Fairmount Park

There's hardly a person in Philadelphia and the region who hasn't used Fairmount Park. This is a critical time for the system, as the city it undertakes a strategic plan. To help spur dialogue, we're offering two invitations to you, the readers: Tell us about some special Fairmount Park moment or memory for you or your family. Or tell us what you think are the most important improvements or changes that the Fairmount Park system should make. You can answer either question, or both.

Police are investigating an early morning robbery and stabbing in the city's Fairmount Park section, just blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A 32-year-old man who lives in the area was walking in the 2700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue at about 4:35 a.m. when a man came up behind him and pressed an object into his back, saying it was a gun, police said. The unidentified suspect forced the victim into a wooded area behind a nearby playground. When the victim turned and faced his attacker, he realized the assailant was actually carrying a knife, authorities said.

Philadelphia had a problem in the mid-19th century. Dozens of mills and factories along the Schuylkill and the Wissahickon Creek were polluting the water supply. An aqueduct from upstate was proposed, but the economical solution was to purchase and close the offending industries. Land upstream from the Fairmount waterworks was added, parcel by parcel, until a full 13 miles of riverbank were protected. Between 1855 and 1870, the industrial revolution was reversed in the Schuylkill valley.

Animal welfare officials are investigating the death of a dog whose burned body was found this afternoon in Fairmount Park near 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in the Strawberry Mansion section. The Pennsylvania SPCA said a necropsy will be performed to determined the cause of death. The male pit-bull type dog had been wrapped in a blanket and set on fire, the SPCA said. Anyone with information was asked to the Pennsylvania SPCA's anticruelty hotline at 1-866-601-7722.

Nancy Whalen (above) shows some Philly pride Saturday by helping clean up Ormiston Mansion in Fairmount Park, while Jasmine Green (right, front) and Nikki Bennett give a caring touch-up to the waters of FDR Park in South Philly. Whalen was one of about 650 volunteers who cleaned and painted 46 sites, and who carried away dozens of bags of trash as part of "Philadelphia Cares About Fairmount Park Day. " Green and Bennett were volunteering for the FDR Park cleanup from Overbrook High School.

A fallen tree has brought rush hour traffic to a crawl through Fairmount Park. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive is closed in both directions between Sweetbriar and Montgomery Drive while officials work to clear the scene. The tree fell onto the road near its intersection with Montgomery Drive at about 5:40 p.m., police said. Officials encourage drivers to find alternate routes around the area if possible.  

An elderly man was assaulted Monday afternoon in Fairmount Park, police said. The attack occurred about 1:20 p.m. at Lincoln and Forbidden Drives, said Officer Jillian Russell. The victim, whose precise age was not available, was attacked by four males. The victim was taken to Chestnut Hill Hospital to be treated, Russell said. The nature of his injuries was not available. No arrests were reported.    -Robert Moran

Faster than a falling leaf, autumn is upon us. Quick, before the season is swept away, take in the pleasures of Fairmount Park, where autumn is alive and kicking. The park is the city's gem, and in the fall it is a place where even vines climbing a grimy Schuylkill Expressway wall shine with color. There are private hideaways where the sounds of squirrels and swirling brooks screen out the bustle of the metropolis. And there are enough things to do to keep everyone, from the hyperactive to the sublimely somnolent, more than satisfied.

?1? Charred remains of dog found in park 33rd Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue Animal-welfare officials were investigating the death of a dog whose burned body was found Tuesday afternoon in Fairmount Park in Strawberry Mansion. The Pennsylvania SPCA said a necropsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. The male pit-bull-type dog had been wrapped in a blanket and set on fire, the SPCA said. Tipsters are asked to call the Pennsylvania SPCA's anti-cruelty hotline at 1-866-601-7722.

Animal welfare officials are investigating the death of a dog whose burned body was found this afternoon in Fairmount Park near 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in the Strawberry Mansion section. The Pennsylvania SPCA said a necropsy will be performed to determined the cause of death. The male pit-bull type dog had been wrapped in a blanket and set on fire, the SPCA said. Anyone with information was asked to the Pennsylvania SPCA's anticruelty hotline at 1-866-601-7722.

With Philadelphia recently singled out for national praise for its park system, this should be a good time to put out the call for top-notch individuals to volunteer for the panel that provides oversight for Fairmount Park and recreation policymaking. That's certainly the hope of both Mayor Nutter and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, who made personal appeals several weeks ago for applicants for nine slots on the Commission on Parks and Recreation. Six city officials round out the 15-member commission.

JAMES HARRIS is a man tormented. He dreams often of suffocating, choking as he wakes, unable to catch his breath. He keeps a knife tucked into his waistband almost always, a desperate defense against horrors he can easily imagine because he says he has lived them. He hesitates to get into anyone's car, unwilling to surrender control to the person behind the wheel. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia. Although five years have passed since the incident that changed his life, his torment doesn't end because his tormentor is still out there.

I think of Cooper River Park as South Jersey's version of Fairmount Park, along the Schuylkill. "It's a park everyone feels very strongly about," observes landscape architect Joseph R. Cairone, who spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the Camden County Boathouse on North Park Drive last week. The audience had come to hear about his firm's $23 million "Vision Plan," the first phase of which will be voted on by Camden County freeholders Thursday. The project will enhance the heart of the park: the postcard-esque area that offers great Philly skyline views and features the renowned, 1.3-mile rowing course between Cuthbert Boulevard in Cherry Hill and Route 130 in Pennsauken.

Man shot dead on I-76 * Eastbound lanes, near Montgomery Drive exit A man driving a Buick LeSabre was shot and killed about 2:50 a.m. Sunday by a person in another car that pulled up alongside on the Schuylkill Expressway. Someone fired numerous rounds into the Buick's passenger side, hitting the driver, identified as Kareem El, 29, of Philadelphia, State Police Lt. Paul Gustaitis said. The Buick was brought under control and stopped in the left lane of the highway, Gustaitis said.

Philadelphia Police have identified a man found shot to death this morning in Fairmount Park. Montague White, 26, of N. 38th Street in the city's Mantua section, was discovered unresponsive around 6 a.m. on the 4000 block of Cedar Grove Drive in West Fairmount Park, according to a Philadelphia Police spokeswoman. White had been wounded twice in the chest and once in the hip. Police believe the shooting occurred following an argument with an unknown assailant. Contact Kevin Smith at smithk@philly.com .

A COP COMES up to you on the street. Tells you to stop what you're doing immediately and cites you for … dancing cheek-to-cheek?! If you lived in Philly in the 1920s and you encountered Miss Marguerite C. Walz, you might just get in trouble for such offenses as not wearing a coat and collar or too much body wiggling, "hip dips" or close embraces at the public dances held on the Parkway. Walz, a dance teacher, became the first female police officer deputized in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA 1 killed, 1 hurt in crash A head-on crash on a winding stretch of Lincoln Drive in Fairmount Park left one man dead and another hospitalized late Saturday night. Police said a 2002 Toyota Camry was traveling east on Lincoln Drive near Gypsy Lane through Fairmount Park when it crossed into oncoming traffic, striking a 2007 Honda Pilot SUV head-on. After the impact, the Camry burst into flames, killing the driver. Police said that man remained unidentified last night.

The Broad Street Run, the annual 10-mile race held on the first weekend in May, has become insanely popular. It began in 1980 with 1,500 runners. Online registration for last year's race was open for four days before reaching the event's capacity of 28,000. This year, it took five hours to reach the new maximum of 30,000. Hearing the groans and protests from disappointed runners who were shut out, the Department of Parks and Recreation, which organizes the race, has added 2,500 spots through a lottery.