The intersection of Melville St and Baltimore Ave.

All in all it appears that most of West Philly fared pretty well during Hurricane Sandy. There have been reports of pockets of power outages due mostly to downed trees. For example, a fallen tree near the intersection of Melville Street and Baltimore Avenue has left about half-dozen residents there without power.

Most businesses are going back to their regular hours and SEPTA was scheduled to reopen subway, El, trolley and 80 percent of city bus routes and 60 percent of suburban bus routes at Noon on Tuesday. However, there will be no regional rail routes. Check www.septa.org for specific bus route info.

Flights are expected to resume at the Philadelphia International Airport this afternoon.

Schools, city offices and courts remained closed Tuesday, but will reopen on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

A large branch dropped near the corner of 46th and Pine last night.

The tables and chairs in Clark Park have been lashed down in preparation for Sandy.

As Hurricane Sandy approaches, we will keep up with closures and changes in city services. Also, West Philly has lots of big, old trees so power outages are typical during big storms. After the news briefs we have a hurricane prep list and emergency phone numbers. If you have any news to report or any additional safety tips, leave a comment below, let us know on Twitter at @westphillylocal or drop us an e-mail at editor@westphillylocal.com. Stay safe everyone.

Here are some Sandy-related news briefs.

• The Streets Department writes on their Facebook page:
“Due to high winds and severe rainfall that is expected, there will be no trash and recycling collections on Monday, October 29. Residents whose trash day is on Monday are urged to keep their collections indoors to prevent loose items from blowing throughout the streets. Monday collections will resume on Monday, November 5.” Continue Reading

 
Someone on the 400 block of S. 45th Street is taking a novel and seasonal approach to get out the vote. If you’ve got a jack-o’-lantern you’re proud of, take a picture of it and get it entered in our Pumpkin Carving Contest. It’s free to enter and we have great prizes from local businesses. Look here for more details.

A screen shot from the Philadelinquency map (see full map below).

Philadelphia has a lot of tax deadbeats. As West Philly-based journalist Patrick Kerkstra wrote, there is a “culture of non-payment” that has cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. One brand of delinquent is the landlord who allows tax bills to pile up while still charging tenants rent. Christopher Sawyer has created a helpful way to identify them.

Sawyer, an “anti-blight activist” in Kensington, has produced a very useful tool over at his site, Philadelinquency, that has taken delinquent tax records and matched them with rental property licenses to produce a database of delinquent landlords. To make this information more helpful, he has plotted all of the delinquencies on a clickable Google map. When you click on a pin you get the Office of Property Assessment account number, contact information, Licenses and Inspections history and amount owed.

As you might have guessed, no section of the city has more delinquent landlords than West Philadelphia.

Across the city more than 4,500 properties have a delinquent balance of more than $100 and 1,178 property owners owe enough in back taxes to be brought to sheriff’s sale. The total amount owed is about $13.36 million.

We’ve embedded the Philadelinquency map below. The map is movable and clickable. To see West Philly properties grab it and drag it to the right, then click the + in the upper left to zoom in to a specific area.

Be sure to keep an eye on Sawyer’s site for more future info and data crunching.

View Larger Map

Kareem Drayton, the 19-year-old who pleaded guilty to rape and robbery charges stemming from a crime spree last fall, was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison today before his family and about a dozen members of 48th Street Neighbors, a group formed in the wake of his crimes.

Before the sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Catherine Thurston read aloud statements from the victim of the highly publicized gunpoint mugging and rape last September near 48th and Springfield, and from the 48th Street Neighbors group.

“Though I am often troubled by the portion of the population in this country that are behind bars, Kareem Drayton needs to be separated from the rest of the population,” the victim wrote. “No one on earth is responsible for where he is today other than Kareem Drayton.”

The statement from the 48th Street Neighbors spoke about the sense of loss and insecurity in the community that followed the crimes. Along with the rape and robbery, Drayton also pleaded guilty to other gunpoint robberies and assaults. All of the victims later moved out of the neighborhood.

“There is a deep sense of pain, anger, and grief for many of us,” the group wrote. “In the end, this is a loss to Kareem as well.”

