A new voice in support of more and better biking has been added. The University Bike Collective is holding its first information session tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct 23), according to the group’s Facebook page. The info session, “powered by pizza,” will be held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Meyerson Hall, B6 (210 S. 34th St.) beginning at 12:30 p.m. and interested folks outside of the Penn community are also invited.

The University Bike Collective will introduce their plans for the year, including fun social rides to explore the city, research and advocacy efforts, and workshops. Susan Dannenberg of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia will share updates on the latest in Philadelphia bike advocacy.

Come to the session if you:

• Are looking for fun bike-related events, avec free pizza;
• Want to see more bike lanes and bike parking.
• Ever thought about biking in Philly, but you’re not sure how to get started.
• Interested in perfecting the art of layering clothes to avoid over-sweating on your ride to class.

For more information and to RSVP, visit the event’s Facebook page.

You can visit the Artifact Lab, learn more about conserving Egyptian mummies and meet a conservator during Penn Museum’s Open House on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Penn Museum)

On Wednesday, Oct 23, Penn Museum is opening its doors to community members of all ages during a free Community Night and Open House. There will be opportunities to get behind the scenes, meet the curators and staff, and enjoy music, dance and storytelling. There will also be gallery tours and a mummy workshop. Want more? How about Egyptian hieroglyph and Mesopotamian cuneiform classes? Also, arts and crafts for the whole family where you can make African masks, Chinese lanterns and Brazilian tambourines.

The event starts at 5 p.m. with the Highlights Tour and goes on until 8 p.m. Check out this page for more information on the scheduled activities and have fun!

Officials from the School District of Philadelphia will meet with community members today to discuss a new way of gauging success at public schools. The meeting will take place at West Philadelphia High School (4901 Chestnut St) beginning at 5:30 p.m.

District officials are asking for feedback on its new “school performance framework,” which will replace previous, often controversial, methods of evaluating schools. The goal, according to the District’s website, is to “develop and implement a new measure of school performance in order to hold all District and charter schools to the same high standards of performance, equity and safety.”

Many parents contend that these evaluation methods are a better measure of poverty than school performance as it compares schools with vastly different resources. The District faced opposition over the summer during public meetings on a plan to evaluate schools and issue performance “report cards.”

The meeting is scheduled to run until 7:30 p.m. and Superintendent William Hite will lead the discussion.

The Croydon (Archived Photo / West Philly Local)

As promised, we checked into a few other developments in the area for round two of our real estate updates (you can read Part I here). We’ve received somewhat definitive answers for some projects—others were harder to chase down. We’ll update this post once we learn more information.

• The Croydon, at 241 S. 49th Street, seems to be shaping up nicely. According to a receptionist for the Orens Brothers, property owners of the 127-unit building, the Croydon is still under renovation, with possible occupancy starting in February. (To this end, Philly.com reported earlier this month that about 30 of the 127 apartments will be available beginning in January.) The project, however, will be completely renovated by June 2014, with occupancy projected to begin by this date, according to the University City District’s The State of University City 2013/2014 report.

• In August, we reported that Friends of Clark Park (FOCP) released a statement in favor of the design plans proposed for 4224 Baltimore Ave, the project under construction at the lot on 43^rd Street and Baltimore Avenue. That seems to be the last we’ve heard about the proposed project—4224 Baltimore’s website and Facebook page haven’t been updated since September, when Philly.com ran an article on Omar Blaik of U3 Ventures, owner of the development firm acting as liaison for the project. According to the article, since 4224 Baltimore’s projected design calls for a five-story building–two more than allotted per current zoning–Blaik has to “persuade” City Council to change zoning for the site. We were unable to reach U3 Ventures for further detail by the time of publication.

• In August, we also reported that Kensington-based Greensgrow Farms is eyeing the empty lot on 51st Street and Baltimore Avenue as part of their search for a West Philly hub, but its interest was in the proposal stage. According to Greensgrow’s Design and Media Coordinator Bryn Ashburn, they’re still in the proposal stage. Ryan Spak, owner of the lot, confirmed as much, saying more details have to be hammered out before they could move forward with anything official.

• It’s been a year since the old West Philadelphia High School was sold to New York-based developer Strong Place Partners and it has been radio silence since. Even a quick Google search yields little information since the sale of the building, which was sold for $6.5 million, was announced in late 2012. Rumor has it, though, that the sale fell through (or at least, didn’t close). We couldn’t confirm that gossip with Strong Place Partners, but a property assessment search still lists the School District of Philadelphia as the owner. We’ll post an update once we’re able to get more information.

–Annamarya Scaccia

The 3rd Annual Cobbs Creek 5K Run has been rescheduled for next Saturday, Oct. 26, according to Alon Abramson, founder of West Philly Runners and member of Friends of Cobbs Creek. As we had reported earlier, the run was supposed to take place on Saturday, Oct. 12, but the heavy rainfall flooded the course at the end of last week and the strong winds knocked down branches forcing the organizers to reschedule the race, Alon told West Philly Local.

Packet pickup will still be available at the Philadelphia Runner store (3621 Walnut Street) on Friday, Oct 25 from 3-7 p.m. However, late registration is now only available at the race on Saturday morning. To read more about the Cobbs Creek 5K Run, click here.

This Saturday and Sunday (Oct 19-20), catch a behind-the-scene glimpse of local art life by visiting studios of many great artists participating in the annual Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST). Each October, over 300 artists across Philadelphia open their studios and work spaces for tours (guided and self-guided), exhibits, demonstrations, talks and receptions. The Philadelphia Open Studio Tours is an annual celebration of visual art in the Philadelphia region. It’s also called a Fall festival of visual art. The West Philly arts community is excited to host the tours this weekend and can’t wait to show you around their studios and tell you more about their work.

Self-guided tours are free to the public and run from Noon – 6 p.m. on both weekend days. You can plan your tour as you like and here you can find more information on what West Philly artists and community partners will be waiting for POST tourists this weekend: http://philaopenstudios.org/post/neighborhood/west-philadelphia. Along with individual artists, community partners, such as The Green Line Cafe, The Institute of Contemporary Art, and The Cedar Works, are inviting guests for exhibitions and other special events this weekend.

Guided Trolley Tours are on Sunday from 1:00 – 5:30 p.m. They depart  from The Gallery at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists at 237 South 18th Street. The cost is $40 per seat and advance reservations are required. For more information, click here.