Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

The leadership of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia needs to figure out, very quickly, that the ground beneath their feet is moving, and there isn’t a damn thing they can do about it. Get on board, or get the fuck out of the way.

Go read Albert’s post and then consider asking Bob Brady to go fuck himself, and quit fucking over our city. Enough is enough. We have a chance to build this town into something great, and Brady would rather bathe in filth than do well by his constituents, his party, or his city. He’s a filthy cog in a filthy machine and he deserves little more than scorn. Fuck him.

Sometime Thursday morning, the Philadelphia Gas Works shut off the gas to my apartment. This wasn’t due to non payment on my part, but rather, by PGW’s own admission, an error. Somebody moved out of an apartment in my building and cancelled their gas. Rather than shutting off the gas to the proper unit, PGW shut off the gas in mine.

My wife spent a few long hours on Friday afternoon standing in line at the PGW billing center at 11th and Chestnut, trying to get the gas turned on. Apparently these things can’t be done over the phone if you get the wrong call center operator (your results may vary). She was quite successful on paper. PGW Agreed to send a technician out on Saturday to do what needed to be done, and he did indeed arrive. Sadly, the meter number on his work order didn’t match the only meter in the building that was shut off and he refused to turn on the gas until he could get it sorted out. Unfortunately, the people with the power to sort these things out don’t work on Saturdays. Nobody works on Sunday, but he promised to get somebody out on Monday. A little over half an hour ago, Monday ended. Needless to say, nobody arrived.

Naturally, the last few days have been some of the coldest of this fairly warm winter. Just now, the temperature outside is in the mid-twenties and Sunday night the temperature dipped into the teens. My wife and I are young, healthy and employed, so this isn’t really much more than a pain in the ass. We have an electric heater and a fireplace and have managed to keep the temperature in the apartment hovering in the upper fifties. If worse came to worse and this situation lasts, we can get a hotel room.

Most people who lose their heat mid-winter are not in my situation; it’s much more dangerous than just a pain in the ass. When it first became clear that this was going to be more than a few hour event, my wife wondered what would happen to a couple with an infant who don’t have the means to get out and get somewhere warm. A good question. Other questions naturally involve what happens to the elderly and others who’s immune systems are not so robust when faced with a similar situation. Nothing good, I’d imagine. It is now perfectly legal for utilities to cut service mid-winter in Pennsylvania, so some very dead answers to these questions are likely available, or will be soon.

Anyway, I’ll be busy for a bit so have a nice Tuesday.

Update: A fairly unpleasant gentleman at the PGW call center promised me, on Tuesday morning, that a technician would be sent out Tuesday night to turn on the gas. Tuesday is gone and nobody ever arrived. We’re probably moving in November, and at this point I’m almost inclinded to give up on ever getting service in my appartment. Our water heater and stove are both electric, so it’s not really a huge deal. Just a bit chilly is all.

One of the unsettling things about having a very middle class family income and renting in Center City Philadelphia in 2006, is that you can see and feel yourself being priced out of your lifestyle. Each new condo conversion and each new high rise erected, feels like another nail in the coffin of the slightly skanky, but very cheap and fun lifestyle that Center City has given so many us for years. Curse the New Yorkers and empty nesters if you like, but it’s like cursing the rising tide. There’s nothing you can do about it. Maybe not today, but one day soon, your landlord is going to realize that he can sell off your apartment to some empty nesters for a half million dollars and you’re gone.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that the city is doing well and that people want to be here. This is really an odd time in this city’s recent history, in which people are actually voluntarily moving into town from far away and exotic locations like Queens and New Jersey. This is new and exciting. We’re used to seeing people leave. Nearly every friend I had growing up, as well as both of my siblings, left the area the very first chance they got, and they aren’t coming back…Bleh, this is getting stupid.

Anyway, I really just meant to point to this Philadelphia Weekly interview with Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron, which covers quite a lot of ground with regards to the building boom. Lot’s of good stuff, so have a look.

I spoke briefly with Larry Farnese last night. Larry is running against Babette Josephs in the Democratic primary to be the state representative for 182nd district, which is where I live. He seemed like a decent guy, and his positions seem to be solid. He’s definitely worth considering if you live in the 182nd.

