The School Reform Commission is scheduled to vote tonight on the School District of Philadelphia’s downsizing plan that would close 27 schools across the city, including West Philly’s Alexander Wilson Elementary (46th and Woodland), Shaw Middle School (5400 Warrington Avenue) and University City High School (3601 Filbert St.).

The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and you can watch it at Comcast Channel 52, Verizon Fios Channel 20 or watch it livestreaming online.

District officials say the closures will “right-size” the public school footprint in the city by closing half-full and underperforming schools. Opponents of the plan say the closing of neighborhood schools (and increase in the number of privately run charter schools) will ruin neighborhoods.

Click here to see testimony from the SRC’s February meeting that addressed the pending closures. The Philadelphia Public School Notebook also has its extensive coverage of the school closure story collected here.

– Mike Lyons

Trash collectors have a tough job and usually they are professional and thorough, but not always. Here’s what happened to a neighbor, Kelly, this morning:

“It appears our trash [collector] can get away with tossing your can all of the place including through your windshield. Today on the 5000 block of Catharine Street, we received an early morning [visit] from our neighbors to inform us the trash workers had thrown a trash can into our windshield. Now I have to wait for Waste Management who only lets you leave a recording to mail us a claim form. I have little hope they will reimburse us… I also doubt my report to 311 will do anything. And thanks to this a day of work was lost and my eldest missed school.”

Kelly adds that neighbors on both sides of her house saw it happen and came to her door to let her know. She says that everything was tossed about and it was not the wind.

UPDATE (3/7): Here’s a response from Philly311 we received this morning:

@blulotuspr @westphillylocal This was forwarded to us and the Streets Dept yesterday. We escalated and it is under investigation. Thanks!

— Philly311 (@philly311) March 7, 2013

Clark Park Youth Soccer, a recreational program for children ages 5 to 11 is returning this Spring and registration is now open. The season will start on March 23 and go on through May 18. More information about the program and registration forms are available on the Friends of Clark Park website.

The program is also seeking volunteer coaches. You don’t need serious soccer skills or coaching experience in order to apply. What’s important is some basic knowledge of the game and enthusiasm for working with kids. If you’d like to volunteer or have questions, please email clarkparksoccer@yahoo.com.

We are very sad to report that Oliver “Ali” Robinson, a longtime activist and community organizer in the city, died on Monday. He was 64.

Back when he was a little boy growing up in Southwest Philadelphia, scrambling through the pews of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Oliver Robinson was simply known as “Ollie.”

As the youngest of five, he worked hard to live up to the examples set by his older brothers, especially the late state Sen. Hardy Williams, who would go on to have a pioneering legal and political career that included a run for mayor in 1971 that would inspire other African Americans to seek public office.

Robinson worked to apply the teachings of his mother, Frances “Mom” Williams, renowned for championing “the people’s business.” And as the Civil Rights Movement evolved from sit-ins and picket signs to more confrontational politics, “Ollie” became known as “Ali.”

“He was a stalwart in our family and our organizational structure, a fellow civil rights warrior,” said state Sen. Anthony “Hardy” Williams, Robinson’s nephew. “But I realized it was more important to him to be my uncle than anything else.”

Family members say Robinson watched “Mom” Frances counsel and speak out for neighbors in need, which helped spark his interest in social justice.

Robinson graduated from West Philadelphia High School in 1967 and went on to attend Howard University.

He joined the 1971 mayoral campaign against Frank Rizzo his big brother Hardy waged that shook up party politics. Robinson worked on a variety of campaigns, including the elections of Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr. in the 1980s and state Rep. Jordan Harris just last year.

“He was an architect. Even before there were computers, Ali was the best Election Day statistician in the city,” said Lynette Brown-Sow, who worked as teen on the Hardy Williams mayoral campaign. “He had a gift.”

Robinson also worked at the Crisis Intervention Network, where he was part of the team that led one of the most effective youth violence intervention programs in the city’s history. He co-founded the People’s Institute, which helped provide services to young people. He also applied his skills as a community organizer for Model Cities of North Philadelphia and remained an active member of the Kingsessing Community Association.

Working from a philosophy that an informed people are an engaged people, he founded and published the Southwest News, which published uplifting stories by and about neighbors.

In 1992, the Rendell Administration honored Robinson with the Philadelphia Pride Award.

“He gave a lot to the community, but at the end of the day, he was still a dad and a granddad,” said his daughter, Kya Kamil Robinson.

Robinson is survived by his other daughter, Afrika Mona Strong; his brothers, Jimmy Williams, Freddie Williams and Teddy Williams; his sister, Barbara Williams; his grandchildren, Alexus and Ervon Schultz Jr. and several of nieces, nephews, cousins and other loving friends.

A viewing will be held Friday from 9 to 11 a.m. at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1411 S. 50th St. Funeral services will immediately follow. Internment will be at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 225 Belmont Ave. in Bala Cynwyd.
 

Some of you may have noticed a new pharmacy next to recently opened Café Renata and just across the street from CVS near 43rd and Locust. So here’s the scoop – Aspire Rx, a smal independent pharmacy, has relocated to Locust from 45th Street.

OK, at first this seems like a really bad idea – small, independent pharmacy moves across the street from giant pharmacy/store. Folks on some local West Philly list-servs thought the idea seemed so bad that it must be some kind of front for something else.

It’s not. Aspire’s owner, Hetal Chudasama, said Aspire offers things that CVS doesn’t, such as compounding services, lower prices and serious customer care. They also offer free delivery, pet medications and some adult vaccines. She moved Aspire from 45th Street to Locust to the former location of a small Asian grocery to take advantage of the ample foot traffic.

By the way, Chudasama, a resident of West Philadelphia for eight years, knows what she’s talking about when it comes to her big box neighbor. After graduating from the University of the Science’s Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, she worked at – where else – CVS.

Aspire is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 9-3 and Saturday 10-3. It’s closed Sundays.

Sr. Francis (photo from The Religious of the Assumption website).

Sister Francis Joseph was the “peace pilgrim.” Grace Kelly was among her students. She entered the convent at the age of 33 and traveled the world, but is known to many St. Francis de Sales students as the nun who taught peace.

Sr. Francis died last Thursday. She was 93.

Born Rachel Scarpello in Germantown, Sr. Francis served as the first lay principal of the Catholic school Ravenhill Academy in East Falls, which Kelly attended in the 1940s. Sr. Francis taught at Ravenhill for 12 years before she decided to join the order Religious of the Assumption and their convent at 1001 S. 47th St., across the street from St. Francis de Sales.

Sr. Francis on her 90th birthday in 2009.

You may have seen Sr. Francis sitting on the convent porch or you might have helped her across the street as she leaned on her cane.

“I make friends through that cane,” she told a reporter from The Catholic Standard and Times newspaper for an article marking her 90th birthday in 2009.

What you probably didn’t know is that after graduating from Chestnut Hill College she worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That was before she became a nun. During her long career with the Assumption Sisters, Sr. Francis worked in Paris, Osaka and Manilla, where she was instrumental in building housing for the poor. She was one of the first women to attend Gregorian University in Rome.

In recent years at the St. Francis de Sales School she became known as the “peace pilgrim,” stopping by classes and teaching students about peace through stories. Sr. Francis also had a long relationship with Saint Joseph’s University, where an outreach lecture series she started 30 years ago was named after her in 2011.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, March 5 at 10 a.m. at St. Francis de Sales (47th and Springfield).

– Mike Lyons