City Hall’s Gun Room | Nutter Watch: DNC + hospitality | Furness estate at auction | stream buffer debate continues | Samuel Machinery Company action

The Gun Room is a police evidence room in City Hall where thousands of confiscated weapons are stored, piled up and stuffed in drawers. “The astonishing thing about the Gun Room is that each of these guns is the physical manifestation of crime,” writes Daily News Editorial Page Editor Sandy Shea. “It’s as if all the crimes committed in the city have gathered in one room for us to actually see their enormity. The sight is so powerful that I challenge Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Charles Ramsey to move the Gun Room to street level. Build a glass cage and put these guns on public display. Maybe then we’ll see a new way to solve this problem.”

Our Mayor is a busy man: jamming to a set by the Roots at a nightclub in Charlotte, speaking at the Democratic National Convention tonight (adding to speculation about his national ambitions), and today he’s got a piece in the Huffington Post talking about the importance of Philadelphia’s hospitality industry to the city’s economic wellbeing. “Our hospitality sector focuses on making sure visitors have a great time in our city — but behind the scenes, it is employing thousands of city residents.” Nutter explains that our hospitality industry provides job opportunities (construction to maintenance, chefs to management) for Philadelphians of every stripe, while drives the attractions that make our city an increasingly popular destination.

Take a peek into Frank Furness’ Dolobran, an estate in Haverford that is up for auction in October, through this Business Journal slideshow.

Do development buffers along waterways protect water quality or are they a sneaky way of getting a free trail right-of-way? PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey reports on the continuing stream-buffer debate, which is one of the still unresolved zoning reform issues. The Design Advocacy Group’s meeting Thursday morning will also focus on this issue.

The Philadelphia Real Estate Blog noticed debris being hauled out of the Samuel Machinery Company building on North 3rd Street in Old City recently and wonders what’s next for the old industrial building that has sat decaying as the neighborhood around it boomed.

 

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