I find it a convenient coincidence that both the Daily Pennsylvanian and Philadelphia Magazine waited until after I revealed my endorsement to reveal their endorsements for Nutter.
I got this via America's Hometown.
By the way, I'm now the #6 result for the search term "Michael Nutter."
If you just want to cut to the chase, my choice is Michael Nutter. Michael Nutter has my vote for mayor in the 2007 Democratic Primary (or as I like to call it, the actual vote for mayor that matters.)
If you want to hear my reasoning, here you go.
Despite having no real knowledge of the race before researching it I had a vague preference for Nutter before I began. I probably picked it up without thinking from my blog reading. But as I researched, I started to see a guy who actually thought about public policy, and the effects that policy can have on the city. Policy defined here for these purposes being the all encompassing actions and statues that a governmental body has influence over, as opposed to "plans," "Initiatives," and "programs" which are just usually media attention catchers. This is not to say that Nutter doesn't have Initiatives or programs, he does, but he also has policy ideas.
He's running against Mayor Street, which I definitely dig.
Nutter is familiar with the way Philadelphia government works. He was an effective member of city council who actually got ethics reform passed, and tax reform through before Street vetoed. Those are tough pieces of legislation to get passed in Philadelphia. I see this in sharp contrast to Brady and Fattah who are well connected to the Philadelphia machine, but not the governance. This is also a contrast with Knox, who had, as far as I can tell, one job in city government.
Nutter also is pushing for an immediate addressing of the crime problem. This is in sharp contrast to Evans, who has plans, and talked about education being the solution. (It's a long term solution yes, but we need a band-aid in the meantime.)
I could go on. But I think I don't want to bash the other candidates. Nutter is the best guy for the job. I'm voting for him. I think you should too.
Initial Impressions
I think the phrase "policy wonk, but no charisma." I think I absorbed it off a blog somewhere.
Actual Research
"My name is Michael Nutter, and this is the saddest day of my life."
Or so my TV series based on Michael Nutter would start.
Leaving his perennial heart-broken appearance aside, Michael Nutter's got a lot going for him. He's a lifelong Philadelphia resident who went to Wharton and then stayed here. After a career in Investment Banking, he went into public service. He was a councilman the gaping maul that is the Philadelphia 4th district. He quit to run for mayor.
He's been described as a "maverick." He's been at pretty strong odds with the Street administration for the past 8 years. He's got strong policy based ideas. He championed a bill to repeal the business privilege tax only to see Street veto it. He's pushed a lot of policy through, including the quixotic ethics reform package.
I don't agree with his martial law idea for the heavy crime areas. It does sound a little draconian. But I don't live in one of those areas. If the people that live in those neighborhoods vote for him, they'll be saying they're okay with it.
I also don't like that he's on the list of the DLC's 100 to watch for 2003. But let's face it; he's a Democrat who went to Wharton. He's automatically going to be loved by the DLC.
I came into this exercise liking Nutter the most. As of now he seems to me to be the most qualified candidate, who's in a distant second in even his own polls. (In others he's down by more)
He's an extremely qualified policy-wonk, lacking charisma, and trailing? That's just my kind of underdog.
I'm not going to say I'm voting for him just yet though. I haven't dismissed Brady or Fattah yet. I've got a sum-up post left to write.
Initial Impressions
This guy started TV commercials early and often. That says to me he's rich and a long shot.
Actual Research
Okay, there isn't he usually voting information to found on this guy, because, he's never held an elected office before. He did work in government before - he was a deputy mayor under Rendell who seemed to be charged with cutting costs. He did so by going after some low hanging fruit - office space costs. He also saved the city money on health care. That just smells a little fishy to me, since he sold his company to UnitedHealth Group at some point in there. It could be industry contacts and relationships allowed him to save the money. However knowing Philly, it was some sort of backroom deal that involved Knox and his friends making some money, and conversely there are a bunch of city workers who are getting the shaft.
Of course I have no evidence for this at all. I have no real idea about the quality of a city worker's health plan.
