September 3: September to bring “normal” precipitation | Teachers’ union will continue negotiating | Massive South Jersey fire | Two parking lots may be developed | Bike theft on the rise

Happy September Streeters! Here’s what made news over the long weekend.

Despite its soggy start, September may be drier. Rainfall this summer reached 29.71 inches. That’s significantly more than last summer’s 9.79 inches and about 5 inches more than 2011’s rainfall. According to the National Weather Service, the region is in for “near normal precipitation for the month of September.”

More than 4,000 union members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) met at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus on Labor Day. PFT members voted to continue negotiating with the Philadelphia School District. Exactly how much progress has been made in the ongoing negotiations is still vague. The school district issued a statement after the meeting saying PFT’s offer to forgo across-the-board raises for one year and health care changes is not enough. Schools are scheduled to open on September 9. 

A South Jersey fire destroyed a food warehouse and took more than a day to be contained this weekend. The fire broke out at the Dietz & Watson cold storage facility on Cooperstown Road in Delanco, Burlington County, N.J. Sunday afternoon. Fire fighters battled the flames for most of Monday as well. 

Two “dueling” parking lots at the southeast and southwest corners of Broad & Callowhill could be turned into mixed-use apartment/retail and parking buildings. The lots are owned by Parkway, and NakedPhilly reports Parkway in partnership with Hanover Properties has presented plans to build two buildings with more than 300 apartments, 17,000-square-feet of ground floor retail and underground parking.

Bicycles in Center City, University City and Temple University neighborhoods are 10 times more likely to be stolen than they are elsewhere. Azavea analyzed bike-theft this summer and found the number of bike thefts (at least those reported) has jumped from about 137 bikes stolen per month in 2007 to 162 stolen per month in 2012. That’s a 15.5 percent increase. The research found about 11,000 bikes worth $3.9 million have been stolen in Philadelphia in the past six years.

Diaries from 19th-century Germantown man Cornelius Weygandt give a detailed glimpse at what life was like for a Victorian-era banker and his family. “His meticulous daily diaries chronicle not just Germantown’s Victorian society, but a colorful parade of artists and architects like Cecilia Beaux, Thomas Eakins and Frank Furness,” NewsWorks reports.

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