One of the Fresh Food Hub’s staff members, Mecca, showing off some brussel sprouts. (Courtesy of West Philadelphia Fresh Food Hub)

West Philadelphia Fresh Food Hub, a non-profit mobile market dedicated to improving nutritional education and access to affordable healthy, locally-grown food, will return to Powelton Village for its second season starting April 30.

At the Fresh Food Hub, West Philly residents will be able to purchase locally-grown and seasonal organic fruits and vegetables, as well as conventional produce, milk, local free range eggs, bread, healthy snacks, and fruit salad. Developed in collaboration between Preston’s Paradise and Greensgrow Farms, the market will operate between the hours of 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at its regular 37th Street and Lancaster Avenue location and will travel to three local senior centers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. It accepts cash, credit cards, EBT/SNAP, and FMNP senior coupons.

“Local and organic foods are crucial components to a sustainable food system,” said Julia Dougherty, food access coordinator for the AmeriCorps VISTA program at Drexel University, one of the Fresh Food Hub’s partners, “but it is most important for the Fresh Food Hub to increase overall fruit and vegetable consumption in its target neighborhoods to ensure that the customers’ basic nutritional needs are being met.”

The market will also serve as the pickup location for three CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs: Greensgrow CSA, which offers locally-grown vegetables, fruit, dairy, protein, and specialty items such as beer, honey, and pierogi; Neighborhood Foods CSA, which is focused on urban-grown produce, and offers local fruit, value-added products, honey, and flowers; and Greensgrow’s LIFE Box CSA, a low-cost option only available to customers receiving SNAP benefits.

“Traditionally, the large up-front deposits required by most CSAs prohibit low-income shoppers from enjoying the benefits of joining a CSA,” said Dougherty, whose role is to support the Fresh Food Hub through community outreach and partnership efforts. When enrolled in a CSA, clients pay dues at the start of the farming season in order to receive a weekly or bi-weekly box of local harvest. “But there are farms and organizations—such as Greensgrow and Greener Partners in Media/Collegeville—which are working to remove that financial barrier because they recognize the importance of incorporating educational components in food access work.”

According to Dougherty, profits from the Fresh Food Hub will go towards educational programming in the neighborhood, including cooking classes, nutrition education, and garden demonstrations at Drexel’s recently established Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, located on 35th and Spring Garden Streets.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/WPFoodHub.

Here is the complete 2013 Fresh Food Hub schedule as of this point:

Tuesdays – Fridays
2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
37th and Lancaster (regular location)

Wednesdays
11 a.m.
Sunshine Senior Center
58th Street and Walnut Street

Thursdays
11 a.m.
St. Ignatius Senior Homes
44th Street and Fairmount Avenue

Fridays
11 a.m.
West Philadelphia Senior Community Center
41st Street and Poplar Street

Saturdays
Available to travel to special events in the community

– Annamarya Scaccia

The firm behind the proposed residential housing project at 43rd and Baltimore will soon begin to seek community input, including the launch of a forum-like website, according to a letter from the chair of the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee.

We first reported on the 92-unit residential complex proposed for the vacant lot at the corner of 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue, across from Clark Park, a month ago. Since publishing the story, a lively discussion on what this development would mean for West Philly took off, with a number of residents emailing concerns to Barry Grossbach, chair of the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee. Grossbach recently addressed those questions in a statement released by the Spruce Hill Community Association.

“Here is what we know. The property owners sought, and were given, a ‘conditional’ zoning permit subject to design committee approval by City Planning,” writes Grossbach. “The site, currently zoned Rm1 under the new code, does not require any parking as part of any multifamily development. This is particularly important to understand given the emails insisting that Spruce Hill not allow this lack of parking to stand. The plans submitted by the owners meet the requirements of the code under Rm1 zoning, and lamenting the lack of parking will not address those concerns in a meaningful way. A ‘conditional’ permit is good for one year, and the clock does not start ticking on any time schedule until the owners seek to change ‘conditional’ to ‘permanent.’”

According to Grossbach’s statement, before seeking that change, the property owner, Clarkmore LP, controlled by Thylan Associates, has enlisted the help of U3 Ventures, a local real estate advisory and development firm, to engage the community in fostering alternative design plans. The process, writes Grossbach, will include a series of insightful roundtables with residents, and the creation of 4224Baltimore.com (which is not yet up and running), a website dedicated to the project news and information. The plan is for the website to feature an online discussion forum moderated by “Spruce Hill community members” where residents can express qualms about issues ranging from “building size to parking concerns,” according to Grossbach’s letter. The development team will not edit the forum’s content, but will participate in the discussion.