Sir Oolius, from She Flies With Her Own Wings, is urging local bloggers to link to Larry Farnese’s campaign website to help get his name associated with his site on Google. Since I love a good old fashioned Google bomb, I couldn’t resist.

Just a quick note on what’s happening in Delaware County. Bryan Lentz, an Iraq War veteran, has withdrawn from the Democratic primary for the congressional seat currently held by Curt Weldon. He will instead run for a seat in the Pennsylvania legislature. Lentz withdraw from the race, following the withdraw of Paul Scoles, makes way for an uncontested Democratic primary for retired Vice Admiral Joe Sestak. I’m not familiar with Sestak, but his extensive military and academic credentials (Navy Bio) will serve him well against Weldon, who is just about as entrenched as entrenched comes.

I have to admit to a bit of disappointment that the slate has been cleared (Rendell again). I can’t think of anything that would serve the Democratic Party in Delaware County better than a vigorous Democratic primary featuring an Army Major and a Navy Vice Admiral. Delaware county is controlled by a strong Republican machine and a long shot for any Democrat, so I would think the exposure a dramatic primary produces would benefit the Democratic party. Oh, well.

AP:

Bryan Lentz said that after conversations with Delaware County Democratic Party officials and Gov. Ed Rendell, he decided it was in the best interest of the party to step aside. He said he will run for the state House instead.

Lentz said he will support the candidacy of recently retired three-star Vice Adm. Joseph A. Sestak Jr., who announced last week he was also running in the Democratic primary in the 7th District

In the quarter that ended Dec. 31, Lentz, an attorney and Army Reserves major who volunteered to serve with a civil affairs unit in Iraq, raised $83,372 - nearly matching the amount raised by Weldon[…]

“I met with Joe Sestak and I met with my close supporters and we assessed that the best way to bring change to Washington and to Harrisburg was to move forward on a unified front,” Lentz said.

Sestak, who served in Afghanistan, praised Lentz as a good soldier and candidate. The two are scheduled to appear together at a news conference Friday afternoon in Media.

A lot of us are hoping to see Southeastern Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation go blue (a tall, tall order), and nothing would be nicer than to see Weldon out of congress. Have a look at this for a few of the many reasons why. You might also catch an example of why you might not want to write too much about congressional races well over a year before election day.

(Via Jane and PoliticsPA)

The last year represents something of a tipping point for the city of Philadelphia. It was a year in which reforms and attitude adjustments which began with the Goode administration, took off under the Rendell administration and have continued under the Street administration, bore fruit so large that even the most skeptical were forced to acknowledge their presence. The change is most evident in Center City, where a residential housing boom and a commercial revival are as easy to see as the construction cranes that litter the sky.

Even those of us who have been lifelong Philadelphia boosters sit in stunned, slack-jawed silence when listening to the increasingly frequent tales of people who moved here because they actually like it. I honestly never thought I would see the day. Having watched most of my childhood friends and all of my siblings leave town for sunnier climbs, I have to admit to feeling a bit vindicated in my decision to stay
Not good enough. Not even close,

Forgive me for stealing from John Edwards, but Philadelphia is two cities. One - mine - is well off, safe and well served by municipal government. The other is anything but well off, safe or well served. One Philadelphia is bleeding while the other is noshing at the latest BYOB and watching its property values skyrocket. One is featured in style sections and Sunday magazines, while the residents of the other worry that the contents of another sort of magazine might wind up lodged in their child’s head. There is little middle ground and there is little in the way of a middle class. This is unsustainable.

Due to a series of events in my own life, none of which I will discuss in any detail here, I have an interest in public policy regarding the prevention of homicide. Indeed, this is what spurred my initial interest in politics. Victims of homicide are likely to be a certain age, a certain sex, in a certain economic class, with certain level and quality of education among other factors. You can look it up. What you will find is that most murderers fall into the same demographic. While we as a society can do little or nothing about the tendency of young men to be full of impulse and rage, we can do something about poverty and bad schools. That may seem a quaint idea, but if this city is to really succeed, quality of education and economic opportunity will need to be addressed in a way we have never seen.

