Please be aware that today at 4PM, the Zoning Board of Adjustment is scheduled to hear the case of 1332-36 S. 9th Street.  The PSCA Zoning Committee heard this case earlier this month.

Details of the case and the PSCA Zoning Committee decision:

1332-36 S. 9th Street: Requesting variance for auto repair on the first floor with 4 apartments on the 2nd floor. Also requesting pilot house and 4 roof decks for apartments. Refused by L&I for auto repair and 4 apartments in R10-A (single family dwelling) and for height of pilot house.

This project had also appeared previously before the Zoning Committee seeking permission for three apartments and an auto repair shop. At the time, the Committee opposed the auto repair shop but the variance was granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Since the owner did not begin work on the property, the variance expired. Presently, the applicant is seeking permission for (1) four apartments, (2) four roof decks – separate ones for each unit – with a pilot house for common access to the roof, and (3) an auto repair shop on the first floor.

The committee voted in NON-OPPOSITION to the four apartments by a 6-0 vote. The committee voted in NON-OPPOSITION to the roof deck and pilot house by a 6-0 vote. The committee voted to OPPOSE the auto repair shop. Committee members and neighbors expressed concern at the number of auto repair and auto body shops currently operating in many parts of the neighborhood, particularly in the area bounded by East Passyunk Avenue, Ellsworth St, Reed Street and 7th Street. One committee member mentioned the desire of the neighborhood to continue its transition into a place where auto repair facilities in the middle of dense, residential blocks would no longer be acceptable.

Neighbors are encouraged to attend the Zoning Board of Adjustment meetings for any of these projects and express either their support or opposition to the project. The ZBA hearings take place at 1515 Arch Street on the 18th Floor.

What better way to spend a summer night than a party on the Avenue? Tonight at 7pm we celebrate the rededication of The Singing Fountain  and the official unveiling of the renovations completed by the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC).

Following the ceremony the community can enjoy a block party around the fountain with food and drinks compliments of Paradiso and Izumi.

See you tonight.

At 7PM on every Thursday evening in July, Friends of Gold Star Park and the Passyunk Square Civic Association are hosting Music in the Park. In addition, at each of these events Gold Star Park will host representatives from the South Philly Food Co-op who will be on hand to answer questions and… accept new member-owners! So come out and enjoy the music, Gold Star’s new grass and help strengthen the community by becoming a member-owner of the Co-op.

All the info you need!

All events are FREE! Bring your own chair or blanket. Each event is subject to change or cancellation due to severe weather, which will be posted in the park and at the Gold Star Park website.

More information can be found at GoldStarPark.org.

No joke, folks. Apparently someone is going around the neighborhood stealing plants from window boxes and planters in front of homes in the wee hours of the morning.

One of the GTT’s victim’s told the story on Philebrity.com and included some video footage which gives a pretty good view of the bandit (a white male of average height and weight wearing a North Face jacket). So be on the lookout for this klepto-horticulturalist and keep a close eye on any unsecure plants in front of your house. Anyone with information about this should contact the police.

Read the full account of the the Green Thumb Thief’s exploits and see the video at Philebrity.

Thanks to a tip from reader Missy, we saw this write-up on Technically Philly about Passyunk Square resident Frank Panko – founder of the website A View From My Seat. It was the reference to living two blocks away from Pat’s and Geno’s that gave Frank away as one of our neighbors. According to the TP write-up, AVFMS is “a product which collects photos submitted by users, of, quite literally, the view of the field from seats at sports venues.”

Frank and his wife hope to market the extensive database that they oversee to ticket sellers, teams and venues as a way to give customers a genuine preview of what they’re getting for their money.

The story of the business’s start-up and growth is a great tale of how to take something that everyone is doing now for free and creating value out of it. Check out the article.

Now… if only someone would come up with a way to stop that other recent baseball phenomenon – the person who sits behind home plate or in line with the batter and waves to people they are talking to on a cell phone and who see them on television.

If you have any tips about cool things being done by people in the neighborhood (6th to Broad, Washington to Tasker) please feel free to share by emailing contact@passyunk.org.