June 10-16, 2004

city beat

fineprint

Less words, more story.

Rebecca Bellville, Carolyn Wyman and Helen i-lin Hwang

SexStat

Beautiful people are used to sell everything from makeup to TV shows, but Thomas Jefferson University Hospital may be the first hospital to use the Baywatch approach to promote ambulance services.

We're talking about the double-life-sized photographs of hunky paramedics that now decorate the hospital's three new ambulances. The first appeared earlier this year, and Brian Sweeney, director for the JeffSTAT medical transportation service, says the billboardlike photo wraps will eventually beautify Jefferson's entire 17-vehicle fleet.

"There are probably 100 different ambulance services in the Delaware Valley," Sweeney says. "Almost all of their vehicles feature the same old star-of-life medical staff — they're very staid and plain. We were looking for a way of standing out from the pack" in a way that also highlights the hospital-based crews' high level of training. Hence, the medical equipment that each of the hunk men (and one hunk woman) caress.

Have 911 calls increased, particularly from single women in need of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? Sweeney renders the question moot when he explains that the city's Fire Department handles most 911 calls and that JeffSTAT's vehicles mainly transport patients between medical facilities. Have there been any complaints that the nurses and paramedics inside the van aren't quite the physical specimens of the models Jefferson hired to pose for the photos on the outside?

Real JeffSTAT staff paramedic John Roussis says he has also yet to hear any. Actually, he hasn't heard one comment about the vans. Undoubtedly, some of his patients need to save their breath for breathing.

We'll bet many others would just as soon not meet dreamy Third Watch types when they have their butt hanging out of a hospital gown, vomit tray in hand.

—Carolyn Wyman

City of Sisterly Love

Philadelphia was recently awarded a $5,000 grant to focus on transparency and openness in government. The monies will be used to work with Russian sister city, Nizhny Novgorod. Three groups of Russian visitors will soon visit here and two city commerce department officials will head back to the third largest city in Russia.

The first group, scheduled to visit Philadelphia on June 22, will plan future exchanges and bring back medical equipment sorely needed in their hometown. The rest of the trips will focus on how local citizens influence local government.

The visitors plan on meeting with the Center City Residents Association and the Zoning Board of Adjustments. They'll also meet with community groups like the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., which played a major part in keeping the new Phillies stadium out of its back yard. Though there are no plans for new arenas in the Volga district city formerly known as Gorky, the controversy will be presented on the international front as a success story of citizens influencing governmental decisions. Nancy Gilboy, the president of the International Visitors Council (IVC), applied for the grant after attending a neighborhood association meeting. The IVC administers the Philadelphia sister city program.

While it seems that Philadelphia has got sister cities a-plenty — Florence, Italy; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Bilbao, Spain are among the 10 — the city doesn't have the most civic siblings in the state. (Pittsburgh's family extends to a whopping 14 cities.) Sister cities are chosen based almost on a matchmaking process with Sister Cities International, a nonprofit that pairs cities on criteria such as population size or whether it's a port city. From there, two to three cities are "auditioned" before the final selection, according to Ami Neiberger-Miller, spokeswoman at the organization.

Meanwhile, it's interesting to note that Old Orlu, Nigeria will be taking lessons from Austin, Texas, on how to eliminate corruption in local governments. Hey Austin, can you stop by Philly on the way?

—Helen i-lin Hwang

By-the-Book Security

Sometime this month, a task force is expected to submit a report on security throughout the Free Library system, but those representing librarians are skeptical about whether it will bring real results.

In an interview last week, Free Library director Elliot Shelkrot said the report will address lighting, cameras and locks. The task force was formed in light of the February assault of an 8-year-old girl in a restroom at the library's Independence Branch.

Shelkrot said some things have already been done, like keeping restroom keys in librarians' desks instead of on top of their desks. The restroom at the Independence Branch had two exterior doors, which Shelkrot said "created a sound barrier that was totally unnecessary."

That middle door was removed within a few days of the attack and the Free Library's head of security checked other branches for similarly unnecessary doors. Shelkrot says he doesn't think any were found.

Despite wrangling over the city's budget, Shelkrot is not worried about funding security improvements.

"If there are critical issues there are ways to do it now," he said.

Allen Merry is chief steward for the union representing city librarians, Local 2187 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 47. Merry says he's skeptical, but offers that officials are better responding to librarians' concerns.

For example, about a month ago a patron tried to look up a librarian's skirt. "It turned out that this guy had an outstanding warrant for something else," Merry says. Administrators banned the patron from the Central Library and librarians at other branches will be informed, he says, noting that there have been some security improvements.

Task force members also met with the Police Department, the city law department and the District Attorney's Office. From this, Shelkrot said he learned that library patrons who return to a branch after being banned can be arrested for trespassing and that he can permanently ban someone from all libraries.

Cathy Scott, president of Local 2187, says librarians don't know how the barring of problem patrons will be implemented. Merry says union lawyers have not been able to meet with city lawyers about this, but Shelkrot says they have talked about some issues. While librarians know the names of barred patrons, they say pictures would be more helpful. Specifics on how librarians will learn about banned patrons are being worked out, Shelkrot said.

Scott also doubts Internet filters scheduled to be installed by July 1 will entirely eliminate forbidden computer use. "We know that the pornographic sites are the most creative at getting around the filters," she says.

Said Shelkrot, "I am nowhere near convinced that pornography on the library's Internet caused this [February] incident."

—Rebecca Bellville