The development group will also have a table at the Spruce Hill Community Association May Fair on May 11.

“Many of us in Spruce Hill have looked at 43rd and Baltimore with a mixture of apprehension and hope over these ‘vacant’ years—expecting that something would surface as a development scheme and praying silently that we would not only survive it but applaud it,” writes Grossbach. “We have a unique opportunity here…We have the chance to think big and bold and, hopefully, find that sweet spot in shaping development for a site that both community members and property owners applaud without reservation.”

– Annamarya Scaccia

The primary elections are on May 21 and here’s an opportunity to meet a candidate for Judge of Common Pleas. Timika Lane, who is a West Philadelphia local and chief legal counsel to State Senator and Democratic Whip Anthony H. Williams, will be at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, April 24 for a meet-and-greet.

Timika is an advocate for people of color, women, children and low-income communities (her campaign video is available here) and has experience serving as an attorney in the Philadelphia court system (see another video here).

The event, which will be held at the LGBT Center at Penn (3907 Spruce St) beginning at 5:30 p.m., is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome to bring their questions and discuss local issues. You can RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/326682774121772/

The Cedar Park Neighbors community association is holding its annual membership meeting tonight at Calvary Center for Culture and Community (48th & Baltimore) and community members are welcome to attend. The annual Board of Directors election for current CPN members will also take place (voting will be from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.) The general program will start at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting will include the following agenda:

•  Introduction of nominees and standing Board Members
• Update on the AVI Townhall meeting
• Update on “Future of the Neighborhood” survey
• Featured Speaker: Iola Harper, Enterprise Center Senior Director of the Acceleration Group
• Community announcements
• Representative from Police District will speak
• Recognition of long dedication to CPN by Karen Allen, Dorothy Berlind, Laurie Friedman, Victoria Iannotta, and Joanne Pham
• Announcements of new Board Members (polls close at 7:30 pm)

For more information on the candidates running for the board election, including their bios, please visit the Cedar Park Neighbors website.

On June 21, Philly will join over 500 cities world-wide as a landscape for live music—and West Philly needs to get in on the action.

Dubbed “Make Music Philly,” the free multicultural festival is the city’s inaugural entrance into Make Music Day, a global carnival of melodies that started in France in 1982 and came to the states as National Music Day in 2006. Make Music Philly, which will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., will be an experiment in do-it-yourself ingenuity, with artists and venues city-wide taking the helm in planning casual gigs and formal concerts.

Musicians of all calibers, ages, and genres, and venues of all types are invited to participate. So whether you’re an amateur ukulele player, local post-psych outfit, established folk singer-songwriter, or high school drumline, Make Music Philly has a space for you. And anywhere in West Philly can serve as a stage—from the Clark Park Dog Bowl and the basement of the Calvary to street corners, sidewalks, and your best friend’s backyard.

To be considered an official MMP event, all venues, artists, and volunteers must register for free through the official website. Participants can either register already-curated events or use MMP’s matchmaking software to connect with other venues and artists to organize performances.

WXPN is MMP’s lead organizer in partnership with the City of Philadelphia, and METRO Philly is the official print partner.

For more information, visit makemusicphilly.org or check out MMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

– Annamarya Scaccia
 

In late 2011, we reported the West Philly-based real estate developers, the Orens Brothers, plan to revitalize the infamous Croydon Building into a seemingly-affordable 127-unit apartment complex. Work on the extensive project is now underway.

The air surrounding the looming 25,875 square-foot structure on 49th Street between Locust and Spruce Streets was heavy with raucous construction clatter when we visited the location Thursday afternoon. According to one worker on site, renovations of the Croydon began four months ago and should last two years, with the two wings hopefully completed by the fall. Representatives from the Orens Brothers could not be reached for comment.

The Orens Brothers bought the Croydon Building in 2011 for $1.75 million, with renovations budgeted at about $10 million. The once homogenous development, built in the early 20^th century, became known by squatters as “Paradise City” after it was abandoned in the late 1990s. It was also the site of 2007 murder that resulted from a fight between two squatters. The building had been a focus of community concern for many years.

– Annamarya Scaccia