Will Pa. give $10 million to club named for Comcast's Roberts?

Backers of what will soon be called the Ralph J. Roberts Boys & Girls Club, of Germantown -- a neighborhood the future Comcast Corp. founder frequented back in the Depression -- are hoping Pennsylvania taxpayers will come up with $10 million towards a $20 million replacement club, plus a neighboring Ed Snider Youth Hockey rink named for the longtime Philadelphia Flyers owner and outspoken libertarian critic of big government giveaways. The group is raising another $20 million to renovate six other clubs, Comcast spokesman John Demming noted. (Revised) Statement here.

The Roberts proposal is among a flood of new requests for Pennsyvlania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program funds solicited by Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf this month. Snider's hockey foundation, Comcast and the Roberts family are kicking in an additional $8 million more toward the $40 million total, and fundraising for the rest, according to a statement from Comcast spokesman John Demming.

Another request would grant $2.5 million to NextFab, the for-profit South Philadelphia cool-tools small-business incubator and "makerspace" headed by Evan Malone, son of Liberty Media (and QVC) owner, cable billionaire John Malone. Many more applications for RACP funds -- including some large ones that weren't funded in last year's round -- are listed here, check for Round 1A of 2015,