A Good Way to Waste Time

This week’s waste of time is, yet again, another example of an episodic video blog done by professionals in the entertainment industry who understand just how much creative freedom they have with the Internet.
Two such individuals are Michael Cera (Super-Bad, Juno) and Clark Duke (Geeks) who have their own video blog that chronicles fictional versions of the actors as they pitch a script for a pilot to different networks.
The whole thing has a very Extras or Flight of The Condors feel (which I find to be the most entertaining shows on television). The concept works when you have a close-knit crew who has an improve chemistry together, and enough resources available to make it not look like a video on Phoenixvillenews.com.
Also on the site are the two actors, written blogs, which are a really intriguing look at the entertainment industry from within. You can find all this and more at clarkandmichael.com. Enjoy.

Posted by
Matthew Byrd

The Teddy Bear Picinic at The Kindergarten Center

Council OKs parking authority

Posted to the Phoenix Files for your comments and question:



By G.E. Lawrence

Special to The Phoenix

PHOENIXVILLE — Following a twice-scheduled public hearing, Council voted 5-3 Monday evening to establish a new Borough Parking Authority.

In a roll call vote, Mike Handwerk (D-Middle), Mike Speck (D-East), David Gill (D-West), Carlos Ciruelos (D-East), and Council President Henry Wagner (D-Middle) voted “yes,” with Kendrick Buckwalter (R-West), Jeff Senley (R-North) and Richard Mark Kirkner (D-North) voting “no.”

The opposition was centered on alternative strategies, the establishment of a “Parking Committee” and a Borough “Parking Department,” without recourse to a separate governing body.

“The debate over semantics, whether we have a ‘parking problem’ or a ‘parking inconvenience’ is irrelevant,” said Kirkner. “The issue is how we fix it.” He considered an Authority’s lack of accountability, its costs and Council’s loss of control over parking matters sufficient argu

ments to kill the proposal. “We’ve taken on a significant expense in a bad economy,” he concluded.

Buckwalter looked to the examples of other communities with internal parking departments to underline the point that revenues from parking meters, fees and fines, some substantial, would not flow back to the Borough’s General Fund but to the Authority. He cited also a memorandum to Council of April 5, 2007, from former Borough manager Anthony DiGirolomo making a case for a department rather than an Authority.

Senley, in agreement with Kirkner on the establishment in an Authority of another layer of government, focused on anticipated Authority start-up costs, costs that had neither been budgeted, nor indeed requested.

Acting Borough Manager Brian Watson said that if managed internally, parking matters would be assigned to the Codes Department, and that “Codes is understaffed as it is.” What time was devoted to new issues “we’d be losing out on codes enforcement,” he said.

“The long and short of it is,” said Ciruelos, “that none of us is expert on these issues. We [Council members] have a lot on our plate, to keep the economic engine running. The best way to take care of such an issue is to grant trust in a group… and say, ‘we trust you to make [solutions] happen.”

Council’s resolution enacted both an enabling ordinance and articles of incorporation for the Authority. The articles establish a five-member Board of Directors that includes Adam Deveney, Phoenixville; James Lolli, Phoenixville; David Friday, Phoenixville; Jeff Abbot, Phoenixville; and Conner Cummins, Chester Springs.

In other business:

Mark Connolly, president of the Phoenixville Iron Canal and Trails Association, presented Council with copies of the 2005 master plan for the Schuylkill River Trail, to re-engage Council in discussions on completion of segments of the trail through the Borough.

The Parks, Property and Recreation Committee voted unanimously to recommend that Council approve the name “Veterans Memorial Park,” suggested by mayor Leo Scoda, for the North Side park in development commonly known as Melchiorre Park.

A proposal from High Street resident Kurt Kaminsky for the installation of a residential wind turbine generating electricity for his own use was sent to the Planning Commission for its review and recommendation.

Your Thoughts

Planning for rising prices

It seems like every time I pass a gas station that prices continually creep upward. At first it was a few pennies here and there, but then it's gone up by nickels and dimes.

Along with that, there are some food prices that are slowly rising as well. Considering the economy these days, everyone is feeling the pinch in the wallet pocket. With gas and food as a priority to most people, what they choose to spend the remainder of their money is well thought out and planned accordingly.

With the busy month of May approaching, there are a plethora of events in the borough that will attract its fair share of attendees. However, event organizers should brace themselves as they will discover that last year's attendance was a bit more than this year's will be.

With so many events to choose from, people will have tough decisions to make as to where they will be spending their extra money. So if Moe and Martha go to Event A and not Event B, it isn't because they didn't want to, it is due to the economy.

