MAYOR NUTTER’S REMARKS FROM INDOOR FEEDING POLICY ANNOUNCEMENT
Philadelphia, March 15, 2012 – Yesterday, Mayor Michael A. Nutter announced a series of actions designed to encourage hungry Philadelphians, and those who feed the hungry outdoors, to move to indoor locations over the next year. Check remarks against delivery. The prepared remarks follow:
“Since I became Mayor, our Administration has worked every day to protect and support our City’s vulnerable populations. We managed through a severe Recession and made sure to minimize the budget impact on those Philadelphians without resources or the means to secure them.
While the City has worked hard to reduce the number of homeless people during the recession, we’ve had neither the means nor the ability to prevent an increase in hunger. And we know that access to food is vital for individual and community health.
Today, I am announcing a new policy initiative aimed at increasing the health, safety, dignity and support for those vulnerable individuals who now gain their daily and often less than daily sustenance from well-intentioned people distributing food on City streets.
And first, let me say that for many years people of good conscience have fed the hungry on the streets of Philadelphia. I very much appreciate their efforts. But I believe we all can do better. I believe that if we join together, marshal our good will and resources, that we can help vulnerable, hungry people of Philadelphia in more effective ways.
>>>The monthly installment of Doogie Horner’s Ministry of Secret Jokes returns tonight at Fergie’s, 8PM. Line-up includes Joey Doc, of recent Philebrity Showcase fame. Come, laugh, or get fed up and leave before it even starts. >>>Self-described as an “all-girl conceptual art punk band of women artists who can’t play any instruments”, DISBAND perform in the AUX Space tonight, their first US show since 2008. If Kim Deal couldn’t play bass before she joined the Pixies, what’s stopping these modern girls from blowing our minds? P.S. Show’s free. >>>Get your tube-tops out, it’s 74 degrees!
The half-dead, needle-strewn image that plagues Kenzo residents may be on its way out. A new civic association called Somerset Neighbors for Better Living has formed to revitalize the Kensington area, particularly the 10 blocks around the Somserset El Stop. Fueled by a fierce desire to rehab their image, neighborhood residents are taking grass-roots action through monthly meetings in a collaborative effort with New Kensington Community Development Corp. to institute a plan for the next 15-20 years. As the Northeast Times Star reports,
[SNBL] committees encompass a clean-and-green committee, which intends to spruce up area parks and lots; youth engagement, which wants to involve young people in community activities; licenses and inspections, which focuses on targeting and fixing abandoned buildings; and a welcome committee, which will host potlucks and other events to make new neighbors feel connected in the community.”
Pride has a way of motivating people fed up with dismissal to come out of the woodwork; let’s see these residents carve a good name for themselves in the heart of the city’s blind spot.
Under pressure from Holmesburg residents and legislators, reports Philly.com, a methadone clinic has lost its permit to build from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Last summer, the neighborhood organized a rally protesting Healing Way‘s erection at Frankford Avenue and Decatur Street. And apparently, they’ve won. At issue are concerns about adequate parking around the facility and, via NEastPhilly.com,
…that the facility’s placement would cripple a crucial economic corridor of the city and place an undue burden on local business owners and residents, according to…[Pa. Rep. Kevin] Boyle.”
Look, nobody wants a hang-out for recovering heroin addicts in their backyard. But the targeted population obviously needs help (need we mention the dwindling budget for mental health services?) and they’re asking for it. An appeal from Healing Way’s legal front, who calls it a “civil-rights issue,”could reverse the Zoning Board decision. All gripes about how we’re not from the Northeast aside, we could live with that.
Today, I am announcing a new policy initiative aimed at increasing the health, safety, dignity and support for those vulnerable individuals who now gain their daily and often less than daily sustenance from well-intentioned people distributing food on City streets. For many years people of good conscience have fed the hungry on the streets of Philadelphia and I very much appreciate their efforts. But I believe we all can do better. I believe that if we join together, marshal our good will and resources, that we can help vulnerable, hungry people of Philadelphia in more effective ways
Accoring to My Fox Philly, a temporary food distribution location will be established on the City Hall apron. All people who want to use this outdoor feeding location will be, “required to sign up with the Department of Public Property and reserve the days and times for their activity.”
With the opening line of “I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day,” we probably should have expected Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz to bust out a rendition of “My Girl” one of these days. But on the other hand, we absolutely should not have expected that because it’s Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz singing “My Girl.” This past weekend, Schwartz emceed the National Kidney Foundation‘s 28th Annual Kidney Ball, where he hopped on stage with Jellyroll and sang the classic Temptations tune. It’s a bit odd, but we’ll take this over another rendition of “Rapper’s Delight” any day.
This one goes out to all the ladies out there: Next Friday at noon, The Archdiocese of Philadelphiais supporting a rally against supplying employees with birth control. The rally, which will take place at Independence Hall, is sponsored by the Pro-Life Union of S.E. PA, Generation Life, the Archdiocesan Respect Life Office, and the Office for Catholic Education.
It’s things like this that put Awesome Fest towards the top of our favorite things list last summer, and there’s no reason this year should be different. The Oscar-winning film (for Best Original Song, in case you missed the awards) will be screening at The Troc for $7, but you get $2 off for wearing green. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if saving two bucks is worth wearing the uniform of the asshole for the weekend.
