Philadelphia City Council weighs lead paint ordinance, Planning Commission unveils waterfront masterplan

Good morning, Feeders! We’ve got plenty coming your way on this beautiful Monday morning, so stick close for stories on lead paint regulations and look at plans for the Central Delaware.

Tom MacDonald will be in today’s City Council meeting to hear about the lead paint disclosure being discussed as part of Philadelphia’s health code. Its purpose, in part, is, “to require a certification that a property is lead free or lead safe before it may be rented to a tenant.”

What’s in store for the Central Delaware? As the Philadelphia Planning Commission unveils its master plan, Lizz Fiedler will look at what residents of Central Delaware neighborhoods from Allegheny to Oregon avenues can expect from the waterfront.

Susan Phillips will take a look at the state of “stop and frisk” in Philadelphia. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit against the Philadelphia Police in November claiming the department’s use of “stop and frisk” showed a race bias. Susan will follow up.

Phil Gregory will have the latest for us on a New Jersey-based bill to regulate tanning bed use, and a move to allow parking at transit stations during off-peak hours.

A pop-up garden sounds a bit oxymoronic. But the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is staging on in Center City to benefit nearby restaurants. Peter Crimmins will find out just how much planning (and waiting) a pop-up garden requires.

Carolyn Beeler will clue us in to plans by SEPTA to use batteries to capture energy from its Market-Frankford Line trains. She’ll break down the timeline and what that energy can be repurposed for.

We’ve got that and more for you today, plus our top stories out of the Northwest:

Friday was groundbreaking day for Philadelphia University’s new $20 million Design, Engineering and Commerce building. The new program begins this Fall, but the building is set to open in January 2013.

After toughing out road work and a bad economy, Mt. Airy’s Artista will close. The store, which sells clothing, jewelry and crafts, wasn’t reaping the benefits of the restaurants’ foot traffic.