Kirsty MacColl

One of my favorite singer/songwriters is Kirsty MacColl who was tragically killed by a boat while on vacation in Mexico in 2000. Here is a video of her singing "Days", one of her biggest hits that was written by Ray Davies and originally performed by the Kinks, my all-time favorite band.

Bike Sharing is Coming to Philadelphia

Philadelphia will soon have a bike-sharing program; think PhillyCarShare with bicycles.

Mayor Nutter in Forbes Magazine

From the PhillyInc. Blog: Forbes Magazine interviewed Philadelphia's new Mayor in their January 28th issue. In the article, the Mayor posits that "earlier city policies to spur job growth, which amounted to coddling the biggest employers with incentive packages, have failed."

State Office Building sold for $25 Million

Pennsylvania officials have agreed to sell their 19-story, 299,000 square foot office building at 1400 Spring Garden St. to Bart Blatstein's Tower Investments for about $25 million. The building will apparently be converted into condominums.

Agricultural Factoid

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the Commonwealth ranks 3rd nationally in butter production, making 72.2 million pounds annually in four processing plants generating nearly $100 million in sales.

Titusville, PA

Located in Crawford County in the northwestern part of the Commonwealth, Titusville is famous as the birthplace of the oil industry. The first commercial oil well in the world was drilled there by Col. Edwin Drake on August 27, 1859.

Unisys' headquarters are moving to Center City

From the Inquirer last week:

"Unisys Corp. is moving its headquarters and 225 management jobs to Two Liberty Place in Center City from Blue Bell. Stephanie Naidoff, Philadelphia's commerce director, said the city would give Unisys up to $1 million in yearly job-creation tax incentives. "We wanted to change the face of Unisys to our clients and partners, and to people we're recruiting," Unisys chief executive officer Joseph McGrath said. Unisys employs 775 in Blue Bell. The company is considering alternative locations in the Philadelphia suburbs for the more than 500 who will not make the move to Center City. It also employs 650 at its Malvern research-and-development center. About 1,000 others work at Unisys offices or with clients in the Philadelphia area. Worldwide, the company has 29,500 employees."

The Mummers on Two Street

The Mummers are wonderful. Check out the parade on New Year's Day or on Two Street in the evening. Here's a video from last year.

Philadelphia Classrooms are Wired

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Every classroom in the 170,000-student Philadelphia School District has wireless Internet capabilities under a $40 million project completed last month - one of the world's largest networks of its kind, according to industry and school district officials." A link to the article is here.

It's a shame that good news like this doesn't get as much play as bad news does.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is cool. Northern Liberties is cool. Here is a cool video pod on Northern Liberties.

Agricultural Factoid

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the first recorded Christmas tree in the nation was displayed in Bethlehem, PA, in 1747. Christmas tree harvesting contributes $13.9 million to Commonwealth’s economy, with 1.7 million trees produced on 45,000 acres.

Masterman: One of the Top 100 High Schools in the Nation

US News and World Report has listed - for the first time - the nation's best high schools. Masterman at 17th and Spring Garden Streets is at #53.

RecycleBank in Cherry Hill

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Philadelphia's RecycleBank has signed Cherry Hill, N.J. as a client. Cherry Hill is the 27th municipality to sign on.

Michael Nutter in the New York Times

There's an article about our next Mayor in the New York Times; you can find it here. The article says that "he has been called the Seabiscuit of this year’s urban politics, having beaten two congressmen, a veteran state legislator and a billionaire businessman in the Democratic primary in May before taking the general election on Nov. 6 by a four-to-one ratio, the largest the city has seen since 1931."

New Philadelphia Construction: Cira Centre South

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Brandywine Realty Trust broke ground yesterday on its $800 million "Cira Centre South" project in University City. Brandywine built the original Cira Centre, a 28-story, 728,000-square-foot office building next to 30th Street Station. The new building will be a 2.8 million square foot mixed-use development with offices, a hotel, residential, parking and retail. Cira Centre South is scheduled for completion by the end of 2010.

Cash Bonuses for Teachers?

From Harvard's Kennedy School of Government: "New York City has moved forward with a controversial plan to give cash bonuses to underperforming schools where student test scores are rising. Similar plans have alredy been deployed in Denver, Minneapolis, and other cities. With the blessing of New York's local teachers' union, the plan provides awards to entire schools, not just individual teachers, who raise test scores. A school committee then determines how the award will be distributed to the teachers. The plan is voluntary and would require that at least 55 percent of the teachers at a participating school vote to opt in."

"Reading Terminal Market West"

On Monday the 19th of November, the Marketplace at East Falls will open at 8:00 am. It's basically going to be Northwest Philadelphia's version of the Reading Terminal Market, with produce, prepared foods, wines sales, etc.

Mayor-Elect Nutter Selects Charles Ramsey as Police Commissioner

Here's an excerpt from his online bio:

Charles H. Ramsey was appointed chief of the Metropolitan Police Department on April 21, 1998. He retired on December 28, 2006, having been the longest-serving chief of the MPDC since DC Home Rule and the second longest-serving in Department history. Under Chief Ramsey's leadership, the Department regained its reputation as a national leader in urban policing. Crime rates declined by approximately 40 percent during Ramsey's tenure, community policing and traffic safety programs were expanded, and MPDC recruiting and hiring standards, training, equipment, facilities and fleet were all dramatic upgraded.

A nationally recognized innovator, educator and practitioner of community policing, Chief Ramsey refocused the MPDC on crime fighting and crime prevention through a more accountable organizational structure, new equipment and technology, an enhanced strategy of community policing and, since September 11, 2001, new approaches to homeland security and counter-terrorism in the Nation's Capital. Chief Ramsey was instrumental in designing and implementing the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy, the city's nationally acclaimed model of community policing. As co-manager of the CAPS project in Chicago, Chief Ramsey was one of the principal authors of the police department's strategic vision. He also designed and implemented the CAPS operational model and helped to develop new training curricula and communications efforts to support implementation.

Philstock?

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a multi-stage, multi-day music festival has been proposed for next summer in Fairmount Park. C3 Presents - based in Austin (TX) - and producers of Austin City Limits and the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, has been recommended by the Fairmount Park Conservancy to produce the festival, which would take place over three days on Belmont Plateau.

Video of Michael Nutter's Acceptance Speech

Check out Mayor-elect Michael Nutter's acceptance speech here.