Il Rimedio, a restaurant that will offer “modern northern Italian cuisine,” will replace the once popular Rx at 45th and Spruce, where the brunch used to be worth waiting in line for on a Sunday. After about four weeks of displaying the sign “Closed tonight due to technical difficulties,” a new notice appeared on Rx restaurant’s door today (see below). As many locals suspected, the restaurant is changing hands. The Rx name, which opened under new ownership in 2010, played off the pharmacy that was previously located in the space. For those whose Italian is a little rusty, Il Rimedio translates as “the remedy.” Let’s hope so.

Stay tuned for more information on the new restaurant and its owners.

Though West Philadelphia has long been on the forefront of the Philadelphia food justice movement that aims to obtain what we eat from local sources and/or sources that pay the producers fairly, the same cannot be said for what West Philly folks read. In the past three years, West Philadelphians, especially the academic communities of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University that have traditionally supported local booksellers, have been steadily and increasingly turning away from them in favor of Amazon.com.

Obviously, we’re not alone. The national market for books has been utterly transformed since Amazon came onto the scene in 1996. According to 2011 research done by Albert Greco, a Fordham University marketing professor who studies book retailing, Amazon has 22.6% of the book market — ahead of Barnes & Noble (17.3%), Borders (8.1%), Books-A-Million (3%) and independents (6%) with the remainder of the market going to various other non-book based retailers including price clubs, supermarkets, and convenience stores.

Full disclosure: I work at a local independent West Philadelphia bookstore, Penn Book Center (not to be confused with the Barnes and Noble, Penn Bookstore). Thanks to Penn and Drexel professors who choose to stock their required course texts at an independent bookstore, each September and January the PBC fills up with student customers excited to purchase their coursebooks. But the store also fills up with other students squatting in the aisles with iPods, droids, laptops, or just pen and paper in hand, with no intention to purchase books, but rather to copy down the ISBN numbers so that they can go purchase the books on Amazon.

The explanation I hear most frequently from these students is that Amazon is simply cheaper, a huge factor especially for students who are demanded to buy large quantities of expensive textbooks. The explanation I hear most often from my friends and peers who opt for Amazon—young professionals who are book lovers of varying levels—is that Amazon is also convenient, allowing exceedingly busy people who can’t make it to a bookstore during business hours to shop efficiently.

The parallel to the local food movement raised at the beginning of this piece becomes relevant here: these are precisely the points of resistance that local food activists face in trying to create and nurture systems of connecting West Philadelphians with locally and fairly grown food. It may be faster, more convenient, and slightly cheaper to buy a burger at McDonalds on 40th & Walnut or Checkers on 48th & Lancaster than it is to buy the necessary component ingredients at Mariposa Food Co-Op (even when subbing tofu or veggie burger for beef), but a growing number of West Philadelphians would agree that it is “worth it” to do so. During my recent new member orientation at Mariposa, I got educated on the historical context of the move towards food cooperatives and the history of West Philly residents’ commitment to food justice. We talked about what it meant to be a co-op member and how it was an investment in the community of West Philadelphia.

Yet, when it comes to books, perhaps many of us know it’s vaguely bad to purchase them from the multinational corporation that is Amazon, but could any of us really articulate why it’s “worth it” to buy books locally?

Here are three big reasons:

1) Amazon is steadily and systematically driving down the cost (read value) of books, a trend that will dramatically affect what books publishers are able to offer us, as readers. Selling books at deeply discounted prices often means that Amazon itself is taking a loss on book sales, figuring it will recoup this money through the sales generated when that book customer becomes an electronics or music or clothing customer. Amazon recently declared they would sell all ebooks for $9.99 regardless of publisher’s costs, effectively setting a hard price ceiling. Says Teresa Nielsen Hayde, an editor at Tor Books (an imprint of Macmillan), this price fixing in print and ebook publishing has taken a “shark-sized bite out of the market for hot new bestsellers, which is trade book publishing’s single most profitable area. That revenue source is what keeps a lot of publishing companies afloat. It provides the liquidity that enables them to buy and publish smaller and less commercially secure titles: odd books, books by unknown writers, books with limited but enthusiastic audiences, et cetera.” The result, she says, is “fewer and less diverse titles overall, published less well than they are now.”

2) Spending money in our local Philadelphia community puts money back into our local economy. No, really. The owners of West Philadelphia bookstores, House of Our Own (Debbie Sanford), The Last Word (Larry Maltz), and Bindlestiffs (Alexis Buss) are all West Philadelphia residents. Penn Book Center owners Michael Rowe and Ashley Montague are Philadelphia residents who employ almost all West Philadelphia staff. Spending a dollar at one of these local stores means they will then spend that dollar at the hardware store, or the grocery store, or on rent to their West Philly landlords, meaning the money changes hands several times within our community before it leaves. A dollar spent at Amazon supports nothing but Amazon.

3) Our local stores can do everything Amazon can do, sometimes for not much more, sometimes for less. Want a good used book of a common title for a class? The Last Word is truly a used book mecca. Want a rare, out of print, or just a not commonly available title? Penn Book Center will order it for you. And just like produce can sometimes be cheaper at Mariposa than at Fresh Grocer (whereas cereal certainly is not), it’s worth thinking critically about the different types of books you’re looking for and where it makes sense to get them from. House of Our Own and Penn Book Center, as they operate on independent business models set by different people with different wisdom, are sometimes able to offer better deals on packaged coursebooks and/or commonly used paperbacks than is Amazon.

