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Protect consumers: stop HB 1467

  By Consumer protection, Pennsylvania

Good editorial today in the Inquirer urging Governor Rendell to veto a HB 1467, a bill that would put homeowners fighting contractors who have done shoddy work at an even greater disadvantage than they are today. The justification for the bill is that it would avoid litigation by giving contractors 2 ½ months repair bad work. But the bill creates procedural barriers that will make it more difficult for homeowners to sue contractors who fail to make the repairs. The editorial follows on an excellent column Jeff Gelles wrote about the bill a few days ago. By the way, if you don’t read Jeff Gelles regularly you should. Not only does he have good personal advice, he regularly takes on political issues from a consumer perspective. He is one of the few reporters willing to take on Comcast, for example, criticizing them for their anti-competitive refusal to allow Direct TV… Continue reading

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What we progressives can learn from our own failures: the future of progressive politics in PA, part 3

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Political Organizing, Progressive Politics

In the last post in this series I wrote about the limitations of Governor Rendell’s centrist strategy in dealing with a Republican legislature that is tilting very far to the right. Today I want to point to some of the failures of activists in dealing with the same barrier to progressive politics. Let me make clear that this is mostly an exercise in self-criticism. (Yo, David Horowitz, note that suspiciously Maoist turn of phrase.) I am going to write about some of the campaigns on which I have worked and point to three ways in which I think we might have made them, or might now make them, more effective. Continue reading

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Alternate Paths to Economic Growth

  By Economic Development, Philadelphia, Public Policy, Social Justice, Taxation, Urbanism

Last week there was another go round about the Business Privilege Tax (BPT) at a City Council hearing at which I testified on behalf of One Philadelphia. Most of the people who testified had done so before. They, and the council members who were there, seemed to know each other’s lines so well that they could repeat them in their sleep. But it has taken me a while to get my head around the various issues concerning taxation and it was my first time attending this particular circus. I thought it might be enlightening. After all, as the ad goes, if you haven’t seen it before, it is new to you. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really new to me or terribly enlightening. The problem with these hearings about the BPT, and with the whole debate about taxes in the city, is that it is terribly one dimensional. Taxes after all are… Continue reading

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Help protect tenants

  By Housing, Philadelphia

We tend to think of Philadelphia as a city of homeowners, but there are hundreds of thousands of renters as well. To protect them City Council recently enacted the Certificate of Rental Suitability Bill (#060010). It would improve the lives of tenants in this city, especially those who are poor. Unfortunately, Mayor Street may veto this bill. Continue reading

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Philadelphia's civic summit on recycling

  By Health Care

The leaders of the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia and its affiliate RecycleNow will be talking about a new grassroots political effort to bring the RecycleBank program to all of Philadelphia in the next few years. RecycleBank is a brilliant program that has been a tremendous success in the two neighborhoods where it has been tested, Chestnut Hill and West Oak Lane. RecycleBank is a private enterprise that works with the Streets Department to collect a much wider range of recyclables than is collected by the city now. They all go into one big container that is provided to each household. Under RecycleBank, the same folks who now pick up your recycling will pick up and weight the container. And then households can claim coupons worth up to $400 per year, based upon the weight of all the material they recycle. The coupons are mostly for locally owned businesses. Continue reading

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What progressives can learn from Governor Rendell’s failures: the future of progressive politics in PA, part 2

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Governor Rendell went to Harrisburg hoping to follow his path to success in Philadelphia. As Mayor of this left of center city with its strong labor unions, Rendell governed from the center. He took on the municipal unions, forcing them to make significant concessions. He cut taxes. He used city funds and tax breaks to create the public facilities and to encourage the private initiative that spurred development, mostly in center city. He was neither a rightist who minimized the role of government nor a leftist who attempted to use government to pursue social justice. Continue reading

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The real problem at Temple

  By Education

A week or so ago I defended myself, and Temple, against David Horowitz’s charges that left-wing political correctness undermines the education we give our students. Today I want to address a real problem at Temple. Two years ago I walked into my first class of the semester and found that I had only two African American students in my class. (My classes had typically been over fifty percent African American when I started teaching at Temple eight years ago.) After the class was over I complained to an higher level administrator. His response has been repeated as the company line for the last few years. Given the increase in the number of students, and especially students from the suburbs, the percentage of African American students at Temple was dropping. You can see that this is true from the following data from the recently released Temple Factbook which can be found… Continue reading

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Success and failure in Harrisburg: the future of progressive politics in PA, part 1

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

The Future of Progressive Politics in Pennsylvania, Part 1 This has been a good week for progressives in the state. Governor Rendell has announced that he will veto HB 1318, a bill that would have been most aptly named the Voter Suppression Act of 2006. I was very proud to work with wonderful Protect Our Vote Coalition in opposing the bill and was pleased that Neighborhood Networks officially joined the coalition as well. Jeanine Miller in Philadelphia and Celeste Taylor in Pittsburgh did a great job leading the coalition and Larry Frankel of the ACLU in Harrisburg was immensely important to our efforts as he tracked every twist and turn of the legislative process and gave us strategic advice about what to do at each moment. Any victory by the left is a good one and stopping this awful bill is an important accomplishment. However, before we get too pleased… Continue reading

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Single Moo Milk

  By Humor

Blogging here will be a little light for a few days as I take a little trip north. And that reminds me of a story I heard during my last trip. In an effort to spur their economy, Vermont farmers are taking a leaf from makers of Scotch. They are soon going to start marketing high-end milk and cheese products from particular farms that, they claim, have distinctive tastes as a result of the grass and water eaten by their cows. The marketing firms have not decided what to call this designer milk. My suggestion is in the title to this post. Note: when I first posted this, ACM commented: heh, not sure that people want to be reminded of the biological specificity of their milk, but who knows. I distinctly remember as a kid (when you’re drinking a lot of milk straight), noticing the change of taste when the… Continue reading

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The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

  By Humor, Politics, US

When was the last time a Vice President shot a man? First correct answer gets a free, lifetime subscription to Marc Stier at Large. Thanks to Karl Marx for the title. In the 18th Brumaire of Louis Napolean he writes “Hegel says that history repeats itself. He forgot to add the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” And no, David Horowitz, knowing this quotation does not make me a Marxist. PS Does anyone know what a Brumaire is? 7 Responses to “The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce” acm Says: February 16th, 2006 at 11:25 am e hint: it involved a duel, not a hunt… Matthew Flaschen Says: February 16th, 2006 at 7:53 pm e Alexander Hamilton shot rival Aaron Burr in a duel. Matthew Flaschen Says: February 16th, 2006 at 9:05 pm e Err, other way around. TRAY Says: February 16th, 2006 at… Continue reading