Updated below

Hi everyone. I just want to pass the news on about an incident that happened yesterday in West Philadelphia.

At around 2p or so (not sure of the time, but early afternoon), I effectively witnessed a purse snatching at 45th and Pine Streets. I tried to chase after the guy but a block and a half later, he ended up getting away in a car that he had parked down on 44th Street.

The police were summoned, a good description of the assailant as well as his vehicle were given, and the woman wasn't hurt in any way. Scared and shaken, but 100% unharmed, thank god.

So if you live in the area, let this just serve as yet another reminder of the criminal elements that wander our streets. The fact that it was done in broad daylight with several people in the immediate area and with complete disregard to that fact or the woman's health sure be a troubling indicator for anyone who lives in Garden Court or anywhere else from Spruce to Baltimore, 40-50th.

So if you're out and about, whether alone or in groups, secure your belongings, be alert, save the long phone calls for when you're indoors or in a more protected area, and try to keep the volume down on those earphones.

And please spread the word around. If you blog, please give your readers a heads-up to this as the more informed people can become, it is my belief that ultimately, the safer they can be as well.

More details and my thoughts on it are available at Phillybits.

Update

I spoke to an officer today from an adjacent district. He had heard about the robbery yesterday but wasn't involved with it. However, he was able to tell me that yesterday's incident wasn't the only one and earlier in the day, apparently at around 12-12:30p, there was an initial incident.

Same M.O. - Guy snatches a purse and runs to a different location to get into his car and drive off.

This is all from my own observation yesterday and subject to change due to possible other witness descriptions, etc. (But I'm 95%+ positive on my descriptions)

Late model, dark green Chevy Impala
Tinted windows
Delaware tags (555... [possible 512, 502, 052, etc] from my experience. Could also be switched plates, of course.)
Young dark-skinned black male, early to mid 20's I'm guessing.
Was wearing dark colored sweats style outfit, possible hoody and possible light colored undershirt, although that might've been the loot he was trying to conceal.

I tried sending an email or two out but I never heard back from anyone here so I don't know where else to turn. Somehow, my feed has gotten corrupted (or something) through Philly Future and now whenever I post, the blogroll stories lists my current post titles but links to much older posts of mine.

Any ideas? I'm pretty sure I submitted a Feedburner feed when i first got going here and according to Feedburner, everything is up and running the way it's supposed to be.

-- Phillybits

Seen on a tree on Larchwood between 46th and 47th.

(Click to enlarge)

After getting word out to neighbors to be alert and on the look-out, the thieves apparently struck again and as usual, nobody saw a thing.

Of at least half a dozen posting like the one pictured immediately above, only the one I snapped was still alerting people to the recent spate of robberies. Unfortunately, the removal of the warning is probably more likely related to an area resident not liking things attached to the trees in front of their homes.

Go figure. Anyways, if you live in the area, be careful, check your windows and doors and make sure everything is secure.

(Cross-posted at my blog, Phillybits.)

If you clicked through thinking there was a typo, there's not. There were literally shouts ringing out throughout West Philadelphia today as the Anti-Violence ride kicked off with some 20 or so individuals, not including the 6-10 police officers on bike as well as police escort vehicles riding to promote an anti-violence message throughout neighborhoods in and around West Philadelphia.

The ride, schedule for 9a, got off around 9:30 as police discussed the route they wanted to take which meandered through Walnut Hill, up and down blocks from 43rd to Cobbs Creek, up Walnut, down Spruce....it was all over the place.

Unfortunately, I couldn't complete the entire ride and it was at Cobbs Creek and Baltimore Ave that I ended my ride and headed back for home. However, I did take some pictures along the way and I'd like to share them. All of them should be clickable-to-enlarge, although a few of them I uploaded before first reducing their overall size, which helps the upload process go faster.

All the pictures are in the order that I took them, left to right, top to bottom and I'll give a brief description where necessary. So let's get started.....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was where we started, at The Enterprise Centerr in the middle of the 4500 block of Ludlow St. It took a little while for the police to figure out their route, which is why we got off to a late start around 9:30. Inside the community center were refreshments and literature about local community groups, raising awareness among our youth, as well as other upcoming events.

Here we are heading East on Ludlow to 45th St., where we took a right and proceeded to Walnut where we began heading West.

