November 22: Free Library, universal design | Worker-owned succession | OD mapping

Is there demand for solar? Solarize Philly, a joint initiative through the Philadelphia Energy Authority and Philadelphia-based company Solar States, has surpassed its 100-signup goal, Green Philly Blog shares. The incentive-based program, which also includes a streamlined permitting process with L&I, now boasts 186 signed contracts. Catalina Jaramillo wrote a helpful explainer on the program’s incentives and tax credits, and how PEA negotiated discounts with installers using four tiers back in September.

Inga Saffron details the universal design principals imbedded in the renovations of the Free Library’s Lovett, Logan, Tacony, and Marrero branches. Saffron writes about architect and library specialist James R. Keller’s careful infrastructure improvements and adaptable templates designed to make the 21st century library more welcoming, accessible, and flexible.

Curbed Philly has put out an inclusionary zoning bill guide to break down the highly contested bill from both sides, in preparation for the November 27th public hearing. On Tuesday, the Planning Commission voted to place a hold on the bill; Jake Blumgart covers the amendments that neither developers nor civic associations are happy with.

Shifting generations call for shifting strategies for design, real estate and economic development. Next City’s Oscar Perry Abello looks at how aging small business owners are turning to worker-owned succession plans, and how Goodwill Detroit is helping ease the “long and complicated” transition process by buying the companies outright and serving as the intermediary owner “until employees are trained to be owner operators.”

Mapping to the rescue: PPD, SEPTA police, and Prevention Point Philadelphia have reported around 3,000 fatal and non-fatal overdoses since spring, thanks to an app from Baltimore’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas office, the Philadelphia Citizen’s Quinn O’Callaghan reports. Cities are using the app as a tool to track and react to overdoses, and “the drugs that cause them in jurisdictions around the country.”

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