August 3, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local News...

School bus hits Mount Airy home
Neighbors hope the accident heightens attention to Stenton Avenue’s “blind intersections.”
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Early Monday morning, a school bus traveling on Stenton Avenue hit the front of a Mount Airy home, attempting to avoid a car that had reportedly run a stop sign at Phil-Ellena Street. (Photo by Kristin Pazulski)

Monday morning, around 8:30 a.m., a school bus with about a dozen children heading to Khepera Charter School in Mount Airy hit the front of twin homes, 7823 and 7825 Stenton Ave., after swerving a car that had run a stop sign at Phil-Ellena Street.

Karen Pugh, resident of 7823 Stenton Ave., said she was sitting at her kitchen table towards the rear of the house eating breakfast when the whole house shook. She looked out the front window and saw the bus, which was imbedded in the brick around her front door.

City officials close bridge, repairs set for two-way traffic
by JENNIFER KATZ

Amid complaints of motorists’ blatantly disregarding the new one-way lane on Willow Grove Avenue Bridge, the city streets department reconsidered its position on doing the repair work necessary to reopen the bridge two ways.

Hill run raises thousands; hundreds turn out for race
by JENNIFER KATZ

Ross Martinson of Philadelphia Runners won the race on the men’s side. Martinson finished the 5-mile run in 25:48, just 13 seconds ahead of the second closest runner. (Photo by Jennifer Katz)

Among the more than 800 runners, walkers, vendors and spectators, Hayden Dahmm received his first taste of celebrity, signing autographs and selling copies of his comic book series, Our Toilet Superhero. The 13-year-old and his twin brother, Ethan, were the recipients of Saturday’s Fifth Annual Run for the Hill of It five-mile race held along Forbidden Drive at Harper’s Meadow.

The weather was typical for a Philadelphia summer day, hot and humid in the aftermath of recent rainstorms. For a few hours the race was in jeopardy as Friday evenings’ tempest had caused a large tree branch to fall onto the utility lines at Northwestern Avenue and Forbidden Drive, leaving the event site without power. In the morning hours, event organizers rounded up two generators from Delran Builders and radio station B101, both event sponsors.

As the B101 bee and the Phillie’s mascot, the Phanatic, made their way through the crowd, Ethan was charmed listening to Beatles’ songs over the speakers. His mom, Cynthia Murray, was thrilled to see him enjoying himself. “He loves the Beatles,” she said. “He knows all the words.”

Jimenez receives Presidential appoint for community work
by JENNIFER KATZ

Farah Jimenez

Farah Jimenez should be practicing law at a downtown firm, making six figures a year and living the urban dream. She attended the University of Pennsylvania for both undergraduate and graduate school earning a Bachelor’s in European History and a Juris Doctorate in law. But when talking to Jimenez, it becomes apparent that she is more likely to be found redefining tradition in favor of progress. Her seemingly contradictory roles as grassroots community development activist and Republican Party member garnered Jimenez recognition from President George W. Bush, who appointed her to the Community Development Advisory Board of U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund in June.

Mount Airy would like to see Avenue billboard-free
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Mount Airy USA is hoping negotiations between the city and outdoor advertising companies will result in the removal of billboards, such as these at 6520 Germantown Ave. (Photo by Kristin Pazulski)

Hands belonging to the 10-foot face of a sweaty male shamefully hold a prison ID number. The words across the man’s chest read, “Is this the father figure you want to be?”

This image greets Germantown Avenue travelers as they drive into Chestnut Hill from Mount Airy. Drivers, distracted by the huge, sweaty face, focus on the image and contemplate the billboard’s meaning instead of noticing the charming Trolley Car Diner on their right. They would have missed New Covenant Church of Philadelphia on their left, too, if it wasn’t for the church’s advertisement on the billboard across the street from the deadbeat dad.

Mount Airy USA and the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight, otherwise known as SCRUB, are working together to rid the avenue’s Mount Airy strip of unwanted, “illegal” billboards that distract drivers from their task at hand and a community’s streetscape, according to a SCRUB report. But negotiations between the city and billboard companies, which are suing the city because of recent ordinances passed that require sales tax and license fees on billboards, have the organizations worried that the billboards they would like to see removed will be legalized.

Robert’s Rules of Disorder
Tensions boil over often as CHCA board majority takes flak for reform measures
by PETE MAZZACCARO

The monthly meeting of the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s board of director’s was nearly called off last Thursday after its members and a few visitors waited for more than 20 minutes outside of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Chestnut Hill Avenue as a thunder storm rolled in and threatened to send everyone home early. The group normally convenes in the Chestnut Hill Library, but the library was locked.