Neighborhood Innovation : In The News

Oliver Strand names six Philly coffee spots he loves as much as our sports, art and culture, according to the New York Times.

Philadelphia has plenty going for it: the best four-man rotation in baseball, art worth fighting over, a ruin so elegant and haunting it feels like Berlin. It also has superb coffee. Recently, I went on a coffee crawl that took me to a handful of shops where the baristas aren't just tremendously skilled, they're disarmingly sweet-natured. I found an energetic scene thriving outside the gravitational pull of the hometown giant La Colombe Torrefaction.

I was in Philadelphia to check out the local Thursday Night Throwdown --TNT to insiders -- a monthly cappuccino-off where 32 baristas compete for glory (the winner gets his or her initials embroidered on a strip of denim) and a decent-sized kitty (from the entrance fees). The evening was three hours of steaming milk in front of a crowd plied with pizza and beer. A news crew taped the throw-down, maybe because one of the judges was Winston Justice, offensive tackle for the Eagles and co-owner of Elixr Coffee, the host of the contest. Later, a good number of the competitors and spectators adjourned to a dive bar with a drag show -- the $7 cover included a can of beer and a shot of Jim Beam. Fun town.

Source: The New York Times
Read the full story here.

La Rose Nightclub in Germantown welcomes teen musicians who want to play jazz, according to Jazz Times.

The Sunday evening jam sessions led by drummer Rob Henderson and jazz promoter Kim Tucker at the La Rose Jazz Club on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia for the past two years are the epitome of this playful re-enactment of traditional rites of passage between the young and the old, the neophyte and the old head, the apprentice and the master, the eager and the cautious.

Many of the "young ones" come from Cheltenham High School, University of the Arts, Temple University, and the Kimmel Center and Clef Club youth jazz ensembles. Some of the standouts are 19-year-old saxophonist Dahi Divine; 16-year-old pianist Jordan Williams; 11-year-old drummer Nazir Zbo, the little brother of Philly phenom Justin Faulkner; 17-year-old bassist Bruce Ketterer (whose father drives him in from Reading); drummer Ben Singer; and 17-year-old violinist Ben Sutin, whose band has appeared at Chris' Jazz Caf�, one of the few remaining jazz clubs in Philadelphia. Photographers L. David Hinton and Anthony Dean make it a point to be present to document these early moments of what could be the next generation of young lions.

Source: Jazz Times
Read the full story here.

The New York Times takes a tourist's road less traveled into Northwest Philly, where visitors get a heaping helping of Philly's quirks and charms in Germantown.

The No. 23 city bus running along the cobblestones is still known as the "trolley,"and you can take it to visit the house where a young Benjamin Franklin stopped for advice on books or to other homes where Revolutionary War battles left powder marks and bloodstains. George Washington slept here, a lot, and decades later so did runaway slaves at a well-preserved stop on the Underground Railroad. There's also a homey lunch spot known for its veggie burger.

Historic sites in Philadelphia (and restaurants that serve veggie burgers) may not seem so notable, but visitors don't often make it to Germantown Avenue, where the trolley runs, preferring instead to brave the crowds at Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center in Center City.

Source: The New York Times
Read the full story here.

Philly Watchdog gives citizens an active role in reporting fraud via iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Philadelphia is using 21st-century technology to fight corruption.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz launched an iPhone app that allows citizens to upload and send audio, photos and video to the city's Fraud Unit, so it can investigate. The free Philly Watchdog app allows for anonymous tips, has a geolocation feature that provides the location of the incident and a one-touch button to call the unit directly.

"When it comes to reporting fraud and waste in Philadelphia, I'm proud to say that 'we now have an app for that,' " Butkovitz said last week at a press conference announcing the app.

Source: The Wall Street Journal
Read the full story here.

The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts is worth a trip to experience the French Arts connection, according to the Baltimore Sun.

If you want to spend April in Paris but can't afford it, a short hop to Philadelphia may at least give you that French feeling.

After nearly three years of planning, the city kicks off the first Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts this weekend, featuring 1,500 artists and 135 exhibits, performances, lectures and films, all paying homage to Paris.

Source: The Baltimore Sun
Read the full story here.

The USA Today reports the young professional population is on the rise in urban centers, especially in Philadelphia, which saw a 57 percent increase among college-educated 20- and 30-somethings.

In more than two-thirds of the nation's 51 largest cities, the young, college-educated population in the past decade grew twice as fast within 3 miles of the urban center as in the rest of the metropolitan area - up an average 26 percent compared with 13 percent in other parts.

"This is a real glimmer of hope," says Carol Coletta, head of CEOs for Cities, a non-profit consortium of city leaders that commissioned the research. "Clearly, the next generation of Americans is looking for different kinds of lifestyles - walkable, art, culture, entertainment."

Source: USA Today
Read the full story here.

An Allentown battery manufacturer is installing its large format lithium ion energy storage system ona 2,700 square foot building at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as part of its Energy Innovation Hub, reports CNET.

"The Energy Innovation Hub will include a live demonstration of a microgrid with a 2,700 square foot net-zero energy home. International Battery will provide Sunverge with an 8.2 kilowatt-hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery pack for use in the residential SIS (Solar Integration System)," the company announced Thursday.

The battery pack will be used to store solar energy that can be retrieved for later use in conjunction with the solar system and micro smart grid, also being constructed on site, according to International Battery.

Source: CNET
Read the full story here.

The School District of Philadelphia puts new programs in place to help kids eat more healthfully, according to The New York Times.

Tatyana Gray bolted from her house and headed toward her elementary school. But when she reached the corner store where she usually gets her morning snack of chips or a sweet drink, she encountered a protective phalanx of parents with bright-colored safety vests and walkie-talkies.