The full text of the statement is below.

Following the statements, Drayton stood, drew a deep breath and addressed the court, his family and community members.

“I would truly like to apologize to my victims and the community I hurt,” he said. “I am not the monster you think I am.”

Drayton said he was “under the influence” when he committed the crimes.

Judge Ann Butchart referred to the victim and community statements while sentencing Drayton.

“Compassion is one of the strengths of our city,” she said. “There is a tremendous degree of compassion from the victim and the community members. That compassion gives me hope for our city and hope for the defendants who come into my courtroom.”

The following is the text of the “impact statement” from the 48th Street Neighbors delivered during the sentencing of Kareem Drayton:

October 18^th, 2012

 To The Court and to Kareem Drayton:

 I am writing on behalf of the 48^th Street Neighbors, which is a group of people that has joined together to create a stronger community. We began in response to the crimes Kareem Drayton is being sentenced for today, and so it is particularly important that we tell the court that we are here in support of the victims, who were our neighbors, and the ways we have been affected by these crimes.

 There has been a struggle to regain a sense of safety for us all, and a sense of loss. We are aware that all of the victims ended up moving out of the neighborhood, due to the trauma they suffered. That was a loss to us all, and to them. There is a deep sense of pain, anger, and grief for many of us.

 In the end, this is a loss to Kareem as well. Our community is full of people who would give him so much more than their money or belongings, if given the opportunity. We are teachers, social workers, mentors, mothers, fathers and prayer warriors. We serve people just like Kareem as part of our daily lives. And now he will not have the opportunity to know us for who we are because of his choices. He has cut himself off from these particular victims in a very profound way. This is a deep tragedy.

 Kareem, the material possessions that you gained through your crimes came at too high a cost. Your choice to ignore our humanity cost you too much of yours. Don’t allow anyone to encourage you to do that again, or to maintain that attitude towards us. It will cost you your soul. We can be so much more than how you see us, and you can be so much more than what you have allowed yourself to become. When you come out of prison, remember that about us, and yourself.

 We look for justice in this case. Please consider the seriousness of these crimes, and how the victims’ lives have been forever changed, and what they have lost as well as what we have lost as a community. Also, there are those of us who are praying for you Kareem, to turn and be changed to be a real man, one who can handle the truth about those around him and himself. Our hope is that what is decided here will serve both of those purposes.

 Yours,

48^th Street Neighbors

If you support President Barack Obama and need a boost ahead of tonight’s debate, I suggest you take a stroll down the 400 block of S. 43rd Street. Look for a porch about a block up from Baltimore Avenue on the west side of the street. Trust me, you can’t miss it. That’s the “Obama Shrine.”

Jacqui Bowman and her daughter Ella Serpell have carried on a tradition they started during the 2008 election. Their porch shelters a growing collection of pro-Obama Barbie dolls, action figures, trinkets and signs (see the photo gallery below). People often stop and look and sometimes they even add things.

“It was kind of fun because you could tell everyone in the community really liked Obama and everyone was adding stuff to it,” said Serpell, who has grown up in the neighborhood.

Most importantly for Bowman and Serpell it’s a way to be involved in the election because they can’t vote. Bowman, who is from England, is not a citizen and Serpell, a high school student, is still a couple of years away from being eligible.

“My feeling is that if I can get one person to vote who wouldn’t have otherwise voted, then I’ve had my vote,” said Bowman, who has lived in the neighborhood for 19 years.

Obama Shrine even has its own Twitter feed, @obamashrine. The feed’s tagline is: “A non-citizen ObamaMama’s shameless attempt to influence the 2012 vote. It worked in 2008 and it is going to work in 2012! A doll a day keeps the Romney away!”

Bowman says she worries that people may be taking Obama’s re-election for granted.

“I think the trouble this time around is that there is a slight sense that there’s not as much enthusiasm so I just want to make it clear that there are many people out there who are as enthusiastic,” she said.

And Bowman says people should feel free to add things to the shrine. If it’s a Barbie, even better.

“If anyone has Barbies, please donate,” she said.

[wpsgallery]