A couple shots of the group coming up Walnut from in front as well as behind me.

We hit 52nd St and started heading South and then turned East again on Chestnut, although we may have already been on Spruce St because...

...here, on Spruce St. just East of 46th St., we all pulled over and had to wait because when we left, we had actually left another portion of riders back at the community center and when they met back up with us, we headed out again. However, what's interesting to point out is that a couple of motorcycle riders (not sure what MC group they were affiliated with) were heading South on 46th when they saw us all pulled over, asked what we were doing, and then joined in the ride. There's a video a little farther down of the most vocal rider, too.

We then turned South on 43rd St., came up the hill and then turned on West on Osage.

We headed back up to 52nd St. where we turned North this time. I took the remained of my pictures here as I wasn't sure exactly when I'd be turning back but I want to point out that along the way, people were calling out "Good morning!" and expressing support and thanks along the way, some by waving, some by honking car horns. And it was really nice to see people showing an interest in what we were doing since I can only imagine that a lot of people, hearing slow moving sirens, bike bells, and shouts and hollers out to people might make them scrunch up their face and say "What the f&*&?" but really, that's not what happened.

People on the street really liked the idea of the bike ride and overall, the entire ride received a very warm welcome from onlookers and so it would seem to me that despite the riff between the citizens of the neighborhoods where crime is prevalent and the police that are trying to enforce it, there is overall consensus that crime is bad and people do want it to stop. Speaking for myself, I'd like to take part in more of these rides and I'd like to also see some more organization in them, perhaps with pre-planned routes that can be downloaded and printed, flyers to pass out to encourage more people to take part, a more active local blogosphere in getting the message out, and perhaps some more local media coverage as I didn't see any either at the starting point or anywhere on the route.

In the next sets of pictures are some shots of some murals I captured along the way as well as happy people on the street waving, cheering, giving peace signs and expressing more support. There's also the shot of (what the officer said was UCD workers) clearing out an empty lot. I don't know what they're planning for the lot but I bet a nice playground would be a welcome addition.

Lastly, I want to close with this quick 12 second clip. This was the highly vocal motorcycle driver who had clinged onto our group back on Spruce St. At every turn, at every corner, whenever people were within ear shot, looking down from their balconies or watching us pass by while sitting on the porches and curbs, here was this gentleman and I think he helped get the message across appropriately. I'll let him speak for a moment or two.

(Click through to see video since it won't transfer over.)

If you couldn't hear what whe was saying, he said "Put the guns down! Put the guns down! Turn 'em in! Turn 'em in!" He shouted this everywhere we went, as well as shouted to 'save the children' and 'do it for the children.'

That's the kind of message I think that needs to be spread and if only we had an army of guys just like him, going out and perhaps - putting other plans aside to take part in this in a spontaneous manner, we might began to help create a major mindset change amongst the people of this city towards crime in our neighborhoods.

I'll try to post some more information later regarding other rides but I just wanted to get this one out before it got too late. I'd like to thank the organizers (whose names I didn't get; note to self: carry pen and paper next time), the police for the escort, and of course, everyone who took part in the ride. It was a really fun time, it was motivating, carried a very positive message, and had a very positive feel all throughout.

As the father of a child who is absolutely in love with Thomas the Tank Engine and all the toys he has, I can't let this go without mentioning it.

WPVI - (Associated Product Images To Right Of Page)

Fears about lead poisoning from paint triggered the recall of nearly 2 dozen different Thomas & Friends toys.

Not citing any official statistics, but my girlfriend and I have noticed a large increase in car break-ins recently. We live in W. Phily and have noticed, especially up and down Pine St., as well as on various cross-streets between 40th and 50th (E + W) and Chestnut and Baltimore that there have been an alarming abundance of break-ins on cars, especially out-of-state cars. Typically, a rear side window is smashed out, although I've seen some front windows as well. Usually stolen goods appear to be stereos as well as the contents of the glove-box.

It doesn't help that a majority of these cars are those left in the area by individuals looking for a parking spot that doesn't have a meter; hence, they leave there car in the same spot for days, sometimes weeks at a time.

