Manayunk

It might make financial sense for Lisa Fiorilli to just walk away from her home in Manayunk — a tidy, three-story rowhouse on one of the neighborhood's familiar, hilly streets that rise up from Main Street and the canal. But Fiorilli, facing foreclosure after a two-year bureaucratic tangle with Bank of America over a mortgage modification, would rather stay and fight — even if her home is now worth less, as she says bank officials have suggested, than what she owes on it. Fiorilli's saga — backed up by a thick file of documents and call logs — is a story of a mortgage accommodation dangled and apparently snatched away for flimsy reasons, such as a phone payment that came in 35 cents short, and another payment that came in two weeks early.

It was an uncertain Father's Day for many dads and moms of St. Bridget's parish in East Falls as they awaited news on the fate of a regional Catholic elementary school that never was — and might never be. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is expected to announce Monday whether it will create a new regional elementary school in Manayunk that would include the youngsters of St. Bridget's parish school, which closed its doors forever Friday....

THE ARCHDIOCESE of Philadelphia on Monday nixed its proposed school merger between St. Bridget Parish School and Holy Child Regional School because the combined entity had failed to attract the 250 students that would have made it viable. Both St. Bridget's in East Falls and Holy Child in Manayunk will close now, leaving no parochial school left in either section of the city, an Archdiocese spokeswoman said. Only 155 students had signed up to attend the proposed St. Blaise Regional School in Manayunk as of Friday, the Archdiocese said in a statement.

A new regional Catholic elementary school that had been proposed for Manayunk will not open in September due to low enrollment, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Monday. St. Blaise Regional School was going to be created through the merger of St. Bridget parish school in East Falls and Holy Child Regional School in Manayunk, and based at Holy Child. But only 155 students had registered as of Friday, and the archdiocese said the school needed to have at least 250 students to cover teacher salaries and provide a quality education.

"DESPITE. " Of all the words in the totally depressing "important communique" from St. Blaise Regional Catholic School, that one word — "despite" — underscores why so many parents have rejected St. Blaise as the educational choice for their kids. Posted on the school's website on Friday, the letter, penned by East Falls and Manayunk parish priests, laments that just 155 students have registered for the 2012-13 academic year at St. Blaise. That's 95 fewer kids than the 250 needed to pay for teachers' salaries and programs come September.

LEMON HILL was easy. So was the other steep hill on the TD Bank International Cycling Championship Course. But then I got to the Manayunk Wall. Let me back up a bit. I'm no jock, but I usually hold my own. Not long after completing my first marathon last November, I signed up to do it again. I've even been toying with the idea of doing a triathlon. And so I figured I was ready when signed up to do the amateur portion of the TD Bank International Cycling Championship last Sunday.

AS NEARLY 200 cyclists fought their way up the infamous Manayunk Wall at Sunday's 2012 TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship, their moxie was mirrored by Jon Martin of Bluebell, who pushed a double stroller containing his sleeping Marianna, 2, and Anthony, 4, up the adjoining Lyceum Avenue sidewalk. No clanging cowbells for Martin as he doggedly made his way up the 17-degree incline over broken pavement and the protruding steel legs of race-route barricades, around weaving partygoers and oncoming strollers.

Hundreds of spectators lined the route of the Manayunk bike race Sunday morning cheering and ringing cowbells as the first racers strained to get to the top of the steeply inclined section on Lyceum Ave., known as "The Wall. " Police also lined the route to enforce the city's "zero tolerance" policy for disorderly behavior and public drunkenness. Residents, who had complained bitterly in the past of late night partying, noise, and rowdy behavior said there were signs that crowd conditions were much improved.

Like so many others who have made the trek, Michael Chauner was quick to list the Manayunk Wall as his favorite part of the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. He then laughed, before getting more specific about what he meant. "The part right after the wall," Chauner said. "For me and, I think, everyone else, we're just happy to get it over with. Right when you top the hill, it goes really fast from there. " He doesn't have to look hard to find someone to thank for the rigorous 17-percent gradient climb up Levering Street and Lyceum Avenue.

Chong Park runs the new Palm Tree Market, located in an old furniture building at the bottom of the Manayunk Wall, which on Sunday will be the center of Philadelphia and the cycling universe. The owner of the building, Sam Kroungold, in Manayunk for 40 years, urged Park, his tenant, to keep the store open on Sunday. "You'll make more money in one day than you will in a month," the building owner said. The grocer refused. Since opening six months ago, he has always obeyed the Sabbath.