Category: Politics

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Great expectations for Philadelphia

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

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

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You Want to See Broken Politics: Just Look at the Casinos

  By Casinos, Philadelphia

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

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The transit crises continues and the PTC is back.

  By Pennsylvania, Transportation

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

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The Opportunity Before Us

  By Politics, US

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

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Politics as usual 14, reform 0

  By Campaign Finance Reform, Philadelphia

By a vote of 14-0, City Council today gutted the campaign finance laws that were enacted a few years ago. Contribution limits of $2500 for an individual and $10,000 for a PAC will now kick in when a candidate declares his or her candidacy or files nominating petitions, that is, as late as March of an election year. There will be no limitations prior to that time. And as I have pointed out, there is a massive loophole that will allow money above the limits to be spent even after they go into effect. Wilson Goode did not introduce an amendment to have the contribution limits begin when a candidate begins raising money for his or her campaign. I was not there because I teach Thursday mornings at Temple. But I understand that there was no debate at all. Continue reading

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Help save campaign finance reform

  By Campaign Finance Reform, Elections and Voting, Philadelphia

This week City Council will consider Bill No. 060629, which in its unamended form would gut the city’s limits on campaign contributions and be a major step backwards in the effort to reform politics in Philadelphia. You can help stop 60629—or even better, have it improved by amendment—by signing a petition which will be delivered to your Council members Thursday morning. Bill 60629, which is sponsored by Councilman Goode, would, in its original form, define a candidate as someone who has filed nominating petitions or declared his or her candidacy for office. The result would be that there would be no limits on how much money a candidate could raise before early March of an election year. (See below for information about an amendment Goode proposed today that may fix this problem) Goode claimed that his ordinance would prohibit candidates from using money that exceeds the finance limits ($2500 for… Continue reading

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Sewers, Sustainability, and Social Justice

  By Environment, Philadelphia, Social Justice

The Sewer Problem I want to examine one very prosaic example of a public policy of the kind I described in my last post, one that would benefit everyone and especially working people—an effort to improve the functioning of our sewer system. Continue reading

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What Does Social Justice Mean for Philadelphia?

  By Philadelphia, Social Justice

What Does Social Justice Mean in City Politics? When I say that the social justice should be a primary goal of public policy in Philadelphia, I make some people happy. These are the people who recognize that a quarter of our population is poor and that unemployment rates in some sections of the city reach depression-like levels; that poverty and unemployment create the hopelessness that leads about half our school children to drop out before they graduate from high school; and that hopelessness is among the main causes of the drug epidemic and high crime rates. To talk about social justice, for me, is one way to point to the need for the city to address the difficult conditions faced by so many of our citizens. But talking about social justice makes other people nervous even though they may be sympathetic to plight of so many of their fellow Philadelphians.… Continue reading

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A Major Victory In The Fight Against Casinos?

  By Casinos, Philadelphia

I’m not quite ready to declare victory tonight. But if we can believe the press release that is now appearing on Senator Fumo’s website—and if the Senate and House follow the Senator’s recommendations—then progressives and casino activists in the city are about to win a major victory, local control over zoning at the casino sites. Continue reading

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Time to play hardball

  By Casinos, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

If SB 862 passes, it’s time to play hardball. We can do so in two ways: a lawsuit challenging SB 862 or an effort to ban the casinos from using city water, sewer, police or fire services. Both ideas work for me, but I’m leaning toward the second. Continue reading