malcolmxpark.org

On January18, 2010  Malcolm X Park along with Fire Fighters from the South West Area took time to clean up the park. Martin Luther King believed in working for the common good of man , improving the lives of many and peace for all mankind. We thank him for endless efforts on our behalf . Cleaning the park was what The Friends of Malcolm X Park best symbolized what Dr. King stood for . Though our park could not compare to he did we believe in working for the common good of our community and creating a park were all can come and gather in peace and enjoy each other company.

On behalf of Malcolm X Park Committee we would like to thank the community for their support . We strive to provide a place were family, friends and neighbors can meet and enjoy themselves .In 2010 we will continue to bring new life to the park and community events.

We would also like to wish Andrew  our beloved photographer / cameraman well wishes as he moves to the Big Apple… Thank you for all you have done and you are always welcome to come to any park event.

CONGRATS NAT MURRAY !

Malcolm X Park President Greg congratulates Mr. Nat Murray a committee member with Malcolm X Park as he receives an award from PHS for his countless dedication to the park .

Finally getting this little video together:

Volunteers from the Friends of Malcolm X Park, UC Green, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the surrounding neighborhood and from across the city gathered in Malcolm X Park to help plant two young Sugar Maples. The trees were a surprise donation to the park, left over from the streetscaping around the newly refurbished Market St. section of the El.

Music: “Pine St.” by David Reyes (found in the Open Source Audio collection at Archive.org)

I’ve made a long-overdue update to our schedule of events here in Malcolm X Park, including all of the Summer Heritage Jazz Series events. I’ll be updating with additional public events not sponsored by the Friends of Malcolm X Park as I hear about them:

Note that this calendar is always available on the Schedule of Events page in the right hand column of the website!

UPDATE: Eggs will be given out under the gazebo around noon today.  We’re working on rescheduling the activities and games until next Saturday after the Spring Into Your Park cleanup.

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The rain is disappointing, but the Easter Eggs will be given out rain or shine.  We’ll be out there either way from noon-3pm. Hope you can join us!

The Philadelphia Weekly’s cover story this week profiles Brendan Skwire, the voice behind Brendan Calling, a blog that covers, among other things, the neighborhood of Kingsessing, a few blocks south of Malcolm X Park.  As the article points out, he has been a vocal critic of Mayor Nutter’s cuts at the libraries and elsewhere, cuts that hit particularly hard in Skwire’s backyard at the Kingsessing branch of the public library.  

If you like reading the kind of hyper-local reporting you sometimes get from www.malcolmxpark.org, you’ll likely enjoy what Brendan’s serving up with less triviality, a little more edge and a lot more profanity–just like a real blogger should.  And Brendan’s right that we should all, bloggers or not, be a little more exercised about the Library closings.  It’s a bit of a miracle that they, like public parks, persist at all.  Both are important democratic and egalitarian places, crucibles of free speech and conduits for social engagement.  We need them as badly now as ever.  

Read Brendan’s report from last night’s meeting in Kingsessing.

The very first video I produced for malcolmxpark.org back in April 2007 continues to be a story to this day:

From the Legal Intelligencer: 

Court Says Singletary Should Be Disciplined

A Philadelphia Traffic Court judge should be punished for soliciting campaign funds at a motorcycle rally and intimating that he would give favorable treatment for anyone who donated to his campaign, the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline concluded Monday.

The court said Willie F. Singletary violated the Pennsylvania Constitution by bringing the judicial office into disrepute. Singletary has 10 days to file an objection to the court’s conclusions of law.

Singletary was recorded in a YouTube video soliciting campaign funds at a blessing on motorcycles ridden by the Philadelphia First State Road Rattlers ahead of the warm road season April 22, 2007.

During his donation solicitation, Singletary asked the bikers, according to court papers: “‘Now you all want me to get there, you’re all going to need my hook-up, right?’”

Singletary argued in court papers he was unaware of the ban on judicial candidates seeking campaign donations until he attended Judicial School after his election in the autumn of 2007.

The Legal will have a more in-depth story Thursday.

- Amaris Elliott-Engel, Staff Reporter

Here’s the original post and the video: 

Sorry about the lengthy hiatus here at Malcolmxpark.org.  The month of November was consumed with the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, but we’ll be back up to full strength here in no time at all.   Thanks for checking in!