The second portion of the District 10 agenda meeting was mostly the city councilmembers talking, specifically Councilman Brian O'Neill, it's his district after all. The other two councilmen, Councilman Jack Kelly and Councilman Bill Green are both currently At-Large officials, but Kelly is from the NE and once was a district councilman as well. They were more than happy to let the home team have their say and added their points accordingly. The initial discussion focused on Planning & Zoning. Forum attendee and NE resident Alan wanted wanted a real citywide plan with significant localized input. He asked how much juice should individual neighborhoods have?

Monday night was the first of ten meetings where the Great Expectations Agenda is opened up to each of the ten councilmanic districts to discuss. I made my way to the Klein Jewish Community Center in Councilman Brian O'Neill's 10th District (the Bustleton section of the NE). In addition to the 7 or so staffers, about 20 citizens came out as well as Councilman O'Neill, Councilman Jack Kelly and Councilman Bill Green. It was a smallish group, but the discussion was lively.

Well, here I am, back in Philadelphia... Actually, I've been in Philly since September 24th and was swept up in Phillies Phever, so this is a delayed "Hello World". I figured that since I've got some time on my side, I'd try my hand at blogging for a bit... [For those ellipse-haters, you can tune out since I use them... frequently... Oh, and bracket-haters? Yeah, I use brackets, not parenthesis. They just look nicer.]

I'm Twenty-something male Penn State grad who hasn't lived in Philly full time since graduating high school [LaSalle College High School proud]. Spent most of my time up in University Park while there... even an extra year of "super senioring" just to eek out more of that college experience. Love the place, wouldn't mind living there in State College until, of course, I started loathing the fact that I wouldn't be a student there anymore. Anyway, from there I went to be a part of the working masses...

Except, instead of being a corporate cog, I was one of those loafing government workers. I won't say what area of the government I worked in since, well, I probably shouldn't. The important thing is that I enjoyed it, even if I did have to live in the soulless vacuum known as the DC Metro Area. So transient, so lifeless - the people, you could just see it their eyes. Nothing there. But I did enjoy it and felt like I wasn't just chasing a buck like many of my peers. So what did I do?

Well, I joined those dollar-chasers and took a job back in Philly this past September for one of the big corporations still in the city [that narrows it down a large bit]. Why did I do that? Am I masochist for moving back to Philly? I mean, DC's got one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation! It's got a nice, young crowd! Even it's nightlife rivals that of Philly! Well, I don't know, I had an itch and felt I needed to scratch it, you know?

I don't have any dependents, still all liquid assets, and I had that pang to move back to my birthplace... at least for a trial period. I needed to see what was it like to live in Philly, experience it, and then decide in a year whether or not to go back to my ol' sweet govvy job [which I can get back rather readily for reasons I won't go into here].

So, all in all, that's the story. My first steps were to start my job [which I did already - I'll post on that coming up] and find an apartment [currently living with the folks, which is why this is labeled "Bustleton" and not some swank CC location - no, I do not want to live in the Great Northeast for this trial run!]. Finding an apartment... heh, that's been an adventure...

Anyway, I'm out...

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