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Archive: July, 2010
As we told you earlier today, the city was considering cutting all $2.4 million in funds to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's vacant land program. It didn't; instead, it cut $840,000 that's 35 percent of the program's total funds.
"Over the next few days and weeks, PHS will plan how it will best use the funds we will receive," says PHS spokesman Alan Jaffe. "For now, we know there will be no new land stabilization, and the maintenance schedule of the stabilized lots will be reduced. There will be also be an impact on the more than 200 green jobs the program has created."
This comes along with today's announcement of $47 million in cuts to this year's city budget that's $27 million more than Mayor Nutter originally announced in May. You can check out how these cuts affected other agencies and programs by downloading the city's five-year plan here.
Organizer Clifford Greer tells The Clog that the 2010 edition of the Philly Naked Bike Ride will take place on Sun., Sept. 5, at dusk! I can barely keep my clothes on I'm so excited.
We'll give you more details as we hear 'em. In the meantime, go reminisce about last year's freak show by watching Neal Santos' video above.
PREVIOUSLY>> Grin and Bare It: Are you ready to bike in your birthday suit?
Philly Naked Bike Ride sets a date for 2010... I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)...
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Erin Albanese, philly news now. philly news now said: Philly Naked Bike Ride sets a date for 2010: Organizer Clifford Greer tells The Clog that the 2010 edition of ... http://bit.ly/aDeT2G [...]
[...] Wants To Know If You Play FarmvilleSeptember 5th Deemed To Be Citywide Purel EmergencyOh, dear God: The Naked Bike Ride is coming back. Sun., Sept. 5th is the magic day, says organizer Clifford Greer to The Clog, who really bought [...]
[...] CP's Holly Otterbein reported last week, the date for the 2010 installment of the Philadelphia Naked Bike Ride has been determined. [...]
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| Courtesy of Royal Meats |
Let's review why, in all likelihood, tonight's protest against the federal lawsuit challenging Arizona's new illegal immigration policy will be completely nuts: It's at Geno's (at 6 p.m.). The governor of Arizona is gonna be there. So is Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, aka the author of Arizona's illegal immigration bill. (If you're not already aware, Pearce is a real gem of a man. He's friend to white supremacist J.T. Ready and sponsored a bill that would bar students at Arizona universities from creating groups based at all on race, like the Black Business Students Association or Native Americans United.) Our own state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who's introduced an illegal immigration bill modeled after Arizona's, will be there, too. Plus members of the Philadelphia Tea Party will make an appearance.
And of course, as we all know, Geno's is in a neighborhood full of Mexican, Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants, among others. We haven't heard about any counter-protests being planned which would certainly up the crazy factor but if you have, let us know.
Just sayin', you might want to be there just to see what goes down or not be there, for that matter.
At least 200 counter protesters showed up tonight to let the crowd of NJ-ites at Geno's know that true South Philadelphians welcome immigrant into our neighborhood, and support comprehensive immigration reform that would create a path to citizenship.
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| Courtesy of PHS |
| Before PHS's vacant land program. |
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| Courtesy of PHS |
| After PHS's vacant land program. |
For the last two weeks, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) has stopped maintaining most of its 5,000 vacant lots. "There's basically been no work on them," says Alan Jaffe, PHS's public relations manager. "People have started to dump on the lots again." That's because, although the fiscal year ended on June 30, the city still hasn't determined how many funds PHS's vacant land management program will receive this year.
PHS says it needs $2.4 million from the city to keep up the program, which employs workers to clean, mow and plant trees on abandoned lots. The city is considering cutting all of that funding. Jaffe says that without the money, 200 to 250 related jobs would be lost and 5,000 lots would soon become blighted. This could have real, tangible effects: According to PHS, real estate values have increased as a result of the program, and studies have shown that crime increases when the number of abandoned lots and properties in a neighborhood goes up.
The city says it will make a final decision about the funding by the end of the day. We'll keep you posted.
[...] we told you earlier today, the city was considering cutting all $2.4 million in funds to the Pennsylvania Horticultural [...]
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| Photo | Rachel Playe |
In The Clog's infrequent feature Day Tripper, we'll chronicle our trips most of them bikeable to little-known gems in and close to Philadelphia.
"Real America," and all its charms and flaws, is only a 40-minute drive away.
Pilesgrove, N.J. is home to the Cowtown Rodeo, the longest continuously running rodeo in the country. It's also full of cowboy clothing stores, bucolic camping grounds, lakes to swim in and one of my favorite parts of Real America good ol' boys who wear Wranglers so tight you can spot their Skoal containers a mile away.
My friends and I originally planned to bike to Pilesgrove this past Saturday, but the rain wrecked our hopes. (You can check out the pretty simple biking directions we were going to use here. Biking would have taken 3 1/2 hours.) We drove instead.
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| Photo | Rachel Playe |
Immediately upon entering our temporary home, the Four Seasons Family Campground, we were greeted with a depressing sign: "No Open Fires." Because of the drought, we weren't able to do the most virtuous of summertime activities: barbecuing. I suggest calling ahead of time to find out if fires are allowed, so you can plan your meals accordingly. Other than that, Four Seasons was pretty solid: It cost only $15/night for each person to pitch a tent on the grounds, and there was a beautiful sandy beach and lake to swim in. Apparently, there were also card games, a basketball court and karaoke on the grounds that we never got around to enjoying.
