Roxanne/Roxie, a light brown pit mix, has been missing since February 3rd. She was last seen around 55th and Chestnut and may be in the area or University City. Her family misses her and is offering a reward for her safe return.

Please contact Sheena if you see her – 215.490.6650.

SEPTA is expanding its Key Fare program to more transit locations. Starting Thursday, Feb. 9, customers can get a new Key Card at 69th Street Transportation Center with the purchase of a Weekly/Monthly Transpass, Convenience Pass, or when they load funds to a Travel Wallet.

Beginning Monday, Feb. 13, and continuing throughout February and early March, Fare Kiosks will be activated at all Market-Frankford Line and Broad Street Line stations, and all major bus loops. Key Cards will be available with the purchase of Weekly and Monthly TransPasses, and then reloadable for all passes and the Travel Wallet.

Fare Kiosks will be activated on the Market-Frankford Line in West Philly on the following dates:

• Thursday, Feb. 16: 30th St., 34th St., 40th St., 46th St.
• Friday, Feb. 17: 52nd St., 56th St., 60th St., 63rd St.  Continue Reading

Funeral services for beloved West Philly community activist and acting executive director of UC Green, Winnie Harris, who was found shot to death in her Powelton home last Friday, will take place Monday, Feb. 13.

The funeral will be at the Christ Community Church of Philadelphia (4017 Chestnut St.), beginning at 10 a.m. A closed casket Memorial Hour will begin at 9 a.m. Burial will be at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 215 Belmont Avenue, in Bala Cynwyd, followed by a reception for family and friends.

A number of community organizations where Harris, a longtime Powelton resident and green space advocate, has been involved with posted their messages grieving her tragic death.  Continue Reading

The School Reform Commission on Wednesday approved a new charter school to be located in the Parkside neighborhood in West Philadelphia. KIPP Parkside is scheduled to open during the 2019-2020 academic year with grades K-4.

The school’s opening was one of the stipulations the SRC placed on the approval. The school’s application proposed opening in the 2018-2019 school year. The SRC also limited the school to grades K-4, adding that it could expand to the proposed K-8 if it performed well.

KIPP Parkside garnered unanimous approval from the SRC, which denied the applications of two other schools – the Friendship Whittier Charter School in the West Allegheny neighborhood and the Deep Roots Charter School in Harrowgate. Only three proposals made it through the full process this year. The evaluation reports for all three proposed schools are available here.

About a third of Philadelphia’s approximately 130,000 public school students attend charter schools, second only to Detroit among big cities.

Cast members Brian McCann and Paul Kuhn (Photo by Rebecca Gudelunas).

The Curio Theatre Company’s production of the Samuel Beckett classic Waiting for Godot premieres Friday night.

The play features two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting along a country road for someone named Godot, who never arrives. The two engage in a number of comically absurd discussions and encounter others along the road. The British Royal National Theater named the play the most significant English play of the 20th century.

The Curio performance features Brian McCann, Paul Kuhn, Robert DaPonte and Harry Slack. The director is Dan Hodge, who guided the 2016 Curio staging of Death of a Salesman.

A second preview performance is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9, and the play opens on Feb. 10 and runs through March. All performances begin at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are available here.

UPDATE (Feb. 9, 1:30 p.m.): The Snow Emergency for Philadelphia was lifted at noon on Thursday. Parking is now allowed along snow emergency routes.

A winter storm is approaching the region (6 to 10 inches of snow is expected in the area on Thursday, Feb. 9), and the city announced that a Snow Emergency will be declared beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday.

All parked cars must be moved off Snow Emergency routes to allow plowing vehicles to pass. When moving your car, park as far from the corner of the street as possible; vehicles parked too close to the corner get in the way of snow plows trying to turn corners.

Here is information on snow emergency routes, including in West Philadelphia.

Cars left on Snow Emergency routes will be moved to other parking spots to assist in snow plowing operations. If your car is moved, call 215-686-SNOW to find it (please don’t call 911).  Continue Reading