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Chester Charter School for the Arts breaks ground on new $25 million campus
Keren White, Chester Fund for Education and the Arts
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
The nonprofit
Chester Charter School for the Arts
(CCSA) has been renting space in Aston, PA, since its inception in 2012. But in June, the school broke ground on a brand-new $25 million, 11-acre campus; it should be open by fall 2017.
"There isn't much in the way of this kind of development happening in Chester," says Keren White, executive director of the
Chester Fund for Education and the Arts
, CCSA's precursor and now its development and marketing arm. "A new school hasn't been built in Chester for several decades."
When CCSA opened, it offered kindergarten through sixth grade, and the school has expanded by one grade each year. Currently, this non-selective public school serving the Chester Upland School District has almost 500 K-9 students. For the 2017-18 school year, they will welcome 11th graders, and then 12th graders in fall 2018. At that point, the school will maintain an enrollment of about 650 students, with a maximum of 25 students per class.
"Arts Integration" is key at the school, combining rigorous core academics with dance, music, theater and visual arts classes. The model works, according to CCSA: In 2014, the school achieved the third-highest year to year improvement among 800 Philly-area public schools; it currently boasts a 96 percent attendance rate.
CCSA isn't Chester's only charter school: there's also the K-8
Chester Community Charter School
, which currently serves around half the kids in the district (about 3,500 students). CCSA will ultimately have the capacity to serve about 10 percent of the district's kids.
"If we can really educate 10 percent of the kids to a high standard, then potentially we'll have a huge impact on this population," says White.
The new CCSA campus at 1200 Highland Avenue -- a three-story, 90,000-square-foot building -- will feature a gymnasium, a multi-purpose cafeteria/auditorium, music space, art studios and a kiln, science and media labs, and dance studios. Outside, there will be athletic fields, a new playground, and ample parking alongside new landscaping and trees. In a later phase of construction, which could be as early as 2018, the campus will add a 350-seat performing arts center with its own costume and set design workshops.
White says the Fund is raising $7 million of the total $25 construction budget ($3.825 million is already in place) and will finance the rest.
"We just really believe in Chester," says White. "The people in Chester are great people…and they haven't had the opportunities that other people have had. We've really invested for the long term."
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Keren White, The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts
The K&T Trail is officially underway on the Delaware
Tom Branigan, DRCC
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
The latest segment of
The Circuit Trails
network to break ground is the first stretch of the trail to directly connect two parks, says
Delaware River City Corporation
(DRCC) Executive Director Tom Branigan.
Phase One of the new K&T trail (so named because it will follow the path of the former Kensington and Tacony railroad) will be a 1.15-mile stretch connecting the Frankford Boat Launch to
Lardner's Point Park
, serving visitors as well as residents of Wissinoming to the south and Tacony to the north.
Phase One of the K&T -- a 12-foot-wide asphalt trail -- has a $2.9 million budget. Directing partners Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and DRCC broke ground on June 9 and anticipate completion in 2017. The trail is part of a much bigger regional picture: It's one more piece of the 750-mile
and the 3,000-mile
East Coast Greenway
Under design since 2008, the trail will move through a riverside right-of-way owned by the City of Philadelphia. The whole length of it will have riverfront views, although the strips of land touching the river are still in the hands of adjacent property owners. And since it's a heavily industrial area, there will be fencing installed alongside the trail.
"We're working with the property owners to make sure everything moves smoothly," says Branigan.
Partners hope efforts to acquire the riverfront land will boost the project in the long term.
"We'll engage various property owners and see about acquiring that small strip of land between the trail and river," he adds.
"And then [we'll] make appropriate improvements."
The trail will also span a small inlet of the river, requiring a bridge.
Currently, landscaping and other amenities include benches, interpretive signage on the wildlife and history of the area, 80 trees, 1,000 shrubs, and thousands more beautifying grasses and perennial plants.
Phase Two of K&T will launch next year, taking the trail up as far as Princeton Avenue; another piece, currently in design and slated for construction in 2018, will go as far north as Rhawn Street.
"We'll have a good stretch of trail by the end of 2018 or early 2019 that will go from the Frankford Boat Launch all the way up to Pleasantville Park on Linden Avenue," concludes Branigan.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Tom Branigan, Delaware River City Corporation
Stunning Free Library renovation enlivened by $50,000 art contest: Apply Now!
Margot Berg, the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
As part of a $36 million renovation at the Central Branch of the
Free Library of Philadelphia
, Philly's
Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy
's (OACCE)
Percent for Art Program
a $50,000 competition for a site-specific artwork.
Because the Free Library's main branch is "such a flagship building" with a central Parkway location, "we're hopeful we'll get a lot of interest," says Margot Berg, OACCE's public art director. She expects up to 100 applications from artists nationwide who want to put their mark on this historic space.
The Parkway library first opened in 1927 and now serves more than one million visitors each year. The planned renovations -- part of the
Library's Building Inspiration: 21st Century Libraries Initiative
-- will be designed by
Safdie Architects
. The remodel will focus on the north-facing rear section of the library in what is now the stacks.
According to OACCE, 35 percent of the Library is currently open to the public, with the rest reserved for staffing and storage. The plan is to open up tens of thousands of square feet across two floors, reversing the ratio of public to administrative areas.
The renovations will create four new public amenities: The Common, The Business Resource and Innovation Center (BRIC), The Marie H. and Joseph M. Field Teen Center, and a new Grand Central Staircase.
For the art installation, the Library, Percent for Art and the architects settled on a location spanning the first and second floors of the renovated space: a two-story open shelving system.
"This was the best opportunity, and something that had high visibility in the library," explains Berg. Space on the floor and the walls is at a premium, and suspended artworks can be expensive and difficult to maintain. This made an art piece targeting the shelving itself the best option.
At this point, it's impossible to know what prospective artists might propose, but Berg says they could incorporate a series of small objects or sculptures that nest visibly within the shelves and invite viewers to discover them, or it could be some type of visual treatment to the surface of the shelving itself.
Currently, the call is in stage one: the
Request for Qualifications officially closes on June 29 at 5 p.m.
The competition will be tough: According to the RFQ, only about five applicants will be selected to submit full proposals, with the help of a $750 honorarium. These finalists will be notified in mid-July, with full proposals due later that month. By early October, the artist will be chosen and notified. Fabrication and installation of the artwork is slated for completion in 2017.
"This project has been a long time coming," says Berg of the renovations. "It's all about rebuilding, continuing to have libraries be a hub for meeting and learning, and for doing business going into the next century. We're happy to be a part of that."
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Margot Berg, the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy
Development News: PHS pop-up garden is a preview of partners' hopes for upcoming Viaduct Rail Park
Leigh Ann Campbell, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
This year, a
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
pop-up is offering a preview of the upcoming Viaduct Rail Park. Last December,
we reported on
PHS' plans for an installation somewhere along the planned promenade in the Callowhill neighborhood (our recent
On the Ground
home) and now a
new summer beer garden
is open at 10th and Hamilton Streets on the north side of Viaduct.
"What's exciting about this is it gives you a snapshot of what this will be ultimately," said Mayor Jim Kenney at an opening night party on June 10.
Walter Hood of
Hood Design
is behind the new space. A former gravel parking lot in the shadow of the Viaduct, the site "merges the post-industrial overhead structure with the green urban space," explains PHS Associate Director of Landscape Design Leigh Ann Campbell.
The beer garden features large, colorful boxes reminiscent of shipping containers and a performance area with metal framework repurposed from Hood's recent exhibit at the PHS Flower Show. The plants in the garden itself are those that "naturally emerged on the Viaduct after it was decommissioned," explains Campbell; these include Paulownia trees, sumacs, ferns and milkweed.
On Saturday, June 18 at 5 p.m., the pop-up will host a special opening event for a site-specific sound installation from artist Abby Sohn, which will "make use of the iron structure to create a sonic experience that explores the cultural heritage and the rail site's creative potential," according to PHS.
The food comes from chefs Jason Chichonski (of ELA and Gaslight) and Sylva Senat (of Dos Tacos and Maison). Six taps, canned beer, wine, cocktails, sangria and more will round out the beverage offerings.
There will also be a variety of programming throughout the summer, including special themed dinners, acoustic music performances, garden workshops for containers and window-boxes, and even lessons on mixing drinks made with home-grown herbs.
The Philadelphia Public History Truck
will also make appearances thanks to support from the
Mural Arts Program
. (Here's the
full line-up
of happenings.)
A variety of funders, partners and supporters made the site possible, including property owner
Arts & Crafts Holdings
, the
Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
, the
Friends of the Rail Park
, the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
, Viaduct owner
Reading International
Victory Brewing Company
, the
Callowhill Neighborhood Association
and the
Land Health Institute
. All proceeds from the garden will support PHS's
City Harvest
Campbell said the pop-up isn't just a good place to get dinner and drinks and enjoy a new slice of green in the city. The service berry bushes planted all around the park's perimeter draw all kinds of birds to feast right along with the human city-dwellers.
"If you've never heard a catbird sing," she adds, come over and listen.
