In other news

In addition to results of yesterday's elections, apparently the globe continued to turn and other events and plans moved ahead...

• Bob Casey won the Democratic nomination for US Senate, as expected by many, with the challengers splitting some 15% of the vote. Tom Ferrick looks ahead to the Santorum--Casey matchup (with the help of a "commission" of real or imagined wags) and considers it too close to call.
  
  
• Also looking ahead to the fall election is Governor Rendell, who starts a four-day campaign kick-off tour today.
  
  
• The rumbling triumverate of [Gov] Rendell, [Mayor] Street, and [State Sen. and general Big Dog] Fumo met yesterday to talk about Delaware riverfront development in the face of pressing casino projects and other developer ambitions. Most excitingly, they discussed the prospect of setting up a nonprofit to oversee development in this area in a manner that would most benefit the city and its residents.

  The corporation, which would seek both public and private funding and would bring together development experts from across the United States, is the brainchild of City Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district includes a long stretch of waterfront being eyed by gaming interests and residential developers.
  
  DiCicco, who also attended the lunchtime meeting, said the Big Three supported his idea to engage experts as both board members and planners to work through the development impact of thousands of housing units and potential casinos along the river.

  These discussions are a follow-up on Rendell's decision to issue a moratorium on all building along the river (and sale of the state's "riparian rights" over shoreline projects), and might extend to transit needs and pedestrian routes.
  
  
• Two stories yesterday reported that the Barnes Foundation is on the road to relocating to downtown Philadelphia, having raised some $150 million from a collection of donors already. No word on plans for the building design, although they hope to break ground next year...
  
  
• While candidates were sweating the returns yesterday, Philadelphia's cabbies went on strike to protest a new rule requiring that cabs carry GPS, adding to the fees that cut into drivers' meager earnings.

  "We didn't ask for the GPS," Blount told the cheering cabbies. "Owners didn't ask for the GPS. Customers didn't ask for the GPS. Who asked for the GPS?"

  Well, the newly state-run PPA has great ideas for everything, it seems.
  
  
• We recently noted here a suggestion that an abandoned rail line could be used for a new subway spur to serve the Parkway and parts west. Apparently area transportation planners have been eying a similar stretch of suburban railway, but suggesting paving rather than fixing up tracks, to establish a sort of bus-subway fusion service called BRT (bus rapid transit), which would extend into Bucks County. I can't picture how the given map superimposes on existing rail routes, but I gather that this would serve areas that were served by a discontinued line. There's a public meeting tonight to see what area residents think of the plan.