Partnership

The Delaware County Partnership for Economic Development, created seven years ago to dig the county out of an economic recession, will close up shop today, a victim of its own mismanagement and two federal investigations. The quasi-public agency - created amid a wrenching economic downturn in 1983 - will be replaced by a new oversight board. The move by the county government is intended to curb abuses that led to an ongoing FBI investigation and a federal audit that demanded repayment of at least $1.6 million in federal funds.

Calkins Media Inc., a suburban newspaper chain and news organization, and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia have entered into a partnership to share professional and high school sports content. According to the partnership, SportsNet will provide coverage of Philadelphia professional sports teams that will appear on www.phillyburbs.csnphilly.com . In return, Calkins Media will feed CSNPhilly.com with high school sports stories and its sports reporters will appear on a weekly show on the Comcast Network.

GlaxoSmithKline said Tuesday that it would donate $1 million worth of cervical cancer vaccine to a new partnership launched by former president George W. Bush and aimed at reducing deaths from women's cancers. GSK makes Cervarix, says it also will provide $50,000 to support the program operations and that more than 10,000 girls and women will have access to vaccination. The Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership is a new initiative led by the George W. Bush Institute, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.

The Wayne Partnership, a newly formed coalition of businesses, civic groups and individuals, has disclosed plans to revitalize the commercial district of Wayne, Radnor Township's answer to "main street. " The partnership held its first public meeting Tuesday night at the township library and discussed goals and strategies, including increasing pedestrian traffic, renovating building facades and offering a variety of retail businesses for consumers. "We are afraid that Wayne is becoming a bit seedy," said Michael Squyers, treasurer of the partnership and proprietor of a hardware store in Wayne.

In the first time a Democrat has waded into the Partnership for Economic Development controversy, county controller candidate Michael J. Molder this week charged that a county agency was partly responsible for a partnership audit it has called defective. Molder, a 26-year-old certified public accountant, called upon Delaware County Redevelopment Authority executive director Robert F. Miller to take some responsibility for a 1988 audit of the partnership that Miller called inadequate.

A major city law firm was hit yesterday with a $131,784 back-pay judgment after losing a sex discrimination case brought by a female attorney denied a partnership in the firm. The firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen also must offer a partnership to the woman, Nancy O'Mara Ezold, if its appeal is denied, U.S. District Judge James McGirr Kelly ruled. Ezold "proved that her gender played a part in the . . . firm's decision not to promote her to partner," the judge said.

The Southeast Delco School District and the Arco Chemical Co. have formed a partnership in which Arco will contribute more than $1 million to the school district in the next five years. The money will be used to study and restructure the district's educational programs, Superintendent Stephen J. Wesley said. Officials said it was the first time a Delaware County school district had entered into a partnership of such proportions. The partnership was launched Tuesday at a special meeting of the school board, where Arco officials presented a check for $40,000 to Wesley.

RE THE OP-ED "Philly's food desert" (Aug. 9) : Mr. Kaye's article suggests that local government should work with the private sector to make it easier for Philadelphians to eat healthfully. We agree. In fact, we're already making tremendous progress. Through the leadership of Mayor Nutter, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and its partners have implemented the Get Healthy Philly initiative. In 16 months, Get Healthy Philly has: * Opened 10 new farmers' markets in low-income communities (including at the Frankford Terminal!

The Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra and the Walnut Street Theater are negotiating a partnership that is intended to reduce the orchestra's operating expenses and bolster its marketing and development efforts. The proposed partnership would eliminate the Concerto Soloists' small administrative staff and offices at 2136 Locust St. Bernard Havard, the Walnut's executive director, said yesterday that the groups had reached a tentative agreement. The chamber group, which is entering its 26th season under the leadership of founder and music director Marc Mostovoy, has an operating budget of $1.3 million and a current deficit estimated at $300,000 to $400,000.

The Delaware County Council has named two appointees to the beleagured county Industrial Development Authority to replace Chairman Francis V. Mulcahy and member Drew W. Baum, who both resigned earlier this month. Named to fill the seats at the council's meeting Tuesday were Joseph A. LaSala, a former Philadelphia city representative, and Kathryn Kerwin Clayton, owner of a warehouse and distribution firm. Both live in Nether Providence. Council Chairman Nicholas Catania, who also serves on the seven-member authority board, said the board would seat the new members and reorganize at its monthly meeting on Monday.