HEC's regular zoning meeting will be held this
Tuesday August 25th at the
Hawthorne Rec Center 1200 Carpenter
Street

To allow for more
presentation and discussion
time we are starting the meeting earlier than
normal

THE
MEETING WILL START AT 7PM SHARP

Two
cases: 

1241 Christian Street - proposal to
create multi-tenant
apartment builidng (4 to 5 apartments)

1100 Fitzwater (old
Bella Vista Beer Distributor) - request for
ammendment to original
agreement regarding eatery with beer service, to
allow expanded food
options and entertainment options. 

Please forward this
message to other local residents with interest in
these cases.

           MAYOR'S  OFFICE  OF  COMMUNICATIONS



                         Thursday, August 13, 2009
                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

            CITY OF PHILADELPHIA LAUNCHES CARBON OFFSET WEBSITE

     Erase Your Trace allows people to calculate emissions and make a
                        contribution to plant trees


PHILADELPHIA, August 13, 2009 — Mayor Michael A. Nutter today announced the
newest component of the City of Philadelphia’s effort to become the number
one green city in the United States: a local carbon offset market that will
raise money for tree planting in Philadelphia.  Erase Your Trace - an
online tool - will help Philadelphians calculate their annual carbon
dioxide emissions and then help offset them through local tree planting
efforts.

“This is an easy way for Philadelphians to better understand their personal
impact on the environment and take action to help reduce it,” said Mayor
Nutter.  “I encourage everyone to use Erase Your Trace, find out about
their carbon emissions, and make a contribution towards making Philadelphia
a greener city.”

This new tool - Erase Your Trace - will allow individuals to determine
their emissions from daily routines like driving a car, heating a home or
taking plane trips; learn tips on how to lower their carbon dioxide output;
and offset their emissions by donating money to the Fairmount Park
Conservancy. Fairmount Park Conservancy, a local nonprofit organization
that raises funds for and awareness of the city’s Fairmount Park system,
will, in turn, donate the funds raised to plant trees in Philadelphia’s
neighborhoods.  Local companies can also use the program to determine how
much carbon their business activities produce annually.

“Erase Your Trace is a win-win-win for Philadelphians, our environment, and
our climate, and an important step towards achieving our Greenworks
Philadelphia goals,” said Katherine Gajewski, Director of Sustainability
for the City of Philadelphia.

The project uses the CarbonPlus Calculator, developed by the U.S. Forest
Service, to quantify and monetize carbon output (the Calculator prices
carbon at $20 per ton, which is the price currently being used by the Obama
Administration).  Trees help reduce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that
has been linked to global warming.  Philadelphia’s 2.1 million trees
sequester 16,100 tons of carbon per year. The "plus" is that the tree
planting activities funded through Erase Your Trace will help offset carbon
emissions “plus” reduce other pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur
dioxide, ozone and particulate matter.  Philadelphia’s trees also reduce
urban heat island effect, decrease stormwater runoff, and increase property
values.   Three organizations worked with the Forest Service to bring this
technology to Philadelphia—the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Fairmount
Park Conservancy and the Department of Parks and Recreation—and it is an
initiative of Greenworks Philadelphia.

“The Erase Your Trace program is an important and exciting way for
individuals and businesses to help Philadelphia increase its tree cover,
which is so critical to people's quality of life and the city's
livability," said Michael T. Rains, director of the USDA Forest Service's
Northern Research Station, which is headquartered in Newtown Square, PA.
"I'm very pleased the Northern Research Station could help our hometown
create the Erase Your Trace web site, which will increase Philadelphians'
awareness of how they can personally reduce carbon emissions.”

The average Philadelphian produces 10.2 tons of carbon dioxide annually,
“costing” the environment approximately $200 each year.  Users of Erase
Your Trace can decide whether to donate the full cost of their annual
carbon emissions or only a portion to Fairmount Park Conservancy.  They can
also choose to only offset specific activities such as vehicle use or
airplane travel.  The on-line tool is flexible and fun.

“We welcome the announcement of Erase Your Trace as it will provide
resources to help the Department of Parks and Recreation work towards Mayor
Nutter's goal of planting 300,000 new trees by 2015,” noted Fairmount Park
Executive Director Mark Focht.

