Love Park

LOVE Park, the symbolic heart of the city and a destination for tourists and skateboarders from around the world, is expected to undergo a $20 million renovation starting in 2013. Mayor Nutter will announce the plans for the iconic park, officially known as John F. Kennedy Plaza, in his budget address Thursday morning, several sources said. Few details were available Wednesday, but broadly, the proposal calls for bringing the elevated park to street level and removing walls that block entrance from many of the surrounding sidewalks.

Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission is planning a renovation of LOVE Park that would end its status as a skateboarding mecca. Should it proceed with those plans, alter the plans to accommodate both skaters and other users, or is there another way to go? Tell us how you'd design LOVE Park. Send essays of about 150 words by April 22, including a phone number for verification, to Voices/LOVE, The Inquirer, Box 41705, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101. Send e-mail to inquirer.letters@phillynews.

A male was stabbed twice in Love Park Monday evening and later found by SEPTA police near the entrance to the station at Market and N. 15th streets, a SEPTA spokesman said. The man was taken to Hahnemann Hospital for treatment, said spokesman Andrew Busch. His condition was unknown, but Busch said SEPTA officers were talking with the man. His name and age were not released. Contact Inquirer staff writer Susan Snyder at 215-854-4693 or ssnyder@phillynews.com

I just returned from a trip to the west coast of the United States. In San Francisco and in Portland there were parks similar to Love Park in Philadelphia. Both parks had cafes where tourists, shoppers, and office workers congregated. I immediately thought of Philadelphia making the old visitors center in Love Park into a cafe and attracting the same kind of people. It would do wonders for the area. I arrive home and the first thing I see is the Daily News advocating the destruction of this unique building in Love Park.

IN CARLA Anderson's May 2 article about the "Desperately Seeking Philadelphians" conference, she described me as a "skateboarding college student" who spoke in favor of reopening LOVE Park to skateboarders. In reality, I could not ride a skateboard if my life depended on it. Many people in this city believe that LOVE Park is just about skateboarders. To young Philadelphians, LOVE Park represented the heart and focus of all the energy gathered over the past decade, from Ed Rendell, from Old City and Northern Liberties to University City.

The July 22 article "Skateboarders get room of their own" provides yet another example of suburban innovation versus Philadelphia stagnation. Urban experts have shown that cities friendly to skateboarding will also be seen as friendly to youth. Other U.S. cities are already building skate parks in their centers. Philadelphia's suburbs are building them to accommodate a staggering popularity in the sport that originated in our world-famous skateboarding mecca, LOVE Park. New skate parks are desirable, and I applaud the city Planning Commission as it moves forward on plans to build a skate park along the Schuylkill.

WE'VE BEEN around and around on this issue of skateboarders in LOVE Park. To be frank, rarely has something so seemingly minor, at least on the surface, taken up so much energy. We're sure city officials who've grappled with this quandary for four years feel the same way: exhausted and frustrated. But when Friends of LOVE Park, which was in discussions with the city, announced last week that DC Shoes would kick in $1 million over 10 years for park upkeep if skateboarding was allowed, the city saw a window of opportunity open.

MARK ALAN HUGHES and the Daily News have sunk to a new low. Hughes' mean-spirited opening salvo in his piece titled "LOVE Park & the Art of Governing" (April 23) included references to Mayor Street's supposed tendencies toward "malice," "greed," "race-baiting" and "racism. " It's an outrage that he would inject such venom into an opinion piece ostensibly about LOVE Park and the city's plans to reclaim it from the scrap heap. Hughes' vituperative, single-minded attack on the mayor has blinded him to the facts.

LOVE Park was closed for several hours late Friday afternoon and evening as police played cat-and-mouse with throngs of roaming young people in Center City. Large crowds enjoying the springlike weather also gathered along South Street, keeping police busy trying to discourage rowdy behavior. Lt. D.F. Pace of the police bike patrol said a large crowd had been dispersed late Friday afternoon from LOVE Park, which had been a rumored gathering spot for a flash mob. Teams of officers guarded some, but not all, of the entrances to JFK Plaza, the official name of the park, and turned away many people, including disappointed visitors hoping to get their pictures taken next to the world-famous Robert Indiana LOVE sculpture.

