September 27, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local News

Play Café would bring kid-friendly dining to Hill
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Chestnut Hill is not known for kid-friendly cafés and restaurants, but in a few years it might see the addition of a restaurant and café that redefines the term.

City, State plug school budget Jenks shouldn’t see any more program cuts
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

The school district budget woes seem to be over — at least for this school year.

On Sept. 11, Governor Ed Rendell and Mayor John Street announced that additional state and city funding is available to expand some student programs and eliminate the deficit that still hung over the school district’s head on the first day of school.

Man and mystery threaten Carpenter’s Woods
by JENNIFER KATZ

This red phase male screech owl was found several times on trees or in rotted logs in Carpenter’s Woods in April. The popular owl has been seen in the woods for many years. Last year, he and his gray phase mate raised a family in the owl box near the meadow. (Photo by Linda Goschke)

The future of Carpenter’s Woods as a nationally recognized bird sanctuary is in jeopardy because of ecological degradation, according to an Audubon biologist who led a Sept. 19 community meeting organized by the Friends of Carpenter Woods and West Mt. Airy Neighbors.

Keith Russell, a staff member of Audubon Pennsylvania who also is a volunteer with FOCW, told members of the organization that Carpenter’s Woods — like many other areas in the Fairmount Park system — was undergoing a drastic change in ecology that threatened to end the woods’ long run as one of the state’s most famous birding spots.

“The woods are famous,” he told the crowded meeting. “They get a huge convergence of birds — millions of birds every year.”

Carpenter’s Woods, which became part of the park system in the 1920s as a bird sanctuary, is one of only two places for birding in Pennsylvania that receive national recognition. One of the reasons for its popularity among the 250 species of birds that use the park to feed and fuel is the larger than average number of oak trees in the woods.

Dog shooting stuns Mt. Airy
by JENNIFER KATZ

Precious was shot and killed by a mugger last week.

Police are looking for two men who attacked a West Mt. Airy man on Thursday night and killed his dog. An attempted robbery went terribly wrong when Richie Feder was approached around 11 p.m. while walking his dog, Precious, at Wayne Avenue and Westview Street near his home.

“He pointed a gun at me and told me to empty my pockets,” Feder said.

Feder had begun to comply when his assailant whacked him with his gun breaking his nose and bruising his left eye. The suspect then rifled through Feder’s pockets and when he found nothing more than house keys, shot Precious and told Feder to “get moving.”

The Labrador-border collie mix was 12-years-old and weighed approximately 55 pounds. She had been with the Feder family, Richie his wife Linda and their two teenage children, for six years.

Purple is in for Hill’s fall fashion
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI

Matthew Izzo will bring his fashions to a Hill show Oct. 4.

It was only two weeks ago that the bright lights of the Casablanca-themed Black and White Gala went out, but in just one week glamour will return to the Avenue — this time, however, the theme will be purple, and the lights will be coming from Highland Avenue with the Matthew Izzo Fall Fashion show.

On the evening of Oct. 4, models will strut down a runway erected on Highland specifically for this show to help raise money for the Lutheran Settlement House in Germantown, which provides free services, such as counseling, legal advocacy and education and training, for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

The evening features the lines and fashions sold by Matthew Izzo in his namesake store in Center City and at his online store, www.matthewizzo.com. The Izzo enterprise, which Barry Eichner, general manager of 3000BC, referred to as a “lifestyle store,” combines beauty, clothes and interior home fashions under one roof.