On Saturday, May 11, the Streets Department will be holding a special event in West Philly for those who want to get rid of hazardous waste safely. If you have any used or unwanted toxic, flammable, corrosive or reactive products (check the label), you may bring them to the 1st District Highway Yard at 4800 Parkside Ave. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday.

Some of the items accepted at this hazardous waste drop-off event are:

– antifreeze
– moth balls
– pesticide
– gasoline
– oil-based paints
– spray paints
– acids
– lithium/NiCad batteries  Continue Reading

A four-story, 18-unit apartment building is being proposed for the empty lot at 4820 Chester Avenue and residents are invited to a community zoning meeting on Tuesday, May 7, to learn more about the proposal.  Continue Reading

Beginning Sunday, May 5 through Saturday, July 20, SEPTA will conduct a major track replacement and switch improvement project in the area of Lancaster and Lansdowne Avenues. Shuttle buses will replace all Route 10 trolleys between 63rd Street and Malvern Avenue and 33rd and Market for the duration of the project.

For service towards 13th and Market Streets, passengers can transfer to any trolley at 33rd and Market.

Temporary detours are expected through the spring and into the summer in the area of 54th St. & Lansdowne Ave. and Girard & Lancaster Avenues die to construction. But here’s the good news: the new tracks will provide a smoother ride for passengers, and new concrete and asphalt paving will also be installed the area.

For more information or updates, visit Septa.org.

Squirrel Hill Park, the controversial gated pocket “park” at 48th and Chester, is still open after being “liberated” earlier this month and renamed “People’s Park.”

Residents have been asking for years what it would take to open the park to the public. A group started a few years back to work through the legal entanglements. They event sent out a survey. But members of the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative showed what it took: vision, temerity and a pair of bolt cutters.

The Cooperative posted a video (see below) of the opening of the park a couple of weeks ago. The video now has nearly 20,000 views and the park is still open.  Continue Reading

Overnight closures are planned for the University City area from Monday, April 29 to Sunday, May 4 due to I-76 repairs.

Several travel restrictions will be in place at night on eastbound and westbound Interstate 76 (Schuylkill Expressway) in Center City for construction on the viaduct between the 30th Street and University Avenue interchanges and the viaduct carrying Schuylkill Avenue over the expressway between Walnut Street and Market Street, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced Thursday.  Continue Reading

Here are some details on projects and properties that have been discussed at recent zoning meetings in Cedar Park and Spruce Hill.

• Ahimsa House (5007 Cedar Ave.)

                                Ahimsa House

The Cedar Park Neighbors zoning committee will support a variance request from the owner of the Ahimsa House at 5007 Cedar Ave. that would allow the privately owned residence that is used for various community activities to continue to operate. The decision made at its April 16 meeting follows a lengthy zoning committee hearing concerning the property last month.

The variance would rezone the property as a three-unit, multi-family dwelling. The zoning committee’s support includes stipulations that the property owner continues to live at the residence and that the zoning would be rescinded if the building was sold or operated as a non-owner occupied building. Other stipulations include that the variance be renewed after three years and that the owner follows fire and food safety codes.  Continue Reading