Cedar Park Neighbors is taking advantage of a city program to raise some money and get rid of those illegal slapdash signs posted on light poles, sidewalk trees and other public places offering cash for your house, your car or even your diabetic test strips.

The city is offering community groups 50 cents a sign during the “Illegal Signs Roundup” from June 1 through June 15.

Michael Froehlich, an attorney with Community Legal Services’ Homeownership and Consumer Rights unit and a Cedar Park resident, said the initiative particularly targets the signs of “real estate predators” offering to buy homes for cash.

“They rip off seniors and low-income families. Their illegal advertising litters and disrespects our communities,” he said in an e-mail. “For us, it’s a win-win-win: we protect homeowners from being tricked by these predators, we clean up our streets from these ugly advertisements, and we raise money to support our Friday night jazz series, scholarship program, and other community activities.”  Continue Reading

Photo via Philly Police Blog.

Police are asking for the public’s assistance to help find the person who they believe robbed five banks in the city in the past month, four of them in the University City area. The latest robbery was Tuesday, May 22 when the suspect, a man in his late 40’s to early 50’s (pictured), entered the PNC Bank branch at 40th and Walnut at around 4 p.m. and and held up the bank at gunpoint.

The suspect was armed with a black semi-automatic handgun in this robbery. He fled on foot with an unknown amount of cash, according to reports.

Police believe this person also committed the following robberies: Continue Reading

Artist’s rendering of 6-story apartment building proposed for 4312-20 Market Street. The white box on the first floor is a driveway that goes through the building to access five off-street parking spots in the rear of the building.

The Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) zoning committee heard plans for 36-unit “higher end” apartment building last night that would be built across five fenced-in vacant lots on the 4300 block of Market Street.

The six-story building would include two- and three-bedroom apartments, a roof deck and five off-street parking spots at 4312 through 4320 Market Street. Its proposed design includes a driveway cut through the middle of the building to access the five off-street sites. That driveway, which would require drivers to pull across the sidewalk along Market Street, caused some concern for zoning committee members.  Continue Reading

Dominique Oglesby

Police have made an arrest in the killing of 23-year-old Penn State student Dominique Oglesby on March 18 near 52nd and Market. Julius Scott, 25, was arrested on Wednesday morning on the 5700 block of Pine Street, just a couple blocks from the 18th District police station.

Oglesby, who was a senior at Penn Sate and was expected to graduate this spring, was shot and killed outside the Galaxy West Bar and Grill at 52nd and Market on a Sunday afternoon. She was reportedly involved in an altercation with the shooter and another woman inside the bar and called her family for help. After her father and grandfather arrived to help her they were all shot. Oglesby was shot once in the back and died later that day at the hospital. Her father and grandfather survived the shooting.

Police released information on the suspect last month.

The 2018 primary election results are in, and there are no surprises this year for West Philly Democratic candidates.

Incumbent Jim Roebuck beat his opponents, lawyer Jeff Curry and the president of the Kingsessing Area Civic Association Diane Settles, for the State House of Representatives District 188 seat, which includes parts of Spruce Hill, Squirrel Hill, Walnut Hill, Spruce Hill, Garden Court, Beige Block and University City. Roebuck received 56.17 percent of total votes, according to Philly Election Results, the website reporting unofficial election results.

Vanessa Lowery Brown, the incumbent seeking her fifth term in the State House of Representatives, District 190, which includes parts of Cobbs Creek, Belmont, Carroll Park, Cathedral Park, Mill Creek, Haddington, East Parkside, West Powelton, Allegheny West and Lehigh West, beat her opponents Raymond H. Bailey and Wanda Logan. Brown received 64.92 percent of total votes, according to Philly Election Results.

Candidates Joanna McClinton (District 191) and Morgan Cephas (District 192) were running unopposed.

For more election results, including the results by ward and division, go here.

3.0 University Place rendering (via www.30universityplace.com)

It looks like the developers are finally ready to proceed with the construction of 3.0 University Place at 41st and Market, five years after the project was announced.

Construction site at 41st and Market (Photo West Philly Local). 

This environmentally-friendly office building is on the way from University Place Associates, the developers behind the 2.0 University Place building at 41st and Powelton. 3.0 University Place is being built where the old Pep Boys used to be at 41st and Market St. The developers tout the new building’s LEED v4 Platinum environmental certification, and claim that tenants can take advantage of energy- and water-efficient systems, as well as cleaned and filtered indoor air.

3.0 University Place is the latest in the trend towards upscale, tech-oriented buildings pushing ever westwards into West Philadelphia, following developments like Cira South, Schuylkill Yards, 3675 Market, the Pennovation Center, Campus Commerce Center, and Penn Medicine’s Center for Healthcare Technology.  Continue Reading