October 2: PATCO audit | Parking permit fee hike | Temple tops bike challenge | Residents battle scrappers | Air traffic noise, health | Environmentalists sue over Delaware River | Apocalyptic time-lapse

Hi Eyes on the Street! Here is a little mid-week news for you.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale called for a management audit of PATCO because of recent escalator and train failures. DePasquale is one of only two unappointed members on the board that oversees PATCO and the Delaware River Port Authority. 

On top of seeking to raise late fees for parking tickets, the Philadelphia Parking Authority wants to raise fees for resident’s parking permits. The current fee to renew a parking permit is $20, but the PPA and City’s Council’s Streets Committee agreed to raise it to $35.

The results of this year’s National Bike Challenge are in, and Temple University and Linda McGrane earned the top ranks in the region. The challenge asks participants to log their bicycle miles and awards 20 points for each day an individual bicycled and one point per mile. Overall Pennsylvania was the 8th most-bicycling state in the country. In the region, Linda McGrane was the highest ranking individual and Temple University was both the top ranking team and workplace.

Residents in Mayfair and Holme Circle are battling scrappers who are not only taking curbside garbage but everything from grills, children’s toys or bikes and metal lawn furniture from yards. Both groups have stepped up their town watch efforts and are on the lookout for scrappers taking more than discarded metal. 

A group of University of Pennsylvania researchers will receive part of a $40 million federal grant to study the impact of air traffic noise on health. The researchers, part of the Department of Psychiatry, will study the effects of airplane noise on sleep patterns, which some research indicates could increase risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Environmental groups are suing state regulators in Delaware and New Jersey to enforce federal rules that would protect the three billion fish environmentalists say are being killed every year by two energy facilities in those states. Both facilities the groups are targeting have expired cooling system permits. The environmental groups want the states to enforce the Clean Water Act. 

Local photographer Bruce Wayne Berry has released a time-lapse that imagines a post  apocalyptic Philly using inferred filters and empty, familiar landscapes. The time-lapse, “The Day Wonderland Stood Still…” is part of an “Empty America Series.”

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