|
|
|
Archive: September, 2012
Today's Daily News had a cover story about how Point Breeze uber-developer Ori Feibush turned a trash-strewn lot owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) into a small park — and was hit with a lawsuit threat as thanks. Feibush was frustrated when the city told him to return the lot to the condition in which he'd found it — but he's not alone.
Take Brett Dietsch, who unlike Feibush isn't a developer taking a neighborhood by storm, but just a guy who owns a house next to a nuisance lot that he's been trying to buy from the PRA for over a year. He says a side-yard would be nice, sure. But mostly he just wants to get rid of the constant short-dumping — not to mention the mice and roaches that don't respect property boundaries — turning the lot on the 2200 block of East Cumberland Street into neighborhood hazard. Hell, he'd do the work himself — if only the city would let him. But when he offered to, he says he got a clear response: "No Trespassing."
So the Philly 311 app is here. Finally. Technically Philly seems to like it and it seems to look good/work well on my Android phone, too. One guy who has mixed feelings, apparently: Councilman Bobby Henon, who beat the city to it by a mile, launching his own CityHall App this past spring. He writes on his website:
I am waiting for the administration to provide the API source code so we can make sure that my CityHall App connects to the new Philly311 Mobile App. As soon as I get it, I will ensure that the two apps connect so that we are all working together to provide quality service and support to the residents of Philadelphia in the most efficient manner.
One more thing: In announcing the new app’s availability after many years of promises, the City’s Chief Innovation Officer Adel Ebeid said that "it’s okay to be last if you are the best." That is certainly one way to look at it. But as someone who represents the constituents of a first class city, it is my vision to make sure the city is BOTH first and best. ;-)
Follow on Twitter @DanielDenvir
Lawyers this morning asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to issue an injunction blocking the state's controversial voter ID law, which could disenfranchise tens or hundreds of thousands of voters by requiring that they present ID at the polls, from going into effect before November's presidential election.
“The vice is not in requiring photo identification,” plaintiff's lawyer David Gersch told the six justices. “The vice is in requiring photo identification that people don't have, and have a hard time getting.”
And unlike laws in Virginia, which mails every voter the necessary ID, the Pennsylvania statute does not guarantee voters the ID they need to vote as a matter of right. It is uncertain when the court will issue its ruling. Outside the hearings, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous led a protest against the law.
Detractors of a plan to put large balconies on the bar Finnigan's Wake in Northern Liberties saw their hopes dampened today, after City Council overrode Mayor Nutter and again passed the bill allowing the balconies to be built over the sidewalk. Unanimously. Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association and Finnigan's owners are "planning to meet again," says district Councilman Mark Squilla, "to discuss more plans on how it can best work for both the business and the community. I haven't been privy to those discussions but I understand that those discussions, if not scheduled already," will be planned soon. He figures that neighbors were able to come to a compromise on the bar's takeover of Bodine Street, which will become a pedestrian walkway and outdoor seating space for patrons, so maybe they can work out an agreement for the balconies as well. What that might look like — limited hours? limited capacity? — is unknown.
NLNA president Matt Ruben says that Council wasn't thinking of neighbors' concerns today anyway. "Today's vote has everything to do with City Council's relationship with the Mayor. This is Council sending a message." That is: That Mayor Nutter, like councilmembers, should respect councilmanic prerogative in making decisions within City Council districts. "But Council needs to understand that the vast majority of our neighbors aren't receptive that point."
City Council returns this morning, and some legislation related to the Actual Value Initiative — the updating of property tax valuations that was a central sticking point in budget hearings this spring — are on the agenda. Yet, it appears that City Council is not much further than it was several months ago toward having answers. The central questions that remain: What will the aggregate property values be, and what can Council do reasonably to ease the potential increase? The answers may not come until December
"We're still very much involved in trying work out the whole AVI situation as far as coming in with what the aggregate values are and what safeguards we can put in place to protect the people who will be hurt the most," Councilman Mark Squilla says. "A lot of councilmembers are working on some ideas, but we can't go fully toward introducing anything until we get those total aggregate numbers and we can do a case-by-case study."
Council President Darrell Clarke's bill to protect longtime owner-occupants is on today's council calendar. But nothing else is off the table, Squila said: Payment-in-lieu-of-taxes efforts directed at land-holding nonprofits that currently are able to avoid property taxes for the most part; gradual implementation of AVI; using signage to bring in fees; or other means of generating revenue to offset the fiscal pain. "There are thoughts that have been thrown out there, but without hard numbers it's hard to estimate how much money we'd really need to offset."
One fear: That delays could mean property value numbers might not come in until next budget season. "I hope that the OPA and the administration realizes how hard that was during the budget season," he says. "If we have those numbers even by December it will give the thinkers a chance to get together and come up with some ideas. It will give the community groups the chance to get together and give Council a chance to get together and come up with a plan to offset it for people who who'd be hurt the most."
