Trolley Car Diner eyes West Philly

Newsworks is reporting that the Mount Airy-based Trolley Car Diner, which also has a location in East Falls, is considering opening a spot in West Philly. Trolley Car’s owner, Ken Weinstein, told Newsworks that the University City District came to him about opening a location in University City. “University City District approached us probably six months ago and asked if we were interested,” Weinstein told Newsworks. “I thought that the University City area would be a good match.” Weinstein said he is considering a spot that would include outdoor seating, but that one has not yet been chosen.

Why I Chose Lea

West Philly resident David Hincher and his family were featured this week in Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Miriam Hill’s “Raising Philadelphia” column. Hincher’s essay details why he plans to send his daughter to the Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust). He writes:

“The collective hope of all those hundreds of other parents in our area all in the same situation we are in, all working together to find a solution, and improve one school, has soothed that old public school issue panic like a strange balm. For the first time in years, my wife and I are in agreement and will likely apply for a voluntary transfer for our daughter to Lea Elementary when the time comes.”

Play on, Stanford

West Philadelphia resident Stanford Thompson, the man behind the venture Play On, Philly, was profiled this week in the Inquirer. The story reveals his passion of bringing orchestral music to schools in the city. He is currently working at Saint Francis de Sales (4625 Springfield Ave.) and plans to bring the program to the Lea School in January. He hopes to have 10 programs running throughout the city by 2020. He tells Inquirer music critic Peter Dobrin in the piece:

“To be completely honest, I’ve always been obsessed with the – how do I say this? – the lack of engagement of underserved communities. I consider myself to be among the communities I see in West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia and South Philadelphia, and I sit on the trolley and I think: All of those kids could fall in love with the orchestra. I fell in love with it, they can fall in love with it – if we give these kids the opportunity.”

Construction workers began taking the scaffolding off St. Francis de Sales domes on Monday. The dome renovation project, which began in August 2010 and cost $2.5 million is almost over. The scaffolding should be completely removed by Friday. The dome renovation is only the first phase of a multimillion St. Francis de Sales renovation project.

The little orange tabby cat that a West Philly resident found lying half-dead in a gutter earlier this week is a fighter. That’s why the folks at The Cat Doctor, who have performed a blood transfusion, rid him of a nasty flea infestation and detected a piece of metal lodged in his colon, have named the cat “Clark Kent.”

The staff at The Cat Doctor are reporting that Clark Kent is recovering, though he still has a long road to get back to full strength. His temperature has risen from a low of 90 degrees when he was found (102 degrees is normal for cats) and he received a blood transfusion from another cat, Diamond, who is one of the house cats at The Cat Doctor.

“If he would not have had that he probably would have died,” said The Cat Doctor’s Lori Horwedel.

Horwedel said Clark Kent is still sleeping on a warming blanket to keep his body temperature up. But he is eating and interested in his surroundings.

“He’s bright and alert this morning,” she said. “When I opened the door (to his cage) he tried to jump out.”

Clark Kent was found in a gutter near Clark Park. He had obviously not been eating well (doctors suspect the piece of metal they found was part of something he tried to eat). He had no collar but he did have a microchip that included information on the people who adopted him. When someone from The Cat Doctor contacted the owner, who adopted him about six months ago, the woman’s mother said they put him outside because they thought he was sick. Enforcement officers from the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA) are investigating.

Clark Kent has gained scores of fans worldwide in the two days since he was found. The West Philly-based feline rescue group City Kitties has received donations from Germany, Australia, Ireland and 30 U.S. states that will more than cover Clark Kent’s sizable medical bills.  Now City Kitties is asking those interested in helping to donate at the PSPCA website and choose “humane law enforcement” when asked where they want their donation directed.

Here’s an opportunity to use your design skills and have your artwork displayed all along Baltimore Avenue (plus win a few prizes).

The University City District has announced an open call for participation in the Baltimore Avenue Banner Design competition. The winner’s work will ultimately be fabricated as a 24 x 36 inch banner and installed along Baltimore Avenue. The banners currently on display along Baltimore Avenue between 45th and 50th streets will be replaced next spring with new ones, possibly featuring your design.

Here are the details of the competition.

• The design competition is open to everyone.

• An individual can submit multiple concepts.

• There is a particular interest in work that is responsive to Baltimore Avenue and the neighborhood, but the sky is the limit!

• The winner will receive $200 in University City restaurant gift certificates and $300 in cash, and your artwork on over 70 banners.

• Submissions are due Friday, March 2. Late submissions will not be accepted.

If you are interested in submitting a design please email the following to Mark Christman at: mark[at]universitycity.org:

Name, Address, Email and telephone number, Proposed design (jpg or pdf), and one-two sentence description of proposed design(s).

A selection committee will be comprised of Baltimore Avenue and neighborhood business owners, artists and neighbors.

A couple of dozen pumpkins entered our 2011 Pumpkin Carving Contest. The artistic endeavor and sheer jack-o-lovliness has impressed folks far and wide. Alas, there can only be a handful of winners. And here they are:

• Reader’s Choice –  Bimal Desai‘s toothy, super-freak of a pumpkin (Pumpkin 21) topped the voting (160 votes cast). Bimal wins gift certificates from Wake Up Yoga and Dock Street Brewery.
• Kids – Wyatt Baker, 8, and his super crafty use of the stem (Pumpkin 4). Wyatt wins a tote bag and a gift card from VIX Emporium.
• Philly-themed – Katrine Lvovskaya and Becca Lausch with “Fall-o-delphia”, their homage to our lovely skyline and the love that is the Love Statue (Pumpkin 17). Katrine and Becca win a gift card from Milk & Honey Market.
• Scariest –  Terry Coleman – That “Gears of War” skull freaked the judges out a lot (Pumpkin 5). Terry wins a gift certificate from Aksum cafe/restaurant.
• Funniest/Ironic/ Wow! – Nate Johnson (Pumpkin 19). There has to be a place in our awards for a pumpkin that just blew the judges’ minds. A fitting tribute to REM and Michael Stipe a couple of weeks after the band announced the (yes, we had to do it) End of their World as We Know it. Nate wins a fall food basket from Mariposa Food Co-op.

Last but not least, we want to give a hearty shout out to everyone who entered a pumpkin and all who voted.

UPDATE: House minority leader Eric Cantor has canceled the speech on income inequality after his office learned that it would be open to the public, several news outlets are reporting. The Wharton School confirmed that the speech has been canceled. Cantor’s office has told reporters that they thought the speech would only be open to the media and members of the Penn community. A Cantor spokesperson told Philadelphia Daily News reporter Chris Brennan by email that “The Office of the Majority Leader was informed last night by Capitol Police that the University of Pennsylvania was unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met.” Wharton reportedly planned to allow 300 members of the general public into the speech.

For the last couple of weeks many West Philadelphians have been going to Occupy Philly. Now Occupy Philly is coming to West Philadelphia.

According to the announcement on their Facebook page, the Occupy Philly movement is going to make it to West Philly Friday for a major protest outside the Wharton School (3730 Walnut St.) at the University of Pennsylvania, where Republican Eric Cantor, the House minority leader, will speak about income inequality from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The protest is part of a march dubbed “Occupy Eric Cantor,” that will begin at 3 p.m. at the movement’s base camp near City Hall.