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archives 2005 » jan. 5th
IMMIGRATION
Borderline Realities
When Mexican men and women living in South Philadelphia become crime victims, they're often too afraid to tell the police.
by Kate Kilpatrick
One day in his first year in the U.S., Rubén, now 26, left his apartment at 15th and Bainbridge, where he lived with seven other men, to go to work. With the other men at work too, the house was empty all day.
When Rubén returned that evening everything was missing--the TV, VCR, PlayStation, telephone, stereo, CDs (most of them Mexican), air conditioner, bed covers and clothes. Their collective hidden savings--totaling $11,000--were gone. None of the men spoke much English, or knew where to turn for help. One of the men told his boss, a restaurant owner, who said that because they were illegal, there was nothing he could do. No one contacted the police.
This story's far from unusual. Those in South Philadelphia's Mexican community say they're the victims of countless crimes--muggings, bike thefts, robberies, armed assaults, rapes--that never get reported.
...
Rubén's friend Jaime, 26, sums up a common experience: "You can drive, but you can't [legally]," he says. "So most Mexicanos go for a bike. In the restaurant business you get off at 12 or 1. If you're a dishwasher, you probably get off at 2. If you live at Seventh and Tasker, or Fifth or Fourth and Morris or Dickinson, mostly that part is bad. We can't afford to pay expensive rent to live on Fitzwater or Bainbridge. So most of the Mexicanos in South Philly live in dangerous places. I know a lot of my friends were assaulted by guys trying to get their bikes. We can't get a bank account, so we keep the money in our pocket. I don't know how they know that. We keep all our money until we send it home. So a lot of people get robbed."
city beat
Live Stop, Dead Cars
City lots are filling up with seized vehicles.
by Daryl Gale
If you're one of the nearly 31,000 Philadelphians whose car was confiscated under the city's Live Stop program, you're probably already familiar with the contents of this story and have started cursing under your breath while reading it on public transportation. For many others, some questions remain: Whose car gets taken? How do you get it back? And what ever happened to the promise that auto-insurance premiums would drop, since not even a penny has been deducted so far?
Here are the hard numbers. Between last July, when the administration started enforcing Live Stop, and the end of May, 30, 909 cars had been confiscated from drivers without a valid license and/or an up-to-date registration. The program is administered by the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which hauls away the cars and stores them in five lots across the city.
There they wait for owners to reclaim them after paying the necessary fees and acquiring the proper paperwork. That means you have to pay up any tickets and fines, the state's $36 vehicle registration fee, and of course, get some insurance. If no one stakes their claim, the car is auctioned off to the highest bidder. Parking Authority spokesperson Richard Dickson says confiscated cars go to the highest bidder in about a month, which officials consider enough time for owners to get their paperwork in order.
Call#: Van Pelt Library 379.7481 P53.26
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library LA357.P55 C8
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Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks REF LA357.P55 C8
Call#: Van Pelt Library 371.62 Sa89
Drexel Bike Share Policy
Drexel Bike Share is open to all students and employees with a valid Drexel University ID and in good standing with the University. There is no rental fee to use a Drexel Bike Share bike. To be eligible to participate in Drexel Bike Share, the student or employee must complete a Drexel Bike Share Membership Agreement and, prior to each use of Bike Share equipment, a Drexel Bike Share User Agreement. The use of a Drexel Bike Share bike includes a helmet, u-lock, cable and lock key (the “Equipment”). All Bike Share Equipment is picked up and returned to the Drexel Bike Share hub located in the Parking Services Garage Office, Room #124, 3330 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (the “Hub”). Drexel makes no representations as to the availability of the Equipment. Use of the Equipment is strictly on a “first come, first served” basis. Reservations for Equipment will not be accepted.
Lukacs begins this volume with an overview of what Philadelphia generally like at the start of the twenieth century. He notes mainly the cultural, politcal, and social dynamics within this society and affirms the widely held perception that Philadelphia was a sub-culture unto itself with its own conventions and social codes. Particular attention is paid to the evolutions of neighborhoods and details of where members of different social classes took up residence. The implications these had on class structure and the opportunities for members of each class are worthy of further analysis here. What Lukacs chooses to investage further though are in-depth profiles of seven of Philadelphia's most influential, and oftentimes maverick, inhabitants who managed to make their mark in the city of their birth between 1900 and 1950. Within five decades there would be major legal changes in city government, geo-demographic changes with the status of neighborhoods like Society Hill shifting, and shifts in social attitudes. Horne notes that over the first half of the twentieth century the upper classes only became more snootish, once a start of "distrust between certain classes of people in Philadelphia- or, more precisely, between people of different provenance and background (329) set in. The book ends with a description of Philadelphia in 1950, and notes the stark contrast between the way the city looked in 1900 and the way it did fifty years later.
Horne is a useful tool for understanding both the general social context that the Lord and Haven families would have been brought up in. It also sheds light on the personality traits of individuals who could have been easily related to figures like the characters in "The Philadelphia Story". Realizing just how much society had changed over the past few decades by the time "The Philadelphia Story" would have taken place helps to explain why the film's audience would have been so scared of change and why its characters would seem to resist change in social order.
Call#: Van Pelt Library F158.44 .B49 1968a]
century. Blumin focuses primarily on the time period before, during, and after
the Civil War arguing that it was this phase in which a major transition occurred
in American culture. 1815-1845 is defined as the period in American history
most characterized by change. Blumin cites the classic popular notion that
the United States "is a country of self-made men" and spends this volume
assessing the accuracy of this statement; he seeks to determine if 1815-1845 was
indeed as 'open' a time period as popular history would suggest. Through archival
data in the form of tables, graphs, and charts, Blumin takes a look at the lives
of each of the social classes in Philadelphia in the nineteenth century. He looks
most carefully at data that reflects socio-economic status as manifest through
the value of real estate, occupation, and annual income. After collecting and
analyzing this data, Blumin determines that the idea that any American can
propel himself up in society by making money (and that the origins of one's
birth are meaningless in the modern era) is very much a myth.
