A few protesters from today’s rally camped out on a crane parked nearby that was brought in for the demolition. (Photo by Mike Lyons)
Residents and protesters are back at the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut this morning to rally for permission to reenter the building. Unfortunately, the demolition crews are there too.
Reports come out of the protests now are that the city is pressing for the demolition of the building and that the owners are lobbying to stop it. Several residents who have snuck into the building in recent days to retrieve their belongings have said that many of the apartments have been ransacked by looters.
Former residents want to get into the building to look for lost pets and belongings left behind after the fire. The city has declared the building “imminently unsafe” and the absentee owners, who have not communicated with residents, have ordered the building to be demolished.
Here is an interview with one of the organizers and a former resident, J.B. Farley:
One of the mummies that will be on display at the Penn Museum beginning Friday.
As you might have heard, the mummies have made it. The Penn Museum’s “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit will be closed today through Friday, February 18 so that the museum can prepare artifacts and mummies from China that the Chinese government forbade it from displaying.
The exhibit opened to much fanfare last week, but about 100 pieces, including two mummies, were missing, prompting the museum to waive the $22.50 admission price when the exhibit opened on Feb. 5. The fragile artifacts are up to 3,800 years old.
The exhibit reopens on Friday at 1 p.m. mummies and all. The full exhibit runs through March 15. But then the mummies are back on the road and will not be part of the exhibit from March 17 to its close on March 28.
For the full background on the mummies controversy see this story from the Inquirer.
I caught up with former longtime Windermere Court resident Patricia Brightful earlier this week at a Red Cross function in Center City at which she and a few other residents spoke. She talks about how residents are trying to maintain contact with one another and their efforts to get answers about the fate of the building and their belongings still inside.
Demolition of the building is scheduled to begin Monday. A rally will be held today at 2 p.m. outside the building at 48th and Walnut.
The Philadelphia Public School Notebook has a thorough piece about the walkout at West Philadelphia High School yesterday. They report that as many as 100 students walked out in protest of constant changes at the school, which was recently declared a “promise academy” by the school district. The designation carries a number of changes, including the dismissal of the entire faculty and the rehiring of a maximum of 50 percent of teachers.
The Philadelphia Inquirer also posted a story yesterday on the walkout.
“I’m appalled at what’s going on,” junior D’Atwan Nelson, a leader of the walkout, told the Inquirer.
Windermere cats video
Philly.com posted a video yesterday on the efforts of the West Philly based feline rescue group City Kitties to rescue cats still inside the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut, which was devastated by fire on January 10. Demolition of the building is scheduled to begin Monday.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office told West Philly Local today that the demolition of the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut Streets in West Philadelphia will begin Monday.
“The city and the owner have come to agreement and the building demolition will commence on Monday,” said Mark McDonald, a spokesman in Mayor Michael Nutter’s office. “The property owner is the one to talk to about the retrieval of anything inside the building. It is structurally unsound and has been declared imminently dangerous by Licenses and Inspections. But again, it’s under the owner’s control.”
The Windermere Court building was partially destroyed by fire on January 10. Residents have been pressing city officials and the owners of the building for access to retrieve their belongings and search for pets, which they have been denied. A barbed wire fence was erected around much of the building.
Many residents have organized their own security for the building to watch over what might remain from their belongings and to look for pets that were left behind during the fire and may still be alive.
“My biggest frustration is that we know that there are still pets in there alive,” said Lara Figueroa, a former Windermere resident.
Residents and the animal rescue group City Kitties are holding a rally tomorrow at 2 p.m. to protest the lack of information and cooperation from the building’s owners, who were not available for comment.
A large water main broke earlier today near 38th and Spruce Streets in West Philly. No injuries have been reported, but at least one car was submerged to the door handles. The southbound lanes of 38th Street between Market and Baltimore Avenue are closed and probably will remain closed well into the evening.
John Digiulio, a spokesman for the Water Department, said the crews on the scene are still unsure what caused the break in the 16-inch main pipe.
“The winter months are not very kind to our infrastructure,” he said.
Digiulio said that construction crews had been working in the area before the break.
Residents in the area reported that water pressure dropped soon after the main break at about noon. Digiulio said water pressure should have returned to normal by now.
We recently returned (3:22 p.m.) from the corner of 38th and Spruce and traffic is already very gnarly. Steer clear of that area if possible. The water has receded but it’s going to be a tough rush hour around there.
Here is raw footage of the break shot at about noon today by Channel 6:
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