The old West Philadelphia High School on Walnut between 47th and 48th.

The School District of Philadelphia will be asking for input on the sale of the old West Philadelphia High School (47th and Walnut) during a public meeting Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. at the new West Philadelphia High School (4901 Chestnut St.).

The District has received bids from private contractors interested in converting the building to apartments on the upper floors and mixed uses, including commercial operations on the ground floor, according to a recent report in the Philadelphia Public School Notebook.

District officials will not talk about bid specifics, but an official told The Notebook that several of the dozen recently shuttered District properties have received competitive bids. The bids have come from private developers and charter schools interested in the properties. The District has placed a $6.5 million price tag on the old West Philadelphia High School.

The very last public input session for the Bartram’s Mile planning process will take place this Saturday (Nov. 10) at the Garden’s Coach House. Everyone is welcome to come to an engaging design workshop and help brainstorm design and programming concepts for the park and trail space. Each group will be facilitated by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, PennPraxis, or Andropogon Associates.

Bartram’s Mile is an exciting project to convert one mile of currently vacant riverfront property into public green space and public input is essential to its success. To read more about the project, click here.

Bartram’s Mile Design Workshop
Saturday, November 10
12:00pm-3:00pm
Bartram’s Garden Coach House, 54th and Lindbergh Boulevard

The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative, a school-based program of the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, is hosting its fourth annual Eats and Beats community dinner to showcase youth leadership and skills. AUNI encourages West Philadelphia students to grow, cook, consume and sell healthy foods. The AUNI Youth Development Program employs more than 100 teens to grow and sell organic food at high school gardens and to teach nutrition to community groups.

The dinner will be held at 5:30-8:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community (48th and Baltimore). The menu will feature a locally sourced, organic five-course meal grown and prepared by the AUNI youth crews.

“At Eats and Beats, the youth plan the menu, prepare the food and give musical performances. They’re also taking care of ticket sales,” says Ty Holmberg, AUNI coordinator.

Tickets ($25) are available at the AUNI stand at the Clark Park Farmers’ Market 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturdays and at the Mariposa Food Co-op during open hours. RSVPs are also being collected online at www.urbannutrition.org/eatsandbeats.

For more information visit www.urbannutrition.org or email: kristins@urbannutrition.org.

Sylvia Platypus.

Many neighbors have been asking how they can help Hurricane Sandy victims and here’s a great opportunity. On Saturday, Nov. 10, “psycho-Celtic glam-blues band” Sylvia Platypus (Facebook page), along with a contingent of clowns, jugglers, dancers, face painters, sword swallowers, and fire spinners, will take over the Rotunda at 4014 Walnut St. for a circus-themed extravaganza with music, food, and spectacle to aid those affected by the superstorm.

“As Sandy hit the Caribbean, the suggestion for a hurricane relief concert was raised,” said Janet Bressler, vocalist and principal songwriter for Sylvia Platypus. “Then, the devastation arrived so close to home, and the choice became obvious.”

Sylvia Platypus has a “something-for-everyone” appeal that reaches across demographics and their visionary scope and fearless presentation are attracting increasing attention from both the public and the music industry. The band recently signed a publishing deal for film and TV placement of some of their compositions.

The show begins at 8 p.m. and suggested donation is $5 to $25+. For more information, visit therotunda.org or the event’s Facebook page.

Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012

The 2012 presidential election is over and president Barack Obama has been re-elected for the 2nd term. Being a strong democratic base, there are no surprises about how West Philly residents voted in this election. Here are some results by wards (click on the links to see ward maps):

Ward 27 (91.30 % precincts completed):

Ward 24 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 46 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 51 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 60 (95.65% precincts completed):

Ward 6 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 44 (100% completed):

Voting seemed to have gotten off to a brisk start this morning, with many polling stations reporting long lines. While this is no reason to start wildly speculating about results in West Philly, it’s at least a good sign.

We will continually update this post throughout the day with bits and pieces of information and observations from around the neighborhoods. Please feel free to write us at editor@westphillylocal.com or tweet us at @westphillylocal with your observations while voting.

Here are some early tweets from this morning:

@WestPhillyLocal @Committeeof70 FYI I was required to show ID because “new voters to a district are required to show ID”

— Abhi (@AbsorbingStates) November 6, 2012

@WestPhillyLocal 36th and Locust opened 37 minutes late because the judge of elections didn't get here on time.

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald) November 6, 2012

https://twitter.com/mabege/status/265808077478035456

@WestPhillyLocal only had to wait about 10 minutes to vote at Kingsessing library. Crowd started to pick up when I left.

— Dan Whang (@called_out) November 6, 2012

@joeldeg @WestPhillyLocal Only polling materials should be inside. Partisan materials must be 10 feet away from polling place door.

— Leah Pillsbury (@maybeleah) November 6, 2012

@WestPhillyLocal voting at the 46/18 meth church around 1130am was smooth and painless

— Ben (suidroot@infosec.exchange) (@suidroot) November 6, 2012

Voting was ezpz! @WestPhillyLocal

— Lauren Foster (@laurenfoste) November 6, 2012

@WestPhillyLocal Waited for exactly 0 minutes at SCHA an hour or so ago.

— Preston Hull (@preston_hull) November 6, 2012

https://twitter.com/estemonte/status/265883665144356865
 

Also – to lighten things up a little – we asked what might be the best way to work “jawn” into an Election Day tweet. @AdamButler got into this. His responses:

https://twitter.com/a_butler/status/265879399075831808

https://twitter.com/a_butler/status/265879508253569024

https://twitter.com/a_butler/status/265879508253569024