A 21-year-old man was in stable condition this morning after he was shot on the steps of a home near 50th and Florence last night.

The unidentified man told police he was standing in a doorway at 900 S. 50th Street at about 11 p.m. when two or three young men approached him on bicycles. One man pulled out a shot gun and fired once, striking the man on the porch once in the left arm. Police found the victim in the kitchen of the home running water over the wound.

Police said the alleged assailants fled west on Springfield Avenue on bicycles.

The victim described the attackers as black males wearing black clothing.

West Philly-based writer Patrick Kerkstra has penned the most comprehensive article to date on the enrollment issue at the Penn Alexander School (43rd and Locust), the school’s impact on the surrounding area and the possible reshuffling of enrollment patterns at other elementary schools in the neighborhood.

Published at Plan Philly and The Notebook, Kerkstra analyzed block-level census data in the article and concludes that there are actually fewer children in Penn Alexander’s catchment area now than in 2000, a year before Penn Alexander opened. This is possibly good news for parents hoping to get their children into the school because it suggests the overcrowding issue in Penn Alexander’s lower grades may ease without drastic measures such as a lottery or redrawing the catchment boundaries. (Kerkstra has graciously shared his data with us. Click here for a Google doc that has it arranged in very readable tables. Note the tabs at the top for each school.)

He also highlights a serious drawback to the school’s presence in the area. Census data clearly shows that the catchment area, and the school itself, is getting less diverse. As home prices have risen, the number of African Americans living in the catchment has decreased significantly.

Unfortunately, no one from the school or the District would go on the record with him to discuss plans to address overcrowding in the school’s lower grades or the long lines to enroll in limited kindergarten spots.

Kerkstra also goes through the implications of the possible closing of the under-enrolled Alexander Wilson School (1300 S. 46th St.), which was suggested in recommendations to the School District of Philadelphia published earlier this year. The final word on that will likely be announced in the next few weeks.

His article also includes the work of groups addressing school issues, including the West Philly Coalition of Neighborhood Schools, which is working with Henry C. Lea Elementary (47th and Locust) and Advocates for Great Elementary Education, which has focused on shedding light on the enrollment issue at Penn Alexander.

Be sure to read the whole article at Plan Philly here or The Notebook here.

More trees are coming! Here’s a good chance to help make our area greener. Neighbors are welcome to help with the UC Green and The Philadelphia Orchard Project tree plantings and orchard care projects in various West Philly locations starting this week.

The first project is this Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School (58th St. & Lindbergh Blvd.), where you can help with the orchard care, including mulching, weeding, bulb planting and fresh local fruit.

Next week three other projects are scheduled, two for October 25 – at Bartram’s Garden (5400 Lindbergh Blvd.) and Mastery Charter School and Conestoga Playground (53rd & Media) and one for October 29 at Ogden Gardens (Ogden & Preston).

For information about November projects, hours, and to RSVP go here.

Dear readers,

Put your thinking caps on and sharpen your knives. We are looking for spooky, funny, scary or downright outrageous jack-o-lanterns. Our 2011 Pumpkin Carving Contest is underway and we are looking forward to receiving snapshots of your creations. The contest is open through October 28. And don’t forget that local businesses are giving out prizes to the contest winners! For more information go here.

A program run out of Saint Joseph’s University is looking for non-profits and social entrepreneurs who want help in designing or bolstering their online presence.

Beautiful Social is a student-run social media consultancy designed to help non-profits and other entrepreneurs with everything from market research to website usability testing to developing a social media strategy. The idea is to help grow communities and civic engagement online.

The services are free of charge. Students put theory into practice and gain real experience while helping local organizations thrive. Two professors from St. Joe’s communication studies program, which incorporates social justice into its curriculum, oversee the students.

Beautiful Social has worked with a number of non-profits, including the Philly-based Power Up Gambia and InterAct Theater Company since it began last year.

Anyone interested in being part of the program should contact Mike Lyons at jlyons [at] sju.edu.

Full disclosure: One of the professors who oversees the projects is also a co-owner of this website.
 

The Philadelphia Film Festival opens Thursday and West Philly is right in the thick of the action.

The 20th annual festival opens at The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts‘ Zellerbach Theater (3680 Walnut St.) with a screening of Like Crazy, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (Best Picture) winner starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin. Tickets for the screening are $20 ($15 for members of the Philadelphia Film Society) and $50/$45 for the screening and an opening party.

The International House (3701 Chestnut St.) and The Rave movie theater (4012 Walnut St.) are two more key venues for this year’s festival. Films kick off at the International House at 5 p.m. on Friday and continue daily through Wednesday, Oct. 26. After a short break, films return on Sunday, Oct. 30. Films at The Rave also open on Friday and continue through Thursday, Oct. 27.

We have way too little space here to get into the dozens of films screening over the festival’s two weeks. You need to find yourself a handy film guide, which is available at various locations in the neighborhood (we got ours at Earth Cup near 45th and Pine). Here is the online schedule.

One feature film with West Philly connections that we would like to point out is The Destiny of Lesser Animals directed by Deron Albright and starring Yao B. Nunoo. You might recognize those two if you saw them because they spent many hours in West Philly establishments, including The Gold Standard or Dhalak, planning and discussing the film, which was shot in Ghana and West Philly.

Nunoo, a former Penn film student who also wrote the screenplay, stars as a police inspector in Ghana who is desperate to return to America after being deported. The film is modeled in part on Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog.

Geekadelphia posted its Top 8 films to check out here.

Tickets for regular individual screenings are $12 ($10 for Philadelphia Film Society members). Tickets for weekday matinees (before 5 p.m.) are $6/$5. All-access badges are also available. Go here for more information on tickets.