Everyone gets it

Reading Karen Heller's Inky column today on the total Mongolian cluster-***k that is the Philadelphia school district, and being saddened by her main point, which is that this crappy school district -- out of control violence, cronyism, corruption, and a total lack of simple brains when it comes to budget planning -- is one more thing, a big one, that's crushing the whole Next Great City idea.

And there, right in the middle of things, she drops this little hop-cone of acknowledgment to Philly Beer Week and all that it stands for:

There is a gash in the middle of the city's population. Philadelphia has been wildly successful in attracting younger adults ages 20 to 34, due in part to our central location, affordable housing, bike lanes, and, of course, eminence as a beer-imbiber's paradise. The city has more babies, and more baby boomers.

A grateful city full of the people who have made it that paradise thank you for noticing...and for being cool enough to mention it. To be honest, it was the "of course" that was truly endearing.

Now if we could just get some more brewpubs in the city...we might have something. Too bad neighborhoods still have this weird idea that brewpubs will destroy them. It's the other way around, just look at Denver!