Bella Vista

A handwritten note hung on the door of the Bean Exchange Coffee House in Bella Vista yesterday, thanking customers for their support in the wake of a robbery and sexual assault that happened inside the café early yesterday morning. Shortly after the coffee shop, at Bainbridge and 7th streets, opened at 6 a.m., a robber - identified by police as Christopher Reeves, 32 - came in and announced he was robbing the café, authorities said. He took $173 from the register, police said, then forced a 29-year-old female employee into a bathroom and sexually assaulted her about 6:30 a.m. Police said the victim was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

'The chef really captures some umami in this soup," our server, Collin Darrell, enthused. He was describing the Soup Julienne, an exquisite golden consomme poured tableside at James onto a bundle of spring produce that had been meticulously slivered into matchsticks. Had Darrell been talking to us just a few blocks away in savvy Queen Village, nobody would have blinked at the mention of umami - the elusive fifth element of savory taste that many of the hippest fooderati can now readily identify.

A HOMELESS man arrested for the March 31 rape of an employee inside a Bella Vista coffee shop will plead guilty to the crime, his attorney said yesterday. Christopher Reeves, 32, was expected to plead yesterday, but his hearing was continued until Wednesday. He will then plead guilty to the rape and related offenses before Common Pleas Judge William Mazzola, defense attorney Mythri Jayaraman said. The plea is open rather than negotiated, meaning that the judge will decide the sentence.

They knew it might not be forever but, still, they planted trees. Graceful golden-rain trees with cascading yellow blossoms. Slate-barked rubbers, trident maples, flowering crab apples. Trees with the pluck to withstand city life and hard winters. The members of Bel Arbor, a group of South Philadelphia urban gardeners, knew they were planting on borrowed land and borrowed time. They hoped for the best. Who would have guessed they'd get it? "The exciting news," said Bel Arbor president Carla Puppin, "is the owner of the property, who is a New York developer, decided to donate it. " Bel Arbor was already three years into a five-year agreement allowing them to operate a tree farm on about one-third of an acre on the 1000 block of Kimball Street in Bella Vista.

BELLA VISTA is way over mob guys, red sauce and Sinatra. These days, the talk of the neighborhood around the 9th Street Italian Market is "location, location, location" as a real estate craze transforms rowhouses into gold mines. The old-timers are scratching their heads. "Three hundred thousand dollars for a townhouse? Hello? This is South Philly," said one. But the pleasures of visiting Bella Vista are still cheap: the market, the old Italian ways, the vibrant new Vietnamese and Mexican presence.

Sometime early yesterday morning, vandals knocked down a four-foot menorah in Bella Vista and stomped on it, an aggressive act that immediately prompted a South Philadelphia community group to construct a new menorah - one that glows brighter than the last one. "This act of hate will not be tolerated," said Vern Anastasio, director of the Bella Vista United Civic Association, the group that put up the menorah and a Christmas tree last week to...

Paul Giordano, co-owner of P&F Giordano produce store in the Italian Market, recalled yesterday how an arson fire in a trash bin lit the early morning sky on Ninth Street some weeks ago. "It was a big blaze, shooting up two, three stories," said Giordano. "Thank God the wind was blowing the flames into the street, away from the building. That whole block would have burned down. " And it wasn't just one fire that prompted Giordano and other Italian Market merchants, as well as police and fire officials, to suspect an arsonist.

Pleasant weather yesterday, after a wet Monday, drew people outdoors to soak up the sun. Here, Josh Vogel (right) and Missy Mehler practie martial arts in Cianfrani Park in the Bella Vista section.

A 20-year-old man was held for trial Tuesday in connection with an alleged "flash mob" attack in Bella Vista. A Common Pleas Court judge had dismissed charges against Jimmy McCaskill in June, saying a store's surveillance video wasn't conclusive evidence. But the District Attorney's Office refiled charges against McCaskill for his alleged part in the March 18 mayhem in the store at Eighth and Catharine Streets, and Common Pleas Court Judge Frank Palumbo cited the video in holding McCaskill for trial.

