John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 13 - 06/23/99
The big Sunoco Welcome America! celebration kicks off on Friday and lasts for ten days, culminating with the festivities on July 4, 1999 including the now famous Photo of the Century. The organizers have gathered 100 folks born this century, one from each year 1900-1999, including a still unknown baby born right here in Philadelphia on July 4, 1999. I'll be attending lots of the events and providing coverage in this column, and elsewhere on the site. Be sure to catch at least some of the celebration. This is, of course, the kickoff of the city's Millennium Celebration which will culminate next year when the GOP comes to Philadelphia to nominate their candidate for President of the United States.
For those of you who enjoy reading your horoscope, either seriously, or just for the fun of it, we have added a horoscope page to the site where you can check your stars every day. Next week, on the same page we will be adding a weekly poll and we encourage your participation. You can check the results instantaneously.
For all of the folks who live in New Jersey and work in Pennsylvania or visa versa, the big news this week is the proposed 50% increase in tolls on the Delaware River Port Authority bridges and PATCO Hi-Speed Line. I realize that people do not like toll increases, but these seem to be very much in line to me. The PATCO Line trains are in need of extensive repairs and the bridges require constant upkeep. In addition a portion of the increase will go to the Port Authority's $ 100 million share of the $ 300 million cost of deepening the Delaware River shipping channel from 30-45 feet. This is the most controversial aspect of the rate increase since many environmentalists fear the ecological consequences of the river project.
Even after this increase, the tolls on our bridges will still be 25% less than the cost to drive from New Jersey to New York, so we still will have that one up on the Big Apple.
In politics the big story remains the cool relationship between Democratic mayoral candidate John Street and the primary runner-up, Marty Weinberg. While the two had lunch on Monday with city Democratic chairman, U.S. Representative Bob Brady. No endorsement came out of the meeting. I have seen clips on the news and in the newspapers and the most telling thing is the smile on John Street's face and something far less on the face of Marty Weinberg.
I think that we will have an interesting fall campaign for mayor.
Well, I'm off to Delaware for a few days to watch some really talented ladies hit a golf ball much better than I ever could. What is even better is that for those of you who have attended a men's PGA event, the members of the LPGA tour are actually fan friendly. They even chat with the gallery from time to time and they really appreciate the reception and support that they get from the fans. Maybe that's why I was rooting for Payne Stewart in the U.S. Open. Unlike some of the prima donnas on the PGA Tour, he also knows how important the fans are.
Well, that's my spin on things. Let me hear from you.You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Phalli Chat - or drop me a note at Philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more.
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fisher's
Philadelphia 06/11/99
John Fisher's Philadelphia 06/14/99
John Fisher's Philadelphia 06/16/99
John Fisher's Philadelphia 06/18/99
John Fisher's Philadelphia 06/21/99