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03/26/2004 South Philly Library Gets New Name (Ed Goppelt)

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• Hallwatch News

In a trend that is sweeping the City, a South Philadelphia library was renamed today after a neighborhood political figure who recently passed away. A crowd of around 200 listened, applauding frequently, as a parade of current political leaders rededicated the Southwark Library the Charles Santore Branch of the Free Library. South Philadelphia political players ranging from newly invigorated incumbents to ambitious young challengers, from ward leaders to political heavyweights such as Justice Castille and Senator Fumo turned out in droves for the ceremony.

Charles Santore was a Republican ward leader and Union official. Read a short biography of Santore here. Santore's son, Richard, owns and operates the Saloon Restaurant at 750 S. 7th St.

Other libraries renamed after local politicians include Northwest Regional Library (for Council President Joseph Coleman) and the West Philadelphia Regional Library (for Congressman Lucien Blackwell). The Charles Santore Branch at 7th and Carpenter serves an ethnically mixed population of longtime Italian-American residents, Asian immigrants and African-Americans.

Note: for the sake of those with slow Internet connections, pictures are displayed at their smallest possible size. To enlarge the photos, simply click on the size controls under any photo.

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Councilman Frank DiCicco: "When you tell someone you're going to do something, you better do it."
2004/03/26 The Free Library has so little money these days that the branches no longer subscribe to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Perhaps to ward off questions about whether the money spent renaming the library would have been better spent on books or newspapers for patrons, Councilman DiCicco promised to reimburse the Library for the $4,500 it fronted to pay for the new sign.

Due to state budget cuts, the Free Library has had to institute cost saving measures such as postponing the purchase of new books and eliminating Saturday hours.

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Nicole Goss, Candidate Jack Morley & Terri Klatt
2004/03/26 Morley wants to run against State Senator Fumo. He is currently seeking the Republican nomination for the 1st Senatorial District.

Other would-be office holders included:

• Dr. James Tayoun, 1st Senatorial District (Incumbent Vincent Fumo)
• Andrew Hohns, 182nd House District (Incumbent Babette Josephs)
• Terry Gillen, 182nd House District (Incumbent Babette Josephs)
• Sheila Ballen, 175th House District (Incumbent Marie Lederer)

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Dignitaries
2004/03/26 First row left to right: Democratic 2nd Ward Leader Tony Palmieri, Candidate for Office Andrew Hohns, Republican 2nd Ward Leader Suzanne Haney, unknown, Justice Ron Castille.

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Crowd
2004/03/26

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Library Director Elliot Shelkrot: "What Senator Fumo has done for the libraries here and across the state has been great."
2004/03/26 Last year the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania cut its funding of the Free Library by $3.9 million. With a new budget battle looming in Harrisburg, the Library needs all the friends it can get. Shelkrott also commended State Representative Babette Josephs for her support of the Library and thanked volunteers ("the library could not be what it is today without volunteers."

According to Shelkrot, every library in the City contains the work of Santore's son, Charles Santore Jr., an illustrator of childrens books.

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Former Ambassador Thomas Foglietta: "I was involved in 31 elections; I won 30."
2004/03/26 Foglietta ran unsuccessfully against Frank Rizzo for Mayor. Charles Santore succeeded Foglietta's father as Republican Ward leader for the neighborhood.

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Joseph Santore: "My father had trouble saying no to anyone who needed help."
2004/03/26 Joseph Santore spoke about his father and the library:

"My father had a cat who could answer the phone."

"He was a good story teller. He always finished strong like the old boxers he admired."

"The Free Library has served our community well. There is no better place to acquire knowledge than a library."

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Santore Family & Local Politicians Gather for Unveiling of New Sign
2004/03/26

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Amy Dougherty & Terry Gillen
2004/03/26 Gillen is the Democrat's 30th Ward Leader; Dougherty is Executive Director of the Friends of the Free Library.

Gillen is involved in a three-way primary battle with the incumbent State Representative Babette Josephs and 25 year old upstart Andrew Hohns for a seat in the 182nd district (comprised of parts of South Philly, Center City and Gray's Ferry).

Hohns appears to be on a roll. He expects to raise $200,000 and recently got City Controller Jonathan Saidel's endorsement.

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Senator Vincent Fumo: "This is one of the few events you will see me and Tom Foglietta on the same program."
2004/03/26 All eyes were on the dapper Senator as he arrived a good half hour into the ceremony. It's an old trick: when Teddy Roosevelt was a junior Assemblyman in Albany he used to show up late for meetings (albeit in his best clothes) as a way of drawing attention to himself.

Fumo has been getting a lot of attention from the reporters and editors of the Philadelphia Inquirer who are very interested in the way companies in need of his support end up making multi-million dollar donations to non-profits linked to the Senator. The paper's accounts leave little doubt that Fumo knows how to take care of himself, but in my opinion the Inquirer has yet to make a persuasive case that Fumo doesn't also take care of constituents while taking care of number one.

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Schedule of Events
2004/03/26