The 2022 tax season will officially begin on Monday, Jan. 24 with community-based tax preparation and filing sites opening again across Philadelphia, including several locations in West Philly. The sites are run by The Campaign for Working Families (CWF), a non-profit organization that provides free tax preparation to working families and individuals and helps connect them with valuable tax credits, such as child tax credits, EITC, childcare credits, and more.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all sites will operate by appointment only. All appointments are for a brief visit so that individuals can drop off their documents for CWF tax experts to prepare. Click here for more information and to schedule an appointment. Continue Reading

Small businesses along the 4700 block of Spruce Street are closing to make way for a 12-story apartment building.

The City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections issued a zoning permit on December 30 for a 170-unit building that will include some 37,000 square feet of commercial space on the first and second floors. The building, which will include three roof decks, will occupy nearly the entire south side of Spruce Street between 47th and 48th Streets.

Businesses have already begun closing or relocating to make way for the building. Ezra’s Auto Repair at the corner of 48th and Spruce (see photo below) has already relocated to Baltimore Avenue and businesses in the low rise strip to the east began closing late last year. Continue Reading

UPDATE (1/9/2022): Thirty-six more schools, in addition to the 46 schools announced on Friday, will shift to virtual learning from Monday, Jan. 10 through Friday, Jan. 14. The updated list is available here.

At the beginning of this week, the School District of Philadelphia temporarily shifted dozens of schools to virtual learning due to staffing challenges caused by the current spike in COVID-19 cases. Over 90 District-led schools reportedly switched to virtual learning by the end of the week. The District announced today that 46 schools will shift to virtual learning from Monday, Jan. 10 through Friday, Jan. 14.

The list of schools that will shift to 100 percent virtual learning starting Monday, Jan. 10 can be found here.

“It’s important to know that shifting any school to virtual learning is always a last resort,” Superintendent William R. Hite said in a statement. “Our schools are more than just institutions of learning.” Continue Reading

As the number of COVID-19 cases has skyrocketed in Philadelphia in the past few weeks,  the demand for testing remains very high. To help ease this demand, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is opening a new mass COVID-19 testing site in Southwest Philadelphia. The site, located at the Cibotti Rec Center at 7700 Elmwood Ave., has a soft opening today and will officially open this Friday, Jan. 7. The hours of operation will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The site has the capacity to administer about 500 tests per day, according to an announcement by Philadelphia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole.

To find other COVID-19 testing sites in the city, please go to this page. If you want to keep up with COVID-19 testing and case numbers in the city, visit this page.

The Streets Department is experiencing trash and recycling collections delays because of the recent COVID-19 surge, according to a recent announcement by Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams. These challenges are expected to continue in the following weeks as the Department is working through COVID-19 infections and quarantining in their workforce. Currently, there are only slight delays in trash collection and recycling is a day or more behind in some areas.

Residents are advised to continue to set trash and recycling materials out on their regular day. Residents can track the progress of collections on their block by clicking on the PickupPHL tab at streetsmartphl.phila.gov. Updates can also be found at phila.gov/streets and on social media. Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia has temporarily shifted dozens of schools to virtual learning due to staffing shortages stemming from the omicron-related spike in COVID-19 cases. The 81 school buildings have closed for students starting today until at least through Friday, Jan. 7. The full list of these schools can be found here.

Principals were expected to communicate directly with students and families with information regarding virtual instruction. Staff at these 81 schools are still expected to report to work in person unless they are self-isolating or quarantining due to COVID testing or exposure, have COVID-like symptoms and are awaiting test results, or have an approved leave.

All other District schools were expected to reopen after winter recess for in-person learning starting this morning.