That's because we had a higher calling to attend to: Cowtown's epic rodeo. Starting at 7:30 p.m. every Saturday night throughout the summer, some of the nation's best cowboys and cowgirls ride gnarly bulls, rope calves, and the best event by far jump onto steers from their galloping horses and then wrestle them to the ground in a great Man vs. Beast duel (check out the image above to see what happens when you lose). It was all beautifully athletic.
Did I mention the event is BYO? That's fun. The pulled pork sandwiches available at the rodeo are also a joy.
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| Photo | Rachel Playe |
The only flaw of the event, as far as I could tell, were the commentators. (That and the Cowtown "flea market." Avoid it unless you're interested in buying BB guns or a trash bag full of cheap sunglasses.) The commentators employed a to-be-expected redneck sense of humor, which took fair swipes at liberals ("Why didn't so-and-so win? Cause of George Bush. Everything's his fault!") as well as corny, sexist swipes at women ("Why did the woman cross the road? Who cares?! Why was she out of the kitchen?").
But hey, what'd we tell ya? This is Real America, just 35 miles away.
[...] the rest here: Day Tripper: Rodeos, Skoal and camping in Pilesgrove, N.J. :: The … July 13th, 2010 at 9:26 [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kasey Maxwell. Kasey Maxwell said: Day Tripper: Rodeos, Skoal and camping in Pilesgrove, NJ: It's also full of cowboy clothing stores, bucolic campin... http://bit.ly/c9SsOT [...]
[...] Day Tripper: Rodeos, Skoal and camping in Pilesgrove, N.J. :: The ... [...]
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The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has just released its report on the explosion of a Marcellus Shale drilling well in Clearfield County. You can view it here.
I haven't had time to look it over yet, so stay tuned: but your input, readers, is always welcome and needed. Email tips, suggestions, etc.
In other news: opinion being divided over whether to keep "FrackTrack" or find another name, we're delaying action until next week.
[...] DEP releases report οח Clearfield Co. well explosion :: Tһе Clog … [...]
The Discovery Well really is your best option for a name. Unless you want to call it Frackle Rock. Which I advise against.
[...] DEP releases report on Clearfield Co. well explosion :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Ph... [...]
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| Photo | Neal Santos |
| Supporters of the Delaware River deepening, like the longshoreman pictured, say it'll keep the ports competitive. Environmentalists, as well as officials from New Jersey and Delaware, disagree. |
Here's your chance to be heard.
Starting today at 6 p.m. and again tomorrow at the same time, the public can weigh in on the Army Corps' Delaware River deepening project in the Longwood Room at Delaware State Universitys Bank of America Building in Dover, Del. The project began months ago, but Delaware, New Jersey and various environmental groups are trying to block future work through lawsuits. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will be taking down public input from this week's two meetings.
At the last public meeting on the Delaware River dredging, in 2001, hundreds showed up. We'll keep you posted on how hot these two meetings are.
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Introducing our new series "Fracktrack" ongoing coverage of the Marcellus Shale gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania. Copy or bookmark this link to check for future updates or send us an email for notifications.
When Harrisburg passed a state budget two weeks go, the legislature included in that budget a theoretical tax on the production of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania theoretical, because the tax still doesn't exist, except in theory: the details have yet to be worked out, and the gas industry, unsurprisingly, is lobbying hard for concessions.
Last Friday, I began hearing rumors that chief among those concessions desired is the power to implement "forced pooling," essentially, the power to force reluctant landowners to lease or open their land for drilling, whether they want to or not.
Sure enough: this weekend, the Scranton Times-Tribune reported that two state representatives Marc Gergely, D-35, Allegheny County, and Garth Everett, R-84, Lycoming County have co-sponsored a bill which would do just that.
The piece quotes Kathryn Klaber of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, explaining that the law's intent is to ensure that gas development is "not a crazy quilt" and adding that, although models for such laws exist in other state, the Marcellus Coalition has "not found another state's pooling statute that stands out as a model for what they would like to see in Pennsylvania."
Meanwhile, a (very) cursory examination of Pennsylvania campaign finance records by CP shows that both representatives sponsoring the bill have received contributions from the gas industry:
Rep. Gergely received at least $6,000 from Allegheny Energy PAC in two donations last summer, at least $1,500 in donations including $1,000 donated just a few months ago from Chesapeake Energy Corp, one of PA's largest drilling companies.
Rep. Everett received donations from Chesapeake also: a $500 donation and two tickets to the Phillies, worth (according to Everett's campaign) $140.
A letter, headed up by the Campaign for Clean Water and signed by more than a dozen representatives of environmental groups is calling on the legislature to oppose so-called "forced pooling":
Forced pooling not only will require landowners to sign leases they do not want to sign, but it does this for the sole purpose of the gain of a private entity. Some landowners have decided they do not want to lease their mineral rights after deliberative consideration. The oil and gas industry would like the General Assembly to overturn the landowners' decisions. This essentially extends the concept of eminent domain but instead of using private property for the public good, it takes private property for private gain.
Well folks, I might as well get this on the comments before the troll wakes up for the evening: a reader just clued me in to the fact that a new website just started up called fractracker.org - sorry, dudes. So . . . maybe this series will need a new name. Any Suggestions? Gas . . . pass? Shale . . . mail? Marcellus . . . Bar . . . Mell . . . Gus?
Discovery Well
The Clog - Pass Gas? um..maybe not!
Why don't they just ask us or force us to give them our blood for free..
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