April 5, 2016
The Philadelphia Streets Department is conducting street improvement work, including road surfacing, in some parts of West Philadelphia this week. Residents are asked to move their cars from the work sites when temporary “No Parking” signs are posted so that vehicles are not towed. If your car has been towed, please contact your local Police District to determine its location.
The work scheduled for this week will be mainly conducted on streets north of Market Street – in Powelton Village, Mantua, West Powelton and Mill Creek neighborhoods. Click here to see if your street or block is scheduled to be resurfaced (weather or special events in the area may alter the resurfacing schedule).
Residents are urged to plan ahead and use alternative routes when traveling in these areas.
The entire list of streets being paved for the 2016 season has not been completed yet. We’ll post more information as soon as it becomes available.
Continue Reading
April 4, 2016
Police are investigating the death of a young man, a West Philly resident, who was found with a puncture wound on Sunday morning on the 300 block of South Saint Bernard Street, near Barkan Park. Police believe the man was stabbed.
Medics responded to a call of an unresponsive male lying in the street behind a parked unattended vehicle shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday and found the man, later identified as 21-year-old Saadiq Abdull Latiyf (aka Saadiq Richardson) with a puncture wound to the upper chest. He was pronounced dead at 9:22 a.m.
18th District police officers responded to the scene and found a cell phone lying next to the victim. No weapon was found.
If you have any information about this crime, please contact Southwest Detective Division at 215-686-3183/3184.
April 3, 2016
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Photos by Jen Roder
A building on the 5000 block of Warrington partially collapsed this morning, injuring a man inside a vehicle. The incident was reported shortly after 6 a.m.. The man was reportedly trapped in the car by the bricks that crushed it after the building collapse. The collapse sent bricks as far as the other side of the street. The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, 6ABC reports.
It’s not known what caused the collapse of the building, and if there was anyone inside it. Fire officials were on scene checking the building, and inspectors from Licences and Inspection were expected to arrive, according to 6 ABC.
The video below was shot by a neighbor, Jen Roder.
Building collapse in the neighborhood, just around the corner!
Posted by Jen Roder on Sunday, April 3, 2016
And here’s what the building looked like before the collapse (Google Street View image, 2012).
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March 31, 2016
Summer is rapidly approaching, which means block party season is just around the corner. The Block Party permit application process has recently been made easier, and traveling to the Municipal Services Building and waiting in line is no longer necessary. Residents can now pay and submit their application online and receive the permit by e-mail.
Block Party permits allow residents to close their street to traffic for a party on a weekend or a summer holiday, such as Memorial Day, July 4th or Labor Day. NOTE: Applications for weekday block parties or Street Festival Permits are not offered online at this time. Continue Reading
March 31, 2016
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Architect Nick Mansperger describes the new residence hall planned for site of the Alexander Wilson School to neighbors at a public meeting on the University of the Sciences campus.
Residents got their first glimpse last night at the University of the Sciences’ plan for the former Alexander Wilson School property at 46th and Woodland – a glassy 4- to 5-story dormitory over ground-floor retail and a open courtyard along Woodland Avenue.
The proposed new dorm, which will house about 400 students and replace residence facilities elsewhere on the campus, will be U-shaped with the open end of the U along Woodland. The university hopes to break ground for the building in December or January and open it to new students in the fall of 2018.
Along with concerns about parking and the choice of retail, residents on 46th Street were worried that the building would block sunlight for much of the day. Continue Reading
March 30, 2016
Emergency road repairs are causing closures of two West Philly blocks.
The 4900 block of Walnut Street is currently restricted to one lane and will be fully closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 31 to perform emergency roadway repairs, according to an announcement by the Streets Department. Traffic will be detoured onto Spruce Street. When the work is completed on Thursday evening, the street should re-open to one lane. The Streets Department is coordinating with SEPTA and PennDOT on this detour.
The 4200 block of Sansom St. is currently closed to through traffic due to a large sinkhole. We reported about this sinkhole earlier this month, when it swallowed a cone. The good news is that the sinkhole is finally being repaired. Here’s what it looks like right now.
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