On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 it was “Ace” day at Christopher Columbus Charter School in South Philadelphia to honor Philadelphia Police Officer Juan “Ace” Delgado # 6318, the long time 3^rd District Community Relations Officer. This was a surprise presentation that was months in the making, the cafeteria was decorated with drawing hanging on the walls & ceiling, most with the theme from a deck of cards with the “Ace” of hearts, spades, clubs & diamonds to show how much the kids from the school appreciate Ace for his years of service. Miss Dougherty the Campus Principle told of how the school opened in 1999 and they where new to the neighborhood and didn’t know anyone, then decided to call the 3^rd District and ask if an officer can stop by due to a disturbance with a parent, Ace made his way to the school to take care of the assignment and when he was done he gave his cell phone number that he answers every time his services are needed. A dozen students performed dances, a choir of 70 children serenaded Ace with songs “We are grateful”, “Honor a Vet”, “I am grateful to be Free”. A lunch was served to the visitors which included Aces wife, mother & children, Christopher Columbus Charter School Board Chairman Mr. R. Pescatore and Commanding Officer of the 3^rd District Captain Michael Ryan. Ace stated he was very surprised and appreciated being recognized for doing something that he loves which is working with children in reference to danger / stranger programs and making our schools & community safer.

Report prepared by: Police Officer Michael Duffy, Badge #7441

Reviewed by: Captain Michael Ryan, Badge #20

We love it when other websites and blogs take notice of some of the great stuff happening in our neighborhood. The blog Naked Philly recently featured the renovation of 1131-1137 Wharton Street – the headquarters of the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation. PARC, who visited our civic association’s zoning committee last summer to get approval for this project, has moved their offices downstairs and activated the Titan Street side of the building, turning a gi-normous, blank, stucco wall into something kinda cool. On the second floor and in lofts above are now five luxury apartments.

Check out some other cool features mentioned in the Naked Philly post:

each of which will have an individual solar power array. On the first floor, each apartment will have its own parking space, as well as an electric car charging station, powered by each apartment’s solar unit.

Naked Philly includes some great before-and-after shots as well as the renderings for the eventual finished product. Give it a look.

The new owners of the lot at 921-931 Ellsworth St. will close on the property within the next two weeks and construction will begin at the site during the first week of March.

At that time a fence will be erected around the site and parking will no longer be permitted at the lot.

Email contact@passyunk.org with any questions. For a quick reminder of what is planned for that site, click here to read some news about this project and get a link to the result of the Zoning Committee meeting at which this project was discussed.

What do Geno’s Steaks, “Rocky” films and the Philadelphia Phillies have in common? Besides combining them for one awesome Saturday night, they were winners in last year’s South Philly Review Readers’ Choice Awards.

The 2012 Readers’ Choice Awards are quickly approaching. It’s your chance to share with others your favorite South Philadelphia establishments, people, traditions and more.

Categories include Cuisine, Night on the town, Sweet tooth, People, Sports and more.

Submit your ballot online at southphillyreview.com/contests (or fill out an official ballot located in the Review and mail it or drop it off) and receive the chance to win a grand prize of a $100 gift certificate ($75 for second, $50 for third) from a Review advertiser of your choice in our March 15 Spring Guide.

Voting ends at 10 a.m. on March 1.

Have you ever been walking down a street in the neighborhood and wondered what used to be there or what the buildings you’re seeing looked like 40, 50, 80 or 100 years ago? PhillyHistory.org lets you search locations throughout the city and see photos in their archive that have been arranged by location. We figured we’d start sharing some as we find them and see if anyone has memories to share about these locations. Our first one is a 1938 photo taken from 11th and Tasker looking northwest towards what is now 1540 Hardware:

Lots of aluminum siding hiding that exterior detail work now! Click here for Google Streetview’s shot of what this same view looks like today.

On December 1, The South Philly Food Co-op launched their “Shop South Philly” program as a benefit to its member-owners and as an effort to increase patronage of local businesses. The program gives South Philly Food Co-op members access to special discounts and promotional pricing on products and services at participating local businesses. “Shop South Philly” is also intended to strengthen neighborhood relationships between the Co-op’s member-owners and local businesses. The program will widen the customer base for these businesses, improve customer loyalty, increase sales and will help in building a stronger local economy in South Philadelphia.

Businesses include Bartram’s Garden, Bennett Compost, Calm Studio, Frame Fatale, Fringe Salon, Grindcore House, Living Water Massage, Lucky Old Souls Burger Truck, Monster Minders, Motherland Midwifery, PhillyCarShare, Strange Brew Coffee, The Expressive Hand, and The Wishing Well. For more details about the specials and discounts visit southphillyfoodcoop.org/shop-south-philly. If you’d like to become one of the Co-op’s 250 Founding Members – a goal which will lead to the next step of looking for a location – visit SouthPhillyFoodCoop.org for details on how to join.

To celebrate this huge step in the progress toward opening a member-owned grocery store in South Philly, the Co-op will be holding a Happy Hour at The Wishing Well (a “Shop South Philly” participant!), 9th and Catherine, on December 7, 2011 from 5:30 until 8:30. Drink Specials: $3 local draughts, $4 well liquor drinks, $5 glasses of Merlot and Chardonnay, $5 bottles of Rowhouse Red and a shot of Tullamore Dew, $3 shots of Jameson. Food Specials: 1/2 off select food items (which are marked on the menu with an asterisk.) More information can be found at the Facebook event page.

Just got the October 3rd edition of Sports Illustrated in the mail and while I don’t think the article is available online yet, I just had to share a few lines from the article about Cliff Lee. The story is about a city that has gone through a remarkable number of positive changes and how those changes are reflected in the performance of its baseball team. The writer uses the device of following Lee on his drive from his home in Rittenhouse Square to his work place at Citizens Bank Park. Along the way he passes by a number of neighborhoods, including a couple of places in ours truly. So in violation of probably several copyright regulations and available until SI comes along and asks me to pull it down, we present a couple excerpts from Monday’s forthcoming cover story:
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Today is the observed day of the US Constitution (with September 17 being the official Constitution Day). Passyunk Square Civic Association board member Mary Beth Bongiovanni will be attending a Constitution Day event at the Andrew Jackson School, where the guest speaker is Sandra Day O’Connor. The Honorable Day O’Connor will be swearing in delegates at the school for their very own government. Too cool!

Check out Day O’Connor’s call for greater civic education in our schools on Philly.com. She makes the vital point that:

Barely a third of our fellow citizens can name the three branches of government, and an equal number cannot name even one. Less than 20 percent of eighth graders know why the Declaration of Independence was written.

These failings threaten the future of our democracy. If we don’t know what makes this country special and worth saving, how will we know how to safeguard its promise of freedom and opportunity?

She goes on to make several suggestions for how we can fix this particularly dangerous deficit. Give it a read.

And congrats to the new student government members at the Jackson School!

Congrats to Awesome Dudes (6th and Reed) for scoring a nice profile in the July issue of Smart CEO magazine. You can read the profile on Awesome Dudes’ website and check out Smart CEO’s Philadelphia isssues here.