Author: Marc Stier

No comments

Neighborhood Networks at fifteen months

  By Progressive Politics

The NN annual conference is also a good time to look back at what we have and have not accomplished in the last fifteen months. I, of course, am not an objective observer, having been a member of the committee of seven or eight people who developed the idea of Neighborhood Networks, and having been a member of the Steering and Executive Committees for the last fifteen months. (I just resigned from the Executive Committee because of my race for City Council.) But perhaps my familiarity with the organization makes my remarks worthwhile none the less. Continue reading

No comments

I'm in

  By A political memoir, About me, My 2007 Campaign, Philadelphia

My absence from the blogosphere has been noticed far and wide—my mother called me the other day to ask if I’m feeling well. Actually I’ve been surprised by how many people have asked me about what happened to my blog in the last few weeks. The explanation is quite simple. After I got back from a brief vacation at the end of August, and got my classes rolling at Temple, I was first distracted from the blog by the effort to get Neighborhood Defense.org off the ground. And then, I did some speaking on public transit issues both in general, and as they affect the proposed casinos. I’ll be blogging about this very soon. But the main distraction is my nascent campaign for City Council. Continue reading

No comments

Reforming political campaigns by reducing the cost of TV

  By Campaign Finance Reform, Elections and Voting

Hannah Miller has written a lovely post over at YPP about the importance of reducing the cost of our political campaigns by providing low cost television advertising. The logic of Hannah’s argument ultimately leads to the conclusion that Ray Murphy reaches in a comment on that post: Comcast ought to provide free time for political advertising as well as for televised debates and other election focused media events. (And, by the way, it really is about time that the city held Comcast to its contractual agreement to provide public access TV so that we have an alternative to corporate owned media in the city. You can read all about this issue at http://www.phillyaccess.org/.) Comcast has a right to operate in the city because it holds a franchise that must be approved by Council. The contract that defines that franchise could be written to require free or low cost television advertising.… Continue reading

No comments

Take action to repeal Act 193

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Urbanism, Zoning

About two months ago I blogged about Act 193. Now is the time to take action to repeal it. Act 193 threatens the rights of Philadelphia community groups to protect our neighborhoods from harmful development. Community associations—and city-wide groups like SCRUB and the Preservation Alliance—rely on zoning to prevent bad development that undermines our quality of life. We fight zoning variances that would allow new developments that is out of character with our communities. And, if we lose at the Zoning Board of Adjustment, we appeal their decisions to the courts and win there. Continue reading

No comments

Neighborhood Defense.org kickoff

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Urbanism

Press Release Neighborhood Defense.org kicked off its effort to repeal Act 193 today at a press conference at City Hall. Neighborhood Defense.org is an alliance of Philadelphia community associations and civic groups working to protect their longstanding rights to appeal decisions of the Zoning Board and other city agencies that regulate land use. On Monday, Neighborhood Defense.org launched a website where individuals and community organizations can register their support for the repeal of Act 193. The website will be used to fax and email state representatives and senators and create local networks of community activists who will contact and lobby their legislators. Continue reading

No comments

Time for Comcast to be a good citizen

  By Elections and Voting, Public Policy

At YPP,  Hannah Miller agued that Comcast should be making reduced price or free television advertisements available to all political candidates. (Link coming soon.) The logic of Hannah’s argument ultimately leads to the conclusion that Ray has reached: Comcast ought to provide free time for political advertising as well as for televised debates and other election focused media events. (And, by the way, it really is about time that the city held Comcast to its contractual agreement to provide public access TV so that we have an alternative to corporate owned media in the city. You can read all about this issue at http://www.phillyaccess.org/.) Continue reading

No comments

More on public financing

  By Elections and Voting

I am reposting something I posted in response to a debate at Young Philly Politics, which began with a good post from Hannah Miller. ——– There is no one solution to the campaign financing mess. Hannah is right: we need free TV time for candidates. We also have to ban candidates who take the free time from purchasing additional media time. That would make campaigning less expensive. But Hannah and Neil Oxman are wrong about public financing. This is one area where there really is no trade-off between spending on schools or economic development and spending on public financing of campaigns. Continue reading

No comments

What does an endorsement mean?

  By Health Care

Many years ago, a month or so before his was elected to his second term in the House of Representatives Barney Frank wrote a funny piece in The New Republic about his first term in office. Unfortunately it is not yet in the TNR archives. I recall, however, that Barney wrote something like this: “After looking over my first term, I have to say that I’ve cast a few votes that I find myself disapproving. And I certainly missed some opportunities to speak out on some important issues. But, taking my record as a whole, and especially after comparing it to that of my opponent, I believe I’m certainly the lesser of two evils and maybe even a bit better than that. So I intend to vote for myself in November.” I recall this now because there is a dispute in Neighborhood Networks about whether to endorse Casey for Senate… Continue reading

No comments

Progressives and Crime

  By Criminal Justice

Whenever crime becomes a major issue—as it has in Philadelphia right now—we progressives offer up a set of answers to the crime problem. Most of our answers focus on what we call the “root causes” of crime. We talk about the economic distress in neighborhoods that leaves too many people without decent jobs. We talk about the problems in families that leaves too many children without the supervision, and in some case, the love, they need to grow up right. We talk about the inadequate education that leaves too many of our young people without the skills they need to make it in the contemporary economy. We talk about the lack of after school programs, recreation programs, and mentoring programs to help the many young people who are at-risk for turning to crime. Everyone one of those ideas is right. Without economic growth that includes everyone, without decent schools that… Continue reading