The Viaduct Rail Park will be open through September 30.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Leigh Ann Campbell, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Follow all our work
via twitter (
) and Instagram (
On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more,
visit knightfoundation.org
June 5 building collapse memorial on track to begin construction this month
David Carlson, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
June 5
marked the third anniversary of the day that demolition of a vacant building at 2138 Market Street caused the collapse of the adjacent Salvation Army thrift store, killing six people. To help ensure that this tragedy is not forgotten or repeated, the City of Philadelphia and agencies including Parks & Recreation and
Center City District
(CCD) have teamed up with the
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
to create a memorial park at the site of the collapse.
According to PHS director of landscape design David Carlson, plans for the park are now funded, approved and permitted, and they're ready for construction to commence in June, pending the completion of soil testing at the site.
In January 2014, a committee formed for the creation of a memorial park; it features representatives of CCD, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Brandywine Realty Trust, Center City Residents Association, the Philadelphia Housing Authority and many others. Since the committee is not a 501(c) 3, it made sense to partner with PHS to manage the project's dollars and design.
In March 2014, the Salvation Army gave the land to the City of Philadelphia at no cost, with City Council approving the transfer of the 3,125-square-foot site into the City's park system. One June 5, 2014, then-Mayor Michael Nutter dedicated the site. According to the
June 5 Memorial
website, the space "will provide a contemplative respite for visitors while preserving the memory of those lost -- and serve as a constant reminder that construction projects must be done safely."
In early 2015, a pro bono design team began a six-month collaboration on the final plan (with over $150,000 in design hours donated by Philly-area design professionals). The park itself was designed by architect Scott Aker, with a granite-and-glass sculptural element titled "Witness" from artist Barb Fox. The plan earned approval from the Art Commission on June 3 of last year. Fundraising for construction launched in earnest in September, with a total budget of $1.3 million now raised.
The park will feature new landscaping and stormwater management, the three-piece "Witness" sculpture that Carlson says will be made with locally-sourced stone, a 31-foot-long reflection plaza, and a 12-by-12 foot "Sacred Memorial Area." It will all be ADA-accessible.
A maintenance endowment for the park is also being established. Once construction is finished (Carlson estimates it will take about six months from the mid-June start date), Parks & Rec will maintain the site, with landscaping help from PHS.
Carlson calls the work "a testament to the City trying to make amends."
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: David Carlson, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
PHS brings new Green Resource Center to South Philly
Nancy Kohn, PHS
Friday, May 20, 2016
How do you top distributing 250,000 seedlings every year to gardeners and urban farmers throughout the city? The
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
(PHS) is working on it.
Recently, we checked out the
installation of a new solar power array
in Strawberry Mansion, our current
On the Ground
neighborhood. PHS has been building two new Green Resource Centers (GRC) over the past eighteen months (it already has four others throughout the city): one on the Strawberry Mansion site and another in South Philadelphia on a formerly vacant lot at 2500 Reed Street. (GRCs are a part of PHS's
City Harvest
The South Philly site is a partnership between the lot owner (the nearby
Church of the Redeemer Baptist
), PHS and the
Nationalities Service Center
(NSC), which works with refugees resettling in Philadelphia. NSC leases about two-and-a-half acres (of the three-and-a-half acre lot) from the church, and worked with PHS to develop a large community garden there.
"It's an entire city block and it's right by the old rail line, so it's really a wonderful place to have a community garden," says Nancy Kohn, Director of Garden Programs at PHS. Before NSC and PHS arrived, the long-unused site was full of debris, rubble and stones. Volunteers from
Villanova University
and various corporate partners pitched in to clear the land and build hundreds of raised garden beds. Now the site has its own water line, a shed and 400 beds.
Half of those are "entrepreneurial beds," according to Kohn, for people who grow and sell vegetables to nearby businesses and restaurants. The rest are community garden beds open to the public.
The opportunity to garden is important to many NSC clients.
"A lot of refugees that are coming through this program have an agricultural background," explains Kohn. "The community garden has been a wonderful place to get them more connected to their background, as well as connected to their neighbors, who are South Philly natives."
Meanwhile, the impact of the GRCs extends citywide: Through the network, volunteers and PHS staff propagate a total of 250,000 seedlings each year, to be distributed to gardens and farms all over town (with the two new GRCs completed soon, that number will grow significantly). Participating volunteers give ten hours of work to the PHS site over the season and receive the seedlings in return. Earlier this month, PHS had a mass distribution of nine different varieties of veggies, including peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes and okra.
"The gardeners come to pick them up," says Kohn. "They take them back to their gardens, and they grow them for their communities."
Because of the landowner's evolving plan to eventually build a new church on the site, the community gardens will stay and continue to partner with PHS, but the permanent GRC will be built in another South Philly location (to be announced soon). The site will include a new greenhouse, demonstration and community garden beds for educational workshops, solar paneling for electric power, a wash station and a shade structure.
Kohn hopes the build-out on the new site will begin later this summer; the GRC should be up and running by next spring.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Nancy Kohn, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Philly's biggest green roof gets the green light at Temple
Dozie Ibeh, Temple University
Friday, May 20, 2016
Late last month, Governor Tom Wolf confirmed a massive local green roof project that's been five years in the making. Thanks to a partnership between
Temple University
and the
Philadelphia Water Department
, the stunning design be a reality when the school's new library opens for the fall semester in 2018.
"Temple has worked closely with the Water Department over the last five years to identify meaningful stormwater solutions that address North Philadelphia's critical challenges with this issue," says Dozie Ibeh, associate vice president of Temple's Project Delivery Group.
According to Temple, the new library will have one of the state's largest green roofs (the only comparable one in the region is the PECO green roof at 23rd and Market Streets).
The project will be made possible thanks to a $6,747,933 loan from the
Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority
(PENNVEST). With a low interest rate of approximately one percent and a 20-year term, the university projects that the PENNVEST loan will save them $4 million. Those dollars will help Temple install the green roof, permeable paving, cisterns for rainwater and stormwater piping. The space will also include a 46,000-square-foot roof garden, planting beds, and a terrace and seating area outside the new library's fourth-floor reading room.
The international design firm
is behind the 225,000-square-foot
new library
, in partnership with the
local office of Stantec
. Philadelphia's
consulted with Temple throughout the design process, and will help maintain the completed system, alongside Temple's grounds superintendent, and faculty from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture.
The space will also provide important research opportunities for students and faculty.
Temple hopes to receive LEED gold certification when the new library is completed in 2018 as part of a wider sustainability plan on campus; LEED gold status is already on the books for the new Science Education and Research Center, which opened in 2014.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Dozie Ibeh, Temple University
AIA kicks off its annual conference with a day of service to rehab local rec center
Laura Marlow, AEC Cares
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The American Institute of Architects
(AIA) is holding its
national conference
in Philadelphia this week (May 19-21), and on May 18 -- one day before the conference officially opens -- over 100 volunteers will participate in the annual "Blitz Build," a massive one-day rehab of a selected host-city building.
This year, the project will target the Sharswood neighborhood's
Athletic Recreation Center
, an arts, community and sporting center that serves hundreds of children from low-income families. The building's brick exterior is in pretty good shape, so the project will focus on five interior areas: the lobby, the arts and crafts center, the kitchen, a performance space and a theater storage space. Renovations will include extensive reorganization, new appliances, painting, new blinds and new flooring.
For the last five years, the Atlanta-based non-profit
AEC Cares
has made these Blitz Builds possible, supported by AIA, AIA Innovation Partner
CMD iSqFt
and other stakeholders.
AEC Cares Executive Director and CMD Senior Director of Business Development Laura Marlow says that "everyone from booth staff to executives" participates in the build, which she predicts will draw about 115 volunteers. This includes out-of-towners as well as local groups like
PowerCorps PHL
Marlow begins her search for the AEC Cares build site by reaching out the local mayor's office, asking for a department that can point towards a high-use community building in need of a makeover. Some cities have offered the expertise of a Department of Community Engagement, for example, but in Philly, she found herself directed to Parks & Rec.
"Initially I thought it was a little odd," she recalls. Marlow expected to work with an agency specializing in something like homelessness. But it turned out to be just the right resource. "Philadelphia Parks and Recreation has been an absolutely phenomenal partner."
The department nominated several City sites in need of work, and facilitated the involvement of the
Community Design Collaborative
, which sent a volunteer architect to assess the sites.
Built in 1912, the Athletic Recreation Center stood out because "while it has really good bones, it really needs a facelift," Marlow explains.
This winter, a volunteer team of Collaborative architects began designing, and Parks & Rec helped by prepping the site, including a total gut of the existing kitchen, which will be rebuilt in one day by volunteers.
Including pro bono design time, volunteer labor and materials, Marlow estimates that this year's build will have a value of up to $280,000.
"It's an emotional endeavor for many of us," she says. "We're really excited about what we can accomplish."