So if you park frequently in W. Philly, please do not leave any valuables in your car, don't leave anything in sight, and if you have removable faceplates for after-market stereos, take them with you unless you want to come back to a car, minus one window and driving tunes.

Also, there have been red flyers posted on poles up and down Pine alerting people to an increase in physical crime, specifically robberies. If you're walking that area at night, please try to walk with at least one other person and pay close attention to your surroundings. If someone tries to engage you, either for directions, money, the time, whatever, please be cautious as there are mean people who really don't want your help; they simply want your money and other personal effects.

Of course, if you do get stuck in a sticky situation, try to remain calm, don't fight back unless you absolutely have to, and just give them whatever they want. Your life is not worth your cellphone, your iPod, or whatever money and credit cards you have on you. Those are all replaceable and we'd rather have back again to you enjoy your travels in our neighborhood, our restaurants, bars, and eateries.

Thank you.

-- Phillybits

(Pardon any formatting errors. It's a cut and paste from a cross-posting at Phillybits)

Perfect timing for the holidays. As a contributing recipe-ist, I would like to let everyone in the Phiadelphia area know about this great source of wonderful recipes.

For more information please visit 42's diary, Behind the Scenes: The dKosTrollhouse Cookbook or just go right through to The Trollhouse Cookbook order site. It's $15.01, and you'll receive an email with download instructions (yes, you have to print this one) but as 42 notes

The Cookbook looks awesome printed out in color on 24lb. natural white or parchment paper with the cover printed on glossy photo paper.

I only have a basic HP inkjet paper, but my ink cartridges are fairly new, so it printed out great using draft mode.

My local printing shop spiral bound my copy and added a clear vinyl cover and blue vinyl backing for only $3.50.

It has 144 pages - about 135 of recipes, and a kick-ass indeces - one of posters and one for recipes.

For those curious cats about what's contained and how it looks, here are some preview pages:

Table of Contents
Sample Recipes
More Sample Recipes
Even More Sample Recipes
Snarkolicious
Recipe Index

And here are some reader comments:

Recommended! (4.00 / 10)

As a sneak previewer of the dKos Trollhouse Cookbook, I can recommend without reservation that this is a fantastic piece of work and Good Eats to boot!

Thanks to 42 and grndrush for coming up with a great idea and then creating such a terrific piece of work.

This should be on everybody's Christmas shopping list.

--hono lulu

RECOMMENDED! (4.00 / 12)

...both this diary and the dKos TROLLHOUSE COOKBOOK, which I've had the good fortune of previewing.

This is a real labor of love and a testament to the community that gathers here. The Yearly Kos convention will be a great opportunity to solidify and expand our community further. That means greater visibility and influence on the issues and candidates we support...and those we don't.

So please consider buying a few copies of the dKos TROLLHOUSE COOKBOOK. It comes with a special free gift: the BIPM household's 200 year-old tuna melt recipe, which was the deciding factor at the Battle of Trafalgar, when a dying Admiral Nelson proclaimed to his men: "Victory today...tuna melts tonight!" The words are even etched in Westminster Abbey.

Thank you, 42, grnrush and all the KoStars who contributed to this amazing effort!

--Bill in Portland Maine

Gratitude from YearlyKos (4.00 / 10)

42 and grndursh, and everyone who contributed...

Thanks so much for putting this together and donating the proceeds to YearlyKos. Being a community project ourselves, we know how hard it is to work together and coordinate such an effort, especially among friends who have never met face to face before.

Among the many things that make the TrollHouse Cookbook special is your donating this community project to support another community effort. This truely embodies the inspiration behind YearlyKos. We don't wait for "leaders" to lead. We the people are taking control of our destiny and making it happen. We are all about the power of OUR community, and we believe we can accomplish great things together.

Much thanks to all.

--YearlyKos

Thanks for doing this (4.00 / 3)

The posting of recipes has been THE method of dealing with trolls. It totally deflates them while avoiding overt negativity. I really loved it when the method appeared. We've used it to great effect.

As the troll wars went on during the election season I began to hope someone would anthologize the recipes. There were so many good sounding ones I wanted to try. Thanks again.

--Rolfyboy6

Happy Day!!! (none / 0)

Congrats 42 and CDN for your grand release!!! Thank you and all others for your efforts! May the festivities begin!!

