Renaissance Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center’s renovation plan includes demolition of these two attached houses on Chester Avenue between 47th and 48th Streets.

Residents living near the 4700 block of Chester Avenue can expect to see a face-lift to the area this year as Renaissance Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center undergoes renovations.

Renaissance (formerly Park Pleasant Nursing Home) will revamp its grounds encompassing Chester and Kingsessing Avenues under the guidance of its new owner, Nationwide Healthcare Services, which purchased the 123-bed long-term and short-term care facility January 1. It is part of Renaissance’s larger effort to become “a focal point of [the] community,” said Nursing Home Administrator Carmella Kane.

“One of our goals is… to have a long-term care facility to serve the community,” she said. “Aesthetically, we want to be the best thing around.”

The overhaul will include garden beautification, interior remodeling to residential living space, and demolition of two attached, vacant residences adjacent to the Chester Avenue Dog Park on the corner of 48^th and Chester (Renaissance owns both the homes and the park, which will remain intact.) Signage reflecting the facility’s new name is already posted on the property.

According to Kane, Renaissance hasn’t scheduled a start date for demolition of the two houses, which are currently being gutted, as permits have not been obtained. The administrator denied rumors that the site will turn into a parking lot; instead, she noted what it will become is “unknown.” There are no plans for construction on the area, however.

“We will not do anything to hinder the community but they’re dilapidated buildings,” Kane said, “and nobody has lived in there for years, so it’s not like they’re tearing down existing living space…We’re going to be very conscious of the community.”

She said Renaissance will keep the community notified of renovation updates and other related news. By the way, this Friday, Apr. 12, one of Renaissance residents is celebrating her 100th birthday and community members are invited to the party that begins at 2 p.m.

“Nursing homes have such a stigma anyways,” Kane said. “We want to be a positive part of the community because we’ve been here for so long.”

– Annamarya Scaccia

A woman and a child were hit by a U-Haul van at 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue this morning at about 11:45 a.m. Both were taken to the hospital, according to reports from witnesses. Many neighbors witnessed the accident, which happened while many people were shopping at Clark Park’s Farmers’ Market and hanging out at the Green Line Cafe.

Witnesses said that a young woman was driving the van and she remained at the scene to talk to police. The victims’ condition is unknown at this time, but some witnesses said that both the woman and the child were conscious after the accident.

We are very sad to report that Miki Takamori, the woman who was injured in the house fire on the 4600 block of Larchwood Avenue on Jan. 23, has passed away. Miki sustained serious injuries in the fire, including burns on 20-25 percent of her body, and a broken back and ribs from jumping out of the second floor window trying to escape the blaze, but was doing better in the last several weeks. She had made tremendous progress since the accident and was getting close to the time when she could be transferred to a rehabilitation center from the hospital, when on Monday, Apr. 3, she suddenly went into cardiac arrest, according to her friends.

Miki’s funeral will take place on Saturday, Apr 13 at the Unitarian Society of Germantown:

April 13 (Saturday) at 2:00 p.m.
Unitarian Society of Germantown
6511 Lincoln Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19119

The deadline to appeal property assessments under the new Actual Value Initiative (AVI) is fast approaching. First-Level Review Request forms are due in the Office of Property Assessment (OPA) by Sunday, March 31 (or 30 days after you received your assessment notice).

The OPA recommends submitting other documents that may help the office consider your case. These could include photos or recent third-party appraisals. The First-Level Review Request form should have been included with the new assessment notifications. If you need a new form, they are available to download here. The forms should be mailed here:

Office of Property Assessment
P.O. Box 51498
Philadelphia, PA 19115

They also can be dropped off at:

311 Walk-In Center in Room 167 at City Hall
Municipal Services Building Concourse-level, 1401 JFK Blvd.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your appeal, you can file another appeal with the Board of Revision of Taxes. That appeal is due by Oct. 7, 2013.

Below is a video produced by the City as a guide to the appeal process.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) yesterday cleared the way for local ice cream producer and retailer Little Baby’s Ice Cream to open shop on the 4900 block of Catharine Street, across the street from Cedar Park. If all goes as planned, the shop should be open by April 1.

Little Baby’s has been wooing Cedar Park residents for a while now and even sent them an “open love letter” on Valentine’s Day. The Cedar Park Neighbors civic association loved them back with a letter of support to the ZBA, which late yesterday provided Little Baby’s with the necessary permit to convert the storefront at 4903 Catharine into the company’s first retail shop west of the Schuylkill.

The company got a massive boost in the form of a 5-year, $50,000 loan from The Enterprise Center to expand into Cedar Park.

Little Baby’s Ice Cream is handmade in their production facility in East Kensington. Their dairy comes from Trickling Springs Creamery in Chambersburg, Penna. Here is a great profile on the three musicians who turned their passion for ice cream into a successful business.

Trash collectors have a tough job and usually they are professional and thorough, but not always. Here’s what happened to a neighbor, Kelly, this morning:

“It appears our trash [collector] can get away with tossing your can all of the place including through your windshield. Today on the 5000 block of Catharine Street, we received an early morning [visit] from our neighbors to inform us the trash workers had thrown a trash can into our windshield. Now I have to wait for Waste Management who only lets you leave a recording to mail us a claim form. I have little hope they will reimburse us… I also doubt my report to 311 will do anything. And thanks to this a day of work was lost and my eldest missed school.”

Kelly adds that neighbors on both sides of her house saw it happen and came to her door to let her know. She says that everything was tossed about and it was not the wind.

UPDATE (3/7): Here’s a response from Philly311 we received this morning:

@blulotuspr @westphillylocal This was forwarded to us and the Streets Dept yesterday. We escalated and it is under investigation. Thanks!

— Philly311 (@philly311) March 7, 2013