Girard Avenue News

Lloyd's

2012-11-12T14:52:00.002-05:00

Lloyd's, a new cocktail and whiskey bar, just opened up on East Girard to great reviews (4.5 star average on Yelp)

Here are some quotes
Lloyd is my new favorite bar in Fishtown... and all of Philadelphia for the matter. With its cozy atmosphere, cool background music, and great friendly service, I've already become a regular in just the first couple weeks this bar has been open. From the food to the cocktails, Lloyd knows what they're doing and they are doing it right! This bar is just what the neighborhood needed and it will be a hotspot for locals and visitors alike for a long time..
Paul V.

Enjoyed my first visit to Lloyd and feel blessed that the area has yet another solid destination for eating and drinking.
Mike G.

The drinks were TOP NOTCH, and the happy hour special is a great deal.
M. H.

You can read more reviews at http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Lloyd+Whiskey+Bar&find_loc=Fishtown%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&ns=1.

Art Gallery

2012-06-12T19:12:00.003-04:00

Summer has started early, judging from the number of group shows already under way in Philadelphia galleries. Nature, rendered in almost every form imaginable, is the chief subject.

Sienna Freeman, Wexler Gallery’s director and an artist herself, is the curator behind Wexler’s “Wild Nature,” a gathering of four artists from across the country and Canada who envision nature through the lens of memory, dreams, and natural-history museum dioramas.

Curiously, while the majority of works are dark or disturbing in character, they are mainly white or pale in color.

Jennifer Trask’s wearable and wall-mounted assemblages of animal bones, found objects, precious metals, and stones give the impression of talismans that draw their magical power from nature; Andy Paiko’s ornate blown-glass bell jars enclosing natural objects — one contains a coyote spine — seem to harness nature’s mysterious forces as well, but also clearly reference the Victorian fascination with collecting.

Indie Rock Fest

2012-06-12T19:10:00.003-04:00

Philadelphia, PA - May 21, 2012. Indie Rock and Indie Folk fans in Philadelphia have plenty of reasons to stay in the city this Memorial Day Weekend. iRadioPhilly and The Fire have teamed to present Philadelphia's second annual Sundrop Music and Arts Festival. The weekend-long event will feature three days and two nights of the best multi genre music Philadelphia has to offer.

The Sundrop Festival daytime shows on the outdoor stage are FREE admission and open to all ages from 1 to 8 pm. Night shows on the indoor stage in The Fire’s music room are $10 admission and open to ages 21+. iRadioPhilly will report live from event during the entire festival.
Learn More

Pick up your pass to see Micheal Obama on Girard

2012-06-12T19:10:00.000-04:00

You can pick up your pass at 206 E. Girard Avenue Suite C in Fishtown.

Visit http://rnbphilly.com/2351886/michelle-obama-is-coming-to-philadelphia-this-week/ to learn more.

Zoo to Get More Parking

2012-03-22T05:31:00.000-04:00

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Philadelphia Zoo has plans to build a multi-level parking garage near the zoo grounds.

The zoo brings in 1.2 million visitors every year, and that’s a lot of cars to park. As a way to improve the parking situation, the zoo says it plans to build a parking garage, with completion slated for April of 2013.

“The parking garage itself will be located on Girard Avenue at 35th Street,” says the zoo’s Kenneth Woodson. “It’s a four-story structure and it will house approximately 685 cars.”
More from CBS

Translating Japanese Fairy Tales

2012-03-05T17:34:00.000-05:00

Japanese fairy tales are by turn both strange and exotic, yet also surprisingly familiar, for folktales of all sorts are tenacious having a tendency to get passed from village to village and to survive through generations across the world. Thus we have stories of the heavenly maidens and their magical shawls in both Greece and Japan, and motifs between Japan and Native American countries which are surprisingly similar. In many ways stories survived better in Japan then either of these two places thus while we have for the most part forgotten about the spirits of bears and deities which people once believed lived in Europe's rocks these are still present in the Japanese fairy tale "The Bear Stone." In which a bear is saved by a woodsman and so the bear becomes the guardian of the village through generations. They are also present in the tale of "The Thunder Kami" in which a Grandfather and Granddaughter climb a mountain to pray to a stone for rain. Similar stories are seen among the Sami, the Celts, the Finns, and the people of Iceland, we have just forgotten most of these, or they have changed as Europe changed.
In addition to these tales there are strange wondrous stories such as "The Snow Woman" in which a fearsome but beautiful girl brings storms which freeze woodsmen until she falls in love with one. Yet as with European tales such stories rarely have happy endings. The world of humans isn't necessarily meant to met the other world after all.
Because of the fascinating array of stories Zeluna.net has been translating Japanese fairy tales into English to make them freely available for people to enjoy.

Larry's Steaks

2012-02-08T11:19:00.000-05:00

Larry's Steaks has opened their doors at 920 W Girard Avenue, you can view their Menu.