--shermanesq

So come on out, take a look at 42's diary, preview some of the recipes and the cookbook layout, read other's comments, and help support YearlyKos! You won't regret it!

Via RawStory, Nonpartisan congressional research report finds Louisiana governor took necessary steps:

The report found that:

All necessary conditions for federal relief were met on August 28. Pursuant to Section 502 of the Stafford Act, "[t]he declaration of an emergency by the President makes Federal emergency assistance available," and the President made such a declaration on August 28. The public record indicates that several additional days passed before such assistance was actually made available to the State;

The Governor must make a timely request for such assistance, which meets the requirements of federal law. The report states that "[e]xcept to the extent that an emergency involves primarily Federal interests, both declarations of major disaster and declarations of emergency must be triggered by a request to the President from the Governor of the affected state";

The Governor did indeed make such a request, which was both timely and in compliance with federal law. The report finds that "Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco requested by letter dated August 27, 2005...that the President declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period from August 26, 2005 and continuing pursuant to [applicable Federal statute]" and "Governor Blanco's August 27,2005 request for an emergency declaration also included her determination...that 'the incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of disaster."

The full report will be available soon on the House Democrats' Judiciary website.

Well, well, well...

(Cross-posted here on DailyKos)

John Aravosis....some love him, some hate him. Personally, I like what he writes and find he takes a no-holds barred approach to saying what he feels, and taking a situation and grabbing the inside, and pulling it through to the outside for everyone to see.

In regards to Hurricane Katrina, the rescue effort, and the response time of the Bush administration in dealing with this crisis, I almost see no better.

Here on [Insert Blog Here], we're doing our part in trying to motivate people to donate and get the word out for opportunities for people to get down to the affected areas and help out any way they can. We're pushing blog ads, we're linking to the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies.

We're also bring up the role of who's responsible and while that's all well and good, honestly, it doesn't compare to what Aravosis is doing. In case DailyKos isn't making you mad enough, just go to John's site where you'll see such headlines and articles as:

BREAKING: Sec of State Condi Rice caught buying several-thousand-dollar pair of shoes in NYC moments ago, spends last night at Broadway show!

White House: We have NOT requested international aid

UPDATE: Bush administration REFUSING to let Canada send emergency aid.

McClellan just told the press briefing that we have not requested international assistance.

Why not? Other nations don't have troops and aircraft and boats that can help us protect New Orleans and get people out of that death zone?

So now Bush's pride is going to risk the lives of even more Americans.

"I don't treat my dog like that"

The White House is now refusing to respond to concerns about their having dropped the ball. "This is not the time for criticsm." Oh my, he just said this was about "people seeking partisan gain in Washington."

Really Scott? People are dying in New Orleans because your boss decided to stay on vacation until yesterday afternoon and because people are upset about that, and want your boss to finally be held responsible for his repeated lack of nerve, his propensity to run and hide every time a crisis hits, because people would like him to finally stop running and start doing his job, that makes us partisans.

BREAKING NEWS: FEMA suspends rescue operations in New Orleans

CNN just announced that New Orleans has now become so dangerous that FEMA is calling off its search and rescue operations in the city.

-snip-

Glad Bush decided TODAY to send those extra troops on the aircraft carrier that should arrive, oh, when?

John goes on...and on....and on. I commend him for his hard-hitting style of writing and pointing out what needs to be noticed and brought into the spotlight.

Of course, you can all go and see for yourself. It's hard to stay so on point here, given the size of this community, the number of diarists, and the wide spectrum of diary topics that get thrown around here. We're doing a great job informing people of current conditions that either are being under-reported, or not being reported at all.

Not for one minute should we let up on our push for accountability. Funding was cut, levee project coordinators were scrambling to get funds and complete the projects on time; before the next natural disaster.

We're all aware of what Bush just said. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." And we're all aware that Lake New Orleans is Bush's fault and DWCG did an excellent job of proving it.

My point? Don't let up. Now is the time to push. People don't want it politicized? We are dealing with a horrible disaster right now but this administration has gone on far too long being impervious to criticism and accountability. The drums need to start being beaten again. We need to push through the TRUTH that this administration is incompetent, irresponsible, and outright dangerous to America, it's people, it's allies, and the entire world.

