Chestnut Hill Local

Temple to exit Sugarloaf Center

Citing recent trends and limited flexibility, the university will
return the 32-acre conference center to the Greenfield Foundation

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

Thirty-six years after it deeded the Sugarloaf Conference Center to Temple University, the Alfred M. Greenfield Foundation will reclaim ownership of the 32-acre estate early next year.

Bound by a limited-use clause in its agreement with the public trust, Temple announced its decision to return Sugarloaf on Dec. 14, saying "given the location, restrictions, and quality and quantity of our competitors in the conference business it was not cost effective for us to continue to operate Sugarloaf as a conference center."

According to Temple spokesman Mark Eyerly, the university found itself fighting the current business trend toward urban conferences and encumbered by the limited flexibility of the facility.

Once the home of Philadelphia real estate magnate Albert M. Greenfield and...

Money to fix Cresheim Valley Road has been sought on the state and federal level since the thoroughfare was closed to traffic in August, but at least one city councilman believes the funding solution is right under our nose.

Interest earned on a $30 million bond secured by a state agency on behalf of the city of Philadelphia in 1996 for "emergency capital needs" should be used to fix the road, Councilman-at-Large Frank Rizzo said last week.

"To me, an emergency is Cresheim Valley Drive," Rizzo told the Local on Friday. "This is very important to the people of the Northwest and the people outside of Philadelphia who depend on that roadway."

Of the original $30 million borrowed by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA), $14 million remains in unspent capital and $28 million is available from...

Despite rumor swell, police park unit will remain

A department official dismissed rank-and-file rumors about the closure of the 92nd District

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

When Mayor Street announced city layoffs in the name of balanced budgets late last month many wondered where and how deep the cuts would be, particularly since he said that both the police and firefighters' unions had been put on notice.

More than 100 pink slips were issued immediately with the promise of hundreds more in the coming months.

Though Street sought to assure citizens that the impending cuts would not compromise public safety, he said the reductions would result in fewer uniformed employees.

Street's last-resort "rightsizing" plan -- containing the first layoffs of city workers in more than two decades -- sent shockwaves through the Philadelphia Police Department, and in turn jumpstarted its rank-and-file rumor mill.

As talk of transfers and consolidation rounded the city, one rumor...

PBS documentary profiles FUMCOG

Academy Award-winning filmmakers' portrait of the First United Methodist Church of Germantown premieres next week

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

When Academy Award-winning filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond began profiling the First United Methodist Church of Germantown (FUMCOG) in May 2002 they found themselves in unfamiliar waters.

Renowned for uncompromising, pioneering documentaries like The Police Tapes -- an unflinching police chronicle that directly inspired the Hill Street Blues television series -- and Children in War -- an Emmy Award-winning look at the lives of children in war-torn countries -- the Raymonds approached the project with some skepticism.

"We had never done religion before," said Susan Raymond in a phone...

Noted in the Northwest

A brief look at news in Chestnut Hill and surrounding neighborhoods

Burglaries surge, extra holiday police guard Avenue

With Christmas days away, patrol details from the 14th District and the Highway Division have been assigned to police the Chestnut Hill business corridor along Germantown Avenue and the surrounding area, according to Capt. Winton Singletary, commanding officer of the 14th District.

Also, police are on the hunt for a suspect they believe to be responsible for at least two Chestnut Hill burglaries on Ardleigh Street. Earlier this month, another suspect was arrested in Cheltenham Township in conjunction with several recent bike thefts in the area, Singletary said.

According to statistics released by the Philadelphia Police Department last week, burglaries have surged throughout the 14th District, which encompasses Germantown, Mt. Airy, West Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill. The figures show a 45 percent jump from 55 burglaries -- reported between Oct. 15 and Nov. 11 -- to 80 -- reported between Nov. 12 and Dec. 9. The figures show burglaries are up 25 percent from this time last year (from 516 in 2003 to 646 in 2004). A Local review of the newspaper's crime reports revealed that Chestnut Hill saw 15 burglaries...

Archives | Subscribe | Classifieds | Advertising