The family of the 7-year-old West Philly boy who drowned this summer in a municipal pool is suing the City of Philadelphia and Families Forward Philadelphia, the agency in charge of the boy during a field trip to the pool.

Ja’Briel O’Connor died two days after he was pulled from the swimming pool at the Cobbs Creek Recreation Center (210 S. 63rd St.) on July 18. Lifeguards performed CPR on the boy and he was taken to Children’s Hospital. Ja’Briel lived with his family at a shelter for homeless families near the corner of Walnut and Melville streets run by Families Forward.

Four lifeguards were reportedly on duty at the pool when the drowning occurred, according to reports. Some 25 children were part of the summer camp group at the pool. Supervisors included four camp counselors and four lifeguards, according to reports.

The attorney for Ja’Briel’s family, Andrew Stern, told NBC Philadelphia that the boy’s death was a result of “clear inexcusable negligence.” The lawsuit, which was filed yesterday, also states that the family has attempted to settle the matter out of court, but to no avail. The suit also claims that the counselors were told before the trip to the school that Ja’briel could not swim.

Soon after his death, several neighbors rallied around Ja’Briel’s mother, Aisha Watson, and contributed money to offset funeral expenses and other costs.

When West Philly Local last reported on the Center for Culinary Enterprises in May, two new restaurants options were slated to open late that summer—48th Street Grille and Planet Vegan. But the summer has come and gone, and neither restaurant has opened its doors in their respective spaces at 48th and Spruce Streets.

Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local.

This week, West Philly Local caught up with Bryan Fenstermaker, senior director of programming at The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC), to find out the reason for the radio silence. Turns out, financing delays pushed back the grand opening of 48th Street Grille, Fenstermaker told us. According to the TEC-CDC executive, Chef Carl Lewis has signed a 10-year lease for the Culinary Center’s retail space, where he will open his American-Caribbean restaurant this spring.

As for Planet Vegan, it’s no longer opening in the second space. Owner Dorinda Hampton told West Philly Local she wants to instead focus on further expanding her health food line, Really Fresh Vegan, which operates out of the Culinary Center, and grow the list of places that carry her products. “Once things get more stable, I will start looking for another location for Planet Vegan I’m really passionate about opening it up in the near future,” Hampton said.

Real Food Works To Go will, instead, open in Planet Vegan’s place, Fenstermaker said—although there is no word yet on its launch date. Real Food Works To Go is a pilot program developed through a partnership between TEC-CDC and Real Food Works­—a Philadelphia start-up providing subscription-based, home-delivered healthy meal plans—that will function as a health food store, as well as offer on-site food preparation, cooking demos, and nutritional education.

In addition to 48th Street Grille, TEC-CDC will open the Philly Restaurant Residency Incubator in the middle retail space at the Culinary Center. The new program, said Fenstermaker, will serve as a sort of pop-up shop for the food world—aspiring restaurateurs and chefs can test out their sit-down restaurant concepts in the 1,445 sq-ft fully-functioning space without “cashing in their life savings to do so.”

The restaurant incubator model received an economic boost recently from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services through its Economic Development Healthy Food Finance Initiative Award distributed by HHS’ Office of Community Services. The award, according to Fenstermaker, will be put towards construction and operation of incubator. In February, TEC-CDC will also release a business plan competition for the incubator.

“The restaurant incubator will allow new entrepreneurs to hone their craft while we work with them to line up financing,” Fenstermaker told West Philly Local. “The end result would be to place them on corridors in West Philly and other parts of the city with financing ready to go. It is a proof of concept model to assist small entrepreneurs.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

The remnants of the “Fake House” which was demolished last month to make room for a new apartment building. Photo: Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

Last month, a graffiti-covered building at 3862 Lancaster Avenue was demolished to make way for a three-story, 22-unit apartment building to be developed by Turn Key Realty LLC, according to city records. The building sat vacant after its residents were evicted last December.

The building was formerly a venue and makeshift apartment for artists called the “Fake House.” It was first occupied by a group of artists in the late ‘80s, according to an article by Philadelphia Weekly, and had occupants and musical performances up until the evictions.

