Friday Agricultural Factoid: Three Days Late

Pumpkins contribute more than $16 million to the Commonwealth's economy. In 2005, 7,500 acres of pumpkins were planted and harvested. Pumpkins rank our state second nationally in annual production at 136 million pounds.

Temple Law School Excels

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal - for the first time - Temple University's School of Law graduates led the rankings in first-time pass rates for the July 2006 Pennsylvania Bar exam. Temple Law grads had a score of 91.16 percent, 7 percentage points above the statewide average. Temple Law was better than all other ranked law schools, including Pitt (90.34 percent), Penn (89.47), Dickinson (89.17), Duquesne (88.32) and Villanova (85.47).

Center City Development News

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, the Girard Estate has entered into a $90 million agreement with Trinity Capital Advisors of Conshohocken to develop the block bordered by Chestnut and Market Streets and 11th and 12th Streets. Trinity envisions a project that will likely contain hotel, retail, residential, entertainment and office uses that could total more than 3 million square feet.

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence

From their website: The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence ("RBA") seeks to discover those special places, to celebrate and publicize their achievement. Excellence exists in every city. It can be found in downtowns, neighborhoods, and parks. The Rudy Bruner Award is a search for examples of this often overlooked excellence, and a celebration of their contribution to the richness and diversity of the urban experience. Often these places transcend the boundaries between architecture, urban design, and planning. They are born through processes of transformation -- the renewal of something old, or the creation of something new that resonates in the history of community life.

Friday Agricultural Factoid: Late Double Shot

Pennsylvania ranks fourth nationally in apple production. Apples contribute more than $50 million to our state’s economy. In 2005, 21,800 acres of apples were harvested for 405 million pounds in PA. Also, the Commonwealth ranks fifth nationally in wine grape production. In 2005, we produced 16,300 tons of wine grapes. The state is home to more than 100 wineries.

For the "Conservative" Urbanist In You

Announcing Citiesonahill.org, a project of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Civic Innovation. This exciting new website shines the spotlight on both the missteps of American urban policy, as well as potential solutions to urban problems. Citiesonahill.org operates with the assumption that the American metropolis can be transformed through better governance, crime reduction, and market-friendly economic policies.

The reader is invited to enjoy an engaging and interactive experience featuring original editorial content, timely analysis of breaking news, and moderated reader comments. Urban analysts based throughout the United States provide guest insight into the unique issues being confronted in their cities.

Citiesonahill.org is edited by urban policy expert Fred Siegel. Mr. Siegel was a major intellectual force in the revitalization of declining American cities in the 1990s. As a senior campaign advisor to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, he was one of the first to conceptualize the reform policies carried out in New York. He is the author of The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life (Encounter Books 2005), and frequently writes for publications including The New Republic, The Atlantic, The Public Interest, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dissent, The Weekly Standard, and The Washington Post. He was also one of the original editors of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal.

Harry Siegel, formerly of the New York Sun, is managing editor of the site. Harry was previously editor-in-chief of NewPartisan.com and editor-in-chief of the New York Press. He is widely published in national journals and newspapers.

Nutter and the City Year Serve-A-Thon

Nutter for Mayor 2007 is pleased to announce an exciting volunteer opportunity in the near future. City Year will be hosting their annual Serve-A-Thon on October 28, 2006 from 8:30am-3:00pm, and we want to bring our Nutter Team along and show our support for this excellent program.

This year's Serve-A-Thon will be at the Bellfield Recreation Center at 2100 West Chew Ave in Philadelphia, and will include the repairing and cleaning of this facility. A full day of activity is planned, with a new playground to be installed and murals to be painted. This a great chance for us to show our support for Michael and for our great City. If you want to sign up, or just learn more, contact Jesse Cohen at Jesse.Cohen@att.net.

Secret Meeting with Neil Oxman

Philadelphia-based political consultant Neil Oxman worked on six of the last seven Philadelphia mayoral campaigns and has helped elect candidates across the city and nation.

In this strictly “off the record” talk, he will tell how a reform effort can make real and lasting political change. You say you want a revolution? Come out and learn how you can change the world — or at least make positive change in Philadelphia.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 — 7:30 pm
Friends Select School / 17th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Cost — Free

Mike Nutter and Regionalism

From yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer:

While Philadelphia's bars and restaurants were trying to figure out the new smoking ban, Michael Nutter, the law's prime mover, was out trolling for votes, or rather contributions, at the Mendenhall Inn in Chester County last week. There, Nutter received an enthusiastic endorsement of his mayoral ambitions. He was praised as "a reform-minded public official, a person of the highest caliber who deserves to be elected mayor," in the words of Rob Powelson, president of the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry and the man who invited Nutter out to the suburbs. "When the city is doing well, the region is doing well," Powelson said.

Nutter was the keynote speaker at the second annual awards luncheon of the Chester County Chamber Foundation. "Philadelphia's future is inextricably tied to Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties," he said. "I want to change the nature of those relationships," seemingly a reference to Mayor Street, who has been little seen in Philly's suburbs.

Nutter noted that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was able to bring together 272 mayors from six counties and form the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. "There's no reason why we can't have something similar," Nutter said. Powelson gave Nutter credit for working with suburban representatives on the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority on the facility's long-awaited expansion.