My friend Charlie was walking back from picking his kids up at Friends Select when he saw a city ordinance hearing sign at the park in front of the school. He wrote this note:

I was walking at 16th and the parkway yesterday, and saw a zoning notice posted at the triangle-shaped park that sits between 16th and 17th, between the Parkway and Cherry Street.

The notice was for a hearing to allow a restaurant to be built there (what is currently a city park). As much as I love the new outdoor seating at the Mexican Post there, I cannot imagine giving up green space to commerce on the Parkway.

Hopefully I am not misremembering, but the hearing was scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday, May 30 in the 1500 block of Arch. (I may have to walk past the signs again and report back).

Campers from the French Communication Institute are spending their last day of camp collecting "Coins for Caring." All the money they collect today in Center City (Rittenhouse Square, CVS at 19th and Chestnut, and S.E. corner 19th and Market) from 10:30 - 3:30 will be donated to The Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief. If you see one of these groups, please donate if you can.

More pictures and details here.

The New York City Police Department announced yesterday that they would begin "random" searches of subway passengers in response to the recent terrorist incidents in London. Not everyone is happy about that.

This article in The Village Voice cities civil libertarians who point out that just because police say they demand to search you doesn't mean you have to consent. The piece includes an interview of community activist Tony Liu, who designed the I do not consent to being searched shirt shown at right.

I wonder when we'll start needing those shirts on the streets of Philadelphia.

James Doohan, Scotty of Star Trek, is dead.

In honor of the first walk on the moon, July 20, 1969, Google posted Google Moon. Have a look.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was the keynote speaker at today's National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in Philadelphia. Senator Clinton was very highly received by the group in her remarks about education, health, and opportunity for the Latino community. The group of over 2,500 gave Sen. Clinton a standing ovation when she spoke about legislation she's sponsoring to provide healthcare for children in America who were born outside the U.S.

The Annual Conference of NCLR, the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., will take place July 16-19. Upcoming speakers include DNC Chair Howard Dean and CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien.

Cross-posted on iFlipFlop.

Here's a crazy idea to make more money: Outsource your own job. This article has a great idea for programmers or those who can pay someone in Bangalore to do his or her job for $10K a year while getting paid eight or ten times that amount.

If you're searching for free WiFi in Philly, here's your answer. The WiFi Free Spot Directory lists a number of places throughout the city where you get a wireless signal free-for-nothing-zero. Those in Philadelphia include:

Bobby Abreu won the home run derby at the 2005 All Star Game tonight in Detroit. This photo from ESPN shows Abreu launching one of his 41 total home runs into the stands. He beat Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez 11-5 in the finals and broke the record for a total number of home runs on home run derby night by 14.

Posted at 11:23 PM, July 11, 2005

Bobby Abreu is crushing the balls out of the park in the home run derby at the All Star Game in Detroit. He's already at 18, make that 19 (number subject to change). That's a record. The previous record was 15 home runs in a round. Wow. He is incredible. And from Philly!

20!!! He also has the second longest home run ever in the derby at 517 feet (Sammy Sosa holds the record at 523 feet). Seven of his home runs have gone 450 feet or more. Now he has a new bat...he ripped the other one up (literally). 22 home runs!!! 23 home runs (this is real time, friends). His 24th goes the other way into left field.

Now it's Gold Ball time. Okay, that's it. Bobby Abreu, 24 home runs in 17 minutes. The previous record was 15 home runs. Fantastic. Way to go, Bobby.

The World Series of Poker's Main Event is going on right now at the Rio in Las Vegas. A record 5,619 players anted up $10,000 each before the words "Shuffle up and deal" were uttered on July 7. Now the field has been whittled down to 569 players, all of whom will get a slice of the $56 million prize pool. The winner will get $7.5 million - in cash. One of my favorites, Sammy Farha, has $156,000 in chips with an average chip count of $98,000 for the field.

There are a number of locals still in the tournament according to Las Vegas and Poker Blog, my favorite resource for the event. Here's what I could see for locals who made it through the first two days, where they're from, and their chip counts. Maybe one of these guys will grasp the brass ring.

