Clarke explains North Central NID, Eastern State’s new stained glass art, SEPTA’s busiest routes, voter fraud vs disenfranchisement

Council President and 5th District Councilman Darrell Clarke wrote in to the Daily News to defend his plan for the North Central Neighborhood Improvement District. Clarke emphasized, “This NID is unique in that it will be funded by an assessment on landlords, many of whom house students. All owner-occupied single-family residents will be exempt.” He goes on to say that the community will have the same number of board members as property owners, aiming to resolve a bone of contention among residents. PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey will report back from City Council’s Committee on Rules today where the North Central NID is on the agenda. [pdf]

Glass artist Judith Schaechter created 17 new stained glass windows for Eastern State Penitentiary. NewsWorks reports that the windows interpret the essential tension of Eastern State’s past – “the disconnect between ideals and reality.”

The Business Journal runs down SEPTA’s busiest routes. The top 3 busiest are the Market-Frankford El, Broad Street Line, and Route 23 Bus from South Philly to Chestnut Hill. The three busiest bus routes are the 23, Route 18 from Cedarbrook to Lawndale and Fox Chase, and Route 47 from Olney to South Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania’s possible new voter ID law could prevent “tens of thousands of real, live and eligible voters from exercising their rights, voters that not so coincidentally are young, poor and minority, the ones most likely to favor the Democrats,” the Daily News editorializes today. Now that the law has passed in the state Senate it is up for a vote in the Pennsylvania House.

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