, having a good time, leave out Lou and choose. And we know the neighborhood, quote, unquote, demographic that that represents. They don't even be doing that heavy policing outside of there. So why is it all this aggressive policing in the neighborhood? Now, also, I want to stand. 10-told down and that I understand public safety. I read in 6ABC that this is what Kevin Bethel said, that the decision was not made in any way, shape, or form because people are celebrating pride. It was made because officers were increasingly dealing with public safety issues and reached a point where we could no longer safely maintain the conditions that existed on those blocks. And so what I think he's trying to say is that earlier in the day, Pride celebrations were happening on the parkway. Then the crowd shifted and went back to the neighborhood. So Trinney, I'm going to tell you like I told Commissioner Bethel, right? you can't tell somebody how to celebrate pride. And I think the biggest mistake or misstep of the police was expecting that gay people were going to just automatically go to the parkway. Those that wanted to go to the parkway went to the parkway. But the problem in the gay brotherhood was me. If I decided not to go to the parkway and I just wanted to go frequent a gay bar. Or if I lived in the gayhood. I can no longer get to my house because there's police barricades with people and you created a gridlock that was not safe. You had people on small sidewalks trying to navigate how to get through. It was not safe by no means necessary. And those barricades never came down. So if the barricades were up because y'all were trying to keep people safe, allegedly. That was during the parade in March. Once the parade in March ended and it emptied out out on the parkway, y'all could have cleared that up so that way it opened the streets up. Y'all never did that. So again, they try to shift blame and say that, oh, it was quote-unquote public safety. I also want to say this too. The reason why I understand public safety, my chosen son, Derwin Matthews, from the House of Prodigy, was murdered in the Gablehead last year after protests and festivities wrapped up outside a warrior. So if anybody understands public safety, I am someone that definitely understands that, but that was not public safety. I'm sorry for your loss, Jason. Thank you so much. And I'm sorry to be speaking so passionately about it. No, do not apologize. Do not apologize. You know, Jason's point about...

Commissioner Bethel's response to, you know, quote, unquote, public safety during the day and kind of expecting people to just be in the parkway. It also just ignored any discourse that was coming from the community who, like, there were people who were upset that was being moved to the parkway. I'm just like, now we have to go to this official spot instead of being in community. There was back and forth. Some people, like how we want to be in community. Like, we're forced to be in this space because we're told to be in this space. But can I tell y'all something, though? I heard a lot of community discourse online about that. And I see both sides of the pendulum. But I think people are, like, too young to remember that the pride used to be on the pier. The pride used to be down on Penn's Landing when Frannie, who's the mayor of Fulcroft, used to run it. And it was $20 to get in, and it was nowhere near. the amount of programming that Tyrell Brown from Pride 365 has been able to cultivate over the years. So I think when people have this idea like, oh, y'all can't move out of the Gaborhood, if we want to really think about public safety, the Gaborhood is not a safe space to hold almost 100,000 people in those block radiuses because if something does happen, which it does. Amber Lambs can't get through. You got a crowd of people that are drunk or whatever. You can't do that. It's not safe. It's not accessible for our ADA community. It's not accessible for families and children. So we have to reimagine and expand pride outside of what we experienced in the last couple of years in the neighborhood. So I think pride being on the parkway was beautiful. It was a lot more beautiful than I thought it was going to be. I'm going to be honest. I was like, oh, okay. All right. So like when this clears out, we can clean up. And if we decide to go to the neighborhood, we can. If you're getting older like me, I really wanted to go home, but I couldn't. You know, I got to show pace. But it was beautiful. And it was a great way to reimagine how pride can look like for years to come. It's like not. confining the LGBT community to one space is like this is where your designated area is going to be like whether you want to be on the parkway in the gayborhood etc you should be able to be present anywhere in the city so if the you know police wasn't prepared for that or did not expect the influx of people coming in that just you know it's just poor planning on their part whatsoever to not anticipate that at all. And we really have to do more in the future to think, how are we making space for people? Because just I didn't personally get to go to Pride this year, but saw, you know, I had other friends who did and just, you know, seeing from Instagram stories of what was such a celebratory day, everyone excited to be out on the parkway or however. Yes. they were celebrating with friends to just the horror that was happening in the Gaborhood, whether they're seeing their own friends getting brutalized or they themselves being brutalized. And this is not something that can continue to go on in the city, especially if we frame ourselves as this welcoming city, you know, having a new like LGBT visitor center. If we are inviting people in to visit us and be part of this community, we have to make sure that they feel safe here as well.

