Elementary school students from at least two West Philadelphia schools plan to walk out of their classrooms tomorrow (Wednesday, May 15) and travel with their parents to City Hall to protest the proposed school budget cuts.

Students and their parents from Powel Elementary and Penn Alexander will join parents and students from the C.W. Henry School in Mount Airy in leaving school tomorrow morning to travel to City Hall to protest the proposed cuts, which would eliminate guidance counselors, music programs, assistant principals, nurses and librarians at most schools in the city. District officials have asked the city for $60 million to help make up the $304 million budget shortfall. They have also requested funding from the state and for union concessions.

“Our goal is to have City Council provide the additional $60 million in funding to put counselors, secretaries and after-school clubs back in the schools,” said Robin Dominick, who is helping to organize the walkout at Powel. Dominick estimates 20-30 families will take part.

Participating students and parents from Powel plan to leave at about 10:15 a.m. on the trolley for City Hall, where they will join with parents and students from C.W. Henry at between 10:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the northwest corner of City Hall.

Students wrote letters to city officials in school this week detailing how the cuts will impact them personally. They plan to deliver the letters to City Council members tomorrow, Dominick said.

A small but growing group of students and parents from Penn Alexander is also planning to attend the rally.

Hundreds of high school students walked out of their schools on May 9 to rally at City Hall in opposition to the cuts.

More details about the proposed budget are available here.

– Mike Lyons

Some of our readers may remember a scam alert we published exactly two years ago of a young woman asking for money in the neighborhood because she said she had been abused by her husband and was looking for a domestic violence shelter. This past weekend we received another report of a female involved in the similar activity. Here’s what our reader, Elle, wrote:

“I got scammed big time by a woman who stopped me in the street (46th and Spruce) and asked me to help her find a domestic violence shelter. She had a really heartbreaking story about escaping from her abusive husband and she was trying to get to a “safety point.” I let her borrow my phone to call the hotline she said she’d been talking with earlier. After overhearing her conversation I ended up giving her (way too much) money to cover her fare to the safety point in the suburbs. I started getting suspicious after she left and checked the call log on my phone. None of the calls were longer than 10 seconds — she had been pretending to talk on the phone so I would overhear her plight and give her money. It’s a pretty despicable scam, but it worked really well.”

While the account we described in our post in 2011 hasn’t changed too much, this time the description of the woman is different. Elle said that it was “a middle aged white woman with dyed red hair, wearing a sweat suit.”

On Friday, May 10, a reader, Rachel, became a pickpocket victim at Honest Tom’s taco shop near 44th and Spruce. Rachel says that her wallet was stolen and that after talking to the owner, she discovered that she was “hit by a notorious West Philly pick pocket who is known by the alias ‘scarface’.” While we are waiting for a response to our police inquiry about this “well known” neighborhood thief, we wanted to alert other residents about this incident.

Tangle founder Lauren Rile Smith with member Sarah Nicolazzo / Photo by Michael Ermilio

West Philly’s Tangle Movement Arts, the all-female circus arts company known for its wildly popular public showcase, tinycircus, is back with an all-new, full-length aerial dance show, Invert!, that’s sure to excite and inspire. The interdisciplinary piece debuts at the Sanctuary at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, on Thursday evening and runs through Saturday, May 18.

Apropos for today’s political climate, Invert! is a testament to female strength, using acrobatics, dance and theater, spoken word, and live music to dissect and exalt the female and queer experiences, as well as the connection between women—be it in “relationships of sex, friendship, support, or antagonism.” In exploring these motifs, members of the nine-woman cast will ascend and engulf the space of the Rotunda’s 40-foot ceilings, performing a “Cher-inspired” sequined trapeze solo, a “punk-rock” acrobatic duet, “drag-inspired diva fabulousness,” and live carpentry and cartwheels (complete with a cordless power drill!) in tribute to feminist icon Rosie the Riveter. The emotionally- and artistically-charged routine will also feature tango violin solos by Julliard musician Caeli Smith.

“Tangle was founded with the vision of creating feminist circus-theater, so female relationships and experiences have always been a central focus for our work. Our aerial dance is very physically intense as well as collaborative, so making shows about female strength and connections between women is just a natural extension of that process,” said Tangle founder Lauren Rile Smith, who’s “thrilled” to bring Invert! to West Philly. “It’s also a deliberate political commitment, however. In a world of media in which women—and their relationships—are frequently erased or flattened into jokes, we feel an essential need to represent a diverse range of female bodies, relationships, and capabilities.”

But it’s not only in theme in which Invert! celebrates both circus arts and queer history. According to Rile Smith, “invert” not only signifies circus arts’ basic vocabulary (“a body-upside-down”), it is also the 19th-century term used to label gender nonconformists. “In joining these two traditions, we promise an evening of upended expectations,” she told West Philly Local.

Tangle fans who can’t make it to Invert! will have a chance to see the two-year-old company in action when it presents its next tinycircus performance to the West Park Arts Fest at the School of the Future, 4021 Parkside Avenue, on June 18.

– Annamarya Scaccia

Show Information

Tangle presents Invert!—a spectacle of aerial dance and circus-theater.
Thursday, May 16 – Saturday, May 18
8:30 p.m.
The Sanctuary at the Rotunda
4014 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Tickets: $10-15 (discounts for artists, students, seniors, and groups). Purchase at the door or online at http://invert.brownpapertickets.com/.

