49th Street Station (Instagram/@j_r_blackwell)

Eagles Xmas album raises $1.25 million 🎄

Water bills in Philadelphia might go up ~$15 per month

Philly has one of the oldest water systems in the country. The median age of a main pipe is 76 years old — and they break almost 800 times a year.

  • The cost to maintain this is rising, per the Philadelphia Water Department. The utility filed to boost rates about 20% over two years, WHYY News reports, so it can address “critical infrastructure.”

The increase would see monthly bills go up by an average of $15 by the end of 2024. It wouldn’t affect people on assistance programs, the utility says. 

Bills are a consistently troubling issue for PWD. Last summer residents started getting thousand-dollar charges after snafus with “smart meters,” and the clunky online payment system still charges a high “convenience fee.”

→ Read PWD’s justification for the hike

A Philadelphia kitchen sink (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

An Eagles bar in the heart of Niners territory

The owner of San Francisco’s Kezar Pub is expecting to turn away 49ers fans ahead of Sunday’s NFC Championship game.

  • Instead, Eagles fans will fill the Bay Area sports bar as their team faces the Niners. The Irish pub, in operation since the 1930s, was adopted by Philly expats 15 years ago, and they never looked back.

“They’re probably the loudest, most raucous fans of anyone I know,” the bar owner tells BP contributor Sasha Rogelberg.

→ Rain or shine, Birds fans show up

Eagles fans outside Kezar Pub in San Francisco (Courtesy Kezar Pub)

RECAP: What else happened?

$ = paywalled

MAYOR WATCH

Mayor Kenney attends a ceremony at the Temple Performing Arts Center recognizing a group of Police Department members who recently got promotions (10 a.m.).

ON THE CALENDAR

💋 With a Syrian-born director, the Wilma presents “Kiss,” a play about American actors stumbling over cultural misunderstandings while performing a Syrian soap opera. Tickets start at $19. (Jan. 31 to Feb. 19)

🧊 Missing the snow? Manayunk’s Main Street gets lined with ice sculptures during the Founders Philly Freeze-Out, a winter street fair with carving demos, drink deals, and a chowder crawl. (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4)