May 29: City withdraws Olympic bid | City Controller questions PGW sale numbers | Promise Zone progress | Mighty Writers seeks 9th Street home | Trail crossing closed indefinitely
Good morning, Eyes on the Street!
Philadelphia will not host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The City withdrew its bid to host the event, Newsworks reports. “It is a tremendously costly endeavor for where we are right now,” Mayor Nutter said and noted that the City would need to build an entire Olympic village and Olympic facilities. The City is still putting together its bid for the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz is questioning Mayor Nutter’s numbers behind the Philadelphia Gas Works sale. According to the Inquirer, the Nutter Administration estimates that the city will net $420 million to $631 million from the $1.86 billion sale of PGW to UIL Holdings Corp, and Nutter has proposed investing the profits into the city’s pension plan. But Butkovitz thinks the Nutter administration is underestimating the cost of PGW’s unfunded pension liabilities.
West Philly residents met this week to begin hashing out what the new federal Promise Zone means for Mantua, The Inquirer reports. Everyone from residents to city officials, transportation leaders, community organizers and educators attended to discuss everything from crime to homelessness, poverty, education and safety.
Mighty Writers is looking for a 9th Street location near the Italian Market for a new storefront that will cater to at least 150 Latino students. Mighty Writers, an organization that helps promote writing among kids, opened another location not long ago in West Philly’s Hawthorne Hall.
The Schuylkill River Trail crossing at Race Street will be closed indefinitely while the Philadelphia Streets Department works to fix the automatic gates. The gates were severely damaged and because they are unique to the U.S., they will require complex repairs that could take several months. The Bicycle Coalition shared the news yesterday.
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