The Metro Week That Was

By now, many of you know that I’ve started a gig as a full-time Metro Philadelphia staff writer. If you didn’t, surprise! In any case, I’m going to try to link to, or cut-and-paste, my Metro stories regularly here. But since there’s a litany of them, I may not get to them for a few days. Like this post!

In any event, in encourage you to pick up the paper itself (if you’re in Philly, Boston or NYC) or check the site with regularity, metro.us. Thanks in advance for your support.

— On Mayor Nutter’s hiring of a new managing director, Rich Negrin.

— On a violent crew that’s robbed pharmacies, stabbed a guy 26 times while burning him with an iron and stuck a gun in a 6-month -old mouth. Allegedly.

— On relations between car, bike and foot …

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Cement-truck driver cuts off a bicyclist off in Center City on Wednesday afternoon. Rider and driver yell back-and-forth. Driver gets the water hose from his truck and sprays rider. Cops are called. Reports are filed with police and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. Just another day when drivers, bicyclists and walkers just can’t seem to get along.
But then comes news out of San Francisco that a manhunt is on for a driver who intentionally struck four riders overnight. Instantly, the plotline goes from comedy to horror.
The good news is that besides the hose fight she recounted, Sarah Clark Stuart of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia said she hasn’t “heard of any notable conflicts” since dissent over setting aside bike lanes along Spruce and Pine streets and since-tabled City Council ideas to fine unlicensed and poorly-operated bicyclists.
“There’s a certain level of frustration coming from all sides, but my sense is that it’s fairly calm,” Stuart said Thursday. “Better facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists should make everyone more comfortable and less likely to get involved in crashes or raging conflicts. That’s our main goal here.”
Next month, the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilies will release its recommendation to double the mileage of bicycle lanes across the city. An additional 56 in-demand-area miles are expected in the July report addressing citywide suggestions. Attention will then turn to bike-lane feasibility in neighborhoods.
“It’s about building a live-able Philadelphia where people have a choice in how they get around the city,” said spokesman Andrew Stober, noting that bike lanes would be marked when streets are repaved or repainted.

— On a move to increase fines for witness intimidation …

The “Stop Snitching” culture must be stopped and politicians, the district attorney and victims of both crime and witness intimidation think they can do it.
On Wednesday, bills to bolster witness-protection and relocation efforts arrived before City Council’s Law and Government Committee. Councilman Curtis Jones is calling for a public vote on a City Charter change mandating up-to-$2,000 fines for trying to coerce witnesses into silence. Monies would be used to bolster relocation efforts, for which state funds were recently reduced.
“Dodge City is not the law of the land. We are going to fix this,” Jones said.
In Council chambers, state Rep. Kenyatta Johnson and D.A. Seth Williams lent support. So did Antonia Witt who, after being sexually assaulted in 2007, was threatened with death if she testified.
“We should go after them the same way we go after those who shoot at police officers,” said Johnson, vowing to push for stiffer sentences in Harrisburg. “Both are doing their civic duty.”

— And, on the Sharod Graham preliminary hearing in the rape/murder of Eraina Merritt …

On April 26 2007, City Council issued a resolution honoring the “bravery and selfless and heroic deed” of Sharod Graham and three other Germantown and West Philadelphia High athletes who rushed away from their track meet to guide an elderly woman from her burning home. “You hear so many negative things,” their coach said, “and here are these kids, risking their lives.”
But today, Graham will be back in the news for an altogether different reason: A preliminary hearing on charges that the burly 21-year-old brutally raped 47-year-old mother-of-four Eraina Merritt in an alley behind an Olney deli on March 24. Never regaining consciousness, she died three days later at Albert Einstein Medical Center. Assistant District Attorney Gail Fairman will maintain Merritt’s death was a direct result of Graham jumping the woman, tearing her clothes off, viciously attacking and sexually assaulting her.
“It was a brutal crime,” said Fairman, noting that evidence and witnesses will be presented in Courtroom 306 in an effort to have Graham held over for trial on charges of murder and attempted rape and sexual assault.
Though Olney Steak and Beer Deli workers reportedly saw Graham during the attack – Graham reportedly fled as they became witnesses while taking out the trash – it took police releasing video from the scene for witnesses to identify him.
Graham was arrested on April 2 at his father’s home near 60th and Callowhill and has been in custody since. The preliminary hearing was originally scheduled for April 7 but was postponed because that was the day of Merritt’s funeral.