But I do know that Knox made his money from payday loans. If the above contained a slice of sketchiness, this contains the whole pie. I know people use this service, and there is a market for this sort of thing. But I don't have admire the people who make money off it.
Couple all this, with a lack of real ideas, I can't say that I'm going to vote for him.
Bad news for me: he's leading in the polls. Good news for me: He's be advertizing for a couple months now. Hopefully his lead will start wearing off.
I'll get back to my nugget articles on each of the candidates this week. But I caught the mayoral debate today, and figure I would add my impressions of it to my thought train.
Mostly the debate just reinforced my prejudices. Nutter impressed me. Knox didn't. However I did have my opinion altered slightly. Once again, Brady performed better than my previous belief about him. Fattah's stock also rose. Evans disappointed me.
Overall I think Nutter did the best. He didn't bobble anything; he was steady, coherent and measured throughout the entire debate. He had the most concrete plans and suggestions. They were concrete, but I didn't disagree with them complete. I'm not sure his martial law plan is a good one, but it was the most concrete plan put forward. I also like that he said the ballsy-est thing in the debate. The exact quote was :
"296 black men were killed in the city last year. If the Ku Klux Klan came in and killed 296 men we'd see a different kind of action going on in Philadelphia right now."
- Quote Taken from "The Next Mayor Blog"
It might have been practiced, but no one else said anything quite as bold.
On a side note, can someone get Nutter a puppy or something? He seems to constantly look like his dog was put to sleep earlier that day.
Fattah also did well. I saw him as having a higher delta between his highs and lows than the other candidates. His closing was incoherent. For the most of the rest of it, he was very good, but have the occasional vague bullshit answer. He had the second most impressive statement in my mind, and the most common sense to boot. He suggested that to help reduce gun related violence, we should encourage the D.A. to give out plea deals to people who give up illegal gun dealer information. It's simple, common sense, and completely doable.
Brady did a couple things I liked. His closing was at the first glance very emotional, but vague. But as I thought about it, he was pointing to a result of "a safer Philadelphia" instead of just saying how to get there. He also took the time to defend all of the other candidates from Knox's bashing of insiders, which might have been showmanship but if it was, then I bought it. On closer inspection, he seems to be a bit long on the emotional appeal, short on the concrete ideas.
Evans harped on two things:
I assume that he thinks this person should be him. He really didn't say that much to convince me of that.
Knox was incoherent throughout the debate. There was this whole question about him forgiving a "loan" that he lent to his campaign. It was a confusing, weird question. It resulted in a rambling confusing answer. His one bright moment was when he was asked about the airport leasing option and gave the answer that there was a limit of 5 airports that the federal government would allow to be leased; only one of them could be a hub, and Chicago has already petitioned. Additionally the proposed profits would have to be shared with the airlines. Great! For one moment Tom Knox woke up and answered a question. The rest of the time, he was pretty much a zombie.
If I had to go just on the debate; it would be Fattah or Nutter. My brain says Nutter, my heart says Fattah.
I'll add it to the rest of my information, and come up with a decision later. If you want to watch the debate it's available on the 3 CBS website.
Here's my third in my, Philadelphia Mayoral Race 2007 series.
Initial Impressions
Nothing bad to say, but I feel like he's really good at winning his (my district) but that's all I know about him. Oh and his wife is Renee Chenault-Fattah.
Actual Research
Chaka Fattah is currently the US Representative for PA 2nd district. He's been there since 1994. He got there from knocking out the incumbent representative, Lucien Blackwell, in the Democratic Primary. Knocking out an incumbent Democrat in Philadelphia, in a primary? I thought such feats were impossible. Blackwell was the mentor of the current mayor, John Street. I don't know this for sure, but I would think that would give him some enemies in the current administration. (Which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.) But that's my inference; I've seen nothing to back that up. In fact, I've heard rumors that he and the current administration get along very well.
He's got good ratings from labor and other traditional Democratic base organizations. His positions seem to put him in the same exact ideological place as Bob Brady, although some seem to stand out a bit. He seems, looking at his Project Vote Smart questionnaire, to be unable to place any priorities on spending. Additionally he gets some flak from law enforcement types for openly calling for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Personally, I don't care on which side of the case he takes. That he did at all is a big detraction as, for the most, part professional politicians that get involved in that case tend to be crass opportunists, whether you are calling for a new trial, or condemning St. Denis for naming at street Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal. (Or naming a street Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal for that matter.)
