Boston makes a move for Edgar Allan Poe / Image credit Media Technology Services, Boston College

Guest commentary

By Ed Pettit

If you haven’t heard, Philadelphia and Baltimore have been locked in battle over the literary legacy of Edgar Allan Poe. Well, maybe it’s just me who has been locked in a battle, but there

Richmond, VA behind new Poe stamp

has been a lot of media attention. Most recently, the NY Times ran a piece about the Poe Wars.

Now it looks like Boston has joined the fray, as reported in the Boston Globe, Paul Lewis, a professor from Boston College, thinks the Beantowners ought to “embrace their inner Edgar.”

Before anyone goes all frothing at the mouth again over my call to have Poe’s remains relocated from Baltimore to Philadelphia, let me just say that for me this argument has always been over the Legacy of Poe, not his bones. I only want Poe’s metaphorical bones.

Poe house in Baltimore Img: Nevermore

All my life, I’ve noticed how Baltimore has embraced Edgar as one of their own, when in fact their connection has always been tenuous (in sports terms, Baltimore was Poe’s minor league team). While in Philadelphia the National Park Service has admirably tended to our own Poe House, the city hasn’t done nearly enough to promote Edgar as its greatest writer. It’s time for Philly to wake up and realize that Poe is a Philadelphia writer.

With the Bicentennial of Poe next year (he was born Jan 19, 1809) all the Poe cities-Bmore, Philly, NY, Richmond and Boston-are rolling out the red carpet for Poe tourists. Baltimore has two websites promoting its events. Last month, they held a press conference to promote the Bicentennial which is still making waves in newspapers and news sites online. Richmond has a website, as well. And now Boston, the city with the smallest of claims to Poe’s Legacy (his actress mother gave birth to him while passing through on a theatrical tour), is hosting a two day celebration and calling for their city to recognize Poe as own of their own.

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By Tom Ferrick
The weirdest thing about the debate over the budget cuts proposed by Mayor Nutter is not what is being talked about, but what is not.
The public debate is all about closing libraries and reducing the number of fire trucks.
There is no talk - zero, zilch, nada - about what may turn out to [...]

Templeton Foundation in West Conshohocken awarded National Humanities Medal
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Friends of Library plans donor summit to save libraries
City of Camden starts Safe Surrender program

Guest commentary by Ed Schwartz

In mid-October I delivered  testimony at a City Council hearing prior to Barack Obama’s election on November 4th urging that the Mayor hold back on budget cuts until after the election and then assess what additional support we might receive from the federal government to ease our fiscal crisis.  Everything I [...]

It’s Our Money’s Ben Waxman put together a helpful chart outlining exactly how Mayor Nutter’s many goals have been affected by the current budget shortfall.  Unfortunately, it looks like depending on changes to the pension fund to “improve fiscal health” seems to have been pretty short sighted and in desperate need of a plan B.  [...]

If I’m here much later, I may just get to share SEPTA Watch’s cool sighting:

A BSL train sat parked on the tracks.  It hadn’t pulled up all the way.  No one was getting on or off.  And as I walked towards it, I noticed that most of the windows were covered.
I had stumbled upon the [...]

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced today that he will hold 8 town hall meetings to explain to the public the criteria he used in cutting city services. In addition the mayor says he wants to explain what led to projected 1 billion dollar budget gap over the next 5 years.
Meetings will be held from 7-8:30/9pm [...]

Guest commentary by David McAllister
Philadelphia faces a fiscal crisis today, one that Mayor Nutter has said can be solved only with significant spending cuts.  This is, of course, not the first time the city has had a budget deficit.  Less than twenty years ago, money simply ran out leaving city departments unable to make payroll, [...]

To begin with, libraries are not libraries. They are sanctuaries.
This is especially true in big cities, where life can be hard and the streets mean. They are places for latchkey children to go after school. They are destinations for the elderly to ease the loneliness that sometimes comes with old age. They [...]

DN Editorial: Budget cut rationale doesn’t make sense

The bad economy has sidelined many of Mayor Nutter’s campaign goals

SEPTA costs are mounting and that can’t be a good thing

Mayor signs casino legislation over the weekend
Friends of Library to announce plan for fighting budget cuts

It’s Our City broadcast its 3rd TV program last night on WHYY-TV.  In case you missed it, we’ve posted the links to the video and to an audio file. The program featured Arlene Ackerman, the Superintendent of the Philadelphia School District an with Lori Shorr, the Chief Education Officer for Mayor Michael Nutter. The two [...]