Councilmember Rulendell's office is still collecting testimony ahead of tomorrow's hearing at City Hall. So if you were at Pride and have experiences you'd like to share, the Google Forum is linked in her Instagram page. All right. We've got more news after this quick break. See, Annie, I know that you are not. a driver in the city of Philadelphia. Jason, how do you get around town? Do you drive? Do you take public transportation? Do you Uber around? I drive against my better judgment. I haven't been on public transportation probably in about 25 years. Wouldn't even know what to do if I had to go on the L, to be honest. But I would tell y'all that these speed cameras and speed bumps, bay, B. B. Maybe. Tell me. Tell me. The speed bumps, first of all, are not even positioned right in the streets. When you go over the speed bump, you go from speed bump to bottom. The speed cameras, I have a big problem with the city how it's kind of becoming like a police state. Like it's really weird how they're throwing up all these cameras and all this surveillance. I will say that now I don't drive on Broad Street. I drive on 13th Street. Not that I'm somebody that is a heavy foot. kind of gasser, but I just think 25 miles an hour on Broad Street's ridiculous. I think 30 miles an hour will be a little bit more equitable. I understand why in Vision Zero, they decided to go to 25 miles per hour. But I was driving home on Saturday night, leaving the club. It was about 2 o'clock in the morning. I'm on 76. My dash camera caught somebody driving down the wrong ramp onto 76 from South Street. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, yo, what are you doing? Then I get to Gerard. I get off at the Gerard exit. I make the right on Gerard Avenue. They just installed a new surveillance can't speed camera there. Somebody is making a left in the far right hand. uh lane then i get to the light where i'm supposed to get turned left on on 30th and gerard somebody just goes ahead and runs the light now 30th and gerard is a crazy intersection crazy intersection at 30th and gerard like it's nuts you were fighting for your life during that drive yeah then people always wonder why when i come home i legit sit in my garage with my phone off and like i breathe for like 20 minutes because like getting home is a hustle like child thank god i made it home oh my god well jason There are 10 new cameras coming to Philly. And one of them is right here off a 33rd in Girard because I live in Brewytown. And when they first went up, it went up around the time that the FIFA Fan Fest was there. And I had one driving, I was doing like 33. And I saw that thing. I said, wait, something just flashed. What was that? I said, man, we got a camera over here. So now I'm like, man, now I got a, and it's hard where they have it at. I think they should move that camera down a little bit because if you're at that light where uh what is that 33rd street it kind of like splits over there and then it's like right near limit hill but then it's right there around it you go down to worth kelly drive you have to do at least 20 just to get over the hill and then by the time you're coming down the hill right there that little small hill you're doing like 27 28 maybe 29 and then the camera flashes so it's a trap it's a booby trap it's a cash crab

