Mayor Nutter defends 10-year property tax abatement program:
I’m way behind on my reading of the Sunday Inquirer, but I finally got around to the piece by Patrick Kerkstra that Alan says was so prominently discussed at last night’s town hall meeting.  Clearly there are some vast differences of opinion between the backers and opponents of [...]

A thin elderly man sits on a stool by the door inside the Charles L. Durham library in Mantua, or as the locals call the area “The Bottom.” He chit-chats with the clerk at the check-out counter, and asks her to put on some Christmas music. The clerk returns with a cd and pops it into a boom box. A [...]

Thanks to all 189 of you who participated in our recent poll. In case you missed it, we asked our readers to weigh in on the issue about whether Philadelphia high schools should hand out free condoms. An overwhelming majority, 98%, voted YES. To get some national perspective on the issue, we looked around to see how our local poll [...]

Guest Commentary by K.Sayford-Wilson
In today’s economy, volunteering at schools and charitable organizations
is more important than ever, and can add up to “federal dollars earned”
but ironically has become increasingly impossible for many families for
the same reasons that it’s most needed.
Take Head Start for example. This federally funded school readiness program, which is designed to benefit low-income [...]

As part of our Citizen Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to Philadelphians behind the issues affecting our city everyday. One controversial topic out there is whether Philadelphia public schools should hand out condoms. To get the conversation started, we’re shining the spotlight on Sam Sitrin. She’s campaigning with ACT UP to increase school condom distribution through a program known as Policy 123, [...]

Sometimes you can get lost in the numbers and I encourage you to do so.

Appended is a data set on usage of public library branches in Philadelphia. They compare total circulation by branch in 2004 to the same numbers in 2008. Total circulation means the number of items people checked out – books, CD’s, [...]

As a volunteer, Greg Wade in 2006 started running the Philadelphia Home and School Council: a non-profit organization made up of parent groups representing individual public schools across the city. His peers recently reelected him for another two year term. As director, Wade’s duties included managing a fund supported by home and school associations across the city. Now, he’s been charged for embezzling $60,000 from that fund and [...]

It was only just this past summer that Mayor Michael Nutter handed over an additional $4 million to the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP). In turn, college officials decided they would use the money to offset costs and not raise tuition for the first time in nearly twenty years. Now, flash forward to the current financial crisis our city is [...]

Updated: 5:27 pm
Friends of the Free Library will hold a special Community Meeting on the 11 proposed library closures this Saturday, November 8, 10 am - Noon, at the Children’s Story Hour Room inside the Central Branch, 1901 Vine St. (20th and the Ben Franklin Parkway)
Updated: 4:33pm
Library locations listed below are confirmed. The mayor’s office released a list of proposed [...]

*UPDATE 1:00 pm: The School District is reporting that the meeting is full for tonight. In order to attend the meeting, you had to RSVP ahead of time. So if you don’t have a reservation, the school district is advising you to attend the next one. We are waiting to hear back from the school district about [...]