In The News

Tampa-based Citizenvestor launches crowdfunding for municipal projects, in Philadelphia

Tampa Bay Business Journal Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Citizenvestor, which taps private funding for municipal public works projects stalled by the public funding pipeline, has launched in Philadelphia, reports the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The company plans to begin crowdfunding in other cities across the United States before the end of the year. Tampa is on the list of cities to roll out this fall, Raynor said Sept. 12.

Original source: Tampa Bay Business Journal

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Vibe says Ar-Ab, aka "Top Goon of Philly" could be rap's most important new artist

Vibe Monday, September 17, 2012

Vibe reports that Philadelphia rapper Ar-Ab is releasing his latest mixtape, Who's Harder Than Me, Part 2 on Oct. 5.

Part of the Larsiny Family, Ar-Ab counts Cassidy as one of his closest affiliates. Both were taken to trial for murder, but while Ar-Ab -- who says he spent two and a half years fighting the case -- got off free, Cassidy was still sentenced to almost two years in the slammer, but got out after eight months. If Ar-Ab's life is any indication of what to expect on his upcoming mixtape, be very scared (in a good way.)

Original source: Vibe

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Quadruple bottom line? How BLab's ratings help investors

Barron's Monday, September 17, 2012

Barron's writes about Berwyn-based B-Lab's impact on investing.

The process has cred. Yale School of Management now forgives student loans of M.B.A.s who work for a B Corp after graduation. Working with corporate-law firms, B Lab has also drafted legislation that would establish a "Benefit Corporation," a legal entity in which directors are held accountable for their treatment of people and the planet alongside their responsibilities to maximize shareholder profits.

Source: Barron's
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SEPTA's regenerative braking technology saving estimated 10 percent

Wired Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Early estimates place SEPTA's power savings at about 10 percent thanks to the regenerative braking system it activated in June, reports Wired.

Currently, trains running along the Market-Frankford line use the same kind of braking technology found in most hybrid cars, converting kinetic energy from braking into electricity and sending it along the third rail to a massive array of more than 4,000 30 Ah nickel cobalt aluminum batteries. Otherwise, that energy would’ve been wasted as heat. By recapturing and reusing that energy, SEPTA estimates it could save up to $190,000 a year in energy costs, not to mention decreasing wear and tear on its trains’ braking systems.

Original source: Wired

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The Words: Behind the scenes of Philly's growing Hollywood cred

CliqueClack Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Movie blog CliqueClack takes in the Philadelphia red carpet premiere of The Words, starring Bradley Cooper.

With the filming of scenes from Political Animals with Sigourney Weaver (USA), Paranoia with Liam Hemsworth and Gary Oldman, and Dead Man Down with Colin Farrell and Terrence Howard, as well as the film premieres of The Words and Think Like a Man, it looks like Hollywood’s slowly jumping on the Philly bandwagon.

I give partial credit for this to Sharon Pinkenson, Executive Director for the Greater Philadelphia Film Society; partial credit to Mayor Michael Nutter; and partial credit to the filmmakers and stars who have ties to Philadelphia and want to see it featured further, including the native Philadelphia writers/directors/star/producers of The Words – Bradley Cooper, Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal and Jim Young.

Original source: CliqueClack

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Nutter: Hospitality holds keys to city's challenges, assets

Huffington Post Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Mayor Michael Nutter writes in Huffington Post about the Philadelphia hospitality sector's ability to transform the city.

And so while tourism attracts new people to our city, it is a major source of jobs for the Philadelphians who live here. Construction jobs each time a new hotel or museum is built; executives, managers, customer service staff and maintenance employees operating each new hotel; skilled tradesmen and women setting up and taking down every convention stage and showroom; concierges, tour guides and marketing professionals hired as new attractions come online; chefs, servers and bartenders hired when restaurants open their doors to new customers.

Some 56,000 Philadelphians are employed in the hospitality industry, and so a major priority of our city is to keep that machine running smoothly.

Original source: Huffington Post
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Historic jab: Joe Frazier's gym, legacy to be honored in Philly

The New York Times Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Late heavyweight great Joe Frazier is getting some posthumous love in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia, reports The New York Times.

Mr. Frazier’s relationship with the city was complicated. People flocked to him for autographs, especially in North Philadelphia, a neighborhood of boarded-up row houses, drug markets and littered streets. But even there, he labored in the shadow of his rival Muhammad Ali, who ridiculed him as an “Uncle Tom” and the “Great White Hope.”

Original source: The New York Times

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Six things you can get only in Philadelphia

Saveur Monday, August 20, 2012

Thankfully, Saveur's story goes beyond the cheesesteak to find six things you can only get in Philadelphia.

It was raining buckets when SAVEUR senior editor Gabriella Gershenson and I rolled into Philadelphia for a whirlwind 36-hour, 8-restaurant, million-calorie tour of the East Coast's most exciting emerging food town. This was a good thing: It meant that there was hardly a wait at all at Federal Donuts, the blazingly popular doughnut-and-fried-chicken emporium tucked away on a Pennsport side street where out-the-door lines and midafternoon sellouts are de rigueur. The sun came out for the rest of our trip, and so we criscrossed the city on foot, making our way from farmers' markets filled with jewel-like Amish produce to hushed, leafy terrace restaurants to the riotous 9th Street Italian Market, where century-old, family-run pork stores vie for space with Vietnamese produce stands and Mexican groceries. Through it all there was a continuous thread of something ineffably Philly: bright and optimistic, entirely unpretentious and yet exacting in quality. When it comes to eating, this city is operating miles beyond the cheesesteak.

