As promised, here is part 2 of filmmaker Clay Hereth’s documentary about The Mill Creek Farm, a neighborhood farm at 49th and Brown in West Philadelphia. See yesterday’s story for the full intro to the film and Mill Creek Farm’s work.

The Freinds of Clark Park has a new website. Brian Siano said in an e-mail today that the new site is designed to be more of a community discussion site than the old site. The site also offers the ability to share content on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

Here’s a sneak peak:

The featured mural on the cool Mural Arts Program interactive site, Mural Explorer,  is The Heart of Baltimore Avenue, a mural on the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue begun as a tribute to Amare Solomon, the owner of the nearby Dahlak restaurant, but became a tribute to the whole neighborhood.

The multimedia site, which is awesome, features a slideshow on the making of the mural and a short video interview with artist David Guinn as he works on the piece, which was finished in September 2008. The mural also has its own dedicated site.

Above is a small portion of the “Heart of Baltimore Avenue.” When you get to the site, go to “explore mural” and push on the green plus signs to hear stories about characters in the mural.

The March cover of Grid.

This month’s issue of Grid, a magazine that covers sustainability in Philadelphia, features a cover story on West Philly activist Iris Marie Bloom, who is organizing to challenge natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania.

In an article entitled “Stepping on the Gas,” Bloom, director of the environmental group Protecting Our Waters, explains opposition to drilling in a massive rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from the northeast corner of the state to the southeast corner. Much of the drilling is concentrated in small farming areas in the northeast, northcentral and southeast parts of the state, in towns that most Philadelphians have probably never heard of – places like Towanda, Wilcox, Dimock and Hickory.

Bloom and others argue that the drilling, which includes a process of forcing sand, water and chemicals into the ground to break up the shale and free natural gas, is an imminent threat to fresh water in the state. The process is known as “fracking” (hydraulic fracturing) and Bloom and others are pointing to water contamination as one of the main hazards of the process.

“Drilling is being done in a rush because it is underregulated,” Bloom told Grid reporter Jacob Lambert.

Bloom’s opponents in the fight are, of course, big gas companies and drillers, legislators who support them and, sometimes, the residents of these areas themselves. In most cases, drilling companies have paid handsomely for the rights to drill on vast swaths of privately owned farm land, making many farmers instantly wealthy.

Willingness on the part of state legislators to regulate the drilling is likely to wain with newly elected governor Tom Corbett, she said. Just yesterday newly elected Governor Tom Corbett rescinded a moratorium on new leases for drilling in state forests.

These two are missing after the fire on Thursday at 45th and Walnut:

“…a relative of mine was living in one of the apartments that was destroyed by the fire at 45th and Walnut. She is alright, but her two cats are lost. She wasn’t in the building when the fire was happening, so she didn’t manage to get the cats out, but she is still hoping that they escaped somehow. They are gray cats Lily and Fog and- Lily is a long-haired female and Fog is a shorthair male. If people could keep their eyes out for them, their owner and I would greatly appreciate it.” 

The owner writes:

Andy is a white, red-nosed male pitbull with brown spots like a cow. He is lean, medium-sized (about 60 lbs), a year old, and has light brown eyes. He was last seen at 50th and Hazel running north down 50th, near Malcom X Park. He is wearing a red collar, responds to his name and is sweet as pie. I am offering $150 reward to anyone who finds him. If you have any information at all my number is (267) 496-5090.