Dr. Alan Steinbach, Northeastern Hospital's Director of ICU describes the need Northeastern serves in the community and asks people to contact Ann Weaver Hart of Temple as well as elected officials to ask them how the need will be accounted for in the city if the hospital closes. Click here for "Who to Call" info . Also, check out Media Mobilizing's report on the Rally to Save Northeastern.
Every spring, horseshoe crabs converge along Delaware Bay beaches in the dark of night to spawn, timed with the arrival of migrating shorebirds who rely on crab eggs to refuel during their journey to their breeding grounds.
If you'd like to observe the crab mating rituals by moonlight, help monitor their numbers, and overturn stranded crabs that need a helping hand, join Delaware Riverkeeper Network on the evenings of May 22nd and June 5th at South Bowers Beach, DE. Delaware Riverkeeper Network takes part annually in the censusof crabs to help collect important data used to advocate for better protection of these amazing critters, so crucially important to the health of our Bay.
Almost 100 supporters of Northeastern Hospital, including community members, employees, Temple students, and Senator Larry Farnese energetically picketed Temple's "Acres of Diamonds" fundraising gala at the Union League Saturday evening. The formally dressed attendees paid at least $500 for dinner to hear Ann Weaver Hart, president of Temple talk about their prestigious organ transplant program.
On the way in however, they were greeted with chants of "Ann Hart, have a heart, save our Hospital" and picket signs asking what will happen to the 50,00 ER visits and 1800 deliveries annually at the Hospital.
As Temple proceeds with plans to close the Hospital, the most important call supporters of the Hospital can make is to Congressman Bob Brady, whose district includes the Hospital. Tell Mr. Brady the most important project he can work on to help ease the economic crisis and protect the health of his district residents is to keep the Hospital open! If Temple is not blocked from proceeding with plans to shut down services within two weeks, the physicians, nurses and other critical staff needed to keep the Hospital functioning will have left for other jobs, making it extremely difficult to renew services.
Mr Brady can be reached at: 215-389-4627 Fax 2115-389-4636at his District Office or 202-225-4731 Fax 202-225-0088.
Thursday, March 12th, 6:30PM, at Arch Street Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad, 19107
to find ways to save Philadelphia City Services.
Sharon Ward, Director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, will speak about the state and city budgets and where tax revenues currently come from. She will discuss specific solutions for increasing revenues. Time will be allotted after the presentation for attendees to form into smaller groups by Council districts to organize for a grassroots initiative to fully fund essential services and to promote a fair system of taxation.
There has been a lot of talk about cutting services, by closing library branches and pools for instance, or raising additional revenues with new city fees, such as a fee on garbage collection.The Coalition for Essential Services contends that "Essential Services are Essential". In the community budget meetings conducted by University of Pennsylvania, many creative solutions were offered to provide complete funding for city services, and surprisingly, citizens often said they would prefer to pay more in taxes, rather than see services cut even closer to the bone than they already are.
The Coalition for Essential Services includes Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks, Coalition to Save the Libraries, AFSCME District Councils 47 and 33, One Philadelphia, SEIU- Local 32BJ, Vote for Homes! Coalition, Media Mobilizing Project, Philadelphia NOW, Asian Americans United, Fire Fighters Union Local 22, Lutheran Settlement house, Philadelphia Student Union, ACORN, Kingsessing 5th Div. Community of Neighbors, Casino-Free Philadelphia, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Philadelphia Legal Services Union, Tenant Union Representative Network, Public Citizens for Children and Youth, Support Center for Prison Advocacy, Community Advisory Boards for Health Center 3 and Health Center 4, Jobs with Justice, Coalition Against Hunger, Health Care for American NOW, Penn Action, Green Party of Philadelphia, The Northwest Fund, Philadelphia Unemployment Project, Southwest Action Coalition, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Act-Up Philadelphia.
Community Design Collaborative hosts publication launch party on Wednesday, February 25, unveiling the results of an initiative created to revitalize older, urban neighborhoods through innovative design solutions.
Infill Philadelphia: Food Access, an initiative of the Community Design Collaborative in partnership with The Reinvestment Fund and The Food Trust, has just completed a highly-collaborative effort exploring how innovative design can improve access to fresh, healthy food in urban neighborhoods. The results—three conceptual designs for food markets in Philadelphia and Chester—will be featured in an upcoming publication and exhibition.
Infill Philadelphia: Food Access will officially wrap up with a publication launch party on Wednesday, February 25, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Center for Architecture, 1216 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. The conceptual designs created through Infill Philadelphia: Food Access will be exhibited at the Center for Architecture, February 13, 2009 through March 27, from 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
The designs reflect different approaches to using infill development to address food access and include: a satellite co-op for Weavers Way in a storefront building in West Oak Lane; the adaptive reuse of a former warehouse in downtown Chester, PA.; and a supermarket on a complex urban site on Girard Avenue.
Food access has a huge impact on a community's health and well-being. It is estimated that low-income neighborhoods have 30% fewer grocery stores per capita than higher income neighborhoods. Living in one of our nation's "food deserts" can mean an unreliable and limited diet, high food prices, soaring diabetes rates, and childhood obesity.
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