June 11: White, Male building trades | Nutter in Harrisburg | Philly’s Park Score | Northeast Community Center in limbo | building collapse update

Good morning, Streeters. Here’s what’s making news this morning:

In his Axis Philly column Tom Ferrick explores why Philadelphia’s building trades remain overwhelmingly male, white and suburban. But trades diversify when large projects require higher percentages of women and minority participation under Project Labor Agreements. “The reality is that there are plenty of African Americans, Hispanics and Asians who work in the building trades, just not as members of the unions.” Female participation is low simply because so few women work construction.

Mayor Nutter is in Harrisburg today trying to convince state lawmakers to allow the city to raise taxes to support public schools, the Daily News reports. Among those needing convincing: Philadelphia Democrats.

The Trust for Public Land rated Philadelphia’s park system as 14th best of the 50 largest cities in the nation, NewsWorks report. The Park Score Index is based on access, size, and investment per resident. Philadelphia spends $54 per resident, below the median $76 and four times less than Minneapolis, the top-rated park system.

Prospects for the Northeast Community Center do not look promising, NEast Philly reports. The prospective sale of the building in Holme Circle looks like it will fall through, leaving the building with a leaky roof and without a tenant.

Finally, a brief update on the building collapse at 22nd and Market:

• District Attorney Seth Williams announced that a grand jury would investigate the collapse, as will a special committee of City Council. [Daily News]
• There are now six lawsuits filed by survivors of the collapse. [NewsWorks]
• Felicia Hill, a clerk who was pricing clothes in the Salvation Army thrift store, described the moment of collapse: “When I heard the bricks falling from the ceiling, I felt this shaking like an earthquake and then the wind howling and then the dust cloud.… And I started running for my life and the only thing I could think about was my children.” [philly.com]
• And, Philebrity’s Joey Sweeney describes the five types of post-collapse darkness.

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