Today is primary election day in Pennsylvania. The Committee of Seventy has a handy online guide to polling places. Just go here, enter your address and it will map your polling place.

This primary will be a dry run for Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law. That means that poll workers will ask you for ID, but you can vote whether you have it or not – as long as you have voted in the same precinct before. New voters in a precinct will need to show ID.

By now just about everyone has seen the posters around the neighborhood over the last few weeks – the ones with a woman’s portrait stylized like the President Barack Obama “Hope” posters.

The woman portrayed is Fatimah Loren Muhammad, who is challenging long-time incumbent James Roebuck in tomorrow’s primary for the Democratic nomination in the state General Assembly’s 188th District, which includes a sizable chunk of West Philly. Muhammad is an intriguing candidate to say the least. She is young (27), a Penn graduate, Muslim, openly bisexual and she grew up poor, and sometimes homeless, as the daughter of a single mother. That story resonates with lots of West Philly voters. The Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity recently endorsed her.

But there is another Fatimah Muhammad, one whose candidacy is being bankrolled by many people who have a very different life story. Her connection to conservative, pro-voucher (or “school choice,” depending on your political persuasion) donors has been well reported. Rep. Roebuck, who has served in the General Assembly since 1985 (too long for some people’s taste), has been an obstacle for the pro-voucher contingent, which aims to provide students public money to attend private and parochial schools.

Spend a few minutes with Muhammad’s campaign finance reports (they are included below) and another couple of minutes on Google and you will find a straight line between her campaign and pro-voucher, Republican billionaires.

Roebuck’s campaign has drawn money from those opposed to vouchers, including $5,000 from the Committee to Support Public Education, a PAC funded by the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers. That single contribution accounts for about a third of the total donations to Roebuck’s campaign.

Muhammad has said that the whole voucher issue is a “distraction.”

As for the money, she recently told The Philadelphia Tribune that, as a newcomer, she can’t be choosy about donations.

“As someone who’s new to politics, I can’t afford not to take money from anyone,” she recently told the Trib‘s Eric Mayes.

She continued in the article: “In this campaign vouchers have been used by my opponent to try and pigeonhole me in a particular area,” she said. “My stance is to keep everything on the table. I want parents at the center of this — not for political gain or anything. My stance has always been empowering parents.”

Below is the recently released campaign finance report for Friends of Fatimah. At least 80 percent of the $76,030 she raised is from groups and individuals connected to school voucher lobbyists, mostly organizations funded by Students First.

Here is a playbill for the biggest contributors:

• Students First PAC – $25,000

A school voucher campaign contributor that receives its funding from the American Federation for Children, a network of wealthy pro-voucher contributors. Finance wizard and billionaire Joel Greenberg of Bala Cynwyd sits on the organization’s Board of Directors. Gov. Tom Corbett reportedly received $50,000 from the organization in his campaign for governor.

• Women for Change – $4,000

The City Paper calls this organization, which lists an Elkins Park address but very little else, a “shell of a PAC.”  On March 21, Students First contributed $10,000 to Women for Change. On March 23, Women for Change contributed $4,000 to Fatimah Muhammad.

• Public Education Excellence – $7,500.

A PAC run in part by Joy Herbert, a parent of a West Philadelphia High School student who served on the school’s School Advisory Council. The PAC received $6,000 from Students First on March 19 and another $6,000 on March 27, according to campaign finance reports.

• Progressive Agenda PAC – $5,900

Another PAC that received money from Students First. On March 27, Students First contributed $6,000 to Progressive Agenda, about a week before Progressive Agenda contributed $5,900 to Friends of Fatimah.

• Black Clergy PAC – $1,000

Also on March 27, Students First contributed $6,000 to the Black Clergy PAC, according to campaign finance reports. On April 6 the PAC contributed $1,000 to the Muhammad campaign and April 17, the Black Clergy publicly endorsed Muhammad.

• Citizens Networking for Progress PAC – $3,000

On March 27, Students First contributed $8,000 to this PAC. On April 9. Friends of Fatimah received $3,000 from the PAC.

• Barbara Chavous – $9,239.03

An individual contributor whose address is listed in Macon, Ga. on campaign finance reports, Chavous works for the Muhammad campaign. Her daughter, Dawn Chavous (who contributed $4,000 to the campaign), is married to Philadelphia City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson. Dawn Chavous is also the executive director of Students First PA.

(h/t City Paper‘s Daniel Denvir, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Amara Rockar, The Philadelphia Tribune, UC Neighbors)

Friends of Fatimah Campaign Finance

The School Reform Commission last night quietly passed a resolution that adds a fourth kindergarten class at Penn Alexander School. The resolution strikes a deal between The University of Pennsylvania, which will reportedly pay for the additional class, and The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

An additional 18-student kindergarten classroom will be added to take pressure off the demand for kindergarten spots at Penn Alexander. Parents of young children who live in the Penn Alexander catchment area covet admission to the limited kindergarten spots because they usually assure admission to the 1st grade.