But that's just my opinion. Yeah, well, these 10 cameras are going to be installed along Route 13. So that's parts of Strawberry Mansion and brewery town, parts of West Philly University City. So like Baltimore Avenue, Ridge Ave. Right now we are in the warning period. That's going to last about 60 days. And then if you go over 11 miles per hour, you're going to get hit with a $100 ticket. Listen, on CityCast, Philly on our podcast and our newsletter, We talked on Monday show about how to get more civically engaged in our neighborhoods. And one of the ways we talked about that is you can advocate to get a speed bump on your block. But a listener reader said, I don't know a single person who likes speed bumps. They are annoying and there isn't a need for them. Signed a very frustrated driver in Philly. Now here's my thing. I got to stand on my perspective. I would rather a speed bump, whether it's one of those like tire material ones or the ones that are like coming up from the street, like the asphalt ones, right? I would prefer a speed bump over a damn speed camera because I'm not going to get that $100 ticket. Right, right. But you know what, I would rather, I will rather a speed bump that doesn't empty out to a pothole or a dick. So two things can be true. I agree with you. These speed cameras are ridiculous, but if they don't want to install these speed bumps, they need to also fix these rules. I am so tired. of playing Pac-Man as I'm driving through the city of Philadelphia. It is ridiculous. Like, it's ridiculous, especially down here in North Philly, like, Brewerytown area. These streets are ragged. It's wild. I had a friend who drove me home the other day, who isn't from Philly originally, and he rarely drives around North Philly. And... He was fighting for his life driving. He's like, oh, they don't care about y'all up here because it's just pothole after pothole after construction. I mean, I've been at a community meeting before where we had somebody who, you know, I don't know if they're still with the city or not, but said that they almost kind of like pot holes because it's its own kind of, like its own traffic calming measure. And I'm like, no, fix the holes. Excuse me, my car tire is flat. Because of the goddamn pot holes. I got a question. How did they arrive at a $100 fine? Like, why is it $100? Why couldn't it be $25, $50, then $100? Like, why do they have to start at $100? You know why? Because this is my theory. Because if you park your car somewhere in Center City in a garage, you're going to pay $33. That's not going to really hurt you. But that $100? is going to hurt you. Think about all the cheese steaks you can get at the poppy store for $100. Let's just do the basic math. 100 divided by, what did you say, $8? Do they charge taxes on that? That's 12 and a half cheese steaks that we could get. Because are they charging extra for that bacon? I don't know. But that's 12 cheese sticks that we can get. That $100 is going to hurt.

And I think to your point, Jason, too, like, it's too many cameras at this point. But this is all under the Vision Zero initiative. And this is to eliminate traffic, deaths, and serious injuries by 2030, which is only a few years from now. So we're going to see ramped up measures to get to that goal. And I think the speed cameras in a way have been effective toward that, you know, despite. you know, some of the issues that we've had within how, you know, things would have been rolled out differently. Like, you know, we are seeing that slowdown on broad. So there are those shifting patterns. But I do wonder, you know, with that. Is that changing driver behavior as a whole or is it just shifting elsewhere? Like, you know, I've been on like some lift rise where drivers are just avoiding broad and like going in other small streets. So it's like are people being more cautious when they're, you know, taking alternative roads or are they speeding down these smaller residential blocks now that they're avoiding broad street? And that's a good point. So it's like we. It's like overall behavior needs to change. I mean, Philly has a higher rate of traffic deaths than other cities, like three times higher than New York City. I will say this. I, as a driver, I have been more aware when I'm driving on certain parts of Ridge Ave in Roxburgh and in certain parts of Main Street and Mannyunk, there are flashing lights to indicate drivers stop and let people walk. I love, I like that. And I have... made sure that I'm giving even more space. So if I am approaching those flashing lights, I will change my behavior and stop a little bit sooner. And then I kind of give a quick little wave to the pedestrian who wants to cross over. Some drivers still do not stop when those lights are flashing. No, they don't. They don't. And I will say, you know, I get pissed at the $100 fines and the speed cameras. I get annoyed by those speed bumps, but we do have to kind of like chill as drivers. The aggression. or kind of like that get out of my way, like, you know, tendencies that we have do need to get checked. Because even other drivers are aggressive to other drivers. And it gets nuts. It gets nuts at times. But I still stand on. I would rather a speed bump than a speed camp. I second you with that.

All right, well, y'all, thank you so much for joining me and chatting with me about these topics and issues in the city this week. Good seeing you guys. Thank you so much for having me, Citicad family, and I'm sure I'll be back, hopefully. Yes. That's all for... us today here on CityCast Philly. If you enjoyed this episode, share this with a friend. Also, rate the show. Leave us a review and hit that subscribe button. Be sure to sign up for our morning newsletter to learn more about what else Philly's talking about. And don't forget, you can support the show and get great perks by becoming a citycastfilly neighbor at membership.citycast.fm slash Philly. All right, we'll be back tomorrow morning with more news from around the city. Bye.