Rosa's Deli

2012-02-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

A true Mom and Pop deli who's friendly owners have lived and breathed quality for all thirty of the years this place has been open.

"I've been going here for years. I live at the piazza and work around the corner and i'm here almost every day for lunch. They've been here for literally 30+ years. I've never met anyone nicer. They seem to know everyone that comes in. One of the last remaining mom and pop shops in the area. The food is awesome, especially a bacon cheeseburger on a hoagie roll... you have to order it specially (not on the menu)."
Review from Yelp

This was one of my favorite Italians I have eaten in a while. Although I love all of the many gourmet versions, this sandwich danced back and forth between genres, offering just enough delicious quality meat, and a roll that was easier to duck into than a traditional Sarcone's, all the while using extremely fresh ingredients and keeping the price at a a minimum.
Review from Philly Phoodie

Write for us

2012-02-06T10:23:00.001-05:00

If you are a business on Girard Avenue or live in the community around Girard Avenue, we'd like to invite you to become a write for this blog.

Please contact tyhulse@yahoo.com for more details

Soup Nazi Returns to Girard Ave. Friday - 11/18/11

2011-11-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

Soup Nazi returns to Doc's Soup Bar this Friday 11/18/11!

From Events / Promotion

Crowdfunding Bill Would Allow People to Invest in Local Businesses

2011-11-09T14:23:00.000-05:00

By Stacy Mitchell on November 8, 2011
via

Under a measure that passed the House last Thursday, you may soon be able to invest in a portfolio of your favorite independent businesses. The bill [1], which won bipartisan support and cleared the House on a 407-17 vote, would overturn long-standing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules that make it nearly impossible for small businesses to raise capital (or borrow money) from their customers and communities.

Current SEC rules divide investors into two categories. Wealthy people ("accredited" investors) are assumed to have a certain degree of financial sophistication. Businesses are free to approach them for funding. The rest of us are covered by safeguards that bar businesses from soliciting our investments without registering a public offering of securities with the SEC, an arduous and expensive legal process that is well beyond the reach of a neighborhood restaurant or start-up clothing maker. The current rules do exempt some small investment offerings, but these exemptions are too narrow for most independent businesses to use without running afoul of the law.

The result is that, even as enthusiasm for independent businesses and locally produced goods has grown, the savings of almost all American households remains invested in the stocks and bonds of large corporations. We may buy local, but we invest transnational. There are few alternatives.

more...

Girard and 9th project calls for supermarket, retail

2011-07-21T15:44:00.000-04:00

via PlanPhilly

July 20, 2011

By Kellie Patrick Gates
For PlanPhilly

A plan for a supermarket and retail shopping plaza on Girard Avenue at N. 9th Street received some needed approvals from the city planning commission this week.

But some commissioners are wondering if the area needs, or can support, another grocery store, since there is one existing and one soon coming in relatively close proximity. A West Poplar community representative told the commission a store would be most welcome, since there are a lot of people who live in areas that won't be served by either one.

In the end, commissioners gave their OK to two zoning changes to the area bounded by Girard Avenue and N. 9th, Thompson and Hutchinson streets: An amendment to the North Philadelphia Redevelopment Area Plan, changing the proposed land use from mixed-commercial and industrial to commercial. And an amendment to the Southwest Temple Urban Renewal Plan, changing the proposed land use from mixed commercial and industrial to area shopping center.

Commissioners also gave their blessing to a redevelopment agreement with 901 Girard Associates LP for the development of a supermarket and retail shopping plaza. The agreement allows the redevelopment authority to sell two parcels – 1221 N. Hutchinson Street and 1224 rear N. 9th Street, to 901 Girard Associates, which already controls the remainder of the block, Community Planner David Fecteau said.

Fecteau told the commission that decades ago, when the redevelopment authority wrote the plan for this area “we had an eye toward keeping industry there. Well, the industry left that area.”

The development site, which is now vacant, is mostly surrounded mostly by residential properties, Fecteau said. There is a tennis center just to the west, he said, and “what was supposed to be a shopping center” a little bit further west that contains a daycare center and fast food restaurants.

The plans 901 Girard Associates has submitted to the RDA call for a supermarket and a retail strip center, each being about 20,000 square feet. “We're not going to get a lot of retail there. It's not going to be one of the heavy-hitters. But it will be in community-serving retail,” Fecteau said.

While commissioners amended the documents that set out the development goals for the area, this project still needs zoning changes, Fecteau said. The current zoning of the project area is split, with some portion industrial and another part commercial, he said. A zoning bill changing it to “some sort of commercial that would allow this kind of retail” is expected to be introduced when council is back in session, and that will come before the planning commission, Fecteau said.

Planning commission staff also believes that even if the zoning was changed to commercial, the developer would still have to go to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for relief to allow the project as planned, Fecteau said.

