If you want to set your timezones and keep them aligned in PHP and in Python, then your PHP code is completely correct and for python you need to apply the following:
os.environ['TZ'] = 'America/New_York'
time.tzset()
before you call strftime()
That should make sure you store the time in the same zone you're trying to retrieve it.
Note: tzset()
is a Unix-only function.