I have no idea how he would do as Mayor. I don't think that a legislative position in DC makes him a strong candidate for an executive position like mayor. And frankly, if I was going to vote for congressman, at this point I like Bob Brady slightly better. But having had this thought, I think I have to say that so far all of the candidates I've looked into are found wanting.
Here's my second in my, Philadelphia Mayoral Race 2007 series
.Initial Impressions
Who the hell is Dwight Evans?
Actual Research
Who the hell is Dwight Evans? Other than his campaign site, there is almost nothing about him floating out there in the Interether.
Okay, that's not quite fair. He's a state representative. He's been a candidate for mayor, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor before. I guess he doesn't his current office.
Project Vote Smart is the only site with any independent information about him. And even that doesn't have any position statements from him, just reports on his voting record and interest group ratings. From what I can tell, he's a moderate Democrat for Philadelphia. His campaign site does give voice to the crime wave. It also addresses education and other normal election time issues. No mistakes, but there's nothing that makes me want to vote for him.
Dwight Evans might be the best candidate out there but I have no idea. Other than his own efforts to publicize him, I hear nothing about him. He's got a decent blog, with the right tone (someone from the campaign is the voice instead of just churning out press releases.)
The lack of third party information about what he stands for, and his tendency to run for any office he can, makes me think that I'm not voting for him.
Here's my first in my, Philadelphia Mayoral Race 2007 series. I started to do this all for one blog post, but researching just Brady took me pretty long. I figured if I broke it up, it would be much less daunting.
Initial Impressions
I associate him with the whole shady machine town Philly. I have no reason for doing so, it might be completely unfair, but there you have it.
Actual Research
From what I can tell, Bob Brady actually is a machine town operative, who came up from, and is still heavily involved with labor. He's extremely connected within the local Democratic Party. ABSCAM is mentioned in his Wikipedia entry. But he wasn't implicated in any of it from what I can tell. In fairness, I think if you lived in Philadelphia in the 70's, ABSCAM is mentioned in articles about you.
Open Secrets shows that his money comes first from individual donors, then from PAC's. It also shows that he gets more money from labor then business. Someone on his campaign bothered to fill out a Project Vote Smart questionnaire. (This is a good thing to me. His staff at least makes a nod towards transparency.) As listed in Project Vote Smart, his positions are pretty straight down the line what you would expect from a Philadelphia Democrat. On The Issues backs up that his reported positions match his votes. His campaign site starts on the crime issue, but also reaches into Education, and Housing and the Business Tax issues. (See that Scott?)
Researching Brady made me more favorable towards him. Not sure if it's enough to vote for him yet, but it's not impossible that I will.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around the mayor's race for 2007. It's especially important since the primary is in May, and baring some sort of political miracle, the Democratic Primary is the mayor's race.
I haven't seen a good breakdown of the candidates. I've read individual voices denigrate the candidates, but they tend to be strongly opinionated already. I have no strong opinions, just vague ones.
So, I'm looking at the candidates and trying to figure out for whom to cast my vote. I figured I would share my process with anyone who was interested. I'd also point out, that it's very likely that I'm an idiot. So feel free to point that out.
I started, where all intellectual endeavors of the late Noughts start, Wikipedia: 2007 Philadelphia Mayoral Election.
The candidates:
General Impressions
Bob Brady - Vaguely against - I associate him with the whole shady machine town Philly. I have no reason for doing so, it might be completely unfair, but there you have it.
Dwight Evans - Neutral - Who the hell is Dwight Evans?
Chaka Fattah - Neutral - Nothing bad to say, but I feel like he's really good at winning his (my district) but that's all I know about him. Oh and his wife is Renee Chenault-Fattah.
Tom Knox - Vaguely against - This guy started TV commercials early and often. That says to me he's rich and a long shot.
