That time of year is coming up when SEPTA trolley riders will have to switch from trolley to subway when traveling to Center City. SEPTA’s annual Center City trolley tunnel maintenance project, “Trolley Tunnel Blitz,” is scheduled for 10 days this year – from July 13 to July 23.

Due to power, track and station improvement projects in the tunnel that runs between the 40th and 13th Street stations, SEPTA Trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 will not operate in the tunnel from 10 p.m. on Friday, July 13, through 4 a.m. on Monday, July 23. Trolley service will begin and end at 40th and Market Streets, and trolleys will use their alternate diversion service routing to connect to SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line at 40th and Market Streets. Trolley passengers can board the Market-Frankford Line at 40th Street Station for travel to-and-from Center City, as the work efforts will not affect that service.

This is the fifth consecutive summer SEPTA has held the Trolley Tunnel Blitz. During this year’s tunnel closure, members of SEPTA’s in-house Engineering, Maintenance & Construction Division crews will work around-the-clock on key maintenance and construction tasks throughout the five-mile, single loop Center City tunnel.

In response to forecasted maximum heat indexes over 100, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley issued a Heat Health Emergency in Philadelphia beginning Sunday, July 1, at noon.

A declaration of a Heat Health Emergency by the Health Commissioner activates the City’s emergency heat programs, including the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging’s Heatline, extended hours at select Free Library locations that have been designated as Cooling Centers, home visits by special field teams, enhanced daytime outreach for the homeless, and the City’s annual reminder to the public to look in on older friends, relatives, and neighbors.  Continue Reading

A potent mix of cocaine and the synthetic opioid fentynyl led to at least 20 overdoses in West Philly in the past two weeks, including two deaths, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. There weren’t more deaths in part due to the administration of Narcan, the overdose reverser that is saving lives across the city. If you want to learn how to administer it, here’s a good opportunity.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is offering “overdose awareness and reversal training” at the Walnut Street West Library (40^th and Walnut) on Wednesday, June 27 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and again on July 11 and 25 and August 8 and 22 at the same time.  Continue Reading

Future 4224 Baltimore Avenue construction site now has a community garden (the gate has been removed by the gardeners).

We finally have an update on 4224 Baltimore Avenue, the site slated for construction of a 132-unit residential building with ground floor commercial space that has been in the works for four years.

Some work is finally scheduled to begin on the site, according to the Spruce Hill Community Association Zoning chair Barry Grossbach. Crews will be entering the property to remove overgrown vegetation and perform a general cleaning, and additional soil testing on the lot will take place in the near future.

“The community has been anxiously waiting for progress on the site and we are now at the point where activity will be more pronounced,” Grossbach recently wrote in an e-mail.  Continue Reading

Police believe this car, a blue Hyundai Sonata, struck and killed 5-year-old Xavier Moy on Friday.

UPDATE (6/25/2018): The vehicle believed to be involved in the fatal hit-and-run on Friday was turned in on Sunday night, according to police, but no arrests were made as of Monday morning. The owner of the vehicle is cooperating with the police, but it’s not clear whether this person was behind the wheel when the accident happened. The investigation is still underway.

Police are searching for the driver of the vehicle involved in a hit-and-run accident that killed a 5-year-old West Philly boy on Friday, June 22. The boy, identified by police as Xavier Moy, was struck on the 5000 block of Irving Street at 4:08 p.m. on Friday and was taken to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in critical condition. He died about an hour later, according to reports.  Continue Reading

It looks like the empty lot at 224 S. 44th Street sitting between two row homes just south of Walnut will not be empty much longer. A request has been submitted to the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment by the owners to obtain a permit for construction of a four-unit residential building. The new building is being proposed as a semi-detached structure.

The plan for the building was presented to the Spruce Hill Community Association’s Zoning Board earlier this week, and will most likely be back before the SCHA Zoning Board at their next meeting in July, according to SCHA Zoning Chair Barry Grossbach. “We are at a preliminary stage on the 44th Street project,” he wrote in an e-mail.

We’ll keep you posted about the next meeting since community feedback is always welcome on new development projects in Spruce Hill.