City Limits

The tiny borough of Pitman in Gloucester County is known for its peaceful, old-fashioned way of life. The school system is ranked as one of the best in New Jersey; its children are considered models of good behavior, with SAT scores substantially above the state average. In Pitman's quaint town center is an old stone bank with outdoor benches where for generations the townsfolk have stopped to chat. But in recent years, something else has been happening near the benches and the bank's clock.

Philly is just fine for a day trip, but not necessarily as a place to live, according to a new poll of area suburbanites. The survey of 801 residents from the seven counties surrounding the city limits was conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust's Philadelphia Research Initiative. According to the poll, 81 percent said that the city was a great place to visit for a variety of cultural or sporting events. "People love it as a place to visit, there's no question about that," said Larry Eichel, project director of the Philadelphia Research Initiative.

BATTLING THE ELEMENTS outside the Huntingdon Valley firehouse helped give this 57-ton National Guard tank that abandoned look. The tank was left there after it took part in the Lower Moreland Fourth of July parade. On Tuesday it was driven back to the city limits where Philadelphia police escorted it back to the armory on Ogontz Avenue.

Two former Coatesville City Council members, a business group, and a firefighters union filed suit yesterday to invalidate three city charter amendments that voters approved last fall to stop the condemnation of land outside the city limits. The lawsuit filed in Chester County Court contends that the amendments - designed to prevent the city from building a public golf course on acreage owned by Dick and Nancy Saha in neighboring Valley Township - are vague, overreaching and unconstitutional.

It's not quite up there with Jim Morrison's eternal resting place in Paris. No one leaves panties. But Frank L. Rizzo's gravesite, in Cheltenham's Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, still attracts anonymous payers of respect to the former mayor, who passed away in 1991. Rizzo's son, Councilman Frank Rizzo, drops by regularly, detouring for 10 or 20 minutes of quiet meditation when he's up that way on city business. He's often touched to find personal mementos that the Big Bambino's admirers have left behind.

A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation offer to give Coatesville 1.2 miles of state roads has received a lukewarm response from the City Council. Some council members said they feared the extra mileage would result in hiring more road crew members to plow snow and would mean spending more on salt and cinders. "Today it may look good," said Councilman Mark Milanese, "but we all know that these streets have been extreme maintenance problems over the years. " He said the deal would be "penny-wise and dollar-foolish, because eventually we're going to have to reconstruct those streets.

NEW YORK - New York's mayor served notice Friday that his police department would do everything in its power to root out terrorists in the United States, even if that means sending officers outside the city limits or placing law-abiding Muslims under scrutiny. "We just cannot let our guard down again," Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned. He laid out his doctrine for keeping the city safe during his weekly radio show after a week of criticism of a secret New York Police Department effort to monitor mosques in several cities and keep files on Muslim student groups at colleges in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Upstate New York.

After enduring a nearly dry funk inside the city limits, the microbrewery trend has suddenly bubbled back into Philadelphia with revitalized fizz. The Princeton-based Triumph Brewing Co. was the first of two to open this year (West Philly's Dock Street is the most recent), and its handsome industrial-chic space in Old City is completely redolent of the sweet, malty aroma of brewing beer. The brews aren't just fresh, they're extremely well made by brewer Patrick Jones, who delivers balanced and expressive renditions of both brewhouse standards (hoppy IPA, creamy stout, and a likable amber ale)

IN THE PAST, I've been a bit critical of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth. So, in a positive vein, here are a few solutions to the problems that the city and region have: 1. Philadelphia, her suburbs and regional communities have to come together for common causes like shared low taxes, a unified school district like L.A.'s, expanded city limits (in eastern Delaware County, lower Montgomery County, southern Bucks County). 2. Lower the fares and cut administrative jobs or pay at SEPTA.

As a Philadelphian, I feel the legislature did us a great favor by denying again a measure to implement construction of a new convention center. Except for a few self-interest groups, this project has never generated broad-based support in our community, but the field is now open for private developers with private capital to move ahead in the Market Street East area. I also feel the following actions are imperative at this time in order to restore Philadelphia's reputation as a convention city: Dress up the Civic Center and its staff.