Michael Nutter - Vaguely for - I think the phrase "policy wonk, but no charisma." I don't know where I got it. I think I absorbed it off a blog somewhere.
Actual Research
I'm going to do each of these candidates in more detail. I will do so alphabetically and separately. Expect more later.
Finally, Joe Cruz is blogging. If you wanted to know more about the world from the point of view of a Guamanian Computer Geek, here's your chance.
At last, I now feel 50% less ashamed saying "I grew up in New Jersey, but live in Pennsylvania."
Rick Santorum is no longer my Senator.
For those that don't understand Man-On-Dog-Sex thing.
And like that it's all over. Janice and I are married.
Everything was fantastic. The Ceremony was beautiful, pictures at the Art Museum were not as long as they could have been, and the reception was a whirlwind blast. Afterwards in the bar at the hotel was fantastic, and topping it off with a 1 am Pat's run was just perhaps the most absurd part of it.
Looking forward to the honeymoon!
We've been living in our neighborhood for about 2 years. In that time, there has been a diner at 18th and Callowhill that has never been open. It's been a huge disappointment because you have a diner that close to you, you want to enjoy it.
It opened back up again under new management within the last week or so. We went today as part of a post Bachelor Party hangover recovery.
It was fantastic. It was a typical diner menu. The service was a little green, but very nice, and the food was incredible and well priced.
The owner came over and chatted with us. He offered us some test slices of his pizza that he claimed was "New York Style." The New Yorkers at the table told him "We'll see about that." He gave us a sampler pie made up of slices from 6 of his types of pizza. It was amazing, and silenced the New Yorkers (a feat unto itself.)
So checkout the Callowhill Restaurant at 18th and Callowhill. You won't be sorry.
Did you get your tickets to "My Life in 19 Inches" yet? It's this Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Make sure you see it!
Well, not my life, but rather Craig Liggeons' life. My Life in 19 Inches is a one man show, written by the aforementioned Craig. It's about how Television has not just effected his life, but in some cases, has defined it.
It's coming to the Adrienne Theater in July (July 20-23).
I heartily recommend it. In fact it isn't the first time I've done so. You can check my first impressions when he test ran the show. ('My Life in 19 Inches' )
I can't say it enough: See this show.
Find out more at Craig's Site .
I know it's been awhile, and expect more in the near future. But for now, if you're registred in PA, then vote in today's primary.
If you're in Philadelphia, check out the Committee of Seventy, they can direct you to your polling center.
If you're a Democrat, I urge you to vote for Pennacchio for Senate.
If you're Republican, why do you vote for Santorum?
I just got done reading "Crashing the Gate," the book on the Democratic Party by the guys behind dailykos.com and mydd.com. At around 200 pages it was a quick read and the writing was very engaging. Before I say anything else, just let me say, if you're a frustrated Democrat, the book is highly worth a read.
They central question of the book is "Why do the Democrats keep losing?" They do a very good job of answering that. Some of their answers you know. Some of their answers will surprise you.
They also do a decent job of answering the natural follow question: "What can Democrats do to start winning?" If I had to find any fault with the book, I would say that the book is light on things the average reader can do to fix the situation. I mean, I can't build a think tank in my back yard, nor am i in a position to stop hiring loser consultants.
However, there is an implicit directive in the book that the average Democratic voter can follow: at general election time, be partisan. If the candidate has a D after his or her name, he or she will do more for your holistic needs, even if they disagree with you on a singular important issue.
Now, primaries are a different issue all together. So I take this time to remind you, to vote for Pennacchio for the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania in the upcoming primary election. Not because Casey is Pro-Life, (I am too) but because he doesn't believe in reasonable gun control, thinks Pro-Life only means "anti-abortion," supports the president's war in Iraq, and likes Bush's pro corporate welfare loving judicial nominees. That is... just to name a few singular issues.
Approximately, one year ago I was introduced to the concept of the "Dockenwamp." I have to admit that even in my moments of relative peace, I still wondered "What is the Dockenwamp?" Thanks to Haplo, I got the answer.
