This spring and summer, SEPTA will be conducting a trolley track renovation project along 40th Street between Powelton Ave. and Spruce St. and at 42nd and Spruce. Vehicular traffic will be restricted in the work areas and the Route 40, 30, and 42 buses will be impacted at times.

Pre-construction work is scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 31 and may affect traffic and parking along 40th Street between Powelton and Filbert.

More extensive work is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 13. It will affect 40th Street from Filbert to Chestnut. This work will continue through July 1. Work is scheduled to resume Aug. 1 (no work is planned for July) and will take place on 40th St. from Chestnut to Spruce. This portion of 40th Street trolley tracks is expected to be renovated by August 19th. Continue Reading

All that’s left of the strip mall on the north side of the 4300 block of Chestnut Street.

A seven-story 275-unit apartment complex is coming to the 4300 block of Chestnut Street – the site of the former strip mall and parking lot. Construction has already begun – the strip mall buildings have been recently demolished to make room for the complex.

The complex will include retail space on the ground floor and an underground garage with 75 parking spaces. The plans for this development were announced last summer and renderings were revealed last fall. Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia students and staff will again be required to wear masks during the school and work day starting Monday, May 23 and until further notice.

The decision to return to mask wearing at District schools was made due to a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the city and after consultation with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH). Masks will also be required while riding transportation coordinated by the District.

The School District will continue to work with PDPH to closely monitor COVID case counts.

As of May 16, Philadelphia averaged 364 new COVID-19 cases per day. 142 people were hospitalized with the infection as of May 18.

Just a reminder that today is primary election day. We wanted to pass along a few things to keep in mind as you head to the polls, which are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You are allowed to vote as long as you are in line by 8 p.m.

Pennsylvania conducts closed primaries, so you can only vote for candidates from the party for which you are registered. If you are registered Independent, sorry no primary candidates for you, but you can still vote on the four city ballot measures.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, U.S. Senate, state house and senate are on the ballot.

Here are the basics: Continue Reading

The city has released an interactive map that allows home owners to see the assessed value of their property following the citywide reassessment announced last week.

The first citywide property assessment in three years has come under mounting criticism as property values across the city increased an average of 31 percent. Tax rate increases vary by neighborhood with some seeing their tax burden as much as double.

The map allows property owners to type in their address to see the assessed value for 2022 and the new value, which would go into effect in 2023. Your property tax bill would be 1.3998 percent of your home’s assessed value, based on the city current tax rate.

The city’s “homestead exemption” will reduce your taxable value by $45,000. More info on that is available here. Mayor Jim Kenney has proposed increasing the homestead exemption to $65,000 to help offset tax increases.

You can dispute the new assessment here.

A community meeting on the 13-story, 170-unit apartment building proposed on the 4700 block of Spruce took place yesterday over Zoom. Organized by the Garden Community Association Zoning Committee, the meeting was advisory and included the developers’ (Spruce Street Development) lawyer and building architect. Residents could make non-binding suggestions about the project, which will likely begin construction in the fall.

Here are some key points from the meeting:

• The demolition of the existing one-story commercial structures on the block to make room for the new building is not expected to begin until at least late summer, contingent on the approval by the City’s Civic Design Review Committee. Some neighbors voiced concerns over possible air and soil pollution as a result of the demo work at the adjacent communit garden project. Continue Reading