City Paper

A few weeks back, we started running ads announcing a Daily News "town meeting" at the Mummers Museum in South Philadephia. It wasn't long before we had a hint of how intense the discussion might be. That was when people called the paper to ask where they would be able to park. Their buses. We had held three earlier meetings of this sort, in the Northeast, West Philadelphia and Germantown. The purpose is simple - to try to get editors and reporters out of the tower on North Broad Street and closer to real life.

Unless you live in a galaxy far, far away, you know that kids in Power Rangers costumes aren't the only things that go bump in the night on All Hallows Eve. Being fully aware that grown-ups need a place to get their ghostly groove on, we dug up information on events designed to have you baying at the moon. The Philadelphia Orchestra enters an alternate dimension when it presents its second annual Halloween Concert at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust streets, at 7 tonight.

The Philadelity philosophy is built upon a simple belief. "If you ask people what kind of music they like," says Bryan Dilworth, "they say, 'All kinds.' " Along with File 13 Records honcho Matt Werth, Dilworth is the principal organizer of Philadelity, the mostly local music festival whose second edition will take place at clubs around town starting Wednesday. Dilworth, the band-booker responsible for placing acts in the Khyber, Theatre of Living Arts, the Five Spot, and the swank Mount Airy club North by Northwest, among other venues, got the idea a couple of years back for an event that would reach across the Philadelphia rock, neo-soul and DJ scenes.

A former reporter for The Inquirer has settled a lawsuit in which he claimed he was defamed by the newspaper's top editor. Ralph Cipriano, a former religion writer, and Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., publisher of The Inquirer, issued a joint announcement yesterday saying Cipriano's litigation against the newspaper had ended. The terms of the settlement, including any financial details, were not made public. A confidentiality provision was made part of the agreement. Cipriano, 46, and Inquirer editor Robert J. Rosenthal both said they were pleased that the lawsuit had been resolved.

Leslie Florio, 27, a free-lance newspaper reporter who was remembered for bringing a special passion and sensitivity to stories about social justice, died Saturday at Riddle Memorial Hospital after a short illness. A resident of Media for several months, she had previously lived in Germantown and West Philadelphia. During several years as a journalist in the Philadelphia area, Ms. Florio wrote more than 120 bylined stories for the Inquirer's Delaware County Neighbors section, covering everything from high school sports and local government to peace marches and political refugees.

Would you let someone sleep with your spouse or partner for a million clams? With today's opening of the movie "Indecent Proposal," film goers no doubt will have ask themselves that question as they watch Robert Redford solicit sex - but in a very tasteful manner, we're assured - from Demi Moore, who's plays a real-estate broker married to Woody Harrelson's open-minded architect. Ever impatient, we couldn't wait for audiences to react to the flick. So we posed the question to assorted Philadelphians to find out if they would accept such an offer.

Electro-folk collective the Wayward Wind, which scored Headlong Dance Theater's "Hotel Pool" at last year's Live Arts Festival, is throwing a record release party for "Wait For Green. " Joining the band are She-Haw's Amy Pickard, the Twin Atlas and Ultramush (9:30 tonight, Indre Studios, 1418 S. Darien St., 215-463-3000, $10 includes CD, www.schwa-disk.com). The unique styles of DiPinto Guitars have fans in David Bowie, Rick Nielsen, Dick Dale and Jack White. The husband-and-wife-owned shop reopens in its new Fishtown location with festivities from local endorsees Ken, the Jukebox Zeros, Jamaldeen Tacuma, the Sparklers and others (3 to 7 p.m. tomorrow, 407-409 Girard Ave., 215-427-7805, free, www.dipintoguitars.

Byko's Birthday Book TODAY: Chairwoman of the City Commission Marge Tartaglione registers 64; songbird Elisa Fiorillo warbles 28; Flyers captain Eric Lindros scores 24. TOMORROW: City Paper news editor Howard Altman is logical at 37. SUNDAY: Temple U's Miss America Suzette Charles reigns 34. If Jewel had it to do all over again, maybe she'd wear underwear. You remember Jewel, the lovely young nominee for best new artist at Wednesday night's Grammy Award festivities.

Did Philadelphia seem back on track this week? Did the tap water taste better and the brotherly love seem brotherlier? Then it must have been because City Councilwoman Marian Tasco at long last emerged from retirement, mercifully ending the chaos that had set in while we were deprived of her leadership. Before Tasco returned to her position high atop the payroll, the city had endured some bleak, dystopian days - two of them, to be precise. But now our short municipal nightmare is over.

It's good to see Mayor Nutter move to end the DROP program. Too bad it took a decade and yet another study, this one costing $80,000, to determine the city can't afford this pension perk. City Council should follow the mayor's lead and approve his legislation to end the so-called Deferred Retirement Option Plan. Any measure that is passed, though, will likely grandfather in the six Council members signed up to receive DROP payments next year ranging from $200,000 to almost $600,000.