I've said this a lot, but I can't recommend Code Igniter enough when working with PHP. Quite fast, almost feels like an entirely different "real" language with so much library support from the framework.

Even when I work with Django (being a huge Python man myself), I miss having some of the better aspects of Code Igniter (and definitely CI's user guide is stellar).

Don't switch languages mid-way unless you have a great reason. PHP blog-flak isn't a good enough reason (IMHO) unless your team is fluent in another language they can code more securely.