{"id":894031,"date":"2026-06-26T11:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/894031\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T11:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:44:12","slug":"guest-commentary-about-that-brewery-brouhaha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/894031\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Commentary: About that Brewery Brouhaha\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like Erik Orvik,<\/a> I\u2019m a very near neighbor to the planned brewery at 1800 Tasker Street. I bought my home in early 2013, and since that time have added a garden in the backyard, a powder room on the first floor, and most importantly, a husband and a child, who we\u2019ll be sending to our neighborhood elementary school, Childs. I was recently elected as a committeeperson for my division, 36-11, which includes the proposed brewery. All of this is to say that I am deeply rooted in my neighborhood of Point Breeze, and I\u2019m not going anywhere.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s not a zoning loophole<\/a> that allows properties with historic status to be used for commercial use: It\u2019s the expressed purpose of the law. There\u2019s nothing nefarious here. We have already seen what happens when neighbors fight over how historic buildings should be used \u2014 they get demolished. Take the plight of beloved St. Laurentius<\/a> in Fishtown, which should have been saved by its historic status, but instead continued to deteriorate while neighbors argued over what could be built within the facade. Eventually, the situation got so dire that the building could not be saved, and the site was razed. Currently, it\u2019s an empty lot, set to be townhomes.<\/p>\n

I do not want the church down the block to meet the same fate. The building is beautiful, and I\u2019m glad it\u2019ll be saved \u2014 but more importantly, I\u2019m glad it will be used. The proposed brewery is just that, a brewery that plans to open at 7am as a coffee shop, serve lunch and dinner, and yes, beer. The owner is including an indoor play space, and he intends to rent our private rooms to families for kids\u2019 birthday parties. This is a family-friendly establishment, and a far cry from a bumping club with bottle service and loud DJs. There are countless places in our neighborhood to buy beer, including tons of nuisance delis that actually deserve this author\u2019s ire, but fewer places to actually sit down, relax, and spend time together in our community. In our endlessly antisocial and lonely world, we need more real third spaces where everyone is welcome.<\/p>\n

Mr. Orvik fears that the brewery \u201cwill necessitate the constant churn of patrons \u2014 and is not unlikely to create heavy late-night foot and motor vehicle traffic, parking disputes and increased noise \u2014 and bring impaired drivers to this family-friendly corner.\u201d This was the same fear-mongering we heard when American Sardine Bar opened at 18th and Federal. I am sure the restaurant is not without its problems \u2014 nothing is perfect \u2014 but I have seen it operate as a good neighbor, and I think if you polled most people on the surrounding blocks, they\u2019d tell you they\u2019re glad to have it so nearby. I love our quiet, residential neighborhood, but one of the amazing parts of living in a city is having quick and easy access to commercial spaces like bars and restaurants. If I didn\u2019t want that, I\u2019d move to the suburbs. And if I wanted to have a say over every single decision made in my neighborhood, I\u2019d move to an HOA.<\/p>\n

\n

In our endlessly antisocial and lonely world, we need more real third spaces where everyone is welcome. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am writing this not only because I\u2019m so excited about this project, but because I have a lot of experience feeling like the author. When I moved into my house, I was against any and all development. I believed that any new housing caused displacement, but I\u2019ve learned that the process of gentrification is actually a lot more complicated than that. It\u2019s easy to oppose things \u2014 out of fear of change, or cynicism that nothing can ever be good or fair, or even because we believe we need to listen to every single person\u2019s concerns. This desire is born from a beautiful and correct place \u2014 that everyone matters, as do their feelings \u2014 but in practice, it does not work. In a city that\u2019s as diverse as ours (and I don\u2019t just mean racially and economically), decision by consensus does not work. It just gums up the works so much that it stops projects before they even begin.<\/p>\n

I believe that if the old church were made into apartments, or worse, knocked down to make room for seven rowhomes, many neighbors would still be against the project. The common themes of opposition \u2014 construction is loud and disruptive (it\u2019s also temporary), and parking will become worse \u2014 would not change. Concerns about parking are heard across this city whenever anyone wants to build a house, or heaven forbid, an apartment building. Besides the fact that the City should not be in the business of providing unlimited free parking to its citizens, this brewery is four blocks from the subway, catty-corner to an Indego bike station, and on three separate bus lines. I have no doubt that the project owner, who I am sure would like to discourage drinking and driving, if only for his own legal protection, would happily work with community members to find other ways to encourage patrons not to drive.<\/p>\n

Mr. Orvik states that the project is \u201clocally unpopular,\u201d but I\u2019m local and I\u2019m excited about it, as are many of my neighbors. It\u2019s true that I\u2019ve spoken to other neighbors who are on the fence, have misgivings, or are just downright opposed. But that\u2019s because we live in a city of a million and a half people, with a million and a half different opinions. The residents of Point Breeze are not a monolith, and it\u2019s impossible for me, Mr. Orvik, or anyone else to speak for \u201cthe community\u201d as a whole, but I welcome him (or anyone else) to meet me for a coffee or a beer to discuss what we think is best for the neighborhood \u2014 if only we had somewhere to do it.<\/p>\n

Mindy Isser works in the labor movement, writes a weekly-ish newsletter<\/a> about politics, family, and culture, and lives in Point Breeze with her husband, toddler, and cat.<\/p>\n

The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.<\/p>\n

\"\" MORE ON WHAT TO DO WITH OUR HISTORIC BUILDINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Outside American Sardine Bar in Point Breeze. Photo courtesy of American Sardine Bar. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like Erik Orvik, I\u2019m a very near neighbor to the planned brewery at 1800 Tasker Street. I bought…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":894032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,5310,112730,1448,2830,1311,211102,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-894031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-city-council","tag-guest-commentary","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-point-breeze","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116816240061422760","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}