City Offices in Philadelphia Moving from Spring Garden to Market Street

The move should save $30 million dollars over the next 20 years.

Is it possible?

I can't believe I haven't had a post during 2009 thus far. To be honest, my job with City government for the last 18 months has been my busiest professional endeavor, leaving little time for other activities like blogs. Hopefully I will start getting things cranked up again. Hope everybody is well.

Green Houses in Philadelphia

Eco-houses on Broad Street.

The Kinks

FYI, the Kinks are my favorite band of all time.  Here's a video of one of their more recent hits.

Tiny Houses

Tiny Houses are cool.

I am on a break...

In case anybody was wondering, I am on a break. I have taken a new job working for the City of Philadelphia and will be focusing my time and attention on this work. Keep in touch.

Goodbye Philadelphia

If it's remotely related to Philadelphia, I like it. Along those lines, check out this song called "Goodybye Philadelphia", by Peter Cincotti.

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.