Students in grades K-6 who don’t have internet access at their homes can now visit the city’s Access Centers for digital learning. Access centers are located in recreation centers, libraries, Philadelphia Housing Authority sites, and community-based organizations and provide a safe, supervised environment for digital learning. Parents and guardians have to register their child or children to be able to participate in this program.
There are 10 Access Center locations in West and Southwest Philadelphia, including the West Philadelphia YMCA, Kingsessing Recreation Center, Cobbs Creek Recreation Center, and more. To find an access center near you please use this finder. Continue Reading
Starting today, Philadelphia restaurants can offer limited indoor dining to customers, in addition to outdoor dining and takeout/delivery options. Restaurants are now allowed to seat guests inside at 25 percent capacity, according to a new regulation by the City, and have to follow strict social distancing and other COVID-19 safety rules.
Many city restaurants have been preparing for socially distanced indoor dining – separating tables at least six feet apart and installing barriers. Here are other rules that restaurants have to follow if they want to reopen indoor dining:
• The maximum of four diners per table is allowed.
• Servers must wear both masks and face shields for additional protection.
• Bar service is not allowed. Alcohol can be served when in the same transaction as a meal.
• Food establishments are required to be closed for service by midnight.
• Restaurants must install physical barriers in restaurant kitchens and at cash registers and food pick up areas where maintaining physical distance of at least six feet is difficult.
• Restaurants must screen every employee for symptoms before every shift and prevent them from remaining on-site if they have any COVID-19 symptoms, such as cough, fever, shortness of breath or loss of taste or smell.
Mural Arts Philadelphia has partnered with DTLR, one of the stores that was looted during the civil unrest on May 31, to install “Messages of Hope” from local Black artists on its damaged storefronts around the city, including one on S. 52nd Street. Artists from the public art project Fill the Walls with Hope installed socially conscious artwork featuring powerful messages that aim to bring a sense of hope to the damaged storefronts.
DTLR, an apparel store, opened its Philadelphia flagship store near 52nd and Market last November. The location has remained closed since May 31. DTLR is planning to reopen this and other looted Philadelphia locations by the end of first quarter 2021. Continue Reading
The city has launched an Eviction Diversion Program to help tenants and landlords with payment arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program enables landlords and tenants to arrive at an agreement that works for both parties, without having to go to court. The program is a required process for all landlords with tenants who have had difficulty paying rent due to a COVID-19 related hardship.
This summer, the City introduced two phases of rental assistance, but doesn’t have enough funding to meet the overwhelming need. Continue Reading
A mural dedicated to West Philly police officer Sgt. Robert Wilson III murdered in 2015 was vandalized over the weekend, according to reports. The mural, located at 60th and Baltimore, was spray-painted with anti-police slogans:
THIS. IS. A. DISGRACE. Sgt. Robert Wilson is a true Phila. hero who risked & gave his life to protect fellow Philadelphians. Do not insult the memory & service of real heroes who KNOW the real meaning of “Protect and Serve”. Disgust for the defacer! https://t.co/zo2KdoiJnq
Residents near a controversial proposed 30-unit apartment complex tucked down an alley of 51st Street near Spruce Street presented details on their opposition last night during an online meeting with developers, who committed to rethink the project.
A year in the making, the meeting between representatives of Callahan Ward and residents near 303 S. 51st Street, which housed an auto mechanics shop in the past, did not result in any specific concessions. But developers said they would modify the proposal to build 30 market rate apartments to include an unspecified amount or type of affordable housing and community space in addition to ground floor commercial. Continue Reading
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