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Archive: March, 2010
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| Photo | Neal Santos |
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A man digs through trash, drinking from a half empty bottle of Gatorade on 15th and JFK. |
Never fear little Omnibussers. It's now over on our arts blog, Critical Mass. You'll still get your weekend choices from the great and all powerful Mama Omnibus just in a different spot.
Romance - Wine & Cheese With A View
I want to go somewhere in/near the city with view and a special girl - safe - a bottle of wine, some cheese & fruit - after dinner - around 10pm - by car - and not get locked up. *** Kind of like if I was down the shore, most any beach or back bay, quiet, private - BUT - in the city, Friday night. Not looking for car sex - just a place to share some wine after 10pm and not get locked up - trying to get my Romance on and make an impression!!! Thank you -
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| Photo | Isaiah Thompson |
| Luu's grandmother asked the District to clear the student's name |
The Inquirer reports this morning that the School District has cleared the name of Hao Luu, the student implicated by District officials in having played a role in provoking the Dec. 3 attacks on Asian students at South Philadelphia High School, and whose story City Paper broke Wednesday (in our cover story, Luu is referred to as "Guy").
The District had suspended and then attempted to transfer out Luu, citing a single report taken from individuals who Luu says had confronted him, and not vice-versa. Later, officials accused Luu of being in a gang.
Reports the Inquirer:
City school district officials formally acknowledged yesterday that 17-year-old Hao Luu was not connected to a street gang - an allegation that was used to ban him from South Philadelphia High.
Evelyn Sample-Oates, the district's vice president for communications, said a letter had been placed in Luu's file to acknowledge his innocence and clear his name of the charge.
"If there's any wrongdoing on the school district's part," she said, promising a full review, "we certainly will apologize to him and his family."
...
The district, at the request of the School Reform Commission, will examine the actions and decisions that led to Luu's suspension and ban from the school, which was convulsed by racial violence Dec. 3.
Good news to Luu and his family, no doubt and, frankly, to us here at City Paper, as well.
But ... did I just read that the District's handling of this is being examined by ... the District?
[...] Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that this never happened and a discipline hearing which confirmed that this did not happen… the district stuck to this narrative of a ‘gangsta’ Asian boy starting it all on December 2nd. (Update: On March 19th following an investigative report on the district’s railroading of this student – the school district cleared the name of this wrongly accused student.) [...]
Wow - what a bunch of racist district administrators. Can someone forward this to the White House, this needs national attention or else it'll be swept under the rug. Kudos to the Citypaper for being frank and honest.
Thanks for your great work on this story. I have no doubt that the strength of the story had a lot to do with pushing the District to take action after months of stalling this deeply wronged family.
Where is the best spot to host a private invited networking event?
Im looking for a venue that can reserve a spot for us and offer a drink special. Ideal night I will host will be on a Thursday. Last event had about 25 young professionals and the venue offered a drink special just for those who RSVP for the event. Any suggestion would help.
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| Isaiah thompson |
| Suong Nguyen wants Hao's name cleared. |
At Wednesday's School Reform Commission meeting, Suong Nguyen, the grandmother of Hao Luu or "Guy," as you might know him from this week's cover story testified before the Commission that her grandson had been unfairly accused of being a gang member and aggressor in the events culminating in the Dec. 3 attacks on Asian students, and was pushed out of the school after complaining that he himself was attacked the day before.
You can read the details of Hao Luu's case in this week's cover storty, "It's Your Fault." In a nutshell: Shortly after the Dec 3 attacks on more than twenty Asian student by mostly black students, District officials began casting the whole thing as "retaliation" for a prior incident, in which a disabled black student was allegedly beaten up by an Asian student. They also announced that four Asian students had been suspended, giving further credence to the idea of a two-way conflict. Superintendent Arlene Ackerman also said that gang influences may have been involved.
But the bulk of this alternative version of events rests on the disciplinary action taken against one Vietnamese student, Hao Luu, who reported that he himself was attacked after school, by mostly black students, the day before. The day his grandmother reported the attack to school officials, Luu was suspended on the basis of an incident report based, in turn, on the testimony of two students who were detained by police after, Luu says, confronting him in the hallway earlier that day.
When his suspension ended, the school attempted to transfer Luu to a disciplinary school - on the same charges. When Luu's family appeared for a transfer hearing, District officials did not, and the transfer was overturned - only to be replaced by another transfer request, which the school later dropped. Hao's family finally enrolled him in a private school.
Nguyen asked the board yesterday that "Hao's reputation be restored."
Interestingly, the accusation that Hao Luu might be involved with gangs seems to have come (based on my own reporting) primarily from one school official, Community Coordinator Wali Smith, who also advised District officials that Luu would not be "safe" at SPHS.
Smith declined to talk to me at the SRC meeting a week ago, but gave the Daily News an interesting quote yesterday:
"[Luu] is playing this part that he's an innocent guy," he said.
"Everybody knows if he went in there tomorrow, they would go after him."