Penn Police keep an eye on the Honda Accord Friday morning believed to have been used in a string of robberies Thursday night.

Two suspects were arrested last night after a string of armed robberies that occurred within about two hours beginning at approximately 8:30 p.m. at 45th and Sansom.

Police say that the first robbery happened on the 4500 block of Sansom Street when two men, one armed with a black handgun and knife and the other with a silver handgun, approached two people and demanded their phones and wallets. The two men got away with an iPhone, credit cards and about $50 in cash.

The second robbery happened at 42nd and Locust about 30 minutes later, according to police. A man was approached by two males, one showing a black handgun, and ordered to give up his phone. The victim observed the suspects flee in a late model black Honda Accord. The Daily Pennsylvanian has more details on this robbery.

At about 10 p.m. five Drexel University students were robbed near 32nd and Powelton by two men armed with guns. The suspects fled with five iPhones and some cash. The students also described the getaway car as a black Honda.

The third robbery led to a vehicle pursuit then foot pursuit, a police source said. A police helicopter was also involved in the pursuit. Penn Police arrested the suspects around 11 p.m. near the corner of 44th and Baltimore. Their vehicle was still parked there this morning (see photo). There were a total of eight victims in this string of robberies, according to the police source. The investigation is continuing.

UPDATE (1:49 pm): There were three suspects, two men and a woman, who robbed a total of 11 people last night, CBSPhilly reports. In addition to the robberies mentioned earlier, two people were robbed of their iPhones at 43rd and Regent at 8:45 p.m. and a man was robbed of some cash near 42nd and Ludlow at 9 p.m. Two suspects, a man and a woman, both 25, were arrested. The police are still searching for the third robber.

– Mike Lyons

The 2010 move-out sale. (Photo courtesy Penn News)

It appears that the salad days of discount mini-fridges, 4-year-old TVs and bargains of all shapes and sizes that signal the end of another school year at Penn are over.

PennMOVES, the university’s organization that in the past has collected discarded stuff from students as they clear out of the dorms, will not conduct the annual sale that had people lining up in past years. PennMOVES is still collecting the stuff this week, but instead of the sale the items will go directly to Goodwill stores around the area.

Much of the merchandise will go toward stocking a new Goodwill store in West Philly at 5050 Parkside Avenue in late summer/early fall.

“A sale at Penn is no longer necessary,” according to a PennMOVES statement.

It is still unclear how this may impact the curbside treasure trove that usually starts to build this time of the year, a time many locals refer to as “Penn Christmas.”

Come late summer, West Philly will be home to two new diverse and palate-pleasing restaurants located in the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises at 310 S. 48th Street.

For those who love Caribbean-American fusion cuisine, 48th Street Grille will provide a taste of the islands with a focus on seasonal fresh and local ingredients. Owned by Chef Carl Lewis of Catering by Carl Lewis, LLC, 48th Street Grille will serve fresh seafood, pasta, meat, poultry, curry dishes, burgers, salads, soup, vegetarian dishes and sandwiches, and non-alcohol beverages, as well as signature fare from the South and Jamaica, once it opens late summer. The 65-seat dining space will also offer sidewalk dining, take-out service, and full-service catering. It will be open Tuesday – Sundays for lunch and dinner, with mid-week breakfast available through Saturdays. Chef Lewis also plans to host special events for New Year’s Eve, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Mother’s Day, as well as host midweek Family Dining Nights.

Area vegans and vegetarians craving more chow options in West Philly will find potential in Planet Vegan Café, a sit-down vegan juice bar and eatery opening in late July/early August. The vision of Dorinda Hampton, owner of vegan food company Really Fresh Vegan, Planet Vegan is a reinvention and enhanced version of the restaurant Hampton developed as part of her stint on Food Network’s 24 Hour Restaurant Battle in 2010. The 25-person capacity space will feature a full juice bar with all organic juice and smoothies, as well as serve hot and cold sandwiches, hot vegan and veggie dishes, soups, and salads using all healthy, organic, non-GMO products. It will also offer juice cleansing, in which six 16 oz. bottles of fresh-made juice are given for the amount of time needed.

“We want to have a really cool place where people can come, socialize and enjoy people’s company,” said Hampton, who also owns Sprout Vegan Eatery and Juice Bar, located at 909 E. Baltimore Pike in Kennett Square. “I want to [also] give people a new way of thinking about healthy eating. You don’t have to compromise texture or taste. It can be tasty as well as beneficial to your health.”

Planet Vegan will be open Mondays – Sundays (hours are yet to be determined), with takeout and delivery options available. Hampton plans to host local entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays, and hold screenings of wellness, health and nutrition documentaries on Sundays.

Opened in September, the Center for Culinary Enterprises was designed to assist start-up and established food enterprises by providing commercial kitchen and food storage space for rent, as well as affordable food business development services. The 13,000+ sq. ft. facility, which is open 24 hours a day, includes four state-of-the-art commercial kitchens, the eKitchen Multimedia Learning Center (a demo kitchen and classroom), and retail space. A third restaurant may open in the space but it could not be confirmed.

–Annamarya Scaccia