Opinion Eyes on the Street

Catholic church closings | affordable LGBT senior housing | disciplinary discrepancies for black students | vigil for fallen firefighters | PHS Pops-Up honored

PlanPhilly staff

April 16, 2012

(The Banks | Rob Lybeck, Eyes on the Street Flickr group)

Good morning, Streeters. Today’s temperature could be a record-breaker: 89 and sunny. Sure the warm weather is nice, but it’s only April 16. Bring your water bottle. And, don’t forget, tomorrow is tax day. The deadline was pushed back because April 15 fell on Sunday and today is a D.C. holiday.

On July 1 the Philadelphia Archdiocese will close seven of its parishes, the Inquirer reports. Germantown’s St. Francis of Assisi and Immaculate Conception will merge into St. Vincent de Paul. Manayunk’s St. Lucy will merge into Holy Family; St Josaphat and St. Mary of the Assumption will merge into St. John the Baptist.

After years of work LGBT activists will celebrate a victory today: the Gayborhood will soon have an affordable housing project for LGBT seniors. Last week the project won an $11 million state tax credit, making the $19 million project possible, the Inquirer reports. Penrose Properties will build the development on 13th Street between Locust and Spruce, which will include ground-floor retail, a community center, social- and medical-services, and a garden.

Black students are punished far more than their white or Asian counterparts in Philadelphia schools, but in the suburbs the disparity is exponentially worse, writes Patrick Kerkstra in the Inquirer. He wonders if students, or suburban faculty and staff, to blame for the spike in the ‘burbs and explains the ACLU’s research on the issue ahead.

Neighbors organized a prayer vigil Sunday evening at the site of the Buck Hosiery fire to thank and remember the firefighters who lost their lives when an adjacent building collapsed, the Daily News reports.

Last year’s PHS Pops-Up Garden won an award from a local chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, PHS shared on its blog. PHS plans to pop up again this year, but mum’s the word as to where.

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