June 4: Divine Lorraine work | Council not moving on PGW sale | Farewell Zack Stalberg | Life on Myrtlewood | L+I not L&I | Port Richmond Trail use
Happy Wednesday, Streeters. Here’s what we’re reading:
Naked Philly noticed work actually happening at the Divine Lorraine. Power washing is a start. Pinch us.
City Council is certainly busy with zoning matters, as our Jared Brey reports, but it looks like the proposed PGW sale is one item council won’t get to before summer. CBS Philly reports that because no one in City Council has introduced Mayor Nutter’s bill to approve the $1.86 billion sale and no hearing has been scheduled it’s unlikely to happen before council’s summer recess. If City Council doesn’t act by July 15 the buyer could walk.
Zack Stalberg, former editor of the Daily News and the watchful eyes behind Committee of Seventy, is leaving Philly. The Inquirer looks back at Stalberg’s turnaround of the sleepy Seventy and how he’ll hang up his Philly watchdog spurs for a westward move.
Next City looks at the block of Myrtlewood in Strawberry Mansion where – so memorably – “the whole jawn came down” in building collapses this winter: 10 vacant lots, 3 boarded up buildings, and how life goes on amid the vacancy.
The Department of Licenses and Inspections paid $50,000 to a consultant who rebranded “L&I” as “L+I,” Philly.com reports*. The + and a new logo are intended to “change the image” of the department in favor of a “friendlier, softer face.” Just like uniforms were meant to give the department a more professional look. Remember, if you have thoughts beyond the image of “L+I” you should share those via online survey (scroll down) to inform the work of a Special Independent Advisory Commission evaluating the department’s performance.
The Port Richmond Trail segment may be only 1.5 miles long, but someday it will connect to more pieces of the Circuit, the regional trail network. Star explores how future trail segments will connect the Port Richmond Trail and that the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is studying how the trail is already being used.
The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along.
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*Updated: We mistakenly attributed this story to the Daily News. We regret the error.
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