The university’s Board of Trustees has named a new president, 18 months after the previous University of the Sciences president, Helen Giles-Gee, stepped down.

Dr. Paul Katz will serve as the university’s 25th president, according to an announcement by Board Chairman Marvin Samson. Katz, who has served as founding dean of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU), will begin his presidency on September 1, 2016.

“Over the course of more than 40 years in healthcare and higher education, Dr. Paul Katz has gained invaluable experience and has demonstrated skilled and visionary leadership, which will be a tremendous benefit to University of the Sciences,” Samson said in a statement.

Katz has been the chief architect, executive, and academic leader of CMSRU since 2010 and has held a variety of other executive leadership positions within medical schools and health systems, including senior vice president and chief medical officer at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, chairman of medicine and physician-in-chief at Georgetown University Hospital, and chief operating officer at Georgetown University Medical Center.  Continue Reading

University City District (UCD) is planning to install more bike racks in the area and needs help identifying places that need bike parking or additional bike racks.

Currently, UCD is accepting photos showing overcrowded or out-of-repair bike parking or bikes locked to trees, railings, etc. along commercial corridors and at other neighborhood destinations in University City.

You can share these photos on Twitter using #UCbikeparking or email them to: bikeparking@universitycity.org. Please include the date, time, and location. This information will be used to help select future bike rack locations.

Image: Google Street View.

Editor’s note (6/28/2016): The hearing to determine whether the demolition will be halted concluded yesterday, and a ruling is required within 30 days. The hearing was held to decide whether a demolition permit, applied on March 17 for 4046-4048 Chestnut Street, should be voided. An application to declare the building “historic” was made on May 16, just prior to the permit’s issuance. The question the ruling will answer is whether the demolition permit is valid and whether a temporary injunction to halt the demolition will be lifted.

The hearing that could determine whether the late 19th century rowhomes on the 4000 of Chestnut are demolished will continue Monday, June 27, at 1:30 p.m.

Read more about the history of the buildings here and here. They are owned by different developers and are currently used as rental housing. Demolition permits are currently pending for 4046-4048 Chestnut and 4050-52 Chestnut. Both sets of twins have been nominated for the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. This hearing is focusing on whether a demolition permit is still valid if a building has been nominated for historic designation after it has been issued and before it has been demolished.

The hearing is in Room 232 of City Hall. The public is encouraged to attend.

Project MEOW, a West Philly-based, all-volunteer run feline rescue organization, is seeking temporary foster homes for cats and kittens from West Philadelphia neighborhoods. See the flier below for more information or email: projectmeowfosters@gmail.com

The organization is also asking for donations:

“Spring and summer are peak season for kittens, and we’ve got ’em! Help us out by visiting the Donate page to send money via PayPal, snail mail, or just buy us something from our Amazon Wish List.”

Click to enlarge.

A viewing for Akyra Murray, the 18-year-old West Philadelphia woman killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fl. on June 12, will take place Friday, June 24, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Monumental Baptist Church located at 50th and Locust Streets. The funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. at the church and burial will be at Mount Peace Cemetery.

Akyra is the youngest victim of the mass shooting, in which 49 people were shot and killed. She graduated from West Catholic Preparatory High School earlier this month and was visiting Florida with her family. She went to the club with her cousin, Tiara Parker, and friend Patience Carter, also from West Philadelphia. Both Parker and Carter survived the shooting.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Akyra’s family.

The University City Historical Society (UCHS) is waging a legal battle to stop the demolition of the buildings at 4046-48 Chestnut Street and the construction of an apartment building in its place. These properties, along with the rest of the block date to the 1870s and are currently nominated to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Due to their nomination, the validity of the demolition permits are in question.

“We currently have a stay on them,” writes Kelly Wiles, a UCHS Board member, and tomorrow (Thursday, June 23) at 11 a.m., a hearing is scheduled in Room 232 of City Hall to determine their fate. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

“We welcome community support and involvement by those who are interested in maintaining the character and preservation of West Philadelphia’s built environment as well as those who are concerned with the changing patterns of large-scale development, poorly-constructed  and out of place building stock, zoning issues, the displacement of non-student residents,” writes Wiles.  Continue Reading