Stealth development | Morning Newsletter

Happy Thursday.

More showers and possibly a thunderstorm could come today. Grab a jacket and try to dodge the rain. Temps should reach the high 60s.

For the next “Your Philly story” installment, I want to know the story of your best experience at a summer music festival in the region. I’m looking for no more than 75 words why you loved it. Last year, I went to the Roots Picnic with a group of old friends and it was the first time I saw Jazmine Sullivan live. I still get chills thinking about that performance. There’s something about sitting on a blanket in a park surrounded by other people who are also in awe of your favorite artist.

📮 Email me your story for a chance to be featured here.

Our lead story explores how East Market Street is turning into a neighborhood.

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

A common argument in favor of the Sixers’ new arena proposal downtown is that it’s the best hope to revitalize Philadelphia’s historic Market Street corridor.

But architecture critic Inga Saffron argues that this take ignores one of the biggest developments of the last decade wrapping up on the 1100 block of Market Street.

In her own words: “That transformation has been so gradual and so surgical that some Philadelphians may not fully appreciate the extent of National Real Estate’s extraordinary accomplishment. In just 10 years — the same time frame the Sixers are using for the arena — National has erected two apartment towers, carved a new office building out of an old clothing factory, installed a boutique hotel in a historic 19th-century skyscraper, and brought a supermarket to an area short on such amenities.”

Keep reading to learn why Saffron is advocating for more projects like this.

As the chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and his staff spent the past year investigating nursing home oversight.

The finding: State inspection agencies are chronically understaffed.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health hired retired inspectors on a limited capacity to try to fill the gap.

The scope: Pennsylvania has nearly 700 nursing homes with room for nearly 90,000 people. The state has funding for 120 surveyors which translates to only one surveyor for every six nursing homes. On top of that, 13% of those positions are vacant.

Keep reading to learn Casey’s potential solutions.

Knoebels is not just serving decent food out in Columbia County in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The family-owned amusement park was voted “Best Food” for the 2022 Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards. Since 2000, Knoebels has won the award 19 times.

Notable quote: “It’s really hard for any other park to topple Knoebels,” said Tim Baldwin, editor of Amusement Today.

Some of Knoebels’ food is what you expect at an amusement park. I’m talking pickles, corndogs, and fried cheese on a stick. But the park also has a sit-down, full menu restaurant called the Alamo. It was recently named the top theme park restaurant in the United States by a panel of travel experts chosen by USA Today, beating out eateries at Walt Disney World.

Click here to see pictures of the iconic food.

The moderators of Philly’s largest subreddit went offline from June 12 to 14 as part of a sitewide blackout to protest a new policy.

How many members use the r/Philadelphia forum?

A) 500,000

B) 449,000

C) 442,000

D) 342,000

Think you know? Check your answer.

🚧 Watching: The I-95 reconstruction livestream. If you want to see it with LoFi music, there’s a Twitch channel for that.

🥤Craving: The Georgia Peach Iced Tea boozy milkshake from Thirsty Dice.

Hint: 1,100 acres

GONDOLAS WRONGED

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Carmella Love, who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Insomnia Cookies.

And that’s it from me. We’re so close to the end of the week. Make the day count and I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow.