It took my paralegal two hours to get into the office this morning. Normally, a quick trip on I-95 will put her at our front door in less than 40 minutes. But this is the new normal, ever since a tanker exploded yesterday morning, causing the collapse of a major city artery.
We’ve had uniquely Philadelphian tragedies before. There was the man-made catastrophe of a mayor dropping a bomb on an entire neighborhood in 1985, when Wilson Goode was faced with the MOVE members and their military arsenal. (Of course, they were described as peace-loving, back-to-nature types, with a stash of AK-47s.)
More recently, there was the horrific collapse of a building on 22nd and Market Street which took the lives of six people, including visitors to a nearby Salvation Army store, and injured fourteen others. That was in 2013, under Mayor Michael Nutter.
Now we have another debacle, and it happened under a mayor who famously stated that he couldn’t wait to be out of office. That is perhaps the only thing he, and his constituents, agree upon: he has overstayed his welcome.
READ MORE — Christine Flowers: A Democrat again — for now
Jim Kenney is the sort of person who has no natural base. The old-style Democrats of the Philly machine have disowned him, the Republicans never liked him to begin with, and the wokesters that now surround the 60-something-year-old are ready to move on. They were parasites to begin with, feeding off of the body politic to advance their goals, one of which included erasing Columbus Day from the calendar, which Old Man Kenney obligingly facilitated. They also pushed for the removal of any vestige of a mayor once supported by Kenney, the legendary Frank Rizzo. They were uniquely successful in that endeavor as well. The final jewel in their triple crown of offense remained out of their reach, since the Columbus statue still presides proudly over Marconi Square, in the heart of Kenney’s native South Philadelphia.
And now that Kenney is at the end of his term, and their standard-bearer Helen Gym has been consigned to the place that defeated progressives occupy after unsuccessful primaries (namely, bright futures as cable news anchors), they no longer have any interest in whether he lives, dies, or takes his girlfriend for dates on Maryland’s eastern shore.
To be honest, none of us really care what he does when he’s officially “gone.” But given the fact that he is still, nominally, the go-to person in the city when tragedies of this magnitude occur, it would have been nice to hear some details from Jim.
Like who employed the driver and what kind of statement is forthcoming from the company. These are not difficult questions. This is not the stuff of deep dive investigations. The truck that caused the explosion, the one carrying dangerous materials, belonged to someone. It did not simply spring, anonymous, from the dew-filled morning air. The company would have had employee logs. The truck, which I have been told was not completely demolished at the time of the accident, must have had markings, a serial number on it, something that would indicate provenance. But we have so far heard nothing other than, “It’s going to be a long while before commuters can get back on I-95.”
For God’s sake, Mr. Mayor Who Is Annoyed He Is Still Mayor, for once in your sad life, act like a leader.
In the meantime, SEPTA has announced it will add trains to its commuter service, which causes all of us who regularly use commuter rail to roll our eyes. Given that they can barely handle the volume they currently serve, it will be a “rhymes with hit” storm when they have to take on additional passengers.
The fact that we are still in the dark about this mess is not the stuff of conspiracy theory. Too many idle minds are suggesting this was caused by a terrorist, or a Ukrainian, or Hunter Biden, or even Ron DeSantis so he can contrast his efficiency in rebuilding bridges after Hurricane Ian with our Democratic incompetence. That, and a Ouija Board, will get you real answers.
But I do think it is despicable that there have been no news conferences with legitimate, tangible, detailed information about how the I-95 collapse happened and who did it. A truck exploded, and we are all caught in the downdraft of its flames. For God’s sake, Mr. Mayor Who Is Annoyed He Is Still Mayor, for once in your sad life, act like a leader.
We deserve it, and now might be a good time to start trying to give it to us.
Christine Flowers is an attorney and lifelong Philadelphian. @flowerlady61
Thousands of West Philadelphians went under a boil water advisory on Sunday 6/11, according to the Philadelphia Water Department, which was very lightly reported on as well. About 18,000 accounts were impacted. This includes those who lost water or had low pressure in the area of Wynnefield Heights, Wynnefield, Overbrook Farms, Green Hill Farms, Overbrook, Overbrook Park, Morris Park; parts of Carrol Park, Haddington, West Parkside, and West Fairmount Park. Affected ZIP codes are 19151, and parts of 19131 and 19139. Between about 3:45 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. on Sunday, a pumping station serving a section of upper West Philadelphia failed. This caused a loss of pressure in the system and left some customers without water. Water pressure was restored, but customers were told to not use the water without boiling. Out of caution, customers in this part of the city were told that they should boil water before using it for drinking, cooking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and preparing formula. This is because a lack of pressure can create a vacuum that could pull disease-causing organisms such as bacteria into water pipes. Tests were conducted on Sunday and Monday and once the water gets back to acceptable standards, officials will inform customers that they no longer need to boil water. The water department anticipated resolving the problem by June 13, 2023. Has it been fixed?
how much revenue from all sources does the city take in? and where does it go?
This is a near perfect example of the outright stupidity / evil of Christine Flowers. It has all of her greatest hits (except for her usual whining about non-existent Catholic persecution) It starts with her absolute outrage that an accident occurred. Then it shifts to her attempting to blame a politician or politicians she doesn’t like on the accident and ends with just plain lies, ignorance and idiocy in claiming that there has been no press conference or information released when in fact, there has been. Chrissy just had to get the article written fast so she had something to gripe about. The best part? She criticizes anyone who has latched on to a conspiracy theory about the collapse on the same day she calls in to the Dawn Stensland show when Dawn just made the case that it may have been someone blowing up the overpass for the anniversary of Timothy McVeigh’s execution. Then, on the same day, writes a fawning tweet about how fabulous Maga-Dawn is. The best screenwriters probably couldn’t make up a script with this level of lunacy.
You’re spot on about Christine Flowers. Her new thing is to call trans people “mentally ill” and that she refuses to call them the pronouns they wish to be called because they are “mentally ill”. As much as Flowers whines and melts down that she’s being discriminated against for being a Catholic it’s ironic she wants to go down this road and discriminate against a group of people. It’s not going to be long before Americans use this same strategy she’s using and deem religious folks as “mentally ill” and that they should not be recognized as sane, rational people. There is zero evidence that there’s any God. Regarding Dawn Stensland. What a disappointment she turned out to be. She used to seem so normal and just delightful. Unfortunately, she ended up as nutty as Kari Lake worshiping at the altar of Trump who can do no wrong in Dawn’s delusional eyes.
The common denominator with cretinous people like Christine and Dawn is that they hate anyone who doesn’t conform to their approved way of living. Be different and incur their wrath. You are absolutely right about the downfall of Dawn. She has truly become a terrible person. Her husband, Larry Mendte has gone down the same path. Just peruse their Twitter feeds. They are equally surprising and sad. I think they are incredibly bitter and jealous that they have both lost their TV careers. They have both stooped to just hurling insults at successful news journalists. Both are far Right wing extremists and surprisingly, Dawn is farther Right than Larry. She is full on MAGA and even flirts with QAnon stuff. It’s pitiful, really.
“Mentally ill” is an appropriate descriptor for the majority of transgender individuals. Their illness is sad and merits compassion. Christine is right to refer to these individuals by their gender at birth. Pandering to their wild predilections serves no one’s best interest.
I don’t disagree with you, Bill. Body dysmorphic disorder is real and a mental illness. I’m not saying all trans people are mentally ill. And I’m only referring to adults. Children have no business transitioning. They are not fully formed and should not be getting drugs or surgery for that. That said, that road of “I’m not going to pretend” etc. will eventually lead to no more public Christmas displays or mentions of God in public. Why should “rational” people go along with “mentally ill” people talking to imaginary friends. I’m not saying religious folks are mentally ill – but the same logic applies if we are going down that road. That road Flowers wants to take us down will make her rue the day later.
Trans people are mentally ill. Love is love. Just like water is water, but I don’t drink out of a toilet.
Beautiful summary, but it missed Columbus. Christine is obsessed with making sure a disease-carrying murderer who didn’t discover America (Vikings had visited and Indigenous people lived here) gets sufficient statues. It’s a big, big problem.
Having seen several internet news casts (before you get upset, they are all provided by legacy media, so we can dispense with the usual “must be right-wing conspiracy theorists dismissals), I still can’t find out who the truck driver was, who owned the truck, who owned the product and to which gas station was it travelling. This information being still in doubt or being “verified.” The actual cause of the accident is still not confirmed. I can easily see why the mayor’s input to the public would be calming, particularly as we can expect the grand poohbah of our transportation system to come to the scene in a day or two, lending a sense of gravitas to the tragedy. By the way Margaret, I am unclear what the basis may be of your seeming vitriolic hatred of all things Christine Flowers, but it really doesn’t foster civil debate and illustrates the very problem we are facing in American society. In fact, it reminds me of the hate mail I used to get many years ago while in government service, the one I most fondly remember as “Dear G** D*** public servant, I pray daily that you will die. Yours fondly, Miss P******* ********”
If you can’t find out the info on the truck and driver, then you simply aren’t looking. The info has been available since yesterday. As for my “vitriol” towards Christine, Just take a look at her Twitter feed. That will tell 99% of what you need to know. She is a lying, narcissistic hate monger who peddles in bias, spin and plain stupidity as she panders to her “followers” who know that to get in her good graces, one only has to compliment her looks or voice or make some syrupy comment about how hilarious or witty she is. Offer a polite, counter argument and prove her wrong? You’ll be blocked. She makes our community a worse place and people like her deserve nothing but pushback. Unlike Christine, I don’t attack her appearance or use adolescent insults as she does when she has no counterpoint. I confront her directly with facts and thoughtful observation and I stand behind every word I say.
The hysterical right blames anything and everything on the left. Maybe the author wants to ask the residents of Miami about the wonderful infrastructure that Republican leaders bring to their cities. (As long as you don’t mind the stench of all the toxic seaweed on their beaches and the constant flooding.)
How does building a city in the wrong place on the wrong soil, essentially putting the city in harm’s way have anything to do with Republicans or Democrats? Since Miami has been around and growing since the 19th century, how are Republicans responsible for legacy infrastructure? Are you implying that there is never any flooding in coastal cities run by Democrats? While at it explain to me how any political party is responsible for seaweed and the tides that carry it.
Though Ms. Flowers may annoy the far-left and the Democratic party followers, her stance in this article is about accountability. Or lack of accountability in the Philly news outlets and with our local government. The issues in which plague Philly is strictly due to failed leadership which has been allowed by Philly’s main news outlets. If we peruse the main Philly news outlets, we will notice an agenda. We will also notice a lack transparency with issues that are DESTROYING the city. If anyone has any love for Philly, he/she must understand the following issues MUST be addressed by our news outlets. However, as Ms Flowers points out, these issues are not addressed. The following issues Philly leads or is one of the nation’s leaders: poor air and water quality and pollution, illegal dumping, poor education, poor infrastructure, high poverty rate, high crime/murder rate, high infant mortality rates, high levels of government corruption, high levels of children under 18 years old victims of gun violence, the largest open air drug market on the East coast if not the country, countless businesses closing due to violence, and an increasing homeless/panhandling population. How can anyone not be frustrated with these continued problems? These issues are very similar to the issues which have been plaguing San Francisco for years. Philly’s actually worse. However, our news outlets allow our political leaders to continue their failed policies year after year without any accountability. How can anyone be silent and agree that Philly is going in the correct direction with our city leaders in charge? How can anyone feel that Wokeism is the correct path for Philly? The city is literally and figuratively crumbling. Philly’s news outlets are ALLOWING Philly to crumble due to lack of accountability. It doesn’t matter which political party we follow (but Philly’s Democratic machine has been in power since 1952, just saying). The lack of accountability HAS destroyed Philly. Ms. Flowers is only showing her love for Philly. Ms. Flowers is explaining how the ineptitude of Philly’s main news outlets has allowed Philly to be a failed city. If you say, you love Philly, if you say you believe in equity, if you say you believe in progress, how can you disagree with Ms. Flower’s assertion? You may disagree with her favored political party, but our favored political parties should not play a role in Philly’s demise. Unfortunately, it has because our news outlets has allowed it. Pitting each of us against each other as the city crumbles.
Joe Rosato, great comment! Thank you.
Wait.
Christine Flowers is right: every aspect of the quality of life is collapsing in Philadelphia – and now this collapse being exported to the suburbs (think Delco).
Meanwhile the corrupt government school educrats who lurk on this website hate her; she’s a threat to their graft.