The planning commission is asking the civic associations in the area to hold one joint community meeting with the developer to discuss the project before it reaches city council and/or the ZBA. The communities include Ludlow, Yorktown and West and East Poplar. Commissioner Beth Miller suggested that the Girard Coalition also be included.

Planning staff is also working with the developer in attempt to come up with some design changes, Fecteau said. Staff is concerned about the impact the back of the structure would have on the residential properties behind it on Thompson Street. “We want a development that respects the surroundings,” he said.

Miller noted that there is already a supermarket at Progress Plaza, and another planned at 2nd and Girard.

“Do we know that this is a food desert?” she asked. “Does it have to be a supermarket? Is this the demand of the community?”

Fecteau said staff was pondering if the grocery store would serve a different market between Progress Plaza, geared toward more affordable shopping, or the proposed 2nd and Girard grocery store, which is supposed to be upscale.

But if the market doesn't support a grocery store, it will have to be something else, he said.

Miller wondered about the viability of the project considering the status of the plaza across the street, with the day care and fast food stores.

Commissioner Nilda Ruiz expressed concern that another grocery store might pull customers from the existing ones.

Planning Commission Executive Director Gary Jastrzab said that a grocery store may not be possible on the site, but it is up to the developer to crunch the numbers and determine if that would work, or what other retail would work. “With these actions, what staff is saying is that we are generally OK with the idea of commercial and retail uses at this location,” he said.

“It's a very automobile-centric use,” Commissioner Nancy Rogo-Trainer said. She wondered how the neighborhood feels about that.

Fecteau said this is one of the discussions commission staff is having. “We do want to see something a little more urban,” he said. But staff also realizes that it's a difficult site to build on, he said, as visibility from Girard Avenue is essential. “It's going to take a creative architect,” he said.

The developer was not present to answer questions.

Rogo-Trainer also said that with the number of parking lots nearby on Girard, “I would hate to see another one, full or empty, added unless it was absolutely necessary for the use of this site.” The commission just heard about the city's focus on Greenworks Philadelphia and porous paving, and adding a large swath of asphalt makes no sense, she said.

Fecteau said the parking lot issue is also on the table in planning staff conversations with the developer.

During the community comment portion of the meeting, West Poplar Neighborhood Advisory Committee member Benjamin Jennings said the retail plaza across the street from the site has a daycare, fast-food and a dollar store, and that's a big improvement over what was a long-vacant building.

Even though there is a new grocery store at Progress Plaza and one proposed for Second and Girard, “it still doesn't cover the population in between Spring Garden and Girard,” he said. “He asked the commission to approve the changes staff was recommending, so things could proceed to the next step.“We do have an interest in seeing what the developer puts on the table,” Jennings said. The vacant property had a Pantry Pride store on it 20 years ago, he said. “We're interested in seeing what it can be.”

Reach the reporter at kgates@planphilly.com.

Super Fresh to fill Pathmark Vacancy

2011-07-19T16:53:00.000-04:00

via Inquirer

Posted on Tue, Jul. 19, 2011

By Maria Panaritis
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The long-awaited supermarket for Philadelphia's Northern Liberties neighborhood, in limbo since the December bankruptcy filing of Pathmark parent company A&P, now appears to be a go.

Help-wanted signs appeared Tuesday morning on the glass storefronts of the two-story structure at the corner of Second Street and Girard Avenue, where developer Bart Blatstein built a $30 million shopping center to house a second-floor Pathmark supermarket.

The signs say that the company is hiring for positions for a Super Fresh there, said local shop owner Darrell O'Connor, who noticed the signs from his store, Doc's Gourmet Café and Soup Bar, which faces the hulking, empty building on Girard.

Super Fresh is a sister chain to Pathmark, also owned by Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co., which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "Come join the Superfresh TEAM," one sign reads. "Opportunities available for friendly individuals with a passion for customer service. Apply now at www.superfreshfood.com.";

The developer and the supermarket corporation have declined to comment about the site since July 8, when A&P informed the New York bankruptcy judge overseeing its reorganization that it planned to retain its lease for the Northern Liberties site.

But on Monday, the president of the union that represents Pathmark and Super Fresh employees in this region said a deal to open a Super Fresh instead of a Pathmark in the rapidly redeveloping neighborhood appeared all but sealed and geared toward a planned late-August opening.

"Right now, I believe all the effort is to move forward and open it," United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 president Wendall Young IV said in an interview Monday.

Blatstein and a spokesman for A&P did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday. Both have declined to discuss what, if any, efforts A&P was making to move forward with the site after the company agreed to retain its lease there earlier this month.

The store, a half-block from the Blatstein-developed Piazza at Schmidt's - a public square and restaurant hub that is a gathering spot for the new upscale inhabitants of the once industrial-castoff neighborhood near the Delaware River - has been sitting unopened despite original plans to open it late last year.

