Kindergarten registration for the 2016-2017 school year will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 19. A couple of area schools will soon start the lottery application process.

Penn Alexander School.

Penn Alexander School (43rd and Locust) will start accepting applications for Kindergarten lottery also on January 19. Applications will be accepted through Monday, Feb. 29. Applications received after Feb. 29 will be placed on a wait list. Only children residing within the PAS Catchment are eligible for the lottery (two proofs of residency within the catchment are are required).

The lottery will be conducted on the week of March 7, and student households will receive lottery letters the following week. For more information about kindergarten registration at PAS, go to the school website.

The School District of Philadelphia introduced somewhat controversial lottery process at PAS in 2013 after the school had received an overwhelming number of applications in the previous few years. The first public school in the district to introduce admissions lottery, the PAS lottery was called a “pilot” for other schools.

One of the new charter schools in the area, Independence Charter School West has been accepting lottery applications since November 2015. The school is enrolling students in grades K-3 for its inaugural 2016-2017 school year in Southwest Philadelphia (the school will open at 56th and Chester in September 2016). Children residing in Southwest and West Philadelphia and in Overbrook are welcome to apply (priority will be given to students from the Bartram, Overbrook, and Sayre high school catchments). Th  lottery application deadline is February 1, 2016 and the drawing will be held on February 16. For more information and to apply, go to: http://www.icswest.org/Admissions.aspx. If you have questions, email:  icswestinfo@icscharter.com

Police say five teenagers, believed to be about 15 years old, were arrested Wednesday afternoon for breaking into a vacant property on the 4900 block of Pine Street. Local residents reported seeing some of the teens “running across roofs” on the block at about 3 p.m. A large police presence was observed at the scene. The teens were charged for defiant trespass, according to police.

A 29-year-old woman was robbed while walking on the 4900 block of Osage Avenue on Tuesday evening. The incident happened at around 7:15 p.m., according to police. The woman told police that three young men, approximately 17-18 years old, approached her from behind and asked her what time it was. When she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to check the time, one of the men grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground, according to a police report. Then, the men demanded the pass code for the woman’s phone before one of them grabbed it from her hand.

The woman told police that while she was on the ground struggling with the attackers something resembling a black handgun fell next to her head. She believes the gun was fake because of the hollow sound it made when it hit the ground. The weapon was picked up and all three men fled east on Osage toward 48th. Police say the weapon was never pointed at the victim during the attack.

SEPTA El Station at 60th and Market (Google Street View image).

It was a violent end to 2015 in West Philadelphia, with reports of multiple shootings, many of which were fatal, in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, more shootings have already been reported in the new year. A 35-year-old man was shot multiple times and critically wounded on early Sunday afternoon outside of the SEPTA El station at 60th and Market, bringing the total number of people shot in the same area since Christmas to three, according to police.

Officer Joe Murray of the Southwest Detectives Division, known to many local residents as “the tweeting cop,” says it’s a major problem. He took to social media last night to raise awareness and to call for more police presence in the area, which is a busy El stop, a business area, and “the biggest drug block in SW division.”

@poseidonguy1 everyday. Put one there every single day. That’s how it was when I was a cop out there and there wasn’t an issue.

— Joseph Murray (@PPDJoeMurray) January 3, 2016

According to Murray, whose tweeting efforts were featured today on Philadelphia Magazine’s website, violence in the area can be reduced only through a joint cooperation among police, residents and business owners.

@phillymag @joelmmathis Challenging everyone to step up. Us, business owners, residents, media. You name it. We all want violence reduced.

— Joseph Murray (@PPDJoeMurray) January 4, 2016

If you want more information or want to make your voice heard, the next community meeting with 18th District police officers (PSA 1) will take place on Thursday, Jan. 7, at Christian Compassion Hall at 6130 Cedar Ave. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Please bring your questions and concerns. If you have questions, please email or call 18th District: police.co_18@phila.gov, 215-686-3180.

UPDATE (1/13/2016): There will be an emergency meeting at the Bryant School at 60th and Cedar on Thursday, Jan. 14, 6 p.m. to discuss the recent spike in violent crimes in the area.

To accommodate New Year’s Eve travel, SEPTA will operate enhanced late-evening schedules on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines and Regional Rail (a special customer guide is available online). A number of bus detours will also be in effect on New Year’s Day to accommodate the Mummers Parade.

Thursday, Dec. 31:

• Extra trains will operate on the Broad Street and Market Frankford Lines starting at 7:05 p.m. for travel to the fireworks at Penn’s Landing.
• Broad Street and Market Frankford Line trains will operate overnight service Dec. 31 into Jan 1.
• The Market Street/Convention Center entrance to Jefferson Station will remain open until 2 a.m. to accommodate customers returning from New Year’s Eve fireworks.  Continue Reading

The holidays turned out to be not so happy for some West Philly residents and guests. We received two reports of robberies, including an armed robbery, in the area over the past six days. We’ll start with the more recent one.

A 25-year-old man was robbed and pistol-whipped on Sunday, Dec. 27 on the 4500 block of Spruce Street. The victim told police that he was walking home shortly after 9 p.m. when he was approached from behind by two males, one of whom placed him in a choke hold and forced him to the ground, while the other male hit him in the head with a handgun.

The male with a handgun then took an iPhone from the victim’s pocket and both males ran toward 46th Street, got on bicycles and fled westbound, according to police. The victim’s phone was tracked to the area of May Street and Haverford Avenue before it was powered off. The firearm’s magazine, which fell during the robbery, was turned over to police by the victim. It was determined that the magazine belongs to a BB gun. The suspects are described as black males, 25-30 years old, medium build, about 5’9″-6’0″ tall. One suspect was wearing a grey hoody and light colored pants. The second suspect was wearing a black hoody and dark colored pants and was armed with a black BB gun. Continue Reading