As of February 18th, 2012, Mariposa Food Co-op has 1,225 members and counting.

Imagine if 1,225 West Philadelphians joined together in intentional commitment to buying books from local vendors at fair market prices? Imagine what kind of statement that would make about us as a neighborhood, about us as an intellectual community that values the service that print publishing houses provide and the life-changing creative work that writers offer. That’s a community I’d like to live in.

– Emma Eisenberg

This week’s featured cat is Tessa. She is a perfect starter cat. She is happy-go-lucky and laid back. She seeks out the company of people and loves to be stroked, but she does not demand constant attention. She is happy to lay nearby while her family reads, plays, cooks or watches TV. Because Tessa was found in an abandoned lot as a skinny, friendly mama with six kittens, she now loves to eat and sports a well-padded figure. Although Tessa is no longer a kitten, she is still playful and enjoys toys. She gets along with all the cats in her foster home, though she has not had any exposure to dogs.

All of Tessa’s kittens have been adopted except Purple. Purple, who is about 6 months old, is a bit shy. When she was first found she hid most of the time. But now, like her mom, she likes to be around people and welcomes petting and playing. She will need a bit of extra patience and TLC from her adoptive family.

Tessa and Purple are both spayed, vaccinated, dewormed, FIV/FeLV negative, flea treated, microchipped and ready for loving homes! Anyone willing to adopt both mom & daughter will be offered a reduced adoption fee. Please contact projectmeowadoptions [at] gmail.com. If you want to meet Tessa, she’s currently at Baltimore Pet Shoppe (4532 Baltimore Ave).

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The Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) is awaiting an opinion from Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell’s office before it decides whether to allow a city developer to convert the old Apple Storage building on 52nd Street near Hadfield Street to more than 100 loft apartments.

The proposed development has become a potential hotspot of gentrification along 52nd Street, although the feedback that the ZBA has received so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

The property investment firm Iron Stone, which has developed high-end apartments elsewhere in the city, proposes to convert the commercial building into 112 loft-style apartments. The plan also includes 2,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 92 parking spaces in the rear of the building. The building is currently designated as industrial and Iron Stone is seeking a residential zoning classification.

The community organization Cedar Park Neighbors has posted an online petition aimed at convincing Blackwell to support the project.

The project’s ZBA file contains more than 30 letters in support of the project from nearby homeowners and businesses.

Homeowner Cheshire Augusta, who lives two blocks from the project on 51st Street, wrote the ZBA:

“My family and I would be delighted to see growth at the west end of the 50th Street to 52nd Street section of the Baltimore Avenue corridor. So exciting!”

Renee McBride-Williams, an executive producer at the West Philadelphia community radio station WPEB 88.1, wrote that replacing the “dreary, unsafe, abandoned building” would “improve the quality of life in our community.”

Other letters of support came from community leaders, block captains and business owners.

The most vocal opponent of the project has been Shawn Kelly of the Community Achievement Association, who has argued that the building should retain its industrial designation and that businesses that could provide needed jobs in the neighborhood should be sought to fill it. He also voiced concern about the availability of affordable or Section 8 housing if the project goes through.

As a private investor that is not requesting government funds, Iron Stone is under no obligation to provide subsidized housing.

But positive feedback about the projects have far outweighed detractors.

Seth Budick, a block captain on the 1000 block of S. 50th Street, argued in a letter to the ZBA that the project “would inject new life onto that street, creating a livelier and safer environment for the entire neighborhood by putting people back on the street and eyes in the windows.”

This Thursday, Feb. 23, Drexel University’s Kal & Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies is hosting a special event celebrating the 25th anniversary of WHYY’s Radio Times, one of Philadelphia’s most longstanding talk radio programs. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at Ruth Auditorium (125 Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market Street) and is free and open to the public.

The institute welcomes Radio Times host and executive producer Marty Moss-Coane for a talk discussing how you put together two hours of compelling talk radio five days a week and about the highs and lows of the past twenty five years of the show. Over these years, Marty Moss-Coane has interviewed more than twenty thousand guests – everyone from Salman Rushdie to Bobbie Mcferrin to Jane Fonda and countless politicians, educators, celebrities and opinion leaders.

Radio Times is one of the region’s most respected local, FM interview and call-in programs. For her work Marty Moss-Coane has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists for Excellence in a Talk Show on radio; the Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association for Excellence in Public Affairs; the American Women in Radio and Television for Excellence in focusing on the Women’s Movement; and by Philadelphia magazine for hosting the Best Radio Program in Philadelphia.

Radio Times airs weekday 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on WHYY 90.9 FM.

We are passing along information about two events happening at Dock Street Brewery.

Local artists are welcome to participate in the West Philly T-Shirt Design Contest that is currently underway at the pub. The competition is running until March 17 and the winners will be announced on March 20. Any West Philly artist, illustrator or designer can enter and there are no entry fees. The design can be based around the pub, a specific beer or Dock Street beers in general. For more information, check out this page.

The Books Through Bars fundraiser will be held at the pub on Wednesday, Feb. 22, beginning at 8:30 p.m. This fundraiser will help get dictionaries for incarcerated people. The most fundamental tool for self-education and empowerment, the dictionary is the single most requested book by prisoners across the country.

$10 donation will get you a beer, a slice of pizza and a dictionary for BTB. Live music from Sour Mash and Cask & Co is starting at 9 p.m.