The Indego bike station at 44th and Walnut.

The planned bike share station at 44th and Walnut is now in place, marking (for now, at least) the furthest west the new Ride Indego program will go (map). The last time we checked the station only had a couple of bikes, which has been an early complaint about the stations in West Philly, including the one near 40th and Spruce.

The bike share program plans to add another station near Clark Park. They are still working with the community to determine the best placement for it. We’ll let you know when we have an installation date.

Many thanks to our reader Nadia Adawi who sent us this report of an amazing cat rescue that took place in the Chester Avenue Dog Park at 48th and Chester last night.

A cat was stuck at the very top of a tree in the dog park for some 36 hours before a heroic rescue by Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, the Philadelphia Fire Department, and Animal Care and Control Team of Philadelphia. It took five attempts, because the cat kept climbing higher. The cat is now safe at ACCT.

A large rally in response to the events in Baltimore is planned for today (Thursday, April 30) at 15th and Market Streets near Philadelphia City Hall. The “Philly is Baltimore” rally is set to start at 4:30 p.m. and is expected to draw at least 1,000 protesters.

Due to this event, traffic delays are expected throughout Center City as well as the University City area beginning around 3:30 p.m. today. Penn Public Safety will be in the University City area to assist with traffic flow.

Great news for some local schools and lots of arts and culture organizations, which recently received grants and monetary awards for their achievements, continuous service to the community and to support some new projects:

• The West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools (WPCNS) received a $20,000 grant for the Greening Lea project from the TD Green Streets program. A collaboration between the Arbor Day Foundation and TD Bank, this Green Streets grant was one just of 10 awarded to communities across the country. The grant will be used towards planting a large shade tree area over the green stormwater management system to be installed at the Lea play yard this year. Please also check our post on the Greening Lea naming campaign, where local residents and businesses are encouraged to participate.  Continue Reading

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Here’s a great opportunity to learn more about your neighborhood. This weekend, PlanPhilly is organizing free walks in the city as part of Jane’s Walk, a global movement of free, locally-led walking tours inspired by the urbanist and writer Jane Jacobs. The goal of the tours is to get people engaged with their city and one another and to talk about walkability, neighborhood corridors, hidden histories, public spaces, and more.

There will be two walks in West Philly on Friday, May 1. The first one, titled “Breaking the University City HS Superblock,” will be led by James Wright of People’s Emergency Center (PEC). The walk will begin at 4 p.m. at 40th and Market and travel north (see map). All you need to do is show up at the starting point and come up to James, who will be holding a sign. Check out this page for more information.

Starting at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Daniel Wolf of the University City District will lead a tour down Baltimore Avenue, called “Making Baltimore Ave a Place for People.” This tour will begin at the 40th Street Trolley Portal and end in Cedar Park. Click here for more info.

An oil train derailed over the Schuylkill River in January 2014 (archive photo).

On January 20, 2014, an oil train derailed in Philadelphia over the Schuylkill River, a source of drinking water for 1.5 million Philadelphia residents. A year later, 11 train tank cars containing crude oil derailed in a CSX rail yard in South Philadelphia, prompting a response by hazardous response teams. Community members are invited to join a conversation this Wednesday at USciences about the risks of oil trains in Philadelphia, including in some West Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Wednesday’s meeting is part of Clean Water Action‘s Community Listening Tour on oil trains organized for communities closest to the railroads that carry trains with more than 240,000 barrels of crude oil every day.

The meeting will include a 30-minute presentation as a primer on the issue, followed by a neighborhood engagement session. Participants will learn more about the issues and can ask about the risks. All of the input from participants is recorded so that decision-makers receive adequate feedback from their constituents.  Continue Reading