A look into the history of Philadelphia society and historical shifts in general
American demographics helps give a bigger picture of the context in which
"The Philadelphia Story" transpires. Blumin informs his reader that Philadelphia
was a city with extremely stratified social classes for over a century. His
emphasis on the potential for economic mobility but lack of opportunity for
social mobility for the working man in the nineteenth century helps explain
some of the underlying issues that the characters in the film reference. We can better
understand Dexter's social laziness, Tracy's easy grace, George's insecurities, and Mike's
frustrations with the social system in Philadelphia after being briefed on the
historical context that bred these attitudes.
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: May 11, 2003
The operator of a Chinatown bus company competing with others in a bitter battle for riders was shot and killed on Friday night on a street near his home, and detectives yesterday were investigating whether the slaying was related to the unusual feud, police officials said.
The gunman, whom the police described as an Asian man in his 20's wearing a waist-length black jacket and a white baseball cap, was apparently waiting for the victim, De Jian Chen, 27, outside Mr. Chen's home on Henry Street, the police said. About 9:15 p.m., as Mr. Chen climbed out of a friend's white Lexus at Forsythe and Henry Streets, the gunman opened fire with a .45-caliber pistol, the police said.
But he missed his mark, and Mr. Chen ran down Henry Street and around the corner onto Market Street, the police said. The gunman followed, catching up with Mr. Chen in front of 32 Market Street and firing again, this time hitting him three times in the back and once in the arm. Mr. Chen collapsed and was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later at New York University Downtown Hospital, the police said.
The police and a business associate of the victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, provided different accounts of his relationship to the bus company. The police said Mr. Chen worked for the company, Dragon Coach U.S.A., at 87 East Broadway, and had an ownership interest in another bus company. The associate said Mr. Chen was an owner of Dragon Coach U.S.A. and ran buses from New York City to Philadelphia, Washington and Richmond, Va., and played a lesser role in a company that ran buses to Atlanta.
Over the last year, several Chinatown bus lines that offer low fares to Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and other destinations have competed so fiercely for riders that fistfights have broken out between rival employees, and neighbors have complained of ganglike violence.
Last year, the police and prosecutors investigated certain companies and people associated with them, according to a law enforcement official, but no charges were filed. Last May, Mr. Chen was arrested and charged with first-degree assault; he was accused by the police of deliberately driving his bus into a man affiliated with a rival company. That case is pending.
SEPTA Plans Service Upgrades
By: Dan Hirschhorn, The Bulletin
03/27/2008
Philadelphia - SEPTA riders can expect significant service upgrades in the fall, with the transit agency planning to spend more than $10 million increasing the frequency and capacity of buses and trains.
The planned improvements come as SEPTA is enjoying its first dedicated funding stream in a decade and ridership is increasing across the transit system, the country's sixth-largest.
SEPTA officials announced the plans for increasing service at a press conference yesterday, where they unveiled the agency's proposed operational budget for fiscal year 2009. The budget still needs to go through public hearings over the next couple weeks.
"All of these service initiatives are part of SEPTA's commitment to improve service and convenience for our customers around the five counties of Southeastern Pennsylvania," SEPTA's chief service planner Charles Webb said.
The proposed budget of $1.08 billion represents a spending increase of about 5.6 percent over the previous year. But SEPTA remains cautious about increasing spending, and is spending significantly less than it could. Even though a landmark transportation funding law enacted last summer is proving the transit agency significantly more in state subsidy than it has budgeted for, SEPTA is not using that money to improve service.
From LOVE comes Paine
Years after legislation criminalized one of the most famous informal skateparks in the country, a thoroughly planned predecessor, Paine's Park, finally nears completion. Is this Shangri-La for skateboarders? Or an expensive cover-up for NIMBY-pandering city policies.
By Liz Marklewicz
Red lights mean green for GOP
MORE THAN 90,000 motorists have been nailed for running red lights in the first three years of Philadelphia's camera-enforcement program. At $100 a shot, they've paid $9.1 million in fines.Backers of the red-light program say the main beneficiary has been public safety.
"Incidents of death, injury and property damage are dramatically down at the intersections where cameras are installed," the Parking Authority's board chairman, Joseph T. Ashdale, said in a news release last month.
Other beneficiaries include Republican Party officials and their kin.
Like the explosive growth in the Parking Authority's staff and salaries, reported last year by the Daily News, the red-light-camera program has created more jobs for Republican ward leaders, committeemen and their families.
It has also led to thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for GOP organizations and candidates.
More than anyone else, the contributions have flowed to state Rep. John Perzel, the Northeast Philadelphia Republican who engineered a GOP takeover of the Parking Authority in mid-2001.
They offers daily bus service between New York(156 E. Broadway) and Philadelphia.
New York(156 E Broadway) <--> Philladelphia
One way $12.00, Round Trip $24.00
Duration:about 2 hours
New York:156 East Broadway
Philadephia:Frankford Transportation Ctr. or 2801 Cottman Ave.
Record: Cross Collection Search
Well equipped glass blowing studio. Opened in the East Falls section of Philadelphia in Jan. 2006. Holds an Open House on the 2nd Saturday of some months. Check the website for details.
Offers classes and studio rental along with a small gallery of works by local artists.
Check out Jon Goldberg (the shop's owner) work.
Call#: Van Pelt Video Collection; ask at Circulation Desk. DVD F158.3 P74 2005
Documents the street name changes within Philadelphia Streets. Try multiple variations of the street name to find it.
Call#: In Process In Process