Community

Do sick people have a right to be treated in their own community? Do residents have a right to say who gets care nearby? The questions have a familiar ring in Northeast Philadelphia, where residents have repeatedly opposed new methadone maintenance clinics, forcing hundreds of their neighbors to travel across the city for care. A new chapter in the debate will open Wednesday, when State Rep. Kevin J. Boyle (D., Phila.) holds a hearing in Mayfair on a bill that would give communities more power over the approval process.

WHEN ERV Wilson heard the three shots shatter the silence of the early hours of March 6 in the Abbotsford Homes, he had no idea that the bullets had fatally struck a man he knew for almost three decades. "It's sad. When I came across the street and saw him laying there, I didn't know it was him," Wilson, 52, said, motioning toward the spot where someone gunned down Christopher Curry, 41 - a man Wilson had known since childhood - last week in the East Falls housing complex. "The way it went down, it's terrible," said Wilson.

IHAPPEN to know Joseph Ligambi (whom the media likes to refer to as "a/k/a Uncle Joe," even though anyone who truly knows him doesn't call him that). He is just like any other father or grandfather in our neighborhood - he's an actual person, not a movie character. For the judge to deny him bail and say he's "a danger to the community" - which community would that be? (Would he like to go north and west of City Hall, then head south and tell us which one is most dangerous?) To characterize a man based on what people see in movies and on TV is unconstitutional and derogatory to his family and nationality.

TO CHRIS Vicente: I am one of the idiots, as described in your letter, who is opposed to the voter ID bill. You should change your mind and join in opposing the bill because it undermines our sense of trust and community. When registered voters complete their ballot, they are fulfilling their communal obligation to participate directly in the process of government. When they sign their name in the voter registry, they are affirming that they are exercising their rights as a community member and stepping up to the responsibilities that are entrusted to them as such.

Salvatore J. "Sonny" Barbuto, 71, a community labor leader in the region for four decades, died Thursday, Dec. 13, of a pulmonary embolism at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A longtime South Philadelphia resident and a graduate of Bishop Neumann High School, Mr. Barbuto obtained his bachelor's degree in journalism from Temple University. Mr. Barbuto began his career in 1959 as an administrator for the Retail Clerks Union Local 1360 in South Jersey. He was hired in 1964 by a sister local, Retail Clerks Union 1357, AFL-CIO, in Philadelphia, as executive assistant to the president; the bargaining unit is now the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1776.

SHE CALLED THEM "gifts of love. " Mary Earline Davis delighted in making small craft items, such as a cross, a bank, a calendar or a poem of encouraging words, that she would place in baskets for distribution to family, friends and church members. That was the kind of woman Earline was: always considerate, always loving and willing to lend a hand and always inspiring others. "Her main mission was to care for her family," said her granddaughter, Monika Davis. "My grandmother was very giving and willing to help her friends, family and neighbors whenever they were in need.

In a continuing outreach effort, the Delaware County Council will head for Marple Township to hold its next evening meeting, at 6 on March 27 at the municipal building, 227 S. Sproul Rd., Broomall. It will be a regular business meeting, but the council will also invite residents to give input during the public comment period. "It is our hope that these evening meetings will encourage our residents to become more involved with local government and in turn help us to communicate more directly with our residents," said Thomas McGarrigle, council chairman.

NOT IN MY back yard. That sentiment is felt by some folks who live in the brick rowhouses across Haverford Avenue from Philadelphia's brand new, $110 million youth-detention center. The city didn't fully consult with them before deciding to build in the Mill Creek community, some say, and now there is uncertainty over how property values, taxes and traffic will be impacted. Some residents are working with the city to make the best of the situation. City bigwigs cut the ribbon for the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center two weeks ago. The first teenage defendants are expected to move in from the old Youth Study Center in January.

FOR ALMOST five years, Algernong Allen III worked hard to transform Elena's Soul Lounge into a place that embraced the changing Cedar Park community in West Philadelphia. The diversity was clear in the eclectic mix of artists who performed at the Baltimore Avenue club, ranging from jazz to punk rock to hip-hop. The community has returned that support in the weeks since a fire ripped through the three-story building on Christmas Eve, destroying the business. Neighbors and friends have posted supportive messages on the bar's Facebook page and community message boards.

