LED traffic light savings | strengthening East Falls through school closing | South Street West’s boom | PHA mum about Liddonfield | Inky wins Pulitzer | weird 2012 weather

Thanks to LED traffic lights, the city anticipates saving $1 million annually, NewsWorks reports. Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson estimates that the city is saving 70% on its electricity costs for traffic signals. Maybe street lights are next.

Could the closing of St. Bridget’s School in East Falls bring the neighborhood together as more parents consider sending their kids to Thomas Mifflin Elementary? Ronnie Polaneczky visits Mifflin with St. Bridget’s parents who like what they see at the improving Mifflin. She wonders if Mifflin could become “a true neighborhood school – one that functions as a community center, as well as an educational one.”

South Street West is “past the tipping point,” writes Elise Vider in Flying Kite this week. Vider looks at the slow, steady rise of South Street West, thanks to the growth of Southwest Center City as a more affluent community and recent business development along the corridor.

PHA remains tight-lipped about plans to redevelop the former Liddonfield Homes site in Upper Holmesburg, reports PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey. Most proposals for the site have been for affordable housing, but many neighbors favor a plan by Holy Family University to build an assisted-living facility, alongside athletic fields and retail.

The Inquirer won a Pulitzer Prize for public service, earned for its seven-part series on pervasive, underreported violence in public schools. It is the first Pulitzer for the Inquirer since 1997.

Monday was the warmest day we’ve had since August 8.  The Inquirer reports that our unusually warm, dry year is stumping meteorologists.

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along.