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Archive: February, 2012
You may not envision Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky as some rootless cosmopolitan. After all, save for his paranoid fixation on the undocumented masses flooding across our nation's southern border, Byko prefers to fix his ire on pressing local matters such as the existence of bicyclists in designated lanes or the scheming atheist plot against the city's Christmas market.
But you, fellow Philadelphians, are wrong: Byko is downright smitten with international affairs.
Last week, he dedicated the allotted real estate to abusing pro-Palestinian activists at Penn, smearing last weekend's Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) conference as a “carnival of hate,” which “immorally equates Israel with white-dominated South Africa, and even Nazi Germany. That's what follows when you ally yourself with those who deny the Holocaust.”
This weekend, Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) — a movement that seeks to apply the same methods that helped abolish apartheid in South Africa to Israeli human rights issues — held its national conference at Unversity of Pennsylvania. It was controversial enough that the location was undisclosed; that petitions were circulated; that the opposition brought in Alan Dershowitz, the pro-Israel Harvard professor, for an anti-DBS talk; and that the keynote speaker, Ali Abunimah, a blogger who maintains the website The Electronic Intifada, reported that a "Zionist filmmaker" infiltrated the conference, posing as a CBC journalist. In short, it was the most action seen in the basement of Meyerson Hall in a while.
There was international attention, since the movement has been pegged as quasi-anti-Semitic. But supporters say it's just about human rights, and any controversy is just a tempest in a hummus tub.
Local speakers and moderators at the conference included Penn professors Amy Kaplan and Heather Love; Susan Landau of Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace; and Lynn Gottlieb, a New York rabbi who founded the Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation. Said Landau, who has led a boycott of Sabra hummus among other initiatives, "DBS is a sensible response for people of faith to Israeli apartheid and injustice." She and others invoked Martin Luther King in their discussions; Gottlieb issued a collective apology. "I feel a responsibility to acknowledge the terrible sins being committed against Palestinians at the hands of Jewish people," she said. "I pray for that time when the occupation ends and we can finally embark on a process of forgiveness." She said that Christians fear speaking out because they're "held hostage by the mainstream Jewish community."
Fishtown has been all abuzz over the latest addition to Frankford Avenue, the Jackpot Cyber Center, which ahead of its opening appeared to be setting itself up as a smaller, sadder alternative to Sugarhouse, with internet gambling and sweepstakes in place of slot machines and poker tables. But after a community uproar, the property owner reportedly had second thoughts, and a sign boasting triple sevens and offering "cash prizes" came down. Yet, as recently as last week, PlanPhilly reported that gambling was indeed still a part of the plan.
Well, the place finally opened this weekend — and a man who did not give his name, but appeared to be the proprietor, denied that any gambling was involved. Here's a transcript of the conversation, which began as CP was taking a snapshot of the new exterior.
Jackpot Cyber Center worker, emerging from front door: "Is this going in the scrapbook?"
City Paper: "No ... just trying to get a sense of what's going on here."
JCC: "It's an internet cafe, we're gonna have social networking classes, do copies and faxes..."
CP: "Oh. So there's nothing to do with gambling?"
JCC: "No! People from the neighborhood keep asking me that. Why are they asking me that?"
View galleryWhile the elevated portion of the old Reading Viaduct, stretching through Callowhill and Chinatown, has grabbed the imaginations of design-minded Philadelphians with High Line envy, a local group says the longer, and much lower-lying, City Branch of the Viaduct could be ripe for a rapid transformation into a sprawling urban rail trail. For the past year and a half, a small coalition of locals under the name Viaduct Greene has been attempting to rally support for just that — despite a competing vision for the elevated portion that's also underway. This weekend, a group including officials from Septa, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, various local development groups and the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities walked through the site, which starts not far from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and snakes underground all the way to the Inquirer building on Broad Street.
It's like Philly's collective cellar, cool and gloomy, with lots of rubble and trash, shafts of light interspersed with long stretches of darkness. But unlike the elevated Viaduct branch, still in the hands of Reading International, it's owned by Septa. Said Byron Comati, Septa's director of strategic planning, "Why would Septa be interested in it having another purpose? Because it doesn't have one now. If we can repurpose it, then it becomes a maintainable asset, it's sustainable."
Paul Van Meter, a landscape gardener, and Liz Maille began the initiative with an eye to the Viaduct's history. Van Meter had been researching the old rail line, and he and Maille decided to walk around and search for the entrance, hidden in the woods off Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead of darkness and rubble, says Van Meter, they saw "Philadelphia's next great civic space."
With pension and health care costs rising and debt high, it's likely that Gov. Tom Corbett, in his budget address next week, will be outlining significant cuts to already gutted school budgets, along with more painful cuts to other services and programs that serve Philly residents and particularly Philly's poor. But let's face it, one thing that isn't helping our case any: the massive payouts that the city has been doling out, both to DROP enrollees and to school officials like Arlene Ackerman.
