January 9: Hunting Park scrap yard frustration | Knights Crossing in Camden | Vanishing Philly

Welcome to the working week, readers. We’ve got a cold start to the week and the city has a Code Blue in effect through Tuesday. If you see someone experiencing homelessness and in need of shelter, contact outreach services at 215-232-1984.

Last week we reported on concerns Kensington neighbors have with Somerset-area scrap yards. They’re not alone. The Daily News has a story today about frustrations with a scrap yard in Hunting Park that directly abuts one of the city’s soda-tax funded Pre-K facilities, Casa del Carmen. Valerie Russ explains the community’s complaints with Clearfield Recycling, its creep onto a former Conrail right of way that neighbors aspire to turn into a recreational amenity, and Clearfield’s history of violations and tax-delinquency.

The Inquirer has an update on Brandywine Realty Trust’s plans for Knights Crossing in Camden, almost a city-within-a-city. In addition to Subaru’s new headquarters, “Brandywine plans a series of buildings with office space for rent, connected by streets with restaurants and shops… A network of bike paths will link paths in Camden, Philadelphia, and beyond to farther-flung parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.” Additionally, a new transit hub would connect the site to PATCO and could link the site to the long-planned Glassboro-Camden light rail line.

Mike Newall looks at the disappearing neighborhood joints that made up his early Philly experiences 15 years ago, prompted by notice of Little Pete’s official expiration date. “The things that vanish in this city all take a bit of your heart.”

Thanks to a new bar in the rehabbed (again) Benjamin Franklin Hotel at 9th and Chestnut, the public can enjoy Horace Trumbauer’s glorious lobby. Inga Saffron takes a look.

Alan Heavens walks through the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia’s six-point plan to turn Philadelphia preservation from reactive and scattershot to proactive and strategic.

A man died at SEPTA’s Olney station early Saturday morning trying to catch a southbound subway. The Inquirer reports that doors shut before he could get onto the train so he tried to ride in between cars but fell onto the tracks.

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