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Archive for “Center City” news
7 Secret Parks to Hang in This Summer
By Dan McQuade 6/19/2013
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Spring wasn't so hot this year.
Scratch that. It was hot — often way too hot for spring. It was pretty cold other times, and the rest of the time it rained. But don't fret! We are just two days away from the summer solstice. Yes, the days only get shorter from here, but no matter: The start of summer is a day for rejoicing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0tTbTbmVA
You don't need me to tell you that the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff got it right: Summertime is for chilling in the park with your friends: "Back in Philly we be out in the park/A place called the Plateau is where everybody goes." But it's not 1991 anymore, and not everyone wants to go to Belmont Plateau. Sometimes you want someplace a little quieter. You might not know these under-the-radar Philadelphia parks, but that doesn't mean they're not cool places to hang.
Chuck Peruto Not Welcome At Girlfriend’s Funeral
By Joel Mathis 5/29/2013
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It sounds like Julia Law's death over the weekend has all the elements needed to become a high-profile Nancy Grace tabloid machine for weeks and weeks: A beautiful young woman dies a mysterious death in the home of her boyfriend, a flash mob lawyer. The only problem with the narrative: As yet, no indication of an actual crime. The Inquirer reports:
Although an autopsy has been completed, the city Medical Examiner's Office will not rule on the cause of Julia Papazian Law's death until after reviewing results of toxicology tests that are pending, police said Tuesday.
"All we can confirm right now
Liberty Place Says Racist, Sexist Religious Protests Are Hurting Its Business
By Joel Mathis 5/22/2013
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Courthouse News Service reports that the operators of The Shops at Liberty Place have asked a state court to bar the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge from conducting its religious protests outside the tower's Chestnut Street entrance.
It claims that since November 2012 the group has met on Friday afternoons near its 16th and Chestnut Street entrance, using a loudspeaker to "take turns preaching hate toward whites, homosexuals and women."
According to the complaint, the defendants' comments have included: "You hate the white man? So do I;" "The white man is the devil," "A faggot doing what he's doing to another faggot is
Center City Goal: Add 100,000 New Jobs In 10 Years
By Joel Mathis 4/23/2013
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Give Paul Levy credit: He dreams big. And the latest dream from the executive director of the Center City District is to bring 100,000 new jobs to the city over the next 10 years. According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, he proposes to do it the old-fashioned way: Tax cuts.
To get there, the city needs to get the wage tax below 3 percent and cut the net income portion of the business income and receipts tax in half, Levy said.
"We have the perfect tax structure for Baldwin locomotive and Flexible Flyer - things that can't move," Levy said.
The Journal notes
Which Philly Neighborhoods Have the Most High School Dropouts?
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 3/28/2013
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Did you or someone you know enroll in the 9th grade class of a Philadelphia public high school in the Fall of 2006? If so, you (or they) are famous! The current edition of the Public School Notebook, their annual dropout edition, has compiled a map noting which neighborhoods have the highest rates of high school dropouts. (By location of residence, not school.)
Clocking in at 0-10%: 19103 (Rittenhouse) and 19106 (Old City).
Clocking in at 41-50%: 19133 (North Philly) and 19146 (Grad Hospital/Point Breeze).
The overall six-year drop-out rate, for kids who matriculated in '06, is 33%.
[The Notebook]
Philly’s First Performing Arts Charter High School Will Be Housed in Former Glaxo Building
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 3/28/2013
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As more than two dozen traditional public schools are slated to close this year, at least one spiffy new charter school is poised to open is Center City, at the location of the former GlaxoSmithKline headquarters, on 16th and Vine.
Under terms that will be announced Thursday, a nonprofit associated with the [K-8] Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School [DeMedici Corporation II] has agreed to buy the curving, eight-story building for $29 million for the String Theory High School for the Arts and Sciences. It will be the first charter high school in the city focused on the performing arts.
String Theory School,
Where Philly’s “Creative Class” Lives
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 3/19/2013
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The mighty urban theorist and Atlantic Cities honcho Richard Florida has descended upon Philly to judge its creativeclassishness. The results: Philly has two substantial but tightly clustered cohorts of "creative class" individuals--"which includes workers in science and technology, business and management, arts, culture media and entertainment, and law and healthcare professions"--in Center City and Manayunk/Chestnut Hill. (Many assume creative class means "hipster" but these days it seems to mean 'professionals,' basically.)
Overall, Florida designates 34.6% of the metro area as "creative class," on par with NYC's 35.9% and Chicago's 35.1%. Not surprisingly, the city's working class (by which Florida appears to mean
New “Cultural Corridor Line” Would Speed Philadelphians Between City’s Top Attractions
By Joel Mathis 3/18/2013
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The bright bloggers at the Philadelphia Planning Department offer a preview of the "Cultural Corridor Line," a "rapid bus line" that would transfer passengers speedily between the Delaware Waterfront, past the Barnes and Philadelphia Art Museum, all the way to the Mann Music Center. The line is being proposed as part of the full Central District Plan scheduled for release on Tuesday.
The planners write:
The Cultural Corridor Line will not only connect important attractions, but its service will fill an important transit function – bringing rapid service to the northwestern Center City for the first time (the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Logan Square and Fairmount neighborhoods). To do
Who Will Claim Daffy’s Old Center City Location?
By Joel Mathis 3/06/2013
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Our colleagues at PhillyMag's new Property blog say that bidding on the old Daffy's location at 17th and Walnut is down to two bidders, both apparel companies.
One of the bidders would like to use the entire building, while the other would like to use just the first four floors, including the basement. If the latter should happen, the upper four floors are up for grabs—could be a health club, apartments, whatever the mind can conjure up.
The bidders are currently considering price, of course, but also how they might use the space most effectively. The four-story bidder, for instance, is looking
Photos: The Forum Porn Theater Now Demolished
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/14/2013
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The Forum--the last place to catch a good porn in Center City--is now little more than a crumbling brick shell. Though the demolition is not quite complete, the roof and iconic marquee are now gone. The wrecking ball, for the record, appears to have struck sometime today. A guy sitting at the Liberty Bar next door confirmed this detail, though he was pretty drunk and called me a "douchebag" at one point, so take what he said with a grain of salt. Lucidly, however, he added that the internet was to blame for the theater's demise and that the "neighborhood's