Lois Santer, 78, understood that racism still existed. But until the story of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's death touched off a national debate about racial profiling, she said she never understood how widespread and insidious the problem was. Santer said she never knew about "the talk" many parents of young black men have with their sons, in which they explain that some people view black men with suspicion, and advise them to act calmly and...

LOVE Park, the symbolic heart of the city and a destination for tourists and skateboarders from around the world, is expected to undergo a $20 million renovation starting in 2013. Mayor Nutter will announce the plans for the iconic park, officially known as John F. Kennedy Plaza, in his budget address Thursday morning, several sources said. Few details were available Wednesday, but broadly, the proposal calls for bringing the elevated park to street level and removing walls that block entrance from many of the surrounding sidewalks.

Selling: Joe. Java. Brew, made from single-origin and blended beans roasted by the guys in the truck - a Philly first. Find it: LOVE Park, weekdays from 7 a.m. Open Monday, Wednesday and Friday until 10:30 a.m., Tuesday and Thursday until 3 p.m. Look for: Two dudes boxing (on the truck, not in it). Online: www.RivalBros.com . Twitter: @RivalBrosCoffee. Open since: Halloween 2011. Order: The "Deringer," a six-ouncer that's halfway between a macchiato and a cappuccino ($2.75)

THE LAST THING a basketball-playing percussionist wants to do is keep getting drummed. And then, in the final game of the season, better known as The Battle for 65th Place, Anthony Galdo got a chance to experience unabashed fun. Thanks to Ben Dubin, the Public League's new hoops chairman, there are now five divisions grouped by ability/recent results. E is the lowest, and Galdo's school, Benjamin Rush, yesterday found itself hosting another, Creative and Performing Arts, which also had stumbled to an 0-11 league mark.

The LOVE Statue is getting upstaged by what Kraft calls 'The Big Noodle. " Not only is the giant elbow mac brighter (yellow as a rubber ducky), bigger (20 feet long, 10 feet high), wordier ("You Know You Love It" stretches across its grin), and closer to the corner of 15th and JFK Boulevard, the cheesy-whatsit even has events. Like photo ops and giveaways. It is, after all, a promotion for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The food behemoth forked over $24,500 to keep its one-ton noodle there into early January, certain to be seen by thousands of passersby and visitors to the shops of the Christmas Village, which opened in the park right after Thanksgiving.

Love Park seems to have a new "love" sculpture. It's giant yellow noodle, freshly set up today near 15th and JFK. The latest brainstorm of Claes Oldenburg? After all, the sculptor created Philly's Clothespin and the new boldly colored Paint Torch, as well as, in other cities, oversize rubber-eraser wheels, shuttlecocks and safety pins. Nah, this proves to be much cheesier, starting with its presumptuous message: "You know you love it. " Symmetrically curving up at each end, the piece is remindful of an eyeless smiley face - or Alice's enigmatic Cheshire cat. Love what?

The Christmas Village, an outdoor marketplace erected each November in Dilworth Plaza at City Hall, will set up at Love Park this year. Currently, Occupy Philadelphia is encamped at Dilworth Plaza. The Christmas Village, however, had already planned to move. The plaza on the west side of City Hall is scheduled to undergo renovations starting in November. It's not clear yet what will happen with Occupy Philadelphia when it does. The Christmas Village was the subject of national controversy last year when an organizer of the traditional German-style market took down the word "Christmas" from the light-festooned archways leading into the village.

A 43-YEAR-OLD man was fatally stabbed last night in LOVE Park, police said. The homeless man was stabbed once in the left side of his chest around 10:10 p.m., police said. He was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before 10:30 p.m. A witness gave police a description of the suspect, and officers apprehended him at 17th and Market streets. Police said that the suspect is a 44-year-old Philadelphia man. Police did not recover a knife from the scene.

A 43-year-old homeless man was stabbed to death during an argument with another man Thursday night in LOVE Park, police said. The victim was stabbed in the left chest shortly before 10 p.m. on the steps at JFK Plaza's southeast entrance and was pronounced dead at 10:27 at Hahnemann University Hospital, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. The alleged assailant, a 44-year-old man, was apprehended at 17th and Market Streets. A witness was taken to the Homicide Division for questioning.