The School District of Philadelphia students and staff will again be required to wear masks during the school and work day starting Monday, May 23 and until further notice.

The decision to return to mask wearing at District schools was made due to a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the city and after consultation with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH). Masks will also be required while riding transportation coordinated by the District.

The School District will continue to work with PDPH to closely monitor COVID case counts.

As of May 16, Philadelphia averaged 364 new COVID-19 cases per day. 142 people were hospitalized with the infection as of May 18.

The Free Library of Philadelphia is teaming up with an award-winning docuseries, Philly D.A., to present a series of civic dialogue events. The docuseries is an eight-part “epic, inside look at the tumultuous first term of Philadelphia’s unapologetic District Attorney, Larry Krasner,” according to the film’s website. The civic dialogue series, titled Let’s Talk: Philly D.A, will share the experiences, questions, and concerns of Philadelphians via eight screenings and discussions at Free Library locations citywide.

Each screening is presented in partnership with community leaders seeking solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing Philadelphia.
Continue Reading

Last year’s “Everyday Places” program participant Karen Smith-Sistah’s Laying On Hands (photo courtesy of Barnes West).

The Barnes Foundation and People’s Emergency Center (PEC) have announced seven West Philadelphia-based social-impact artists who have been selected to participate in the second annual Everyday Places Artist Partnerships initiative: Nikki Brake-Sillá, Shanina Dionna, Gigi McGraw, Anssumane Silla, Jaime Wiesner (Instagram page) & Joanna Booth, and Yidan Zeng.

This year’s cohort of artists will partner with “everyday” locations in the neighborhood—public parks, civic centers, businesses and community organizations—to build interactive, participatory projects that engage with the business or site and residents. The 2022 Places are:

• University Square Complex
• Malcolm X Park
• Urban Art Gallery
• ​​New Africa Freedom Center/Square
• Clark Park
• Mantua Civic Association
• Drexel University Dornsife Center Continue Reading

Just a reminder that today is primary election day. We wanted to pass along a few things to keep in mind as you head to the polls, which are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You are allowed to vote as long as you are in line by 8 p.m.

Pennsylvania conducts closed primaries, so you can only vote for candidates from the party for which you are registered. If you are registered Independent, sorry no primary candidates for you, but you can still vote on the four city ballot measures.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, U.S. Senate, state house and senate are on the ballot.

Here are the basics: Continue Reading

The city has released an interactive map that allows home owners to see the assessed value of their property following the citywide reassessment announced last week.

The first citywide property assessment in three years has come under mounting criticism as property values across the city increased an average of 31 percent. Tax rate increases vary by neighborhood with some seeing their tax burden as much as double.

The map allows property owners to type in their address to see the assessed value for 2022 and the new value, which would go into effect in 2023. Your property tax bill would be 1.3998 percent of your home’s assessed value, based on the city current tax rate.

The city’s “homestead exemption” will reduce your taxable value by $45,000. More info on that is available here. Mayor Jim Kenney has proposed increasing the homestead exemption to $65,000 to help offset tax increases.

You can dispute the new assessment here.

A community meeting on the 13-story, 170-unit apartment building proposed on the 4700 block of Spruce took place yesterday over Zoom. Organized by the Garden Community Association Zoning Committee, the meeting was advisory and included the developers’ (Spruce Street Development) lawyer and building architect. Residents could make non-binding suggestions about the project, which will likely begin construction in the fall.

Here are some key points from the meeting:

• The demolition of the existing one-story commercial structures on the block to make room for the new building is not expected to begin until at least late summer, contingent on the approval by the City’s Civic Design Review Committee. Some neighbors voiced concerns over possible air and soil pollution as a result of the demo work at the adjacent communit garden project. Continue Reading