380. That’s the number of people murdered in Philadelphia in 2005. A number beyond even a fantastic attempt at comprehension. A disaster. When one is too many - three hundred plus eighty. A disaster.

To conclude this disjointed mess I’m going to reprint something I wrote in last year’s edition of the same post. It’s a bit out of date, but it still reflects my feelings.

It amazes me to hear that news commentators have compared the level of violence in Iraq to domestic crime and homicide rates. The fact that they can even make a comparison between America’s cities and a war, however ugly and misguided that comparison may be, tells me that we are seriously deranged, and have been for so long, that we can’t even see it. Can you imagine getting on TV and saying that the casualties of major war really aren’t so bad because they compare quite favorably with the death and destruction occurring in our own cities and towns? Good lord!

When we discuss murder in the United States, we to often focus solely on the issues of law enforcement and gun policy, to little avail. While these are both issues that do need to be addressed, they scratch at the surface of the problem. If we are to have any hope of ever crawling our way out of this disaster, fundamental problems with our education policy, narcotics policy and mental health policy will all need to be addressed seriously.

In a country that wasn’t half off its nut, the blood bath would matter.

According to Dan, from Young Philly Politics, there will be a victory party tomorrow night at North by Northwest in Mt. Airy to celebrate what will hopefully be the passage of the ethics charter change measure on the ballot in Philadelphia. Drinks will be free from 8:00 to 9:30.

Why should we celebrate the charter change? Because it will add transparency to the process of awarding of city public service contracts. Transparency is all the rage with the kids these days because it reduces the chances of pay-to-play corruption or, perhaps, even the use of crucifixion.

I should be clear that tomorrow’s ballot question has nothing to do with crucifixion and will do nothing to prevent its use. You might imagine, however, that a little transparency at all levels of government might go a long way towards addressing any number of problems.

Like a woodpecker with a headache. The bigger the headache, the bigger the pill. Something like that.

The story:

With a federal corruption probe closing in on him, City Councilman Rick Mariano climbed to the base of the William Penn statue atop City Hall this afternoon, and was talked down after emergency vehicles responded to a possible suicide attempt.

But at a news conference late last night, authorities said that Mariano had never been in danger because the observation deck at the base - about 500 feet above the ground - is encased in protective Plexiglas.

Both Mayor Street and Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said they did not believe Mariano, who expects to be indicted next week, had been suicidal.

“He just really wanted an opportunity to reflect on all of it,” said Street, who talked to Mariano before he came off the deck shortly after 6 p.m. “He just went to a place where he thought he would be able to be peaceful. . . . It never occurred to me that he was on the verge of taking his own life.”

Mariano was taken to Pennsylvania Hospital, with his wife, Susan, by his side.

Johnson acknowledged that Mariano had voluntarily admitted himself for observation.

The twilight drama capped a day of emotion in which he had earlier commented that he wished a bus would run over him. At a morning news conference, he discussed the federal probe, suggesting federal authorities targeted him because he is from a blue-collar background.

He then attended a City Council meeting and met with his lawyer before going to the deck sometime after 4 p.m.

Mariano has been the target of a federal grand jury investigation into whether businesses in his district paid his credit card bills in exchange for favors. Pressure had been mounting on the councilman; his face was on the cover of Wednesday’s Philadelphia Daily News with a banner headline that read: “Going Down.”

This article does a fairly decent job of pointing out something obvious to anybody who has ever been on Philadelphia City Hall’s observation deck - there is no way in hell for a person who isn’t carrying a weapon or a bottle of Drano to kill themselves up there. Had you seen this event play out on television, or heard it on news radio, you would imagine that the only thing standing between Mr. Mariano and the pavement was some brief glimmer of reason or the grace of god.

That simply wasn’t the case. The observation deck, like nearly every observation deck on the face of our fair planet, is a large zoo enclosure in the sky, where gawking humans are on the inside with only rising air pollution to take note of them. Once you are in, there is no way out save the elevator.

While I’ve never thought much of Mariano and it’s a damn good bet that the feds have him dead to rights, I still imagine him to be smart enough to know that the observation deck is no place for suicide. Anybody with a even a spec of reason within the local broadcast media surely knew the same, though they certainly didn’t report it at the time. Something else was up. Whether it was a very pathetic cry for help or a thoughtful gaze at the gates of a self inflicted hell we’ll probably never know, unless, god forbid, he is featured in a mini-series.

Anyway, I hope Mr. Mariano finds peace. Clearly, today was not his best. Only time and a trial will tell us if it was his worst.

From Phily Indy Media Center

The City of Philadelphia’s ‘Project Brotherly Love’ is calling for volunteers to help service the approximate 1,000 families arriving from New Orleans. The first 100 families will begin arrive tomorrow morning. Call 215-235-3408 to get involved.

The families will be taken to the John Wanamaker Middle School at 1111 Cecil B. Moore Ave where they will be provided shelter and services. Remaining families will be taken to the Palumbo School at 12th and Catherine Streets.

Volunteers are needed in the following areas: General, Medical, Technology, Education, Floor Monitors, Clerical, Support, and Child Care. Call 215-235-3408 to sign up.

(Via Susie)

For more info on the local relief effort click here.

This has been flying under the radar for a few days, but I’m really quite pleased that Mayor Street is opening up several city buildings to 5000 New Orleans evacuees.

Philadelphia transformed an empty school into a makeshift hotel yesterday as it prepared for up to 5,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees now expected to begin arriving as early as tomorrow.

“FEMA has finally come through,” a slightly frustrated Mayor Street said after touring the refitted Wanamaker School in North Philadelphia. “We’re going to receive people. This is a very, very good thing.”

Earlier yesterday, Street had been critical of the federal government’s response in New Orleans and of what he saw as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s sluggishness in sending evacuees to Philadelphia.

Yesterday, with nearly a quarter-million Katrina evacuees already in Texas and more still pouring in, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered emergency officials to airlift some to other states that have offered help.

“There are shelters set up in other states that are sitting empty while thousands arrive in Texas by the day, if not the hour,” Perry said. “We are doing everything we can to address the needs of evacuees as they arrive, but in order to meet this enormous need, we need help from other states.”

Aid centers will be set up at airports in Houston and Dallas where incoming evacuees can be given food, water and medical care before they are flown out.

The evacuees will be spread out over a couple of city and school district buildings. The two I know about are in North Philadelphia and in Bella Vista. Without question, this is going to be a budgetary hit for a city that can’t take many, but it is unquestionably the right thing to do. Hopefully some more information will be available in the coming days so that people with special skills from the area can donate time and expertise. Computer geeks, tutors, teachers, mental health professionals etc, will probably all be needed, so get ready to answer the call.

I’m taking a walk down to the Bella Vista building to have a peak and maybe a few pictures.

Update: I just got back from my stroll to one of the buildings that will be used to house refugees from New Orleans. The building, which formerly housed the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) is located on 11th and Catherine and is currently being used by the Police athletic league. It’s quite a substantial building and one of the features that I think will make it as comfortable as possible for the incoming evacuees is the presence of athletic fields on the roof. I assume this is relegated to tennis, handball and basketball, but I can’t say for certain.

I walked around the entire building and spoke briefly with some of the residents of 12th street, on the back side of the building, who were having a labor day block party and barbeque. Other than the increased activity, most seemed unaware that they would soon be getting new neighbors.

One thing I’m concerned about is that this neighborhood, Bella Vista, has experienced a boom in housing prices in the last few years and that we may see some “not in my backyard” bullshit thrown at people who definitely don’t deserve it and have far bigger things to worry about. We all need to be as welcoming as possible and realize that this will have no effect on the quality of our lives or the price of our rowhouses and condos. If we are inconvenienced at all, let’s please remember that we are not the ones who lost everything, including likely loved ones, and have been relocated over 1000 miles from what was home.

During the winter months, I could get some great pictures of the building from my roof, but at the moment trees obscure the view. I’ve placed a few pictures from street level beneath the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

Shamefully, I’m not taking part in Missing Monday this month, but I’d like you to go have a look at some of the blogs that are; The Smedley log, The Disenchanted Forest, Pax Romano’s Ramblings, iFlipFlop, Blonde Sagacity and Pardox1x. More information on the effort is available here.

I don’t tend to worry about these sorts of things, but reading about PGW’s plan to ship hypercompressed liquid natural gas up the Delaware to Port Richmond gives me some pause.

Experts have said that an explosion or terrorist attack on an LNG ship could unleash a pool of fire on the river with heat so intense, it would blister the skin of people a mile away.

As ACM says, I certainly hope that image is plastered in the minds of the regulators who will decide whether or not to allow this plan to go forward. If it does happen, I certainly hope that the people designing the safety procedures have that image burned in their minds, because a lot of people live within a mile of the Delaware.

Toynbee tile at the intersection of 15th and Chestnut. Picure from Resurrect Dead Mystery.

I’ve seen these things tiled onto streets around town for quite some time now and, to be honest, never gave them a second thought. Not until I read this article on Philly Future about the mystery behind the origin and maker(s) of the Toynbee tiles, that is. Now I’m sucked in and I’ve spent the last half hour reading sites like Resurrect Dead Mystery which are dedicated to the Toynbee tile mystery. There’s even a Wikipedia entry on the subject. Have fun.

Via Akkam’s Razor

I think the Phillies just might need to keep their lawyer from talking to the press. It’s one thing to be a hack, but quite another to announce it to the sporting press.

As the Phillies played the Washington Nationals, a confrontation developed in the upper deck at Citizens Bank Park between Repent America, a fundamentalist Christian group, and fans, many of whom were attending the game as part of a gay pride group.

This is the third year for Gay Day, which featured a national anthem performance by the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus and a first pitch from Cyd Ziegler of Outsports.com.

It’s also the third year Repent America’s Michael Marcavage has attended in protest of the event. Marcavage and another man held a sign that read, “Homosexuality Is a Sin, Christ Can Save You� at the top of Section 303 in right field.

At one point, other fans stood in front of the banner, obscuring it. Eventually, officers from the Philadelphia Police Civil Affairs division flanked Marcavage and his unidentified companion.

“This is totally offensive to me,� said James Duggan, a fan from Merchantville who stood several rows in front of the sign and engaged Marcavage in debate. “These people are false Christians. I was told the Phillies’ lawyers arranged this with Repent America’s lawyers, and I find that totally offensive, too.�

Mike Stiles, the Philles’ vice-president of operations and administration, said the team’s attorneys had met with attorneys for Repent America after the group protested the first gay-pride event at Veterans Stadium in 2003.

“It’s pretty clear under the Constitution,� Stiles said, “that if you’re going to have a gay community night, people have the right to express another opinion. We understand it’s distressing for some people to have to look at that sign. We believe the leaders of the gay community who arrange this night like any other group know what they’re going to have to put up with.�

The Phillies have written policies barring fan behavior “interfering with other guests’ ability to enjoy the game,� as well as banners that contain “fighting words likely to provoke a breach of the peace.�

Both policies, Stiles said, are trumped by Repent America’s First Amendment rights.

“On a night when we didn’t have the gay community, we wouldn’t necessarily permit a sign like that,� Stiles said. “A sign expressing an objection to the war would not be permitted because it has nothing to do with baseball.�

Um….okay, but…um…what the hell? I’ve been trying to think my way through Stiles’ statements for the last half hour and I’ve come to the conclusion that the man has broken the logic barrier and now exists in a world where narratives are little more than broken shards, rotting on a field of withered cohesion.

My suggestion to the Phillies, if they are ever asked about Repent America’s presence at Gay Day, is to reply with a simple “we just didn’t feel like dealing with having this shithead sue us and make himself into some sort of bullshit First Amendment matyr, so we let him make a complete ass of himself in front of 35,000 people instead.”

Not that I’d buy it. If you are going to have special First Amendment seats for hateful people on nights when those hateful people can taunt the objects of their hate, then you need to open the doors to everyone. For instance, I hate people who use the “th” sound at the end of the word “height.” According to one broken shard of Stiles’ logic , I should be allowed display something about how much I hate people with an unfortunate idea of how to pronounce “height” at every game, as there is at least one bastard like that in every crowd.

Anyway, the article ends of a very cool Philadelphia note; with some very classy boos.

Marcavage and the second man rolled up their sign at the end of the sixth inning, prompting cheers from the fans around Section 303. As the police officers and Phillies officials escorted them out of the grandstand and to an employees’ elevator, fans booed and chanted obscenities.