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Laura Marlow, AEC Cares
UArts brings a Philadelphia EcoDistrict Oasis to Spring Garden
Christopher Zelov, Philadelphia EcoDistrict; Tony Guido and Guiseppe Sciumbata, UArts
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
"We've been taking from nature for 200-plus years at a rate that's not sustainable," says Christopher Zelov, Philadelphia eco-activist, filmmaker and author. The founder of the Philadelphia EcoDistrict (the local chapter of a
nationwide urban sustainable living movement
based in Portland, Oregon), Zelov has spent the last six months teaming with
University of the Arts
Associate Professor Tony Guido and a group of seven undergrads on
The Philadelphia EcoDistrict Oasis
According to Zelov, the ultimate goal is "building a regenerative culture." That means not just "technologies that give back more than they take" (green roofs, cisterns, aquaponic gardens and solar arrays), but also building a social culture that supports these technologies.
For the past semester, UArts industrial design students have been collaborating with the Spring Garden Community Development Corporation to fashion portable working prototypes of their EcoDistrict Oasis concepts as a case study for future development here in Philadelphia.
On May 5, after an extensive research and engagement process, students presented their prototypes at a community barbecue at
The Spring Gardens Community Garden
. Their concepts included a small-scale aquaponic garden for the kitchen wall, modular ramps that easily make buildings accessible to all, sustainable composting pails, super-insulation, modular green surfaces, and more.
Green surfaces aid stormwater management while also mitigating a cycle of urban heat that leads to more pollution. Aquaponics offer an accessible closed-loop water-saving system for growing veggies. Composting pails made for city kitchens reduce waste and nourish gardens. Super-insulation uses a variety of techniques to vastly reduce a building's energy usage, effectively sealing everything from electrical outlets to windows, and using specially fabricated walls filled with cellulose -- rather than fiberglass -- to keep temperatures comfortable without extra heating or cooling.
"What we're trying to do is bring it into the community" and make it a regular practice, explains Zelov. He's one of the filmmakers behind
Ecological Design: Inventing the Future
City21: Multiple Perspectives on Urban Futures
, and their companion books. He's working on another film, this one about the UArts EcoDistrict project titled
EcoDistricts Emerging.
Guido, who's been teaching in UArts' Industrial Design department for 21 years, says the program takes pride in "doing great work and doing it with conscience." He hopes the prototypes will get future public showcases, perhaps during 2016's
PARK(ing) Day
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Christopher Zelov, Philadelphia EcoDistrict; Tony Guido and Guiseppe Sciumbata, University of the Arts
Philly's second ADA-accessible playground planned for Kensington
Todd Kimmel, Hackett Elementary
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
East York Street's
Horatio B. Hackett Elementary School
just kicked off a major fundraising push that partners and supporters hope will make Kensington host to the city's second ADA-compliant playground.
Thanks to a collaboration between the School District, the
Philadelphia Water Department
New Kensington CDC
and the
Community Design Collaborative
, a stormwater-savvy revitalization plan has been underway at Hackett for about three years. With help from group
Friends of Hackett
, project partners hope to raise $1.4 million to transform the schoolyard.
Hackett's current yard is a giant square of concrete; the new plan includes ADA-compliant play equipment and a rainwater capture system with underground storage. Friends of Hackett board member Allison Dean says the playground plans are important because 27 percent of the school's students use assistive devices or need an ADA-compliant play space. And only five percent of those students live in the surrounding neighborhood -- the rest are bussed in from other parts of the city, underscoring the need for more accessible play spaces everywhere.
The only other fully ADA-compliant playground is East Fairmount Park's Smith Memorial Playground, and for those without cars, it takes 45 minutes on two bus routes to get there from Kensington.
"We have a higher percentage of special education [students] and it's important for them to have access to outdoor equipment," insists Principal Todd Kimmel.
On April 27, the school held a fundraising kick-off for friends and students, featuring representatives from Friends of Hackett, the School District's Central East Assistant Superintendent Dr. Racquel Jones, and State Senator Christine Tartaglione. Stakeholders also unveiled a new gateway arch, funded by $25,000 from
Penn Treaty Special Services District
(Sugarhouse Casino's charitable arm) and a $5,000 in-kind gift from
Healy Long & Jevin Concrete
Jana Curtis, co-chair of the Friends of Hackett capital campaign committee for the new schoolyard, says it was very fitting that the fundraising kick-off happened on April 27.
Curtis and her husband live across the street from the school, and her husband's grandmother Florence Colduvell (who recently passed away) served as a crossing guard for 26 years at the corner of York and Sepviva Streets, next to the site of the new gateway. April 27 would have been her 90th birthday.
"At least once a month, someone knocks on my door and asks for her," says Curtis. She calls Hackett a "calm and bright" school that's thriving and hopes the new schoolyard will serve the wider community as well as the students.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Todd Kimmel, Hackett Elementary School; Allison Dean and Jana Curtis, Friends of Hackett
On the Ground: Strawberry Mansion defines its boundaries
Strawberry Mansion NAC & CDC
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Strawberry Mansion,
Flying Kite
's current
On the Ground
home, somehow manages to be both well-known and anonymous to most Philadelphians: On the one hand, "Strawberry Mansion" is one of the city's most distinctive and evocative monikers, but the neighborhood itself often lacks recognition. Now leaders of the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Center (NAC) and Community Development Corporation are launching a project -- in partnership with Flying Kite -- to help put their neighborhood on the map.
"Our neighborhood boundaries are pretty well set," said
Strawberry Mansion CDC
Board President Tonnetta Graham at an April meeting with
Flying Kite
. The region is north of Brewerytown and just east of East Fairmount Park, bounded by Ridge Avenue and 33rd Street to the west and W. Lehigh Avenue to the north, with a long diagonal piece of Glenwood Avenue completing the triangle.
For a long time, NAC and CDC members have wanted to launch a gateway project that welcomes residents and visitors to the neighborhood. (The CDC is actually housed out of the NAC facility on Diamond Street.)
"We've been trying to tie it all together so we could market it to developers," explains Graham. The organizations have been pushing to create and mount banners that would beautify Strawberry Mansion's bordering streets and create a sense of pride and identity for the neighborhood. Graham and other local leaders hope that sponsorship dollars from local businesses or developers could help make the initiative possible.
Graham and NAC leader Lenora Evans-Jackson noted that besides having such clear boundaries, Strawberry Mansion has many ideal places for a welcoming touch, notably the numerous bridges that cross into the neighborhood. There are also big changes coming to nearby East Fairmount Park, where the
Knight Foundation
Reimagining the Civic Commons
initiative will create the
Discovery Center
, remaking the site of an abandoned reservoir.
"It's an ideal time to have something in place," insists Graham, who likes the idea of teaming with Fairmount Park or other partners for Strawberry Mansion banners bordering the park, or some other type of 33rd Street gateway.
Potential designs for the banners could include a slogan informally adopted by the CDC after a contest a few years ago: "Preserving our past, investing in our future," along with a Strawberry Mansion logo and a logo from the sponsoring organization, business, or agency.
With design and other practical support from
Flying Kite
, the Strawberry Mansion CDC and NAC brainstormed different phases and sponsorship packages for the project, which they hope could lead to 20 to 40 flags along the neighborhood's iconic corridors.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Strawberry Mansion NAC and CDC leaders
Follow all our work
via twitter (
) and Instagram (
On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more,
visit knightfoundation.org
On the Ground: Strawberry Mansion is home to PHS's first solar-powered Green Resource Center
Jason Sears, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club; Nancy Kohn, PHS
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
Earlier this month, the
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
's (PHS) Strawberry Mansion Green Resource Center became the first PHS Resource Center to operate on solar power thanks to a
$40,000 gift
from the
Green Mountain Energy Sun Club
. The Center is across the road from Strawberry Mansion High School in
Flying Kite's
current On the Ground neighborhood.
Originally founded through
Green Mountain Energy Company
in 2002, the Sun Club is now a separate nonprofit.
"We have been a partner of PHS for a number of years," says Jason Sears, an executive for the organization. "They introduced us to the opportunity out at Strawberry Mansion High School, and we've been working with them on that for about a year now."
The new 10-kilowatt solar array will include over 30 panels on top of a shade structure in the site's community garden. (The greenhouse is still under construction.) The electricity from the panels will power all kinds of appliances for the site's plant-growing and vegetable-washing stations.
The Sun Club takes a broad view of sustainability -- it doesn't just mean renewable power or energy efficiency. It includes community-wide factors: access to food, transportation and job-training, all of which the nonprofit wants to support.
Sears appreciates projects like the Strawberry Mansion installation because it's putting green energy in the hands of local residents. Solar panels are durable, and with little more than a rinse every year or two, they can last for up to 30 years.
"When people understand that renewable energy isn't this mythical ephemeral idea, it's very real and very powerful," he says.
PHS Director of Garden Projects Nancy Kohn says power from the new panels will affect up to forty different gardening sites city-wide. PHS currently has four Green Resource Centers besides the one under construction in Strawberry Mansion which propagate seedlings for participating gardeners across Philadelphia (a sixth center is planned for South Philly). About 50,000 seedlings from the newly solar-powered facility in Strawberry Mansion will grow throughout the city each year.
