The turf war of FDR Park | Morning Newsletter

Good morning, Philly. The forecast for this Thursday includes, once again, showers and high temps in the mid-80s.

Today we have the latest in the “forever chemicals” saga, as experts say the battle over the FDR Park renovation plan includes misleading turf lab tests. And a new legislative task force is taking steps to rid Philadelphia of nuisance stop-and-go stores — an effort that is four decades in the making.

Read on for these stories and many more.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Could a $250 million makeover of South Philadelphia’s FDR Park introduce dangerous chemicals to a public space?

🌳 This spring, residents sued the city to pause the renovation amid concern that so-called forever chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, could be present in the artificial turf playing fields included in the plans.

🌳 Some experts say they’re probably right.

🌳 Inquirer reporters David Gambacorta and Barbara Laker have investigated the possible connection between cancer cases and these chemicals, known as PFAS, for over a year. Their latest report comes as several local and state governments — including Pennsylvania — are seeking to ban turf fields because of the potential risk they pose.

Read on to learn about how turf companies made promises of safety to the city, including one lab report that experts say is misleading.

Four decades of tension are coming to a head as a new legislative task force tackles stop-and-go stores.

Noise and disorder: Neighbors have complained that at some of these shops, it’s too easy for people to buy small quantities of alcohol, then linger and act disruptive. “It’s a happy hour outside,” a Germantown resident said during a recent hearing.

Legal limits: Yet the shops’ owners say not every beer deli is a nuisance. And past efforts to curtail misbehavior at these stores have been found to discriminate against Asian Americans, who primarily own them.

The task force’s job: Though the regulatory entity’s official name is the Pennsylvania Stop-and-Go Legislative Task Force, stop-and-gos are a uniquely Philadelphia problem. Now, the task force must come up with a special license and effective enforcement to use only in the city.

Reporter Lynette Hazelton has the story on the latest attempt (of many) to regulate stop-and-gos.

Plus: Here’s a timeline of those efforts in the state, from 1983 to now.

P.S. We included an inactive link in yesterday’s newsletter. Here’s that story: After two years, the Sixers plan to build a Center City arena has seen little progress. A fall deadline for decision-making has been called crucial.

The 2024 Olympic Games officially kick off this week. Our city is well represented in Paris, from Sixers players to local university alumni to Philly natives.

🥇 Want to follow along as they go for gold? Starting today, The Inquirer’s interactive calendar will track when the dozens of athletes with local ties are competing.

🥈 At 3 p.m. ET, for instance, catch Penn State alumnae Alyssa Naeher and Sam Coffey (sister of our Phillies reporter Alex Coffey) playing with the U.S. women’s soccer team against Zambia.

🥉 We’ll also tell you how well the region’s reps are doing overall. In 2021, our tracker found that Philadelphia athletes collectively earned more medals than the entire country of Norway.

Check out the Philly Olympian tracker here.

You can also find it every day on the Inquirer.com homepage — and you’ll see the sports desk’s latest Olympics coverage in this newsletter through the entirety of the Games.

A slew of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania legislators have stated their support for Gov. Josh Shapiro to be named Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Which Democrat has stated they do not want Shapiro to get the role?

A) State Sen. Sharif Street

B) Erin McClelland, candidate for state treasurer

C) Rep. Joanna McClinton

D) Vice President Kamala Harris

Think you know? Check your answer.

📱 Bumping: The song of the summer, a.k.a. the chime of breaking news alerts on our phones.

🐶 Looking for: The Dogist, the viral dog photographer who’s in Philly this week.

📚 Reading: Sylvia Plath on the beach.

Workers just voted to unionize at another Philadelphia location of this coffee chain.

BASS TRUCK

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Marta Rusek, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Mazzoni Center. CEO Sultan Shakir spoke to The Inquirer about how Philly’s largest LGBTQ health agency is turning its finances around post-pandemic.

🦅 One last flying thing: The same week the Philadelphia Eagles started training camp, quarterback Jalen Hurts launched his foundation to serve and mentor youth.

Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. See you back here tomorrow.

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