January 22-28, 2004

city beat

Fineprint

Less words, more story.

Explosion Go-Round

During the early-morning hours of Jan. 13, a frightening sound enveloped parts of South Philadelphia. The noise resembled the sound of a jet plane, flying overhead, that droned on much longer than anything that would be considered normal. It began at around 3:45 a.m. and persisted for at least 30 thunderous minutes. Police in the 17th District received numerous calls from residents, but no officers were dispatched to address it.

"It was an underground electrical explosion," Corporal Catherine Young explainted later. "We understand that it was an extremely loud noise and that it occurred somewhere on 23rd Street. But that’s all we know. Call PECO; they handled it."

A call to PECO, however, shed no further light on the yet-to-be-fully-explained episode.

"We have nothing on record about that incident," said Marlee Blaw, a PECO flack. "I’ve checked for emergencies on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Nothing."

Another call to the police station got redundant. "We got reports of a loud noise in the middle of the night," Young reiterated. "We did not get a radio call and we did not respond. PECO did."

So, it’s back to PECO. "We have checked with our shift supervisor, and there was no PECO involvement," said spokesperson Cathy Engel. "Try PGW; sometimes they get us mixed up."

Calls to PGW were even less welcome. Without an address -- which police couldn’t provide since none went to the scene -- PGW said they were unable to track any information whatsoever.

"PECO is just trying to pass the buck," said John, a PGW employee who wouldn’t give his last name. "If police said it was an electrical problem, it’d be PECO -- not PGW. And without a specific address, we’re not releasing any information. For all we know, you could be Joe Schmo."

Despite police statements to the contrary, neither PECO nor PGW have owned up to the apparent mishap.

Now, just what’s an underground electrical explosion? According to a University of Pennsylvania professor of electrical engineering who wished to remain anonymous, it’s basically a subterranean fire.

"There are transformers throughout the city that are used by PECO to tone down the voltage of electricity that may be too high for residences and businesses," he said. "When too much electricity is flowing, sometimes there’s an underground fire. Typically, though, if a transformer fails … the system does correct itself. Apparently, if the police were not called out and PECO is not acknowledging any emergencies, there was no imminent public harm."

Tell that, though, to the neighborhood folks.

"Yeah. What was that noise?" asked a cabbie who heard an eerie rumbling while preparing for work. "We didn’t know if it was a train or a plane or what. You think somebody would let us know what’s going on."

Among those who heard the noise, there’s no doubt that it occurred. But among the agencies responsible for the city’s safety, it was merely a collective nightmare. --Deborah Bolling

God Talk

Last Thursday, in the same New Orleans church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke 42 years ago, President Bush promoted the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which gives federal money to religious-run social service programs, such as childcare, housing or substance abuse.

"I have asked Congress to not fear faith," Bush said on what would have been King’s 75th birthday, insisting he’s not dismantling the line between church and state. "We won’t let it happen."

Still, some in Congress and some religious leaders have qualms.

Philadelphia’s Episcopal Christ Church, at Second and Market, will host an in-depth forum on the nation’s faith-based political behavior at 10 a.m. Saturday. "One Nation Under Whose God" will assemble Christian, Jewish and Islamic panelists to debate the influence of the religious right and left.

"The forum is designed to raise people’s awareness, and implicitly ask them if they agree with this," says the Rev. Palmer Hartl, associate minister.

"This" includes the pressure mounting on Bush from a growing alliance of conservative Christian advocacy groups to support a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex unions. (Cue panelist Bill Devlin, founder of the Urban Family Council, who in 2001, sued to revoke Philadelphia’s law that gives benefits to city employees’ same-sex partners.)

"This" also includes frequent references to God during international speeches on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This president is unabashedly open about his Christian beliefs," says Hartl, who thinks any political action justified by a higher power is extremely dangerous. Hartl believes the volatile global climate warrants a serious forum with religious leaders. Other panelists include Imam Kenneth Nur id-Din from the Majlis Ash-Shura of Philadelphia; Murray Friedman, director of Temple University’s Feinstein Center in American Jewish History; and William C. Martin, author of With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America.

So what does Christ Church hope to accomplish by assembling so much spiritual fuel?

Hartl examines the county’s foreign and domestic woes, and sees a nation that’s looking for its values and ethics. "What can I get away with?" he says, is the mantra of the day. At the forum, he hopes attendees will find at least a few square feet of common ground. "We’re not that far apart in what we’re trying to solve." --Alexa James