Normally Moe and Martha would attend both, but they had to choose between two and chose to attend Event A. There will be a lot of similar decisions being made like this in plenty of households over the next few months. It will continue this way until the proverbial ship is put back on course.

Council: In Brief

• Following a twice-scheduled public hearing, Borough Council Monday evening voted 5-3 to establish a new Borough Parking Authority.

Voting yes in a roll call vote: Mike Handwerk (D-Middle); Mike Speck (D-East); David Gill (D-West); Carlos Ciruelos (D-East); Council President Henry Wagner (D-Middle).

Voting no: Kendrick Buckwalter (R-West); Jeff Senley (R-North); Richard Mark Kirkner (D-North).

Objections centered on the alternative of a “Parking Committee” and a Borough “Parking Department.” Acting Borough Manager Brian Watson said, however, that if managed internally, parking matters would be assigned to the Codes Department, and that “Codes is understaffed as it is.” What time was devoted to new issues “we’d be losing out on codes enforcement.”

• Father James Evans addressed in public participation the accusations heard on Council floor April 15 and again in the Planning Commission meeting April 24 from Commission member George Martynick that Evans had violated state and Borough ethics rules.

Evans presented material on both the ethics rules and the issues of amended Downtown Commercial zoning district provisions around which the accusations centered, all of which, he said, demonstrated that the charges had no substance. “I don’t know what Mr. Martynick’s motivation was,” Evans said, “but I’m certain that he did not research them. I hope that I retain the confidence of Council.”

He was assured that he did; Council President Henry Wagner said he “valued the time and energy” Evans devoted to the Commission and the community, and that he was “embarrassed that a body like the Commission” would have such charges discussed “on the Planning Commission floor” as “inappropriate.”

Other Council highlights:

• Mark Connolly, president of the Phoenixville Iron Canal and Trails Association, presented Council with copies of the 2005 master plan for the Schuylkill River Trail, to re-engage Council in discussions on completion of segments of the trail through the Borough.

• The Parks, Property and Recreation Committee voted unanimously to recommend that Council approve the name “Veterans Memorial Park,” suggested by Mayor Leo Scoda, for the North Side park in development commonly known as Melchiorre Park.

• A proposal from High Street resident Kurt Kaminsky for the installation of a residential wind turbine generating electricity for his own use was sent to the Planning Commission for its review and recommendation.

Posted by
G.E. Lawrence

Your Thoughts

A “Corny Idea” Raises Big Bucks for Relay For Life

By Karin Williams, Special to the Phoenix

PHOENIXVILLE – How much would you pay to watch your teacher kiss a cow?
So far, the students at the Center For Arts and Technology-Pickering Campus (CAT-Pickering) have paid almost $900 for the chance to see their favorite teacher lock lips with Buttercup, a cow who resides in the school’s Animal Science Center. All proceeds will support Relay For Life of Phoenixville scheduled to begin on May 2 at 6 p.m. on the Phoenixville Area School District’s Washington Field.
Buttercup, a purebred Polled Hereford just under a year old, is being raised at the Animal Science Center as part of student Brooke Himes’s 4-H project.
Miss Himes and fellow Animal Science student Christine Custer put their heads together to brainstorm fundraising ideas for their 2008 CAT-Pickering Relay For Life Team, of which they are co-captains.
What they came up with was a “corny” idea that took on a mind of its own, Miss Custer said.
“We were trying to think of fundraising ideas and we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if one of the teachers kissed a cow?’” Miss Himes said.
And so the Kiss-A-Cow project began.
The girls approached their Animal Science teacher, Stephen Fecick, with the idea. From there, they went to Principal Debbie Noel, who gave the final go ahead.
“It’s really increased school spirit with both the kids and the faculty,” said Mr. Fecick. “There’s been a lot of trash talking!”
Each day at lunch, the students place money in jars beneath photos of teachers who are puckered up and ready to smooch! The teacher with the most money on Friday, May 2, will be the lucky winner. The entire school will be dismissed at 2 p.m. to the Animal Science barn, where the teacher will plant a big smack on Buttercup’s lips.
Did the girls expect to raise so much money?
“Everyone really got into it. It’s a little surprising, but we’re happy it’s going as good as it is,” said Miss Custer.
In fact, there is a lot of good-natured ribbing going on, and e-mail challenges between the faculty are circulating. And Buttercup herself is enjoying a bit of fame. A tee-shirt bearing her image, painted with a gigantic set of red lips, will be worn by the members of the faculty who are participating.
When the girls approached Mrs. Noel with their idea, Mrs. Noel said they could probably raise about $500. Thrilled, that’s where they set their goal.
Now, as they near $1,000, the girls are a little speechless.
"It’s just… Wow!” Miss Custer said.

