Block by Block
August 16, 2026 (Around the Block)
Around the Block is a community news program from the Block by Block team at WPPM-LP 106.5 FM. On this program we explore issues in the Philadelphia region with voices from the community – with reports from our team of community journalists and live in-studio interviews. This episode features a story about efforts preserve the character of Philadelphia's historic buildings and neighborhoods from unchecked development, and an interview with Philadelphia City Council Education Chair Isaiah Thomas and Children First Policy Director Symbol Lai about pre-school pushout and the impact of only some Philadelphia schools offering Algebra I classes to eight grade students. Sophia Mattia and Jennifer Robnett hosted this episode, and Ahmed Hassouna was our board operator. Brad Linder is Radio News Managing Editor for WPPM. Peta Liu is Radio Operations Manager. And Allison Durham is WPPM’s Radio Program Director. Episode Transcript Jennifer Robnett Good afternoon. You're listening to Around the Block, a community news program from the Block by Block team at WPPM LP, Philadelphia 106.5 FM. On this show, we explore issues in the Philadelphia region with voices from the community, through original reports from our team of journalists and live interviews. I'm Jennifer Robnett, Sophia Mattia and I'm Sophia Matia. Coming up, we'll be joined by Philadelphia City Council Education Committee Chair Isaiah Thomas and Children First Policy Director Symbol Lai for a conversation about two issues facing Philadelphia students and their families as they navigate the school system. Jennifer Robnett But first, Philadelphia is a historic city filled with historic buildings, but Philadelphia City Council is considering legislation that could alter Philadelphia's ability to protect these buildings by changing the way historic preservation works in the city, a group of community members and organizations have been pushing back, and have formed a stop demolishing Philly coalition. Around the block reporter Winter Schneider brings us this story about what's at stake. Winter Schneider Bill 251030 was first introduced in November 2025 by Council Member Mark Squilla, who represents neighborhoods bordering the Delaware River from Port Richmond all the way to Packer Street in South Philly. Even with significant pushback and multiple delays, Squilla plans to reintroduce the bill to City Council potentially this fall. Digging into this issue exposes a deep and familiar pattern for Philadelphians: the neglect and demolition of historically and culturally significant buildings, even when people come together to fight for their preservation. One example of this pattern is the demolition of the historic Saint Laurent's Church in Fish Town in 2022, after years of advocacy on the part of its neighbors and preservation groups across the city, Kevin Brett it goes neglected, neglected, neglected until they're kind of out of options. Winter Schneider Kevin Brett is the president of the volunteer organization Repoint Philadelphia, and one of the organizers behind the coalition against Squilla's bill as it stands. And what's there now? Kevin Brett Oh, they're building probably eight luxury housing units. I think you know, so that's just what Fish Town needs. Yeah. Winter Schneider Philadelphia's historical commission was established in 1955, a time when cities across the country justified massive urban redevelopment projects at the expense of Black, Brown, poor, and working-class residents who were often displaced from their neighborhoods in the process, whose history was worth preserving, was and remains a deeply politicized issue, and the commission has wielded its power to different ends over time. But even with its flaws, current preservation law still fundamentally serves as a buffer against demolition. Kevin Brett Ultimately, the commission can pretty much approve anything with good reason, but it at least is sort of like a stopgap that makes us think about things before we just go ahead with a wrecking ball. Winter Schneider Let's break down the law a little bit. Currently, even a nomination for historic designation protects a property by placing it under the commission's jurisdiction, which means that a developer can't do anything to the building while the commission considers the nomination. One thing the new bill would do is create a 30-day loophole before this jurisdiction kicks in, which would allow developers to get out of historic designation by irrevocably altering or demolishing the building first. Another thing the bill would do would be to disqualify the building from historic designation altogether if the owner even files a zoning application on the property. Kevin Brett The table is clearly tilted in one direction on a number of fronts. Winter Schneider Councilmember Squilla initially said that he sponsored the bill to address complaints with preservation law, not only from developers but also from individual property owners who felt like historic designation restricted what they could do with their property. Kevin says that there is a widespread agreement among preservation advocates about the need for practical solutions, but that this bill does not address that. We Kevin Brett do want preservation to be easier for people, particularly people who are lower income and maybe have fewer resources. We are still very big on this concept of what we call flexible districts. Some people call it tiered districts. The idea is that if you were to have a historic district, you would have varying levels of significance that would make it easier. Like if your building is on a sort of lower significance tier, then we're not going to care about the paint. We're not going to care about the windows. We just don't want you to like knock the place down. Basically, that's the type of. Legislation that we wish we were talking about. Winter Schneider Philly has been in a historic preservation boom over the last 10 years. Community groups have pushed for historic designation on properties throughout the city as a way to hold on to neighborhood history and identity. Kevin says Bill 251030 would put even more power in developers' hands while taking agency away from the public. Kevin Brett You're really like pulling the rug out from under these community actors, and just empowering sort of like economic interests or what what have you that don't have as much skin in the game on a lived experience basis. Like they many times they don't even live in the city. Winter Schneider While this might all just sound like a legal fight over buildings. It's also fundamentally about who gets to live in and use them. Sierra Freeman and Paul Brown organize with the Brewery Town Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition, or BSNC, which is part of the coalition pushing back against Squilla's bill. Cierra Freeman Historic preservation, whether cultural or architectural is definitely more than just the buildings themselves, the stories themselves. It's the ability for folks to to continue to live here. Paul Brown Philadelphians will tell you we are losing our spaces, especially we see it for the kids. They don't have enough third spaces to go to. Winter Schneider BSNC is organizing with other groups in the area under the Dope Neighborhood Project, an initiative to get Charleswood recognized and protected as a culturally historic district. This would protect sites like the Checker Club, once known as the Checker Cafe, a historic venue from the heyday of jazz in North Philly in the mid 20th century. The building is the last one standing on what used to be a whole strip of theaters and jazz clubs along Ridge Avenue, and is now owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Cierra Freeman That's a place that maybe it could get a marker, maybe it could be updated for community use. But like so many other buildings across Philadelphia, it's just sitting here, and we'll sit here as long as the powers that be deem it necessary to sit before it is sold to someone else. Winter Schneider The side of the Checker Club features a mural of the trailblazing black singer, actress, and comedian Pearl Bailey, who called the neighborhood home. Paul and Sierra shared with me that Pearl Bailey's own house, which is already in the city's register of historic places, was recently put up for sale on Zillow. Paul Brown There's definitely people who would live there, but they don't have the money to invest to build up the space to make it livable. So then you have to rely on the developers or corporations to take a stake in it, and then unfortunately you lose some autonomy in how you want to build out this space. Winter Schneider This example highlights the reality: the historic designation still cannot guarantee preservation, which also depends on investment of money and other resources. And still, the recognition and preservation of historic buildings is one tool in tracing a clear story that connects the history of the neighborhood to all the people living in it today. Cierra Freeman For me, and how it comes up in the work, is making sure that the history is as clear as possible, and as full as possible, as detailed as possible, to share that information with folks who have just moved here, so that that helps them to deepen their relationship with the neighborhood itself, as they build relationship with other community members, but also for the folks who have been here for a very long time, who we call MBSNC generational neighbors, it helps to reinforce the pride that they have in their neighborhood, the pride in the history of the neighborhood, which then lends itself to the pride that they have in themselves and their self-esteem as it's connected to their surroundings and their relationship to each other. Winter Schneider Anyone interested in preserving Philly's neighborhood histories can find out more about the initiative to kill Bill 251030 at stopdemalishingphilly.org, and you can check out the Brewerytown Charleswood Neighborhood Coalition's work and get involved in the Dope Neighborhood Project by visiting BSNC Philly on Instagram. For Around the Block, I'm Winter Schneider. Sophia Mattia Philadelphia City Council is considering ways to make schools equitable for all Philadelphians. This month's council education meeting held hearings on two issues. One looked at students of color and students with disabilities being excluded and expelled from preschools. The other explored the fact that not every eighth grader in the city has access to an Algebra One course. Councilman Isaiah Thomas is chair of City Council's Education Committee, and he is joining us live in the studio. Thanks for being here. Isaiah Thomas Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Sophia Mattia We're also joined by Cymbal Lai, policy director for Children First, a statewide advocacy organization for young people in Pennsylvania. Thanks for joining us. Symbol Lai Thank you. Sophia Mattia So our first question is: Preschool isn't required by law in Pennsylvania. Some kids don't start school until they're five or six. But why is preschool so important for young students? Isaiah Thomas Well, I think that's a great question. I think for the seat that I sit in, as a father, as a former teacher myself, and as somebody who's the chair of the education committee on city council? Study after study has shown that pre-K puts young people in a position to be on a trajectory to be successful academically, and that's what we want to see. We also understand that with the affordability crisis that we're facing right now, a lot of parents are forced to work two, some even three jobs, and so we want young people to be able to have a quality academic experience while parents are putting themselves in a position and trying to earn a quality living for themselves and their families, so it's something that I highly recommend. We encourage, we push, and we want to see it funded in innovative ways, both on the city and state level. It'd be nice if the feds put a little more skin in the game, but definitely on the city and state level to assure that we are offering these opportunities to as many families and as many students as possible. Jennifer Robnett Great. So this hearing addressed this phenomenon known as preschool pushout. Can one of you tell me exactly what is preschool pushout? Symbol Lai So the easiest way to understand preschool pushout is when students, babies, because they're not even in K through 12, right? They're suspended and expelled from their programs, and it's something that we people don't know about. When we say that kids that young are getting suspended and expelled, people are usually shocked, right? Because they're they're babies, right? And it's something that parents, a lot of families that we've talked to and stuff, they don't even realize that it's happening until after the fact, like many years after the fact, and it's something that flies under the radar because it's very subtle. It's like you know, getting calls all the time to pick up your kid, right? Or being told that you have to sit outside the program while your kid is in the program. And there's little-I would say, they're microaggressions that make families feel unwelcome, and so it's a very silent, you know, silent