Sergey Khromov Philadelphia, PA $52,375
David Halpren Downingtown, PA $44,025
Chris Grove Philadelphia, PA $43,600
Keith Kline Malvern, PA $35,325
Michael P. Molloy Philadelphia, PA $34,300
Steve Tague Philadelphia, PA $32,075
Daniel Shak Bryn Mawr, PA $31,900
Philip Mitchell Jr Philadelphia, PA $31,725
Steven Jacobs Philadelphia, PA $15,575
Matt Hawrilenko Philadelphia, PA $14,850
Dante L. Corrado Philadelphia, PA $13,300
Don Matusow Bryn Mawr, PA $10,725
Joe Kokinda Downingtown, PA $8,150
Jared Davis Philadelphia, PA $7,975
Jonathan A Jones Philadelphia, PA $5,675

There are a number of players from New Jersey, as well, but since I don't know that geogrpahy as well, I didn't try to divine which are close and which are far away from the Philly Future audience. I know there are a few people from the Shore on the list.

Rittenhouse Square was voted by the Project for Public Spaces as sixth best in its rankings of the best North American districts, downtowns, and neighborhoods. The Project for Public Spaces Top 20 includes this Top 10:

1. Granville Island, Vancouver, British Columbia
2. East Village, New York, NY:
3. North Beach, San Francisco, CA
4. Camden, ME
5. Coyoacan, Mexico City
6. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA
7. The Plateau, Montreal, Quebec
8. Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario
9. Center City, Ponce, Puerto Rico
10. Fells Point, Baltimore, MD

I bring every visitor I can to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Not only is it convenient because my office is on Rittenhouse, but sitting at Rouge and overlooking the Square always gets the same reaction from out-of-towners: "Wow, I didn't know that Philadelphia looked like this." And that's only one neighborhood. There's lots more to see and do in our city. Anyone have other choices for great little finds in Philly?

I saw this post on Fark today: In a rare act of coolness, AOL puts up the entire set of Live 8 performances for free download, selectable down to a specific artist and song.Here's the AOL link to the Live 8 performances. Cool of them, indeed.

live8 philly

Proving that Philly Future is truly the news YOU write, this edition features early submissions from PF members (I'll add a few random samplings of items that caught my attention a bit later). And if you have something on your blog you'd like featured, let me know. Or post it yourself. It is the news YOU write, afterall.

Going Japanese
Albert of Philly writes: "I passed by the Japanese House in Fairmount Park and saw that they're having a Japanese Summer Festival on Saturday from 2pm - 7pm."

Going Political
Albert of Dragonballyee writes: "And there's also the Philly for Change picnic over at FDR Park on Sunday from Noon - 4pm which I wrote about here."

Going Punk
JRC of jonreese writes: "THE SEMI ANNUAL PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET
90+ tables of vendors selling old records, clothes, art, music, food, junk, bicycles, stereo equipment, instruments, automobiles, tools, posters, furniture, computers, skateboards and lots of other stuff ! All proceeds go to making sure that all ages shows remain a reality at the First Unitarian Church!

Saturday 10am - 5pm
The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut)
Philadelphia, PA
$3 entry donation
http://www.r5productions.com/shows.html

Going Artistic
Matt of The Tattered Coat writes: "You're probably aware of this, but the The Manayunk Arts Festival takes place this Saturday and Sunday on Main Street."

The news you wrote is above (I'd bet there will be more next week). And now for the random sampling:

Going Floral
Ted of Vorlon Whispers is doing some Friday Flowerblogging. He says "the lilies are now coming on hot and heavy." Check out the tiger lily. Nice.

Going Wimpy
AlexG of A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago is in search of the perfect burger. He augments Alan Richman's GQ list. Head on over...he'd gladly pay you on Tuesday for a comment today.

Going All In
ACM of Just Between Strangers muses about poker going mainstream. I think I'll pass on the game between Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Britney Spears and Linsay Lohan. (There must be a joke in there somewhere.)

Going Swimming
Jessika of Jessika's Journal has some thoughts and startling statistics about summer swimming. If the 96 degree heat isn't beach and pool weather, then it'll never be here. Cue up Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.

I'm going to assemble this week's PF Weekend Roundup later today, so if you have something you'd like to point out on your blog (or just because you know it's going on) please let me know. Leave a comment below or send me an e-mail here.