Sad news came in from The Woodlands Cemetery recently: Despite all the efforts to save the four remaining elms of the Grove of Seven Giants, the trees eventually succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease, and The Woodlands personnel began the process of de-limbing the historic grove that dates back to the Hamilton Era. Tree experts believe that this was the only remaining Elm grove of its kind in the country, according to a blog post on The Woodlands website.

The first signs of Dutch elm disease on some of the trees were discovered in May 2014, and testing confirmed the infection. After that The Woodlands began inoculating the remaining elms in an attempt to keep them free of the disease, but unfortunately, the trees could not be saved.  Continue Reading

The University City Arts League will host a special event on Sunday, March 5 to raise money for the Nationalities Service Center, a local immigrant and refugee service organization. Neighbors of all ages are invited to participate in an art project to make welcome cards and signs for refugees. Participants will choose a card to learn a new word in Arabic that they can decorate and take home.

Al Bustan Seeds of Culture, the West Philly based Arab arts and culture organization, will facilitate an Arabic poetry activity – Nasij: Weaving our Cultures into a Collective Poem. Participants will make a sentence about their relationship with the city using Arabic words they have learnt. The words will be put into a collective poem that will be presented in English and in Arabic.  Continue Reading

SEPTA has revealed more details on the proposed Route 49, a bus service that would connect the rapidly developing Brewerytown section of the city with Grays Ferry via Fairmount Park and University City. Plans were presented at a community meeting on Tuesday. The route would provide a direct transit option between 30th Street Station and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Here’s a map for the proposed route (via universitycity.org):

Click to enlarge.

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Penn Café, located on the 4900 block of Catharine Street in Cedar Park, was burglarized on early Tuesday morning, at approximately 3:40 a.m., according to police. A neighbor, who lives on the second floor of the building, woke up from a loud banging sound coming from the cafe on the first floor. The neighbor went downstairs and saw an unknown male inside the cafe who immediately fled through the rear door, according to police.

The suspect got away with $160 from the cash register. The ATM was also damaged. Police say the suspect got into the cafe by forced opening the rear door.

Police couldn’t retrieve any surveillance video; the business has cameras, but they were not turned on that night.