A West Philly Local reader, who asked us not to use her name, was robbed last night and wanted to alert other neighbors about the incident that happened around 3 a.m. at her place near 49th and Walnut. The reader has recently moved to the area.

She says that the burglar, described as a tall dark skinned man wearing a black muscle t-shirt, jeans and black sneakers with orange soles, appeared in her kitchen (she lives in a row house) and took cash and a bag where her roommate kept all of her money and cards in. The burglar reportedly climbed through the kitchen window. He threw the contents of the bag, including credit cards, behind the U-Haul center at 48th and Chestnut, the reader writes. A good Samaritan found it with a receipt with her roommate’s number on it and returned it. The reader and her roommate reported the incident to the police. The burglar wasn’t armed and no one was injured.

The reader says that her friend was also staying at her place last night and witnessed the burglary. She writes:

“It was weird because [the burglar] actually told our friend “Hi” and took our money in front of her and walked out of the back door. We didn’t find out until this morning because she thought he might be a friend of ours. We just moved to the state and don’t know many people…”

Dock Street beer was reincarnated in an old firehouse near 50th and Baltimore six years ago this week. The brewpub, which despite initial concerns has proven to be an anchor in the Cedar Park neighborhood, is throwing a party to celebrate.

Draft beers will be available at half price from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday as part of the celebration. Dock Street will also release Trappist IPA, which was brewed with past Dock Street Brewer Scott Morrison, George Hummel of Homesweet homebrew and Tom Peters of Monk’s Café.

Rosemarie Certo raises a glass during Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll in 2012. Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

The party is also a chance to look back at how Dock Street came to the firehouse, which was the center of a community controversy for many years. Many will recall the debut of the original Dock Street, Philly’s first microbrewery, back in 1985. Rosemarie Certo and her husband Jeffrey Ware later sold the brewpub, located in Logan Square, in 1998. A few years later, after it folded, Certo bought back the bottling rights and the name.

The stately brick building, built in 1903, has its own storied history. Here is the short version for those who need caught up: Fire companies Engine 68 and Ladder 13 moved out of the building in 1984 and there was a good chance that it would go on the auction block and, very possibly, be demolished. In stepped Cedar Park Neighbors, which bought the building for $1 from the city. The neighborhood organization helped save it by taking out a loan to renovate the building, which had become an eyesore with boarded up windows and decaying bricks. Members also helped lead the West Philadelphia Future Fund, which raised and distributed money to attract minority-owned businesses to the new farmers market opened inside the firehouse in 1988. The market had everything from working bakers and butchers to fish mongers.

That said, this is Philly, and the farmers market was not without its controversies, including complaints from potential tenants that the rent was too high.

“This project has been planned so that the community can see that there can be efforts where minorities can be providers as well as consumers,” a person involved in the project told The Philadelphia Inquirer at the time. “If this works, this will be a model for the whole state.”

It didn’t quite work out that way and by the late 1990s the main part of the building was empty again.Cedar Park Neighbors kicked into gear again and petitions started going around. Some nearby churches feared the brewpub would do more harm than good for the area and there was heated debate. Again, this is Philly – West Philly.

After a possible spot in Mount Airy fell through, Dock Street applied to the city to open a brewpub and pizzeria in the space, which was in the heart of what The Philadelphia Inquirer called “the gentrification frontier” in September 2007.

Dock Street opened on Aug. 20, 2007 and since then has helped attract more new businesses to the neighborhood. Back then there was a party, just like tomorrow.

We received emails from readers asking about the shooting/robbery that happened on Sunday, Aug 18, shortly before 4 p.m. near 46th and Springfield. The victim, a male, was shot in the shoulder during a robbery and was taken to the hospital where he was listed in critical condition, but is doing better now. The suspect fled the scene on foot, according to police reports.

The robbery was not random and the victim and the shooter may know each other, according to police. “There is not a maniacal serial robber out there robbing and shooting random people,” Joe Murray of the Southwest Police Detectives said in an email. No more details are available at this time as the investigation continues.

Come September, Spark, the national nonprofit providing professional apprenticeships to underserved youth, will launch its first yearlong program in Philadelphia and is currently recruiting new mentors across West Philadelphia through this Friday.

As West Philly Local reported in December, the award-winning Spark came to Philadelphia in the spring to test-run a pilot program in the city, partnering with Henry C. Lea School, McMichael Promise Academy, and Mastery-Shoemaker Charter School to serve about 60 at-risk 7th and 8th grade students and connect them with two-month long apprenticeships at local businesses to complete career-related projects with their assigned mentor. Through these apprenticeships, students learn a variety of personal and professional  skills and build confidence and their personal identity in order to improve their educational career and goals, and keep them on the path to graduation. This fall, Spark expects to work with over 100 students based on the success of the pilot program.

Last year, West Philadelphia students worked with mentors from Honest Tom’s Taco Shop, the Enterprise Center, and the University of Pennsylvania. Those local businesses will partner with Spark once again this fall, along with the City of Philadelphia, WHYY, Reading Terminal Market, Duane Morris, and 16 other companies.

If you are a local business owner and would like to participate in this program, please fill out a mentor application here.

–Annamarya Scaccia

UPDATED 8/20/13 at 9 a.m.: Last Friday, NBC Philadelphia reported that Indiegogo reinstated Meyers‘ campaign as it “is indeed in compliance with Indiegogo’s terms of service,” according to a statement issued to the media outlet. According to Meyers, the crowdsourcing site only returned donations made through PayPal to both campaigns, totaling about $1,500, and waived all fees associated with the fundraiser. “I’m happy, but frustrated, it took them 20 days to respond and I do not get all the donations I lost,” she told West Philly Local.

7/29/13: A week ago, Jessica Meyers went from squatter to homeowner.

The 28-year-old Syracuse native landed the winning bid for her makeshift West Philly home at 52^nd and Funston Streets during Philadelphia Housing Authority’s July 16 auction. The legally abandoned PHA-owned site was one of 196 properties the housing authority was selling off at First District Plaza, 3801 Market Street, and there was no way she’d let possible ownership slip through the cracks. After all, Meyers has squatted in that house for eight years, and has spent countless time and energy refurbishing it into a livable space shared with friends and traveling punks.  Continue Reading

Attention neighborhood joggers, dog walkers and anyone who was planning to visit The Woodlands Cemetery and Mansion (40th & Woodland) this Wednesday: The gates to the cemetery will be closed for tree maintenance. The grounds will reopen as usual at dawn on Thursday.

If you’d like to support the work The Woodlands does to make this space open to the public, please consider donating here: http://woodlandsphila.org/support/.