New schedules for City and Suburban Transit divisions go into effect beginning Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (Sept. 6-8, 2015). Most timetable adjustments are minor, designed to account for seasonal changes in ridership and to improve customer service, but here’s some good news for trolley riders: SEPTA is introducing additional service on Saturdays on the Routes 11, 13, 34 and 36 to accommodate growing weekend travel demand. Starting next week, trolleys will run more frequently on Saturday afternoon and evening.

More great news is that trolleys will return to Route 15 between Delaware Avenue Loop and 63rd and Girard. Trolleys on this line were substituted with bus service over the summer to accommodate construction projects. Riders will be able to return to their regular boarding locations for travel.

New schedules are available at SEPTA customer locations and online. Riders can also access real time service information year-round by using the official SEPTA App available as a free download for both Apple and Android devices.

Photo courtesy University City District.

Custom-made swings, a new feature that was announced in the spring as part of a major enhancement of The Porch, a public space near 30th Street Station, are finally here. Designed by San Francisco-based Gehl Studio, the new swings are a result of the University City District’s mission to introduce innovative social seating in the area. You may have seen their Looped-In seating structures or custom public transit stop seats in your neighborhood.

The 14 slatted, wooden swings, which add an element of play to the space, were manufactured locally, by Bill Curran Design (BCD), based in Philadelphia’s East Falls. They come in three versions: the Porch Swing, which is meant to mimic swinging on a front porch; the Lounger, a gentle swing that simulates floating on air; and the Park Swing, an individual swing placed on the edges of the Porch.  Continue Reading

Project MEOW, a West Philly-based feline rescue group, is stepping up their efforts of helping stray and feral cats and kittens in the area. But they need your help. Check out this creative poster distributed in the neighborhood.

To help Project MEOW, which is a volunteer-run organization, and their rescues, we’ll be publishing a series of posts with information on cats available for adoption. Today, we are presenting the first adoptable kitty named Cricket.  Continue Reading

Archived photo (Selah Lynch/West Philly Local)

We have some news from the 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue. After a year of operation, Gush Gallery has closed its doors. Local artists Stephanie Slate and Sarah Thielke opened the interactive art gallery in August 2014 after months of fundraising through Indiegogo, but in the end it turned out to be very difficult to keep the business sustainable at that location.

Their former space at 5015 Baltimore Ave will not stay empty for long though: Snapdragon Flowers (Facebook page), a flower shop run by Cedar Park-based florists, is slated for October 2015 opening. Once open the shop will offer fresh and preserved floral arrangements, as well as gifts and cards with a botanical theme. There will be a couple of chances to learn more about Snapdragon Flowers and meet the owners at the upcoming Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll and Go West! Craft Fest at The Woodlands.  Continue Reading

Even if Beyoncé or Death Cab for Cutie aren’t your jam, the enhanced SEPTA train schedule this weekend might get you where you want to go quicker. SEPTA is beefing up some of its schedules this weekend – Sept. 5 and 6 – to accommodate traffic to and from the annual Made in America show on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

SEPTA announced that local train service will be available on the El (Market-Frankford Line) and the Broad Street Line every five minutes on Saturday and Sunday beginning at noon and lasting “throughout the day.” Additional trains will also be deployed when the concert ends.

Additional evening trips will be added on Trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, and 36.

There will also be additional late-night regional rail trains leaving from Center City and 30th Street Station. The special schedules are available here.

On Wednesday evening, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Vector Control staff will be in the Mann Center area and on the streets surrounding the Mann Center (between Belmont Ave. and Parkside Ave. and the area between 52nd St, Parkside Ave., and Columbia Ave.) applying treatments to control adult mosquitoes. Samples taken by Vector Control staff in the area have revealed the presence of adult mosquito populations that carry the West Nile virus, which, when transmitted to people, can cause West Nile encephalitis, an infection that can result in an inflammation of the brain.

A truck-mounted apparatus will be spraying fine aerosol droplets of Zenivex, a synthetic pyrethroid, which has no residual effects and evaporates quickly into the atmosphere, according to a Department of Public Health statement.

So far this season, one Philadelphia resident has developed severe West Nile virus infection and is recovering. Eighty-six positive mosquito samples have been found within the city and 1,819 statewide this year to date. Last season, there were 112 positive mosquito samples in Philadelphia.  Continue Reading