Tomorrow is Election Day and here is some practical info to help you vote for Mayor, City Council, sheriff and judges – including the hotly contested race for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

A lot of information about the candidates for each office is out there. A good place to start is the Committee of 70’s voter guide, which allows you to look at a sample ballot and get info on all of the offices and candidates on your ballot. What you will find is candidates for Mayor, nine candidates for At-Large City Council seats (you choose up to five), candidates for your City Council District, Sheriff, Register of Wills, City Controller, three candidates for City Commissioner (you choose up to two) and a number of judicial candidates.

Each office in the guide has bipartisan information on each candidate and this year’s single ballot measure:

Should the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create an Office for People with Disabilities to coordinate the City’s compliance with requirements to provide access for people with disabilities to City services and programs and to otherwise provide for incorporation of the Office into the City government?

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Beginning Monday, Nov. 6, SEPTA will conduct a trolley track renewal project on a portion of Filbert Street, and the construction work will affect local traffic. The project will involve excavation and renewal of existing corroded and broken rail on Filbert Street between 38th and 40th Streets. Intersections within this area will be closed to through traffic during the work period from November 6 through December 9, 2023.

The project will be broken into three phases, each with parking lane restrictions and accommodations. Traffic detours will be posted and maintained around the work area in progress. Access to medical facilities, businesses or private property will not be hampered.

Normal construction hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but on some weekdays crews may work past 3:30 p.m. Occasional weekend work may also be needed to maintain or advance the project’s timeline.

For more detailed information about each phase of the project, visit the SEPTA website.

The Streets Department’s 2023 Leaf Recycling Program begins on Monday, Nov. 6 and runs through Saturday, Dec. 16. The program is one of several services provided by the Streets Department that helps reduce the amount of materials that reach the waste stream.

During the six-week program, bagged leaf drop-off will be offered citywide at various locations. West Philadelphia residents can drop off bagged leaves at 54th & Woodbine Avenue or 43rd & Powelton Avenue on the following Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.:

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Come Tuesday, hundreds of costumed tots and their parents or guardians will descend upon West Philly streets for trick-or-treating. Neighbors usually buy a lot of sweet treats to give away but do they always buy the “right” sweets?

As you may have noticed, many kids are very selective about what kind of candy they want. This Halloween, a group of University of Pennsylvania students will be conducting a Halloween Data Project, trying to identify the most popular candy for West Philly kids.

“The general plan is to walk around on Tuesday during trick or treat, get permission from parents/guardians first and then ask kids their favorite candy,” writes Ethan Markwalter, a senior at Penn studying statistics. “We were also thinking about noting their costume too. For example, that way we know Batman likes snickers.”

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UPDATE (10/27/2023): Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 234, the union representing 5,000 Philadelphia-area transit workers, has reached a tentative agreement with SEPTA for a new one-year labor contract to expire in November 2024.

The tentative agreement reached today provides TWU members in the City, Frontier and Suburban Divisions of SEPTA with:

• Across the board wage increases
• Increases in pay for new and recently hired operators
• A signing bonus for all active union members
• Retention bonuses to incentivize employees eligible to retire to remain on the job for at least another year
• An increase in the pension for those that retire in the next year and a doubling of the long-neglected disability pension benefit.

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The Enterprise Center, the West Philadelphia-based non-profit that helps local minority-owned businesses, has recently received a generous investment in its Innovate Capital Growth Fund (ICGF). The $5 million investment was made by TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank. It is the first equity investment made by the Foundation.

ICGF is a new non-profit sponsored Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) focused on providing growth equity to minority and women-owned businesses in the Mid-Atlantic, with a focus on the Greater Philadelphia area. To date, the Foundation is the fund’s largest financial institution investor.

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