The scourge the parents were combating was neither the drugs nor the violence that plagues this North Philadelphia neighborhood. It was bad eating habits.

The parents standing guard outside the Oxford Food Shop are foot soldiers in a national battle over the diets of children that has taken on new fervor. With 20 percent of the nation's children obese, the United States Department of Agriculture has proposed new standards for federally subsidized school meals that call for more balanced meals and, for the first time, a limit on calories. The current standard specifies only a minimum calorie count, which some schools meet by adding sweet foods.

Source: The New York Times
Read the full story here.

Philadelphia's Office of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy boss says underserved neighborhoods will improve with cultural infusion, in an essay Steuer writes in The Huffington Post.

The new Census numbers for Philadelphia are in, and the city managed to actually record a population increase, the first in 50 years. And while the increase was tiny -- 8,456 residents, which represents a .6% increase to 1,536,006 - the reversal of the decades-long decline is huge.

Virtually all the neighborhoods that have seen huge population increases during this ten-year period have also seen large increases in the number of arts organizations and artists living and operating in them.

Source: The Huffington Post
Read the full story here.

New residential construction in Northern Liberties transforms the traditional split-level so that each room expands vertically as well as horizontally, according to Architectural Record.

The Northern Liberties neighborhood, just north of Center City in Philadelphia, used to be a decrepit Rust Belt remnant, but it now attracts the artist crowd. Over the past decade that crowd has come, stayed, become organized, and turned the neighborhood into a vibrant community that honors its local history while allowing a modern sensibility to permeate new design. Architect Kevin Angstadt, principal of Qb³, has completed three projects in the neighborhood, and he says his latest, Split-Level House, could not have been accomplished without the forward-thinking neighborhood association of Northern Liberties.

Source: Architectural Record
Read the full story here.

The East Wing of Reading Terminal Market is getting an overhaul, with five new stalls and a demonstration kitchen planned, according to uwishunu.

Established in 1892 at 12th and Arch Streets, beloved local icon Reading Terminal Market is the nation's oldest continuously operating farmers' market. The always-abustle market sells everything from Amish baked goods and deli fare to city specialties like cheesesteaks and Famous Fourth Street cookies, while events and cooking classes showcase Philadelphia's vibrant dining scene. Given its storied history and constant usage, it's no wonder that the market is due for an exciting renovation.

Source: uwishunu
Read the full story here.

The City of Philadelphia and SEPTA join together to address the connection between public health and public transportation, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council and as reported in Flying Kite last week.

Don't see the link between transit and food? Philly does. The City of Philadelphia and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) have made it a top goal to target food deserts--neighborhoods where it is difficult to access fresh food--and public transportation is at the core of their effort.

Source: NRDC Smarter Cities
Read the full story here.

The West Coast gets vicarious thrills from random acts of kindness during the East Coast snowpocalypse (especially in Philly), reports the Los Angeles Times.

Between storms, a builder in Connecticut uses his skid loader to plow his neighbors' driveways. In Maryland, a good Samaritan hands out water and M&Ms to stranded drivers. The mayor of Philadelphia urges residents to "be kind" and help one another out--and they respond by doing just that.

Across the Northeast, full of large cities where people wear their brusqueness like a badge of honor, neighbors and even strangers are banding together to beat back what's shaping up to be one of the most brutal winters in years--and it appears to be contagious.

Original source: Los Angeles Times
Read the full story here.

You've got to give attorney David Orphanides a lot of credit. He's come up with an alternative to "artisanal," one of the more awkward-sounding terms in the English language. Jettisoning the word, but not the concept, Orphanides uses the more classic "crafted" when describing the four tenets that make up the philosophy of Fairmount's soon-to-open Fare restaurant, which also relies on local, organic and sustainable practices.

Orphanides eats organic and shops sustainably at home, so it makes total sense, he says, that Fare mirrors that lifestyle. "It's second nature for us. We couldn't see doing it any other way." Also on board are Savvas Navrosidis, who owns Fairmount Pizza, and attorney Andy Siegel.

Fare, which opens to the public in "early spring," eschews heavy creams and sauces for "food that's still very satisfying and filling." The projected 85-seat bar and restaurant located at 2028 Fairmount Avenue, across from Eastern State Penitentiary, is fit out with completely green, locally sourced furnishings. The black walnut bar comes from Pennsylvania trees. Wine, beer, and liquor served on that lovely expanse of local wood aims to be "biodynamic and organic, from local vineyards and distilleries," according to Orphanides.

Fare's menu evolved from an original concept of smaller snacks to include dishes for all appetites. Small plates and snacks range in price from $2-$8; salads are $6-$9, and main dishes range from $11-$18. Fare "started out more as a place for people to have a drink and socialize, more of a lounge" for Fairmount locals, but when chef Tim Bellew signed on, the menu expanded. Bellew's previous engagements include Fire in Cherry Hill, Black Eyed Susan in Long Beach Island, and MANNA catering in New York.

Source: David Orphanides, Fare Restaurant
Writer: Sue Spolan

The Courier Post gets in-depth on $5.8 million in federal grant money to fix roads and add bike paths in Camden, which we reported on in September (http://www.flyingkitemedia.com/features/bicyclephilly0928.aspx).

"As a part of the Camden greenway, this active transportation network basically started in Camden and its focus is improving pedestrian and bicycle access," said Jake Gordon, counsel for Cooper's Ferry Development Association, which helped write the grant. "This is one project but three corridors."

The money from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant is planned to repave and add bike lanes and sidewalks to Pearl Street, which runs adjacent to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge; Martin Luther King Boulevard between the waterfront and North 5th Street; and parts of Pine Street east of the Interstate 676 overpass.

The improved bike paths will connect Camden to the rest of the county as well as Philadelphia, said John Boyle, research director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

Original source: Courier-Post
Read the full story here.