Archive for November, 2007

David Oh: Sore Loser or Shenanigan Detector?

1196361271Days after his loss to incumbent City Council at-large member Jack Kelly was certified by the city’s Board of Elections, candidate David Oh isn’t backing off his voter fraud allegations or his criticism of an absentee ballot process he considers flawed — and he says he’ll continue to gather evidence to expose the people he thinks are behind the “shenanigans.”

“I’m actually OK with the fact that I lost the election — that is Philly politics,” Oh tells the Daily Examiner. “When I entered into this election, I knew I wasn’t going to get the kind of support that I needed to win because of the shenanigans involved in it, and quite frankly, we counted on shenanigans going on.”

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12:30 Report: Your News Update

GAS ONCE AGAIN REACHING “ROAD WARRIOR” LEVELS: Price per gallon rises one cent to tie ‘07 record

LOVELY BONING: Royersford gets Hollywood treatment this week as Peter Jackson movie begins filming

PHILLY FBI GUY NOW WINDY CITY TOP COP: “J.S” Jody Shields becomes police superintendent in Chicago

POLITICAL CASINOS: Pennsylvania Supreme Court to decide whether casinos can contribute to political campaigns

 

Today on Phillymag.com

TASTE DAILY: Sick of the same old breakfast? Try this local find instead

GOOD LIFE DAILY: Nab great homewares at this Glenmoore shop’s holiday sale

HOME: Wielding a bold palette, owners of a 19th-century Rittenhouse townhome take historic living personally. View the slideshow to see every room!

 

The 8:30 Report: What Philly’s Talking About

1196342570Bykofsky attacks Verizon after brutal dog slay: Always willing to protect animals and their owners, Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky unloads on Verizon after a disturbing extortion plot against a grieving pet owner. The telephone service provider cruelly charged dog owner Bill Whiting fees when he asked for assistance trying to track down the two boys who called his home and attempted to extort money before they tortured, and eventually killed, his dog. [DN]

Cop wins shootout: Another perp vs. cop gun battle occurred in West Philadelphia early yesterday morning, leaving the suspect critically injured. Castrell Bundy, 29, of North Frazier Street, fired one shot at the officer after police were investigating a disturbance in his neighborhood. The police fired six shots, hitting Bundy three times. [Inquirer]

Nutter’s transition team in place: Mayor-elect Michael Nutter has finalized the transition team for his new administration. One of the seven members is Penn president Amy Gutmann. [KYW]

Penn’s devious hacker: What’s with Penn students and law-breaking this week? Police have charged another Quaker with being one of the key players in orchestrating a worldwide computer hack that attempted to infect thousands of online chat rooms. Josh Goldstein, a 20-year-old bio-engineering major, has pled not guilty to the charges. [Inquirer]

Phillies consider O’s third baseman: The Phillies are rumored to be interested in obtaining the services of 35-year-old Baltimore Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora. Mora, who’s had some productive offensive years, is said to be considering opting out of his no-trade clause for a chance to come to an East Coast contender. So much for the focus on pitching. [Inquirer]

 

End Quote: No Love for Wheels or His Bad Rug

Today’s Daily Examiner quip comes from Todd Zolecki’s “Zo Zone” Phillies blog, which registered some impassioned feedback about the team’s perceived coronation of Tom McCarthy as the successor to the whiskey-piped looong-drives of Harry Kalas. It seems, however, that fans love the McCarthy signing more for the fact that it won’t be longtime play-by-play analyst Chris Wheeler:

Put Wheeler and his toupee out to pasture.

Phillies’ Grooming Kalas’ Successor? [The Zo Zone]

 

Memo to Downtown Philadelphia: Stop Courting Young Singles and Focus on Timothy Busfield Types

1196279114Yesterday the Wall Street Journal ran a commentary piece by Joel Kotkin, “The Rise of Family-Friendly Cities,” that examined big cities’ attempts to lure young up-and-comers to their areas. The piece suggests that flirting with the MySpace generation is only a temporary fix, and that once all these bike-riding greasebags with wizard-sleeves marry off and start raising families, it’s back to the ‘burbs for them.