“Erase Your Trace is a unique opportunity for individuals and corporations
to offset their carbon footprint by giving to innovative local efforts and
investing in the environment and future of our great city,” said Katrina L.
Wilhelm, Executive Director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy.  “We are
excited to be a partner in this important initiative.”

Further details on Erase Your Trace can be found at www.eraseyourtrace.org.
Further details on Greenworks Philadelphia, Philadelphia's sustainability
framework, can be found at www.greenworksphila.org.



Luke Butler
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of Mayor Nutter
Cell: 267 438 7119
Office: 215 686 6210

Conference Call With Congresswoman Allyson Y. Schwartz** 
Wednesday, August 26th 5-5:30 PM. RSVP to Antoinette at akraus@philaup.org
We hope you can join us for a town hall forum via conference call with Congresswoman
Allyson Schwartz.  Schwartz has utilized her position on the powerful Ways and Means
committee to serve as a true champion of health care reform.

On the forefront of the health care debate she is committed to promoting a solid
understanding of what health care reform means for Pennsylvanians and the country.

This call is an excellent opportunity for all of us to get a clear understanding
about H.R 3200.  There will also be an opportunity to ask questions.

Wednesday, August 26th 5 PM.  Space is Limited.  For instructions on how to join the
call RSVP with your full name to Antoinette at akraus@philaup.org by August 25th 12
Noon.

     ** U.S. Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz is serving in her third term
representing Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District. The 13th district
includes both the close-knit neighborhoods of Northeast Philadelphia, as well
as the first ring suburbs of Montgomery County. During her more than two
decades as a health care executive and legislator, Schwartz has developed a
well-earned national reputation as one of America's leading health care policy
experts. Schwartz is viewed as one of the leaders in Congress on health IT,
particularly on e-prescribing. Schwartz helped found, and currently co-chairs,
the New Democrat Coalition Healthcare Taskforce, a Congressional healthcare
initiative aimed at dramatically improving Americans access to quality,
affordable health insurance through prevention, innovation and competition. As
a Pennsylvania state Senator, Schwartz spearheaded Pennsylvania's  legislative
efforts to provide health care coverage to the children of working and
middle-class families. Her leadership led to the creation of the Pennsylvania
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1992, which served as the model
for the federal initiative that now provides health insurance to millions of
American children. In Congress, Schwartz serves on the powerful Committee on
Ways and Means, which has jurisdiction over tax, trade and revenue raising
measures, as well as Medicare and Social Security.

http://www.muralarts.org/

Dear Friends,

Thanks to your belief in our work, the Mural Arts Program has
remained strong through the economic downturn. But today we face
a serious new challenge—the budget deadlock in Harrisburg.

Because the City of Philadelphia is not receiving state funds, it
has halted payments to all of its social service providers,
including the Mural Arts Program. Without anticipated funds from
the city, the Mural Arts Program is grappling with an
unprecedented cash-flow problem, hindering our ability to
provide arts programming to Philadelphia communities. This
includes art education for at-risk youth, neighborhood
revitalization initiatives, re-entry programs for former prison
inmates, and much more.

[http://www.muralarts.org/support] Already we are deferring or
canceling the bulk of our projects, canceling many events,
closing our office on Fridays and reducing all staff salaries by
20%. We will also indefinitely postpone the start of most of our
free, after-school art education programs, since due to this
crisis, we are unable to open all of the sites on time. These
programs serve 2,000 at-risk youth at more than 50 neighborhood
locations.

I firmly believe this is a temporary setback. The Mural Arts
Program is a tenacious organization; we've been around for 25
years, and we're determined to last 25 more. But it is
impossible to know when the legislative stalemate will end or
what the new city and state budgets will mean for the arts in
Philadelphia.

Your support can help us get through this difficult time.

Please consider visiting  [http://www.muralarts.org/support] to
make a donation to the Mural Arts Program today. Your gift will
help ensure that we can re-open our art education programs,
continue our support of neighborhood revitalization, and serve
to catalyze social progress through the creation of incredible
public art. So much is at stake, and we are grateful for any
help you can provide.

In the meantime, the Mural Arts Program is doing its part to cut
costs and stretch every dollar. Our long-term financial
prospects are sound, assuming we weather this crisis. And with
your support, I believe that we can.

Thank you,

Jane Golden

Executive Director