In The News

The long-awaited debut of SEPTA's automated pay system should finally arrive in June.

The transportation agency is making 10,000 SEPTA Key cards available on June 13 through a first-come, first-serve pilot program. Riders can buy the cards at kiosks in subway stations, and the cards will be usable as weekly or monthly transpasses on the subway, trolleys or buses.

The card program, which was originally scheduled to debut in 2013, is supposed to bring SEPTA’s antiquated fare system into the modern age. The card will allow riders to pay for fare plans with a debit or credit card.

On June 13 riders will be able to buy a $24 weekly plan on the new SEPTA Key cards. Monthly passes for July will be available June 20. SEPTA installed readers throughout the city’s transit network that will register fares when the card it tapped against them. If cards are lost or stolen users can put holds on them and get replacements. Users will eventually be able to set up accounts with Key similar to E-ZPass that will automatically replenish the card when funds get low. There will also be cards with more flexibility, including cards for single rides, coming down the line. Regional Rail wasn’t included in the initial rollout because of its size and more varied fare rates. It should be added to the network in 2017. SEPTA would like to eventually eliminate tokens and cash payments entirely.

Original source: Philadelphia Inquirer
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The online news site Billy Penn is eyeing a second publication in another city -- the finalists include Baltimore, Chicago and Pittsburgh.

In an interview with POLITICO conducted before the final cities were selected, Spirited Media founder and CEO Jim Brady said he was looking to launch a Billy Penn-like site in cities with a high percentage of young news consumers and a relatively compact size. More than half of Billy Penn’s audience is 35 years old or younger, Brady said, and the compactness of a city gives the company’s stories a better shot at having a citywide impact.

The possibility that Brady might bring his mobile-first local model to one of these three cities is thanks to a hefty investment from USA Today owner Gannett that was announced a few weeks ago...

Brady said that the final decision on which city to launch in next will come down to the journalism and business talent in the cities it chooses to focus on.

“What I want to do is get myself down to two or three cities, and then go to those cities and interview people and let that be the tie-breaker,” he said. “Finding the right people is paramount.”

Once Brady decides on a final city, the company will decide on a name and will staff up with about a half-dozen people on both the editorial and business sides. Brady said he expects to make a final decision by May 1. 

Original source: Politico New York
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Conde Nast Traveler runs down the "6 Best Places to Eat in Philadelphia Right Now," and it has a decidedly southern (Philly) bent with Bing Bing Dim Sum, Coeur, Restaurant Neuf, Hungry Pigeon and Laurel. Kensington Quarters is the one outlier.

Philadelphia may be known for its cheesesteaks, and with good reason. But for those with a finer palette, or who are simply looking for a bite that's equal parts creative and delicious, head to one of these six new restaurants in the City of Brotherly Love. From a pan-Asian take on matzo ball soup to "Frenchified Algerian" and then some, chefs are bringing the heat—and the cheese, and the wine, and the....pigeon? (yup, pigeon)—turning down-to-earth Philly into a foodie's dream.

Original source: Conde Nast Traveler
Read the complete list here. 

The good services giant is keeping its global headquarters in Philadelphia.

Chief executive Eric Foss said Thursday that after an extensive review, the company concluded that Philadelphia remains "the ideal choice for us."

The city has been the company's home since 1961.

Aramark had been considering a move before its lease expired in 2018.

The company says factors considered in its decision included overall business environment, access to talent, costs, diversity, transportation and quality of life.

Aramark is now weighing whether to remain at is current building or move to another location in the city. It says it will make that decision by summer's end.

Aramark says about 1,150 people work in management and management support roles at its global headquarters.

Original source: Associated Press
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A big boost of funds means smooth sailing for local cyclists, as plans for new protected bike lanes comes into focus. PlanPhilly has the complete list of projects.

Thanks to $300,000 in federal Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) funds recently awarded by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) and another $200,000 expected to come from PennDOT, the Philadelphia Streets Department will soon upgrade and expand the city’s bike facility network with new protected and buffered bike lanes.

“Protected” bike lanes refer to lanes that use flexible plastic delineator posts to help physically separate automobile and bicycle traffic. “Buffered” bike lanes are slightly wider bike lanes that use a bit of extra paint to create a more visible buffer...

The goal of more and better bike lanes has already been approved in City Council through adoption of two iterations of the city’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan, Philadelphia’s Complete Streets Design Handbook, the city’s comprehensive Philadelphia 2035 Citywide Vision city plan, and in all of District Plans completed so far—each developed after three rounds of public feedback meetings planned in conjunction with district councilmen and RCOs. There will be at least one more public feedback session per bike infrastructure project. And with each, another shot for opponents to shout the project down.

Original source: PlanPhilly
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Favor is the latest app-based delivery system to come to town. How will it handle the competition? 

