The poster for Annie that was put up around the neighborhood.

Another Windermere cat was found alive a month and a day after the West Philly building was devastated by fire. Annie, a tortoise shell, jumped into the arms of a City Kitties volunteer around dawn this morning outside of the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut. You may have seen posters for Annie up around the neighborhood (see left). She is missing her tail.

Here’s how the volunteer tells the story (on the City Kitties site):

Before dawn this morning, as a City Kitties volunteer left her house, she heard a cat howling in distress. On a neighbor’s porch, she spotted a tailless tortoiseshell cat. “Annie?” It couldn’t be.

The second she heard her name, Annie came running and practically jumped into the volunteer’s arms. She knew this was her chance, and once safely inside, she knew just what to do: purr like crazy.

One month and one day after the Windermere fire, just when hope seemed to be running out, Annie made a miraculous appearance one block from the burned out building she used to call home. Not only that, she showed up right outside of City Kitties “headquarters.” We don’t believe in fate — just really smart cats who know exactly where to find help.

A rally for Windermere residents and their pets is planned for tomorrow outside West Philadelphia High School. See the story about that here.

A barbed wire fence now encircles the Windermere Court building. Photo by Julija Kulneva

A rally is planned from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday outside the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut to gather support for former residents, who still don’t have access to their belongings and pets more than a month after the fire.

Residents say they are staging the rally to make people aware of the lack of information and cooperation from the building’s owners.

The building had been deemed unsafe to enter, but residents have reportedly been told by the city that permission has been granted to the owner to allow people in. It’s the miscommunication that has former residents angry.

“It’s so frustrating,” said former resident Lara Figueroa. “Everything we find out, we find out a week after the fact.”

Residents have been told that the building will likely be at least partially demolished. The building’s owners were not available for comment.

Residents have also organized their own security of the building day and night to watch for potential looters and pets still stranded inside. The building is now surrounded by a barbed wire fence and has been padlocked.

“My biggest frustration is that we know that there are still pets in there alive,” said Figueroa. She said pets have been spotted in windows in the building, but no one has been allowed inside to rescue them.

West Philly-based feline rescue group City Kitties is joining the protest as well to help with recovering residents’ stranded pets.

City Kitties organizers write:

Despite obvious signs of life inside, no one took action–not the owners, not L&I, not the fire marshal, not the insurance investigators who all had access to the building. Just two days after this disaster, fire fighters said there was nothing more they could do and no possibility that cats could have survived.

Now the Windermere owners claim that the buildings’ exterior doors are sealed and that L&I [The city office of Licenses and Inspection] won’t allow anyone inside ever again–and yet a maintenance man, security guards, and insurance company investigators have accessed the building as recently as today, Wednesday February 9th. Meanwhile, the owners are moving forward with demolition, knowing full well that there are still pets inside!

Bill Green, who lives on the 4800 block of Regent reports that there was an attempted robbery by two people wielding a machete and a baseball bat on his block. He writes:

Another attempted robbery at machete point tonight on my block, 4800 Regent St. This time two men with ski masks, one with a machete & one with a baseball bat. They grabbed the man they tried to rob & acted menacing, but he yelled & lots of people (first & loudest his girlfriend) came out yelling & they ran away without getting anything. They wanted the man’s backpack. No one was hurt. This was about 8:30 pm, February 9th.

There was a similar mugging on the 4800 block of Beaumont, about four blocks north of Regent, in early January.

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Neighborhood resident Katie Bonier has temporary custody of a spayed female shepherd mix named Missy. She relays the story below:

I found her wandering around Chester and 46th on Saturday, she had a  tag with her name and address. Through interviewing neighbors and a web search I found that a young woman named Vanessa has owned her since birth, had two dogs, fell on hard times and had to move away 3 weeks ago, to an apartment where dogs aren’t allowed. She left Missy with her parents on 50th and  Kingsessing a few weeks ago asking them to find someone to adopt her. The parents kept her in the yard, and she escaped. I talked to Vanessa, and she needs help finding a home for Missy.

I’ve got an elderly 100 lb dog. I  don’t want a second dog as Lula goes into old age. Lula has been tolerant because Missy is polite and submissive, but she clearly doesn’t want another dog in the house. Missy weighs about 40 lbs, spayed female shepherd mix. Seems well-trained, not familiar with dog cookies or human food, sits, comes, behaves well  with other dogs. Seems trusting and even-tempered, and like maybe she’s used to being left places. She seems quite happy with everyone she meets.

Thanks!

Katie

Here is Katie’s e-mail address:

catherinebonier – at – gmail.com

Mayor Michael Nutter and Spruce Hill Community Association President Mark Wagenveld. (Photos by Mike Lyons)

Folks gathered for the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) board meeting last night got a surprise when Mayor Michael Nutter stopped by for an impromptu appearance. Nutter aide Erica Atwood, a neighborhood resident, helped arrange the visit.

Nutter spent about 10 minutes talking to SHCA board members and visitors at its 45th street headquarters about general city issues, such as the budget. Nothing groundbreaking.

Nutter lauded SHCA board members for their civic engagement efforts. “Keep up the good work,” he said before leaving.

As for the SHCA meeting itself, the board:

• Discussed a proposed study of the SEPTA trolley portal at 40th Street between Woodland Avenue and Baltimore Avenue as a “gateway to University City.” The University City District plans to fund a study of the area around the unnel entrance that would improve the area aesthetically as well as add more green space.

• Was informed that restaurant along Baltimore Avenue were hoping to convince the city to allow them to apply as a single entity for permits to allow outdoor cafe seating. Currently the city requires every business to file an application, a fairly arduous process. The Baltimore Avenue Business Association plans to hold a meeting soon to gauge neighborhood support for the plan to apply for the permits as a group. These permits do not apply to businesses that serve alcohol outside.

Parents, teachers and school administrators gathered at West Philadelphia High School (4700 Walnut St.) last night to discuss that school’s transition to a “promise academy,” a sometimes controversial school district label that includes several measures designed to improve struggling schools. For many parents it means just another change.

These changes include firing the teaching faculty and rehiring a maximum of 50 percent of those teachers back is part of the district’s Renaissance school program. That means that West, which has seen a lot of change in recent years, including three principals in less than year, will start the next academic year with its fourth principal and a largely new faculty. West will be “traditional”promise academy, meaning extra instruction time, including Saturdays, governance by a School Advisory Council and a host of other changes. The Philadelphia Public School Notebook has a nice breakdown of the different Renaissance school designations here.

Many parents and teachers, though, are growing tired with constant changes at their schools.

Here is a Fox29 story about the meeting:

And here is a fact sheet on the Renaissance schools program:

Fact Sheet Renaissance