The Spruce Hill Community Association’s zoning committee will hold its monthly public meeting on Monday, Nov. 18 with a single, but major item on the agenda. A group representing West Catholic High School asked the zoning committee last moth to rezone the school’s parking lot at 46th and Chestnut in hopes to sell it to a developer. The proposed zoning changes – from CMX2 to CMX3 – would allow construction of a large apartment building on the lot.

Monday’s meeting is a continuation of a discussion first introduced at the committee’s October meeting.  Continue Reading

Skills Initiative program graduate Jacqueline Saunders spoke about her experience with the program at the check presentation ceremony.

University City District’s West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI), the nationally recognized job training program, has just received an investment that will allow them to expand their reach to employers across the region. The program, which has been connecting unemployed West Philly residents with University City employers since 2011, has received a $125,000 contribution from the Citizens Bank’s Charitable Foundation, which will go to support their expansion efforts. Since 2012, the Citizens Charitable Foundation has contributed more than $450,000 to the program.

“We are proud to support the [West Philadelphia Skills Initiative] organization as it takes its efforts to the next level, providing more opportunities for unemployed Philadelphians to get the training and support needed to succeed in the workforce,” said Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, President of Citizens Bank, Mid-Atlantic Region, during a presentation that took place this morning at WPSI’s office (see photo).  Continue Reading

The City once again is offering residents an opportunity to recycle fall leaves. The 2019 Leaf Recycling Program begins Tuesday, Nov. 12 and runs through Saturday, Dec. 21. During this time, residents have a few options to participate in the program.

Bagged leaf drop-off will be offered citywide on Saturdays (except for November 16th and 30th) at 13 designated locations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the duration of the program. The locations in West Philadelphia are:  Continue Reading

Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 5 to vote for Mayor (a formality), At-Large City Council seats (not a formality this year) and a controversial ballot measure focused on crime victims’ rights.

The drama for City Council District 3 ended in May with the victory of upstart Jamie Gauthier over longtime incumbent Jannie Blackwell. Gauthier has no opponent in tomorrow’s vote. But several third party candidates are keeping the At-Large races interesting.

Seven At-Large candidates will be elected during Tuesday’s general election (polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.). History shows that the five Democratic At-Large candidates – incumbents Allan Domb, Derek Green, Helen Gym, as well as Katherine Gilmore Richardson and Isaiah Thomas – will all likely win easily. Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one in the city.  Continue Reading

A 29-year-old man has been charged in shooting deaths of four people, including a 7-year-old boy, whose bodies were found on Wednesday inside a home on the 5000 block of Walton Ave., according to police. The tragedy happened on Tuesday night when the man allegedly shot and killed his four family members – his 52-year-old mother, 56-year-old step father, and two half-brothers, ages 18 and 7.

The police found the suspect, who reportedly suffers from mental health problems, at home when they arrived to check on the well being of the adult family members after they didn’t show up at work on Wednesday, according to a report by NBC10. He was arrested and charged with four counts of murder after allegedly confessing to the killings.

Philadelphia Water customers finally have an option to switch to paperless billing and pay their bills online. The City’s Water and Revenue Departments have recently launched a new, paperless e-billing service for water bills. Customers are urged to create e-billing accounts at www.phila.gov/waterbill.

Users of the new e-billing site can:

• Set up automatic payments for free
• Opt-out of paper bills
• Sign up for reminders and alerts
• Look up past bills

Continue Reading