NEW YORK - New York's mayor served notice Friday that his police department would do everything in its power to root out terrorists in the United States, even if that means sending officers outside the city limits or placing law-abiding Muslims under scrutiny. "We just cannot let our guard down again," Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned. He laid out his doctrine for keeping the city safe during his weekly radio show after a week of criticism of a secret New York Police Department effort to monitor mosques in several cities and keep files on Muslim student groups at colleges in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Upstate New York.

Days later, some people are still trying to make sense of it. Cliff Lee is back in Philly. It wasn't some form of cruel, Bud Selig- imposed punishment. Lee chose this course and seemed happy to do so. That remains a tough thing for out-of-towners and the national media to accept. To hear outsiders tell it, this isn't a place anyone should choose over New York (or any other place, for that matter), and certainly not for less money. It's a city you're supposed to run away from, not toward.

Philly is just fine for a day trip, but not necessarily as a place to live, according to a new poll of area suburbanites. The survey of 801 residents from the seven counties surrounding the city limits was conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust's Philadelphia Research Initiative. According to the poll, 81 percent said that the city was a great place to visit for a variety of cultural or sporting events. "People love it as a place to visit, there's no question about that," said Larry Eichel, project director of the Philadelphia Research Initiative.

MAYOR Nutter's recent op-ed piece, "Philly's Science Boost," rightfully takes great pride in the achievements of Philadelphia's research community. But it also inadvertently reveals a missing element in the city's economic-development strategy. The fact is, research activity is responsible for hiring relatively few people, and most of those are at the highest level of academic accomplishment. It matters little to most Philadelphians whether a product is discovered here or not, eventually they will have the benefits of it, whatever it is. On the other hand, if a product discovered here is also manufactured here, that could matter a great deal to Philadelphians.

MAYOR Nutter's proposed $300 annual trash fee has a lot of Philadelphians so hot they're thinking of heading outside the city limits to soothe themselves with an untaxed ice- cold Coke. So here's a Top 10 list of taxes I think we'd have no problem collecting - and getting Philadelphians to support. 1. Sprinkle Tax: They're jimmies - not sprinkles! How about a $1 fine added to the cost of your ice cream cone if you say you want "sprinkles" instead of "jimmies"? ("Sprinkles" is the incontinent clown you'll never hire again for little Johnnie's birthday.

The scope of Coatesville's arson plague is greater by one-third than previously thought. The city announced yesterday that 26 fires were set last year in the onetime steel town - not the 15 that officials had been reporting. Added to the 18 arsons reported in the Chester County city this year, the total comes to 44. City spokeswoman Kristin Geiger the error in the 2008 number was due to different reporting mechanisms for county, city, and state agencies. The revised number was issued in response to repeated requests from The Inquirer for 2008 data.

RE THE letter "The Man Behind the Caricature," from the writer in the building trades: You say you're not looking for a pat on the back, but you sure do attempt to get that for all of your services to the city. You come off sounding regretful and defensive for your move out of our great city. You make the city sound like a war-torn desolate burg from some futuristic sci-fi movie. The streets should be littered with trash, gangs running through and killing people with no rhyme or reason, with the police unable or unwilling to prevent it. What you wrote was a great piece of fiction that ranks up there with "Children of Men" or "Escape from New York," but unfortunately it isn't what Philadelphia has or will become.

It's not quite up there with Jim Morrison's eternal resting place in Paris. No one leaves panties. But Frank L. Rizzo's gravesite, in Cheltenham's Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, still attracts anonymous payers of respect to the former mayor, who passed away in 1991. Rizzo's son, Councilman Frank Rizzo, drops by regularly, detouring for 10 or 20 minutes of quiet meditation when he's up that way on city business. He's often touched to find personal mementos that the Big Bambino's admirers have left behind.

After enduring a nearly dry funk inside the city limits, the microbrewery trend has suddenly bubbled back into Philadelphia with revitalized fizz. The Princeton-based Triumph Brewing Co. was the first of two to open this year (West Philly's Dock Street is the most recent), and its handsome industrial-chic space in Old City is completely redolent of the sweet, malty aroma of brewing beer. The brews aren't just fresh, they're extremely well made by brewer Patrick Jones, who delivers balanced and expressive renditions of both brewhouse standards (hoppy IPA, creamy stout, and a likable amber ale)