Mary Pitts-Devine (from Linked In)

Mary Pitts-Devine, a 46-year-old West Philadelphia woman, is beating the odds. She was shot eight times by her male neighbor earlier this month. The shooting happened on March 8 at a three-story twin home near 46th and Spruce Streets, where Pitts-Devine and her attacker, 53-year-old Steven Outlaw, lived.

Since the shooting, Pitts-Devine – a LaSalle grad, entrepreneur, social worker and cancer survivor –  has undergone several surgeries and will need many more. To offset the gigantic medical costs, her family started a fund in her name on GoFundMe.com.

Here’s what her brother, Eric Christopher, wrote on GoFundMe:

Mary Pitts-Devine with her brother Eric Christopher (from GoFundMe.com)

“Words can’t describe how I feel about my amazing sister Mary R Pitts. On Sunday, March 8, this wonderful woman of God was on her way to church when she was shot by a deranged gunman over 10 times! Eight bullets wounded her body. Two bullets struck her in the head one in the brain and one through the eye… Since March 8, Mary has gone through several operations to restore her body. She is making remarkable progress. Her road to recovery will be tedious and will include more extensive surgeries, substantial physical therapy, and professional counseling.”

Everyone who wants to contribute to the Mary R. Pitts-Devine fund and stay updated on the progress of her recovery, visit: www.gofundme.com/pg3s58

Some residents said that their trash was picked up a day late last week. Now we have the explanation. The Philadelphia Streets Department has just announced that due to the extreme weather the city has experienced over the past several winters, an unusually high number of trash trucks, which double as plows, have been either scrapped or are in the shop for major repairs. As a result, trash pickup has been impacted citywide with scattered one day collection delays.

“We understand the frustration that comes with delayed trash collection, and we regret this inconvenience,” said Streets Commissioner David Perri. “During these past winters, there have been several occasions where Sanitation trucks have been fitted with snowplows to assist in snow removal. In these instances, Sanitation trucks account for over one-third of the vehicles used during snow removal.”

Residents are asked to continue placing their trash out on the regular scheduled day at the normal location as delays are expected to continue for the next several weeks. Materials not collected on the scheduled day will be picked up the following day.

The local non-profit Media Mobilizing Project, which uses media to organize poor and working people to tell their stories, has recently moved to a new location from their old location at the church on 43rd and Chestnut Streets. Their new office is at 4534 Baltimore Avenue; the space is owned and until recently was occupied by O’Donnell Real Estate. Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania has also moved to this location from 43rd and Chestnut.

As was reported earlier, the former Christ Memorial Reformed Episcopal Church building on the corner of 43rd and Chestnut is undergoing renovation, including extensive roof repairs.

By the way, O’Donnell Real Estate, a locally-owned company specializing in West Philly property sales and rentals, no longer acts as agents for sellers and buyers, according to their website, but they buy homes, apartment buildings and vacant land.

Scott (left) and Guy Orens talk to the Spruce Hill Zoning Committee on Wednesday about very rough plans for a residential building on the 4400 block of Chestnut. (Photo by Mike Lyons / West Philly Local)

A local developer gave the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee a sneak peak of their plan for a residential complex that would dramatically change the 4400 block of Chestnut Street.

Scott and Guy Orens, owners of Orens Brothers Real Estate, presented a project that was very early in the planning stages to build a five-story, 150-unit on the north side of the 4400 block of Chestnut that require the demolition of some vacant and owner-occupied homes and a warehouse along Ludlow Street.

The two brothers, whose firm has built or renovated several large residential buildings in the city including the once-abandoned Croydon building at 49th and Locust, were not yet seeking any approval for their plan from the committee.

They have already purchased many of the properties that would be required to build the complex, which would be one- and two-bedroom rentals, but public discussions about things like building design, materials and facade appearance have not yet begun.

“We are willing to participate in creating something that you will like,” Scott Orens told the committee.  Continue Reading

Pre-manufactured apartment building at 46th and Sansom. (Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

Last spring we wrote about a new residential building, “Sansom Street Flats,” planned on the vacant lot at 46th and Sansom Streets. There wasn’t too much development going on on the site since then, until just a few weeks ago when we saw that the building’s foundation had been laid. Suddenly, a building has appeared.

Last week a three-story building went up really fast, according to West Philly Local reader reports. One reader reported that “a crane arrived and dropped in some what look like prefab 2- or 3-story houses.” A quick search of the city’s Licenses and Inspections database confirmed that the owner of the lot, which encompasses 128-138 S. 46th Street, received a permit in December 2014 for the “erection of a foundation system and the installation of a three-story pre-manufactured structure with cellar for use as a three-family dwelling.”

It became known last week that another apartment building is planned just across the street from this building – at 46th and Walnut.

Sansom Street Flats is a project by Sansom Street Development LP. It was reported earlier that the units in the building were planned for rental purposes. The project is expected to be completed in August 2015.

Photo courtesy University City District

The University City District is continuing experimenting with new “social seating” structures in the area. Last year, they introduced the Looped In structures in various locations, and earlier this week, a custom public transit stop seat was installed at 36th and Lancaster Avenue.

The new seats are designed to “provide seating and information to passengers waiting for public transit… the latest in a series of social seats designed to be functional, versatile, and unique to University City.”

The 3600 block of Lancaster Avenue was selected as a high-volume transit area where there is a strong need for seating. The location is a popular stop on the Route 10 SEPTA line; it serves mostly Drexel students and patrons of local businesses. UCD plans to install two more in other similar areas in University City and is currently evaluating additional locations.

The idea of these new seats was conceived by UCD’s Policy and Research Manager Seth Budick, and Capital Projects Manager Nate Hommel designed them and oversaw their production.