Radiation Therapy at Phoenixville Hospital

Planners

Good thing Deb Johnston gaveled the Planning Commission’s Thursday evening meeting to a close when she did. About the only thing left unheard by that time was the “liar, liar, pants on fire” defense.

Consider this exchange between George Martynick and Father James Evans, in regard to Evans’s participation in discussion and votes in Commission sessions on changes the Downtown Commercial District zoning provisions, when his $10 million HUD-financed elderly housing project was in the works but not yet publicly so.

GM: “You broke the [State] Ethics Act.”

JE: “In what way?”

GM: [to the Chair] “The issue is he voted for the D-COMM District changes. He had a conflict of interest. [To Evans] You had a conflict of interest.”

JE: “I don’t think I did.”

GM: “You gotta be kidding me!”

JE: “We had two votes. There was [in January] the proposal for the extension on the District on the West End. I voted ‘no.’” Then the other [in March] I considered to be about density and side yard setbacks.”

GM: “It was also about building coverage and impervious coverage, and your proposal….”

JE: “The parcel would have required a zoning change….It was totally in an office building district…”

GM: “No! No! NO!...”

DJ: [Chair’s gavel: slam, slam, slam, slam.] “I’ll will get in touch with Council, then we can move on. We’re finished with that subject.”

JE: “Some serious accusations have been made. Personal privilege and I have a right to respond…. [If the Ethics Act applies] why were we not given this? All of should have it. How long has it existed?”

Solicitor Kim Venzie: “…I don’t know the date, but for decades…."

JE: “Then I ask at the same time that you [Johnston] talk to council you talk also about the neighbors group you were part of in relation to the Hospital…”

DJ: “I was not a part of that. I never attended a meeting. On purpose. You can ask Bill….”

JE: “That’s not what the community believes….”

GM: “You can’t claim ignorance [of the law]. It’s like telling a police officer that you didn’t know the red light was there. You’re a public official. You can’t claim ignorance.”

Well, that should give you the flavor of it, though any written report just cannot do justice to the odd shouts, the three – and at one time four – Commission members talking over each other’s sentences, the gavel that rarely, in fact, interrupted anything.

And if you liked this from last night, I should tell you some time what it’s taken at some sessions just to get the minutes passed.

Last evening was new appointee Marcia Eldred’s first. What a welcome.

Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence

Acoustic Open Mic at Steel City

The Fisher King at The Colonial Theater

The Colonial Theater is showing The Fisher King this weekend and I recommend giving it a watch. The Fisher King is a film from acclaimed filmmaker and founding member of Monty Python, Terry Gilliam (Seven Monkeys, Brazil, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail). This film was a bit of departure for Gilliam; his previous work was The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and was a difficult film to make (check Wikipedia for the full story) and was considered by the studio to be a commercial flop. By the time he began work on The Fisher King, Gilliam had not directed a movie in close to five years.
Starring Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl and Robin Williams, the film is not as explicitly post-modern as many of the director’s other films, nor does it have any midgets (if you have seen a lot of his work, you understand how unusual a little person free Gilliam flick is). I feel Terry Gilliam’s greatest achievement with this work is the performance he is able to solicit from Robin Williams. Very few directors are able to guide Williams’ energy and not allow his presents to dominate the piece. Gilliam manages to use Williams’ energy to support and enrich Bridges part.
While the Fisher King is not my favorite of Terry Gilliam’s work, I do think it is a career redefining work that is more enjoyable upon each viewing.

Posted by
Matthew Byrd

Charlestown referendum: a resounding YES

Charlestown’s ballot question on the application to open space and farmland preservation efforts of a one-half of one percent increase in residents’ earned income tax passed handily, by a margin of over three to one.

An unofficial tally reported late Tuesday evening recorded 1185 votes in favor of the measure, or 78.2% of total votes cast, with 259 against.
As of this posting, however, those figures had not yet been confirmed by Chester County Voter Services.

David Greer, chair of the volunteer group Charlestown Citizens for Open Space, considered the vote “a real testimony to the Township’s voters. They’re telling the Board of Supervisors that they like the Board’s balanced approach to development, that they like living here and want to preserve what we have.”

Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence

Your Thoughts

Den Around Town : Run For a Dana Marie

Don’t waste opportunity to make your voice heard

Our View

Pennsylvania’s Primary Election Day is today.

It would be hard indeed for anyone to be unaware of that fact, given the blanket coverage across the state by the media and the presidential candidates for the past six weeks.