However to fully understand, I have to explain the context of the "Dockenwamp." We saw it at the Orpheus Club, a Philadelphia institution whose purpose seems to be properly expressed in it's French motto: "Avocats, travestites, et soirees musicales." They have events where people need to suck up to two gentleman named "Doc" and "Wamp" (pictured.) Evidenlty, they have to suck up by singing a song that is suspciously similar to Queen's "Give me the Prize," featured on the soundtrack to the movie "Highlander." This leaves me to believe that the members have to behead each other to win the favor of the "Doc and Wamp."
The sad thing is that the picture, taken by Jeff Porten, came out blurry. That's not a shot at Jeff, I'm sure much like the Sasquatch, Yeti, and Chupacabra, the Dockenwamp does not photgraph well.
Payday arrived, so I put money behind my political mouth, and dropped a donation to the Pennacchio campaign.
You don't have to give a lot to contribute, so if you have a mind to do something, but you don't want to work a phone bank or canvas, then drop a few bucks. It's pretty much the absolute least you can do, and they make it pretty easy.
Chuck Pennacchio for United States Senate 2006
I got a chance to meet Albert "Dragonball" Yee tonight. He was kind enough to meet me after work so I could sign the petition to get Chuck Pennacchio listed on the ballot for the Democratic Primary. Thanks to Albert for being so generous with his time.
If you are interested in voting for an actual Democrat this May, then sign the petition so you'll get a chance to.
If you don't know who Pennacchio is check out his site, or read these highly persuasive entries from the aforementioned Dragonballyee.
If you think "But Casey's the only Democrat to vote for in Pennsylvania," read this and let me try and persuade you that it's not true.
In possibly one of the more interesting intersections of my politics, my city, and my work; a new site appeared today, urging Philadelphians to come out and vote against Rick Santorum. Give it a look, it's a pretty noble cause, and it's powered by ColdFusion (and FuseBox).
Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress.
I'm changing my vote for the Democratic primary for the US Senate in Pennsylvania. For those not familiar with the race, my options are: Bob Casey, conservative to moderate son of a former governor, pre-selected by the Democratic machinery to win the primary; and Chuck Pennacchio a true liberal and an underdog who has been shut out by most of the Democratic party in the area for the purpose of saving the fight for Santorum. Oh and there's a third guy, but I'm not really sure he's a real person.
For the longest time, I've been thinking I would probably vote for Casey in the primary. Why? Mostly because he's been touted as a Pro-Life Democrat who's good for labor. This to me equated to the opposite of the "fiscally conservative but morally liberal" DLC clowns that have been in the spot light of the Democratic party for the past 10 years. Also, I'm a Pro-Life Democrat, I'd like there to be more of them. Finally, common wisdom was "he was our only chance at beating Santorum."
I tried Chilly Philly Ice Cream tonight. I picked it up at Whole Foods. It's actually really good, but their flavors are limited for the time being. I would say that it's better than WaWa Ice Cream, but not as rich as a premium ice cream like Ben and Jerry's or Haagen Daaz. But at like $3.29 a pop, it's the lowest price ice cream at Whole Foods. It's kinda a cool that a percentage of the profits get donated to Philadelphia charities.
Try some if you see them in your supermarket. And while you're at it check out their website (circa 1996.)
I was awarded with my 10 years of service gift today for my job today. It's the shiny photo album pictured here.
One small problem. I graduated from Penn in May of 1999. I started work here in June 1999. Any takers as to the problem?
Evidenlty work-study jobs are included. Considering some of Penn's benefits, this isn't a bad thing.
Earlier tonight I lost power in my house. A couple minutes later there were police lights and sirens. I wandered out while I was calling PECO on my cell to tell them I lost power. The automated system told me that they new about the problem, 1300 people were affected and it would be fixed within an hour and a half.
I wander down my block and see the police and fire surrounding a pallet of what another bystander told me was drywall in the middle of the street, directly beneath the downed power lines. Doing the geometry, I figure out that the wind must have blown the pallet off of the roof of a construction project across from my house.
