University City District is teaming up with EnergyWorks, a federally funded energy efficiency program, and inviting University City residents (see map below) to sign up for a discounted home energy audit. Application deadline is January 31, 2013. The audit will help identify areas in your home that need energy efficiency improvements that will make your home more comfortable and help reduce your utility bills.

Typically, the cost of a home energy audit is around $400, but with this program you can get a special $49 promotional rate. EnergyWorks also offers low-interest rate (%0.99) for energy retr0-fits.

For more information and to sign up, email: sustainability@universitycity.org

There are two important community meetings taking place in West Philly on Tuesday, Nov. 13. If you want to help shape up the future of your neighborhood, you are encouraged to attend these meetings or at least one of them since they are scheduled within an hour from one another.

• Philadelphia City Planning Commission Meeting – 6:30 p.m., Enterprise Center (4548 Market St.)

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission is inviting residents to the first meeting about their University City/Southwest Philly District Plan. The plan will make recommendations for zoning changes, city-owned land and facilities, and public investments and, when finalized, will have some far reaching implications for West Philly’s future development. Here’s what you can expect at the meeting:

– Learn about the planning process and existing conditions

– Help shape future development and public investment

– Work with Planning Commission staff and your neighbors in small groups.

For more information about this project visit: www.phila2035.org. There is also a need for volunteers who help facilitate table exercises with community members. If you’re interested, contact Andrew Meloney at: andrew.meloney@phila.gov or 215-683-4656.

• Annual Meeting of the Spruce Hill Community Association, 7:30 p.m., Spruce Hill Christian School Chapel (42nd & Baltimore)

This is Spruce Hill Community Association‘s biggest meeting of the year, where neighbors are invited to come renew their dues and vote for officers and directors to the 2013 Board. The full slate of nominees and their bios will be available at the meeting.

In addition, Matt Bergheiser, Executive Director of University City District, will present the project on rejuvenation of the 40th Street Trolley Portal. Plans and renderings of the proposed design will be shown and residents’ input and feedback is welcome.

All neighbors are welcome. Light refreshments will be served and the first 50 people to arrive at the meeting will receive free leaf bags. Spruce Hill is bounded by Market St., Woodland Ave., S. 38th St., and S. 46th St. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

The Porch, the outdoor space at 30th Street Station, is adding a few new things for the summer.

The University City District (UCD) recently received a $375,000 grant from ArtPlace to fund a permanent art piece at The Porch. Prema Katari Gupta, UCD’s Director of Planning and Economic Development said: “We will invite exceptional artists to engage creatively with our site, with our audience, and within our neighborhood context. Art will bring beauty, reflection, and delight to The Porch, as the site continues its evolution.”

One new fun activity to look out for at The Porch is a free nine hole mini golf course open every day in July from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. All you need to bring is a photo ID. A second new project is the opening of a beer garden with German and craft beers, bratwurst, sauerkraut, and Italian sausage sandwiches by Bridgewater’s Pub. The beer garden will include live music and is open July 12 (4-8pm), July 13 (noon-8pm), and July 14 (noon-5pm).

The Porch will exhibit two new visual art works. The first is a representational and experiential exhibit by Pew Fellow Nami Yamamoto. She is installing a Hakoniwa, Japanese for miniature garden as well as a form of psychotherapy called “sandplay therapy.” The therapy method involves subjects who order and design items within a sandbox. Nami’s art will recreate this form of therapy across the concrete of the porch.

Also, Justin Duerr’s Anaesthasia Emeralda Lucian piano, designed for UCD’s Heart and Soul piano project will be on display and ready for play at The Porch.

– Erica Kimmel

The University City District (UCD) is inviting the public to a celebration of dirt tomorrow. Actually, a celebration of really high quality dirt.

The Dirt Factory, UCD’s new public compost facility, located in a vacant lot near 43rd and Market, officially opens tomorrow and there will be free food and drinks, music and a lot of dirt talk.

The Dirt Factory features two huge, “Earth Tub” composters, each with a capacity of 3,200 pounds. The Pedal Co-op will pick up compostable material from local businesses and residents and deliver it to the site, which is located at 4308 Market St. Residents can also drop off material. All of that will be combined with leaves from sidewalks and streets around the neighborhood to produce compost, which will then be available to residents for gardening projects.

Besides the big commercial composters, the site will feature smaller, residential composters that will be used to demonstrate how home composting works. A few raised beds are also on the lot to demonstrate best practices in urban gardening.

The name for the facility was chosen from 86 suggestions. Stephen Metzger and Carina Giamerese will get 6 months of free compost pick-up from The Pedal Co-op for the winning name.

Wednesday’s opening ceremony runs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will feature food and drink from Dock Street Brewing Co., Four Worlds Bakery and Little Baby’s Ice Cream.

Stay tuned for more info and hours of operation.

 
Public art pianos placed on corners, parks and pedestrian plazas from 30th Street Station to Clark Park were met with smiles, stares and intrigued musicians during their debut today.

The University City District is overseeing the project, which is entitled Heart and Soul and is similar in spirit to public piano project in several cities worldwide that combine visual and performance art.

“Hey, how’d you get that piano here?” one passerby asked a man playing the piano placed in the central plaza area of Clark Park, the piano that is farthest West.

Anyone can play the eight pianos until this project ends on June 17. They were transformed into works of art by local artists and placed at high-traffic pedestrian areas today. A list of the locations and bios of the artists are available here. See more photos below.

The idea is simple: eight beautifully decorated pianos, in public places, for anyone to play. This is the essence of University City District’s initiative, Heart & Soul: The University City Public Piano Project which will run from June 7-17, 2012. It is an interactive public art exhibition featuring eight artist-decorated pianos on sidewalks and in parks and public spaces throughout University City. Eight artists or collectives were chosen to visually re-interpret the pianos, transforming each into a unique piece of visual art: Terry Adkins, Joe Boruchow, Justin Duerr, Melissa Maddoni Haims, The Heads of State, Kali Yuga Zoo Brigade, Katie Holeman, and Thom Lessner.

UCD will hold an opening reception and launch party on Wednesday, June 6 at 6pm at The Porch at 30^th Street Station, where all eight pianos will debut. The launch party will also celebrate the opening of Hakoniwa: A Site Specific Public Art Installation at the Porch. Pew Fellow Nami Yamamoto has “responded to The Porch’s concrete planters creating a ‘garden’ that extends the reach of the colorful forms within each planter. But rather than representing the flora seen around The Porch, Yamamoto has selected objects from her daily life, and reproduced them in colorful silhouettes at once abstract and recognizable to passersby.”

From June 7-17, the pianos will then be placed throughout the neighborhood at the following locations: The Porch at 30th Street Station, Drexel Park (32^nd and Powelton), Clark Park (43^rd and Baltimore), Drexel Dragon Statue (33^rd and Market), University Square (36^th and Walnut), Locust Walk, The Radian Plaza (3925 Walnut), and The Science Center (37^th Street Pedestrian Mall, at Market St.).

For a complete list of Heart & Soul details visit http://www.universitycity.org/heart-soul

– Emma Eisenberg