March 5: Nutter’s budget address plans | May 20 election for Green’s seat | CHOP expansion | Free Internet Essentials | power of LOVE | Starr-Olexy project shelved | Ciao Dodo

Good morning, Streeters. Here’s what’s buzzing this Wednesday morning:

Tomorrow Mayor Nutter will deliver his budget address, which the Daily News reports will be at once a “legacy” budget and contain few surprises. Expect bumps in departmental budgets for Parks and Recreation, Licenses and Inspections, new funding to start the Land Bank, but no big ideas for boosting school funding.

Council President Darrell Clarke vowed that protesters won’t be allowed to shout Nutter out of the room, the way they did last year.

Clarke also announced that there would be a special election to fill Bill Green’s City Council seat on Primary Day: May 20. The city’s Democratic Party is busy trying to kill two birds with one stone: Party chairman and US Representative Bob Brady wants to broker a deal over its nominee to Green’s seat while trying to diffuse a fight in Northeast Philadelphia over a seat in the PA House stemming from redistricting.

Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania is jumping the Schuylkill to build a new campus on the southeast side of the South Street Bridge. But the CHOP’s phased expansion won’t add much life to the growing neighborhood South of South through a mix of uses beyond the research tower. Will CHOP’s new campus just be a different kind of dead zone? Hidden City Daily considers that question, CHOP’s extraordinary growth and leverage, and the neighborhood’s responses to the proposed development.

Philly’s digital divide runs deep despite Comcast’s Internet Essentials program, which costs $9.95 monthly and is geared at serving low-income households. To spur broader adoption Comcast will offer six months of free Internet service to qualifying households, reports the Daily News. Any student attending a parochial, public, or charter school where 70% of students qualify for free or subsidized lunch is eligible.  Applications must be in by March 18.

The Inquirer considers the power of LOVE, or at least Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture’s grip on Philly’s heart.

The planned Stephen Starr-Aimee Olexy restaurant under construction on Frankford Avenue has been “shelved”, reports the Insider.

This is Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton’s last year at the Flower Show, reports the Inquirer. The 85-year old Campbell’s Soup heiress has been a spirited part of each year’s Flower Show, entering hundreds of plants annually and winning about 2,000 blue ribbons. Hamilton may be best known for her spectacular orchids, some of which are on special display at this year’s show. (Our own Matt Golas has been known to best Hamilton at the show with his super tall snowdrops.) 

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