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🍻Breweries galore | Morning Newsletter

And the “Chinatown Stitch” could become a reality

Cartesian Brewing at 1324-26 E. Passyunk Ave. on February 23.
Cartesian Brewing at 1324-26 E. Passyunk Ave. on February 23.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

We’re in another day of mostly clear skies and a high of 51.

Craft beer sales may be on the decline nationally, but you probably wouldn’t notice that in Philly.

The area’s influx of breweries is outpacing growth nationally, with the number of breweries nearly doubling over the last six years.

Our lead story explains why Philly is bucking the trend. 🔑

If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Cartesian Brewing owner Evan Roth thinks there could be a brewery in every neighborhood in Philly.

He might be on to something.

Important figures:

  1. As of last month, Philly is home to 32 breweries, which is almost double the amount the city had in 2017. Five Philly-area breweries closed during that time.

  2. The five counties of Southeastern Pennsylvania have 131 breweries compared to 68 in early 2017.

  3. In South Jersey, the amount climbed to 38 from 20 in 2017.

Fun fact: Philly spent more money buying beer for the Super Bowl than at any other time in the past two years, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other playoff game.

Continue reading to learn why the Philly area is defying the nation’s flat craft beer market. 🔑

Also while we’re talking about booze, we have a list of the newest and most secret bars. 🔑

There’s a potential path to reconnect the north and south sides of Chinatown by physically capping the below-ground Vine Street Expressway.

They’re calling it the Chinatown Stitch. It’d be a massive project with a potential groundbreaking in 2028.

Some background: The idea has been talked about in Philly for decades but never went beyond the idea-and-study stage. Officials said the availability of federal transportation money gives them hope it could be reality.

Reminders: Chinatown could have disappeared during the construction of the expressway in the 1970s. The city sought to raze a major community center and landmark, Holy Redeemer Chinese Church. The church survived, but what is now the Fashion District and Jefferson Station, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center claimed chunks of land.

Now, a majority of Chinatown is fighting a Sixers proposal to build a basketball arena on the neighborhood’s southern end.

What’s next: The first community engagement meeting is slated for April 26 and there’s a website to gather ideas and opinions from residents.

Keep reading to learn more about how the cap would benefit the neighborhood.

What you should know today

  1. Delco State Rep. Mike Zabel will resign after at least three people came forward with sexual harassment allegations in the last week.

  2. Local YouTube star Bill Omar Carrasquillo — better known as Omi in a Hellcat online — was sentenced to 5½ years in prison and forced to forfeit $30 million in a large-scale cable piracy case.

  3. More than 90 candidates filed to be on Philly’s May 16 primary ballot for mayor, City Council, and row offices.

  4. Philadelphia’s zoning board denied a “granny flat” proposal for the iconic Venturi House. 🔑

  5. The latest We The People installment spotlights Kirsten Michelle Cills, who refers to herself as Philly’s “token terminally-ill stand-up comic.”

🧠 Trivia time 🧠

Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken eatery is coming to Philadelphia, but where exactly?

A) The Fashion District

B) Wells Fargo Center

C) The Comcast Center

D) None of the above

Find out if you know the answer.

What we’re...

🗳️Anticipating: President Joe Biden to roll out his budget proposal in Philly today.

đź’­Wondering: What the impact of ChatGPT could mean for the future of language (and cyberbullying).

🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩

Hint: Home of the famous “Philly Sound”

ADONIS GUMS

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Cheers to Erin Davis, who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Sonia Sanchez. Email us if you know the answer.

Photo of the day

Thanks for hanging out with me this Thursday morning. I’ll see you tomorrow 👋🏽.