But what does that mean? In one sentence, he seems to question Luu's "innocence" even though no evidence has been produced linking Luu to any attack, let alone the alleged attack on a "disabled" black student (Several SPHS kids told me outside the school that the attack had occured, but that it had taken place on the subway platform. There are no accounts of Hao Luu's having anything to do with any incident in the subway).
In the next sentence, though, he suggests that "they," black students? "would go after him."
Maybe it's just one of those funny quotes, but it almost seems as if Smith is saying, "Maybe he's guilty, or maybe he's a walking target, but either way, he doesn't belong at SPHS."
An odd way of looking at things for a school community liason, no?
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| Isaiah Thompson |
| Asian-American Community Advocates comfort a tearful Suong Nguyen |
Asians...fight violence w/ violence. It's the only language that they understand...trustme...I know!
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For everyone who got hot and bothered when PhillyCarShare flipped to a monthly/annual fee, rejoice. The ubiquitous auto lender has introduced a new, cheapo plan for peeps who don't need a car often enough to justify the $125-per-annum/or$15-per-month fees of the Philadelphia plan.
PCS just unveiled its $35-per-year Keystone plan. Of course, savings come at a price:
- a higher hourly rate
- no daily and overnight rates
- 185 miles included with each reservation but $0.35 per mile above that
- access to just two of the service's three vehicle tiers with access to specialty vehicles as needed (clarified in comments below. my apologies-bh)
If you're already signed up on the Philly plan, you can switch to Keystone and have the remainder of your old plan tranferred as driving credits to your new plan.
Not sure you can make the switch, hit up their rate calculator.
Or there's always ZipCar, which has never had a monthly fee on its "Occasional Driving Plan" and is $50 per year. You also have the benefit of using ZipCars when travelling, in over 50 cities in the US and UK.
Thanks, Brian! I know several people, including myself, who quit, because we just didn't use it that much, and it ticked us off.
We are so excited to make car sharing an affordable option again for infrequent users! Just for clarification, those on the Keystone Plan (the occasional user plan) *do* have access to all vehicles that Philadelphia Plan users do. We have just simplified things a bit for Keystone Members and bunched all vehicles into two tiers. Have any questions? We're happy to help at 215-730-0988 option 5.
PhillyCarShare is home grown and nonprofit, unlike ZipCar. I'm really glad they're back with a plan for drivers like me--I think they're going to get a whole lot of returning members.
It wasn't PhillyCarShare's change in plans that made me flip out, it was the way I was treated. Let's not forget that PhillyCarShare issued notice of elimination of their free membership plan only days before they took action, and in a way that could be construed as deceptive. I am one of many former members who received an unexpected credit card charge, and found that there was no convenient way to cancel membership. I called repeatedly without speaking to a live person, and only after I threatened legal action did they close my account and refund my money. And when they finally did this, they did it without a word - no letter, no email, no apologies. In short, it felt like I was being punished for doing business with them. So I took the hint - no matter what PhillyCarShare offers, our business is definitely permanently concluded.
Honestly, I don't understand why it's any benefit that they're a non-profit. Like Mark I felt mistreated by the manner in which they acted, and by the difficulty of canceling my membership. If I felt that they cared about their members, I still be one.
I recently left PCS after several months of frustration over changed reservations, cars that have become more like Rent a Wreck, and after 5 years of being a very good and loyal customer fines, fines, and more fines. I refuse to be part of PCS cash flow solution by paying a 30.00 fine for leaving the back seat down ( I did not put it down and I never noticed it was down). After 5 years as a loyal customer, spending an average of $2000.00 each of those years and never being late, I was supposedly 8 min late last month and was also hit with 40.00 late fee, never mind that I have padded my time for more than a year and have paid for more than 40 hours this year alone that was shear profit for them. Clearly PCS is in big cash flow problems and my bank account will not be part of the solution!
Watch as protesters literally stop traffic in the middle of Center City.
And in case it interests you: InPDUM, one of the many groups at this event, will be holding a townhall meeting on the topic of police brutality at LAVA (4134 Lancaster Ave., 215-387-6155) on March 31 at 7:30 p.m.
My only gripe about this is the group organizing it. http://citypaper.net/articles/2009/08/13/uhuru-philadelphia
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| Evan Lopez |
As everyone in Old City revels in St. Patty's Day-douche mode (I readily admit I'm just jealous), about 30 protesters in Center City are speaking out against police brutality in Philly. They're set up at Broad and Locust streets, with the majority of folks being from the Uhuru Movement and Philadelphia Freedom Riders.
Check back later for video and photos we've got startern Josh Middleton (of Queer Bait fame) on the scene.
RELATED: Who polices the Philadelphia police? They do. That's the problem.
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| Photo | Zimbio |
By now, you've heard Joe Sestak's claim: The Obama administration dangled a job in front of him, but only if he'd drop out of the Pa. Democratic Senate race against Arlen Specter.
So far, the White House has been mum on this, but press secretary Robert Gibbs dropped a hint about it yesterday, kinda:
Whatever conversations have been had are not problematic. I think Congressman Sestak has discussed that this is whatever happened is in the past, and he's focused on this primary election.
Which translates to: We've swept it under the rug, and you should too, right?
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