Over the course of its bankruptcy, A&P has disposed of a number of its supermarkets, both locally and elsewhere, including a batch of Super Fresh stores in Maryland.

2011-07-08T13:25:00.002-04:00

The Girard Coalition, Inc. Launches act Girard
Help support the efforts of the Girard Coalition, Inc. and all the other community and educational organizations in Lower North Philadelphia to improve our quality of life.

visit www.actgirard.org

Effort to demolish former monastery on Girard is met with opposition

2011-07-06T13:45:00.000-04:00

Existing Monastery

Proposed Development

via Inquirer
By Miriam Hill

The old mansion at Corinthian Street and Girard Avenue was once home to the Poor Clare nuns, who filled both the building and the neighborhood with their contemplative presence.

They left 34 years ago. Now a developer wants to knock down the former monastery to build 42 small residential units - and the reaction of neighbors is anything but quiet.

"I think it would be a shame for them to be demolished," said John Gallery, executive director of the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. "The development proposed in its place is really out of character, both in style and choice of materials, and in density. It seems to be overbuilt for the site."

Joseph Beller, a lawyer for the developer, 2012 W. Girard Associates, did not return calls for comment. The developer's address is in Jenkintown, and a message left at the phone number for that property was not returned.

According to city records, the owners are 1 1/2 years in arrears on property taxes, although the city updates its files only monthly.

At a June 13 community meeting, the developer presented plans to raze the three structures at 2012-2030 Girard Ave. - a chapel and two brownstones where the nuns once lived.

The developer proposed erecting two four-story buildings containing 800-square-foot units with two bedrooms each. The construction would include 16 parking spaces for 42 condominiums or apartments.

In May, the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections refused to issue a permit for the development. The refusal noted several violations of the zoning code, including exceeding allowed heights and having no rear yard.

The developer has applied for multiple zoning variances and will have a July 19 meeting before the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

The new structures would eliminate a garden at the side of the property. There, benches where the Poor Clares sat and prayed surround a reflecting pool long since emptied of water. The tops of the benches had been capstones for the walls of Girard College, whose stately Grecian campus sits just across the avenue.

On one of the buildings, a cross and "Monastery of St. Clare" are carved above a window. Pebbled glass protected the nuns from both prying eyes and the temptations of the outside world.

In 1977, the Poor Clares departed for a new home in Langhorne, and the Girard Avenue properties fell into decay.

Not too long ago, before a fence went up, a visitor could sit in the garden on a weekend morning and hear the bells at Girard College peal "Morning Has Broken," an old Gaelic tune later recorded by Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam.

Neighbors and community activists want the developer to preserve the Poor Clares' buildings, or at least their facades; keep the garden; and construct something that would house fewer people.

At the June meeting, community members voted against the developer's proposal, 53-1, according to PlanPhilly, an online news site that covers planning and development.

"We're still in the process of dealing with the builder, the developer, to build something that is going to complement the historic fabric of that block. What he proposed to us was way too dense," said Penelope Giles, executive director of the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corp.

She said she feared it could fill up with college students.

In addition to Girard College, designed in 1833 by Thomas Ustick Walter, who was also an architect of the U.S. Capitol, Girard Avenue is home to many elegant brownstones that speak to the city's wealthier past.

Brewer Christian Schmidt once owned the house at 2004 W. Girard, according to PlanPhilly.

The proposed design, with its simple brick-and-cream facade, does not reflect the area's grand features, neighbors said.

"It was such an unbelievable departure from what exists there now and even from what the rest of the neighborhood is like," said Gray Hansen, who lives a few blocks away. "It's not a modern-type block where they knocked down everything, and it's not 50 brick houses in a row."

Web-design company joins greening of Fishtown

2011-07-04T14:48:00.000-04:00

via The Inquirer
By Diane Mastrull, Inquirer Staff Writer

"In the mid-1990s, the World Wide Web was relatively new and just beginning to be appreciated by businesses for its e-commerce potential.

To many, the Internet was still a great unknown and a source of anxiety. Thus, the name that Mia and Tracy Levesque chose at the time for their Web-design company: Yikes.

It's a five-letter word the couple are uttering with regularity these days over their own anxiety.

"This is the riskiest thing we've ever done," Tracy Levesque said, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of a $1.1 million construction project in full sawdust-laden progress.

Effective Aug. 1, it becomes the new offices for Yikes - and a likely popular attraction among green-building enthusiasts. The property, actually two of them - 204 and 206 E. Girard Ave. in Fishtown - is being renovated to qualify for the highest ranking under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification: platinum.

Whether renovations or newly built, buildings achieving LEED platinum status are rare. There are seven in Philadelphia, one of them in Fishtown - Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts - according to local green-building groups.

