CENTER CITY: Bicycles triumphed over other forms of transportation today during the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s Commuter Challenge. The Challenge pits a Septa bus, a PhillyCarShare car, and a bicycle enthusiast against each other — just like in real life! — to see who can make the best time from 45th and Spruce to the Municipal Services Building across from City Hall. Pat Cunnane, president of Fuji Bicycles, crossed the finish line in an impressive ten minutes and forty-five seconds. (Philebrity wants to know: Was he talking on the phone while he did it? ‘Cos that’s how we do.) The moral of this story is that two wheels can be faster and more environment friendly than four (or more) wheels. Too bad they didn’t include a unicycle, which would have been the greenest yet. [BCGP]
CHINATOWN: A hundred and fifty tons of sand were dumped in Franklin Square earlier today to start the production of a large Philadelphia-themed sand sculpture. The sculpture will take about eleven days to create and is expected to be standing until the end of September. Independence Hall, The Franklin Institute, and the Phillies are just a couple pieces of Philadelphia included in the sculpture. [KYW]
WEST FAIRMOUNT PARK: The Please Touch Museum will have a new home soon. The museum will be moving into Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, which has been numerous things since its original construction, but lately has been desolate. The building is undergoing numerous renovations on the inside, as well as slight changes on the outside, such as remaining the street outside to the original name of “Avenue of the Republic”. The grand opening of the new museum is anticipated for October 18th [CBS3].

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 2:58 pm.