More spice for the stew

An interesting new element to the recently discussed controversy over the use of an empty nursing home in West Philly and its possible development as a city homeless shelter (see previous story here). It turns out that before Councilwoman Blackwell made this proposal, the University of Pennsylvania had expressed an interest in using the same facility for their elderly-daycare program. (Their approach was to the owner, while Blackwell was using a legislative route to get the city involved in making use of the mouldering property.)

They are waiting for the Blackwell idea to get worked through before taking further action; however, it might be worth asking the neighborhood whether this option might represent a compromise, at least insofar as part of their concern was about the size of the homeless population to be housed there -- maybe the two uses could be combined? Another public hearing is planned in the next month or so, so perhaps there's room for discussion of more possibilities.