The Woodlands has started an online petition asking for community support for a crosswalk from the 40th Street trolley portal to the cemetery gates across Woodland Avenue.

The upcoming opening of the Trolley Portal Gardens has renewed interest in figuring out a way to make crossing Woodland Avenue safer for pedestrians. The Woodlands estimates that some 45,000 people visited the grounds last year, including about 4,000 in one day during the Go West! Craft Fest (see tweet and video below), many coming on foot across Woodland Avenue.  Continue Reading

Architects and West Philly residents Anu Mathur, center, and Dilip da Cunha, right, talk to community members about plans for the proposed pocket park on 40th Street on Tuesday night at the Rotunda.

Architects and designers of the proposed pocket park on 40th Street unveiled preliminary plans on Tuesday that included permanent collapsible tables down the center and a variety of ground and wall surfaces to make the long, thin strip of land along a busy commercial corridor inviting for everyone in the neighborhood.

“How do you include everybody?,” landscape architect and West Philly resident Anu Mathur asked about 20 community members gathered at The Rotunda to provide input on the plans. “These are words we use, but how do we actually do that?”  Continue Reading

The community theater group Theatre in the X will be back in Malcolm X. Park (52nd and Pine) over the next three Sundays to reimagine The Wiz. 

Theatre in the X’s staging of the African American classic will be an homage to Hip Hop and Black cinema of the 1980s and 90s.

“Our iconic characters will journey through Oz remixed with all the nuance and cultural swag of the Black experience in America,” according to their Facebook post for the event.  Continue Reading

Rendering of New Market West building coming to 5901 Market St.

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority is seeking interest from artists for an original public art project at a new residential and commercial building at 59th and Market.

The project will be at the New Market West building, a four-story, 135,700 square foot hub which will be built on a 1.5 acre vacant site at 5901 Market Street, a half a block from the 60th and Market Street El stop. The new building will house organizations focused on early childhood education, workforce development, educational and emergency support services, behavioral health service, and will include community-serving retail.  Continue Reading

From the Philadelphia Tenants Union Facebook page.

The Philadelphia Tenants Union is hosting a cookout fundraiser this Saturday for residents wrongfully served eviction notices at two West Philly apartment buildings. While a court has put the evictions on hold, the landlord, the Abington-based SBG Management, is now reportedly withholding security deposits, making it difficult for residents to transition out of the buildings.

The fundraiser for residents of Admiral Court and Dorset Court apartment buildings, located near 48th and Locust, is scheduled to run from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on July 21 at Clark Park. All of the money raised will go to the tenants, according to a Philadelphia Tenants Union announcement.

Tenants of both buildings were served with eviction notices in early April ordering them to leave by April 30. Community Legal Services won an injunction to stave off evictions in April. Both buildings, which include affordable and Section 8 housing, are up for sale, according to reports.

The suggested donation is $5 to $10 per plate, but no one will be turned away if they can’t afford to donate.

Artist Stacy Levy hopes that while you’re sweating the lack of parking spots or that missed bus, you will sit for a beat to notice the massive natural force that’s as big as the moon, the sun and the sea, unfolding daily in your midst.

Her installations, “Tide Field” and “River Rooms,” aim to help Philadelphians to connect to the tides that push water up and down Schuylkill River every day.

You may have noticed the clusters of buoys near the boardwalk along the river, near the Art Museum or at Bartram’s Garden. Those are part of “Tide Field.” The basic idea is to show you the tide, that mostly invisible rise and fall of the river that brings the forces of the sun and moon on the ocean into the city every day. The Schuylkill’s tide changes up to six feet daily.  Continue Reading