Category Archives: Philly

“the “sixth borough” of New York.”…

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An insulting NYTimes article that shares the good news of folks from New York deciding that our town is the place to be has a tone to it that has a few of us Philadelphian’s more than a little pissed. One of which wrote a letter to the Times as Dan Rubin documents, others are blogging about it.

People moving *into* Philly is a terrific story. It’s one we should celebrate and look at causes for – which the article does to its credit.

People looking at Philly as an alternative to New York? Complimentary. Philly being viewed as a borough of New York? Insulting. Really fucking insulting.

Help find Latoyia Figueroa

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Latoyia Figueroa is 5’2″, pregnant, and has been missing from her Philadelphia home since 7/18/2005. If you know any details of her whereabouts, please call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-8477, or you can contribute to the reward fund.

A few nights ago, Atrios raised awareness of her, Howard at Philly Future caught this and posted the following:

Philly Future – Philly Blogs – The News YOU Write | The Missing:

Latoyia Figueroa
Atrios asks what the odds are that we’ll be seeing reports of Latoyia Figueroa (pictured right) on CNN. She’s a local resident who’s been missing since Monday, but so far there’s been no Natalee Holloway treatment for this story.

Don’t misunderstand, I have nothing against Miss Holloway, and I
truly hope for the best possible outcome to her situation, but surely
we’ve all noticed by now that the established media can be quite
selective with their coverage of these sad situations.

Here’s hoping Latoyia Figueroa’s situation also has the best
possible outcome — and the same wish for all the other less publicized missing people out there tonight.

Richard at The All Spin Zone went far further – made phone calls and sent emails and has worked with the Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission to help raise the reward mentioned above. Now her story is starting to make the rounds of TV broadcasters. CNN had it front page yesterday. 9 days after she went missing.

If you have any information, or can contribute any funds to the reward, contact the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-8477. If you would like to donate to the reward online, you can visit ASZ here. If you are a blogger, help spread the news. Get this out to as many people as possible. For more see Matt at Tatteredcoat. Other bloggers discussing the CNN story here.

“Philadelphia won. MTV and millions of TV viewers lost. And Africa?”

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While I am still gathering my thoughts, and recovering from a hyper day of metablogging, I can immediately share a few things:

1. The concert was terrific for Philadelphia. We hosted a huge event with flying colors.

2. Our regional web, professional and not, was on fire yesterday. It covered Live 8 far better than TV. Speaking of which – I got quoted in the Inquirer panning MTV!. We’re going to continue to do what we do at PF – highlight the best of it – over the course of the next few days – shoot – maybe even weeks.

3. Philly Future’s distributed approach to all this, with me as host, and bloggers across the region posting and commenting, would have only been possible with the magic combination RSS, Flickr, Technorati, and CivicSpace – and elbow grease. The tools are getting to the point where they can achieve their promise.

4. It’s been amazing to watch the organizers of Live 8 reach out to the digerati, and then the digerati to the blogosphere, to get the word out and take part. Recognizing us as opinion leaders and buzz makers is both a compliment – and a concern (Jeff Jarvis).

5. No matter how you feel about any of this – take the time go to One.org. Get educated. And hopefully you will decide to sign the petition as I did. It’s a cause all of us can support.

6. And Albert Yee kicks ass. You national bloggers should know that he is one the best photobloggers on the web (yes, no lie) and a terrific writer to boot. His efforts helped make Philly Future a worthy place to go yesterday.

Will Bunch, from the Daily News’s weblog Attytood helps to summarize how I feel so far: Attytood: Some final thoughts on Live 8:

Philadelphia won. MTV and millions of TV viewers lost. And Africa? Let’s hope for the best.

There’s no way that 1 million people showed up on the Parkway. It may have been 400,000 over the course of the day, with no more than 300,000 at any time. How do we know that? We don’t. But, psssst, neither does Mayor Street.

No matter, because — even though the non-Stevie Wonder musical acts left us cold — Live 8 was every bit the publicity coup that the city hoped for. There was no violence, few arrests, and remarkably good behavior and good spirits. No booing.

And no snowballs. Heh.

For a city long tarred — unfairly, for the most part — as dirty, rude and disorderly, the images that were beamed around the world today may prove priceless over time. They’re won’t be much immediate impact (except for Milton Street, maybe) but over time, that image will help convince some folks that Philadelphia is a place they want to work. or live, or at least visit on a vacation.

Unfortunately, who knows how many were driven away by the God-awful TV coverage? As we watched the train wreck on MTV unfold, we started to get a sense of deja vu, and we realized why: It was exactly the same things that ruined the Olympics on TV.

Events that could have been shown live instead, inexplicably, on tape. Too much jumping around. The canned interviews, the ceaseless prattling. There once was a time when sports programs showed the games, and concert programs showed the music.

It was live. It was exciting. And now it seems lost. We don’t know why.

…With so many people touched today around the globe, we feel confident that somewhere in Africa, there is another 3-year-old girl who will be rescued by the forces that were unleashed today. And if just one life was saved, Live 8 — which also was a pretty darned good rock concert — will have been worth it.

Live 8 was worth it.

What do you think?

Head on over to to Attytood and let him know how you feel. I plan to.

Memorial Day in Philly: Not just another cookout

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Read Howard’s post at Philly Future.

Thank you to all the soldiers and their families who have sacrificed so much to secure what me and so many of the rest of us take for granted – our freedom.

It occurs to me that the greatest way to honor that sacrifice is to use our freedom to the fullest: Have you made a life altering choice in the past year? Have you voted in the past two? Do you read the news to stay informed (this one is easy considering my readership!)? Do you take part in debate over the course of the country, of your town?

I’m Voting For Seth Williams for D.A.

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May 17th isn’t being talked about in the news to any great degree. There is little discussion about local politics besides that of corruption. Is there any wonder why turnout has been so low in local primary races?

Help change that this 17th. For why I feel Seth Williams is our best choice, see an earlier a co-authored editorial by Matt and me at PF.

Pledge your vote and get others to take notice.

For the rest of our regional web’s thoughts on Seth Williams and this race, please see Philly Future.

A huge shout out to Young Philly Politics. Dan and his team are doing a great job getting people involved in this conversation.

Get involved. You have the power.

Philly Future request for your comment

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Philly Future, has been a one person volunteer effort for five years. I believe this latest iteration provides me with the tools to change that. I’d like Philly Future to live up to its original promise: to be a platform for citizen driven, local online journalism. It has become the place to find Philly bloggers. I am getting at least one request to add to the site a day! 69 at last count! Independent bloggers are the greatest, most original writers out there. But how to take the next step?

Two things I am already doing:

1. I’ve offered a very public hand of friendship and cooperation to PhillyBlog.com. They have not responded to my offer however. This is after many, many emails and my reaching out on their own forums.

2. Sent emails to start discussions with a few thought leaders in the space to gather their opinions.

What do you think? How come I feel the answer is right under my nose?

Philadelphia Considers Free Citywide Wireless Access

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Details at Slashdot.

Would be great to see a discussion at Philly Future.

And you folks who know me – I rarely say this so apologies – but I told ya so.

It’s terrific that that there are people with vision looking towards the future in Philadelphia in a very bold way.

Anyway, I probably can’t discuss this subject at any length since I work for an ISP and have conflicts of interest.