Saturday park cleanup map.

It’s that time of year again when you get to love on your local park a little. Calls for volunteers have gone out for the “Love Your Park Fall Service Day” on Saturday, Nov. 15, when neighbors get together in their favorite green space and help each other spruce it up. Tools are usually provided, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring a rake and some gloves if you have them.

At Cedar Park (49th and Cedar) they need help planting trees, bulbs and ground cover. They are also raking leaves and doing general cleanup to get the park ready for winter. Work will go on at the park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and volunteers are asked to email tatemch (at) aol.com to let an organizer know you’re coming.

Lifelong park volunteer Doris Gwaltney, who died in January 2014, will be honored in a celebration at Carroll Park (58th St. and Girard Ave). Doris started the Carroll Park Neighbors Advisory Council, one of the first groups to partner with nonprofit organizations and city government to build community through revitalization of urban parks. Several speakers will get start at noon and the cleanup efforts at Carroll Park start at 11 a.m.  Continue Reading

Veterans Day is this Tuesday and some events are scheduled locally to celebrate the lives of those who served our country. Veterans and all interested residents are invited to a Veterans Day celebration organized by the VA Medical Center and the Woodlands Cemetery. The event will be held from 10:45 a.m. until 1 p.m.. Here’s the schedule:

10:45 a.m. – The ceremony starts at the VA Medical Center (3900 Woodland Ave). Enter at the Woodland Avenue Entrance where you will be directed to the PVAMC LVA Auditorium.

11:15 a.m. – Procession from the VA Medical Center to The Woodlands (40th and Woodland), led by the Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drums Corps.

11:30 a.m. – Anticipated arrival at the Cemetery Gates. The procession will continue through the Cemetery where respects will be paid and wreaths will be laid at the graves of Civil War Surgeon Dr. John Hill Brinton and Gettysburg Nurse, Emily Bliss Souder.

12:15-1:00 p.m. – After the ceremony, there will be a reception with refreshments at The Hamilton Mansion.

Special guests at this event include: Descendants of Emily Bliss Souder and Dr. John Hill Brinton, Dr. Robert Hicks (Civil War Surgeon Re-enactor) and Kerry Bryan (Civil War Nurse Re-enactor). Others in attendance will be in period uniforms from World War II, Vietnam and present day. Guest speaker: Paula Johnson (Air Force OIF/OEF Veteran).

Community members are invited this Tuesday (Nov 11) to the annual meeting of the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA). The meeting will be held at Griffith Hall at the University of the Sciences (entrance on 43rd near Woodland), beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The annual meeting is a great opportunity to find out about what’s happening in the neighborhood and be part of an organization that has an important voice in the shaping of the neighborhood.

Matthew Bergheiser, the executive director of the University City District, will speak on the topic, “The State of University City’s Development Boom.” The report will include information on the current construction and development projects and also those that are still on the drawing board.  Continue Reading

Photo by Eva Jacobs.

This weekend is not only about Halloween (that said, you can check Halloween events here). A bunch of other fun community events are being held this Saturday and Sunday, including food-centered events (End of Season Fall Market, Vegan Day celebration, a taco fundraiser), a tree giveaway and a couple of fall festivals. For more upcoming events or if you want to submit an event, go to our Event listings.

Saturday, Nov 1 

• End of Season Market Celebration & Tree Giveaway

Neighborhood Foods Farm (53rd & Wyalusing), 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Photo courtesy Urban Tree Connection.

Urban Tree Connection (UTC) and Neighborhood Foods (NF) invite neighbors to an end-of-season market, featuring fall farm produce, $3 chicken platters (cooked by NF Coop Members Gale and Nicole) with potluck sides, vendors, and giveaways: recycling bins and yard trees provided thanks to a grant from TreePhilly. You can also bring your own food or items to sell. There will be 50 trees available for property owners with yards – an open (unpaved) area on private property – and are absolutely free. They come with a free planting demonstration, educational materials, and a bag of mulch from the Fairmount Park Organic Recycling Center. Several species will be available, ranging from large shade trees to medium-sized trees to smaller fruit trees. A full list of available species can be found here. To reserve your tree and for species list, contact Karen: 215‐900‐1292 or karen@urbantreeconnection.org 

• Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) Celebration

Penn Museum (3260 South Street), 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Photo courtesy Penn Museum.

This Saturday, the Penn Museum presents the third annual Day of the Dead Celebration. Throughout Mexico and around the world, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) brings family and friends together to pray for and remember loved ones who have died. The celebration includes pageantry, traditional music and dance, storytelling and puppetry, paper maché artistry, sugar skull and mask making, face painting, special foods and more.

Guests can also view colorful altars (ofrendas) designed by regional community groups, and a large Day of the Dead altar created by the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia and the Mexican Cultural Center, co-organizers of the event, with the help of local artist Cesar Viveros. The event is free with Penn Museum admission ($15, general admission; $13, seniors [65+]; $10, children [6-17] and full-time students [with ID]; $2 ACCESS Card holders; free to children under 5, members, active U.S. Military, STAMP and PennCard holders). For more information, go here.  Continue Reading

Spruce Hill residents have a chance to learn more about proposals for new apartment buildings, business applications and other development in their neighborhood on Monday, Oct. 27 during a Spruce Hill zoning meeting. The meeting, which will take place at the Spruce Hill Center at 257 S. 45th Street, is organized by the Spruce Hill Community Association and is open to all interested neighbors and residents.

Included on the agenda is the replacement for the Best House Pizza at 4301 Baltimore Ave., which is proposed to include upstairs dining. As we reported earlier this month, the Best House Pizza closed its doors at 43rd and Baltimore after eight years of operation and Local 44 owners were in the process of signing the lease with plans to open a new establishment in that location in Spring 2015. A source from the Spruce Hill Community Association said earlier that the organization was waiting to see if the new owners would request any zoning variances, which would trigger a public hearing on the project. As the process is obviously underway, stay tuned for more updates.

Here are other items on the agenda. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.:

• Legalization of a boarding house status at 4011 Baltimore Avenue
• Application for multi-family dwelling at 217 S. 42nd Street
• Construction of an apartment dwelling at 4100-02 Ludlow Street

A group of millennials who hope to wield their privilege and social capital for the “redistribution of land, wealth and power” in Philadelphia and nationwide are holding an organizing meeting in West Philly on Monday, Sept. 8.

The newly formed Philly chapter of Resource Generation, a nationwide non-profit whose mission is to organize young people “with wealth and class privilege in the U.S. to become transformative leaders working toward the equitable redistribution of wealth, land and power,” according to the organization’s website.

The idea is “to convince our elected leaders to tax rich people more, creating and participating in a cross-class giving circle, and giving young, wealthy/class privileged people tools to use their positions to help redistribute land, wealth and power,” said organizer Julia Stone in an e-mail.

Locally the group is pushing for the end of tax breaks to help fund schools. “Tax us rich folks more to fund schools,” a flyer reads.

The meeting, which will include light refreshments at 6:30 p.m. and a presentation at 7 p.m., will be held at location that will be passed along to those who RSVP at RGPhillychapter@gmail.com.