Most years, Pennsylvania’s presidential primary falls far too late to make any real difference in who wins each party’s nomination. That’s still true this year for the Republicans, but the closeness of the Democratic contest means that the Pennsylvania results may determine who represents the party in the general election.

If Sen. Barack Obama wins the Democratic primary, that will probably mean an end for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign. If she wins by a large margin, that will strengthen her argument that, although behind in the delegate count, she is better at winning the big states necessary for a general election victory.

Republicans who are not fully behind Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee, can still cast protest votes for social conservative Gov. Mike Huckabee or small-government, anti-war Ron Paul.

In addition to voting directly for the nominees, citizens will also be electing delegates to send to the party conventions. That may be especially important for Democrats, who may see a brokered convention with multiple votes if the nomination race continues that long.

State offices

Although most of the attention this year has focused on the presidential race, other contests are going on that should not be forgotten.

None of the U.S. or state legislative seats in the Phoenixville area are contested in the primary election, but the Pennsylvania Treasurer’s office is up for grabs among four Democrats: Dennis Morrison-Wesley, John F. Cordisco, Jennifer L. Mann and Robert McCord.

Local decision

Finally, Charlestown Township is asking residents whether they favor using a 0.5 percent earned-income tax hike (raising the total to one percent) to preserve, conserve and acquire open-space property interests, open-space uses and farmland. The tax hike is already planned, but a “yes” vote will dedicate it to open space, rather than allowing it to be used in other ways.

So there are some very important reasons to vote today. Important choices are being made on national, state and local levels.

The first and most important choice to be made is whether you will participate in the process. Polls open at 7 p.m.; you have until 8 p.m. tonight to make your voice heard.

Get Out & Vote

Today is the Pennsylvania Primary, and from what you
hear from both camps, our beloved state will decide
who'll represent the Democrats in the November
elections.

Our area's had the luxury of hearing from both Barack
Obama and Bill Clinton (Hilary's husband), and they
each had their fair share of topics and issues to
discuss. Each brought their A games with them, and
made a good point for their candidacy.

So they've done their part, and now it is up to us to
do ours. Don't believe that "my vote won't make a
difference." Just knowing that you have an opportunity
to express yourself and give your "say-so" in this
important decision is crucial.

If you don't think your vote matters, then you haven't
been buying gas lately, or notice how every little
thing has gone up in price over the past several
months.

So weigh your options and get out and vote. Having
peace of mind in knowing you voted today is one small
step to a world of change, and a change in the world.

Posted by
Dennis J. Wright
dwright@phoenixvillenews.com

Chamber of Commerce Charity Ball

Your Thoughts

Bill Clinton Speaks at Phoenixville High School

Summary of Barry Cassidy's remarks to Council

I am here tonight to represent the residents who complained to the housing authority concerning the conditions of their housing units. I wanted to go on the record as saying that we hope there will be not be any problems of reprisal for these people who came forward as their complaints. Ms. Thomas’s problems started with a complaint of mold.

Serafine Thomas from Fairview and Penny Washington from King Terrace are two different people with two different life styles and values. They do have one common desire, to have a comfortable, safe, and well functioning housing unit. These housing units are owned and sponsored by the United States of America, through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the County of Chester, through the Chester County Housing Authority.

Searfine Thomas’s problem is simple. She has a bag of human waste blocking access to her cabinets and providing an unsanitary food preparation area. On a recent visit I can confirm that the bag is filling up slowly, has an odor, and has a brownish color liquid retained in the bag. The Housing Authority in response to complaints about mold installed this improvement. There is a letter sent by congressman Jim Gerlock saying that the problem would be addressed. In addition there are follow up letters by the Congressman. The problem is long standing and with merit.

Penny Washington’s problem is also well documented as she has stood before this Council and provided information. She is concerned about the ongoing plumbing problems that must be fixed, with numerous backups and poor drainage living in the units is difficult. She has observed numerous fire safety problems that plague the building. She also points out that absence of proper cleaning in the common areas gives King Terrance a run down appearance.

Penny Washington’s documentation shows that problems have existed since at the minimum 2003 as it seems the sewer and water, general issues relating to trash and cleanliness as well as fire safety issues were never resolved properly.

The issues In King Terrace are perpetual. There is a need for a more comprehensive management approach by the Chester County Housing Authority in dealing with the issues of this building. It has become apparent to me, as housing and economic development professional that there is an immediate need for a cash infusion into the maintenance fund dealing with King Terrace. The CDC is advising the Council to ask the Chester County Commissioners to allot whatever HOME money may be available to the Housing Authority to immediately fix the plumbing problems in King Terrace, fix up the 14 un-rented units in Fairview Village and of course remove the bag of human waste and repair the leak.