The site includes community garden plots as well as educational beds for Strawberry Mansion High School students -- they grow food there and incorporate the produce into cooking and nutrition classes.
Kohn estimates that construction on the Strawberry Mansion Green Resource Center, a member site of PHS's
City Harvest
, will wrap up by August.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Jason Sears, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club; Nancy Kohn, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
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via twitter (
) and Instagram (
On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more,
visit knightfoundation.org
New grant gives the Manayunk Bridge Trail its finishing touch
Rob Armstrong, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
Thanks to $600,000 from the
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
(DVRPC), the recently refreshed Manayunk Bridge Trail will get its finishing touch.
A couple of weeks ago,
Flying Kite took a look
at the DVRPC Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) dollars that will go into the corner of Chelten and Greene Avenues in Germantown, a new gateway into Vernon Park. Philly Parks & Recreation is another TAP grant recipient for improvements to the Manayunk Bridge Trail, which opened to foot and bike traffic last October. They applied for the grant in January of this year, hoping for dollars that would allow the installation of lighting and other commuter-friendly amenities.
"It's a transportation amenity and recreation as well," explains Parks & Rec Preservation and Capital Projects Manager Rob Armstrong. "Lighting is the number one priority. That way we can open the bridge for more hours than it's open right now."
Because of the need to preserve the structure's historic look -- and the many agencies involved in a trail amenity -- Armstrong can't predict exactly when the necessary permits will be in place for construction. But the dollars do have a timeline stipulating the the work must be completed by next year.
According to DVRPC Executive Director Barry Seymour, the eleven projects funded through TAP will "enable communities to build multi-use trails, safe routes to school and pedestrian pathways, and bike lanes and bikeway projects, providing transportation for a wide variety of users throughout our region."
"I'm really pleased that [the bridge] has been so popular since it opened last fall," adds Armstrong. He uses the trail himself, and appreciates the many people who cross it for the views, to connect to other trails, or on their commute. "It links the city the suburbs, and vice versa. I'm just glad we got the funding so we can do this project and get it lit, so that more people can use it."
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Rob Armstrong, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
On the Ground: Parkside's 'North Star' mural finally gets its due with official dedication
Callalily Cousar, East Parkside Residents Association
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
More than two years after its completion, a mural that community members spent fifteen years planning will finally be officially dedicated. The event is coming up on April 30, presented in partnership with
Flying Kite
On the Ground
program, the East Parkside Residents Association and the
City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
, which landed in Parkside last year.
Callalily Cousar, a longtime Parkside resident and founding board member of the East Parkside Residents Association, is proud of the mural. "North Star: The Journey to Freedom," by Delia King, was completed at 1100 N. 41st Street in fall 2014.
"It means unity and community," she says. "We're hoping for it to be a legacy for our children."
According to the
Mural Arts
, which helped create the piece, it "references African-American quilts, which would often hold directions for those escaping slavery on how to reach the free states and Canada." It's not surprising that the North Star was a common visual theme in these quilts.
"It was part of our history," says Cousar of the design. "Every star was supposed to be the guiding star for freedom…It's supposed to be a light."
"We're proud of it on that wall," she continues, emphasizing that the mural's installation was a collaborative neighborhood effort. "I personally worked on some of the stars…It was a community thing that brought a lot of joy."
A playground at the 41st and Poplar site was an early goal of the Residents Association and it took a dozen years to achieve after the group coalesced in 1993. Local kids didn't have anywhere to play and used to run in the streets. Original board members Harvin Thurman, Ronald Coleman, Bertha Cranshall, Ben and Kathleen Gambrell, Naomi Smith, Dorothy Crawford, Dorothy Wilkins and Dorothy Ferguson -- many of whom had lived in the neighborhood for forty years or more -- were champions of the project. Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell also supported the project, both physically and financially.
"We're proud of it. It's a small thing to some people," says Cousar, "but it's an important accomplishment to the Parkside neighbors."
The history the mural honors is crucial, too.
"It's something that we wanted our children to know," she says, adding that the dedication will feature speakers, food, family activities and African drumming.
The event will take place by the mural on Saturday, April 30, from noon - 2 p.m.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Callalily Cousar, East Parkside Residents Association
Follow all our work
via twitter (
) and Instagram (
On the Ground is made possible by the Knight Foundation, an organization that supports transformational ideas, promotes quality journalism, advances media innovation, engages communities and fosters the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more,
visit knightfoundation.org
A look at the winning Play Space designs for Waterloo, Cobbs Creek and Mill Creek
Alexa Bosse, Community Design Collaborative
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
From an abandoned street to a giant stretch of grass with nothing on it, three city sites now have the tools for major makeovers. Last week,
we looked in on
the end of the
Community Design Collaborative
Play Space Competition
, which ultimately focused nine teams on
three spaces
in need of a revamp for young users.
The winning design for the Waterloo Recreation Center (Philadelphia Parks & Recreation) is titled "Rebosante" and it's from
Studio Ludo
and Space for Childhood.
"Waterloo is a fascinating site that was a series of backyards: actually, a street, that had been abandoned and cobbled together as a playground," says Play Space Program Manager Alexa Bosse. "It has this very odd configuration, where it's mostly inner blocks surrounded by houses," with low visibility from the street, leading to long-term problems with illegal activities there.
About a year-and-a-half ago, local organization
Men in Motion in the Community
(MIMIC) negotiated with Parks & Rec to base their all-volunteer group out of an onsite building, cleaned and painted the playground, and worked to deter the crime there.
MIMIC will take an important role in maintaining a redesigned site, an important detail for the Collaborative in choosing the spot.
The existing basketball courts and pool will stay, but an adjacent splashpark will augment the summer space. Four "wild nature areas" are in the works for the corners, incorporating hills, mounds and branches for play-time, as well as stormwater management.
The Free Library's
Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek Branch
, another competition site, has a unique challenge: It's a de facto childcare center, with many families using it at a safe after-school space.
"A library is not a typical space to go to for a play space, but they have a lot of interest in creating opportunities for kids to get their crazies out," explains Bosse -- as anyone who has just come from eight hours in school remembers.
The design, titled "Play Structure | Story Structure," came from
Ground Reconsidered Landscape Architecture
Designed for Fun
Friends Select School
J R Keller LLC Creative Partnerships
Meliora Environmental Design LLC
, and the
Parent-Infant Center
. It evolved out of on-site brainstorms from Friends Select second-graders.
The plan is inspired by the narrative structure of a book or story. The tri-cornered site will feature new play space in one corner, a fronting "grand plaza" in another, and a "quieter, more meditative area" for the community with plants, shade trees and stormwater management.
The design for the School District's Haverford Bright Futures in Mill Creek -- dubbed "Bright Futures Chutes and Ladders" -- came from
Atkin Olshin Schade Architects
, Meliora Environmental Design, LLC,
Viridian Landscape Studio
International Consultants, Inc.
and the Parent-Infant Center.
"It's an interesting site because it's very large, and there's a very large lawn," says Bosse. The Collaborative found a need for better community connection to the site since the school for three- and four-year-olds has a12:30 p.m. dismissal time. "The school is very open to being a place where other community members can come."
The winning design divides the lawn up in a Chutes and Ladders-style grid, with different play opportunities in each section, along with preserved lawn space, shade, room for adults to sit, and an amphitheater space for community gatherings in the back.
Each site, now with completed designs and budget plans in hand, is equipped to seek the funding to make them a reality.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Alexa Bosse, Community Design Collaborative
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Condos for Sale in Royal Atlantic
Discover all Royal Atlantic homes for sale and real estate listings below. Register for a free account so you can receive email alerts whenever a new condo in Royal Atlantic (that matches your criteria) is listed in Miami Beach's largest MLS.
Royal Atlantic Information
Address: 465 Ocean Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Royal Atlantic is a high-rise condo building located in Miami Beach, FL within Miami Dade County. The zip code for the community is 33139.
Royal Atlantic was built in 1969 and features a total of 238 units. A typical unit features 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
In terms of interior living space, condos in Royal Atlantic range between 418 and 1322 square feet, with the average unit being 673 square feet.
Community Amenities
- Bike storage
- Billards room
- Clubhouse or clubroom
- Exercise facilities
- Extra storage space
- Heated swimming pool
- Shared community room
- Shared laundry facilities
- Suana
- Swimming pool
Building Security Features
- Carded entry
- Fenced complex
- Secure elevator
- Secure lobby
- Smartphone entry
Parking Features
- Assigned parking
- Covered parking
- Deeded parking
- Street parking
- Subterranean parking
Royal Atlantic features rental restrictions, meaning that investors should check the HOA bylaws before purchasing.
Below are the Royal Atlantic public school districts:
Elementary: South Pointe
Junior High: Nautilus
High:Miami Beach
Royal Atlantic Realtors®
For more information about Royal Atlantic condos or to schedule a private showing, contact our expert Royal Atlantic real estate agents today. This page is directly updated directly from the largest MLS in Miami Dade County so feel free to bookmark this page to keep up to date on the latest listings.
If you're thinking of buying a home, contact our Royal Atlantic real estate agents who are the LOCAL experts who can assist you with your search and answer all of your neighborhood questions.
