Fellow West Philly residents Andrew Simonet (choreographer) and Manfred Fischbeck have helped put together a fascinating dance show, which begins at Drexel’s Mandell Theater (3300 Chestnut St.) tomorrow, June 17.

Sam-Gam Bam! (“sam-gam” means “flow together” in Sanskrit) is a collision of classical and experimental American and South Indian dance, a blend of traditional and modern. A classical Indian dance form, Bharatanatyam, which is featured in the show, began 2,000 years ago and represents divine mythology in performance.

The show is a product of collaboration among three Philly-based dance companies: Group Motion, Headlong, and Three Aksha. The companies are quite distinct in style, but find common ground through this presentation of dance.

The shows schedule:

June 17, 18, 23-25 – 7:30 p.m.

June 19 – 2 p.m.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. To buy tickets click here.
 

The day that many of us have been waiting a long time for has arrived. Early this morning the fences came down at Clark Park “A” and it didn’t take long for people to pour in with books, coffee, kids and dogs in tow.

The official opening ceremony is today at 4 p.m.

A few things still need to be worked out, such as how best to accommodate the chess players that have dueled in the park for years. The biggest visible change, of course, is the graveled round open space where the flag pole (and a lot of mud) used to be.

Several orange cafe-style tables and chairs will be distributed around the space. They will be locked to one another to help prevent theft.

Today is a great day for the opening. The weather is nice and the Thursday farmer’s market starts at 3 p.m. So get out there and take it all in.

Are Baltimore Avenue and Spruce Street in West Philly among the worst places in the city to ride a bike?

The good folks at the Philadelphia Weekly think so. In “The Five Best (and Worst) places to Bike in Philly,” writer Daniel Denvir pans the two streets because of the proximity of parked cars to bike lanes. He writes of Baltimore Avenue:

Baltimore Avenue, the main drag of queer, anarchist, vegan, crusty West Philly? It couldn’t be—but it is! I know two people who have had car doors opened into them, one of whom broke her collarbone. A sleepy side street where you can bike down the middle of the road may be slower than a big street bike lane, but it is always safer to bike without parked cars immediately to your right.

First, we have no problem with queer, anarchist, vegan or crusty (that’s one of the reasons why we live here) but, dude, have you been to West Philly lately?

Baltimore and Spruce (along with Kensington Avenue and “all those bike lanes next to parked cars”) rank fourth on the list of the worst behind the Ben Franklin Parkway, Girard Avenue and Greys Ferry Bridge.

We’re not sure if they are among the worst streets in the city. But getting doored does suck.
 

A neighbor, who lives on Melville between Spruce and Locust, emailed us with this information:

There is a black and white tuxedo cat that is on my roof. It is hiding under my deck and on the roof next door. He seems scared but doesn’t come across as feral. I am wondering if someone lost him. Details:

Black and White Tuxedo
White Nose
Yellow/Green Eyes

I live on Melville between Spruce and Locust. I imagine he climbed out of someone’s window on Melville, got here and now can’t get down.

If you lost a cat that looks like the one described above, please email: thecaretaker [at] gmail.com

Update (June 16): The cat is reunited with her owner! After reading this information the owner retrieved her cat from her neighbor’s deck.
 

The Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA), an integral player in the formation of the Penn Alexander School more than 10 years ago, agreed last night to draft a statement  calling on the school to admit every child in first grade and above who lives in the school’s catchment area.

Parents new to the neighborhood and those with young children have been dismayed about the refusal of the school to admit many children even though they live within the school’s coveted catchment area. Several people who attended last night’s SHCA board meeting, as well as one association board member, shared stories about children who were not admitted and their frustration about not knowing how to proceed for the coming school year.

School and district officials have said that the school’s lower grades are at capacity, prompting them to advise many parents, even those with siblings already attending the school, to investigate other options. The SHCA board agreed that the policy was unjust.

Longtime Spruce Hill Community Association board member Barry Grossbach said it is the association’s obligation to pressure the school to accept any child who lives inside the catchment boundaries.

“I think we need to be very clear that kids who live within the catchment area need to go to the school,” Grossbach said. “This was the expectation that we had when the school was formed and that is the expectation we have now.”

Board members hope that the statement will help prompt a more open discussion about the enrollment policy, which so far is a mystery to most parents.

Most parents have tolerated a kindergarten enrollment cap because kindergarten is not required in Pennsylvania. But now the cap is being applied to the lower grades. Registration for those grades begins August 15 and many parents new to the neighborhood are unsure if their children will be admitted.

West Philly resident Monica Calkins spoke at the meeting on behalf of a new community organization confronting the enrollment issue at the school. The group, Advocates for Great Elementary Education (AGREE), officially formed last month after several parents commiserated about the lack of information coming from the school.

Like many parents who live in the Penn Alexander catchment, Calkins wants answers.

“We have a lot of questions,” she said.

Some of issues the group hopes to have clarified:

• Extent of the overcrowding at the school.
• The process for determining an enrollment cap.
• Penn’s position on the overcrowding issue.
• Whether other measures, such as temporary classrooms, have been considered.

A key question that many are asking is whether the influx of students to the school is a temporary surge in the population that might be relieved by temporary classroom space similar to what is being done at some crowded schools in Northeast Philadelphia.

AGREE also echoes many residents’ fears about “downstream effects” of the enrollment cap, including a drop in real estate prices.

Property sales, which surged after the school was built, have reportedly already begun to reflect the confusion and anxiety over admission to the school.

Realtor Melani Lamond told SHCA board members last night that if the enrollment policy is not cleared up soon real estate sales will likely drop further and prospective homebuyers will look to buy elsewhere.

“I guarantee you this will be a one-time problem if there is no guarantee that their kids will get into the school,” said Lamond.

School officials have advised some parents to investigate other neighborhood schools, including Henry C. Lea School (4700 Locust St.), which has seen a surge in community interest in recent months.

Many parents who live inside the catchment have said that they would consider Lea, but first want a definitive answer to whether their child might have a chance to get into Penn Alexander.

A prominent West Philly-based developer is in the process of buying the ominous Croydon apartment building at 49th and Locust, which has become a haven for squatters and was the site of a rooftop murder in 2007.

Orens Brothers Real Estate Inc., whose main office is on the 4400 block of Chestnut, is expected to finalize the purchase of the building soon and begin work to rehabilitate the building by early next month, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell said by phone yesterday. The firm’s officials told community members during a meeting on Monday that it plans to keep the complex’s original eight-story center structure and four-story wings intact and renovate its 127 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment units.

A Sheriff’s Office official confirmed that building had been sold last week for $1.75 million. The building was put up for sheriff’s sale in January because the previous owners owed more than $200,000 in back taxes.

Orens Brothers has restored and rented several buildings in Philadelphia, including the luxury apartments at 2200 Arch St. In West Philly, the firm owns the apartment building on the southside of the 4400 block of Walnut (4404-4418 Walnut St.).

A boarded up eyesore rising above the West Philadelphia High School athletic field, the Croydon is known to squatters as “Paradise City.” The building was known across the city for a few days in June 2007 when a squatter, 28-year-old Tim Bradly of Philadelphia, was found dead on the building’s roof. Another squatter confessed to beating Bradly and dropping a cinder block on his head.

The Croydon building plays a large role in the documentary Squatter Days by James C. Fattu.