Center City District president Paul Levy is quoted extensively in the story, saying essentially that marketing ploys targeting hipsters (and empty-nesters) were a nice idea — but they didn’t ultimately work: “The evidence thus suggests that the obsession with luring singles to cities is misplaced. Instead, the emphasis should be on retaining young people as they grow up, marry, start families and continue to raise them.” Basically, it seems Levy is looking to attract the characters of thirtysomething.

Reached this afternoon, Levy told the Daily Examiner that the way he was quoted in the story made it seem like he was the “or” in the either/or continuum it presented. It’s not that he wants the city to stop attracting smart, educated 25-year-olds, he said, but that he wants to keep them. Forever. “Citywide, we’re doing terribly at retaining that demographic,” he said. But he wasn’t actually suggesting that the city shift its marketing priorities to a different audience? “No, not at all,” he said before abruptly hanging up.

It’s a shame. It would’ve been fun to see the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation spend millions of dollars building up uwishuhadabigga401k.com As it is, don’t expect Patricia Heaton to start guest bartending at a new Tria opening anytime soon.

PHOTO: 32lounge.com

The Rise of Family-Friendly Cities [WSJ]

 

12:30 Report: Your News Update

KIDDIE LOVERS STUNG: The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is set to announce 110 busts in a recent internet child sex sting

NOT THE WAY TO SOLVE THE HOMELESS PROBLEM: A man was cruelly set on fire in Kensington last night; police are still looking for suspects

NBC 10 BLOGGERS ANGRY AT FAKE NEWS STORY: So, there really is no Google-owned human-monitoring system ready to launch in 2022? Really?

NEW MUTTER MUSEUM BOOK: Full of all of those creepy images that makes it a perfect holiday gift for the weirdo in your family

WHITE WEEKEND?: Snow!

 

The Nach Attack: NBC 10 Muffs 11 p.m. Sweeps

Jim GardnerWhile 6 ABC and CBS 3 battled for first place at 11 p.m. during this November sweeps race, NBC 10, with no help from its dreadful prime-time lineup, limped into third place.

As of Tuesday morning (sweeps ends tonight), 6 ABC’s 11 p.m. newscast (Jim Gardner, Cecily Tynan and Gary Papa) leads with an 8 rating/16 share. (Each rating point is equivalent to around 29,000 households, and ratings are rounded to the nearest number.) CBS 3 (Larry Mendte, Alycia Lane, Kathy Orr, and Beasley Reece) is close behind with an 8 rating/15 share. NBC 10 (Tim Lake, Renee Chenault Fattah, Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz, and Vai Sikahema) is third with a 5 rating/10 share.

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No Fairmount-Palooza Next Year, But ‘09 Is a Strong Possibility

1196261654Yesterday the Inquirer reported that competing proposals for a three-day-long music festival in Fairmount Park have been pulled off the table for 2008. (One of them, from the organizers of Lollapalooza, has morphed into a more woodsy event in beautiful Vineland, N.J., home of traffic circles and scary-looking cornfields.) But, according to one member of the Fairmount Park Commission, some date and logistics problems were the only things that kept the event from happening here. Next year they’ll plan better, and we might just see Lollapalooza on Belmont Plateau in 2009.

“We needed to be on the same page from the beginning with the organizers,” Joe Manko, a board member on the Fairmount Park Commission and newly minted member of Michael Nutter’s transistion team, tells the Daily Examiner. Manko says he’s already discussed the benefits of having the three-day concert in the city’s back yard with the soon-to-be mayor. “As a commissioner, if I’m seeing $500,000 or 7.5 percent of the gross and the promotion it’ll give to the city and the park, it’s a no-brainer. I think this is a good idea, and I hope we can make it come to life next year.”

Body-surfers, start training now.

No Lollapalooza in Fairmount Park [Inquirer]

 

Today on Phillymag.com

TASTE DAILY: Bake this dessert for your holiday guests

GOOD LIFE DAILY: Time to start shopping! This is a gift anyone would love

WEDDING: Let these local experts help you find the right officiant to declare you Husband and Wife

 

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