Totally agree, especially because congestion along City Ave is nightmarish, and there's just no reason for the number of single-occupant cars on that stretch. I'd also like it if lines like the G (or even the 10) had some stops on the suburban side of City Ave.

Would of been better if they'd of spelled it "should of"

>Are you sizing up to a larger capacity unit than your current water heater?

No, but in my case that's just because the one we have is too large for our needs anyway. I'll stay at the same size for the new one. It does seem like for most people, sizing up is the way to go.

I haven't installed one but am about to take the plunge due to the tax credits available this year. So I've done a deep dive into the pros and cons. When you say "hybrid," are you referring to a single outdoor heat pump that heats the home AND the water? It's worth distinguishing, because yeah -- in general, air source heat pumps become marginally less efficient as the outside temperature drops. Just as in deep cold it might take said heat pump longer to raise your indoor temp by X degrees, it also takes longer to raise the temp of a tank full of water. When I see complaints online about heat pump water heaters, it causes me to wonder if people undersized the tank -- like, did they get a 50 gallon when their use patterns would've been better served by a 100 gallon?

I have an air source heat pump already that heats and cools my house. We also have an older gas boiler that does radiator heat as a backup. This winter, we used the boiler/radiators on exactly 20 days total. The heat pump covered the rest of the winter, no problem. But interestingly, I found that I saved money on the heat pump by eliminating programmed nighttime setbacks on my thermostat -- the heat pump worked more efficiently by maintaining temps over time than by having to raise them quickly in the morning, at the coldest part of the day. That kind of "high inertia" performance (for lack of a better term, I'm not a scientist) would indicate that maybe sizing up to a larger tank would be a good idea for a water heater.

I'm now looking at getting a *separate* heat pump water heater to put in my basement. The cool thing about these is that they are effectively air-conditioning your basement in order to heat your hot water -- they just move heat from the surrounding environment into the water in the tank. So in this region, I think there are some extra benefits in that a basement HPWH can dehumidify your basement and effectively suck up waste heat from boilers, hot water pipes, dehumidifiers, dryers, etc. But it does make the basement itself colder in those winter months.

Also a stop on the Mill Creek sewer line

It's awful, and unfortunately will end up being a Rorschach blot where everyone sees their priors about dog breeds. It's totally reasonable not to allow your dog to be killed by a larger, stronger dog whose owner cannot control it. It's also tragic that the pit's owner is in a tough spot in her life, and I'm sure that the dog was a major source of support.

Personally, I'd get thousands of guys with gas-powered leaf blowers to blow all the abandoned cars into the storm drains

I don't even hate her policy positions, but it's sort of nuts how long she's managed to hide (from most people) what a self-interested clown she is. She's better at social media than any of the other mayoral candidates, but this campaign seems to be outing some of her worst tendencies. This eye-popping quote came from the AACC candidates' forum on 1/15:

> “You’ve got to have somebody, when, as soon as they walk into the room, systems of oppression fall and new systems of opportunity are built,” Gym said. “When I walk into the room, systems of oppression fall and new systems of opportunity come up, and everybody in this room knows it.” source

Yikes.

I hate the term "beta" but I agree with that assessment of this behavior

I had squirrels in my rear 2nd floor ceiling in 2015 when I lived in Kingsessing. I called a place in the northern burbs called A Wildlife Pro -- they found the entry point, put a one-way door on it, and the squirrels were gone in a week with no trapping or poison or inhumane treatment of any kind. Then the contractor came back, collected their trap, and sealed the opening permanently. No further problems.

Sila HVAC. They're pretty corporate, but they are easy to deal with and show up on time. They wouldn't be my first choice for more esoteric stuff like steam heat, but for heat pumps, split systems, forced hot air, and hot water radiators, they're great.

Our house (early 1920s) has a heat pump for AC and shoulder-season heat, and a hot water boiler + radiators for deep cold. We pay $170 per year for maintenance on each system. The plan is worth it to us because they reach out to schedule without my having to call them, and it includes a 10% discount on replacement parts and waived dispatch fee if we have to call them for an emergency repair.

I remember reading some pundit (maybe Matt Yglesias?) saying that no politician will engage with the traffic safety issue because it has "low ideological salience." In other words, terrible drivers come from all political tribes and so you can't make a wedge issue/culture war out of it.

In reality, if you're relying on enforcement to make traffic safer, you're too late. Every enforcement mechanism (including our boy's "mandatory 4k") is vulnerable to abuse. Some more than others, but all can be abused.

Our real problem is that our roads are designed for maximum throughput of cars instead of maximum safety of all users (not just drivers). So the best thing you can do is to support rational, safety-oriented redesign of roads in a way that promotes pro-social driving.

Also most of near Kingsessing, like down the 52nd St corridor south of Baltimore and a few blocks either side, plus Florence and Warrington out to Cobbs Creek Parkway.