With only a high school diploma and no formal business training, Ray Murphy, after a lot of turndowns from loan officers, managed to borrow $100,000 in 1972 to buy the already well-known Tommy's Men's Shop in North Philadelphia. Forty years later, that storefront is a neighborhood landmark. Loyal customers credit Murphy as the reason the shop has been successful enough to celebrate its 40th year at 2917 N. 22d St. But to Murphy, the longevity of his store is a testament to the surrounding area, not his business savvy.

The St. Joseph's Prep flag on the pole outside the Robert Gillin Boathouse hung at half-staff on Friday. It fluttered in the breeze like a red-and-white reminder of life's fragility. Two days earlier, the Hawks marked another death in another way, as an armada of 11 boats slowly made its way through the water in front of the family of Henry A. Backe, 82, who was buried that afternoon. "We held our poise," said St. Joseph's Prep senior captain John Gaul, who like his crew classmates served as a pallbearer at Backe's funeral.

THE JOHN S. and James L. Knight Foundation has awarded a total of $200,000 for community projects to 20 members of the Philadelphia chapter of Black Male Engagement (BMe). BMe was launched in Philly and Detroit in 2011, with the goal of creating a network of black men who do positive work in their communities. Another chapter later was added in Baltimore. Each of the 20 Philly members who will receive the funding won a BMe leadership award. A full list of the recipients - who range from a school principal to a college student - and the good work they plan to do with the money can be found at bmecommunity.org.

Hospitals and health systems in Southeastern Pennsylvania provided $1.8 billion in community benefit in 2011, according to a report released Tuesday by the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council. Less than 10 percent of that, or $146 million, was from charity care at nonprofit hospitals in the DVHC analysis, which was based on data in tax forms for the year ended June 30, 2011, for most hospitals. In aggregate, the cost of charity care accounted for less than 1 percent of expenses at 26 hospitals and health systems in Philadelphia and Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, according to an Inquirer analysis.

For jewelry artisan Sarah Lewis, this month is a time for celebration. Celebration, yes. Easy breathing, no. She opened her boutique in Fishtown, Philadelphia's latest neighborhood-on-a-comeback, on May 6, 2011. Experts say five years in business is needed before survival can be declared for small start-ups. Lewis's smile gave way to a slightly pained expression when she was asked last week about her total investment to bring Adorn Boutique to life at 1314 Frankford Ave. There's a mortgage, and the cost of transforming the former welding shop into an inviting retail outpost.

The entertainment at the first reunion, back when Beatlemania was peaking, consisted of a hi-fi and a stack of 45 r.p.m. records. The draw for the next is strictly the people - their ranks halved by time and sickness. The 1951 eighth-grade class of St. Athanasius Elementary School, a place then and now a West Oak Lane institution, held its 62d reunion at a Bucks County country club Sunday. It's a celebration of an educational milestone but also of a particular place and time.

HELEN DIVERS fed Mayor Nutter some sumptuous fare over the last few years - macaroni and cheese, chicken wings, meatballs and beans. Of course, the mayor had to share the feast with neighbors who crowded into Helen Divers' compact rowhouse in Southwest Philadelphia on at least two occasions to talk about city finances. Why Helen Divers' house? Because Helen Divers was one of the most active, community-minded, dedicated, passionate civic leaders the city has known. She's done everything in the neighborhood "but plow the back 40," as Inquirer writer Annette John-Hall put it in a report of one of those meetings in 2009.

Forty-nine years ago, Conshohocken leaders began crafting a comprehensive plan to transform the grimy old mill town into a modern, livable municipality, albeit a small one. At just over one square mile, Conshohocken is shoehorned into a bend of the Schuylkill River, but is within earshot of I-476 and the Schuylkill Expressway, two of the region's major arteries. It took several decades, but between the vision of past leaders and the impact of that pair of highways, Conshohocken has become one of the region's hottest neighborhoods, with sleek condo towers, destination restaurants and corporate headquarters along the waterfront, and a locally owned, family-friendly strip of restaurants, bars, and stores along Fayette Street.

Members of the board of trustees at Arcadia University were no fans of Carl "Tobey" Oxholm III, whom they fired as president last month, but the Cheltenham Township commissioners appear to feel very differently. The commissioners Wednesday honored Oxholm for "his leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and commitment to improving the quality of life in the region" and his efforts in forging partnerships with the township, home to Arcadia's 55-acre campus in Glenside. "He's done a fantastic job of reaching out to the Cheltenham and Glenside community.