East Bell's Mill project marches on slowly
by MICHAEL J. MISHAK
Survey flags on East Bell's Mill Road, which were observed recently by some Chestnut Hill residents, are the first physical indication that the city intends to forge ahead with its reconstruction plans for the thoroughfare.
Despite almost universal opposition by neighbors and area civic associations, the city contends the project is one of necessity prompted by safety concerns, in addition to perpetual drainage problems. According to Joe Syrnick, the city's chief engineer and surveyor, the reconstruction would add a sidewalk for pedestrian traffic from Germantown Avenue to Stenton Avenue; replace curbing on both sides of the one-way, one-lane road; install drainage piping inlets; and update the existing street lighting.
Currently in the early stages of final design, the Streets Department has been surveying the road to establish base lines, Syrnick said. Surveying should be finished early next year, he said. A final design is not expected until next fall, at which point the construction bidding process will begin. Construction...
Volunteer meeting for Pastorius Park Sunday
An organizational meeting will be held this weekend for anyone wishing to lend a hand at next year's Pastorius Park concert series. The meeting will take place Sunday Dec. 5, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the home of CHCA social division vice president Tia Burke in Chestnut Hill.
"The 2004 Pastorius Park Concert series was the best in its 56-year history by any objective measure and certainly [judging] by the enthusiasm of the 6,000 people who attended," Burke wrote in an e-mail recently sent to supporters.
"Many thanks to so many of you who helped in so many ways, from passing fishbowls, to creating beautiful posters, to helping put together a stage --- the first in park concert history-- to raising money, to attending and bringing your friends and family. The success of 2004 would not have been possible without you," she said.
"2005 promises to be even better in every way," she continued. "But once again, we need your help."
According to Burke, volunteers are needed in several categories. Assistance with promotion and publicity efforts leading up each performance is a priority. Technical coordinator...
Woodmere awarded $90,000 state grant
As the future of Gov. Rendell's environmental bond initiative, dubbed Growing Greener II, remained uncertain last week, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill with a $90,000 check. The grant was one of 13 awarded to local institutions and conservation groups in what may be the last gasp of a five-year program that has run out of funding steam.
The grant will help finance the construction of a porous pavement parking lot as part of Woodmere's expansion project. Supported by the Philadelphia Water Department, Wissahickon Watershed Association and Morris Arboretum, the parking lot design will reduce storm water runoff and overall pollution to the Wissahickon Creek. Designed on a slope, the museum's current hard-surface asphalt lot has contributed to flooding problems in the Wissahickon Watershed.
While the DEP had intended to cover Woodmere's entire request of $138,000, uncertainty about future funding for Growing Greener prompted the agency to scale back its award.
Though Rendell proposed an ambitious plan for the program's expansion in February, the state legislature has largely ignored pleas to approve the measure, which would borrow $800 million...