UPDATE 3 (8/15/13): NBC10 reports that the cause of the fire at the New Horizons building at 48th and Trinity was arson. Fire brigades previously responded to the building for other suspicious fires, about five in the past year and two in the past month, according to neighbors.

UPDATE 2 (11:00 p.m.) We have received the following update from the Red Cross:

“Residents living on the affected 2nd floor will be provided lodging by the management company. Residents on other floors are allowed back into their homes, but anyone who decides not to stay, because of the lack of doors, will be assisted by the Red Cross with a place to stay. Responders on the scene are now determining how many people are choosing not to stay in their units.”

The Red Cross was assisting 28 people displaced by tonight’s fire with snacks, water, and blankets. The primary issue is that many apartments don’t have doors on them. Red Paw Relief members assisted with 11 cats and one rat.

UPDATE (9:30 p.m.): Red Paw Relief was on the scene to assist residents with their pets. Residents are waiting outside to learn whether they will be allowed back in the building tonight or put in a hotel by the building management.

A fire that broke out this evening at the New Horizons apartment building located on the 1000 block of 48th Street forced residents to jump out windows in an effort to escape the blaze. The fire reportedly started on the second floor of the building around 6:15 p.m. and some apartments sustained smoke damage.

Witnesses saw some residents jumping out windows in the back of the building. One of the people who jumped, a woman, was taken to the hospital with back pain, according to CBS Philly. Another person was taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation. The fire is currently under investigation.

On-scene at the 1000 blk S.48th St apt fire assisting a resident w/her cat. pic.twitter.com/86I6o4hFG7

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 14, 2013

1 cat pulled from bldg on its way to @pennvet w/possible smoke inhalation. Thanks for the blanket @RedCrossPhilly pic.twitter.com/FuJdaBGB64

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 14, 2013

On-scene w/ @RedCrossPhilly pic.twitter.com/aP6bhCNfoZ

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 15, 2013

Breakdown of cats at @pennvet 1 w/smoke inhalation, 1 w/burns, 1 jumped from 2nd floor.

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 15, 2013

Twitter photo by Annamarya Scaccia.

Many of our readers expressed concern about Cafe Renata at 43rd and Locust being closed last week. So here’s what happened – Renata owners, Katie and Yasser, were doing a little facelift and also installed a new counter. Katie said that they moved the bar out of the center of the room and Yasser, actually, built the new bar and a bunch of tables himself with recycled pieces of wood. After the remodeling the cafe space for seating has increased by about 30%. The new counter and long table were made from salvaged trees and Yasser did the finishing work.

“We couldn’t have done it without the West Philly Tool Library. I think we borrowed a zillion different thingamajigs from them for this project,” said Katie in an email.

Housing prices are bouncing back all over Philadelphia, except in West Philly, according to a recent report.

Second quarter home prices fell 7.8 percent in University City compared to the first quarter and an average of 5.9 percent in other parts of West Philly, the Fels Institute of Government analysis shows.

Photo by Katrine Lvovskaya.

Prices around the city bottomed out about 18 months ago and prices in many neighborhoods have begun to bounce back (as much as 8 percent in parts of North Philly), while prices in this side of the Schuylkill have lagged. Not to worry, said Kevin Gillen, a senior research consultant at Fels and the report author. He believes the down tick in house value is just a short-term phenomenon and can be regarded as more of a “correction” in pricing, particularly for University City, which saw double-digit home price rises for the last 10 to 15 years.

“The prices are still way above where they were 10 years ago. It’s like 100 steps forward and 15 steps back. Think of it as a mean reversion,” said Gillen, who believes the long-term trend for the area is still optimistic. “It’s positive going forward but a more modest positive than you had in the past.”

Average home prices across the city have increased 3.1 percent compared to the second quarter last year.

This over-inflation during the decade’s housing boom, said Gillen, can be attributed to University of Pennsylvania renewed, three-fold investment in the neighborhood: the creation of the University City Business District, which led to better public services; a mortgage program aimed at UPenn faculty and staff to encourage them to invest in the neighborhood; and the opening of the Penn Alexander School at 43^rd and Locust Streets 10 years ago.
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A few months ago we wrote about a wild turkey roaming around West Philly streets, which caused a massive response from our readers and the story even got picked up by citywide media. The West Philly turkey became famous and started its own Twitter account.

While sightings of wild critters around here are not that rare, with periodic accounts of raccoons or opossums in folks’ backyards or near garbage containers, we haven’t heard a lot of stories about groundhogs in the hood. A neighbor, Bill, who lives near 49th and Springfield, spotted this cute fella earlier today after his dog, Oliver, chased it up on the fence in his backyard. Bill’s daughter Margie snapped the photo below. Bill, thanks again to Oliver, was one of the first neighbors who spotted the West Philly turkey.

Photo by Margie Sanderson.

Photo by West Philly Local reader Joel DeGrands.

Many residents who live near 46th and Spruce streets were awoken this morning by a car crash and witnessed a flipped SUV lying on its side in the middle of 46th Street and the driver talking to police. Reportedly, the car hit two others in the crash and a total of four cars were damaged. The accident happened shortly after 7 a.m. We’re trying to get more information and hope that no one was injured.

Come this fall, Mighty Writers will ink its missive on the streets of West Philly.

The beloved Philly nonprofit dedicated to teaching Philadelphia’s youth to think and write with clarity will open its third location, Mighty Writers West, housed in People’s Emergency Center at 3861 Lancaster Avenue. Fall programs will launch September 16, and former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall will serve as Mighty Writers West program director.

This is a new Mighty Writers site in West Philly. They are looking for someone who can replace the words “Make Your Mark” with “Mighty Writers.” (Photo via Mighty Writers’ Facebook page).

“We’re excited because the kids and volunteers we meet in West Philly will define the flavor of Mighty Writers West,” Maggie Leyman, Mighty Writers’ development director, told West Philly Local.  “We’ll incorporate a lot of what we’ve learned in South Philly, but we can’t wait to learn what gets West Philly kids excited, and what gets them writing.”

According to Leyman,opening locations in the North, South and West locations of Philadelphia was Mighty Writers’ intention from the start, as the non-profit’s “honing in on three neighborhoods” it sees as underserved and “reasonably far apart.” In West Philadelphia, she said, Mighty Writers will be able to reach those kids who have traveled to the South Philadelphia location for past workshops, as well as kids who wouldn’t travel to either location, but are interested in its programs. Still, the non-profit does understand that the entire city “needs more accessible and free out-of-school programs.”

“Our executive director, Tim Whitaker, always says that you could put a Mighty Writers, or pretty much any writing program, every ten blocks and you’d see programs filled to capacity,” Leyman told West Philly Local. “The whole city is underserved, as far as kids’ educations are concerned. We wish we could put a Mighty Writers in even more Philly communities but that would take some serious funding.”

Mighty Writers will host an open house at the new location in early September “to welcome people into Mighty Writers West so they can sign up for programs, meet our staff and volunteers, and see what we’re all about,” said Leyman.

Mighty Writers West is also currently accepting applications for its afterschool program for students in grades 5-8 residing or going to school in one of the following ZIP codes: 19104, 19131, 19139 or 19143. For more info and to download an application, click here. Application deadline is August 15, 2013.

–Annamarya Scaccia