Senators tell Santander: Let workers unionize

Thirteen U.S. senators sent a letter to Santander Holdings USA CEO Scott Powell urging him to remain neutral instead of opposing efforts by the Communications Workers of America to unionize the bank’s employees.

Santander has $23 billion in assets in Pennsylvania and New Jersey accounts and operates about 300 branches in the two states. As of December, 2015, Santander employed 17,511 in the U.S, according to its website.

Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, both Democrats from New Jersey, joined Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, in signing the March 27 letter.

Source: Philly.com

Board of L&I Review deny appeal for site of future Toll Bros' Jewelers' Row tower

On Tuesday, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia faced another defeat in its months-long campaign to protect a portion of historic Jewelers’ Row, now the site of a high-rise condo planned by Horsham-based Toll Brothers.

The historic preservation advocacy group waged its latest battle before the Board of L&I Review. This body considers appeals to decisions made by the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) and the Historical Commission. The Preservation Alliance appealed the demolition permit issued for Toll’s project.

Eastwick neighbors demand full inclusion in planning process for 189 acres

The scars left by an urban renewal process gone sour made themselves visible at the first public planning meeting for a new initiative in Eastwick on Monday night at St. Paul's AME Church in Southwest Philadelphia.

About 150 neighbors attended the meeting, the first of three to be held for a process led by Interface Studio LLC, that will plan the future of 189 acres of publicly owned land in Lower Eastwick. The property was bought back from Korman Corporation by the Redevelopment Authority in 2015, after Eastwick Friends and Neighborhood Coalition’s three-year campaign against the developer’s plans to construct a 722-apartment complex and a parking lot for more than 1,000 cars, and an expansion of the Philadelphia International Airport.

The state of Center City Philadelphia - 2017

As a graying boomer living in Philadelphia for more than 40 years, I'm still amazed by the density of pedestrians, even on Sunday and Monday evenings when the place used to be empty. Sure, I'm getting older, but they're really getting younger! It's not just the 107,000 students attending colleges, universities, and medical schools in and around downtown; 40 percent of Greater Center City's full-time population is now age 20 to 34. Boomers, take solace. We're the second-largest demographic downtown and grandparents can smile that 33,471 children have been born to Center City parents. Just watch out for the strollers!

Delco, Chesco & Philadelphia get chunk of state's $39M water infrastructure investment

Three counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania are getting a piece of the state's $39 million investment in water infrastructure projects with the largest piece of the pie earmarked for Delaware County's Yeadon Borough.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday a nearly $9.6 million loan will be awarded to Yeadon to replace several miles of sewage collection lines and lateral lines that impact at least 200 homes in the borough's system.

The money comes from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, or PENNVEST, as well as from state funds approved by voters, the Governor's Office said.

Nurses at Delaware County Memorial in tentative labor deal

Sixteen months after voting to form a labor union, about 370 nurses and technical employees at Delaware County Memorial Hospital have reached a tentative agreement on their first contract with Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., which bought Crozer-Keystone Health System last year in a deal valued at $300 million.

The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals, which represents the Delaware County Memorial staff, said Wednesday that the deal would be put up for a vote Thursday. PASNAP said the tentative agreement "gives nurses and techs a voice in patient-care issues, allows for transparency in staffing, and protects worker standards."

The nurses went on strike for two days in March and were locked out for an additional three days by Prospect, which is majority-owned by private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners.

 

Source: Philly.com

New A.C. master plan means new zoning for South Inlet

A huge portion of vacant land surrounding the former Revel casino in Atlantic City can now be filled with mixed-use residential properties following the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority's approval of a new master plan for the battered Shore resort town.

The change is meant to spur development in Atlantic City, which has seen an uptick in investment in recent months.

The land had previously been designated strictly casino commercial, and the CRDA's approval relaxes zoning to allow for mixed-use residential projects in the city's Tourism District in the South Inlet, Lance Landgraf, of the CRDA, told Philly.com.

Deadline extended again for former Camden prison site

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority has for a second time extended the deadline for developers to express interest in the former Riverfront State Prison, a parcel that some have called the “most valuable piece of real estate in North Camden.”

The EDA began in November 2016 to seek out developers for the nearly 9-acre tract that fronts the Delaware River through an open bid process that asked them to submit their qualifications as a first step in a process to develop the property.

The property fronts the Delaware River and has views of Philadelphia.

Redevelopment authority selects firm to redevelop houses destroyed in MOVE incident

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority selected AJR Endeavors to redevelop three dozen properties that were involved in the infamous MOVE explosion that took place in 1985 and marred a neighborhood, the city and its mayor.

The effort by the city agency looks to have those properties redeveloped and, though it won’t erase history, it has the potential to set that part of Philadelphia on a new course.

Sixty properties were destroyed in the fiery explosion that killed 11 people along the 6200 block of Osage Avenue and the 6200 block of Pine Street in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia.

Presby’s Inspired Life plans to spend $75 million to expand its Rydal Park community in Jenkintown, Pa.

The project involves constructing 85 new “cottage” homes on a part of its campus near Susquehanna and Rydal roads, as well as building a clubhouse with a fitness center, a multipurpose room with a fireplace and a cocktail lounge. Plans also involve enhancing an outdoor area with a heated swimming pool, fire pit and spots to grill. Called Rydal Waters, it was designed by Stewart and Conners Architects.

An estimate for developing the cottage homes and clubhouse came in between $45 million and $50 million, but the project’s total cost is expected to be $75 million. Construction will begin once 70 percent of the residences are pre-sold.

“Rydal Waters is the result of market surveys and listening to prospective residents in the area — bringing them the type of housing they’re seeking,” said Judee M. Bavaria, president and CEO of Presby’s Inspired Life, in a statement.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

Prevailing Wage Reform Introduced in PA Legislature: House Bill 1226

Short Title: An Act amending the act of August 15, 1961 (P.L.987, No.442), known as the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, further providing for the definition of "public work."

Prime Sponsor: Representative BLOOM

Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY, April 17, 2017 [House]

Memo: Prevailing Wage Uniformity & Fairness (Previously HB 1000)

Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly