"Mood" - Porches.
http://porchesmusic.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Porches/137971626278409 Filmed By Franklin Savulich fsavulich@gmail.com http://www.flickr.co...
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"Mood" - Porches. - Video
Canvas Porches and Verandahs Mobile App
http://www.gocanvas.com/mobile-forms-apps/16007-Historic-Heritage-Building-Porches-And-Verandahs The Historic/ Heritage Building: Porches and Verandahs mobil...
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Canvas Porches and Verandahs Mobile App - Video
In the end, St. Louis just represented too much heartbreak to Carman Weber.
Her mother was murdered here in 1986, when Weber was a teen. Then, two years ago, her son was gunned down.
Weber worked as a Metro bus driver at the time, and her route took her by the murder scene. Finally she decided to move.
St. Louis has too many painful memories for me, said Weber, who now lives in Austin, Texas.
But she returned on Tuesday with a small amount of hope, that a candlelight vigil tonight, on the second anniversary of her sons death, might somehow elicit a tip in the case.
Antonio D. Duff, 24, was shot 12 times as he sat in his vehicle in the 4900 block of Warwick Avenue on April 9, 2012. It was 1:30 p.m., not the middle of the night. People were sitting on their porches.
Crime scene investigators collected more than 20 shell casings from the scene. Residents told police Duff was seen talking with his killer before the man fired numerous shots into Duffs Lincoln. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.
But police got nowhere with gathering more information on the case. Weber hopes a candlelight vigil at the murder scene at 6 p.m. today can change that.
I pray to God that he puts it on someones conscience to tell somebody what happened, she said. I pray this prayer every day. For someone to get killed in broad daylight and no one says anything is wrong. I cant believe that all of those people sitting on their front porches said they didnt see anything.
Tipsters who call CrimeStoppers anonymously at 1-866-371-8477 could be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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Mother returns to St. Louis to hold vigil where her son was fatally shot in 2012
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Nona Porch recalled as great lady, leader
By CHARLES WHISENANT Wednesday, April 9, 2014 8:11 AM CDT
The Arab Tribune
Wynona Parker Nona Porch was remembered this week as a civic leader in Arab for many years. Porch, 92, died Sunday at her residence in Cherokee Ridge.
She was married for 61 years to Dr. Ellis F. Porch Sr., who died several years ago.
The Porches moved to Arab in 1954 to open his medical practice. They both immediately jumped into serving their new community.
Nona was one of eight children, raised in Marengo County. Her father was a rural route mail carrier who delivered the mail by horseback.
She used to tell us that he would come home frozen to his saddle when it would get really cold in the winter, said Jackie NeSmith, one of the Porches daughters. They would have to help him get off the horse and get him thawed. I always thought that was so interesting.
For the full story on Nona Porch, pick up a copy of the Wednesday Tribune.
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Nona Porch recalled as great lady, leader
April 8, 2014 Cause of house fire still under investigation
By Paul Tennant ptennant@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Tue Apr 08, 2014, 12:12 AM EDT
NORTH ANDOVER The front of the 2-family house at 103-105 Second St. is heavily charred, both front porches are gone and much of the siding is melted, but the basic structure of the wooden frame building is largely intact, fire Chief Andrew Melnikas said.
The house was heavily damaged by a 3-alarm fire that broke out around 1:45 p.m. Friday. Firefighters had the fire under control within an hour, Melnikas said, and no one was injured.
The house is owned by David Holland, of 105 Second St., according to assessors records. Holland could not be reached yesterday.
The residents of the house were placed in temporary housing Friday night through a cooperative effort by the American Red Cross and Emergency Management Director Jeffrey Coco, Melnikas said.
The fire started somewhere between the front porches, the chief said. Firefighter Daniel Ryan is investigating the cause.
The houses on Second Street are fairly close together. Firefighters poured water on the adjacent 2-family house at 107-109 Second St. to protect it from the blaze.
They saved the house, but the force of the water broke four windows on the side facing 103-105 Second St.
They certainly have the First Amendment right to make their case, but what someone representing the Ku Klux Klan did in Waynesboro and Staunton is raising both eyebrows and concerns.
KKK fliers appeared overnight on front porches, driveways and streets in Waynesboro and Staunton. Police say they haven't seen anything like this before.
While the fliers didn't contain any specific beliefs of the KKK, the effort was a clear attempt to recruit new members from the community.
"I'm not a vigilante, but they're not going to mess with my house or my neighborhood, said David Foster, who received one of the fliers.
Foster had a funny feeling early Monday morning when he saw a group of people with flashlights near his property in Waynesboro. Hes shocked anyone would still promote a group known historically for spreading hate.
"You know that's a shame, that that still goes on in our society now. By now people should be past that, he said.
Neighbors on Mount Vernon Street woke up to find the propaganda sprinkled along their stretch of road. The recruitment fliers were placed in Food Lion zipper storage bags and weighed down with marbles.
"No, I've never seen anything like that. It is disturbing. They are ignorant people, said one neighbor, Town Lalonde.
Waynesboro police are looking into the situation. They say no one has requested any type of KKK demonstration. They believe it was an underground effort.
"The fact that they're doing it overnight using the cover of darkness may just be that they don't want the notoriety or have a confrontation with someone who might have opposing beliefs, said Waynesboro Police Sergeant Brian Edwards.
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Valley Residents Wake Up to KKK Fliers Outside Homes
The proliferation of boarded-up windows, crumbling porches and vine-covered walls in once-booming steel towns doesn't begin to tell the whole story.
A fuller picture comes into focus in an analysis of how much blighted, abandoned and tax-delinquent properties cost the towns in which they are located. The report was commissioned by the Steel Valley, Turtle Creek Valley and Twin Rivers councils of governments, which represent 40 municipalities in Allegheny County.
"There were a lot of takeaways from that analysis," said An Lewis, executive director of the Steel Valley COG. "One of the big ones was blight is enormously expensive."
The analysis, presented in September, found 20,077 vacant lots and 7,158 parcels with blighted structures that cost local governments more than $10.7 million a year in direct municipal services, such as police, fire and code enforcement. They also account for nearly $8.7 million in lost annual tax revenue. But the biggest drain was on neighboring non-blighted properties, which the report found suffered a total loss of between $218 million and $247 million in property values. At the time of the study, the councils represented 41 municipalities; West Mifflin withdrew from the Steel Valley COG last year.
The findings prompted the three COGs, called the "Tri-COG Collaborative," to begin putting together a draft plan, expected to be finished in June, to establish a land bank for member municipalities that opt to participate.
A state law passed in 2012 allows municipalities with a population of 10,000 or more, or consortiums of smaller municipalities that together add up to more than 10,000 residents, to set up the public agencies, which are tasked specifically with acquiring, maintaining and returning problem properties to productive use, either through direct sales, transfer or leases.
PG chart: Allegheny County Councils of government (Click image for larger version)
"We are studying land banks across the U.S.," said John Palyo, executive director of the Twin Rivers COG. "While the law is new to Pennsylvania, it's not new for the country."
Though Westmoreland County established a countywide land bank, Mr. Palyo said the longstanding relationships formed by the councils of governments, intended to foster shared services and governmental cooperation, make them a natural framework in Allegheny County.
And though a proposal to establish a land bank in Pittsburgh has bogged down in controversy, mainly over whether city council will have the ability to sign off on individual property dispositions, outlying towns that have long struggled with declining population and escalating blight see it as a promising new tool.
Originally posted here:
40 towns join forces to create land bank
By ANDREW THOMSONApril 7, 2014, 4 a.m.
THE first ever Australian Facebook Cannonball Run landed in Warrnambool on Saturday night with some impressive cars taking part.
THE first ever Australian Facebook Cannonball Run landed in Warrnambool on Saturday night with some impressive cars taking part.
Run organiser Steve Fortan said 14 cars made the trip from Melbourne down the Great Ocean Road to Warrnambool for the overnight stay.
The line-up included a Lamborghini, a 1000hp HT Holden, a vintage Chrysler Valiant, Mercedes Kompressor, Shelby Cobra, a Maserati and Porches.
Mr Fortan said the run came about after he saw similar events were popular throughout Europe based on the original 1980s Cannonball Run movies.
This is the first one weve held but it certainly wont be the last, he said.
We stayed the night in Warrnambool, got to know each other and were heading back to Melbourne along the Princes Highway.
I started a Facebook page Cannonball Run Australia.
He said money raised from the event would go towards Kids With Cancer charity.
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Cannonball Run makes impressive debut
Starting immediately, home subscribers of The Californian will have their newspapers delivered by a company that actually intends on making sure those papers arrive daily, on time and in a spot where readers can find them. Like their porches.
The Californian has partnered with CIPS Marketing Group Inc., a leading marketing and distribution firm, to oversee all facets of daily and weekly home-delivered newspapers.
Delivery of The Californian, as readers in certain circulation areas know all too well, has been unacceptably sporadic. The partnership with CIPS will end most of those difficulties as the switchover winds down. Lingering and isolated problems may persist during the next few weeks' transition period, but missed papers should be a rarity by May 1 -- and any delivery problems, starting Saturday, will be promptly rectified. On that count, there will be no transition period.
"CIPS has taken circulation distribution off our hands and at a very competitive price," Michelle Chantry, The Californian's chief financial officer, said this week. "Not only do they use state-of-the-art GPS equipment that we could never afford; they have years of expertise in the industry that encouraged us to put our trust in their hands.
"We are confident they will continue to provide excellent customer service and open and direct communication as they have from the beginning of building the contract through the entire transitional period," she said.
The partnership significantly expands CIPS Marketing's Central Valley operations and its ever increasing home delivery customer base.
In a statement, Manuel Collazo, CIPS Marketing's executive vice president, noted, "We have enjoyed a very successful distribution partnership with The Californian for several years, delivering their TMC product (The Voice) market-wide. ... Our operations team at CIPS has more daily newspaper experience than any other alternate distribution company and are the best suited to handle the unique challenges associated with this kind of partnership."
Michael Lynch, president and CEO of CIPS, said, "The integrity and quality of service CIPS Marketing brings to the table is more critical than ever as publishers consider providing access to their core customers."
Said Chantry: "We continue to have a sense of urgency during this changeover to redeliver missed households, and the customer service department has been inundated with complaint calls. We are committed to provide the best service we possibly can to our readers."
CIPS, in business for more than 40 years, handles the weekly distribution of 10.5 million unique print packages and advertising circulars to more than 7 million households. Its comprehensive quality control systems include verification tools that comply with all delivery specifications, including the strictest "do not deliver" and "paper pile-up" standards in the industry, according to the company. CIPS says it enjoys the industry's only perfect track record of successful home-delivery conversions from coast to coast.
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Missed paper? New delivery partnership will put an end to that
Though no one denied the pair had once been beautiful, city officials seemed intent on demolition in 2004. A deep-pocketed buyer offering to replace them with something new had retained two powerful law firms to make the case for demolition. Once the local Council representative joined the hanging party, the buildings looked like goners.
But neighbors, preservationists, and the Historical Commission fought back, and today the two former white elephants on West Johnson are gleaming palaces, playing a useful role again as housing for low-income seniors.
There will be a ribbon-cutting April 30 to celebrate Nugent's transformation. (Presser was finished in 2010.) No doubt, city officials will be there to applaud its preservation. They will surely praise the developer, Nolen Properties, for sticking with the project in difficult times. Justly so, too.
But though Nolen deserves enormous credit for bringing these two historically certified buildings back from the grave, its work is only partly why the distinctive Mount Airy landmarks still stand.
Philadelphia hasn't had much patience lately with its big, challenging historic buildings, as last month's decision on Chestnut Street's Boyd Theater attests. Although Nugent and Presser had been vacant only two years by 2004, they were much farther gone than the Boyd. A company that operated them as group homes badly neglected them for 20 years.
If you were paying attention in 2004, you would have heard the same complaints made about the state of the Boyd voiced verbatim about Nugent and Presser: The blighted properties were holding the neighborhood back. The hollowed-out shells had become magnets for rats, graffiti, loiterers. Restoring them, some claimed, would cost a fortune. What profit was there in saving two obsolete, over-sized boardinghouses?
The first difference was that the neighborhood sensed there was value in keeping evidence of its grand past around. The stately homes were built by local business magnates. George Nugent made his money in textiles, and Theodore Presser had cornered the market in sheet music.
Both progressive thinkers, they wanted to provide an alternative to the dismal almshouses that were the last resort for the poor and elderly in those days. In 1895, Nugent hired Franklin J. Stuckert, known for his hotels, to cook up a turreted chteau in the healthy Mount Airy countryside.
To head off the demolition effort, neighbors nominated the buildings for the city's historic register. The Preservation Alliance took up the cause. But what made the real difference was that the Historical Commission rushed to their defense by fast-tracking the nominations.
Nolen's original plan was to ride the booming real estate market and create luxury apartments, but the housing crash forced it to switch gears. The demand for senior housing was still strong. So, even though the company's bread-and-butter is suburban housing, and affordable housing is a specialized niche, managing director Richard J. Sudall said Nolen decided to give it a try.
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Changing Skyline: Gratifying tale of buildings preserved