Unisys Wants Sign On Liberty Two

Daniel Rubin writes in his Inquirer column today about new Liberty Two tenant Unisys’ plans for signs 2/3rd of the way up the building. He even talks to Mr. Beautyman for his opinion on the signs. (Surprise: The tenants don’t like them.)

And he also gets someone to say that the Unisys signs could be a target for terrorists!

Charles Mouzannar, an engineer who bought a home on the 43d floor, argues that the signs would paint a bull’s-eye on the sapphire blue-and-silver glass building.

Unisys, he writes, provides IT services to the military. “A prominent Unisys sign could potentially entice terrorists to target this building, believing that this is the Unisys headquarters or a structure solely occupied by the corporation.”

Are we to assume terrorists do no research before they commit an attack? They have the Internet, they can probably look up the tenants of a building in the planning stages.

Liberty Place residents fight Unisys plan [Inquirer]
Original photo by Brad Maule

1,500-Foot Tower Complete With Pool

By now you may have seen diagrams of the American Commerce Center, the proposed 2 million meter 1,500-foot tower for 16th and Arch that will dwarf the Comcast Center and be the tallest building in the country except for the taller buildings currently under construction or planned for Chicago and New York.

My buddy Brad Maule at Phillyskyline has a huge write-up of the ACC which was panned by a crack Will Bunch-hating commenter of Attytood who said that — get this! — somebody who gave the story to Maule because they figured he’d give it a positive review! OMG STOP THE PRESSES!

Anyway, the tower looks pretty dope, even if the people on Livejournal don’t like it because we should be investing that private capital into moon pies and more cops and a giant retractable roof for Rittenhouse Square. We can put a man on the moon…

The edited graphic is from my good friend Emily G., who came up with a plan for what to do when this thing gets built. I have to say, I’m making my preparations already. Even if it’s not a pool you’re supposed to swim in.

1,500 feet of breaking news [Phillyskyline]

Leftovers: No Tickets, Please

• This summer, Morey’s Piers will be switching to a plastic card system instead of tickets. The inspiration was apparently that annoying ad where the entire food court explodes because one man pays with cash. Um, yay? [Press of Atlantic City]

• Heroin is not just a problem in Philadelphia; it’s spread to northeastern Pennsylvania, too, complete with fentanyl-laced overdoses. Here’s a solution: T-shirts! [Daily News]

• The Inquirer and Daily News have dueling Atlantic City hooker stories today. The Inky’s George Anastasia goes with a woman who may have been with the man who killed four women and the Daily News‘ Simone Weichselbaum has a nice piece about how prostitutes are segregated by class. Key line comes from a prostitute named Heaven: “I’m a ho. I’m not that different. But I’m not a crackhead ho. So I’m not that bad.”

‣ And, finally, our city’s skyline likes to light up. Of course. [Inquirer]