under the radar type of suspension and expulsion. So we call it. Council member came up with the term preschool pushout, which is it rolls off the tongue a lot better than suspension expulsion. Isaiah Thomas And and I mean, for us on the on the council side, is this is this is our idea of expanding the work of the education committee, but it's also putting us in a position to understand what's actually going on. I think without the organizations and the advocates coming to city council saying this is a problem, we need you to explore it, we would have never known about the problem. And so we really wanted to have the conversation in the summertime because once you are informed about this issue, you recognize how important it is. It needs to stand alone. When school starts back up, you know it's going to be a lot of education dialog. We're still going to be in the midst of a facilities fight. We're not a fan of this facilities issue. You just heard some of the transition that's happening with young people going to Kensington High School and the impact that that's going to have on folks, and then you just have your issues as it relates to traveling to and from school, extracurricular activities. the The pot is pretty big, and so we wanted to have this conversation in the summertime so we could highlight this problem. Not necessarily saying that we know the solution, but giving it it's giving it an opportunity to have its own platform is really really important, and we're going to continue to explore what do we do because I think for this hearing we did a great job of highlighting the problem, but I think we were very honest about the fact that we're not sure how do we solve this, but we're not going to quit. We're going to continue to work with advocates, community-based leaders, and folks who brought this issue to try to collaborate to figure out how do we resolve it. Sophia Mattia Thank you. Can you explain why preschool pushout happens and how it affects the process for minority students to apply to preschool? Symbol Lai So I actually think Symbol will probably be better to explain the process just because they came to us, right? The organizations they've done the report, they've done the work, and they came to counsel and said, "This is the problem. Now, based on the content that I received in the hearing, you know, from what I, similar to what was said earlier, a lot of it is subtle. But then, when you listen to the providers, there are even cases where people don't realize that that's what they're doing, right? And so, from our perspective, how do we get more resources to those providers so they can be able to offer services to anybody that walks in the door? But the the experts are the folks who are who came to us and told us this is what needs to be done. So we're still gathering information. We're still similar to your audience. We're still learning about what's going on. And I think it's important for people to recognize that elected officials don't have all the answers. The best elected officials are the elected officials who will listen to the experts, and the experts are often people who have lived experiences. And so that's what we're trying to do right now: is listen to people who have lived experiences and try to figure out how do we navigate this uncharted area and what resources can be provided and who. Advises those resources, so I'll pass it Symbol Lai to you. Thank you. So part of the reason that it happens that we found is, you know, I would say if you a parent has a child that doesn't fit like quote unquote normal categories that we expect young children to have, like they tend to be affected by the preschool push out a lot more. So you're thinking about race and class, and in this case, disability, right? And what happens is, you know, providers they are already taxed and like strapped for resources. They might not necessarily like recognize some of the challenging behaviors or have like the tools or the resources to be able to handle it in the classroom. And so, you know, their default might be, and this is not just default. You know, just when you're stressed, right? You're like, how do I, you know, keep the rest of the students safe and keep the program going? So they might target, you know, and single out this one student and everything that is, you know, still a baby, still developing, right? And maybe needs more care resources, some reframe from the adults in the room about what's happening for the child and stuff in order to kind of acclimate them to this situation, and it's a problem because a lot of parents that we've talked to, they say that it's not the first time that they get pushed out. Like this is the first time that you know it might be the start of a long line of pushouts that extend even into their K to 12 years, right? So you think about like the first time a child enters into any sort of social education space in pre K, and if they're pushed out, right, that's harm, right? And they're not getting the resources that they need in order to kind of acclimate and get over the problem. So it's kind of like we're just you know absent any sort of like intervention from the adults in the room from the systems that are there to support the students. We're just kind of kicking the can down the road and expecting the problem to be fixed at some point. So that's why the problem happens. I can go on a little bit more into some of the systemic failures and the loopholes and everything. One of them, like I said, is the providers not having enough resources in the classroom, not having enough trainings, right, to identify problematic behaviors, and then to bring in the correct resources, the therapists, the specialists, the evaluations that are needed to kind of rectify the situation. And on the back end, you know when you when we looked at the systems that are in control, or you know in control of those resources at the state and the city level, and almost at the state level, it's too fractured, right? So you know you get maybe zero to three and everything. They can they can get early intervention services in the city, and then beyond that, they go into they you know the Elwin, which is a state entity, gets you know has control over those those resources, right? And so you think about the families; they have to navigate their child is the same, the problems are the same, right? But they end up having to navigate multiple systems at the same time, right, and it becomes very confusing. Providers are confused, parents are confused, and that's not even to layer on top of that. We have a whole, you know, you think about developmental delay. Elwin e