Upon completion, the Yikes project will include two storefronts (one of them to be occupied by Yikes), along with a two-bedroom apartment and three one-bedroom apartments arranged over three stories on a block of Girard Avenue just east of Frankford Avenue that includes a seafood restaurant, a bar, a combination tattoo parlor and art gallery, a lawyer's office, and a flower shop.

With New Kensington Community Development Corp.'s Sustainable 19125 initiative - an education program aimed at making the zip code that encompasses 1.4 square miles north of Northern Liberties and a population of 24,000 the greenest in the city - and a growing stock of environmentally sensitive, energy-efficient buildings in the neighborhood, proof is abundant that "Fishtown has reached critical mass . . . it has to be the easiest place to build green in Philadelphia," said Janet Milkman, executive director of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

Of course, that depends on your definition of easy. The Yikes project is about as close as possible to building from scratch without actually doing so."

Continued...

Great Space for an Art Gallery

2011-05-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

The owner of the property at 32 W. Girard Avenue has renovated his space and has been holding out renting it for an art gallery.

The Space which is just one block from the Piazza in Northern Liberties and only one more block from the Frankford Avenue of the Arts.

- New oak wood flooring
- New bathroom
- Updated back office for storage
- High Ceilings (12')
- New glass store front

600 Square Feet for $950 per month.
For more information contact 484-225-3383

Business Directory

2011-04-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

The new Girard Avenue Business Directory is now online.

Fine dining in Brewerytown?

2011-04-07T19:34:00.000-04:00

By Hayden Mitman. via HomeNews

On Girard Avenue at Taney Street in Brewerytown, a former illegal boarding house stands broken.

     Inside the 9,000-square-foot property, cluttered debris and signs of the historic structure's former life as ramshackle housing litter the building.

Yet, intricately textured walls and ceilings make it known that the dilapidated structure once had been loved.
     "It took two years to get this place," said David Waxman as he walked through the structure.

     Waxman is one of the owners of the MM Partners, a real estate management and development company rehabilitating properties along this stretch of Girard Avenue.

     "The electrical and plumbing weren't good, but the bricks are solid," he said.

     "It was an illegal boarding house," noted Jacob Roller, co-owner of MM Partners. "We used to see this sad parade of people going in and out of here ... The smell is still here a little bit."

     The building is, indeed, impressive. Looking past a ruined stationary bike, spots of graffiti and a large hole in the second story floor, one can see that the structure had, at one time, been a beautiful building.

     In the back of the property, accessed through a hole smashed in the wall where a large mirror had once stood - it's shattered pieces scattered nearby - a small residential unit exists, still in good condition.

     "This isn't even close to the worst," said Waxman.

     "Yeah, we've seen places that the back of the house was falling off or it was just a brick front and that was it," agreed Roller.

     But soon, the men said, the entire property would be something brand new.

     "It's going to be awesome," said Waxman.

     After a few months of renovations, the property will welcome a new eatery, owned by one of the city's hottest young restaurateurs.

     Recently, they said, Mike Stollenwerk, owner of Center City restaurants Fish and Little Fish as well as Fishtown's Fathom, signed paperwork with MM Partners with the intent to bring two new businesses to the structure.

     According to the pair, early last week Stollenwerk agreed to bring a new BYO restaurant to one side of the large property, as well as a retail store with take out eats to the other.

     While Stollenwerk's representatives did not return repeated calls for comment, the owners of MM Partners said the new businesses are expected to open this fall.

     "We are very excited. He's one of the best chefs in the city," said Roller. "He's a very sharp guy."

     And, they said, this project is just one of a few they have in the works, as they have a real desire to restore Girard Avenue to the thriving commercial corridor it once was.

     In fact, within the last year, Waxman said, MM Partners has helped bring several new businesses to this stretch of Girard Avenue, to the west of Girard College.

     "We've got at least twelve new businesses and that's in a year with a bad economy," said Waxman.

     Along with Stollenwerk's planned businesses, a new pharmacy has opened at 27th Street and Girard Avenue, a Mugshots Coffee Shop is open at 29th Street and soon, a new bike shop, Color Wheel Bikes, will open along the avenue.

     Along with new businesses on this strip, MM Partners started construction on what Roller said is the first housing development to be built north of Girard Avenue in this neighborhood in the past five years, the North 28 housing complex at 1238 N. 28th St.

     Here, the company will create a 15-unit housing complex with room for 15 gated parking spots.

     "Downtown is full," said Waxman. "People need roofs over their heads. ... What we are trying to do is be very affordable on the residential side."
More

Soil Kitchen: April 1st - 6th

2011-03-31T14:31:00.000-04:00

http://soilkitchen.org

Friday, April 1st

noon-1:30pm | Wind Turbine Workshop 1

Sam Newman

Learn how to build your own wind turbine from household materials. In  the first part of this three-part workshop, Sam will talk about wind  turbines, location, and circuitry.

