May 23: SEPTA engineer shortage | Voter targeting | HUD hears Queen Lane Tower alternatives | Union protests | Greater Philadelphia’s educational pull | Report on youth homelessness | New fro-yo shop

Hello Streeters! Here’s the news that caught our eye this morning.

A shortage of SEPTA engineers is causing train cancelations, and you guessed it, the problem could get worse before it gets better. This Saturday eight regional rail trains were canceled because SEPTA didn’t have enough engineers. 

Philly’s three Democratic city controller candidates spent nearly $1 million communicating with voters, so NewsWorks asks why so few Philadelphians knew there was even an election this week. The answer? Dave Davies says its voter targeting. 

Community activists will present their own housing alternative proposal for the Queen Lane Towers public-housing site, the former Potter’s Field. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will choose which of the proposals – including one from the Philadelphia Housing Authority – will replace the site’s now-empty 16-story apartment building. 

Several hundred protestors shut down a portion of 17th Street yesterday. The demonstrators protested the union-city stalemate over contract negotiations. The demonstration coincides with the “Mayors’ Innovation Summit,” which Mayor Nutter, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is hosting this week.

Greater Philadelphia’s colleges and universities award almost five percent more Master’s Degrees per total degrees than the national average – 24,408 in 2012. TechnicallyPhilly pulled this and others numbers from the new Select Greater Philadelphia regional report, meant to show why businesses should invest in the region. 

West Philly’s People’s Emergency Center (PEC) released a report on how homelessness impacts youth and 34 ideas for solving youth homelessness. PEC asked that three questions be added to a national survey when it was conducted in Philadelphia. With this additional information, PEC found that in 2009 8% of Philadelphia high school students experienced homelessness and 11% had been kicked-out, run-away or abandoned. 

Fro-yo is coming to the corner of 20th and Brandywine, Naked Philly tells us. Still under construction, the storefront looks like it will be open just in time for summer. 

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along.  |  Follow us on Twitter @EOTSPhilly. Like us on Facebook.