My power came back on so no problem. I forgot about it, until a couple of minutes ago. Now, there's some sheet metal getting blown around and filling my neighborhood with loud booming. Then I got to thinking: How windy does it have to be to blow a pallet of drywall off of a roof? And wouldn't it have been pulverized by the fall? And what's dry wall doing on the roof of a building.
So I went out a few minutes ago and investigated. Turns out it was some sort of foam insulation. This makes much more sense.
After many tries, we finally have a date for Craig's Variety Show, Episode 2... It's NewYears Day at 6 AM Channel 12. I'm sure everyone will watch it...
Okay, I'm sure everyone will TiVo it right?
For the last few nights I've been driving home around 6pm with Janice. We've seen the Cira Center light up. Not only does it have hundreds of tiny bright lights, they change color, they make patterns and they sparkle.
Has anyone else seen this? Does anyone know anything about this? Is it a testing thing, or are they going to do this permanently?
I forgot about this, Proposition 27, will also be on WHYY this Sunday morning at 5:45 AM.
I can't find it on TiVo. So you all have to stay up and watch it.
Speaking of upcoming TV sightings, Citizen Wumpus' magnum opus, "Eugene Elliot" will be on WHYY this Saturday at 4:20 AM.
Stay up and watch it... or just TiVo it.
Edmund Bacon passed away. I just found this out from PoliticsPhilly. What an awful shame that is. He was a very accomplished man who was extraordinarily inspirational.
Edmund Bacon was the City Planner for Philadelphia during the 50's, 60's and 70's. He was responsible for Love Park, the entire strip of buildings between City Hall and 30th Street on Market, and the revitalization of Society Hill. He was born in West Philly and passed away in his home in Center City.
I got a chance to meet him last year when Craig interviewed him for "Craig's Variety Show." One of the things that struck me about him was the fact that he was so focused on the future after such an accomplished life. What I said at the time was:
The thing that struck me most about him was the fact that he was the oldest person I've ever met who still spoke about the promise of the future, as opposed to superiority of the past. And not for nothing, his past is pretty damn cool. He biked across Europe at 22, worked in Shanghai at 23, and was worried about the plight of workers in Flint, Michigan before Michael Moore had even been conceived.
Philadelphia is a better place for many of the improvements he made as City Planner. We have lost a great treasure.
Atrios keeps talking about the Champagne he's going to drink if one of the major jackasses in the administration get's indicted.
I'm going to do one better. I'm going to have cigars if Libby, Cheney or Rove get indicted. Not only am I going to have cigars, but I will share them with anyone who signs up on this entry. This will be up to a limit of 24, or a box of 25 minus one for me.
However, there are qualitative differences between the relative worth of these convictions, and also of their likelyhood. So I'm establishing the following payoff chart:
I figure this deal will be good for one year. As soon as the indictment is confirmed, I will buy the box and distribute within a month. If all three get indicted anyone who signs up gets all three. If more than one gets indicted within a month of another I will stagger the payouts. The only catch is that you have receive them from me. I'm not shipping them anywhere. Come to Philly, or wait until I get to your city.
So if you are a raging a liberal and love cigars, get in on this while the getting is good. Also if you have any other cigar/jackass combo drop me a line.
Noel Weyrich has an article about Philly bloggers and the whole LaToyia Figueroa case. Summary: He's not impressed. Will Bunch of attytood does a great job of arguing against him. However I'd like to add an addendum to the argument.
This was about something larger that Weyrich seems to miss. A larger group of people than the circle of traditional media editors decided this story was important. They then advocated it, and brought it to mass consciousness. Weyrich is somehow attacking the story as not important as the blogosphere made it out to be. It's his right to say that, but then again, his magazine recently did an expose on the nuances of the Philadelphia accent. So I don't get where he thinks he's got the grivitas to decry our issue as trivial.
Once again I am hiring for an open position. Here's the description I put on Forta.com:
Wharton Computing at the University of Pennsylvania is looking for a full time ColdFusion/ Flex developer in Philadelphia, PA. Duties primarily involve application development, though some server maintenance is involved. Contact: tpryan@wharton.upenn.edu.
Just so you know, knowledge of ColdFusion and Flex are not mandatory for being hired, though they are primarily what you'd be doing. I see three ways that someone could come at this job.
