Opinion Eyes on the Street

December 2: American made clothes | LeBow Hall praise | Avenue of the Arts North action | Roberto Clemente school reuse | Community policing in the 39th

Eyes on the Street

December 2, 2013

Welcome to the working week, Streeters. We hope you enjoyed a good Thanksgiving. Here’s what’s buzzing this Monday morning:

Today is Makers Monday, a day geared at shifting the focus of Cyber Monday’s rabid consumerism to buying American-made goods. So we share this Inquirer story about American Trench, a venture by Wynnewood residents bent on making classic clothes in the region. Their trench coats are made in New Jersey, scarves in Juniata, and socks in Reading.

Inga Saffron calls Drexel’s new LeBow Hall “most satisfying of Drexel’s recent construction.” Saffron credits the partnership of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Voith & Mactavish Architects for making “real architecture out of space and light,” and giving the buidling a grounded urban presence. The $92 million new home for Drexel’s business school sits at 32nd and Market, an intersection Drexel envisions transforming as the core of its campus in the years to come.

North Broad Street’s section of Avenue of the Arts is set to see a lot of construction begin in the coming months – from streetscape improvements to work at the Blue Horizon and Rodeph Shalom synagogue. The Daily News has a rundown of what’s ahead.

The old Roberto Clemente Middle School at North 5th and West Luzerne will be redeveloped as affordable housing, Naked Philly reports. The building, originally the Apex Hosiery Factory, will have three floors cut off and contain 38 apartments.

In the 39th Police District, including parts of North Philly, Nicetown, Germantown and East Falls, crime has dropped thanks in no small part to community policing efforts. The Daily News’ Morgan Zalot spent an evening with the 39th talking bike patrols, building respect and trust in neighborhoods, and chipping away at “stop snitching” culture.

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along.
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