UPDATE: (7/2/2016): Betty Jean Severe has been found and is back home with her family. Police say Ms. Severe was located at Hahnemann Hospital on Wednesday, June 29.

Police are asking for the public’s help locating Betty Jean Severe, a 62-year-old West Philly woman who has been missing since Friday, June 24. She was last seen at her residence on the 500 block of S. 52nd Street at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

Betty Jean suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, according to police. She is known to frequent the area of 49th Street and Baltimore Avenue, as well as McDonald’s located at 52nd and Markets Streets.

Betty Jean is five feet five inches tall, weighs 140lbs, with a thin build, brown eyes, dark brown complexion, and curly black/gray hair; unknown clothing description.

Anyone with information on Betty Jean’s whereabouts, please contact Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183 / 3184 or call 911.

The annual trolley tunnel maintenance project, SEPTA Trolley Tunnel Blitz, is scheduled for next month and will take nine days to complete. The tunnel will close at 10 p.m. on Friday, July 8 and will re-open for trolley service at 4 a.m. on Monday, July 18, 2016.

During the blitz, trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 will not operate through the tunnel. Trolley service will begin and end at 40th and Market Streets; trolleys will use their alternate diversion service routing to connect to SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line at 40th and Market Streets.

This is the fourth year SEPTA has held the Trolley Tunnel Blitz. In 2015, the tunnel was closed for 16 days.

During this year’s blitz, more than 400 members of SEPTA’s in-house Engineering, Maintenance & Construction Division crews will work around-the-clock on key maintenance and construction tasks.  Continue Reading

A five-story apartment building with a parking garage is coming to 4215 Chestnut Street.

Another apartment building is coming to the area. Recently, we noticed new construction next door to Dana Mandi, a South Asian grocery store on the 4200 block of Chestnut Street. A quick search in the database of the Office of Licences and Inspections revealed that a five-story, 28-unit apartment building is in the works for 4215 Chestnut St.

What’s interesting though is that the first floor of the building will be used as a parking garage. Due to an increasing amount of apartment buildings in the area, availability of parking spots has been named as one of the biggest issues at community meetings discussing new development.

We are starting to learn a little more about the retail that will be moving into the ground floor of the Garden Court Plaza apartment building at 47th and Pine. An official from Post Brothers, the real estate developer that acquired the building last year and announced their plans to court new retail businesses, said last night that ReAnimator Coffee, which has current locations in Fishtown and Kensington, has agreed to take one of the spots.

Post Brothers managing director Randy Hope told the Garden Court Community Association annual meeting that the firm is also “in conversation” with a “full-service restaurant.”

“One thing that I promise won’t be coming there is a 7-Eleven or something like that,” he said.

Hope did not say when ReAnimator Coffee might be moving in. We’ll keep you posted.

A 17-year-old boy was stabbed several times by an older man on Tuesday afternoon, at about 4:15 p.m., on the 4900 block of Walton Avenue, according to police. Police say the teen was stabbed three times in the chest, once in the ribs, and once in the leg. He was found on the sidewalk and was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition.

When he was found the victim told police that he had been stabbed by an unknown male “after they exchanged looks.” Police couldn’t interview the teen at the hospital as he was going into surgery.

The suspect was described as a man with brown complexion in his 30’s, thin build, about 5 feet 8 inches, wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

Here’s some great news from the Philadelphia Parks & Rec: The 2016 pool season will begin next week, with the first eight public pools opening on June 22. There are more than 70 indoor and outdoor public pools in Philadelphia.

Here are the opening dates for West Philly pools:

Wednesday, June 22, 4 p.m.: Kelly (4231 Lansdowne Dr.)

Thursday, June 23: Lee (4328 Haverford Ave.), Christy (728 S. 55th St.)

Saturday, June 25: Cobbs Creek (280 Cobbs Creek Pkwy)

Monday, June 27: Myers (5803 Kingsessing Ave.), Sayre (indoor pool, 5835 Spruce St.)

Tuesday, June 28: Kingsessing (4901 Kingsessing Ave.), 39th and Olive (700 N. 39th St.)  Continue Reading