It's a great place to work, with a distinct workplace culture. So drop me a line if your interested: tpryan@wharton.upenn.edu.
I'm a Catholic living in Philadelphia. I can't help but have an opinion on the new revelations of Church involvement with sex scandals. Let's get the disclaimers out of the way. I have never been abused. I have met one abusive priest. (Long before the allegations came to light.) I know many more priests who are or were decent, true, and noble men. I am going to explore the reasons behind the coverup in this post. While I am seeking an understanding of the cover-up, I'm not looking for anything to condone it, because I don't. I just want to understand why the cover up happened in so many places. Finally, let me make it clear, I may discuss the nature of pederasty as a sin, how it fits into the Catholic understanding of sin, but there are two things that are not question for me, that pederasty is indeed a sin, and further that except under certain impossible to fathom-by-me hypothetical situations, it is a mortal sin.
Mahogany on Walnut opened in Philly just after the apex of the cigar boom. It was probably fueled by the success of Holt's at the same time. Holt's has in the back of it's walk in humidor a little lounge for cigar smoking. A sweet little old lady sells coffee and bottled water. However, the hours were limited to the store hours, and there was no alcohol. Enter Mahogany, located one story up from Holt's.
Mahogany is very upscale with rich leather chairs and sofas, beautiful wood paneling, and a fine spirits menu thicker than the food menu. They have a decent supply of higher end cigars, at an inflated price. Additionally the literal atmosphere is highlight by a great air handling system that clears up smoke faster than you can produce it.
The one thing that always shocked me was the lack of pretension. The staff are all very decent to you whether you're in a business suit or shorts. Sure they have Fox News on, but I think that's more for the clientele than the staff. I always try to face away from the TV as to avoid that unpleasantness.
The bill will hit you. I can't sugar coat that, but I'd contend that you're not there to get drunk, you're there to enjoy your cigar and company. They do have a good range of drinks too, so you're not stuck buying a $12 glass of water. Prices start at $4 for a beer and up to the mid hundreds for Cognac touched by Jesus or something.
By all means I highly recommend this place. Grab some friends. Time it right to hit Holt's before it closes, and grab a good cigar there at a good price. Bring them up to Mahogany at Walnut, and stay there until your cigar is done. Then go drink somewhere else. You won't be sorry.
Cigars on my porch are fine but nothing is quite as good as sitting on a comfortable couch and having cigars in well-ventilated room. Since I graduated from Penn, and no longer could justify spending large amounts of time in the Pine Room at the KA lodge, I been looking for a good place indoors to smoke a cigar. The search intensified when I moved in with Janice. Occasionally I used to smoke in my apartment, but that's a non starter in our house. For all these reasons, I've looked to bars where I could smoke.
Consequently I'll be highlighting a couple of my favorite places to grab a smoke in Philly over the few weeks. I say "Bars in Which to Have Cigars" instead of "Cigar Bars," because most of the bars are just places that happen to let you smoke cigars, not full fledged cigar bars. The first bar I chose to highlight is perhaps the highest quality place to go (and the only real cigar bar on the list). It might not be a great value, but I will get to good values in later entries.
If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.
I never get tired of looking at this city. Yeah, I know it's a rather cliche shot, but I love this view of the skyline, and there are so many stories in this shot.
Janice and I took a stroll around the Art Museum and we stopped at the entrance. Once there we saw a beautiful old Labrador Retriever who didn't want to stop jumping in the fountain. We also met a friendly older African-American Man who had this great t-shirt about Civil War reenactors. Finally, we saw a wedding party breaking the rule against taking pictures at the Art Museum. They're all somewhere in this picture.
There's an article in Slate about the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It's one of my favorite logical fallacies, and frankly, the coolest one without a Latin title. The article explains it better, but, in a nutshell, Sunk Cost Fallacy occurs when decision makers continue down a path because for no other reason than that they've already spent a lot of resources on the path. Ex:
We've already spent $80 million on Gigli if we were to abandon it, burn the negatives and never mention it again, we would have wasted all that money. Now get me another $20 million in ad buys in every market!
