Community members are invited to attend a groundbreaking ceremony and reception to mark the start of renovation and construction of Mariposa Food Co-op‘s new location today at 3 p.m. at 4824 Baltimore Avenue.

The co-op has raised over $2.37 million and is ready to start the construction in the first week of July. If all goes well, the new store is scheduled to open in October.

Mayor Michael Nutter is expected to attend the event, along with representatives of the project’s major supporters, and other honored guests. Food and refreshments will be served.

Living in a city as big as Philadelphia, and not having enough gardening space, doesn’t mean you can’t grow and harvest some crops of your own.

Want to learn how to do it? Come tonight, June 15, at 6 p.m. to Cedar Park (50th & Baltimore) for a workshop on urban gardening. Erica Smith of Philly Rooted, an organization specializing in urban farm development, will teach you the basics of starting and tending a vegetable garden.

The workshop is organized by Cedar Park Neighbors. Please let them know if you are coming by phone 267.531.4147 or email: contact [at] cedarparkneighbors.org.

For more information download the flyer here.

The first in a series of public forums on the development of 40th Street is Wednesday. Community members are invited to share their ideas on the design and character of development along the street, which has become a key commercial corridor between residential neighborhoods to the west and academic campuses to the east.

One of the event organizers, the “Friends of 40th Street,” was formed in 2004 to bring the members of neighborhood communities, businesses, and anchor institutions together for a discussion on the planning principles of the 40th Street corridor. One key idea that will be discussed is transportation along 40th street.

That conversation started seven years ago continues this month with the forums. Here’s the full schedule:

Wed, June 15 – 7:30 a.m. – 3901 Market Street
Mon, June 20 – 7:00 p.m. – Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street
Wed, June 22 – 7:30 a.m. – Christ Community Church, 4017 Chestnut Street
Mon, June 27 – 6:00 p.m. – Greater Faith Baptist Church, 4031 Baring Street

For more information visit: www.40thst.org.

Three neighborhood meetings are scheduled for this week.

• Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) meeting will take place tonight, Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m., at the association’s center at 257 S. 45th St. One of the topics likely to be discussed at the meeting is the enrollment situation at the Penn Alexander School (PAS).

• Thursday, June 16, is the monthly meeting with the 18th Police District University City Division’s Lt. Brian McBride. Neighbors are welcome to bring their questions and concerns regarding crime, safety and policing the neighborhoods. The meeting will take place at the Calvary Center (48th and Baltimore) at 6 p.m.

• The annual meeting and potluck dinner for the Garden Court Community Association (GCCA) is also Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. at Community College West (4725 Chestnut St.). The program will start at 6:30 p.m. and will feature presentations by guest speakers Ann Mitchell from Penn Nursing and Lt. Brian McBride (wow, he’s presenting here, too!), and discussion “Neighborhoods: the Place for Healthy Activity.” The meeting will also include general elections.

We went around the neighborhood and snapped pictures of yard/porch/sidewalk sale flyers. Then we put them in a slideshow and ,Voila!, now all the flyers are in one place.

If you have a flyer or spot a flyer that should be here, just snap a picture and send it to editor [at] westphillylocal.com.

So here’s an idea: Get a bunch of smart people in a room together and let them talk about their passions in under seven minutes each. To help, throw in some savvy digital presentations. Oh wait, that is actually happening tonight at Studio 34 (4522 Baltimore Ave.).

The eighth Pecha Kucha Night Philadelphia kicks off tonight at 7:30. The theme is “game changers” and the event includes presenters from Technically Philly, Independents Hall, The Onion Philadelphia, the Science Leadership Academy and elsewhere.

Pecha Kucha (say peh-CHAK-cha) is the Japanese word for the sound of conversation. The word has taken on added meaning with nights similar tonight all around the world – a sort of show-and-tell for people with really good ideas. A complete list of presenters, including bios, is here.

The rules are simple: show 20 PowerPoint slides, talk about each one for 20 seconds. The night usually includes a lot of socializing as well.

The suggested donation for tonight’s event is $5