George Patrick Weiser fishes in the river with his uncle, Robert Weiser. Photo/Michelle Alton

See the slideshow below from the park, with photos taken by Bill Achuff and Michelle Alton.

If you didn’t know about Pleasant Hill Park, you probably wouldn’t be able to find it.

Tucked behind busy State Road, Torresdale’s waterfront park might be one of the city’s best-kept secrets. But navigate your way beyond the factories and prison and the police academy, and you’ll find a bustling green space on the Delaware River filled with boaters, picnickers and fishermen.  continue reading »

From plants to baked goods to balloon animals for the kids, the Mayfair Farmers Market debuted with something for everyone. Photo/Raymond Boyd

Earlier this month, the Mayfair Community Development Corporation and the Allegheny Iron and Metal Corporation struck a deal to revitalize Mayfair. The partnership was reached under Philadelphia’s CDC Tax Credit Program and will allow the Mayfair CDC to receive $85,000 annually from Allegheny for the next 10 years.

Sunday, the deal was announced to the public. The announcement kicked off the debut of the  Mayfair Farmers Market, which will take place several times throughout the year. continue reading »

Pa. Rep. Brendan Boyle, Councilman Brian O’Neill, and Pat and Nancy Boyle assist some very happy children at the playground ribbon-cutting at the Officer Daniel Boyle Memorial Rec Center. Photo/Michelle Alton

Somerton was full of excitement and emotion Thursday as the neighborhood celebrated the ribbon cutting of a new playground at the Officer Daniel Boyle Memorial Rec Center [map].

Councilman Brian O’Neill, R-10th, and Pa. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-170th, were there to help city officials, rec center leaders and Boyle’s parents dedicate the new playground, which replaces outdated equipment and spray grounds.

See more of Bill Achuff and Michelle Alton’s photos from the event in the slideshow below. continue reading »

Captain Marty LeBree, whose Engine 53 later carried Captain Michael Goodwin’s casket to his funeral service and burial. Photo/Michelle Alton

Friends of fallen Philadelphia Firefighter Michael Goodwin gathered on motorcycles Tuesday to honor the man who died fighting a building fire in South Philadelphia. Goodwin, a Parkwood resident, was laid to rest Thursday.

He died when the roof of a building along Fabric Row collapsed.

See the complete slideshow below for more photos by Michelle Alton from the ride and outside the funeral home. continue reading »

Ryerss Museum and Library. Photo/G. E. Reutter

The Ryerss Museum & Library on the Burholme/Fox Chase border is a site to behold, inside and out.

So the staff there is extending an offer to middle school students: visit the museum and write an essay about it for the chance to win a savings bond. continue reading »

Pennypack Creek in Fox Chase. Photo/G.E. Reutter

For starters, the thing I love most about Northeast Philly has to be Pennypack Park. I remember growing up as a child and having barbecues at the Pine Road section of the park.

I still enjoy riding my bicycle in the park. It’s like a home away from home. I always enjoy going to the park to take photographs of the beautiful trees, ducks, flowers, and any other wild life I may come across. continue reading »

Residents of the 400-block of Van Kirk Street in Lawncrest hope others will be inspired by their block clean-ups.

This is the second half of a series about PhillyRising and its role in Northeast neighborhoods. The first half was about Frankford.

PhillyRising is relatively new to Lawncrest. Northeast Coordinator Manny Citron said he spent time building connections within the community before launching the program on March 15, 2012.

“When we did our initial mappings for possible PhillyRising neighborhoods, Frankford met all of our standard criteria but we also knew we would expand into Lawncrest,” Citron said.

The selections of neighborhoods for PhillyRising are determined through geographical information systems, which is a computerized mapping program that allows a programmer to build layers of information on top of each other, Citron explained.

“One layer might be property crime, the next layer might be violent crime, the next layer might be litter and so on,” Citron said. “It then generates a heat map to show where you have the most of those occurrences happening at the same time and location. Those areas will show up brightest on the map.”

This section of Lawncrest is correlated to the highest concentrations of community disorder like crime, drug activity, vacant businesses and empty lots within the 2nd Police District. continue reading »

This tall planter was the perfect perch for young kids to watch the festivities during Mayfair’s Christmas Village and tree-lighting. Photo/Bill Achuff

Mayfair was aglow Sunday for what became the neighborhood’s first-ever Christmas Village.

The event was paired with the annual Christmas tree lighting and other family festivities. Families strolled Frankford Avenue to check out the offerings from local vendors, while kids enjoyed visits from both Santa and the Grinch.

See all the photos in our slideshow below from photographers Bill Achuff and Michelle Alton. continue reading »

Historical consultant Adam Levine has been in the city sewer system three times. He is fascinated by the engineering required to design a modern sewer infrastructure. NewsWorks photo/Kimberly Paynter

Nearly 3,000 miles of sewers wind underneath Philadelphia’s streets. They make modern life possible in the homes and sky-scrapers above, but go largely unnoticed.

Except, that is, by one man whose job it is to uncover what the city looked like before they were there.

Enter Adam Levine, a historical consultant for the Philadelphia Water Department. continue reading »

Lee Flood and her daughter Lauren Smith have been doing Black Friday shopping together for 16 years. NewsWorks photo/Kimberly Paynter

The parking lot of the super Walmart at Franklin Mills Mall was nearing capacity around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, and the crowds were already idly standing in the rows. Some sections were marked off with caution tape to “keep shoppers from bum rushing the products” said one employee who’d prefer to keep his name secret.

continue reading »