A Texas-based on-demand delivery app has come to Philadelphia, promising to deliver goods — including food from local restaurants — to residents in less than an hour, competing with companies already in the market like Instacart and Postmates.
Favor of Austin, Texas., launched in June 2013 and has since expanded to more than 20 cities across the United States with more than 10,000 so-called personal delivery assistants, or "runners."

"We've always been excited about Philly," said Ben Doherty, cofounder and COO. "I researched the market a long time ago, and I thought it was a really great potential place to launch."

"Overall, Philly is a dense market; it has lots of students and young working professionals," Doherty said. "That's generally who we focus on for our market."

Favor's runners will serve Philadelphia neighborhoods, including Temple University, University City, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, Fairmount, Center City and Old City.

The app connects customers to a runner, who will pick up and deliver "anything from tacos, to groceries, to your laundry that you’ve neglected to pick up," according to Favor.

"We do deliver anything you want," Doherty said. "That's a strong value proposition. Because they're personal assistants, they can act on your behalf and purchase anything you need."

Delivery times average about 35 minutes, according to the company. There is a flat deliver fee rate of $5 in Philadelphia plus 5 percent of the cost of the item ordered, Doherty said.

Original source: Philadelphia Business Journal
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Starr Restaurants has hired a new head honcho with a New York pedigree.

When Alex Lee resigned his pressure-cooker position as executive chef atDaniel in 2003 to become the executive chef at Glen Oaks country club in Old Westbury, N.Y., he may as well have gone to Mars. A high-profile star seemed to have left the picture.

Now he is back in the restaurant world as the culinary director of Starr Restaurants, Stephen Starr’s fast-growing group of 34 restaurants, most in Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Lee, who started last week, will oversee all of them and the other corporate chefs in the organization. Mr. Starr said he expected Mr. Lee to concentrate on the company’s new restaurants...

Hiring Mr. Lee is yet another example of Mr. Starr’s ability to attract marquee chefs. His roster already includes Masaharu Morimoto, Douglas Rodriguez, Justin Smillie, Jason Atherton from London and Daniel Rose from Paris.

Original source: The New York Times
Read the complete story here. 

Well, the suburbs of Philadelphia. On the Comedy Central show, dynamic duo Abbi and Ilana take the train to 30th Street Station and then head to Abbi's (Jacobson's real life) hometown of Wayne. Tony Danza played her pop. Check out the episode here.

Original source: Comedy Central

The massive townhome project that is replacing historic Mt. Sinai hospital is moving forward -- check out the renderings.

Demolition is still continuing on Mt. Sinai at 4th and Reed. While the site isn’t ready for construction just yet, we have a new look at what to expect of this development. A total of 95 townhomes are set to be built in this project being called Southwark on Reed.

There are three different home layouts being offered in this development. These options are called the “Dickinson,” “Jefferson” and “Columbus.” Each housing layout includes between three and four bedrooms and a varying number of bathrooms and storage space in each. The largest of the home options, the Jefferson, also includes a two car garage. You can check out the full housing layouts here.

Plans for the site include 95 townhomes and green courtyards that are also accessible to the public. Previous concerns about this development included a lack of greenery, which seems to be addressed by the addition of street trees.

According to the website, the pre-construction cost of these homes in this project from the Concordia Group and D3 Real Estate Development is somewhere in the range of $400,000.

Original source: Passyunk Post
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Two new mixed use projects have been announced for the stretch of Washington Avenue east of Broad Street -- one at 12th Street and one at the triangle where Passyunk Avenue meets 8th Street. (These are in addition to the proposed building at 9th and Washington.)

Naked Philly on 12th and Washington: A post on the Washington Avenue Associates Facebook page tipped us off that the City has issued a zoning permit for the demolition of the building and the construction of a five-story project with 48 apartments, 15 parking spots, and a sizable commercial space. Remember, when we shared the listing, it came with a recommendation for a similar project, albeit with an additional level of apartments. The Facebook post also included a very simple elevations drawing of what we can expect to see built here. This property is zoned CMX-3, and the project is being done completely by-right.

On 8th and Washington: You probably don't remember, but we told you about this property way back at the end of 2011. Yikes, we've been doing this awhile. The property was available for sale for a couple years for $3M, but had come off the market at that point. While any 8,000+ sqft parcel near Center City sounds exciting, a $3M price tag was a little too dear, especially back then. Earlier this year, the property came back on the market at half the price, and was unsurprisingly snatched up in short order. Like the folks at 12th & Washington, these developers appear to be pursuing a by-right project. According to their zoning permit, they're planning a five-story building with ground-floor retail and sixteen apartments...The building will have a rear yard on its southern side, but will also have an open courtyard in the middle of the building. Not only will this provide for additional windows for the units, but it will also allow the project to meet its open space requirement. Whoever thought this project through has designed something pretty clever on a uniquely shaped property. Good for them. And good for the people who live nearby, who will see this long-underused property get redeveloped. And to think we thought they already had it made, living so close to the Center City Pretzel Company.

