Inn Yard Park’s new playground, Spring Garden Street Greenway dreams, homeless Occupiers to decamp again, name our trail network

After 6 years of planning, East Falls kids have a new playground at Inn Yard Park. The playground ‘s construction was funded by Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., donations, and fundraisers. NewsWorks reports that Westrum Development pledged $50,000 toward the project in exchange for the East Falls Community Council’s support for zoning variances. For the last two years Westrum has denied the neighbors requests to provide the funding they committed in a contract.

Spring Garden Street could be transformed into a Greenway, connecting river-to-river, with dedicated space for cars, bikes, and pedestrians. The Pennsylvania Environmental Council is working with neighborhood groups, businesses and the city to rethink the street, the Daily News reports. Add your two cents at a community design meeting for the possible greenway on Tuesday, December 6 at 6:30pm, at the German Society of Philadelphia, (6th and Spring Garden).

The group of homeless Occupiers who moved to the Conrail yards then under I-95 in Port Richmond are again being chased off, The Naked City reports. Homeless carpenter Paul Klemmer has shared letters with Citypaper calling for permission to construct shelters on vacant land for the small group. Klemmer’s most recent letter ends saying, “We need a place to regroup or just crawl back under the rocks we crawled out from, disappointed that the hot air generated by Occupy was insufficient to keep us warm through the coming snows.”

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is enlisting the public’s help to name our region’s trail network, reports the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. DVRPC wants a new name must reflect the entire 9-county network, complement existing trail names, be future-oriented, promote the benefits of the trail network, and be authentic. Got an idea? Enter by midnight on December 16th to win $250. Check out DVRPC’s contest page for more details.

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest.