At 11.30a today a fire broke out at a University of the Arts metal foundry studio at the northeast corner of 15th and Pine Sts. According to UArts Chief Communications Officer, Paul Healy, artists in the studio use wax to create bronze sculptures. The casts are placed in a kiln where the wax melts off (lost wax casting). Normally, the wax is burned in the fire of the kiln, but in this case, wax accumulated underneath the kiln, overheated, and caught fire. One person was in the studio at the time of the fire, but got out safely. Onlookers said he ran back inside, twice, after realizing there were several liters of highly flammable liquids still in the studio as the fire department had not made it to the scene at the time.

Approximately 4 ladder companies, 1 snorkel company, 1 SQRT company and loads of EMS crews were on hand to put out the blaze and help anyone in need. Above are firefighters opening up the roof of the building.

By 12.10p, most of the blaze was out after the roof was opened up, but additional water was poured in to cool everything off.

By 12.30p, the fire crews were packing up while the last of the water was poured onto the roof.

There was no word as to how much of the foundry was burned or if it would be reopened anytime soon.

Above is a shot of several of the volunteers hard at work at a POP planting at 8/Poplar on the 19th. It was a gorgeous day and a ton of volunteers showed up from POP, Teens 4 Good and Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements. Young and old alike picked up wheel barrows, shovels, rakes and loads of dirt to plant a multitude of trees, berries and vines. I had my cousin in town for a last minute visit so I couldn't stick around for too long, but I was there for an hour documenting part of the process of planting a small orchard.

Learn more about the project here. You can donate, via PayPal or check, via the website as well. It's a very cool project and I was there for the initial meeting. My job at PhillyCarShare didn't allow me to do much last year, but now that I'm free of that place, I can take photos and get my hands into the dirt with the rest of the gang.

A flickr set up starting here of the afternoon's planting.

Last Tuesday, I went to the Trolley Car Diner (7619 Germantown Ave) in Mt. Airy for a local beer tasting course taught (in conjunction with the Mt. Airy Learning Tree) by none other than Joe Sixpack himself, Don Russell (pictured above). I attended the event with my good friend Pat who, along with his wife, bought me a ticket to the event as a Christmas present. After reading Tony's account of the February class, I was quite excited for the event.

About 30 attendees sat in booths and shared each bottle/can beer between them. Our table only had 3 so we had slightly larger portions per person than the rest of the class! Each student received a packet for the night complete with a list of all the beers we'd be sampling that night (I had had 5 out of the 11); a list of some of Don's favorite bars and a list, with examples, of various styles of beers. The first thing I learned was that all beers fall into one of two categories: Ales or Lagers. I never knew that. According to the handout, an Ale is "Brewed quickly with top-fermenting yeast at warm temperature." A Lager is "Brewed slowly with bottom-fermenting yeast at cool temperature." Who knew Beamish and Yards Philly Pale Ale were in the same family!

The first "beer" sampled was the most popular beer sold in Philadelphia. The watered down beauty taking this crown is Miller Lite. I thought, for sure, that Yuengling Lager would take #1, but nope. Don served this one first for the class to have an understanding of the baseline of beers in the town was. Moving on to the first real beer... a can of Phoenixville, PA's Sly Fox Pikeland Pils (German Pilsner, 4.9% ABV). The label on the can had a set of hops right on it so I knew I'd most likely not be a fan (not into hoppy beers yet at my young age). It was hoppy, but not overpowering. Don took a sec to explain the aluminum can phenomenon in craft beers these days. Apparently, a Canadian company has found a way to produce small quantities of aluminum cans (relative to the output of the Coors/Busch guys I suppose) at an affordable price. More durable than glass bottles, they end up being easier to transport. He said to be on the lookout for more and more small breweries to produce aluminum can versions of their beers. He added that the cans had a special coating to protect the beer from getting a tinny taste to them, but the psychological tie to drinking straight from the can still remains; he advised us to pour it into a glass instead.

The Q&A session for the Great Expectations Agenda meeting for the 1st Council District started off with a bang asking the councilmen whether or not they supported spot zoning. The questioner wanted the councilmen to deny all spot zoning requests until a full plan was in place. The 1st District's Councilman Frank DiCicco took to the mic first. He said that he views all zoning requests on a case by case basis and to deny all spot zoning requests between now and the finalization of a zoning plan is too broad a move to make. At-Large Councilman Bill Green said that it would be great to be able to hold everything until a plan was in place, but it's just not feasible. He pointed out to Miami's recent new zoning plan; it took them 3 years to finalize and their city is 1/5 the size of Philadelphia. Green gave a drop dead date of 2011 (the same year as his re-election bid) for a plan to be in place. If a new zoning plan which pleased the majority of Philadelphians were in place before the elections, I foresee a slew of re-elections - zoning is at the top of people's minds all across the city.