The witnesses described how the crime had shattered their shared belief in urban neighborliness and safety in South Philadelphia's Bella Vista section. On Friday, the man who admitted the crime that fractured Bella Vista was sentenced to 311/2 to 63 years in prison for the rape last March of a barista at a popular local coffee shop. Christopher Reeves, 33, a man whose lawyer said began a life of homelessness and chronic drug use at age 12, said nothing before he was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge William J. Mazzola.

Christopher Reeves, the homeless man who pleaded guilty in October to raping a woman inside the Bella Vista coffee shop where she worked, was sentenced Friday to 31 1/2 to 63 years in state prison. Reeves, 33, sat handcuffed for more than an hour listening to the victim's friends and representatives from the Bella Vista community tell Common Pleas Judge William J. Mazzola how the March 31, 2011, attack had impacted their lives. "It's a game changer for this community. It's a game changer for everyone who lives in this area," said Matthew Armstrong, owner of the Bean Exchange Coffeehouse, at 7th and Bainbridge streets, the scene of the early-morning attack.

Next step on fighting blight I applaud Mayor Nutter for taking a strong stance toward absentee landlords and for addressing the city's role as an owner of vacant properties ("City ramps up pressure on blighted properties," Friday). Not only do neglected properties lower property values for adjacent owners, they contribute to the negative perception of a neighborhood that can lead to disinvestment by business and discourage new economic development. Reducing the number of neglected properties can be a first step toward turning a neighborhood around.

A HOMELESS man arrested for the March 31 rape of an employee inside a Bella Vista coffee shop will plead guilty to the crime, his attorney said yesterday. Christopher Reeves, 32, was expected to plead yesterday, but his hearing was continued until Wednesday. He will then plead guilty to the rape and related offenses before Common Pleas Judge William Mazzola, defense attorney Mythri Jayaraman said. The plea is open rather than negotiated, meaning that the judge will decide the sentence.

A 20-year-old man was held for trial Tuesday in connection with an alleged "flash mob" attack in Bella Vista. A Common Pleas Court judge had dismissed charges against Jimmy McCaskill in June, saying a store's surveillance video wasn't conclusive evidence. But the District Attorney's Office refiled charges against McCaskill for his alleged part in the March 18 mayhem in the store at Eighth and Catharine Streets, and Common Pleas Court Judge Frank Palumbo cited the video in holding McCaskill for trial.

Montco Amateur At Blue Bell. Open Division Ben Feld, Blue Bell. . . 68-74–142 Dave Shields, Walnut Lane. . . 70-75–145 Keith Matt, Pinecrest. . . 72-76–148 Mike Carr, Plymouth. . . 74-74–148 Austin Galaska, Spring Ford. . . 78-72–150 Dave Searfass, Bella Vista. . . 76-74–150 Travis Gahman, unaffiliated. . . 75-76–151 Ryan Gelrod, Commonwealth. . . 73-79–152 Senior Division Rick Custer, Brookside.

A handwritten note hung on the door of the Bean Exchange Coffee House in Bella Vista yesterday, thanking customers for their support in the wake of a robbery and sexual assault that happened inside the café early yesterday morning. Shortly after the coffee shop, at Bainbridge and 7th streets, opened at 6 a.m., a robber - identified by police as Christopher Reeves, 32 - came in and announced he was robbing the café, authorities said. He took $173 from the register, police said, then forced a 29-year-old female employee into a bathroom and sexually assaulted her about 6:30 a.m. Police said the victim was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

JAMMIE CUFFIE was the kind of person who could light up a room, not only with his sparkling personality, but with his sartorial splendor as well. "A stunning dresser, he took pride in his appearance, always fashionably attired," said his older brother, Anthony F. Cuffie. "Rarely did he miss an opportunity to show off his latest outfit. " Clothes might make a man, as the saying goes, but there was much more to Jammie than a suit. He was, as his brother put it, "a bright star that shined brilliantly onto anyone he encountered.