Remember how Councilman Frank DiCicco, before retiring, got City Council to make the Market Street East Advertising District, aka the would-be Times Square of Philadelphia, with digital billboards lining the buildings? Well, the owners of the historic Lit Brothers building (which now houses a not-so-historic Ross) want to get on board. Tomorrow, the Historical Commission votes on whether to let them put in large-format, animated, non-accessory signage. (Above, via Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, a video rendering.) The Commission's Architectural Committee has already recommended nixing the project.
Follow on Twitter @DanielDenvir
Sunshine illuminates the well-kept rowhouse block in West Philly’s Mill Creek neighborhood. It’s recess at James Rhoads Elementary School, and kids are outside hula-hooping, jumping rope and playing football. A crossing guard rests on a stoop. At LPC Grocery, men in line discuss their lottery success. “I hit for 27 and for 25 in the span of two months,” one brags. But it was just about a year ago that two men walked into this store, then known as Porfi Grocery or, sometimes, Lorena's, and shot owner Porfirio Nuñez, his wife, Carmen, and his sister Lina Sanchez to death.
Lina’s son Javish Sanchez, 29 years old when his mother was killed, stands behind the counter today.
“I’ve [told people] that I’m 100 percent good. But I’ve noticed that I need help,” he admits. “There’s too much violence going on in my head right now ― I guess, hate, because somebody got rid of my family.”
The natural gas industry extracted more than $6 billion worth of shale gas in Pennsylvania last year. The state's cut — announced this week by the Public Utility Commission — was around $200 million, or 3.3 percent. And according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, that's a little more than half of what a West Virginia-type drilling tax would have raised. They figure a more aggressive tax could have brought in $387 million for 2011.
“There are real questions about whether Pennsylvania’s fee is enough to pay for the impacts of drilling on local communities,” said Sharon Ward, director of the center, in a statement. “Local communities have short- and long-term issues to address and should not be shortchanged.”
Meanwhile, with Shale Gas Insight coming to Philly, anti-fracking activists are putting on a full-court press. Delaware Riverkeeper has a 30-second spot running on MSNBC, which gets tons of highly produced shale commercials like the increasingly mind-boggling Chevron "We Agree" series year-round, (although Riverkeeper can only afford to run its spot for a week).
And speaking of highly produced, Shale Gas Outrage is stepping things up this year. In addition to the expected protests, there will be an appearance by author/environmentalist Bill McKibben. And things kick off tonight with an art-making party at University of the Arts Hamilton Hall, on Pine between Broad and 15th from 5 p.m. to midnight. Spiral Q and Protecting Our Waters will be working on some eye-catching props and invite the public to help out.
View galleryWhen a project that's expected to draw around 5,000 people per day on a decent weekend is described as just "phase one," you know you're dealing with something massive. And that's exactly what Core Realty laid out last night in Fishtown, at a meeting that drew (despite concerns mostly centered on parking) overwhelming community support for a proposal to turn a blighted factory district along Canal Street near the Delaware River waterfront into a "family-friendly entertainment" destination. Since the Inquirer already summarized the details, we'll stick to the subtext: that developer Michael Samschick, who repeatedly mentioned that he owns "several city blocks" in the area, and his colleague Randall Mineo, who dropped the name Disney (as an example only) and pointed out that he had worked on the noble but futile effort that was the 8th and Market Disney Hole, see this as just part of a massive-scale waterfront-adjacent transformation. That is, they hope to piggyback off of phase one to lure even more attractions to the area.
The plan, as reported, includes adaptive reuse of two enormous industrial relics, the Ajax and Dry Ice buildings, for a LiveNation, 3,000-capacity concert venue, a country-western bar (with, apparently, a guitar-shaped stage?), some restaurants and local retail, and a couple community spaces. An 18-lane bowling alley will be run by a national chain, and Samschick says he's devoted a lot of time to securing national-level anchor tenants. There are also some community plaza spaces, and several LED billboards planned.
Neighbors voted 86-25 in support. But because of regulations associated with the North Delaware Avenue zoning overlay, it's actually the Philadelphia City Planning Commission's call. Unlike a normal zoning variance, which is pretty much up to the Zoning Board of Adjustments, the PCPC's decision on the matter is binding, says planner David Fecteau. Core will present to PCPC Sept. 18 but it will likely take a couple months for the PCPC to finalize its response, he said.
Follow on Twitter @DanielDenvir
Fifty-five days before the presidential election, Philadelphia civil rights, labor and civic activists are redoubling their efforts to ensure that everyone has the identification necessary to vote under the state's controversial new law. And they need more volunteers.
“It is onerous, it is unnecessary, and it does create a variety of barriers,” Mayor Michael Nutter told a room packed with representatives of organizations ranging from civil rights groups like the NAACP and National Action Network to the civic-minded League of Women Voters and Committee of Seventy. “But we have to deal with it.”
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