The basic issue is really not related strictly to these two individuals but the population that resides in both of the structured housing units as well as the scattered site housing administered by the Chester County Housing Authority. I ask you to remember back a year or so when a teen was murdered in one of the Housing Authority units, which later was classified as a crack house.

As a Borough we are charged with looking out for the health safety and welfare of our citizens. Conditions that border squalor in the units under the control of the Housing Authority must be looked at with a discerning eye. The Chester County Housing Authority is an organization that is charged with providing housing to our population of poor, disadvantaged, handicapped and elderly. These are the people we must protect for they are at the highest risk of being plagued by health and safety problems as a result of lack of decent, clean and functional housing.

We have held meetings and then written letters to get to the bottom of this issue and provide relief to the constituents. I was asked to be the liaison to the Housing Authority because of my knowledge of the programs and ability to analyze the reality of the situation. I have reported back on a couple of occasions to the Council that there needs to be more improvements and better control by the Housing Authority to make their efforts fruitful. We need permits to be taken out for work done to measure the progress the Authority makes in resolving the issues.

Even though we delineated our concerns in writing to the Housing Authority they have chosen to respond inappropriately to the council by saying that they have given us all the information that they are going to give us. As a political subdivision we have much more influence that a typical tenant. If we cannot receive a straight answer from the Housing Authority, you can imagine how these two ladies feel.

It would be my hope that all the repairs can be done soon and these deplorable conditions that have arisen can be rectified quickly. Years and years of neglect and decay need to be tackled in a systematic manner. I am not sure that we will ever be able to count on the housing authority as a partner in the future unless significant adjustments in attitude and competency take place. Our Code Office has sent a letter to the Housing Authority asking them to secure permits for the work they are doing to enable us to track their progress.

In closing Penny Wahington, Searfine Thomas and I all question the ability of the housing authority to maintain, rent and provide safe and adequate housing for those they are charged to serve. In my view there should be no further action taken on any additional housing to be constructed in the Borough until we are clear that the Housing Authority of Chester County is unmistakably able to maintain and utilize in a manner consistent with law and common decency, the housing they already own and manage.

ASK SKIP

“Around Phoenixville’s” Jim Northcott asked the following:



With construction of the Gay St. Bridge right around the corner, I was wondering if there are any official designs/renderings of what the new bridge will look like?

Jim, there are, and they can be seen up close and personal at Borough Hall. But, while for the longest time they had been on display there in the entrance lobby, they were more recently and summarily cast aside and a little harder to notice. Easier, therefore, to see them here, thanks to Barry Taglieber’s camera magic:



(P.S.: Jim Northcott has been asked by Borough Council to serve as a member of an information technology subcommittee. That subcommittee will be tackling some very important and pressing issues for Borough administration, and we wish Jim and his colleagues well in pursuing them.)

Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence

A Good Way to Waste Time

This week’s Web site recommendation is a bit more fun than last week’s utilitarian choice, but should be very useful to some of you fine readers. I am a very big fan of copyright-free media, which I feel is the future of how we acquire information. Which brings me to
archive.org
I find this Web site exceptionally useful, especially when doing video editing and looking at public domain footage to use as a green screen background or inter-cut with my own footage. The Web site creed reads “Universal access to human knowledge”, which is really what the Internet supposed to be about.
The site’s achieves media in virtually every form, with its live action video, to music by people who understand the importance of exposure today rather than royalties tomorrow. Even books and text files can be found and downloaded for later use.
Much like Youtube.com, the site encourages the user to upload his or her own public domain material to add to the collective. I feel that this site represents the future of information exchange and will only grow stronger as more and more people join the revolution.

Posted by
Matthew Byrd

Council highlights

Among the highlights of last evening’s regular business meeting of Borough Council:

• By a 5-3 vote Council appointed Marcia Eldred to fill the Planning Commission seat formerly held by Michael Hott. Eldred, a former Haverford Township Planning Board member, was selected from a field of four candidates that had also included William McCarron, Michelle Beaver, and John Messina.

• Father James Evans, on behalf of Episcopal Community Services, presented sketch plans for a proposed 80-unit, $10 million HUD-financed elderly housing project, seeking Council support. The project was to be located at Starr and Church Streets, on a portion of property now owned by Holy Ghost Orthodox Church. However, in the face of strenuous opposition to the sale of the property from members of the church congregation, Evans withdrew the proposal.

• CDC director Barry Cassidy spoke on behalf of Penny Washington, King Terrace, and Seraphine Thomas, Fairview Village, and presented documentation, on the condition of their housing facilities owned and operated by the Chester County Housing Authority. “[We]” question the ability of the Housing Authority to maintain, rent and provide safe and adequate housing for those they are charged to serve,” he said. “

• A full recodification of Borough ordinances – a project underway for three years – was approved unanimously.