I jumped at the opportunity to attend the Great Expectations Agenda meeting in my own City Council district, the First. This meeting was the biggest of the district meetings to date with about 70 - 75 people in all. This event was at the Daily News - Inquirer Building so there was plenty of space. I was happy to see a bunch of City Year corps members in attendance. Their red Timberland jackets have become a common sight for my eyes during my time in Philly. This was also the first district meeting with Asians (aside from myself) in the audience. There was a good mix of young and old (about 40% - 60%) so I'm sure a good range of opinions and experiences were raised in each group. The Inquirer's Chris Satullo announced that 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco would be there as well as, once again, At-Large City Councilman Bill Green. UPenn's Harris Sokoloff polled the crowd to see how many had been to previous Great Expectations events; about 60% had. He asked how many had been to any of the Penn Praxis events; about 40% had. The people at this event knew what was going on and what the project was trying to accomplish.

I jumped in with Group B for the breakout session. Covered by the dozen in the session were the topics of Crime, Poverty and Transporation. The group had members actively involved in the issues they chose to talk about including Ellen who hasn't owned a car since the 1950s, Aqila, a City Year corps member from DC who was appalled by SEPTA after moving to Philly and Debi and Dick who were active in the homeless community.

Judith, a transplant from Hungary, wondered why Philadelphia seems to have the problems it does while other cities don't. Across the table, Kirk pointed out that it's the notion that Philadelphia is worse off than other cities is often reported in the city's papers more so, perhaps, than in other cities leading to the perception that Philly's worse off. He pointed to Mayor Nutter's remarks during the Citizen's Convention where he asked that the papers report more on the good things that happen in the city as well as the bad. Doing so can give the people hope. Debi was concerned with constantly reinventing the wheel with each administration. She wanted to find out what was working and what could be working better with additional funding instead of scrapping everything and starting all over again. Ellen wanted to know what was going on with the new program for businesses to hire ex-offenders with the benefit of a $10k tax write off from the City. Aqila wanted to see the programs targeting high school aged kids to be introduced at the middle school level. Working in high schools in Philly, she's seen first hand how it's too late for many.

After the breakout sessions, all three groups reconvened in the gym for the Q&A session. Councilman Curtis Jones took a walk over to my group's giant sticky notes which were taped to the wall. He took it all in and turned to say: "They're gonna ask me all these questions?!" to which I replied with a smile, "As many as they can."

The crowd took their seats after grabbing some coffee and cookies from the spread in the back. The Inquirer's Chris Satullo took the time to introduce the newly elected Jones to the crowd and thanked him for coming down into the fray and for the good turnout on that cold night. And then the questions started. Two of the earliest questions were about zoning/development, specifically if Jones would pledge his support to local community groups who have concerns about incoming development. Jones started off by saying that he thinks this district is the hottest in terms of new development and invited the crowd to tell the other council members he said so. He pledged his support for local causes and said that 9 times out of 10, he'd err on the side of the community's wishes instead of those of developers'. He added that he'd propose regional zoning boards.

Approximately 50 people gathered for Monday night's Great Expectations District 4 agenda forum at the North Light Community Center (175 Green Ln) in hilly and narrow-streeted Manayunk/Roxborough. I sat down at a table with 5 locals, most who had been to a previous Great Expectations meeting. Barbara was especially pleased she attended the citizezns convention in December and was looking forward to seeing how the Nutter administration does over the next year in regards to the agenda laid out by the citizens through this project. The ongoing basketball games next door in the other gym kept a steady beat throughout the night for the group to work by. The fluorescent lights kept things difficult for me to take photos. We were told that 4th District Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., 40 days into office, would be attending and hopefully At-Large Councilwoman Bondell Reynolds Brown would make it too.

The second portion of the District 10 agenda meeting was mostly the city councilmembers talking, specifically Councilman Brian O'Neill, it's his district after all. The other two councilmen, Councilman Jack Kelly and Councilman Bill Green are both currently At-Large officials, but Kelly is from the NE and once was a district councilman as well. They were more than happy to let the home team have their say and added their points accordingly. The initial discussion focused on Planning & Zoning. Forum attendee and NE resident Alan wanted wanted a real citywide plan with significant localized input. He asked how much juice should individual neighborhoods have?

Monday night was the first of ten meetings where the Great Expectations Agenda is opened up to each of the ten councilmanic districts to discuss. I made my way to the Klein Jewish Community Center in Councilman Brian O'Neill's 10th District (the Bustleton section of the NE). In addition to the 7 or so staffers, about 20 citizens came out as well as Councilman O'Neill, Councilman Jack Kelly and Councilman Bill Green. It was a smallish group, but the discussion was lively.

The fun that is Chinese New Year cannot be properly described in words. It's gotta be felt up close and personal. You gotta have bits of red firecracker paper in your hair, gunpowder in your lungs and Chinese pastries in your stomach. I had a great time this Sunday with a fun group of fellow photogs up in Chinatown. I met up with Tony, Andi, Laura, Kev, Addie and Jill for a few hours taking in the festivities. Laura was the only smart one who brought along ear plugs.
Nikon D200 @ ISO100; Tokina 12-24mm: @12mm, f/4, 1/350sec; SB-800 flash

After an hour or so of fireworks, we had some grub at Penang. I had a plate of the Chow Kueh Teow which resembles Pad Thai, but without peanuts or lemon/lime. I asked for an additional side of hot sauce to spice it up a bit more. Over lunch, we talked a little shop about camera gear and caught up on each other's personal lives which is always fun to do since we normally interact through email. We topped off our appetites with a visit to KC Pastries for some delicious under $1 treats.
Nikon D200 @ ISO100; Tokina 12-24mm: @13mm, f/8, 1/125sec; SB-800 flash

I took a whole bunch of photos and they're up a flickr set of 30 here. Now whether to go back out again for the final Sunday of the festivities on the 24th! For those who want to see the craziness, it's from Noon to 4p and it all starts around 10/Vine, down to Arch and then circles to the left all around Chinatown.
Nikon D200 @ ISO100; Nikkor 17-55mm: @17mm, f/4, 1/160sec

Who else went? Did you take photos? What did you think?

Neighborhood Networks held their candidate forum for the 1st PA Senate District Thursday night at the Italian Bistro on the Avenue of the Arts. The invited candidates were incumbent Sen. Vincent J. Fumo and challengers Anne Dicker and Joe Vignola. In addition, Jack Morely, seeking the Republican nomination for the race, was in attendance. Sen. Fumo, who was present at the 5th Ward dinner earlier that evening was not in attendance. If you click on the map above or here, a new window will open with a Flash-enabled drag/zoom map of the gigantic district with approximately 250k constituents. A .pdf of the map is available here via Committee of Seventy.

Head of South Philly's NN Chapter, Damon Roberts, was moderator for the night and briefly introduced everyone to the candidates and the seat at stake. He also announced that on February 28th there would be a PA House candidates forum/debate at a time and location to be determined. He briefly spoke of Sen. Fumo who took office in 1978 and has not lost an election since. Fumo, who is arguably the most powerful politician in the state, even after a federal indictment, has brought billions to Philadelphia in the decades he's served as Senator and former chair of the Appropriations Committee. He was also the Senator responsible for inserting the language which allowed casinos to be placed in Philly. Dicker, who almost won the 175th PA House race in 2006, is a grassroots organizer who is probably best known for co-founding Casino Free Philadelphia. Vignola is a former City Councilman, former City Controller and former PICA director. I knew absolutely nothing about him going into tonight other than that he was running. Morely was given a moment to describe himself and noted that he'd received more votes than any other challenger to Fumo and that he was the pro-choice and pro environment Republican in the race. Damon cleared up why Morely wasn't a part of the proceedings in that NN only endorses contested races and as of now, the Republican side of the race was uncontested.

I tagged along with Peggy Banaszek on Monday on a trip to Benjamin Franklin High School to deliver about 250 books for her 10,000 Pages Book Drive (more books are ready for another drop off at another school soon). I briefly wrote about the initial getting the word out event at Rittenhouse Square last month. I met Peggy, Florence and a bunch of students to unload the boxes of books up at Broad & Spring Garden Sts.

Peggy took a PhillyCarShare Honda Fit and it was packed to the brim with books. I could only stick my head in for a photo of the unloading after half of the books were already taken out.

Councilman Frank Rizzo Jr. (R, At-Large) was angry at Tuesday's municipal wifi meeting at City Hall and rightfully so. His concerns about the state of the ongoing Wireless Philadelphia project, in conjunction with EarthLink, were not being addressed and his concerns are the concerns of the people. Let me just add that the City Council room (City Hall 400), pictured above, is gorgeous. This was the first time I had attended a City Council hearing and I hope it won't be my last. I got to the meeting at 2.15p, after waiting in line downstairs for a pass, and the meeting was already underway.

While Councilman Brian O'Neill (R, 10th District [NE]) is the chair of the Technology and Information Services committee, it was Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown (D, At-Large) and Councilman Rizzo (both pictured above) who did most of the talking while I was there for 90 minutes.

O'Neill was on his cell phone for a good portion of the meeting while I was there. I thought it was odd that he sat there, two chairs away from Tasco and Rizzo talking, softly, on his cell phone. He did get up to talk more away from his seat, but still in the room.

I listened to most of the testimony of the CEO of Wireless Philadelphia, Greg Goldman, the first permanent CEO of the project. He blogged about his, then, upcoming testimony [.pdf]. I wonder if he was prepared to get grilled like he did.

My final session for the day was transportation. It was a smaller group of about 10, with 2 moderators, spread out a large circle. Why we didn't move close to each other, I'm not quite sure. That didn't stop a spirited discussion focused around SEPTA and the PPA. Skip opened up the discussion with concerns about limited English seniors who get no sympathy from SEPTA. He said that he's tried numerous times to initiate talks with SEPTA about the issue, but they refuse to meet him and his minority-represented groups. One of the moderators, Carol, added that many seniors don't know that they can ride SEPTA for free.

systemwide map. It set her back $10. NYC's MTA has the full color, zebra-folding maps all over the city. DC's Metro offers maps that you can download to your iPod. Boston's T has downloadable maps for all their lines. Chicago's CTA also has maps you can download in .pdf. Would it kill SEPTA to stitch together some printable resolution .pdfs for people? How many people are buying those $10 maps anyway? I've lived here for 3.5 years and I didn't know they existed until Debi said she actually owned one.

Steve, who walks with the help of a cane, but still an avid biker, was very concerned about bike lanes throughout Philadelphia. He said that the dedicated bus/bike lanes are treacherous and that he opts to ride behind buses breathing in the soot and fumes rather than risk riding in front of the buses. Skip, who also uses a cane, added that he'd take SEPTA more often if he knew which subway stations had elevators or escalators. He said he's forced to drive into town because there's no easy way to know if certain stations are accessible.

One of Nutter's wishes is to have SEPTA employees smile more often. It was one of the bullet points on the agenda as well. Sue pointed out that good customer service is more than a smile. Debi wanted trip planning capabilities between SETPA, NJT and DART to be linked for easier trip planning. SEPTA's R7 train schedule does have the times for the connecting NJT trains to NYC, but you can't access those timetables via the Trip Planner.

The biggest issue in the Arts & Culture session was the creation of a regional fund to support the arts. The group of 20 was split into two groups that did not come back together to discuss as a whole. The side I was in did not come up with the how to get that money. People were confused as to where it would come from. It could come from tax money, a pledge of 1% of the city's budget, somewhere else. Taking the leap of faith that hundreds of millions of dollars would be poured into Philly's thriving arts scene, where would it go and what would it do?

An artist, Sue, was concerned that much of the money would end up going to administrative costs. She said that usually, 80% of monies end up going to admin costs and a trickle ends up in the pockets of the artists themselves. She stressed that the message must be clear that artists cannot create art for free and they must be paid for their contributions to the city. Sue added that the old Office of Arts & Culture (it currently doesn't exist, but I believe Nutter has pledged to reopen it) did not do anything other than organize artists around Christmas time to create displays around City Hall. She said that a revived Office of Arts & Culture must actively act as a liaison between all of the arts groups in the city. A well designed website would be a huge step; the group agreed.

Several in the group noted their frustration in not being able to know what's going on around the city at the hundreds of arts and culture venues. Sure, you could find out what was going on at the Kimmel Center, but the small venues have a hard time getting their word out. The group liked the notion of offering bundled ticket incentives. Say you were to go see the orchestra for $50 (pulling that number out of nowhere). On the ticket would be a notice that if you were to go to "studio x" for a show, you'd get 10% off admission or something similar, in order to simply let people know of the smaller galleries and give them a little push towards going to them. Russell said that one of Nutter's proposals to bring the youth out of the classroom is to offer 2 tickets to every child, each year.

The library was another biggie. The expansion of the main branch was one of the 'long-term efforts' outlined in the agenda.

Fund the expansion of the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia. This is the people’s Taj Mahal of culture, and the inspired design for its expansion by "starchitect" Moshe Safdie should be a top public-funding priority.

With the closing of so many branches around the city, I think that it's insane to plunk $30M into the central branch. Yes, as Sue pointed out, their lecture series (mostly free lectures at that!) is second to none in the city. But, I added, if people were able to go their own branch and watch a simulcast, that would only increase the reach of these fantastic sold-out appearances. What good does an astounding lecture series do for the kid who lives 45 minutes away from the central branch with no way to get there? What good does a $30M expansion project do the kid who can't get a book from her/his local, closed branch down the street? Keep the existing branches open. Open up the ones which have recently been closed. Keep them open more than 3 days a week. Then, then you can think about plunking $30M into the central branch.