A serious fire was reported this afternoon at a junkyard in Southwest Philadelphia. West Philly Local readers reported seeing lots of dark smoke in that area and some smoke was visible in the sky from as far as 42nd and Walnut Streets. The fire broke out around 4 p.m. at Automated Waste Solutions Inc. at 1620 South 49th Street (near 49th St and Grays Ave), 6ABC reports. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local

A 2-alarm fire this morning at an abandoned five-story apartment building at 4726 Chestnut Street prompted evacuation of people from an adjacent building. The fire broke out shortly after 6 a.m. and was under control around 7 a.m. The fire started on the first floor of the building. No one was injured, according to Deputy Fire Chief James Bonner.

The building is part of a row of attached apartment buildings along the south side of the block. Nine people were evacuated from the building at 4724 Chestnut and the building at 4728 Chestnut, also abandoned, sustained heavy damage.

Please note that Route 21 bus is currently on detour due to the fire. For more information, go to Septa’s website.

Update: The American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania (2221 Chestnut St.) is helping all nine people (five families altogether) displaced by the fire. The families will be given meals, a place to stay, and full casework services, all for free, according to Red Cross spokesperson Dave Schrader. If you would like to help, you can donate money to the disaster relief fund at redcrossphilly.org or to the local Red Cross House endowment fund by calling 215 405 8801.

Aspire Rx owner Hetal Chudasama. (Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

A few months ago we wrote about the new independently owned pharmacy that opened right across the street from CVS on Locust Street near 43rd. The store’s location raised some eyebrows. So this week we decided to check back in to see how things were going at Aspire.

Aspire’s owner, Hetal Chudasama, knows better than most the risk she took in locating across the street from the big box behemoth. She managed CVS’s pharmacy for a few years and began working there in 2002.

“I’ve taken all of the things I’ve seen over the years and made them better,” Chudasama said.

While the pharmacists at CVS focus on quantity, a sort of churn-and-burn style of filling prescriptions, Chudasama slows the process of getting medication down to make sure patients get what they need.

“My number one thing is to talk to the patient and give them my time,” she said.

Aspire is one of a growing number of independently owned pharmacies popping up in small towns and big cities across the country. While in the 1970s and 1980s most pharmacies in the country were independently owned, the number started to nose-dive in the 1990s as big-big box stores like CVS and Rite Aid began to dominate the market. Even Wal-Mart and Target got into the pharmacy game as a way to get customers into the stores.

But independents are making a comeback, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association. Reasons for the increase include a tough job market for retail pharmacists leading to more willing to take a chance on their own business.

Example of a blister pack. (Photo courtesy of Aspire Rx)

Chudasama offers the kind of personalized service that most independents do – but places like CVS don’t. Aspire delivers prescriptions for free. Chudasama also assembles medication in specially designed blister packages that group multiple medications by days of the week, making it much less likely that patients will not take all of their required pills. She also works closely with physicians. These are things that CVS pharmacists simply don’t have time to do, she says.

“I went to school to be a pharmacist, not to just stand and count pills,” said Chudasama.

Switching prescriptions from a big box pharmacy to Aspire is as easy as making a phone call. And if you stop by on a hot day, chances are good that you can get a cup of cold lemonade. You’ll have to pay for that at CVS.

– Mike Lyons

Rendering of the new Baltimore Avenue Pedestrian Plaza provided by University City District.

Many folks are probably wondering what is going on at 48^th Street and Baltimore Avenue, so here’s what we learned: The three bumpouts now hugging the curbs of the intersection’s south side were the first phase in a new University City District project that’ll transform the glut asphalt into a pedestrianized plaza.

The second phase, which should start this week, will have stone barriers and terra-cotta style planters housing budding perennials installed around the bumpouts’ outer edges, serving as protection from oncoming traffic. A new crosswalk directly connecting the Gold Standard Café and the Calvary Center was also painted.

Once completed this spring, the plaza will shrink the vast, daunting gap of the 48^th Street and Baltimore Avenue juncture, shortening crossing distances, improving pedestrian safety, slowing vehicle speed, and “better [knitting] together Baltimore Avenue,” UCD’s Seth Budick told West Philly Local. The organization partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities and worked with the West Philly community to develop design plans, he said.

The local plaza development is one of two implemented by UCD, which received two grants under the City of Philadelphia’s recently-announced Pedestrian Plaza program that aims to convert excess street surface into usable pedestrian spaces. The first plaza, named Woodland Green, was finished last fall at 42^nd Street and Woodland Ave.

– Annamarya Scaccia

So, we’re passing this along in case you forgot: There’s a primary election tomorrow in the city. You could be forgiven if you didn’t remember. On the Democratic side, District Attorney Seth Williams is running unopposed and there’s a dizzying list of judges running. The hot nomination is for City Controller, the city’s auditor of financial affairs. The office has a four-year term and no term limit.

Incumbent Alan Bukovitz is running against Brett Mandel and Mark Zecca for the Democratic nomination. Bukovitz is in his second term as City Controller. Until 2004, Mandel worked in the City Controller’s office on the Financial and Policy Analysis Unit. Zecca is a former Assistant District Attorney.

There’s a Republican in this thing too – retail expert Terry Tracy. He is running unopposed for the City Controller nomination.

Former Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alvarez (Facebook page) is the lone Republican candidate for District Attorney.

Other local offices include: Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Judge of Philadelphia Municipal Court (3 vacancies), Judge of Traffic Court (3 vacancies), Inspector of Elections. Statewide offices include the Judge of the Superior Court.

A list of candidates for the various judge seats is here.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can check your registration information and find your polling place here.

A reader, James, reports that fire trucks responded to a call of smoke at Penn Alexander school at 43rd and Locust at around 8 p.m. Sunday. Some kind of smoke or steam was indeed leaving the top of the domed area on the school building, which might have triggered the call. The trucks left quickly after checking the building.

Photos by James Buckley.