Duggan left the section a few minutes later and headed over to buy a beer.

“I moved here from New York,” Duggan said, “and I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve found Philadelphia to be the most tolerant place I’ve ever been. I think that says something. I’m a gay man, I confronted this guy, and I’m not the one who got booed. He is.”

(Via Susie)

There is some not so surprising news this morning, revealing that Chaka Fattah sent a letter to the FEC stating that he is highly “highly likely” to run for mayor in 2007. The purpose of the letter is to get permission from the FEC to raise money for both his congressional and his mayoral campaigns at the same time. According to some analysis I heard on NPR this morning, the letter also served the purpose of rattling the cages of his 4000-5000 (very slight exaggeration) potential primary rivals. Tulin has the letter, if you’d like a look.

It will be interesting to see how the mayoral primary (still a long way off) plays out in the local blogs. Most of us were fairly unified around one candidate during the D.A. primary. I don’t see that happening this time around. I wonder if it will get ugly?

The New York Times looks at the reason you won’t be able to afford your apartment next year.

…according to city figures, a significant number of youngish artists, musicians, restaurateurs and designers are leaving New York City and heading down the turnpike for the same reasons they once moved to Brooklyn from Manhattan.

“We got priced out of Manhattan, and we moved to Brooklyn,” said John Schmersal, 32, of the three-member band Enon; two of them migrated here in January. “Then we got priced out of Brooklyn. Now we’re in Philadelphia.”

If you are curious about the rather strange post I had up last night, Chris Bowers has some additional information on potential issues with PoliticsPA. The story is murky and I’ll admit to not being able to make heads or tails of the whole mess.

One interesting point Chris makes is that we should probably consider building an alternative resource for the local liberal movement. While there are a number of news agitators out there, and a number of them do cover Pennsylvania and Southeastern Pennsylvania, none quite fit the purely political niche filled by PoliticsPA. Looking over the site, I think building an alternative probably wouldn’t require a great deal of time or resources. A couple of very part time volunteers to cull all of the local papers (including the very small ones) for political headlines and opinion pieces would probably fill the bill. The infrastructure would be cheaper than dirt. Hell, I’d even donate the bandwidth if need be.

If you needed just one more reason to go to tonight’s DFA meeting at the Yards Brewery, beyond the free beer and the chance to hear from some local candidates, let me try to offer you one. Chris Bowers is MCing the event. Chris, in case you didn’t know, is internet famous - a real star of the New Media. Not only is he a terrific blogger with a terrific site, but from what I understand he’s actually composed entirely of the internet. New Media courses through his veins and if you plug an Ethernet cable into his bioport, he can simultaneously dissect Republican electoral strategy in Lackawanna County, discuss the geopolitical significance of Axl Rose’s head gear, perform stereotactic radiosurgery and levitate. Yes, you read that right - levitate. So don’t be a bastard, show up and get yourself involved.

Do you know who Lois Murphy, Paul Scoles, Ginny Schrader, Patrick Murphy and Lois Herr are, what they are running for and what their positions are? No? I’m Shocked!

Well, in case you missed the announcement on all of other Philadelphia based, liberal political blogs, I wanted to let you know about a pretty exciting event that’s happening on Wednesday night where you can find out. Democracy for America is hosting a massive, five county meetup at the Yard’s Brewery, where you can hear talks from each of the aforementioned candidates for congress, all of whom are running in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania suburbs. Oh, and the Yards Beer (very tasty) is free.

Seeing this sort of event taking shape in the area so early is really heartening. 2006 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for Pennsylvania politics and the Southeast is really poised to flex some muscle. As has been stated elsewhere, and most prominently by DNC chair, Howard Dean, Democrats need to contest every seat, every time and without question. Every contested race helps, so let’s do what we can for the candidates who are throwing themselves into the ring.

You can RSVP and get directions to the brewery here.

My feet are rested but my soul is tired. I’m not up for writing this evening so I won’t, but if you have the means, I’d like you to go have a look at what Richard Cranium is up to and help out. I’m being overly vague, I know, but you bastards are lazy and I want at least two of you to click over out of sheer curiosity.