• Proposed changes to zoning ordinance parking requirements infill development requirements were both approved unanimously. An ordinance revising area and design requirements in the Downtown Commercial (D-COMM) district was sent back to the Planning Commission for reconsideration of its original 6-0 vote to approve, on the grounds that PC member Fr. James Evans may have had an undisclosed conflict of interest.

• Borough staff members were directed to work with PennDOT officials to revise again the traffic pattern for the southbound lanes of Main Street at Bridge. The Borough had made the left lane a left-turn only lane, but, presumably under the authority of original PennDOT bridge reconstruction plans, PennDOT crews had painted it out.

• Discussion and action on a Borough Parking Authority was postponed – and the meeting for business formally continued to April 28 to accommodate it and other business. The public meeting scheduled on the Authority ordinance and articles of incorporation had not been properly advertised in The Phoenix.

Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence

Your Thoughts

Your Thoughts

Rock band Negative Space launches online video contest

Lancaster, PA (April 10, 2008) Rock band, Negative Space launches an online video contest to promote their new album, Storylines, and connect with their fans. The contest is hosted on Youtube, one of the most popular entertainment websites online. Fans are able to post performances of Negative Space’s first single “Honestly” in any fashion they would like, from lip synching, dancing, singing, playing it on guitar, or any other creative performance to the music. Fans can post the videos at HYPERLINK "http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL2dyb3VwL05lZ2F0aXZlU3BhY2VDb250ZXN0" www.youtube.com/group/NegativeSpaceContest and the one that has the most plays to their video performance will win $500. The winner will be announced on April 25, 2008.

Negative Space has reached the pinnacle in their songwriting with songs that deliver guitar-driven rock with the lyrics of maturity that reach fans young and old. Their intense blend of mainstream rock and indie-pop hooks are delivered with raw punk energy. Their style unites the mature driven rock songs of the likes of Foo Fighters with the energy and stage show of Green Day. Storylines is available in stores and online April 22nd. For rules and more information on the contest, please go to myspace.com/negativespace.


For more information, contact:
Ignition/Wavelength Entertainment
Mark Zuppe/ 781.789.1832/ HYPERLINK "mailto:mjz@markzuppe.com
Beth Bogdan/ 646.239.1278/ beth@wavelengthent.com

Your Thoughts

Entrée nous

The Chicken Cacciatore Project struck again Wednesday, in a smug response to a
Phoenix Files post — after what had been such a happy month or so without a
peep. And here we’d thought we’d slammed the coop door hard enough on him in
March.

Trouble is, when that rooster crows, he’s either 1) announcing that against his
better judgment and sage advice, some other chicken let the sun up; 2)
announcing that the coop stinks and just which other chickens are to blame for
it; or 3) announcing that he’s pecking a fight with some other chicken who’s
turned out to be, he’ll tell you plainly, just a dumb cluck who shouldn’t have
been allowed in the coop at all.

That Chicken’s a barnyard bully.

What we say and do at 225 Bridge is said and done publicly, and any public act
is bound to have someone disagree, to even take some hard shots at what you’ve
said. Every staff writer and editor is prepared for that, expects that, indeed
invites that; what we invite you to do in return, in letters, calls, blog posts,
presumes that you are prepared for that, too.

But just as every staff writer and every editor takes care to write responsibly
and with due respect not only to the other members of the public but also to the
very weight of the serious issues addressed, our invitation to respond presumes
that you will do likewise.

In that regard, the Chicken hasn’t yet demonstrated that he can work and
play well with others.

About the only truth, whole truth and nothing but we’ve heard from the Chicken
was his opening gambit: to make chicken cacciatore you must first have a
chicken.

That was such a promising beginning. It’s no accident, though, that the Project
has yet to release a good, complete recipe, of either the culinary or political
sort.

It’s been just plain saddening to see how such promise could be so quickly
squandered in the hands of a petty, petulant, puffed-up poulterer.


Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence

Christian College Students Make Phoenixville a Better Place to Live

Frog Holler performing "Blue Billy County" at Steel City

Spring is here!

Today is it _gorgeous_ outside! One of the best parts about this lovely weather is the abundance of motorcyclists out enjoying the day. I hope Sunday doesn't rain like it's supposed to because I want to go out for a ride with my dad (one of our favorite activities in the warm weather). For me, seeing all the bikes out is a sure sign of spring arriving (though I did see some bikes out braving the colder weather as of a few weeks ago). What are your favorite signs of spring?