The building was known as Fake House because the word “Fake” was painted in large letters on the front of the building. Much of the graffiti on the building enforced its counter-culture reputation, as there were strong anti-gentrification and anti-corporate messages.

The occupants never signed a formal lease, and as one resident admitted to Philadelphia Weekly almost a decade ago, “We know we’re all this close to losing our space. Anything could change at any time.”

He was right, of course. But the fascinating and somewhat subversive alt/punk hub still got another decade under its belt. The final punk show took place just a week before the evictions.

–Alex Vuocolo

Editor’s Note: We’re proud to present the sixth in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. Go to Them That Do for more information, updates and additional photos.

Lisa Barkley / Photo: Lori Waselchuk.

Lisa Barkley shows me the view of her fruit tree orchard from the window of her bright yellow kitchen.

“We have apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, apricot and nectarine trees,” Barkley says. She sounds surprised by the bounty she helped create. “A grapevine – we have Concord grapes out there. Wow!”

Barkley lives in the same 2-bedroom unit in the Haddington Homes public housing project at 55th Street and Vine where she was born. As a child, she played games on Pearl Street. As a young woman, she was the secretary for the Haddington tenant council and in 1999 she was voted the block captain.

From her home, she has watched her community evolve. “There were never flowers, no plants, just trees and some shrubbery here and there,” she remembers. “But it was clean. The adults really took ownership of where they lived.“

But as time went on, the community seemed to lose that sense of collective responsibility. The children lost safe play areas. The local cleaning business was torn down. The city blocked off Pearl Street, creating a dark, abandoned space. Haddington’s parking lot became a staging ground for stolen cars.

“Public housing is transient, so people move in for a while and move out. As a block captain, I want to see the neighborhood be neighbors again.”

Through Barkley’s leadership and with planning and material help from Urban Tree Connection and Mission Philadelphia (Facebook page), the Haddington residents have transformed the parking lots and Pearl Street into a playground, community gardens, and an orchard.

Barkley has reserved the orchard for the adults who live at Haddington. She encourages them to plant their own vegetable plots or use the orchard as a place of refuge.

“Gardening is a natural de-stresser, right? When I plant a seed in the ground and nurture a little sprout, the feeling I get inside – it’s fulfillment. “

The orchard feeds Barkley’s imagination and passions. She inspires others as well. On a sunny Saturday morning in September, eight women attended Barkley’s class on juicing, which she held in the orchard. The women laughed as they placed copious chunks of pineapple, grapes, pears, and spinach into the juicer. They teased each other during the tastings.

The orchard brings beauty into Haddington Homes, and beauty is Barkley’s highest priority. “I want to embrace life now and do all the beautiful things and live the beautiful way that I envision.”

–Lori Waselchuk

As temperatures outside drop, many older West Philly houses can feel drafty and cold inside while your energy bills skyrocket. Air sealing and insulation alone can save up to 25 percent on these costs, but not everyone can afford this type of work on their house. We learned that The Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (Keystone HELP) is a special program designed to help homeowners improve the comfort of their homes and save money through energy efficiency upgrades.

Homeowners can qualify for a 0.99 percent interest loan of up to $15,000 to finance the upgrades. As a first step for loan qualification, a home energy audit must be completed that assesses a home’s durability, energy efficiency, and health and safety. Other qualifying improvements include heating and cooling system replacements, hot water heater replacement, windows and doors. The pre-qualification loan application can be completed on Keystone HELP’s Web site, http://www.keystonehelp.com/, and you can search for a local contractor by clicking the “Find A Contractor” button.

Also, click here for quick tips for energy efficiency.

A fire in an electrical box below the westbound platform at the 46th Street El Station caused a temporary Market-Frankford line service interruption this afternoon, according to SEPTA’s spokesperson Andrew Busch. The fire was reported around 3:50 p.m. and was quickly contained by responding fire crews. No injuries were reported.

During the train service interruption, shuttle buses transported passengers between 52nd and 40th Streets. The train service was resumed around 4:40 p.m.