If you're thinking of selling your condo in Royal Atlantic or in the Miami Beach area, our listing agents can provide information on recently sold nearby properties and up-to-date information about the real estate market.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Request to add resource link Hello there,
My name is Fran and I'm an outreach manager at Switch Extension, a productivity app that helps users accomplish their daily tasks more productively in a single browser with features such as multiple tab and multi-account management.
I am a fan of your website and I noticed that in your article on this page qoryannisawicita.com/en/2019/04/17/10-time-management-tips-that-work/ you linked to a Entrepreneur resource about ways to be more productive.
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I'd be very grateful if you would consider linking to my article in addition to the Entrepreneur resource.
Let me know your thoughts!
Many thanks, Fran
*Fran* Outreach Manager switchextension.com <w1.msonr.net/prod/1ef7da5f-700c-45fe-b5d5-3da6cb463962/f24ed353-6b3c-4f79-996c-a9bc157f2308>


text:
Date: 7 Aug 2020, Entry id: 1596785462-1
Because only people who are already well informed about SUPER HOT chili varieties are likely to be curious about these, there is no need for discussion about the history of what could be termed the "Hot Chili Wars"... Anyone reading this likely knows the chili variety which currently holds the official world's record for heat is a red one called 'Carolina Reaper'. They have a very unusual shape and texture.
Our distinct variety - Gold Carolina Reaper Pepper - originated from a batch of seeds of the
regular red fruited 'Carolina Reaper' (received directly from the breeder).
Out of the regular red fruited seedlings grew a plant producing truly brilliant
orange-gold colored fruits. As this plant was much more healthy, vigorous,
and productive than the normal red ones, (even producing considerably larger
fruits and just as searingly hot), we segregated and isolated that one. Seeds
from that specimen were then grown out to see the result, which, happily all
came out exactly identical to and as vigorous as the original gold parent.
Our plants have been grown from those.
We have very strong plants beginning to bud-up!


text:
When will the Seminar be held?
The 2019 Georgetown Leadership Seminar has concluded. The next Georgetown Leadership Seminar will be scheduled in the fall of 2020.
Can anyone participate?
Participation is by invitation only. Seminar participants are nominated by alumni of previous seminars, faculty or alumni of the School of Foreign Service, and Georgetown University. To nominate someone, use our contact page.
Who will be attending this year's seminar?
The list of participants is not made public prior to the event. You may, however, view the class lists from previous years in the alumni section.


text: articulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds. They are excellent mimics: as often as we coughed or yawned, or made any odd motion, they immediately imitated us. Some of our party began to squint and look awry; but one of the young Fuegians (whose whole face was painted black, excepting a white band across his eyes) succeeded in making far more hideous grimaces. They could repeat with perfect correctness each word in any sentence we addressed them, and they remembered such words for some time. Yet we Europeans all know how difficult it is to distinguish apart the sounds in a foreign language. Which of us, for instance, could follow an American Indian through a sentence of more than three words? All savages appear to possess, to an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told, almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit among the Caffres: the Australians, likewise, have long been notorious for being able to imitate and describe the gait of any man, so that he may be recognised. How can this faculty be explained? is it a consequence of the more practised habits of perception and keener senses, common to all men in a savage state, as compared with those long civilized? When a song was struck up by our party, I thought the Fuegians would have fallen down with astonishment. With equal surprise they viewed our dancing; but one of the young men, when asked, had no objection to a little waltzing. Little accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to be, yet they knew and dreaded our fire-arms; nothing would tempt them to take a gun in their hands. They begged for knives, calling them by the Spanish word "cuchilla." They explained also what they wanted, by acting as if they had a piece of blubber in their mouth, and then pretending to cut instead of tear it. I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had on board. During the former voyage of the Adventure and Beagle in 1826 to 1830, Captain Fitz Roy seized on a party of natives, as hostages for the loss of a boat, which had been stolen, to the great jeopardy of a party employed on the survey; and some of these natives, as well as a child whom he bought for a pearl-button, he took with him to England, determining to educate them and CHAP. X. FUEGIANS ON BOARD. 207 instruct them in religion at his own expense. To settle these natives in their own country, was one chief inducement to Captain Fitz Roy to undertake our present voyage; and before the Admiralty had resolved to send out this expedition, Captain Fitz Roy had generously chartered a vessel, and would himself have taken them back. The natives were accompanied by a missionary, R. Matthews; of whom and of the natives, Captain Fitz Roy has published a full and excellent account. Two men, one of whom died in England of the small-pox, a boy and a little girl, were originally taken; and we had now on board, York Minster, Jemmy Button (whose name expresses his purchasemoney), and Fuegia Basket. York Minster was a full-grown, short, thick, powerful man: his disposition was reserved, taciturn, morose, and when excited violently passionate; his affections were very strong towards a few friends on board; his intellect good. Jemmy Button was a universal favourite, but likewise passionate; the expression of his face at once showed his nice disposition. He was merry and often laughed, and was remarkably sympathetic with any one in pain: when the water was rough, I was often a little sea-sick, and he used to come to me and say in a plaintive voice, "Poor, poor fellow !" but the notion, after his aquatic life, of a man being sea-sick, was too ludicrous, and he was generally obliged to turn on one side to hide a smile or laugh, and then he would repeat his "Poor, poor fellow!" He was of a patriotic disposition; and he liked to praise his own tribe and country, in which he truly said there were "plenty of trees," and he abused all the other tribes: he stoutly declared that there was no Devil in his land. Jemmy was short, thick, and fat, but vain of his personal appearance; he used always to wear gloves, his hair was neatly cut, and he was distressed if his well-polished shoes were dirtied. He was fond of admiring himself in a looking-glass; and a merry-faced little Indian boy from the Rio Negro, whom we had for some months on board, soon perceived this, and used to mock him: Jemmy, who was always rather jealous of the attention paid to this little boy, did not at all like this, and used to say, with rather a contemptuous twist of his head, "Too much skylark." It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken of the sante character, with the mi serable, degraded savages whom we first met here. Lastly, Fuegia Basket was a nice, modest, reserved young girl, with a rather pleasing but sometimes sullen expression, and very quick in learning anything, especially languages. This she showed in picking up some Portuguese and Spanish, when left on shore for only a short time at Rio de Janeiro and Monte Video, and in her knowledge of English. York Minster was very jealous of any attention paid to her; for it was clear he determined to marry her as soon as they were settled on shore. Although all three could both speak and understand a good deal of English, it was singularly difficult to obtain much information from them, concerning the habits of their countrymen : this was partly owing to their apparent difficulty in understanding the simplest alternative. Every one accustomed to very young children, knows how seldom one can get an answer even to so simple a question as whether a thing is black or white; the idea of black or white seems alternately to fill their minds. So it was with these Fuegians, and hence it was generally impossible to find out, by cross-questioning, whether one had rightly understood anything which they had asserted. Their sight was remarkably acute: it is well known that sailors, from long practice, can make out a distant object much better than a landsman ; but both York and Jemmy were much superior to any sailor on board: several times they have declared what some distant object has been, and though doubted by every one, they have proved right, when it has been examined through a telescope. They were quite conscious of this power; and Jemmy, when he had any little quarrel with the officer on watch, would say, "Me see ship, me no tell." It was interesting to watch the conduct of the savages, when we landed, towards Jemmy Button: they immediately perceived the difference between him and ourselves, and held much conversation one with another on the subject. The old man addressed a long harangue to Jemmy, which it seems was to invite him to stay with them. But Jemmy understood very little of their language, and was, moreover, thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen. When York Minster afterwards came on shore, they noticed him in the same way, and told him he ought to shave; yet he had not twenty dwarf hairs on his face, whilst we CHAP. X.] SCENERY OF THE MOUNTAINS. 209 all wore our untrimmed beards. They examined the colour of his skin, and compared it with ours. One of our arms being bared, they expressed the liveliest surprise and admiration at its whiteness, just in the same way in which I have seen the ourangoutang do at the Zoological Gardens. We thought that they mistook two or three of the officers, who were rather shorter and fairer, though adorned with large beards, for the ladies of our party. The tallest amongst the Fuegians was evidently much pleased at his height being noticed. When placed back to back with the tallest of the boat's crew, he tried his best to edge on higher ground, and to stand on tiptoe. He opened his mouth to show his teeth, and turned his face for a side view; and all this was done with such alacrity, that I dare say he thought himself the handsomest man in Tierra del Fuego. After our first feeling of grave astonishment was over, nothing could be more ludicrous than the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which these savages every moment exhibited. The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into the country. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainous land, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inlets and bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. The mountain sides, except on the exposed western coast, are covered from the water's edge upwards by one great forest. The trees reach to an elevation of between 1000 and 1500 feet, and are succeeded by a band of peat, with minute alpine plants; and this again is succeeded by the line of perpetual snow, which, according to Captain King, in the Strait of Magellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet. To find an acre of level land in any part of the country is most rare. I recollect only one little flat piece near Port Famine, and another of rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In both places, and everywhere else, the surface is covered by a thick bed of swampy peat. Even within the forest, the ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetable matter, which, from being soaked with water, yields to the foot. Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the wood, I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At first, from the waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could hardly crawl along 3 but the bed of the stream soon became a little more open, from the floods having swept the sides. I continued slowly to advance for an hour along the broken and rocky banks, and was amply repaid by the grandeur of the scene. The gloomy depth of the ravine well accorded with the universal signs of violence. On every side were lying irregular masses of rock and torn-up trees; other trees, though still erect, were decayed to the heart and ready to fall. The entangled mass of the thriving and the fallen reminded me of the forests within the tropics-yet there was a difference: for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of Life, seemed the predominant spirit. I followed the watercourse till I came to a spot, where a great slip had cleared a straight space down the mountain side. By this road I ascended to a considerable elevation, and obtained a good view of the surrounding woods. The trees all belong to one kind, the Fagus betuloides ; for the number of the other species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark, is quite inconsiderable. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year; but its foliage is of a peculiar brownishgreen colour, with a tinge of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured, it has a sombre, dull appearance; nor is it often enlivened by the rays of the sun. December 20th.-One side of the harbour is formed by a hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous excursion, which proved fatal to two men of his party, and nearly so to Dr. Solander. The snow-storm, which was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham! I was anxious to reach the summit of this mountain to collect alpine plants; for flowers of any kind in the lower parts are few in number. We followed the same watercourse as on the previous day, till it dwindled away, and we were then compelled to crawl blindly among the trees. These, from the effects of the elevation and of the impetuous winds, were low, thick, and crooked. At length we reached that which from a distance appeared like a carpet of fine green turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out to be a compact mass of little beech-trees about four or five feet high. They were as thick together as box in the border of a garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat but treacherous surface. |


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Hey cHEwY gum gums in Sydney!