Posted by
Laurie Perini

Citzens for the Train Meeting

Click Here to Download Suggestion Sheet

Click Here to Download Citizens for the Train Application

Mail you submissions to:
P.O. 64
Phoenixville, Pa. 19460

Dogwood Pageant

Patricia Hurter and Donna Viscuso have come full circle from their days as Dogwood Pageant contestants. Each was crowned Dogwood Queen, and for the past two years, the women have been working together as directors of the Phoenixville Jaycees Dogwood Pageant.
Both Hurter and Viscuso have worked many hours on many aspects of the pageant, including setting the stage and working out behind-the-scenes logistics of the April 12, 2008 event.
Though vitally important to a performance, scenography, the art of creating the set for a stage, is simply one part of the pageant. This is only the creative part of our involvement. Productions are costly undertakings that require the work of numerous people behind the scenes, substantial funding and a strong commitment from all involved in order to be successful.
“Our approach to directing the contestants was to bring out the best of their talents, values, and personalities. We hope to help them make a memory that will always be an important part of who they are, where they came from and where they want to go on their journey through life” said Viscuso. “We also have returning contestants who want to continue to be a part of the production.”
“Each one of these contestants brings something special to the performance which promises to be a great evening of entertainment,” said Hurter.
Viscuso and Hurter hope that as we watch the physical revitalization of Phoenixville and come out to support community events, we also include the Dogwood Pageant, held Saturday April 12th at 7pm in Samuel K. Barkley Elementary School auditorium, Second Ave. Phoenixville. Tickets can be purchased from the contestants or at Ultimate Hair Salon, 365 Nutt Road, Phoenixville, 610-933-8302 at a cost of $10.00 for general admission.
This year’s Dogwood Ball is being held at the Club at Shannondell on Egypt Road in Audubon on Friday evening May 9th. The public is cordially invited to attend. The cost is $36.00 per person. Cash bar begins at 6:30 pm and dinner is served at 7:00 pm. DJ and Live music from 7:30 until 10:30 pm
Full course dinner includes a Tossed Garden Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing and a choice of three entrees.

Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms and Fresh Herbs
Top Sirloin with Merlot Wine Demi Glaze
Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Champagne Mustard Sauce
all with Herb roasted potatoes and seasoned green beans with thyme butter

Warm Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
Dinners include soda, ice tea, fresh brewed coffee and hot tea, rolls and butter.
Advanced Tickets only are on sale at the Ultimate Hair Salon, Nutt Road and Second Ave. Phoenixville, or call Donna at 610-948-7066 by April 29th
There will be no tickets sold at the Door.

Pay It Forward Judging

Frog Holler performing "Stray" @ Steel City

Phoenixville deprived again

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!
No, this is not Talk Like a Pirate Day.
I am frustrated that Phoenixville is having another brush with presidential politics that is ending up with, again, a candidate ALMOST coming to Phoenixville.
Okay, it was great that there was a ticket giveaway Tuesday in Phoenixville for Barack Obama’s appearance today in Malvern.
But he should have come here! He almost did!
What stopped him?
PARKING! Or, rather, reportedly, Phoenixville’s lack thereof.
Morning Star proprietor Rebekah Ray, whose shop was the site for the ticket line, says that “campaign volunteers had told her that Obama was originally scheduled to speak at Phoenixville Area High School, and believed the location was changed to Great Valley High School due to parking and capacity,” according to Brian’s story on the line for tickets.
Now, I’m not saying that PAHS should expand its parking lot just for potential, occasional town hall meetings. Maybe if the weather had been a little nicer earlier this week, organizers might have planned an open-air meeting at Reeves Park, where 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards gave a speech. Maybe not, though, since parking was difficult then, too.
Parking in Phoenixville can be an EXTREME “inconvenience.”
Phoenixville can always use more good publicity, and it’s sad that another chance of hosting a presidential candidate is gone, perhaps forever.
But the parking problem is more enduring and has broader implications than the occasional loss of bright opportunities like these.
It’s impossible to measure just how many people stay away from its eateries and entertainment venues because they fear that they’ll have trouble finding a spot. But it’s known that some people do, because they tell us so.
That means lost business, sometimes not just for a day, but permanently. That means lost potential business tax revenues, which means fewer services from the borough, or higher taxes for other residents. So the parking crunch hurts everyone.
I don’t know whether Phoenixville should establish a 50-year Parking Authority to handle the problem, or just set up a Parking Department along with other borough offices. I’ve heard arguments on both sides.
But SOMEBODY needs to start building a parking garage downtown, or close to it, and soon. For special events at the high school or Reeves Park, organizers could set up a shuttle service, which is way easier to do from one central location like a parking garage.
For Phoenixville pride, and for Phoenixville pocketbooks: Push Parking!


Posted by
--Patricia Matson
Editor, The Phoenix

Your Thoughts

We talk with people waiting on line for tickets to see Obama speak

Bridge Dismantling

The War and Moral Considerations

Moral considerations always hover within all of our conversations about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but unhappily, rarely, only rarely, do they make explicit appearance for attention.

Unless those conversations occur in places where moral considerations are privileged, they are more often minor elements, or assumed, implied parts of political calculations, or economic ones, or even theological ones.

Last September, however, Fordham University convened a conference “Exit or No Exit? Morality and the Withdrawal from Iraq,” taking up those moral considerations head-on in relation to just one aspect of the war: its end.

Participants included Michael Walzer, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Sohail Hashmi, and Gerard Powers. The moderator was this region’s own Trudy Rubin, foreign affairs columnist for a metropolitan newspaper of some note.

Rubin allowed a comment from Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies stand as the session’s theme:

“The U.S. will ultimately be judged far more by how it leaves Iraq and what it leaves behind than how it entered.”

The transcript of the seminar has only recently been released, but you can find it here: http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=961


Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence

Laurie gives us a tour of The Franklin Commons

STEVE FORBES TO SPEAK IN PHOENIXVILLE

PHOENIXVILLE – Steve Forbes Jr. will be the featured speaker at the 2008 Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce annual awards dinner.

The editor-in-chief of Forbes Magazine, the nation’s leading business publication, Mr. Forbes will be speaking on his economic outlook in the coming year.

Mr. Forbes is the Chief Executive Officer of Forbes, Inc., and was a Republican presidential candidate in both 1996 and 2000. In 1985, he was appointed to the bi-partisan Board for International Broadcasting, where he oversaw the operation of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

Mr. Forbes has also published several books on economic issues.

The Chamber will also be presenting its annual awards, including the Merit, Business Development, Community Betterment and Outstanding Citizen of the Year awards.

The Kiwanis Club of Phoenixville will also be presenting its annual Youth In Service Award.

The dinner will be held on Monday, May 5, at RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, 100 Golf Club Drive, Phoenixville. The VIP reception will be held from 5 – 6 p.m. The general reception will be held from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., and dinner will be at 6:30 p.m.

Mr. Forbes will begin speaking following dinner.

Tickets for the general reception and dinner are $80 for Chamber members and $200 for not-yet-members.

Tickets for the VIP reception and dinner are $180 for Chamber members and $300 for not-yet-members.

For more information on the event, ticket sales or sponsorship opportunities, please contact the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce at 610.933.3070.

Your Thoughts

Your Thoughts

In memoriam

It is difficult forty years on to find language adequate to that occasion, that April 4.

We’ll spend this weekend hearing the attempts. We’ll be knitting nouns together as if in repeating them we could ever be reconciled to forty-year-old facts, that the nouns can settle us, make us at home, among the furnishings of persons, places and things. We’ll be knitting together proper nouns: Martin, Ralph, Memphis. We’ll be knitting together plain, ordinary ones: gun, blood, balcony. We’ll even try knitting in some abstract ones, less sure of their footing: violence, loss, martyrdom.

That April 4, in Ithaca, New York, it was a scream that spoke the whole truth, the contralto scream of the woman right in front of me, played out against the silence of the crowd as she fled. It was a tangled knot, that scream, a knot of disbelief, anger, rage, fear, worse. You heard it all in that scream.

At the same moment, as it turned out, in Indianapolis, Indiana, another scream, played out against a crowd less silent, a chorus: a basso groan, deep-throated, uttered under the weight of the same tangled knot. You heard it all, too, in that groan.

The whole truth and nothing but may not be in the words at all; it may be between them, behind them, under them. The whole truth and nothing but is work best given to poets.

In matters of race and class in America, we have so subjected the poet Langston Hughes’s phrase “a dream deferred” to historical and political analysis that we risk not coming to know the full truth of it, the full weight of it, the full meaning of it. Hughes wanted us to know where the dream lived, and listen, listen to its "rumble" there, "underneath":

Good morning, daddy!
Ain't you heard
The boogie-woogie rumble
Of a dream deferred?

Listen closely:
You'll hear their feet
Beating out and beating out a --

You think
It's a happy beat?

Listen to it closely:
Ain't you heard
something underneath
like a --

What did I say?

Sure,
I'm happy!
Take it away!

Hey, pop!
Re-bop!
Mop!

Y-e-a-h!

-- Langston Hughes, Dream Boogie (1951)


Posted by
G.E. “Skip” Lawrence