CITY LIMITS: Year in Review

of age, and everyone wanted some Mayor Wilson Goode announced in April that the Franklin Fund, which was bequeathed to the City of Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin in 1790, would be invested in vocational education programs for select city high school students. The use of the fund was the subject of controversy after city officials said it would be used for a Freedom Festival to celebrate the city. The fund began as $4000 and grew to $2.5 million, of which the city received about $520,000. Boston has a similar endowment. William Bell, chairman of the mayor's committee to decide how to use the money, said in April that deciding where to donate the funds was not easy. "All of the requests we received were serious," Bell said. The Free Library finally reopened in August after a three-year closing The West Philadelphia branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, located at 40th and Walnut streets, opened in late August after workers cleared out cancer-causing asbestos, which had forced the building to be closed for three years. Only the main floor of the 85-year-old branch was reopened, since reopening the flooded basement would have been too costly. The library now contains a computerized system to help locate books. It also contains video casettes and compact disks, both free to take out. It also contains a copy machine, which costs 15 cents to use, and a free facsimile machine. Plagued by burglaries, several store owners put bars on their windows The owners of Fiesta Jr. Pizza decided to install bars on their windows after a rash of summer burglaries, but the University informed the 38th Street business that the bars do not meet regulations. Real Estate Project Manager Helen Walker said that security fences or metal roll-down windows must be visible only when businesses are closed. Poor Richard's Restaurant, which owner Vinesh Vyas said had similar problems this summer, was also under violation because owners installed a chain-link fence that can be seen during the daytime inside the window. Lee's Hoagie House on Walnut Street, also a victim of robberies this summer, began using pull-down metal windows to protect the store at night. In October, the LCB denied liquor licenses to three popular bars In October, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board decided not to renew the liquor licenses of three popular local restaurants -- Kelly and Cohen Restaurant, Backstreet Cafe and High Rise Bar and Restaurant -- because of the bars' histories of serving alcohol to minors. Backstreet and Kelly and Cohen both appealed the decision, and in the meantime received stays which allow them to serve alcohol. But High Rise's owner, who also appealed, said he will sell his license and stop serving alcohol. The Walnut St. Bridge reopened, with protest from some, in October After undergoing $28 million dollars worth of renovations, the Walnut Street Bridge reopened in late October, allowing Center City motorists to enter the University area directly from Center City for the first time in almost three years. The bridge spans the Schuylkill River and the Schuylkill Expressway from 24th to 32nd streets. At the ribbon-cutting ceremonty which marked the bridge's reopening in October, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Engineer Stephen Lester said that while the construction had caused "a lot of inconvenience," it resulted in a "great day for the city." But not everyone was happy about the bridge. Members of the Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley lay across the road before the bridge opened in order to protest the width of the bridge's shoulders, which they said were too narrow for cyclists to ride safely. When the ribbon was cut, the protest cleared, but protesters said that they had not intended a lengthy protest. Students vied for spots in 'Rocky V' filmed in February around the city When film crews arrived in Center City to film the finale to Sylvester Stallone's successful Rocky series, everyone seemed to want a piece of the action. Many students camped out or spent hours in line to score tickets for the filming of the championship fight between Rocky's protege, Tommy Gunn, and defender Union Cane. The filming occurred February 8 and 9 in the Civic Center. During the filming, which actually was finished on February 8, students booed and cheered on command, and used various methods to obtain the actors' signatures. And when Rocky V premiered in the Eric 3 on campus theater in November, students flocked to theaters to find themselves in the crowd scenes. However, the fight scene lasted under three minutes, and students had little chance to glimpse themselves in the movie. Officials at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which appears in several of the Rocky films, were not as enthusiastic about the movie's filming. After a statue of Rocky was temporarily placed in front of the museum, museum officials won a battle to get it returned to the Spectrum.

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