Jan 18: Gallery exits, enter Boyce | Bridesburg waterfront rezoning | $100k to plan Grays Ferry and Point Breeze | D’Ambrosio closes

Good morning and happy Friday! Did you notice a dusting of crystalline snow when you woke up? There were flurries this morning, but we could be in a snow drought. Here’s your end-of-the-week Buzz:

In her column this week Inga Saffron caught up with Gallery and looks back at his 10-year run at the helm of the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, breezing through the state of preservation in our city. During Gallery’s tenure, he says the alliance worked to broaden the organization’s appeal. “We wanted people to understand that preservationists aren’t middle-class white ladies in tennis sneakers.” Gallery officially stepped down from his post last week.

John Gallery’s replacement is expected to be announced today: Caroline Boyce. Boyce comes to Philly after a long stint in Harrisburg working on preservation and planning issues, reports Hidden City Daily. She ran Preservation Pennsylvania from 1994-1999, the smart growth group 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, and for the last 10 years she has been the executive VP of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Should a 67-acre waterfront parcel in Bridesburg be rezoned for industrial use? The Planning Commission thinks so, reports PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey. The vacant industrial site, home to Philadelphia Coke Company (1927-1982), was rezoned for Waterfront Redevelopment in anticipation of a large residential development back in 2007. That never materialized but now an unnamed company is considering building on part of the site controlled by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Authority. To entice the mystery company Councilman Bobby Henon’s office sponsored a rezoning bill to switch the parcel back to a mix of industrial zoning. (Spot zoning much?)

The Wells Fargo Foundation gave a $100,000 neighborhood planning grant to Kenny Gamble’s Universal Companies to help improve Gray’s Ferry and Point Breeze, reports the Daily News. The grant will allow Universal to undertake a planning study of the neighborhoods (Washington to Snyder, Broad to 33rd), and after the report hold town-hall meetings for input on planning goals like adding health centers and improving early-childhood education. Universal is likely to use the study to apply for a Promise Neighborhoods grant from the US Department of Education.

In related Grays Ferry news: D’Ambrosio Bakery, one of the city’s classic roll bakeries, shut down Thursday after a deal to sell the company fell through, The Insider reports. D’Ambrosio was founded in South Philly in 1939 and has been at 31st and Reed since the 1970s.

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

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