On Thursday, Nov. 17, a large rally is planned to start at 4 p.m. near City Hall followed by a march at 4:30 p.m. The march is going to cross the Market Street Bridge next to 30th Street Station. The purpose of the rally, organized by Fight for Philly, is to draw attention to the poor state of many Philadelphia bridges (including the Market Street Bridge). The protesters will demand more jobs by calling for structurally deficient bridges to be rebuilt.

If you want to help make banners and signs for tomorrow’s protest you can do it from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Calvary Church (48th & Baltimore). Both talented and not so talented folks are needed. For more information call 610-931-2615 or email: PEACE[at]peoplesmail.net.

Iris Marie Bloom, a well-known West Philly activist and director of the environmental group Protecting Our Waters, is one of the organizers of an anti-fracking protest which will take place tomorrow, Sept. 7, from noon to 2 p.m. in Center City. The protest will include a rally in front of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and march which will follow until 3 p.m.

Another West Philly resident, Beth Nixon of Spiral Q Puppet Theater Ramshackle Enterprises, will also join the action as one of the performers at the rally.

One of the speakers at the tomorrow’s rally is Josh Fox, director of Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland.

For more information on the protest visit this page.

Windermere Court residents lined up into the night last night to try to get some of their stuff back. Most of them didn’t get much.

Residents were asked to make a list of things they wanted from their apartments. In some cases they drew maps of where things like documents were. The catch was that all of the stuff had to fit into two large garbage bags. The building’s management assigned a handful of demolition workers to search the nearly 100 apartments for items. Residents were escorted a couple at a time through a locked fence into the building courtyard to retrieve what the crews could find.

As we reported yesterday, residents have filed a class action lawsuit against the buildings owners and management.

The demolition of the Windermere is scheduled to begin today.

We wanted to share some video we shot late yesterday of people’s stories of getting their belongings back and the fairly humiliating process they had to go through. Here it is:

The protests at the Windermere Court Apartments seemed to have worked – for now. The demolition of the building has been put on hold until Wednesday.

Demolition crews began work on the west side of the building on Monday.

A judge is reportedly reviewing the Department of Licenses and Inspections decision to demolish the building before residents have a chance to retrieve their pets and belongings, which were left behind after the Jan. 10 fire.

It’s still not clear if residents or a private contractor or investigator will be allowed to enter the building to assess the possibility of residents legally reentering to assess the damage to their apartments.

Residents who have snuck into the building in the last few days have said that many of the apartments have been looted.

Demolition crews began work today on a large tree on the west side of the building. But late in the afternoon the crane that had started to work was parked quietly near the building.

Here are assorted news reports of the protests: Inquirer CBS NBC ABC

A few protesters from today’s rally camped out on a crane parked nearby that was brought in for the demolition. (Photo by Mike Lyons)

Residents and protesters are back at the Windermere Court Apartments at 48th and Walnut this morning to rally for permission to reenter the building. Unfortunately,  the demolition crews are there too.

Reports come out of the protests now are that the city is pressing for the demolition of the building and that the owners are lobbying to stop it. Several residents who have snuck into the building in recent days to retrieve their belongings have said that many of the apartments have been ransacked by looters.

Former residents want to get into the building to look for lost pets and belongings left behind after the fire. The city has declared the building “imminently unsafe” and the absentee owners, who have not communicated with residents, have ordered the building to be demolished.

Here is an interview with one of the organizers and a former resident, J.B. Farley: