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Archive: November, 2009
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| Joe Boruchow |
| Buzzing the tower |
Local artist/Nite Lighter Joe Boruchow -- whose exhibit Public Service: New Paper Cutouts at The Bean Cafe, (615 South St.) closes on Tue., Dec. 8, btw -- sends a link to a piece he posted on his blog his reaction to the heavy-handed proposals being offered by City Council to solve the great bike menace.
Quoth Joe:
For those familiar with the proposed bicycle laws in Philadelphia, I offer this cutout. Not in Philly? Check out how the tribal hill people of our city council suggest bettering our fine metropolis - http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/70444347.html
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| Do you know Mr. Chow? |
Mr. Chow was found at Thompson and Marlborough streets in Fishtown on Saturday morning. He is a chow chow or chow chow mix (hence his very, uh, creative temporary name) and was found in a collar, but no tags. He has an orange-ish coat and is well-groomed; very friendly. He seems to like cats, dogs and sneaking on the bed.
We heard that he was also seen on Berks Street the same morning.
If he is yours, or if you know who he might belong to, please call Monica at 215-919-8301 or e-mail monica.weymouth@gmail.com.
We will be fostering him through the PSPCA if he is not claimed. This will likely be within the next two days, so please also feel free to get in touch if you're interested. Mr. Chow is very sweet and good with our other animals, and we would love to keep him if we had room. He'd likely be great with kids (we have none to test the theory) and is very energetic but well-mannered.
Anyone who knows Mr. Chow, holler at Monica ASAP.
Social comments and analytics for this post... This post was mentioned on Twitter by carl ritger: RT @citypaper Lost chow chow found in Fishtown (please RT): http://is.gd/57We5...
Julia Harte with your morning fix.
Philadelphia bicycle messengers were planning to demonstrate tonight against controversial City Council measures that would mandate the paid registration of all bicycles in the city and result in steeper fines for traffic violations.
Fifty-eight percent of Swiss voters approved a referendum banning the construction of minarets on Muslim mosques, even after polls suggested that such a measure would be rejected by a majority of voters. The resulting scandal caused a Swiss Justice Minister to suggest that certain policies should not be decided with public referendums.
After officials announced that the Middle East conglomerate Dubai World was deeply in debt and struggling financially, United Arab Emirates markets dropped dramatically, and the UAE's central bank offered other UAE banks cheap loans in an effort to stave off a run on every bank in the country.
Even after the U.S. Congressional Budget Office found that every part of the health-care bill currently being debated by the Senate could be paid for with spending cuts and tax increases, experts were debating whether the bill would be able to reduce the nation's deficits or not.
Plastic surgery patients and doctors were outraged over a five percent "Bo-tax" in the health-care bill, which would be applied to any cosmetic surgery that does not fix injury-related, congenital or illness-related disfigurements.
A University of Pennsylvania endocrinologist is leading a study to see whether lowered testosterone levels are natural for men, and whether popular hormone-boosting medications impair bodily functions in older men.
Where's my violin? Go to 16th & JFK on any day and watch how bike messengers follow the law. They routinely ride on the sidewalks and run through red-lights. If they even wait for the light to turn green, they do little figure 8's in the crosswalk around pedestrians, because they refuse to stop on those illegal track bikes. I have never, ever, observed a bike messenger actually come to a complete stop for a red-light. They are offended because they are being perceived as law breakers? Too bad. The behaviors of bike messengers and other rogue bicyclists are the very reason behind the proposed new fines and regulations.
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| duelingcouches.blogspot.com |
| Outie? |
Now, it's hard to make the argument that a guy who as recently at last season averaged 17.4 points per game and who just two seasons ago put up 26.4 per contest has nothing left to offer an NBA team. Which is why, despite his retirement, everyone, including the struggling Sixers, are debating bringing ol' No. 3 into the fold. And, of course, at issue is what kind of role Iverson should be playing and what role he will play. No young, developing team wants to make AI the number one option. A contending team could use a guy with AI's instant scoring ability as a super sixth man, but that doesn't seem to be the kind of gig AI wants or even knows how to play.
The Daily News' John Smallwood has an interesting take on Iverson over on philly.com, which looks at what's possible for his future, and what we may have been cheated out of in the past (and has a really bad-ass pre-cornrows rookie shot of Allen).
Iverson can clearly still play in the league. But can he accept a bit role on a contender, or will he go quietly into that good night on the assumption that if he's not "the guy" he's not gonna play?
Of course, Larry Brown has chimed in and urged Iverson to reconsider, and we all know how Iverson feels about what Larry Brown wants.
Should the Sixers take a flyer on him?
yes, i want a.i. back in nba. hes the best. i love watching nba becase of him.... for now i hate watching nba anymore...
[...] rumor mill is churning, people, and the word is that the recently retired Allen Iverson, the patron saint of good practice habits, could be coming back to [...]
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My friend Chris McKenna just sent this video shot by bike evangelist Michael McGettigan of University City's Trophy Bikes. McGettigan set up a camera at Rittenhouse Square — it appears to be the east intersection with Locust — to see if anybody at all comes to a full stop (that's his red folding bike in the foreground). There are, count 'em, three stop signs and a flashing red light which means, as McGettigan explains in the video, that drivers must come to a complete stop and then proceed when it's safe. The coming to a stop issue is one that's always brought up by people on the "cyclists are scofflaws" side of the urban biking argument whenever these things are hollered about.
What did McGettigan find? Hardly anyone — cars, trucks, vans, SUVs, SEPTA buses, school buses (and, okay, cyclists, but we already knew that, right?) — comes to anything even resembling a complete stop unless there is a pedestrian directly in front of them. Most drivers roll right through. Some come to a stop only once they've entered the intersection to find a pedestrian already in the crosswalk.
What other intersections could use the McGetti-cam treatment?
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This video is useful. As I debated the crackdown on cyclist with friends via Facebook, one of them actually said that she believes most cars stop at stop signs. Perhaps her rhetoric was simply an attempt to shout me down but maybe there are a lot of people out there who generally believe that they are most other car drivers are good, safe drivers. Witness the guy who commented on this video on Youtube implying that because there is no car traffic coming from the left, it doesn't matter if cars fail to stop at this intersection. Never mind the people who are walking across Locust or 19th! The fact is that cops stopped enforcing almost all traffic violations decades ago. A crackdown on all forms of transit is needed, including buses and 2000 pound cars.
How about some balance and take a video half a block south at 19th & Spruce? That intersection is controlled by a real redlight and green light. I will bet the video will show cars completely stopped at the redlight waiting for it to turn green. I will also bet that at least half of the bicyclists will come to that same redlight and proceed to go if they do not see traffic coming, especially those in the new bike lane. As noted before, in this video two bicyclists blew through the stop sign and did not even try to slow down. Much commentary about the motorists breaking the law but not a peep about the two-wheelers.
There most certainly was a "peep" about the first cyclist who blew the stop sign. McGettigan definitely does mention the transgression.
@Philly Chit Chat: I think it's called the South Philly Slide or something like that.
Regarding the comment above implying that we have been censoring comments, here's a little behind-the-curtain look at how our comment system works: Most comments are published immediately with no moderation process. Some comments, especially those that contain links or potentially objectionable/inflammatory language, are flagged by our spam filter and must be be approved by the web master, web editor or me. Flagged comments left on the evening before a major holiday sometimes are not acted upon in as timely a manner as we would hope.
Don't they call this the South Philly Stop Sign stop. I think a little brake light is a good thing. Of course if a cop was behind me I would over stop and look both ways just in case.
I am all for positive change and the defense of cyclists because they are widely discriminated group... but this video does nothing to aid our cause, and everything to add more fuel to the fire against us. The two cyclists in the video just BLOW right through the stop sign while the commentator mentions, "ohh will he cut off the cyclist? nooooo". The moron cyclist blew through the stop sign! We need to keep the level headed discussions going, and cease to make videos like this that come off as whiney and self-deserving.
Upon official review: I stand corrected :)!
This is a weird "intersection" to choose because there is no cross traffic. So cars are literally only stopping for pedestrians. But you do have to note that almost every car at least paused while NONE of the cyclists even considered touching their brakes.
Mithras, we publish all comments. Yours just came in at the beginning of the holiday.
I see you still haven't published my comment from Wednesday night. How many others are being held in moderation? I bet you caught a ton more grief than you're willing to show.
Way to egg on the whole car/bike war. You bikers and your whining has become tedious and juvenile. Move to fucking Beijing if you want the streets for yourselves. Cars will always win.
I was hit by a bike heading down a one-way street the wrong way. I'd stepped off the curb to see whether my bus was coming, not expecting that a bike would approach from the opposite direction. Naive of me, I know.... More recently, I was about to start across Market Street near 30th Street Station--on a walk signal--when a cyclist went through the light, almost hitting me, and almost himself being hit by a car. And, yes, as a pedestrian, I've had near misses with cars, drivers whipping around corners while talking on cell phones and the like... or blocking the cross-walk. But shouldn't we hold drivers AND cyclists accountable for unsafe practices? More surprising than the accidents of the past couple of months is that there aren't more accidents.
I seem to recall being accused of using a straw man and red herring tactic when I took note of any number of bicyclists rolling through redlights and riding on sidewalks after I left the Pilot Bike Lane meeting in August. Would this video be a straw man or red herring? And really what is the point? Except to prove that unless the police enforce the laws equally across the board then nothing will change. But does that make the recent argument for bicyclists to obey traffic laws any less valid because of this video?
I think a whopping 98% of drivers actually never come to a full stop at a stop sign unless there's any actual reason to. To a large degree, I actually can understand that. Some people almost came to a full stop but fell short, and I think that's a fairly-decent way to go about it. The best, of course, is to come to a complete stop. This study really doesn't prove much. The cyclist didn't even come close to a full stop, he just flew by like there was nothing there. On top of that, this isn't a 4-way intersection, which would be the single best way to test it.
it really servse no point other than to show no one really obeys the laws as they should however they get across this city. should cyclists suddenly be targeted because a politicians need their names in the paper? no, but the city council should required their original law to be inforced. if the crackdown stops this stupid back and forth banter then it will do some good but everyone really needs to keep track of what they are doing instead of watching everyone else. let the police enforce what they want and live with it.
The more I see bullshit like this from bicyclists, the less sympathy I have for them.
21st and Hamilton. You'll see cop cars blowing through the intersection day and night.
Please take this study to 21st and Cherry. I'm going to die at that intersection. Thank you.
OK, so I held out as long as I could, but I'm up against the clock here. So here's the deal:
I need to find a minister, or someone minister-like. Doesn't matter what religion. Basically, someone who's willing to officiate my fiancee and I's wedding. And by officiate, I mean sign our marriage license, which is due to expire in early December. See, we're both new here, and neither of know that many people or have any family up this way. And, neither of us is particularly religious. And, we tried to the whole Justice of the Peace thing, but for whatever reason the Phila. County JOP is booked until after our license expires.
So if you know anyone who'd be willing to help us out (preferably for cheap; I just found out I could get one of the Friends licenses for another $90 or so and do it ourselves, so that's Option B) by signing our paperwork, or if you have any suggestions, please email me at jeffrey.billman@citypaper.net.
Thanks...
[...] up with a few CP staffers yesterday evening for drinks to celebrate the factory-fresh nuptials of news editor Jeffrey Billman. (Congrats!) So where’d we all [...]
Look no further than the office just two floors below yours, also known as Plough & the Stars restaurant. Austin McGrath, one of the proprietors is a licensed minister....licensed by The Universal Church of Life, and has presided over many noteworthy weddings in town. Make haste young man...the clock is tickin'.
See, we're both new here, and neither of *US* know...
Any local Mayor can and will do it. It doesn't have to be in Philadelphia county...
CP editorial interns always go on to do great things, but I'm pretty sure Jimmy Viola is the first to land on foreign TV. Temple student Jimmy, currently studying abroad in the Land of the Rising Sun, did some good work for CP last year. Here he is on a Tokyo MX network program, pitching himself as a potential beau to the ladies of Japan. ("Super gaijin" basically translates to "ridiculous foreigner.")
Is that Jeremy Sisto in the beginning?
Jimmy's blogging about his trip here.
[...] meant to “"expose the ridiculous spectacle the Japanese Media is.â The Philly City Paper has a story up about his TV [...]
And I'm still here. Goddamn. I look *great* in giant red eye-things.
Just ran across this on a Japanese blog. "Super gaijin" is not translated as "ridiculous foreigner." Super gajin translates as super gaijin.
Julia Harte with your morning fix.
Bucks County residents were outraged after the Philadelphia Gun Club held a live-pigeon shoot in Bensalem, seven months after the group's president promised police not to use live birds as target practice anymore.
Gun Owners of America wrote to senators, urging them to vote against the proposed health-care overhaul bill because it does not contain an article explicitly prohibiting Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from "decreeing that 'no guns' is somehow healthier."
Armed conflict in Africa is about 50 percent more likely in warm years, researchers reported, indicating that poor crop yields resulting from climate change are the main causes of war across the continent.
Italian unions, nutritionists and food producers were indignant over a cabinet minister's proposal to eliminate lunch breaks from the working day. The minister argued that his measure would reduce obesity and work-shirking.
Class-action lawsuits were filed against seven Philadelphia-area health-care networks who allegedly failed to compensate employees who worked during their half-hour lunch breaks, even though employers sometimes knew and encouraged the employees to do so.
[...] Virgina Tech shooting raises new issues for journalists | Fleet Street 2.0 | Press Gazette Tools and Resources for Micro Web Business : HobopoetEffor.com » Blog Archive » Knoxville Church Shooting CoverageListen to Your Teacher! | Affiliate Marketing TeacherLight Breaks Shooting for Christmas « Starlight Productions What We’ve Found: Live-pigeon shoot, gun group opposes health-care reform, climate change... [...]
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| could be anywhere, really. |
My South Philly-parked car was "relocated" for paving on Oct. 19. I freaked out, wrote a Clog post about the ordeal, looked for it, freaked out some more and finally found the damn thing a handful of days later, with the help of about a half-dozen city agencies and their employees of varying degrees of uselessness. (No offense, June of the Streets Department.) You may recall Oct. 28's Million Stories:
After one final hiccup (in which the tow truck driver called me to say he'd found my car at Sixth and Morris, although it looked more gray to him than silver — maybe because it wasn't my car), I got my Honda back: It was at 11th and Wharton, one measly block from where I'd been searching the night before. It was parked across the street from the Police Department, covered in dirt. No tickets, no damage.
That was a month ago. Trees still had their leaves back then. Halloween candy hadn't yet been replaced by Christmas wreaths at CVS. The Phils were still in the game.
Looks like, as of yesterday, the Philadelphia Inquirer's finally caught on: In Sunday's paper, Monica Yant Kinney reports on the business of relocation from the perspective of a young kid, Alec Nelson, whose car got moved.
"According to the Third District," he shared, "the car was towed to the 1700 block of South 12th Street." ⦠Nelson was dubious, but rushed to the spot.
"That was one of the first places I looked," he said, calling from the block. "It wasn't there then. It's not there now."
The next day, [Deputy Streets Commissioner Stephen] Buckley went back at it. Perhaps someone had misread the file? In short order, a highway engineer found Nelson's car one block away, at 1605 S. 12th St.
"Maybe I missed it, but my friends and I were on that block a bunch of times," Nelson said after finding his Focus. "The cynical side of me thinks it wasn't there to begin with."
I feel for you, Alec, believe me. But ... this whole thing sounds awfully familiar. Kinney even stole our damn (OK, kinda obvious) tagline: Dude, where's my car? C'mon guys. Way to stay on top of things.
Right now, City Paper news editor Jeffrey Billman and editor in chief Brian Howard are sitting in on the Committee of Seventy's Annual Breakfast, featuring remarks from vice president/friend of Philly Joe Biden. We're sure they'll have full report once the whole event wraps up, but for right now check out their live tweets of the veep's speech, marked with the hash tag #bidenbreakfast. Billman and Howard's Twitter accounts you can peep HERE and HERE.
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