Original source: Saveur

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On the farm with Garces

Seedstock blog Monday, August 20, 2012

Seedstock, the sustainable agriculture innovation conference, blogs about Jose Garces' organic farm in Ottsville, northern Bucks County.

Garces has teamed up with a successful and well-known Bucks County organic farmer, Alex McCracken, who, along with his wife Jenn, owns The Turnip Truck -- an organic kitchen gardening company, also based in Ottsville. A year ago, when McCracken caught wind that Garces had purchased the Luna Farm property, he did something that he had never been bold enough to do in the past: he e-mailed Garces directly to see if he could play a key role at Luna Farm.

Original source: Seedstock blog

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Frugal travel: Philadelphia as a midweek deal

Washington Post Monday, August 20, 2012

The Washington Post writes about a city that "more or less belonged to" its travel section as it went in search of some midweek travel deals.

We found ourselves alone in a museum, befriended bartenders and shopkeepers who had nothing better to do than share their life stories with us, stumbled upon some sweet weekday-only deals and happenings, and never waited for a drink or a table. Our only regret: that we hadn’t also been there for Monday and Tuesday.

Original source: The Washington Post

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Going global: Philly ranks 71st in the urban revolution, circa 2025

Foreign Policy magazine Monday, August 20, 2012

You've been reading in Flying Kite for some time about the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia-led World Class Greater Philadelphia initiative, which aims to establish our region as a world-class city by 2026. The folks at Foreign Policy magazine have created a list of the most dynamic cities of 2025 that represent the coming urban revolution, and Philadelphia ranks 71st behind the likes of Atlanta, San Diego and Ankara, Turkey.

Developed using McKinsey Global Institute's Cityscope database of 2,600 cities, the index represents one possible scenario of the urban world's evolution. Cities refer to integrated metropolitan areas, aggregating neighboring cities into a single urban center where appropriate. Estimates are based on underlying demographic and GDP per capita growth projections, and subject to significant uncertainty in evolution of everything from population and migration patterns to per capita GDP growth and exchange rate outlook.

Original source: Foreign Policy magazine

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First Round Capital makes big move from suburbs to University City

Business Insider Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Managing Partner Josh Kopelman writes in Business Insider about First Round Capital moving its headquarters from suburban West Conshohocken to University City in Philadelphia.

That’s why I’m done sitting on the sidelines. And so is First Round Capital. And I am super-excited to announce that First Round Capital is moving our headquarters from the suburbs of West Conshohocken into the city of Philadelphia. I’m trading my sterile suburban office park environment (and short commute) for proximity to Philadelphia’s entrepreneurs. We’ll be opening a 10,000 square foot facility in University City – right next to Penn’s campus. In addition to housing our Philadelphia team, the office will have space for startups – both for our portfolio companies (such as Uber’s Philly team, Curalate and Perceptual Networks) as well as other companies (like Technically Philly – who will be locating their offices there as well). It will have space to host educational and networking events. And it will have space for entrepreneurs to hang out and work.

Original source: Business Insider

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Center City startup Connectify takes to Kickstarter for multiple broadcband software

GigaOm Friday, August 10, 2012

GigaOm reports on Philadelphia's Connectify, which created a Kickstarter campaign to fund its project that would combnie Wi-Fi and 4G into a single, fat wireless pipe.

Why would you want to combine multiple broadband connections? Well, if you eat up gobs of bandwidth through file sharing, the aggregated connections would come in handy, but a more typical example revolves around connection management. Connectify’s software allows you to prioritize different links. If you were at an airport or coffee shop with spotty Wi-Fi but didn’t want to max out your 4G hotspot’s monthly data allotment, you could configure Dispatch to tap a free Wi-Fi network’s cheap bandwidth first and only resort to the 4G hotspot when Wi-Fi falters.

Original source: GigaOm

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Philadelphia's first chief data officer comes from Code for America

GovTech Friday, August 10, 2012

GovTech reports on Mark Headd, recently named Philadelphia's first chief data officer.

Headd is not a newcomer to the public sector. According to Headd’s blog, he was the chief policy and budget adviser for Delaware’s Department of Technology and Information. Headd also has served as director of the Delaware Government Information Center and as a technology adviser to former Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper.

Original source: GovTech

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Embracing Philadelphia's 'front porch' at 30th St. Station

National Resource Defense Council blog Friday, August 10, 2012

The National Defense Resources Council likes what's happenin gin Philly, citing The Porch, a placemaking creation of the University City District, as a welcoming entryway to the city.

What a great idea. The space is adjacent to the country’s third busiest train station and within easy walking distance of over 16,000 jobs. UCD’s executive director, Matt Bergheiser, says that 1,800 pedestrians on average stroll along the sidewalk every hour on weekdays. With some nine acres of developable land now covered only by surface parking lots, the area also has the potential for further walkable development linking Center City, the station, and University City.

Original source: National Resources Defense Council blog

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