Is SEPTA breaking its promise to restore trolley service on the world's longest streetcar line?
As the bus passed Cumberland Avenue on 10th Street, William Faltermayer felt something was wrong. Route 23, which the retired Wyndmoor resident had enjoyed religiously most of his adult life, was somehow different that morning. Then, one block later, it hit him. The tracks were gone, paved over with asphalt.
He hadn’t noticed the 40-foot stretch of blacktopped rail when the bus veered off Germantown Avenue, but the six solid blocks of paved track between York Street and Susquehanna Avenue was hard to miss.
For Faltermayer, the paving is a harbinger of what many Northwest residents have feared for more than a decade: the end of the line, literally, for trolleys on the historic Route 23, believed to be the longest light rail line in the world, stretching 12.5 miles from Chestnut Hill to South Philadelphia.
Chestnut Hill College to Bid for Sugarloaf Property by MICHAEL J. MISHAK The college would develop student housing, parking and academic space on the 32-acre estate, which was placed on the market earlier this month Nearly five months after Temple University exited the Sugarloaf Conference Center in Chestnut Hill, another academic institution is expressing interest in the 32-acre estate.
Chestnut Hill College told a small group of residents at a community meeting last week it hoped to acquire the property, outlining its vision in the event of a sale. The school, which celebrated its 80th anniversary this year, is seeking to accommodate the unprecedented growth it has seen since going co-ed in fall 2003. The school’s announcement came one week after the Greenfield Foundation, the public trust that owns Sugarloaf, placed the property on the real estate market. The asking price is $15 million.
Commerce Bank Branch Planned for Avenue By MEREDITH SONDERSKOV Representatives from Commerce Bank made their first presentation to the Development Review Committee on Tuesday evening, June 14, at Hiram Lodge. The bank has the property at the southwest corner of Germantown and Evergreen avenues under contract. The space formerly housed the Gap, which left in December 2003.
According to Daniel J. Wallace, vice-president of development for the bank, Commerce Bank is open seven days a week, has longer hours than most banks and only closes four days a year. After viewing drawings of the proposed changes to the existing building, Bill Washburn, DRC member and representative of the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, inquired if the architect was aware that Chestnut Hill has been designated as a National Historic District. The response was negative. Washburn further commented that he believed the proposed remodeling is in bad scale and does not fit into the venue.
John Haak, chairman of the DRC, then suggested that the bank’s plans need further discussion with the Aesthetics Committee, the Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee and the Chestnut Hill Historical Society. He also asked for photographs of Commerce Bank buildings in areas similar to Chestnut Hill.
Hill Tower Changes Hands (Again) By AMY BRISSON Last week, residents of the Chestnut Hill Tower Apartments received a surprise slipped under their doors: a notice that the building, previously owned by Korman Residential Inc., had just been sold to BLDG Management Co. of New York, N.Y. Although the Local contacted several current tenants for comment, some had only just been informed by notice of the changeover.
Former tenant association president Mimi Glaser said in a phone interview on Friday that she was “ambivalent” about the transfer, but had only learned of it that morning when a paper was slipped under her door. The note, which is meant to serve in lieu of a meeting among tenants and management, lists the names of current staff members and explains new rent payment directions. Scott Zecher, executive vice-president of BLDG Management, said in a phone interview on Friday that the company intended to offer residents a “high level of service” and would encourage an open dialogue with tenants that had any complaints.
The current building staff would be staying on under BLDG Management, he said, and in response to questions about past maintenance problems, he said that he did not anticipate anything that would be difficult to remedy.
What do comedian Bill Cosby, Herbert Adderley (a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame) and Barbara Harris, the first woman ordained as an Episcopalian bishop, have in common? They are all alumni of the Wissahickon Boys & Girls Club, which was recognized last Wednesday as a Philadelphia historic landmark.
The Wissahickon club was the first in the country to be established for African-Americans. It was founded just after the Civil War as the Pulaskitown Free Kindergarten, and served the sons of freed slaves and black domestic workers employed in the homes of wealthy Germantown residents. The club joined the Boys Club Federation in 1906, which later become the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
It’s finally over. The months-long case of Woodmere Art Museum and its neighbors ended last week when the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) granted the institution’s request for a zoning variance.
For the museum, the decision paves the way for construction of a controversial two-story, modern-style wing designed by renowned architectural firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. The addition required a use variance because of Woodmere’s residential zoning status.
