I have been writing for months about how politics is broken in this city including the politics of casinos. As if we needed on more example, the PA Gaming Control Board today selected the Foxwoods and Sugarhouse casino sites. This decision was made not because of what’s best for the city, but because of insider politics. Continue reading
I originally wrote this as a private letter to progressive activists in the middle of December, 2006. The point I make below about Philadelphia having an unified party and thus better government is something I’d like to explore in the future. I know that lots of progressives are not terribly happy with Bob Brady at the moment. I’ve heard lots of complaints about how Jonathan Saidel was pushed out of the race pretty soon after he released an impressive paper about political reform. For a variety of reasons, mostly having to do with my running at-large and with the sense among progressives that there is no one Mayoral candidate who embodies our hopes, I don’t intend to endorse any Mayoral candidates in 07. I don’t even know who I’m voting for. So, while I’m in this undecided state, I thought I would say something about Bob Brady and why I’m… Continue reading
Reposted from Young Philly Politics In a world where it is getting harder to make a buck with ink and a printing press, isn’t it time we think about providing some public support for this vital resource? Everyone who is interested in the future of our city knows how important the Inquirer and Daily News are to us. We activists complain about them—especially when they don’t cover us as we would like by reporting every single word we say every day . But we know that without them, we would not know what is going on in the city without them, and no one would know what we do, either. The papers are not important just for the information we get from them. There is also the depth of knowledge—and evident love of the city—that makes reading long term reporters and columnists like Dave Davies, Tom Ferrick, Chris Brennan, Larry… Continue reading
On Sunday, Chris Satullo, the editor of the Inquirer’s editorial page, announced a project that might help transform politics in this city: Great Expectations: Citizen Voices on Philadelphia’s Future. As I explain in this blog post, this is a project that has the potential to radically improve politics in the city. Please can find out more, and sign up to take part in the project here. A joint project of The Inquirer Editorial Board’s Citizen Voices project and the University of Pennsylvania’s Project on Civic Engagement, Great Expectations will have a number of key components. One is to engage community leaders and citizens from around the region in a series of dialogues that identify the key problems we need to solve in the next ten years if Philadelphia is to become the next great city. A second is to send editorial board writers to others cities to find the best… Continue reading
For the last few months, I’ve been running around the city, giving a speech to any group of three or more people who will listen that begins with the following words: “Politics in Philadelphia is Broken.” I have another five and a half months to go giving that speech…and maybe it won’t stop then because fixing politics in Philadelphia is probably going to take the progressive movement the better part of the next ten or fifteen years. It is, of course, an easy case to make. Sometimes, people shout out examples of our broken politics before I get three minutes into my speech. And no example comes up more than the ridiculous path by which our political system has taken us to the verge of bringing casinos to Philadelphia. How does this process exemplify the broken character of our politics? Let us count the ways. Continue reading
I. Seeing Into the Life of Things What does Wordsworth see when he “sees into the life of things?” Recall that in the lines leading up to his portrayal of the “blessed mood” that gives him this sight, Wordsworth has been pointing to the power of human memory and reflection. And the importance of memory and reflection are made plain by the shifting time perspectives in the poem. The poem begins with the speaker on the banks of the Wye for the first time in five years. At first the poet emphasizes the way in which his present experience is similar to that of five years ago. More than once he tells us that “again” he has certain experiences in this secluded spot, a place that is evidently a refuge for him. He then tells how he has thought of “these beauteous forms” at many difficult times since he was… Continue reading
In this piece I would like to summarize the interpretation of The Lamb and The Tyger that I have tried to work through in my IH 52 classes. Since my interpretation—and these remarks—were influenced by Billy Grassie’s interpretation and the commentary on it, all of which is at the main IH web site, you might want to read it first and then return here. The key question in interpreting these two poems is, I think, raised in The Tyger, when the speaker asks “Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” If we think about why anyone would raise this question, another, prior question comes to the fore. Lambs and tigers are extraordinarily different animals. But are they so different that we would wonder whether God might have made them both? Is there a greater difference between lambs and tigers than, say, between… Continue reading
The Money Is Running Out In the spring of 2005, thanks in large part to the efforts of everyone who worked with the Pennsylvania Transit Coalition, Governor Rendell transferred (or, in transit-speak) flexed, hundreds of millions of dollars of federal highway funds to save public transit in Pennsylvania. The money runs out in December 2006. Continue reading
Late at night, on Election Day in 1980, I called my father, whose interest in politics and own effective political activity spurred my own. (My first campaign was for my Dad’s race for a Councilman in the Town of Liberty, NY, in 1963. Ever since, I have thought of Councilman as one of the most distinguished political titles.) As the returns came in, and Reagan and a Republican Senate were elected, I complained to my Dad about the tides of politics. “You’ve lived through a period of Democratic dominance, during which you at least had some hope that politics might head in the right direction,” I said. “I’m looking at twenty years of Republican dominance.” Now we have some hope that the next twenty five years will look very different. Continue reading
Red Auerbach, the greatest sports executive in history and a great basketball coach as well, died yesterday. He has long been one of my heroes—because of his ability to thoughtfully break through the conventional wisdom and develop innovative ways of building and coaching a basketball team; because of his wisdom about human beings and the variety of things that motivate them; because he was a good man who helped break down racial barriers in sports; because he was incredibly funny and did not take himself too seriously; and because one of my other great heroes, Bill Russell, loved him. I didn’t know Red but did meet him twice. The first was at basketball camp when I was twelve. He gave an incredible talk and I followed him around the rest of the day soaking in every word he said. He said something that day that has always stuck with me:… Continue reading