Opinion Eyes on the Street

The Roots muralized, Royal neglect, retrofit Philly, Vernon Park rain garden, new meetinghouse and Skyspace

PlanPhilly staff

November 8, 2011

(Tariq Black Thought Trotter of The Roots.)

Good morning, Philly. It’s going to be an especially beautiful day today, so get out and enjoy it while you can. Don’t forget to head out and vote. Polls are open from 7am-8pm.

The Roots and the Mural Arts Program have joined forces to create a mural honoring The Roots along South Street, A.V. Club gives a rundown of the press event yesterday. Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter’s involvement with murals goes way back, he was required to do 150 hours of mural painting after getting busted doing graffiti as a teen. The Roots mural project will also involve music/art education programming in a vacant storefront along South Street. Mural Arts is seeking artists to collaborate on the project.

PlanPhilly’s Alan Jaffe looks into the decrepit state of The Royal Theater. Universal Companies, the Royal’s owner, maintains that their plans for the building remain undefined and redevelopment as an entertainment venue is not currently, though they are committed to keeping The Royal’s façade. Meanwhile the building continues to deteriorate.

About 4,200 commercial/flex-space buildings in the Philadelphia region are ripe for energy-retrofits, Flying Kite reports. A new report issued by the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC), whose mission is to improve and support the retrofit industry, looks into Philadelphia’s retrofit market and finds there’s plenty of work to do. GPIC’s HUBlog reports these retrofits could mean $618 million in local spending and account for more than 23,000 jobs. Philadelphia commercial buildings require 29% more energy than the national average.

Volunteers planted a new rain garden at Vernon Park during Saturday’s Love Your Park Day, NewsWorks reports. The rain garden is designed to absorb the first inch of rainwater diverted from the Center in the Park’s roof.

Members of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting have outgrown their meetinghouse and are constructing Philadelphia’s first new Quaker meeting house in 80 years, Flying Kite reports. The current meetinghouse will get a Skyspace light installation by James Turrell.

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest.

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