Category: Politics

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Civil liberties, sexual equality and Larry Craig

  By Sexual and gender equality, US

I’m sure we are all having fun over another example of Republican hypocripsy on gay issues. But is anyone else disturbed about Craig being arrested for merely propositioning someone–and doing it in a way that most straight men would hardly recognize it as such? I can see why laws against people actually having sex in a public restroom might be a good idea. But laws against a fairly subtle come-on? What is the point—except to harass gay men. After all,  straight men make sleazy come-ons, too. And in public. Craig’s actions were actually pretty subtle. I’ve seen a lot sleazier (and, sometimes, borderline violent) come-ons from straight men. But, of course, in our sexist and homophobic society lots of people laugh at sleazy straight come-ons and want to see much less sleazy gay ones prosecuted. It’s not just come-ons but public sex. I’ve seen women giving men head or a… Continue reading

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Feeling the pain of the MTA and SEPTA

  By Philadelphia, Transportation

I don’t often feel sorry for government agencies. But, in the aftermath of yesterday’s shutdown of parts of the New York City subway system after a major rainstorm flooded subway tunnels right before rush hour, I’m sharing the pain of the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA). We have very little tolerance for failure in the United States whether it be personal failures, the failures of corporations or—what is most intolerable—the failure of public agencies to do their jobs. Most of the time, we should have high standards. People should do their jobs and businesses and governments should provide the goods and services they are supposed to. I’m not here to make excuses for a Philadelphia Police Department that can’t get a handle on violent crime or a Department of Human Services that regularly loses tracks of children at risk. But accidents happen. And when those accidents are due to circumstances that… Continue reading

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Transfers forever

  By Philadelphia, Transportation

The Confusion Over Transfers Conceptual confusion has marred the transfer debate ever since SEPTA wrongly justified eliminating transfers by saying that they would not be necessary once an electronic fare system was in place. I spent some time trying to correct the confusion in blogs and my emails. But the politics of saving transfers took precedence over the clarifying the difference senses of “transfers.” So now is a good time to get some clarity about the multiple meaning of “transfers” and, also, about what moving to an electronic fare system might mean for our fare structure. Two meanings of “transfers” We use the word “transfers” to talk about two different things. The first is what, from now on, I’m going to call “paper transfers” that is, the physical mechanism by which SEPTA implements a reduced fare for someone who takes two (or more) different buses or trains on one trip… Continue reading

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Will Philadelphia home rule go up in smoke again?

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Smoking

The General Assembly is moving forward with plans to enact a state wide smoking ban. But, in the process, it is likely to weaken the ban already in place in Philadelphia. And, even worse, it is likely that the General Assembly will prohibit Philadelphia and other cities and towns from making laws more stringent than the new state law. So, once again, teh state will override the right of Philadelphians to make laws that concern only ourselves. . The Senate passed smoking ban legislation a week and a half ago. It bans smoking in many public places but it exempts 25 percent of the space in casinos and private clubs. And it also allows smoking in businesses in which less than 20 percent of revenues come from food sales, which will allow smoking in many bars. What’s worse, the bill prohibits municipalities from enacting smoking laws that are tougher than… Continue reading

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The fire next time

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

I sent this to a group of progressive activists who were meeting in Philadelphia in June 2007. I couldn’t attend because my daughter was graduating from middle school at that time. The May 2007 primary was disappointing for many of us. But I thought then, as I still do now, that good things would come out of the effort many of us had made during and before that primary. While I very much want to hear what you all have to say, I don’t think you will lose much from my absence as I’m still too close to the recent election to have had the time and energy to think through what it all means for the progressive movement in this city. Continue reading

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On ward politics and street money

  By My 2007 Campaign, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics, Ward politics

Originally posted at Young Philly Politics. A number of my responses to comments made at YPP are below There is an article in the Inquirer today that briefly reports on some of my experiences with ward politics during the last election. I was disappointed by the article, in part because I thought I was talking off the record with the reporter and in part because the article is misleading about the role that wards and street money played in my campaign or other grass roots campaigns. (The Inquirer will be running a clarification about part of the article tomorrow.) I plan to write about this subject in detail later, because these are two subjects that most people interested in Philadelphia politics do not understand very well and about which I learned a great deal in the last five months. Here are some preliminary points. Continue reading

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I want the best service: How to save hundreds of lives by fixing emergency service

  By Health Care, My 2007 Campaign, Philadelphia

I wrote this with Daniel Hunter during my campaign for City Council in 2007. If you are shot——or have a heart attack—where would you rather be, New York City or Philadelphia?  If you want to stay alive, the unfortunate answer is New York City. Why? New York City has invested resources in emergency medical services. And they don’t hamstringing their paramedics, fire fighters, and police with unreasonable rules. Here’s one example: New York City has far more ambulances per person than Philadelphia. They have so many ambulances, in fact, that they don’t have enough stations for all of them. That’s why you see many parked on street corners waiting for a call. In Philadelphia the situation is the opposite.  We have too few ambulances.  So when police rush onto the scene after someone is shot, they often arrive long before an ambulance.  As a result, they have to put gunshot… Continue reading

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A funny thing happened at a tax reform forum

  By Philadelphia, Taxation

We all know economic growth and job creation are central to making our city a better place to live. Over the last few years, the debate about economic growth has centered on the tax reform issue. That has been unfortunate for two reasons. The first is that, while tax reform may be critical to economic growth, we have not focused enough on other means of creating new businesses and jobs. Second, progress on reforming taxes has been slow because we have focused too much on business taxes and because of sharp disagreements among political activists about whether and how fast the Business Privilege Tax (BPT) should be reduced. But a funny thing happened in a public forum a few months ago on taxes. Brett Mandel of Philadelphia Forward has been a main advocate of gradually eliminating the Business Privilege Tax (BPT) in order to stimulate economic development and job growth… Continue reading

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The BPT: once more with feeling

  By Philadelphia, Taxation

I would like to broaden the debate about the BPT a bit and explain why, from a progressive point of view, it is not a good tax. But, before I get to that, however, let me make four preliminary points about the BPT and economic development and explain why I would not vote to reduce the BPT except as part of a package of economic development programs and tax reforms. 1. I do think that reducing business taxes is one way to create more businesses and jobs in Philadelphia. But it is not the only way or the best way. To understand why, you have to grasp that we have two economic development problems in the city. The first has to do with reviving commercial corridors. This is critical to creating jobs for our many citizens who have not attended college. Reducing the net profits part of the BPT will… Continue reading

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How to have your neighborhoods and casinos, too.

  By Casinos, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

By Marc Stier and Daniel Hunter It’s time to find a creative solution to the logjam over casinos at the waterfront. The charter change referendum blocking casinos from the Delaware River sites and any other sites within 1500 feet of a residential area is going to pass on May 15. Having led the campaign to restore the city’s zoning control over the casino sites, I am quite certain that the General Assembly will not reverse direction and take that control away from us again. And all those lawyers and public relations people who say that the charter change will be overturned in the courts are just blowing smoke. If there is any justice in Pennsylvania, then the result of the referendum will hold up in court. And, even if justice is lacking, casino opponents have the capacity to use the legal process to block casinos on the water front for… Continue reading