Special Services

Synagogues in West Chester and Coatesville will celebrate Hanukah with special services and children's parties, beginning this week. Members of the Kesher Israel Synagogue in West Chester will hold Hanukah parties for their 150 schoolchildren beginning today at 5:30 p.m.. Children's parties will also be held Wednesday and Thursday. Hanukah is an eight-day celebration that begins Tuesday and ends at sundown Dec. 23. It is a minor Jewish holiday when Jews reflect on the religious freedom that stems from their victory in 165 B.C. over the Syrians who defiled the temple in Jerusalem and attempted to coerce them into abandoning their religion.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the Great Valley near Malvern will hold several festal Eucharist services, each designed to meet the needs of different ages and family commitments. The 4 p.m. Christmas Eve service will feature familiar carols and the annual Christmas pageant performed by the children of the parish. The Rev. John Grey Tampa will present a small gift to each child attending the service. Cookies and punch will be served afterward. Day care will be available. The 7:30 p.m. Christmas Eve service will feature a traditional candlelit service.

The retirement dinner last Friday night for Carmine DeSopo, superintendent of the Burlington County Special Services School District, was just what I had expected - huge, noisy, warm and fun. But it was also poignant in a way that few of these often formulaic affairs are. Mixed in with the tributes and the good-natured teasing about DeSopo's penchant for long speeches was the sense that something truly incredible was ending. For many in the county, DeSopo has come to symbolize the special-services district in such a deeply personal way that it is unthinkable that the district will go on without him. Speaker after speaker at Kove II Caterers in Edgewater Park spoke of this man's accomplishments.

Philadelphia faces a series of dramatic problems that threaten its very future, and one of the most severe problems is also the most immediate. Philadelphia's center city has the third largest downtown district in the United States, attracting about 300,000 workers daily. In three years, that rate is expected to rise to 330,000, and the residential population is expected to go up by 25 percent to 90,000. Add this to the estimated 200,000 people who come into the city daily to shop, sightsee and do business - a number expected to double by 1993.

SEPTA's special transit services for people with disabilities were disrupted yesterday by a labor dispute at Mayflower Contract Services Inc., one contractor providing the service. Workers picketed the company's headquarters at 2125 Castor Ave. yesterday, protesting the firing of five colleagues and seeking recognition of Teamsters Local 115 as their bargaining agent. Mayflower was able to operate only about one-third of its vehicles yesterday, and SEPTA responded by limiting paratransit service to only essential trips, said Robert Corressel, SEPTA manager of special services.

Ronald Van Langeveld has been appointed director of special services for the William Penn School District. His appointment during Monday's school board meeting follows last year's decision by the Pennsylvania Department of Education that Special Education Director David Gobel was not qualified because he lacked sufficient special education classroom experience. Superintendent Thomas Jenkins said Gobel would remain with the district as a school psychologist. "He (Gobel)

Space is tight at the three elementary schools in the Rose Tree Media School District, a pinch felt most by those who provide special services, school principals say. The principals reported the need for additional space for hearing, speech and reading therapy to the district's ad hoc facilities committee Thursday night. The district formed the committee of board members and administrators in response to steady growth in elementary-school enrollment. The committee is to develop ideas for handling that growth over the next five to 10 years.

Action Alliance of Senior Citizens is charging SEPTA with inaction and indifference in providing reliable Shared Ride transportation. "Action Alliance is demanding action when vans arrive late, or not at all," said Estelle Turner, 79, of Cobbs Creek. "If Federal Express can transport packages across country overnight, Shared Ride should be able to transport us around Philadelphia in a reasonable time," added Turner, board secretary. Shared Ride is a SEPTA contract service that transports seniors in vans, sedans, and sometimes cabs.

Three months after a woman perished in a crash with a paratransit vehicle on Interstate 95, SEPTA chief Louis Gambaccini said the transit authority was in the midst of a massive review of services to the disabled. Testifying before City Council's transportation committee yesterday, Gambaccini said SEPTA for the first time would have access to pending traffic charges and not just convictions for the 300 privately employed drivers who handle 6,000 rides per week. With that information, SEPTA will have an "early alert" on paratransit drivers "who may be in fact in jeopardy of losing their licenses or who are accused of driving under the influence," he said.

Starting Monday, the men and women in blue will be taking roll call with their comrades in yellow. At least they will in University City, where 25 officers from the 16th and 18th Police Districts will be stationed at the University City District Operations Center, which officially opened yesterday afternoon. The center, at 3940-42 Chestnut St., is a 10,000-square-foot, three-story building, and is the latest accomplishment of the University City District, a special-services district created in 1997 to make University City a cleaner, safer, more attractive place to live, and to visit.