2:00pm-3:00pm | Composting and You

Tim Bennett

Join Tim Bennett, owner of Bennett Compost, for an introduction to the  principles and processes of turning organic waste into nutrient-rich  compost. Good compost is key to urban growing.

3:00pm-4:30pm | Soil Sampling Workshop

TBA

Learn how to sample your soil and get accurate test results. Perfect practice for getting your soil tested at Soil Kitchen!

Saturday, April 2nd

11:00am-noon | Soil Sampling Workshop

TBA

Learn how to sample your soil and get accurate test results. Perfect practice for getting your soil tested at Soil Kitchen!

2:00pm-3:30pm | Community Stock

Patrick Caulfield

Learn how to invest in Community Stock! Chef Patrick Caulfield will  provide lessons on investing in the value of communal local food  systems. This workshop will invite small communities to join forces to  create vegetable stock source from their gardens, tables and neighbors.  Bring Table Scraps!

4:00pm-5:00pm | Soil: A Living Thing

Kyle Sirianno

Join soil scientist Kyle Sirianno in looking at the diversity that  exists beneath our feet, and the patchwork of organic material that  makes up our urban soil landscape. A multimedia presentation with  Q&A to follow.

Sunday, April 3rd

noon-3:00pm | Brownfields Conference Tour: Northern Liberties

noon-1:00pm | Composting and You

Tim Bennett

Join Tim Bennett, owner of Bennett Compost, for an introduction to the  principles and processes of turning organic waste into nutrient-rich  compost. Good compost is key to urban growing.

1:00pm-4:00pm | Getting to the Dirt: An Urban Agriculture Meet-Up

The Greenhorns

Join young farmer activist group The Greenhorns and the Philadelphia  Urban Farm Network as they introduce young farmers in the area that make  the food you eat. The meet and greet will include show and tell and small presentations from our guests.

4:00pm-5:00pm | Reading: Don Quixote

TBA

A reading (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes) of the  meeting of Don Quixote and the Windmill over a bowl of soup. Learn about  some of the inspiration behind Soil Kitchen. In both English and  Spanish.

5:00pm-6:00pm | Archive: Soil Test Results

Representative from the Agency for Toxic Substance & Disease Registry

Learn how to read your soil test results; what they mean and what you  can do in response to make your environment a healthy and fruitful space  for growing food. Add your test results to the first ever Soil Archive  and Map.

Monday, April 4th

11:00am-2:00pm | Wind Turbine Workshop 2

Sam Newman

A hands on workshop where participants will construct a number of small  wind turbines from readily available materials. Come ready to build!

3:00pm-5:00pm | Low-tech/Low-cost Remediation of Contaminated Urban Soil

Melissa Miles

Soils in urban areas are contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals  than those located in rural areas. Heavy metal contamination brings  potential health risk from consumption of home-grown vegetables and  fruit in urban backyard environments.  This is an environmental problem  that needs an environmentally safe and economically feasible solution.   This workshop will provide participants with the ability to determine if  their soil may be contaminated and provide them with various low-cost,  low-tech methods of removing some common contaminants from urban soils.

Tuesday, April 5th

11:00am-noon | Archive: Soil Test Results

Representative from the Agency for Toxic Substance & Disease Registry

Learn how to read your soil test results; what they mean and what you  can do in response to make your environment a healthy and fruitful space  for growing food. Add your test results to the first ever Soil Archive  and Map.

3:00pm-5:00pm | Wind Turbines Workshop 3

Sam Newman

(Weather dependent) Return to mount the turbines and watch them spin!

5:00pm-6:00pm | Community Stock

Patrick Caulfield

Learn how to invest in Community Stock! Chef Patrick Caulfield will  provide lessons on investing in the value of communal local food  systems. This workshop will invite small communities to join forces to  create vegetable stock source from their gardens, tables and neighbors.  Bring Table Scraps!

Wednesday, April 6th

noon-1:00pm | Reading: Don Quixote

TBA

A reading (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes) of the  meeting of Don Quixote and the Windmill over a bowl of soup. Learn about  some of the inspiration behind Soil Kitchen. In both English and  Spanish.

3:00pm-5:00pm | Low-tech/Low-cost Remediation of Contaminated Urban Soil

Melissa Miles

Soils in urban areas are contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals  than those located in rural areas. Heavy metal contamination brings  potential health risk from consumption of home-grown vegetables and  fruit in urban backyard environments.  This is an environmental problem  that needs an environmentally safe and economically feasible solution.   This workshop will provide participants with the ability to determine if  their soil may be contaminated and provide them with various low-cost,  low-tech methods of removing some common contaminants from urban soils.

East Girard Street Scape

2011-03-16T14:00:00.001-04:00

Recorded video's of the meeting on the work that's being done on Girard Avenue.

Small-Business Credit Markets, Assessed by a Loan Broker

2011-02-15T15:38:00.000-05:00

via

Ami Kassar of MultiFunding and Lisa Iliopoulos, who is expanding her day care center with the help of a loan arranged by MultiFunding.

