June 14: Hit-and-run spree continues | Horse-trading returns | Eastern Lofts in Strawberry Mansion

The recent rash of hit-and-runs continues, with a horrific incident last night in the Crescentville section of Roosevelt Boulevard. A woman crossing the street at a green light was thrown 200-feet down the road after being hit by a driver running a red light. The force of the crash was so strong it knocked the woman’s shoes off. The driver fled the scene. Early this morning, another driver jumped the curb on South Street injuring four pedestrians and crashing into Primo Hoagies. There’s still no word from the administration when the Vision Zero Task Force recommended by the transition report will be chosen.

A not-insignificant chunk of the soda tax revenue will be siphoned off for other Council priorities, the Inquirer reports. One takeaway is that Jim Kenney won’t have any compunction about horse-trading and log-rolling his way to legislative wins the way Michael Nutter did. Relatedly, Holly Otterbein and Jared Brey analyze the Council politics in the wake of the soda tax vote. 

Fishtown neighborhood activist Jill Betters says developer Bart Blatstein is opposing historic designation for the PECO building on Penn Treaty Park, and started a Change.org petition to support preservation. Ashley Hahn will be reporting from the Historical Commission’s Committee on Historic Designation meeting this Wednesday, when the building’s nomination will be reviewed.

Ayana Jones at the Philadelphia Tribune says a new mixed-use project in Strawberry Mansion is being hailed as a model of equitable development. “The former site of an abandoned, blighted historic building has been turned into Eastern Lofts, a development near 30th and Cecil B. Moore Avenue that features 37 loft-style mixed-income apartments, a parking garage, a day care center, small business incubator office space and facilities for community organizations.

New research from Fairmount CDC found relatively high retail vacancy rates of 23% along the Fairmount Avenue and 25% on Girard, reports Julie Zeglen. Read the report to learn more about strategies the group is considering to attract more activity to those corridors. 

Billy Penn has a round-up of reader-submitted Philly tattoos, and the range of local iconography is impressive. Not just outlines of the skyline, but detailed depictions of skyscrapers and rowhouses, SEPTA tokens, subway maps, and Arctic Splash iced tea boxes. Conspicuously absent: any city flag tattoos.