The Burlington County Transportation System canceled all its bus service today after vandals slashed the tires of 31 vehicles at a depot in Cherry Hill. Affected were the BurLink fixed routes and paratransit for seniors and those with disabilities, the BCTS said in a statement. Police said 106 tires on 31 buses were slashed between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 5:16 a.m. today at the unsecured CT Student Services lot on Route 38 in Cherry Hill. CT Student Services operates the BCTS buses.

About a year ago, Fred Suter met his first Iraq war veteran - a boyish, pleasant Marine scarred with skin grafts on his forearm past his elbow and limping. It was a reminder of the possible cost of service for the eventual coordinator of a new veterans assistance program at the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office. "Veterans experience life-changing events or suffer life-changing injuries, and they deserve our support on the road to recovery - physically and mentally," said Suter, whose brother served in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Jonathan loves everything musical and wants to learn to play the guitar. He is also passionate about sports, especially soccer, baseball, and basketball, and has taken tennis lessons. Another favorite pastime is going to the movies. Skilled in assembling things, the 13-year-old would like to be a mechanic when he grows up. In the seventh grade, Jonathan receives special services and is improving academically. He reads the Bible daily and uses the library to expand his scholastic development.

Miracle is an adorable, happy toddler who quickly attaches to her caregivers and loves to be cuddled in their arms. Although she is legally blind, she can see the difference between light and darkness. Not quite 3 years old, Miracle enjoys toys that play music and has learned how to handle the toys to produce the tunes. A determined little girl, Miracle is developing the ability to push herself into a crawling position. Medically fragile and developmentally delayed, Miracle receives special services.

The Philadelphia School District has severed ties with a nonprofit connected to two former top administrators at Philadelphia Academy Charter School who are under federal criminal investigation. The district is not renewing a $2.1 million special-education contract with the nonprofit controlled by Brien N. Gardiner, founder of Philadelphia Academy, and Kevin M. O'Shea, the charter's former chief executive officer. District spokesman Fernando Gallard confirmed that Philadelphia Academy Services Inc. was told last week that its contract to provide special-education services to district students who are hospitalized or in other alternative settings would not be renewed for the 2008-09 school year.

'Tis the season to be jolly, right? Not everyone, though, has a rousing ho-ho-ho in her. For Ernestine Whiting, 86, this Christmas feels lonelier than ever. Her husband of nearly six decades, Edward, died last year, and Whiting has felt hard hit in recent months. She also struggles with arthritis and a hoarse voice that prevents her from whistling for cardinals - a talent her husband admired. "Everything is different," the Malvern widow said Sunday afternoon just before attending "Blue Christmas - the Longest Night Service" at the United Methodist Church in Paoli.

Angelica is a beautiful 12-year-old with brown eyes and brown hair. Friendly, playful and fun-loving, she gets along well with her peers and adults. A very personable young lady with an endearing smile, she quickly warms up when meeting new people. Pizza and ice cream are her favorite foods. She speaks English and Spanish. Angelica is open to new experiences and is eager to try different things. She enjoys riding her bike, watching DVDs, working on the computer and helping others.

A decade ago, Chinese immigrant Jinhuo Chen opened a bank account near his South Philadelphia home, then soon closed it and trekked to Arch Street in Chinatown. The reason was simple: Chen did not speak English. "It is too inconvenient. You don't understand the rules of banking, but you cannot talk with them at the bank," recalled Chen, 47. Today, it is the banks that are making moves in search of people such as Chen, now a small-property developer in the city. Local, national and global banks are competing over the high-income Asian American market, finding lucrative opportunities and unique cultural challenges in Philadelphia and nationwide.

The Eagles play in town 10 times a year. The Phillies play 81 home games. Add in the Sixers, Flyers, college games and some concerts, and the stadium district is in use for at least four to five hours about 200 days a year. That's a lot of humanity to deal with on a regular basis. However, the total attendance of all these events doesn't compare with the expected hordes at the casinos that could be sited on the Delaware riverfront. After a sporting event or concert, the sounds of honking horns and cheering masses are replaced by a different noise that comforts those who live within shouting distance of our sports palaces: the quiet whirring of the stadium district's street sweepers or tree-planting equipment or the laughter of kids playing on new equipment at a local rec center.

Could City Avenue, the traffic-heavy strip lined with office buildings, department and chain stores, fast-food joints, and the leafy campus of St. Joseph's University, be transformed into a neighborhood akin to Washington's Georgetown? That's one idea being promoted by a key board member of the City Avenue Special Services District. J. Brian O'Neill, chairman of the district's strategic planning and development committee and a well-known local developer, says City Avenue could become - like ritzy, intellectual, and architecturally astounding Georgetown - a "walkable village" where "the best retailers clamor to go. " At the district's Oct. 31 meeting, O'Neill and other board members provided updates on plans to revive the 2.8-mile strip of City Avenue from the Schuylkill Expressway to Wynnewood Road.