We've seen that danger in terms of the military response to 9/11, the bait-and-switch with Afghanistan funds to Iraq, the missing WMD's, the still-on-the-loose Anthrax mailer, Bin Laden (on the run, what, 1500 days or so now?), The Downing Street Memo, outing of a CIA agent, endangering environmental areas, tax breaks for the rich, deepening pockets for corporations and now...one of, if not the worst natural disasters in this country's history, and the President and Friends has done an almost negligible amount in terms of response, both visual and physical.

A real president would have come straight to New Orleans after the storm had passed to survey the damage and offer condolence. A real President, seeing the forecast, talking with advisers and experts, wouldn't have left in the first place, but instead, would have stayed in Washington to coordinate efforts and create a plan BEFORE the hurricane even hit. Instead, the President boasts of his ability to carry out all the functions of the President from his ranch in Crawford.

You know what? I'm so fucking tired of the Vacation President and his Crawford ranch and whether he can or cannot commit the functions of the President from his ranch. Your job is in Washington. Your office is in Washington. See, when your job is done, you can go back home...to Crawford. Until then, your office is Washington D.C., where the people employ you.

You're job is in D.C. Your office is in D.C. You belong in D.C. during a time of crisis. But you're home, home on the range.

Way to go, George Bush. Way to let the country down. Yet again.

Cross-posted here at DailyKos, where's there's some good discussion and interesting comments by oil-industry types. Also cross-posted here at Phillybits.

And for those of you who need to be brought up to speed, Karl Rove has denied any involvement in regards to the outing of a CIA operative during a time of war. Oh yeah, and Scotty (our WH spokesperson) is in the hotseat when it comes to having a double standard about having an open dialogue with the American people about a breach of security as serious as the outing of a CIA agent in a time of war.

Here's yesterday's headlines. Well worth a look.

Something Cooking At The White House...And It Doesn't Smell Like Justice...

I hate to take away from all the attention here on Live 8 as the message Live 8 sends is very important. But so is national security.

Karl Rove has been fingered as the leak in the Valerie Plame (outed CIA agent) case. Instead of put all the links and excerpts here, just visit my blog (http://phillybits.blogspot.com) and there's a plethra of links on numerous sites.

Check it out.

(Cross-posted both here, at DailyKos and also on my blog, Phillybits)

For Philadelphians, and also for Kossacks who have been desensitized (including myself at times) that government, be it national or local, government does not work, I have personal testament that it does.
Of course, while there are still many, many different things that need work, it's good to see government stand up to important initiatives and support them.

Follow me...

To bring you up to speed, See You Out There had published two diaries (Sprouting Sedition: Cities Adopting Kyoto and 131 Cities Adopting Kyoto) in which he informed us of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels initiative for Seattle to adopt the standards, locally, that were set forth in the Kyoto Protocol.

His earlier, and also later mentioned diary informed us of the Initiative itself, as well as the challenge (letter) issued by Mayor Nickels that US Mayors across the country either sign onto this initiative, bringing their municipality more in line with Kyoto Protocol standards, or to at least support the initiative.

After I read these two diaries, I became interested in findout out my city's role in this initiative. I checked the list of mayors currently supporting the initiative and saw that my mayor, Mayor John F. Street was not on the list. So being an interested citizen, I called my local government.

Through that phone call, whether it was fate or mistake (over whether I was a member of the media or not), I received a return call from the Acting Director of Communications, Spokeswoman to Mayor Street, Mrs. Deborah Bolling.

This is my first blog entry on this site. I left a comment right after registering but answered it on my own within a few minutes.

I'm at work right now but I want to add something that might be of interest to some. It's about Philadelphia Mayor John Street and his opinion on the initiative by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to adopt the standards of the Kyoto Protocol and adopt them city by city, mayor by mayor.

I picked up on the stories Sprouting Sedition: Cities Adopting Kyoto and 131 Cities Adopting Kyoto on DailyKos.

I contacted Phila government and inadevertently got transferred to the Media Affairs Department. Well...before I start copy/pasting all of what I posted on my site (I know, you gotta visit yet another site!), how about just hoping over to my site and taking a look?

My story - From DailyKos - US cities pick up Kyoto

My email - My email to Deborah Bonner Re: Kyoto