What's even cooler is that it's by a Barry Schwartz, a professor at Swarthmore.
Philadelphia Magazine has an article in the month's copy dedicated to exploring the Philadelphia accent. Accompaning that article is this collection of Phildelphia accent samples.
As someone who has been a lifelong "wooder" speaker, I was happy to see this exploration of my accent, even if it was in Philadelphia Magazine.
It's a good thing I started blogging after I got a parking space, or these pages would be filled with diatribes and cockpunches against the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Despite this however, I will never forgive, and never forget, and according to this picture, neither will others.
I have to say, I'm not sure though what's going on. It looks like to me that someone inconvienced by the van (which is blocking a driveway) is the author of the note. However, it could be just a ballsy van owner. Either way, the Philadelphia Parking Authority is causing angst.
This to Janice who took the pictures knowing how much I would like them.
I stumbled on to plans for a complete overhaul of Vine Street, foucusing on Logan Circle, Chinatown, Frankin Square, and The Hahnemann Area (which you will recognize from the header of Aarrgghh!!.) It seems that the Willian Penn Foundation commissioned the report(pdf) from an organization called the Project for Public Spaces back in 2002-2003. The report has some really cool ideas for an area near and dear to my heart, Logan Circle.
The ideas that I really like:
I really like a lot of what they are recommending, but don't get me wrong there are some dumb ideas too:
All in all, this sounds like a cool kind of plan for a city trying to encourage growth, especially amoung younger demographics. I imagine that we will see no action on it... ever. Instead those in a position to do something about it will pin our hopes on us becoming attractive to the huddled masses living in what I like to think of as the rest stop between Philly and Boston.
For a long time I have maintained to my friends who disparage Philadelphia, that at least I have no fear of terrorism, as Philly is a "second tier city." I'm mean c'mon, New York is up there... DC is down there, you don't need to bother us Mr. Terrorist...
Well Septa agrees with me according to PhillyPolitics.com:
Jordan said the cash-strapped agency, which has a daily ridership of 800,000, was not at orange because it did not consider itself a top-tier target such as New York City or Washington.
The article also discusses Septa's current ready status: Tangerine.
Scott blogged this, and it finaly got in to my head that I should do this too, despite the fact that my readership is probably a single digit decimal percentage of his.
Latoyia Fiqueroa has been missing for 10 days. She is pregnant. Her family loves her and wants her home safely. She has a seven year old who needs her. She disappeared from the Cobbs Creek area, in West Philadelphia. (If you go through that area on your way from Central Phily to Delaware County, think if you're seen anything odd inthe past few days.) If you know anything about it, please contact the Philadelphia Police.
According to PoliticsPhilly.com, Philly is supposedly the 8th most polite city in the US?
Some how I doubt that any such finding was the result of study using any remotely scientifically derived method. I point this out because:
We are many things to be proud of... Polite, not on your life.
On the heels of my lauding them for conservation efforts, Penn accidently shut down the AC in my building. My office got up to 90° and Dan's office got up to 93°.
It seems like an really inefficient way of conservation, as energy dollars saved were taken from the productivity dollars' pot.
Yet another article comes to light that show that Penn (my alma mater and employer) is an institution to take some pride in.
PoliticsPhilly.com has it that Penn is:
"the nation's largest nongovernmental purchaser of wind power... "
Check it out the story at PoliticsPhilly.com:
Maybe not the most rational conclusion, but I defy you to come up with a better explanation.
Dan Alig has it on authority that Penn is the number 8 best company for computer professionals to work at.
Cool.
UPDATE
The link would help:
Dan Alig's site.
Taken on the Spring Garden street bridge. I present Creepy Baby. Make no mistake if Creepy Baby got loose he/she would kill everyone one you've ever cared about.
"That's right girls, show us your Social Consciences!" It would appear that Girls Gone Wild is here in Philadelphia for what I can only hope is the assumption that Live 8 will bring out the boob flasher in the young women in the Delaware Valley.
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Copyright 2003-2008
Terrence Ryan.
This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here are mine and not those of my employer.