Which is why it seems curious, timing-wise, that we're just now seeing a resolution introduced in Harrisburg urging City Council to take a stand on DROP, and a bill leveraging fines for giving large severance payouts to school administrators. What better way, after all, to make the case for cuts than to point out waste in the funding that's already being administered? (Never mind that a full half of the current budget shortfall is due to shrinking corporate tax collections, or that the state is losing millions on gas drilling taxes.)
Still, politically motivated or not, reform is needed, says Rep. John Lawrence, a Chester County Republican who introduced both pieces of legislation. He says that although DROP is a city matter, he says, "It's a concern for the state legislature on a number of levels. The taxpayers of Pennsylvania commit significant resources toward the city on an annual basis. The pension fund in Philadelphia is funded, I believe, at 47 percent right now. I have to imagine that eventually the city might approach the state and ask for a bailout — and then it would be very much become a concern of the Commonwealth." Interestingly, not a single Philadelphia Representative wanted to dip a toe into the DROP cesspool. Lawrence says he "approached every member of the legislature," so the fact that no local Reps signed on "speaks for itself, unfortunately." (One local Representative, John Taylor, told CP he wasn't familiar with the draft resolution.)
As a vegetarian and a proponent of, you know, common decency, I was hoping to avoid writing anything about Wing Bowl. But The New York Times and documentary filmmaker Errol Morris demand otherwise. That's right: The New York Times. Because apparently local coverage — Philly.com's massive special section on Wing Bowl with nine articles, a live chat, a 283-photo slideshow of Wingettes; Philly Mag's dispatching of Dan McQuade to enjoy a genteel dinner with eating champ Kobayashi —just wasn't sufficient.
Morris' mini-documentary focuses in on El Wingador, who Morris had cast in a KFC ad for which he, incidentally, became "the first non-KFC employee to be given the coveted Breakout Bucket Award." Teaser: Best quotes include, "I just was a guy that liked chicken," and "I started eating my German Shepherd's rawhide bones."
Philadelphians have been called a lot of things, but overly polite isn’t one of them. As for the loudest of the loudmouths, when their friends and family can no longer bear to listen, they head to Philadelphia’s website of record and heckle hardworking journos, sources and other commenters. Here, the week in review, as told by the dot-commenters.
In Council today, 6th District Councilman Boby Henon introduced a resolution honoring union boss John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty for his upcoming role as Grand Marshall of the 2012 Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day parade.
Hall Monitor, in fact, tweeted this information earlier and then deleted the tweet, partly because of misplaced glasses and an unfamiliarity with the new voices of City Council, and partly because it all seemed just a tad like one of those strange political dreams HM kept having during the primary.
Dougherty, of course, threw considerable political muscle and money behind Henon's campaign for Council. Henon, of course, worked directly under Doc as the political director of IBEW Local 98, the union of which Doc is business manager and boss.
Having confirmed that it was, in fact, Henon who introduced he bill honoring his boss of a few months back, the tweet has gone back up. We apologize for the confusion.
Follow Hall Monitor Isaiah Thompson on Twitter.
Philadelphia’s City Council met for its second session of the new year today. Here’s what you missed.
Probably the most significant legislation introduced today was a bill sponsored by Councilmembers Maria Quinones-Sanchez and Bill Green that would create a “land bank,” — an entity which would theoretically become the main vehicle for vacant land sales in the city. It’s been about a year and counting since the Nutter administration promised to create its own comprehensive vacant land policy; this measure, as well as an idea put forth by Council President Darrell Clarke to create special “Redevelopment Districts,” with discounts on city-owned property, show Council moving forward with reforms on its own.
The session saw the passage of a number of resolutions, including:
— A resolution introduced by Sanchez and Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. stating Council’s opposition to HB2029, a bill circulating Harrisburg that would ban “foreign” forms of law — and clearly mimicking similar “anti-Sharia” bills elsewhere in the United States.
— A resolution, introduced by Council members Jones, Kenyatta Johnson, Sanchez, and Blondell Reynolds Brown, urging the state to reconsider the Corbett administration's proposed “asset test” for individuals to receive Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) aid. Several Council members spoke forcefully against the asset test, including Councilman James Kenney who addressed Harrisburg directly from his desk: “If you don’t want to help us, can you just leave us alone?”
And speaking of Kenney … the At-Large Councilman used his concluding remarks to praise the late Don Cornelius, creator of TV dance show Soul Train, from whom, Kenney said, “I learned how to dance.”
Kenney would soon eat his words: In her motion to adjourn the Council sessions, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown moved that Council adjourn in a line lead by alleged Soul dancer Kenney. When the latter began to balk, Council President Clarke intervened on Reynolds Brown’s behalf:
“The motion,” he said, “has been moved and seconded.”
Kenney was finally able to wriggle out by pointing out he had no music by which to dance.
St. Joseph's probably didn't envision that a Facebook contest for alumni — a Valentine's stunt entitled "How I Met My Hawk Mate" — would turn into a controversy over gay rights. But they probably should have. As Jezebel notes, Megan Edwards and Katie McTurk complained that their collegiate love story was excluded from the competition purposefully.
In a Facebook post entitled: "Attention all SJU alumni: All alumni are not created equal," the newly engaged couple write that they followed up multiple times on their contest entry. When they finally heard back, it wasn't the answer they were looking for.
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