Jan. 8, 1976

SEPTA announces triple-play plan to buy rail lines

SEPTA’s efforts to acquire funds to buy rail lines scheduled for abandonment are detailed at a public meeting. The first nine lines include the Reading Company’s Wayne Junction to Chestnut Hill and Penn Central’s Queen Lane to Chestnut Hill. SEPTA is seeking financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Record parking

The Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation announces that it parked a record 413,447 cars in its six lots during 1975, beating the old record of 406,212 cars during 1971. It also is 11,841 more than the number parked in 1974. The considerably lower number for 1974 is attributed in part to the gas emergency and in part because one lot was closed for six months.

Crime report

Among the crimes reported for the week are the thefts of two fur coats. One is a full–length mink stolen from a local club; the other is a chinchilla coat taken from a private home on Crefeld Street by thieves who brazenly entered through the front door.

Jan. 9, 1986

Area man goes to Russia seeking peace

Germantown resident Art Rosenblum and 79 other people announce they are going to Russia to promote the cause of world peace. He and his group are “futurists,” looking at the world as they would like to see it in the future. Rosenblum tells the Local that “There needs to be a Decade of Forgiveness, and children should be taught about forgiveness.”

Northwest Community Ambulance copes with competition, rising costs

With the longtime volunteer organization Northwest Community Ambulance (NCA) trying to cut costs, a commercial service called Allied Medical Ambulance begins sending flyers to local residents, advertising its services. “The income from membership barely pays for one-third of the year’s costs,” explains NCA’s president. The president of Allied expresses her support, saying, “I admire the work they do. I was a volunteer myself ... with budgetary limits, priorities have to be established.”

Apartments near completion at Wissahickon

The first apartments are nearly ready for occupancy at The Wissahickon, a historically certified Germantown building that is being totally renovated. Located less than a block from the Queen Lane train station and two blocks from the Schuylkill Expressway, it offers “the best of both worlds,” says Roy S. Diamond, principal in Rouse Urban Housing, Inc.

Jan. 4, 1996

Chestnut Hill, Penn health systems agree to affiliate

The Chestnut Hill Health System and the University of Pennsylvania Health System sign an affiliation agreement. “This is a great step forward for our system,” says Cary F. Leptuck, president and CEO of Chestnut Hill HealthCare. “One of our major goals is to develop a fully integrated community-based health care delivery system throughout northwest Philadelphia and eastern Montgomery County.”

Jan. 5, 2006

Sovereign Bank robbery nets $10,000

A peaceful Saturday morning in Chestnut Hill is shattered when a man walks into the Sovereign Bank at 8623 Germantown Ave., informs a teller that he wants to open an account, then places a demand note on the counter. The teller begins handing bundles of cash to the robber, who then flees on Bethlehem Pike with approximately $10,000.

It is time to investigate SEPTA?

In an opinion piece, author Jim Foster argues that federal investigations of city government are common but no one is talking about SEPTA, the second–largest taxpayer funded bureaucracy in the Delaware Valley. SEPTA, he writes, “continually operates with virtual blank–check autonomy, and seems answerable to no one for its day–to–day operations and management practices.”

Jan. 7, 2016

$750,000 piano to be used in concerts this month

Germantown’s Cunningham Piano Company, which is celebrating 125 years in business, receives a $750,000 Bosendorfer piano and will share it with the public via a variety of concerts in January around Philadelphia. “There is insane craftsmanship that goes into making one,” says Cunningham spokesman Jaimi Blackburn. “Billy Joel, Elton John and many other celebrities have one, as did Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson. It is a piece of art to look at as well since it has all hand–applied 14k gold leaf.”