Original source: Naked Philly

The Philadelphia Zoo is now home to four new residents -- but we have to wait a little longer for their public debut.

They're not quite ready for their public close-up, but four black-and-white ruffed lemur babies are off to a good start at the Philadelphia Zoo.

They were born last month to 9-year-old Kiaka and 10-year-old Huey, weighing in at a combined one-third of a pound.

Kiaka is proving to be a good first-time mom. She carries the fluffy siblings in her mouth from one nest box to another, since they cannot move around on their own for a few months.

Original source: Associated Press
Read the complete story here. 

Atlas Obscura examines the Philly-centric linguistic phenomenon -- and analyzes why it's so special.

Taylor Jones, a Ph.D student at the University of Pennsylvania, was unfamiliar with the bizarre stew of linguistic quirks in Philadelphia when he first started school there a few years ago. An army brat, it seems like Jones grew up everywhere but eastern Pennsylvania. But one of his first interactions with legendary Penn linguist Bill Labov started him on the road to understanding his new city.

"My introduction to graduate work was being asked about jawn," says Jones...

The word "jawn" is unlike any other English word. In fact, according to the experts that I spoke to, it’s unlike any other word in any other language. It is an all-purpose noun, a stand-in for inanimate objects, abstract concepts, events, places, individual people, and groups of people. It is a completely acceptable statement in Philadelphia to ask someone to "remember to bring that jawn to the jawn..."So let’s start at the beginning: Where does “jawn” come from?

Read the complete story here. 
Original source: Atlas Obscura
 

The New York Times profiles Ángel Corella, the man who hopes to "reinvent" the Pennsylvania Ballet.

Mr. Corella, 40, seems to be having a very good time these days as he works to reinvent the Pennsylvania Ballet, where he has made top-to-bottom changes since becoming artistic director in 2014. He has brought on new artistic staff, new administrative leadership, new dancers from all over the world and a new approach to programming.

Looking for Colonial history? You can't do better than Philadelphia, where a new museum and a treasure trove of sites beckon.

When walking the streets of the Old City area in Philadelphia, it’s easy to imagine being back in the late 18th century. A small 8-by-10-block section was where so many of the famous names of the period — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Betsy Ross, John and Samuel Adams, Dolley and James Madison and, nearly everywhere, it seems, Ben Franklin — lived and socialized.

Many buildings they passed by remain, the city having long ago taken to preservation. Philadelphia is a place where ideas, agreements, arguments, animosities and friendships were clearly part of the fabric.

“Philadelphia owns this story,” said Michael C. Quinn, president and chief executive of the Museum of the American Revolution, a $119 million edifice scheduled to open in April 2017, two short blocks east of Independence Hall. “It is an incredibly compelling story, and it created some of the most inspiring and lofty ideals the world has known. We have to keep telling it in as many ways as possible...”

“This is not Disneyland, but a real place,” said Meryl Levitz, president and chief executive of Visit Philadelphia, the city’s main nonprofit tourism promotion agency. “This is where America began. I don’t think you can have too much of that. The population keeps expanding, so there are always more people to attract, and from what we know, those people want more, better and newer.”

Original source: The New York Times
Read the complete story here. 

The New York Times continues its love affair with Steel City, this time highlighting the symbiosis between the Pittsburgh food scene and its growing population of young people.

Everybody seems so young. And everybody’s talking about restaurants. If there are scholars who hope to study how a vibrant food culture can help radically transform an American city, the time to do that is right now, in real time, in the place that gave us Heinz ketchup.

In December, Zagat named Pittsburgh the No. 1 food city in America. Vogue just went live with a piece that proclaimed, “Pittsburgh is not just a happening place to visit — increasingly, people, especially New Yorkers, are toying with the idea of moving here.”

For decades, Pittsburgh was hardly seen as a beacon of innovative cuisine or a magnet for the young. It was the once-glorious metropolis that young people fled from after the shuttering of the steel mills in the early 1980s led to a mass exodus and a stark decline.

“We had to reinvent ourselves,” said Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh’s mayor.

And they have. Over the last decade or so, the city has been the beneficiary of several overlapping booms. Cheap rent and a voracious appetite for culture have attracted artists. Cheap rent and Carnegie Mellon University have attracted companies like Google, Facebook and Uber, seeking to tap local tech talent. And cheap rent alone has inspired chefs to pursue deeply personal projects that might have a hard time surviving in the Darwinian real estate microclimates of New York and San Francisco.

No one can pinpoint whether it was the artists or techies or chefs who got the revitalization rolling. But there’s no denying that restaurants play a starring role in the story Pittsburgh now tells about itself. The allure of inhabiting a Hot New Food Town — be it Nashville or Richmond, Va., or Portland (Oregon or Maine) — helps persuade young people to visit, to move in and to stay.

Original source: The New York Times
Read the complete story here.