Penn Alexander has garnered attention across the city for the long lines for kindergarten registration. In January the line started 24 hours before registration started.

Neither the school nor the SRC has commented on how the school, which has experienced overcrowding in its lower grades, will accommodate the new kindergarten class.

(h/t Amara Rockar, John Myers and West Philly News and Kristen Graham.)

Dick Clark’s death yesterday will no doubt prompt loads of stories and television programs chronicling the legacy of American Bandstand. West Philly residents can experience that legacy first-hand.

American Bandstand started in 1952 in a studio at WFIL (which became WPVI, “6ABC”) located adjacent to the EL tracks at 4548 Market Street. The nondescript, cream-colored building now houses The Enterprise Center and other non-profits. The only reminder of its past is the small American Bandstand historical marker out front and the massive satellite dish on the roof.

The building was one of the first designed specifically for television broadcasting.

This Saturday, the Enterprise Center will open to the public the original American Bandstand studio, “Studio B,” which contains photos and memorabilia from the show. Although the studio appeared much larger on television, it is only about 3,300 square feet. The show was broadcast from Philadelphia until 1964 when it moved to Los Angeles.

This Saturday the studio will be open for visits and tours from Noon-3 p.m.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) recently acted on two disputed West Philly development proposals. The ZBA approved a developer’s proposal to turn the long-empty Apple Lofts Storage building at 780 S. 52nd St. into a 112-unit apartment complex. But it denied the proposal to convert the adult video store near 43rd and Chestnut into a state Wine and Spirits Shoppe.

The Apple Lofts project, which required a rezoning from industrial to residential, garnered wide support from many residents and businesses nearby. Dozens of letters in support of the project, proposed by Iron Stone Strategic Capital Partners, came into the ZBA. Those in favor included the Cedar Park Neighbors Association and community radio station WPEB. That support outweighed the opposition, which was orchestrated by the Community Achievement Association (CAA). The CAA, as the City Paper recently reported, is essentially one person – West Philly resident Shawn Kelly.

Kelly submitted a thick file of petitions and community meeting minutes to the ZBA. Concerns included an increase in surrounding residents’ property taxes and the environmental hazards, including the disruption of toxic soil at the site.

Meanwhile, the ZBA denied the proposal to convert Risque Video (pictured), the largest storefront in a strip mall at 43rd and Chestnut, into an “upscale” liquor store. Many West Philly residents supported the proposal because of the closing of a Wine and Spirits Shoppe at 4049 Market Street earlier this year. That closure has put considerable customer pressure on the remaining local shop near 49th and Baltimore.

The Spruce Hill Community Association last month tentatively supported the proposal with the stipulation that the 5,000-square-foot space be converted to an “upscale” store.

But many Muslim residents who live near the location oppose the proposal. The plaza also includes a halal restaurant and butcher shop. The Masjid al-Jamia mosque is a block away on 43rd and Walnut.

This is not the first time the ZBA has rejected a plan for a liquor store in the area. In 2007 the ZBA rejected an application for a liquor store near 43rd and Walnut – across the street from Masjid al-Jamia – after vocal opposition from Muslim residents.

But this one might not be over. The ZBA is currently reconsidering the denial after an appeal.

A group of West Philly residents who patrol their neighborhood from 47th to 49th Streets between Baltimore and Kingsessing will receive a commendation tomorrow for their help in catching a phone thief recently.

Patty Bulack, Charles Hamilton and Bruce Dorpalen, who are active members in the 48th Street Neighborhood Town Watch, will receive commendatory letters from Penn’s Department of Public Safety. All three were crucial in the apprehension of a man wanted in connection with the April 8 knifepoint robbery of a Penn student at 42nd and Spruce. A cell phone was taken in the incident. An arrest warrant was issued for a man that the Town Watch group spotted the day before in their neighborhood. When they spotted him again the following night they alerted police.

Here is a description of their actions from an e-mail posted by Bulack on the group listserv:

Last night Bruce, Charles and I went out on our usual 9 to 10 pm walk through the neighborhood. During that walk, Officer Vallette texted me to tell me that there was a warrant out for the arrest of the young man that we had seen on Saturday because of an investigation involving details of the knife point robbery that pointed directly to him. As we were walking south on 49th St. between Windsor and Springfield, he passed us on the sidewalk going north and Charles knew it was him. After calling 911, we called Officers Olesik and Vallette, and Olesik came and picked up Charles to continue finding him. They did find him on 48th St at Larchwood, with the phone he had taken.

Soon after they apprehended the suspect, Hamilton’s wife went into labor and police drove him to the hospital, where his son was later born.