By ROBB MANDELBAUM

Published: February 9, 2011

Up until summer 2009, Ami Kassar was a nine-to-fiver, working for Advanta, one of the largest providers of credit cards to small business. But then the company went bust, another victim of the credit crisis, and the newly unemployed Mr. Kassar decided to strike out on his own.

He formed MultiFunding, a broker that helps arrange loans for small businesses. It was hardly an auspicious time to open any business, but Mr. Kassar’s challenge was particularly daunting: the freeze in small commercial loans was only beginning to thaw. Plus, business loan brokering has been a fairly obscure and even somewhat shadowy field — but one that Mr. Kassar says he believes serves a growing need.

Running both a start-up and a loan broker, Mr. Kassar has had an unusual perspective on the small-business credit crisis. Based near Philadelphia, MultiFunding, which observed its first anniversary last week, now employs four people full time and has completed 12 transactions. It is presently helping 120 clients in 23 states secure financing.

Mr. Kassar, who works with companies that seek at least $250,000, said that he was able to help from one-third to one-half of his prospective clients. When MultiFunding procures financing, it takes as a fee either a percentage of the financed loan — from 1 to 2.5 percent — or, in the case of a refinancing, two months’ worth of saving over the original debt service.

Mr. Kassar recently spoke about his business and the market for small-business lending. This is a condensed version of that conversation.

Q. What accounts for MultiFunding’s growth — marketing, or a worsening economic environment for businesses?

A. I think there’s a yearning and crying out for transparency and knowledge and understanding. Most small-business owners are more tradesmen than they are businessmen, and they don’t really understand the finances.

read more..

Pathmark Update

2011-02-14T13:54:00.000-05:00

via PW

What Does The A&P Bankruptcy Mean For The Upcoming NoLibs Pathmark?

Here’s a little-known fact (at least for those outside grocery store circles): In 2007, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) acquired Pathmark for $1.4 billion, which included $475 million in debt financing. This came after decades of downsizing and increased competition from an increasingly balkanized grocery-market market (the surge of pseudo natural food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for some, cheap all-your-shopping Target and Wal Mart for others) and on Sunday, these factors, combined for the ultimate sad orgy (2-3 years of the Great Recession) found A&P filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

(Note: The answer to the question in the headline is below)

According to APP.com (a news site based out of New Jersey), court papers listed $2.4 billion in assets and $3.2 billion in liabilities for the Jersey-based company. The Inky notes that much of A&P’s woes stem from its 2007 acquisition of Pathmark, which was financed by…wait for it…Lehman Brothers and Bank of America, according to a 2007 Associated Press article.

It’s also noted by a Business Wire press release that in spite of the filing, J.P. Morgan Chase will provide the company with $800 million in financing and the company insists stores are “fully stocked and will remain open.”

That was all before. Moments — seriously, moments! — before this blog was supposed to go up, Bart Blatstein, President of Tower Investments, who owns the property returned our call and assures us all plans for the 2nd and Girard Pathmark are on target. In fact, he says, the Pathmark on Girard is the “flagship for the company, at least as the company sees itself as. Work is continuing, it’s almost done and it’ll be open in a couple months.”

The Pathmark in NoLibs will be a ‘higher-end’ store, and the company hopes this will mark the beginning of more stores just like it.

The Chapter 11 filing, according to Blatstein, will be used as a reorgnization technique so the company can unload what could be referred to as its toxic assets, aka, locations acquired in the 2007 deal that actually hurt A&P’s overall company profits. “It’s ironic,” says Blatstein, “because Pathmark and A&P will emerge as a much stronger company…They’re getting rid of their old baggage so the company can reemerge stronger and with a better direction.”

(Answer to the headline: Basically nothing.)

Image: Tower Development

Blood Drive at Hyperion Bank, Monday

2011-02-11T11:52:00.000-05:00

Real Blood Donors
Save Real Lives

Winter is a difficult time for blood collection, with holidays and the inclement weather of the winter months. There is no substitute for blood - it takes real donors to provide blood for those in need. Please consider making a blood donation. There's someone in need who will be glad you did.

Dear donor,

I am writing to remind you that there are still appointments available for the American Red Cross blood drive being held on Monday,February 14, 2011 at Hyperion Bank from 09:00 AM - 03:00 PM (Sponsor Code: 14826).
Please click here to view available times and to schedule your donation appointment. Walk ins are welcomed!

Thank you for your support and bring a friend, co-worker or family member with you to the drive on Monday!

Suzanne Salsbury-Mooney
(215) 789-4198

No Soup for You! Soup Nazi on Girard Ave.

2011-01-20T14:13:00.000-05:00

via

By Patty-Pat Kozlowski

November 2, 1995. Yes, it was 16 years ago when America was introduced to "The Soup Nazi" via the television sitcom Seinfeld.