A local investment adviser helped himself and others earn $1.8 million off of insider trading information he learned in confidence at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Stay classy, guy.
>>>The Philebrity Salon goes down at the 700 tonight as always. Kyle Andrews will be spinning tunes solo. >>>And Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker & Yim Yames will be playing original songs with Woody Guthrie lyrics at Union Transfer tonight. Go for the tunes, stay for the beards.
In the comments on yesterday’s post about Felicia Rashad‘s new pilot, Do No Harm being set and filmed locally, one of you told us they were supporting the school district. Well, now we have proof:
Attendees of the School Reform Commission meeting last night were shuffled to the auditorium between active sets (hallways and atrium had been repurposed with hospital signage) and actors/extras in scrubs. Independence Memorial Hospital, I think it was called. This being the district, no one at the front desk explained that anything was up, they let you figure it out on your own. Now if the district could just follow the “First do no harm” directive!
At least one of those things seems organized. We’ll let you decide which one.
so i heard there was a show going on at a place in philly on march 23rd. i am going to go see bands play and give them money so they can pay for gas. i like people who don’t take themselves way too seriously and i love music. it will be an excellent show and i am expecting to have fun
Con:
setting up great shows for bands that someone thinks are great is exactly what madison square garden does. and honestly, i will wish you the best if that’s all you want. but then we’ll know where we all stand.
We’ll let you decide which argument seems more reasonable.
Ditch your ethics at customs and find out what it means to get sick in a Philipino whore house with Evan, last night’s winning storyteller from the First Person Arts StorySlam. Hear his winning story in the video below. The theme was “Around the World.”
First Person Arts StorySlams take place every second Monday at World Cafe Live and fourth Tuesday at L’Etage. The next Slam is on Tuesday, March 27th at L’Etage. The theme is “Best Ever.”
Look for videos of the winning story after each Slam, here on Philebrity.
For a complete schedule of upcoming Slam dates and themes visit firstpersonarts.org.
The clip above, from Bill Cosby‘s … um … Grammy-winning album Bill Cosby Talks To Children About Drugs, features the Cos telling kids to always have their name and address written on a piece of paper in their pocket, how LSD addicts steal things to support their LSD habit, and listening to a child tell him about a time a kid overdosed on Halloween candy. So you know, the sort of stuff Cos is still saying out-loud, to himself, in his chair.
GunCrisis.org is a new website with the mission, “not to blame but [contend] that there is an epidemic of homicide by gunfire in Philadelphia and similar cities, and seeks solutions.” The site is in its infantile stages as of now, but promises to avoid “fear reporting,” which is a mighty task for a site reporting on statistics like the one you see above. In the future, a documentary and status as a non-profit may be in the works, but for now, it’s just some people trying to fix a very large problem, and that’s pretty noble.
Date: Saturday, April 7, 2012 Time: 3:00 PM (arrive 5 minutes early and keep your pillows hidden) Location: Washington Square (7th and Walnut – Same as last year) Clothing: Wear Red, Blue, Green or Yellow or come in costume. And your pillow, of course.
There’s a part of us that wants to alert the Erin Express jerkoffs that there will still be need for people in green next month.
Recently, we got to talking with someone who works at Philly’s Academy of Natural Sciences who, all throughout this month, are celebrating their bicentennial anniversary with this whole “200 Years Of Discovery” thing. That bicentennial, by the way, makes the ANSP “the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World.” Which is nothing to sneeze at. Anyway, to prepare for the bicentennial exhibit and related programs, the ANSP went through its extensive archives and found, among other things, LOTS AND LOTS OF WEIRD STUFF IN JARS. (In case you’re wondering, the dioramas are still large and in charge over there, and kids of all ages will find them fascinating and strange, even if they are a little dusty.)
“Weird stuff in jars, you say?,” we said, our interest piqued. “Oh yeah,” said Mike, the ANSP guy. “Tons of it!” We then asked Mike if he wouldn’t mind sharing photos of said weird stuff in jars with us, and he was like, “Sure!” So as we speak, Mike is going through his now-vast catalog of photos in weird stuff in jars to share with us and lucky, lucky you. He sent over a sample batch, though, and what you see above is from that set. It would appear to be a bunch of fish that probably don’t exist anymore, because man lives to ruin this world. We’ll be running photos of WEIRD STUFF IN JARS here and there for the rest of the month. Science!
>>>The monthly installment of Doogie Horner’s Ministry of Secret Jokes returns tonight at Fergie’s, 8PM. Line-up includes Joey Doc, of recent Philebrity Showcase fame. Come, laugh, or get fed up and leave before it even starts.
The half-dead, needle-strewn image that plagues Kenzo residents may be on its way out. A new civic association called Somerset Neighbors for Better Living has formed to revitalize the Kensington area, particularly the 10 blocks around the Somserset El Stop. Fueled by a fierce desire to rehab their image, neighborhood residents are taking grass-roots action through monthly meetings in a collaborative effort with New Kensington Community Development Corp. to institute a plan for the next 15-20 years. As the 
Thirty days from Thursday, 
While many revelers will be partaking in 
