Noted in the Northwest

A brief look at news in Chestnut Hill and surrounding neighborhoods

Neighborhoods network for reform

With a focus on election reform, a grassroots political organization founded in part by two Mt. Airy residents will hold its founding conference at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on June 4.

Neighborhood Networks — comprised of community activists, ward leaders and committeepeople, among others — plans to run issue campaigns, but more importantly hopes to change the dynamics of elections in the city, said Marc Stier, one of the group's leading founders.

Stier, whose term as president of West Mt. Airy Neighbors expires next month, helped build the organization with Stan Shapiro, another Mt. Airy resident.

The current ward-driven system, where endorsements are controlled by contributions from party-backed candidates, leaves little hope for insurgent political hopefuls with progressive agendas, he said.

"It's a sad process," Stier said. "If all the city's wards were run like the 9th Ward, there wouldn't be a need for this organization."

The group, which currently claims representatives from about a third of the city's 66 wards, hopes to give the entrenched Democratic machine some pause by recruiting and endorsing its own candidates.

"Four hundred motivated people can dramatically change the character of elections in Philadelphia," Stier said.

For more information visit: http://www.phillyneighborhoodnetworks.org/

—Michael J. Mishak

Area Memorial Day celebrations

Chestnut Hill and Wyndmoor will both host ceremonies to honor the nation's fallen on Memorial Day.

On the Hill, a 9 a.m. mass is scheduled at Our Mother of Consolation church, 9 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. Later, members of VFW Post 5205 will visit three local war memorials, beginning with Buckley Park, located at Hartwell Lane and Germantown Avenue, at 11 a.m. The group then moves to the World War II memorial near the Water Tower Recreation Center on Ardleigh Street, and concludes with a visit to another memorial at Germantown Avenue and Mermaid Lane. A wreath is placed at each location.

Across the county line, Wyndmoor will kick off its 86th annual Memorial Day parade at 9:30 a.m. The route begins at Willow Grove and Southampton avenues.