What else can you remember from 1995? Clinton was President. It was the year O.J. Simpson went on trial in January and was given a not guilty verdict in October. San Fran won the Super Bowl, Atlanta won the World Series. The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia died and the Oscar for Best Picture went to "Forrest Gump".

And a four worded phrase was introduced into pop culture thanks to Seinfeld’s "Soup Nazi". It was yelled, it was shouted, and today it is still popular- "No Soup for You!"

Do you remember the episode? Here’s a rundown-

Jerry, George and Elaine go out to a new soup stand Kramer has been raving about; its owner is referred to as the "Soup Nazi" due to his temperament and insistence on a strict manner of behavior while ordering. Jerry explains the procedure for ordering which George accepts, but Elaine rejects.

When Jerry and George get to the soup stand, George follows the procedure but notices that he did not get the free bread with his soup order. Jerry tells him to let it go, but George asks for some, and is told he will have to pay $2 for it. When George objects, claiming that everybody in front of him got free bread, he is told that the price for bread is now "THREE dollars!" When George continues to protest, he quickly has his money returned and his soup is brusquely taken back, with the catchphrase "No soup for you! NEXT!"

That was the basic outline of the episode. And 16 years after this episode ran on television, hundreds of people stood in 29 degree weather this past Saturday outside Doc’s Gourmet Café and Soup Bar at 169 W. Girard Avenue to get yelled at, put down and told off by the Soup Nazi, played by actor Larry Thomas.

The Soup Line: Neighborhood History

And yet it was not the first time, and unfortunately not the last time, this neighborhood saw a long snaking soup line. The big difference? People on Saturday were shelling out $5 for a container of Sweet Corn Chowder and Chicken Gumbo and then maybe another $10 for a photo and autograph from the Soup Nazi. But when you stood in the real Kensington soup line, you were there to feed yourself and your family with no money in your pockets and nothing in your belly.

Back in 2004, the St. Francis Inn Soup Kitchen on Kensington Avenue turned 25 and throughout that quarter century, thousands of people stood in line to the former go-go bar location trying to get food. Every day, food was laid out and served by Franciscan friars, nuns and volunteers for those who stood in the soup line.

Fast forward seven years and this Spirit Reporter is in line on Girard Avenue with about 40 people in front of me on the coldest Saturday of my life. Wedged between the Poison Apple Tattoo Shop and a nail salon, the only thing keeping me from freezing to death is blues harmonica player Larry Wise, stationed at curbside, who’s tapping his foot on a drum cymbal and crooning that, "my baby, my baby makes my temperature hot!" (Tell ya what Larry, if your baby makes my temperature hot right now, I’ll put a $20 bill in your bucket!)

Behind me, a guy known as "Big Tuna" pulls out his cell phone to call a buddy.

"Dude, she’s [his girlfriend] getting her nails done and there’s this soup place next door and the Soup Nazi guy from Seinfeld is there, so I’m standing in line instead of sitting in the nail place."

But other than Big Tuna, the rest of the people knew the Soup Nazi was at Doc’s and stood in line to be degraded.

It was about four months ago when Darryl O’Connor opened DOC’s Gourmet Café and Soup Bar at Front and Girard. Emblazoned on his chef jacket reads, "DOC’s ICE CAFÉ". What gives? "I make my own water-ice," said Doc. "We sell our soup in the summer, but not like in the winter so that’s when we have our water-ice."

With over 100 soup varieties in the hot months, a chilled carrot ginger, chilled spring pea with mint or a golden summer tomato soup just might be the ticket.

How does one know what kind of soup DOC’s has on the menu? Call them at 215-423-5350 and they’ll give you the soups of the day. They deliver and they cater and they make sandwiches like hoagies, wraps, meatballs and even quesadillas.

But back to the Soup Nazi. If I had to be a Seinfeld character, I know I would be Costanza. I’m a George. My parents are George’s parents. And I knew the Soup Nazi would have me for lunch. And I knew I would screw up my chances of getting soup because I wouldn’t get the bread or I would order wrong or ask for extra napkins and tick him off even more.

With my $5 out I got to the counter and said, "One chicken gumbo, please." And I moved down the line trying not to make eye contact.

But Thomas, dressed in a DOC’s café chef jacket and white bandanna around his neck, could not be any nicer and appreciative of the crowd. 16 years after his appearance on Seinfeld, this guy knew what a good thing he had.

"People come up to me all the time and say, ‘You’re so nice; you’re nothing like the Soup Nazi at all’," said Thomas. "And then my son tells them they should live with me."

The DOC himself spooned my chicken gumbo into my cup and did indeed give me a thick cut wedge of rye bread wrapped in foil. As I turned to leave, I made eye contact with Thomas and he hit me with a machine gun rat tat tat statement of- "NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

Cross that one of my bucket list.