March 2008

A new building has been proposed which will reach 1,500 feet if it clears the hurdles of zoning and neighborhood forums. This would eclipse the 975 feet tall Comcast Center. You can read the details in my article for the March 14th Triangle.

Photo courtesy of PhillySkyline.com

A UPenn dental student was tied up in his apartment at 43rd and Spruce Streets by two thieves, who held him captive for seven hours while they watched “American Gladiators” and then slept over, before leaving in the morning with his laptop and iPhone.

Police have no leads and are scratching their heads at a crime as ridiculous as this. No report on why they stayed the night or how the victim was found.

Source: NBC Story

The PA House and Senate are working towards a compromise to pass a smoking ban for Pennsylvania. The politicians failed to pass one by the end of the session last year.

The main issues are whether are not casinos should be exempt, like they are in New Jersey. They are also debating whether or not taverns and private clubs should be exempt.

Source: KYW Article
Photo courtesy of www.athletic-scholarships.net

Mayor Nutter has announced a major citywide clean-up initiative to take place on Saturday, April 5th, from 9am to 2pm. He called it the “largest citywide cleanup Philadelphia has ever seen” and told everyone to participate to “clean up Philadelphia once and for all and then keep it clean.”

Nutter believes that a clean city would be a safer city, because when people care about their surroundings, they care about each other. This is part of the “broken windows” theory.

Residents can get involved by going to www.phillycleanup.com or just picking up some trash! The program has goals to recruit more than 10,000 volunteers and remove 1 million pounds of trash and litter from across the city.

Source: Philly Cleanup, Facebook event (Must be logged in)
Photo courtesy of Facebook event for the Cleanup

Tap water or bottled? Be careful when drinking water from the tap either at off-campus apartments or even Drexel water fountains. An Associated Press investigation found 56 prescription drug residues in the Philadelphia water supply.

A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Water Department said that federal law doesn’t require that water be tested for these drugs and that there is no human health hazard or impact with these trace amounts. The pills get into the water supply through waste water that has been treated and purified. The purification process currently does not remove the drug residue.

Source: KYW Article
Photo courtesy of KYW

Drexel’s new police force initiative is a great move by the University and many students feel it is about time. A large percentage of students (myself included) feel “safer” with Drexel public safety officers on and around campus (compared to there being none!), but always wondered in the back of our heads what would really happen if we were in trouble and needed help and what the public safety officers could really do. Plus, I know I’d call 9-1-1 before 215-895-2222.

Now though, 9-1-1 should go to Drexel police, who are only going to be dedicated to solving Drexel crime, following Drexel crime patterns, carrying weapons, being able to arrest, and probably concentrating north and west of campus on their patrols. With so many cops patrolling just for Drexel’s interests, not only will they prevent crime, but if crime does occur, it’s much more likely that the culprits will be caught, either right away or eventually.

Additionally, it has been hinted in this transformation that regular public safety officers like we have now would stick to campus (where there is very little crime) and do escorts and other things like that. I hope that in this transformation the current officers are trained in Drexel activities and customer service and become people that we can turn to for directions etc. because I know that I try to say “hello” to officers every time I pass one, but most look away from me as I get close, and its very uncomfortable. They could become very valuable assets for visitors to the University in their new role, if they are trained to do so.

Photo courtesy of Triangle Files

Philadelphia Weekly Magazine has put together a feature of the Top 50 bars in Philadelphia. Here are the top 5:

1. Grace Tavern - 2229 Grays Ferry Avenue

2. N. Third - 801 North 3rd Street

3. Good Dog Bar - 224 South 15th Street

4. Sugar Moms - 225 Church Street

5. McMenamin’s Tavern - 7170 Germantown Avenue

The only one very close to campus is #38, White Dog Cafe, at 3420 Sansom Street between Drexel and UPenn’s campus. However, many of them are in Center City and most are accessible by subway, trolley, or bus, if not walkable.

According to the article, there are 252,925 different bars, brewpubs, gin joints, and taverns in the city. That is a bar for every 6 Philadelphians! Don’t tell your parents that.

Source: Top 50 in Philly
Photo courtesy of Philadelpha Weekly

Should students be able to carry guns on campus? There is a new group called the “Students for Concealed Carry on Campus” which has 16,000 members nationwide and cites recent shootings at Virginia Tech and NIU as the source behind their group.

KYW 1060 did a small investigation at Drexel and found that all of the students they sampled disagreed with letting students legally carry a gun on campus as a deterrent to criminals bringing one on and no one being able to defend themselves. Here is one of the more amusing Drexel student quotes:

“I don’t believe anyone should have concealed weapons. Students are idiots, we’re all still children, I dont think many of us are very mature, I don’t think it would be a very good idea.”

Source: KYW Article
Photo courtesy of ABC News

Good news for students looking for co-ops. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Nutter administration want to double the number of paid internships in the city government and local businesses for 16-21 year olds. The official program is called “WorkReady Philadelphia.”

Mayor Nutter is reaching out to businesses asking them to create the internships. Other lawmakers are attempting to create a tax break for companies with internships, which would allow them to write off up to 70% of the cost of an internship.

For more information, check out workreadyphila.com.

Source: KYW Article
Photo courtesy of aprendeespanolenespana.spain-language.com.

A new proposal swirling around in the state legislature will finally make the ability to buy a six-pack convenient.

Currently, at distributorships, consumers can buy beer only by the case: 24 bottles, or four six-packs. At bars or taverns, they can buy up to two six-packs at a time, often overpriced.

The new measure would allow distributors to sell six-packs, 12-packs, 18-packs, and any other configuration up a case. It also allows restaurants and taverns (and convenience stores and supermarkets with liquor licenses) to sell up to three six-packs at a time, or any other configuration up to 18.

The sponsors of the bill are planning to slip it into another bill, as well as earmark donations to local small breweries to help them buy machines to package 12- and 18-packs, in the next few weeks.

Source: A six-pack of controversy to go
Photo courtesy of philly.tribe.net