At this meeting the Community Design Collaborative Design Team will be presenting preliminary designs for bike priority streets. These designs will include both short and long range plans for a typical residential block in South Philadelphia based on input they received from you in previous meetings. This is your last opportunity to provide input to guide the final plans.

SEPTA Constituent Relations Coordinator Wendy Green-Harvey and Assistant Director of Transportation Michael Lyles will address issues relevant to schedules and ALL South Philadelphia routes. Mr. Lyles, along with many of his staff members, will field questions especially regarding pilot projects such as the 47 bus lines limited pick-ups.

In order to even begin planning what we might do about this issue, we first need to get an idea of the scope of the problem. To do this we want to continue to get an inventory all the boarded up/vacant houses in the neighborhood. This is where you come in!

Some weeks ago we sent around a survey to allow neighbors to report suspected abandoned properties. (Unfortunately, there are some inhabited buildings that only look like they’re vacant.)

If you see a house that is boarded up/vacant  click here to fill out this short form and send us the address and cross streets. This will feed into the inventory we have been keeping.

Thank you for helping to make our neighborhood a better place.

EnergyWorks brings together all available rebates, tax credits and low-interest financing for home energy improvements. Through the EnergyWorks Select Partnership neighborhood associations, civic groups, faith-based and community-based organizations can receive group discounts on home energy assessments, and in some cases the contracted work. Neighbors or group members come together and act as a buying group, thus bringing down the price and saving time and energy for everyone.

Since EnergyWorks has over one hundred registered building analysts and contractors, Select Partners get to choose from a preferred list of contractors and analysts that have demonstrated exceptional work, financial stability and who participate in a unique discount purchasing program offered through the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance which allows them to provide additional savings to the homeowner on energy efficiency materials and products.

PSCA has signed up for the EnergyWorks Select Partnership, and we have had a number of households sign up already. Those who would like to register their interest can do so through an online intake form here.

Under “How did you find out about us?” choose “Other” and enter Passyunk.org. For “Are you a member of a Home Owners Association?” choose yes and enter “Passyunk Square Civic Association” in the next field after that.

Please fill out the intake form online or come to the meeting to sign up and save money and energy in your home this winter!

Businesses include Bartram’s Garden, Bennett Compost, Calm Studio, Frame Fatale, Fringe Salon, Grindcore House, Living Water Massage, Lucky Old Souls Burger Truck, Monster Minders, Motherland Midwifery, PhillyCarShare, Strange Brew Coffee, The Expressive Hand, and The Wishing Well. For more details about the specials and discounts visit southphillyfoodcoop.org/shop-south-philly. If you’d like to become one of the Co-op’s 250 Founding Members – a goal which will lead to the next step of looking for a location – visit SouthPhillyFoodCoop.org for details on how to join.

To celebrate this huge step in the progress toward opening a member-owned grocery store in South Philly, the Co-op will be holding a Happy Hour at The Wishing Well (a “Shop South Philly” participant!), 9th and Catherine, on December 7, 2011 from 5:30 until 8:30. Drink Specials: $3 local draughts, $4 well liquor drinks, $5 glasses of Merlot and Chardonnay, $5 bottles of Rowhouse Red and a shot of Tullamore Dew, $3 shots of Jameson. Food Specials: 1/2 off select food items (which are marked on the menu with an asterisk.) More information can be found at the Facebook event page.

Attend a lively discussion on making our streets safer. Are you concerned about the safety of our streets in South Philadelphia? Do you wish you could bike and walk more in South Philadelphia? Do you commute by automobile, transit or bicycle to Center City?

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has partnered with The Community Design Collaborative to look at innovative ways to make the streets more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Come join us and give us your perspective on what works and what needs work regarding safe streets in South Philadelphia. Questions? Contact susan@bicyclecoalition.org.

As the number of Center City workers living in neighborhoods south of Market Street continues to grow, SEPTA, the City of Philadelphia and the Center City District have been exploring the feasibility of developing one-seat (e.g. no transfers) bus service from South Philadelphia (east of Broad Street) to the Center City Market West Office District.

To help determine the effectiveness of adding such service, we are interested in learning more about the commuting patterns of employees who live in South Philadelphia and work in Center City. We have developed a short survey for employees to fill out and would appreciate it if those who live in South Philly would fill out the following survey.

So if you live in South Philly and work in Center City, please fill out the survey. To access the survey, click on: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DKZ3XMDA

If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Ariel Ben-Amos at ariel.ben-amos@phila.gov or 215-686-9001.

Since EnergyWorks has over one hundred registered building analysts and contractors, Select Partners get to choose from a preferred list of contractors and analysts that have demonstrated exceptional work, financial stability and who participate in a unique discount purchasing program offered through the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance which allows them to provide additional savings to the homeowner on energy efficiency materials and products.

PSCA has signed up for the EnergyWorks Select Partnership, and we have had a number of households sign up already. Those who would like to register their interest can do so through an online intake form here.

We’ll be contacting a local auditor and service provider to come and meet with all interested parties immediately after the PSCA general membership meeting on October 4th. Please fill out the intake form online or come to the meeting to sign up and save money and energy in your home this winter!

Parking can once again take place at the site beginning tomorrow.  Please note that construction is scheduled to begin in earnest at Thanksgiving and at that time the lot will be closed to parking.  As we get closer to that date the developer will once again provide notice of the pending permanent closing of the lot.

The folks involved in the the past couple weeks of testing also wrote that they wanted to thank everyone for their patience while they performed the soils testing over the last two weeks.

Currently they are working to complete their civil engineering and architectural plans.  To do so they will be conducting two weeks of tests on the soils below the parking lot.  To that end they have an executed agreement with the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Parking Authority.  These tests are scheduled to begin on 22 August and last until 5 September.

During this time period the parking lot will be closed to any vehicles not involved with the construction so that the drilling equipment has room to work.  At the conclusion of this work the parking lot will once again be open for general parking.

If you have any questions, feel free to email parking (at) passyunk.org and we will pass those questions along to the developer.