Better Read Than Dead in Newtown have a school holiday workshop on July 8th, where I'll be doing a humour writing workshop in the morning. Catherine Pelosi will be doing the afternoon workshop so it's a 2 for 1 deal, what an awesome day of writing! Kids can book here


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Celebrated as "Georgia's Official Civil Rights Museum", the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum is located at 460 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Savannah, Georgia. Opening in 1996, the museum is named in honor of Rev. Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert, pastor of the First African Baptist Church from 1939 until his passing in 1956. He led the church, located at 23 Montgomery Street in Franklin Square of Savannah's Historic District, for sixteen years.
An alumnus of the University of Michigan, Rev. Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert, an orator and playwright, was celebrated throughout the United States. He, with neighborhood churches and Alpha Kappa Alpha (a Black sorority), developed Greenbrier Children's Center. Also, with assistance from Black and White supporters, he established the West Broad Street branch of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA).
Perhaps what he is most recognized for in his mission of community outreach is his work in improving, socially and politically, the lives of African-Americans.
As a Black minister, Gilbert was a strong advocate for civil rights for African-Americans. An active supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in 1942, he became president of the organization's Savannah branch. During his tenure, Gilbert restructured his branch. As president of the Citizens Democratic Club, he, in challenging the all-White primary of Georgia, launched a Black voter registration drive. He was highly successful in registering hundreds of African-Americans in Georgia to vote.
He aided in the creation of a more liberal city council and the mayoral election of John G. Kennedy, a progressive White, Democratic politician. Gilbert supported the "Original Nine", the first Blacks hired, in 1947, as officers with the Savannah Police Department. Serving in the local executive position of the NAACP for the next eight years, he organized and convened the civil rights association's first state conference for Georgia. By 1950, Gilbert's guidance led to the development of more than forty local branches of the NAACP in Georgia.
The purpose for the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum was to commemorate the struggle for civil rights in Savannah. The creation of such a museum was led primarily by W.W. Law, an African-American who became president, after Gilbert, of the Savanah branch of the NAACP in 1950. According to the website of the museum, in 1993, Law "sought $1 million in funding from Chatham County's one-cent special local-option sales tax to build the museum. He chose the old Wage Earners Savings and Loan Bank on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (formerly West Broad Street) as the museum's site. West Broad Street was the hub of Black businesses, medical doctors, mortuaries, various other professionals, jazz music, and other entertainment. The bank was also near the Bolton Street Baptist Church, where the first civil rights mass meetings were held in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. As a historic preservationist, Law envisioned the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum as a catalyst for reviving the economic and cultural vitality of old West Broad Street."
In 1993, Law, as president of the Savannah Yamacraw Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), established the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum. The letters and papers of Ralph Mark Gilbert were donated to the museum by his widow, Elorie S. Gilbert. Renovation of the past bank building also began in 1993. Although the design of the structure, which is located in the historic Savannah District, is contemporary, its selection to house the civil rights museum was paramount due to the building's significance in Savannah's African-American history.
The site of the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum is the Wage Earners Savings and Loan Bank. Constructed in 1914, the African-American bank was established in 1900. Lucius E. Williams served as president of the prominent bank, which was built by Robert Pharrow, an African-American contractor from Atlanta, Georgia.
In the February 1927 issue of The Crisis, the journal of the NAACP, the immense success of the Wage Earners Savings and Loan Bank was lauded. In the journal, the authors detailed, "The Wage Earners Savings Bank of Savannah, Georgia, under the guidance of Lucius E. Williams, is the other institution which for many years exceeded every other Negro bank in deposits. It was the first bank of the race to have a million dollars on deposit and only the migration enabled the two Chicago institutions (Binga State Bank, established in 1908, and Douglas National Bank, established in 1922) to snatch its leadership. The Wage Earners with depositors in almost every state has probably helped more Negro business ventures to success than any other Negro bank."
The building also served as the site of the Guaranty Insurance Company. This Black-owned insurance company was co-founded and headed by Walter Sanford Scott (1877-1961), whose business acumen led him to become a millionaire. Having served as the president of the Guaranty Insurance Company for more than fifty years, he was also a highly successful banker, entrepreneur and philanthropist. His original tie to the building is that, in 1902, Scott acted as the secretary and treasurer of Wage Earners Savings and Loan Bank.
A 1895 graduate of Tuskegee Institute, Walter Sanford Scott readily applied the teachings of orator, author, educator and advisor to United States presidents, Booker T. Washington, the founder and president of the historic Black college. Scott later held various positions, including vice-president of the National Negro Bankers Association and, appointed by the governor of Georgia, as the director of the YMCA.
In The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race, Volume I, edited by Clement Richardson and published in 1919, a profile on Scott was featured. It was written that Walter Sanford Scott was "…an apostle of the doctrine, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'… in 1906, the Royal Undertaking Company, a firm that has long since become established, is one of the big Negro businesses of Savannah. Mr. Scott was made treasurer … in 1913, he was elected President of the Mutual Health Insurance Company … 1914, he was elevated to the Presidency of the Royal Undertaking Company … Mr. Scott organized the Savannah Savings and Real Estate Corporation. Of this, he was made President in 1915." In this text, it was also noted that "Savannah … is now perhaps the leading city of the world for successful Negro Insurance Companies."
Thus, the building has ties integral to the social, economic, political and physical advancement of Black people in Georgia, especially, Savannah, the oldest African-American community in the southern state.
Visitors to the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum can experience exhibits on all three floors of its building. On the first floor, a bronze bust of Rev. Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert is prominently displayed. Also, on that floor is a setting designed to look like the Azalea Room of Levy's Department Store. At the segregated department store, Blacks could purchase clothing but not dine in its restaurant. On the mezzanine is a theatre, which is designed to resemble the church sanctuary, that features the reflections of W.W. Law and other civil rights activists of Savannah.
There are historic, photographic and interactive exhibits that chronicle the battle for civil rights, locally and state-wide. A fiber-optic map that contains eighty-seven locations significant to the development of civil rights is highlighted. Also onsite is a lunch counter where sit-ins occurred.
The exhibit on the organization of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, specifically the Savannah branch, is most appropriate, as the museum building was also the past headquarters of the Savannah branch of the NAACP.
The second floor of the museum features lecture halls, classrooms and meeting spaces. There is, according to the museum's website, also "a video/reading room, an African-American book collection for children and a gift shop."
The museum is available for visits, Tuesday through Saturday, from 10am to 5pm. Independent and group tours, including educational group tours, are available. Since its opening, thousands of guests, of all races and ages, have visited the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum to learn more about the battle for African-American civil rights.


text:
Message from the School President
Dear SCHA Community,
"The curriculum tells you "what", not "how". The "how" is the artistry in education." – George Curos
Welcome to the South City Homes Academy and the 2022-23 academic year. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic the whole world is facing, the current school year is likewise beset with the setbacks and challenges of the "new normal" in education delivery. But in introspect, we can take these challenges, instead, as opportunities for empowerment in our life-long learning goal. In the new normal, our children are obliged to grow up to take more initiative in their own education and learning process. With the disappearance of the traditional classroom stage, teachers and educators have to innovate from being "sages on the stage" to designers and facilitators of learning. Parents will need to assume a more integral role in the required home-school collaboration, due to the shift to online and modular learning.
This pandemic is driving education into a new "how" in delivering its curriculum and SCHA commits to live up to this mission. We look to continue and enhance the quality educational services that we are able to provide for our students and families. The "new normal" may not be really "normal" at all, but our learning will not only continue, but it will thrive. We can't wait to move on to the next phase of learning under Covid-19 and we know, we will continue to grow!
Our deepest gratitude to the parents for your continued trust, and we look forward to a highly collaborative school year ahead. We are a school where input is gathered, humor is appreciated, camaraderie is apparent, and decisions are made together.
We look forward to serving our school community and welcome your feedback at any time throughout the year. We invite you to contact our offices with questions, concerns, or ideas.
I am proud to be your President, especially during this time of great endeavor. May God keep us safe and be with us all!
Enrico G. Manalo PhD
School President


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Let's face it: sales in the B2B sector are more complex compared to B2C. Buying cycles take longer (quite often – more than a year, according to Demand Gen report), and businesses are targeted at a smaller audience.
There are no emotion-driven sales in B2B, only rational and well-planned deals.
So to make most of their businesses, B2B companies need two things – a brilliant plan and proper tools.
This guide is about B2B CRM strategies – a company's plans to use a CRM system to boost sales and upgrade customer service.
We're going to figure out what exactly is B2B CRM, how it works, and how to create your CRM strategy.
Time to get started.
What Exactly Is B2B CRM?
First, let's get to the basics.
The main idea of a sales cycle is to guide customers through content that increases their brand awareness and turns visitors into leads.
And end the cycle with a sale.
Sounds easy, but it's not a simple task in the B2B sector. Remember that you're dealing with companies as your clients. Companies that have a few viewpoints and quite a few requirements at each stage.
No wonder it's a bit complicated to figure out what they need at once.
That's why companies use CRM (customer relationship management) tools and strategies.
What are they?
In B2B business, CRM may be any of these things:
- strategy
- process
- software
But at its core, CRM is a way to understand and fulfil your customers' needs at each stage of the sales cycle.
B2B CRM software is a big asset here. These tools collect data from client's communication channels – websites, chats, calls, emails – and analyze it.
Information B2B CRM collect includes:
- quotes
- inquiries
- sales reports
- notices of issues clients faced
All these details are kept in a database (a cloud one, usually), and the company's staff can access them anytime. CRM system allows Sales and Marketing depts to track leads and see all needed details about them. This way, companies figure out how and when to motivate clients to move to the next sales stage.
What Advantages B2B CRM Brings
No doubt, it's the sales team that makes most of the CRM software. But marketing and CS departments also benefit from it.
Let's take a look at all the advantages CRM brings to the B2B environment.
Improved contact management
Excel or Google Spreadsheets do fine when you've just launched the business. But with its growth, the requirements grow too.
And no company can keep the lights on without managing its client base.
Using CRM software, staff can easily upload customers' data to the database, set priorities, and reminders about calls or meetings with clients.
The software stores every piece of information, and the company can draw and use it at any time.
Better customer experience
Let's be honest: it's not just the product that sells.
No matter how great your products or services are, customer relationship plays a large role in making the sale, and it needs nurturing from the outset.
As the team has anytime access to client details in the CRM system, they can apply a personalised approach at all points.
B2B sales take up to a few months or the whole year (or a bunch of years, if you're lucky), and a personalized approach does make the difference.
Real-time quotes made easy.
Having all the details at hand, the sales team sends accurate quotes to customers and does it timely.
While the CRM updates information about transaction, inventory, prices as soon as they're changed. That lowers the chance of sending an incorrect quote to clients, frustration, and consequences.
Targeted marketing campaigns
It's hard enough to launch one advertising campaign, let alone a few. And what if you have a dozen products to promote?
Using CRM software, companies make highly personalised and automated marketing campaigns. The staff swiftly identifies potential clients and focuses on communicating with them.
No wonder these ads reach their audience.
Deep analytics & detailed reporting
So, you've launched a promotional campaign. Now, how do you check its results? Even more, if there are a dozen ad campaigns, how do you find out which gives ROI and which doesn't?
CRM system gives a hand here – with analytics and reporting feature, the company finds out which actions gave ROI, and prepares the sales forecast.
Usually, a CRM system comes with a dashboard that shows all the needed metrics, and staff can generate reports with ad campaigns results in no time.
Let's sum everything up. CRM software helps B2B companies better understand their audience, prioritize business requirements, and organise data storing.
No wonder well-known B2B companies are interested in CRM software development – Wells Fargo, Volvo, Cisco, and many others. (We're reviewing them in the last part of the guide).
B2B CRM Strategies
Cutting to the chase: sometimes, customer relationship management gets tough.
That's why I'm listing these five time-tested tips on client relationship management – and how the CRM software helps with it.
1) Keep track of your customers' needs.
All companies, no matter B2B or B2C, should know everything about their customers' pains, struggles, and needs.
How do you find out? Dig into the data of your CRM stores!
Here's an example. The sales team uses the software to store details about customers and their interactions with the company. So a sales rep can ask clients what they've been looking for, and why they picked this company. And add the information to the CRM.
By keeping this information all in one place, it won't be hard to figure out what your customers need.
2) Make a full focus on companies
Once again: working in the B2B sector means working with companies, not individuals. So you may be quite interested in getting more corporate customers involved.
Just an idea: run in-office training explaining your product's features and showing how to use them to get max results.
The more the company tells how great and much-needed products are, the more long-term clients it will get.
3) Gather feedback
Clients should know the value of your product, or no one will buy it. The best way to make your product even more valuable is to ask for the client's feedback and improve it according to their preferences.
You may start by asking a simple open-ended question: 'What services could be improved? How?' or 'What additional services you'd like to see?'.
Take all the time you need to check their replies, looking for the most common issues or suggestions.
By giving the clients a way to share their opinions, companies gather valuable insights that help to improve overall business processes.
4) Create the right content
B2B customers often rely on content when making informed buying decisions. Clients want vendors to reach out to them with sales emails, prepared detailed case studies, and informative articles.
That's why you should consider creating a content library, at least answering the FAQ.
5) Monitor your success level
One last thing – don't forget to track your success.
Check how many customers finish the onboarding process, and find out how engaged they are on an ongoing basis.
Finally, look at how often they use your product – the more times they do, the more valuable it becomes for them. Most B2B CRM suites allow monitoring these indicators for individual users, so there should be no issues with it.
B2B CRM Software: Best Use Cases
Finally, let's check a few real-life B2B CRM use cases – from Unilever, British Airways, and Cisco.
Cisco is a US networking hardware & software company with annual revenue of 51.9 billion U.S. dollars and 75,900 employees.
All they wanted was to increase the productivity of the staff, allow real-time collaboration, and respond within the company.
The WebEx software turned out to be the best-fitting solution for that.
After its adoption, the sales team found 20% more time to work on strategic tasks. The number of external interactions increased by 50%, and the average working time – decreased by 10%.
What's important, the clients were fully satisfied with the given service, rating it at 4.88 out of 5.
Unilever owns more than 400 and surely knows the importance of keeping their client's details at hand. That's why they decided to apply CRM software to launch data collecting campaigns.
Unilever set their sights on a Traction Digital platform. This software helps to launch and conduct multichannel campaigns, collect feedback, and analyze it.
This partnership helps to maintain Unilever's living plan – drive more growth, less waste, and less risk.
British Airways
Service does matter if you have 45+ million customers per year. Plus, providing top-notch services are a great differentiator when it comes to stiff competition.
That's why British Airways applied Teradata CRM to automate ongoing campaigns, figure out what customers need and how to make it live.
With the CRM software, BA staff manages emails, calls, web channels – all within one system.
As you see, B2B CRM software brings tons of benefits to businesses, making them learn their audience better and serve it best.
The staff works more productively; sales and marketing campaigns have clearly defined stages no longer based on the 'best-guesses' system.
All this leads to building a better relationship with clients and gaining their trust. And that's the key to success for B2B companies.


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I'd laid awake, staring up at the ceiling from the comfort of my bed, swaying slightly as I tried to imagine the way the bike would handle underneath me, until Angela eventually rolled over and told me to knock it off. At which point I closed my eyes and mentally carried on further round the cx course Andy, Dan and myself had gift wrapped in course tape earlier that day, trying to work out where we could add some extra sections to lengthen the lap times the fast lads would set.
The course, as it was, had taken the whole day to create (not including a brief pause halfway for some hot soup and the world's largest "croutons", or "a slice of toast split into dunkable chunks" as you might know them…). We were quite chuffed with it – in half decent conditions it would offer a great mix of fast, slow, power based, technical, up, down, off camber, scenic and just plain fun sections and stretched around the hillside it inhabited for a good 1.5km. It was only when a local rider provided some feedback after giving it a go, informing us that even with the mud in abundance he was completing the loop in a little over 4 minutes that we realised we'd have to add some more features to get a reasonable lap time out of our masterpiece. So there I lay, imagining being on board the bike while looking for a good place to turn off what we'd built and find more fun around the edges
It hadn't been completely plain sailing even to that point. Incessant rain had turned what had been a swoopy, dusty fast arena for a Yorkshire point race a month or two previous into a slippery monster that took no prisoners of those wearing wellies, trying to push a wheelbarrow full of plastic stakes around. Wellies don't have mud studs in them and that wheelbarrow did not have the right tyres fitted to find any grip. On we battled though, doing our best to avoid ruining the upcoming National trophy course – rerouting the lap away from what would be the Trophy pit area and missing out as much of the pre prepared route as possible. Pits were relocated, new climbs and descents were devised, freshly fallen trees were strategically dragged around to find some less boggy sections and a new start area that wasn't ankle deep slop (at the time…) were set up. It was only as we were about to pack the van and head off that Andy suddenly realised we'd not actually made a finish line anywhere! Back on to the field in the rapidly failing light we trod, to find somewhere suitable, taking in every age category's course, to let the racers finish rather than just keep going round until the end of time…
Race day dawned, but by the time it did, several of the HCC crew had already been busy. The coffee vendors were happily set up, portaloos neatly arranged, sign on up and raring to go, timing team suitably settled and a few of us were off adding some of what I'd dreamed off to the sides of the race route. An extra off camber, switchbacky descent, a couple of dead leg turns to brake up one long loop, the stuff of dreams to a cyclocross racer. We were almost finished as sunlight revealed our creation to the commissaires, checking our handiwork for safety and compliance with various rules and regulations. Success was agreed between us as only a few alterations were required to get the official thumbs up. Lucky really, as we were down to our last 5 rolls of course tape (which may sound like a lot, but it really isn't…) and the first racers of the day were starting to think about their warm ups back a the car park.
The final set up was confirmed just as the super keen first few racers began their pre ride investigations and, within about 30 seconds f seeing their attempts to ride in the conditions underfoot, I'd become acutely aware that – barring a miracle – this was going to be one hell of a tough, off-the-bike-a-lot trudge for many people. There was no time for a complete rebuild of the "facing the pits" section of the course, to be honest there was no time for anything – I found myself running (in wellies, in the mud, which I was becoming quite adept at) here there and everywhere to make sure the courses were ready, everyone was heading in the right direction at the right time and a thousand other things that magically crop up. In the 5 seconds I which I wasn't charging around I took a brief glance around to see all the other HCC lads doing exactly the same thing. The car parks were rammed, the pre race briefings were coming thick and fast, marshals being marshalled around. It struck me that the slowest moving thing at the event would be the racers, grovelling through the mud while the almost flea like organisers hurtled around at break neck speed from one thing to another.
I barely remember how the day after that went. I know the ground began to dry in places, but in doing so just turned from super saturated, non-sticky stuff to full on clag that jammed wheels and removed humour from those taking part in qual measure. I know some of the under 12 riders cried on the horrible long (to them) climb to the top of the course (that the commissaires suggested they should do, I hasten to add). I know that a few of the V50s came close to sobbing too. I know the fell runners seemed happiest. I know what should have been great riding sections were often just more running (or walking while dragging a jammed solid bike…). I know that we got through a good few more rolls of course tape repairing where riders missed turns (not on purpose) and overcooked racing lines, ending up entangled in the plastic boundary layer and I now know that Craig and I stand a good chance of winning One Man And His Dog together after our spectacular, mid race sheep herding exploits…
By the time Ethan had won the seniors race, framed by the sunset that wasn't willing to wait for us to complete the day racing, I can happily confirm I was knackered. I could spot from a mile off that everyone else involved was too. This made the speedy course dismantling (on purpose this time) by the extra volunteers that hung around in the gloom even sweeter a sight. It may have been pitch black by the time we'd packed away the last gazebo and bundled up the final roll of course tape, but it was a damn sight earlier than it would have been without their help. I hope the gratitude was apparent on my somehow mud encrusted face.
Huge HUGE respect to Andy and the whole HCC crew for arranging that race. The Horwich Humdinger wouldn't have taken place this year if so much extra hard work hadn't been put in by everyone with finding a venue after so many possibilities fell through at the last minute. To coordinate everything on the fly as Andy did is a massive achievement whatever the racing conditions turned out to be and I absolutely loved being a part of it, especially as we did remember to put in a finish line! 😊


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ExOfficio Give-N-Go boxer brief review
Do you wash 'n' wear? These quick-drying boxers are perfect for super-light travel
Purchasing a product using one of our affiliate links earns us a commission and supports this site at no additional cost to you. See our disclosures here.
There are those who think quick-drying underwear is a load of pants. TravGear begs to differ, having spent two weeks on the road in the USA with two pairs of ExOfficio Give-N-Go boxers.
ExOfficio Give-N-Go boxer brief: design
Quick-drying knickers aren't new, but until now the dominant design of travel pants has been the Y-front. It's easy to see why – they use less fabric – but after a few hours sitting in the same position on a bus or plane they can start to dig into your skin. The ExOfficio Give-N-Go are longer than previous designs from ExOfficio, and a touch softer, too.
ExOfficio Give-N-Go boxer brief: performance
To test the quick-drying claim, we washed the ExOfficio Give-N-Go a few times during the trip, and each time they dried in a few hours (we used an indoor peg-less clothesline in hotel room bathrooms). We're talking slightly heated hotel rooms here; it was just above freezing outside.
However, here's the real trick; the Give-N-Go don't smell. Wear them for three days and they're really pretty good to keep wearing. The silky, soft material they're made from seems resistant to stains, too (no, we didn't test this to the limit).
ExOfficio Give-N-Go boxer brief: verdict
So are they better than merino wool? Also on our trip was a pair of merino wool-fashioned Icebreaker Anatomica boxers. The head-to-head results were a draw – both Icebreaker and ExOfficio and super-comfy, super-light, and both easy to wash and quick to dry. However, in our experience, merino wool only lasts a year of even sporadic use until tears appear. So our money's on ExOfficio in the pants department – and the Give-N-Go and the brand's best (and best value) effort yet.


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According to BrokerCheck records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker Albert Foronda (Foronda), currently associated with Spartan Capital Securities, LLC (Spartan Capital), has been subject to at least three customer complaints and one regulatory investigation during his career. The majority of the customer complaints against Foronda concern allegations of high frequency trading activity also referred to as churning or excessive trading.
In November 2019 FINRA initiated an investigation into Foronda stating that FINRA made a preliminary determination to recommend that disciplinary action be brought against Foronda alleging violations for unauthorized transactions for exercising discretion without written authorization.
In May 2019 a customer complained that Foronda violated the securities laws by alleging that Foronda engaged in unsuitability, excessive trading, and negligence in handling of their account. The claim alleges $650,000 in damages and is currently pending.
In April 2018 a customer complained that Foronda violated the securities laws by alleging that Foronda engaged in breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and negligence in handling of their account. The claim alleges $90,000 in damages and is currently pending.
When brokers engage in excessive trading, sometimes referred to as churning, the broker will typical trade in and out of securities, sometimes even the same stock, many times over a short period of time. Often times the account will completely "turnover" every month with different securities. This type of investment trading activity in the client's account serves no reasonable purpose for the investor and is engaged in only to profit the broker through the generation of commissions created by the trades. Churning is considered a species of securities fraud. The elements of the claim are excessive transactions of securities, broker control over the account, and intent to defraud the investor by obtaining unlawful commissions. A similar claim, excessive trading, under FINRA's suitability rule involves just the first two elements. Certain commonly used measures and ratios used to determine churning help evaluate a churning claim. These ratios look at how frequently the account is turned over plus whether or not the expenses incurred in the account made it unreasonable that the investor could reasonably profit from the activity.
According to newsources, a study revealed that 7.3% of financial advisors had a customer complaint on their record when records from 2005 to 2015 were examined. Brokers must publicly disclose reportable events on their BrokerCheck reports that include customer complaints, IRS tax liens, judgments, investigations, terminations, and criminal cases. In addition, research has show a disturbing pattern with troublesome brokers where brokers with high numbers of customer complaints are not kicked out of the industry but instead these brokers are sifted to lower quality brokerage firms with loose hiring practices and higher rates of customer complaints. These lower quality firms may average brokers with five times as many complaints as the industry average.
Foronda entered the securities industry in 2010. From November 2016 until August 2017 Foronda was registered with Worden Capital Management LLC. Since August 2017 Foronda has been registered with Spartan Capital out of the firm's New York, New York office location.
At Gana Weinstein LLP, our attorneys are experienced representing investors who have suffered securities losses due to excessive trading and churning violations. Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. Claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.


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If you're using Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education, you can use the Local Group Policy editor to prevent Windows Update from installing driver updates during the rollout of quality updates.
To remove driver updates on Windows 10, do the following:
1. Open Start.
2. Find gpedit.msc and press Enter to open Local Group Policy Editor.
3. Browse the following link
Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Windows Update
4. Double-click Do not include drivers with Windows Updates.
5. Select the Enabled option in the upper left.
6. Click Apply.
7. Click, OK.