October 14: State transpo funding update | Inquirer infighting | Before Bookbinders | Weavers Way at 40 | School sales give council power | remembering Gussie Clark

Welcome to the working week, Streeters. Don’t forget that today is Columbus Day and that means city offices are closed. It also means that trash and recycling collection will be one day behind this week.

Next week the Pennsylvania House of Representatives could vote on a compromise transportation funding bill, the Inquirer reports. Negotiations are ongoing and if an agreement can’t be reached, “the transportation issue is probably over” for the near future, said Dave Thomas, legal counsel to House Speaker Sam Smith. The fate of the state’s crumbling transportation infrastructure and the wellbeing of transit systems like SEPTA are at stake.

The New York Times’ David Carr checked in on the infighting at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the rift among its wealthy powerbroker owners over editor Bill Marimow’s dismissal last week by half of the ownership group. With a lawsuit now filed by some owners the situation keeps getting messier, and the outcome has serious consequences for the city. As Carr writes: “While the battle may seem like one more bit of denouement for an industry on the wane, it is less a business story than a fight for the soul of not just an institution, but of a city as well. Philadelphia deserves better.” He concludes: “If a newspaper continues to exist, it should live to serve its remaining readers, not just the people who are rich enough to own it.”

Chef Jose Garces has leased the old Original Bookbinders at 2nd and Walnut streets, philly.com reported last week. And now, PhillyHistory blog takes us down the wormhole of time at 2nd and Walnut to the building that stood there before Bookbinders – the 200-year old Drinker-Krider building, which the Bookbinders owners demolished then tried to rebuild in the mid-20th century. “Character and authenticity were gone. The reconstruction introduced a sad whiff of the mid-20th century to the heart of Philadelphia’s historic district…Real historic cities grow over time, and they grow unpredictably. They can’t be intentionally made, and they certainly can’t be remade,” Ken Finkel writes.

Weavers Way Co-Op celebrated its 40th anniversary with a party at Cliveden this weekend. The Inquirer shares stories from co-op members and of the Mount Airy institution’s evolution from a tiny buying club to the powerhouse it is today.

City Council’s plan to sell off surplus public schools on behalf of the School District means district Council members will have a lot of influence over which sales go through, explains the Daily News.   The Daily News also has a handy breakdown of how many city-owned properties individual council members have held up in their district. Leading the pack: Darrell Clarke with 46 in his district covering North Central and Center City, followed by Jannie Blackwell with 42 in University City and Walnut Hill.

Former City Council member Gussie Clark passed away Sunday. The Daily News offers remembrances of Clark’s remarkable path, which included more than 20 years in City Council. Clark was the second African American woman elected to Council where she chaired committees on education and public property.

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