The 2016 Ride of Silence is scheduled to take place Wednesday, May 18, at 6:45 p.m., rain or shine. The ride honors Philadelphia-area cyclists killed or injured in motor vehicle-related accidents and to raise awareness about the rights of cyclists to ride the roads.

Ten bicyclists have been killed in the Delaware Valley in the last nine months. Two cyclists were critically injured in hit-and-run accidents in West Philadelphia in the last month, one of whom, a 27-year-old man, died of his injuries.

The ride, which is organized by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, is being held in Philadelphia for the 11th year in a row and in its 13th year since its inception. It is expected to be held this year at over 300 U.S. locations and in over 15 countries. Last year, the ride attracted about 200 local participants and this year, at least 500 riders are expected to participate in the event.  Continue Reading

Representatives from the City of Philadelphia, SEPTA, the University City District – West Philly Skills Initiative, USciences, Verizon, PeopleShare and more will present full-time, part-time and seasonal job openings at an upcoming Community Job Fair, which will take place on Saturday, May 21, at University of the Sciences.

Candidates of all ages and experience levels are welcome to attend the event, which is free and open to the public.

The following career services workshops will also be held during the morning and afternoon:

• Interview skills
• Resume writing
• Job searching and sourcing
• Applying online

The job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at McNeil Science and Technology Center at 45th St. and Woodland Ave. (No. 20 on the campus map).

For more information, visit: usciences.edu/jobfair

The public has been an integral part of the 30th Street Station District Plan, a joint master planning effort to develop a comprehensive vision for the future of the station and the surrounding area, which began in January 2015 with the first public open house at the station. On Wednesday, May 18, community members are invited to the final open house, where you can review the Draft Plan and discuss it with the project team before they start working on the Final Plan.

The plan will provide a vision for approximately 35-year-long development of the 30th Street Station area. The draft plan was released in March and includes such proposals as building a new urban residential neighborhood and park, new bridges, a new intercity bus terminal, and more. According to the draft plan, the first phase of the development would include remodeling of the station.

The open house will be held from 4 – 7 p.m. at 30th Street Station (30th and Market), in the North Waiting Room (behind Amtrak ticket office). The draft plan and renderings can also be viewed here.

When walking down South 40th Street over the weekend, we noticed a new sign in the window next door to The Green Line Cafe. A Taiwanese dessert shop is in the works for 32 S. 40th St., the storefront formerly occupied by Dr. Wyatt’s University Herbs. According to the Office of Licences and Inspections records, work is currently underway on the first floor of the three-story building, still owned by University Herbs, to re-fit the space for the new shop, which will include a non-commercial use kitchen and some seating (less than 20 seats).

The business owner, Xia Yang, lives in Chinatown, according to L & I records. We’ll post more information about this new shop when it becomes available.

And we hope that the store has a lot of this stuff when it opens.

Water gushes under the 4200 block of Market Street (Photo by West Philly Local).

An early morning water main break on the 4200 block of Market Street shut down this section of the street and affected some nearby buildings, according to reports. The break, which happened at around 4 a.m., flooded the basement of the fire house on the 4200 block of Market St. (Engine 5/Ladder 6) and also affected service at FMC Dialysis center due to interrupted water supply.

About five feet of water accumulated in the fire house basement, and firefighters were working this morning on pumping it out. The fire house equipment was not affected by the flooding, and it remains on active duty, 6ABC reports.

Basement of Engine 5 ladder 6 flooded after water main break this morning. Still running operations via generator. pic.twitter.com/L5kGHx5yEW

— Matt DeLucia (@MattDeLucia) May 16, 2016

The water department crews are currently working to repair the break. The 4200 block of Market remained closed as of 10:15 a.m. on Monday.

A tall elegant chimney on this Victorian twin at 424 S. 42nd St. collapsed into a heap of bricks on Saturday, at about 11 a.m. Neighbors said the chimney had been leaning for a while.

The three-story 7-bedroom single-family house was sold in February for $410,000 to a property developer.

Here’s an earlier photo of the house pulled out from Google Street View: