Philly News Briefs: 3/18/16
1.) West Philadelphia vegans have a new place to indulge their sweet teeth. If you frequent local cafes, you have likely encountered Dottie’s Donuts, a lineup of vegan sweets. Now, the brand has a storefront location for the first time, right next door to its commercial bakery at 4529 Springfield Avenue. Never tried a vegan donut? No worries, says owner Jeff Poleon. Instead of conventional dairy products, Dotties’s uses coconut milk. Instead of eggs, they use a substitute that is a combination of corn starch and tapioca starch. The result, says Poleon, is a vegan product that tastes an awful lot like a traditional one. He mentioned to the local CBS affiliate just how many flavors they have. To name a few: cinnamon sugar, coconut milk chocolate, Earl Grey, and matcha pistachio.
They may be vegan, but Dottie’s Donuts look downright decadent.
2.) Today, the Philadelphia Housing Authority kicks off a new chapter in the Sharswood neighborhood, which has long been plagued by blight and decay. On Saturday morning the city will level the two 13-story Blumberg Apartment buildings, along with fifteen low-rise buildings. It’s not expected for the demolition crew to take longer than 30 seconds to bring them down. In their places, the PHA will construct 1,500 new houses in an attempt to makeover the image of one of the city’s worst neighborhoods. PHA President and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah said that they are considering “all of the things that drive folks to choose where they live” with the building of the new homes.
3.) The Philadelphia Flower Show has just wrapped up for this year, but plans are already in the works for next year’s spectacle. It was announced yesterday that the theme for next year has already been decided: Holland. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society President Matt Rader has said that there will definitely be bulbs, as well as many other plant- and flower-based exhibits at which the Netherlands excel. “You can also expect to see ecodesign, as well as modern landscape architecture, and a pretty broad celebration of Dutch history, art, and culture, and how that tradition has both shaped Holland, but also other places in the world, and the U.S,” he told the local CBS affiliate.
