Category: Politics

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Gar Alperovitz and the next left

  By Economic Development, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics, Urbanism, US

In April I had the pleasure of introducing the noted political economist Gar Alperovitz at an event sponsored by the Weavers Way Cooperative in Mt. Airy. The following essay is an expanded version of my introduction. They to point to the lessons we can learn from Alperovitz and how those lessons are already being put to work in my own community, Mt. Airy. During the Carter presidency people began to notice that liberals were running of out ideas for making our country more just and democratic. Carter may have been wrong to attribute the difficulties of his presidency to a nationwide “malaise” but as a description of liberal political thought, the term seemed appropriate. At the time, my teacher Michael Walzer wrote an article in the New Republic that explained this phenomenon. He pointed out that liberals, in fact, rarely had ideas of their own. Their ideas were borrowed from… Continue reading

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Learning from Jane Jacobs

  By Philadelphia, Urbanism, Zoning

Vern Anastasio is sponsoring another in a series of meetings on zoning and land use planning issues tonight at the Fleischer Art Memorial at 719 Catherine Street. I am still out of town so I won’t be able to make it. I had a family emergency in the middle of the first one and had to leave early. But it was interesting and useful. And, at one moment, it turned scary. The whole issue of zoning is quite complicated and I want to write about it at length. I very much think we need to reform the way we make land use decisions in the city. But I don’t want to see us go from a system that is already problematic to one that is disastrous. And this exactly what will happen if, as some folks suggested at the previous meeting, we return to the days when Philadelphia had an… Continue reading

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Saving the housing trust fund

  By Philadelphia

Last week I wrote here about the fight to save the Housing Trust Fund. I’ve meant to write about our success, but have been busy with preparing for the next round of Affordable Housing Issues. In case you haven’t seen the results: here is a brief recap. The Transfer Ordinance Passes First, the all important transfer ordinance, which is necessary to put Trust Fund money back into the account from which it can be spent on affordable housing projects, was unanimously voted out of committee. We expect it to be adopted this Thursday. The Other Bills Fail Second, Councilwoman Blackwell withdrew both her bill to divided Trust Fund resources equally among each of the ten council districts and her bill to kill the Trust Fund entirely. As we had suspected, these two bills were Councilwoman Blackwell’s way of creating a crisis atmosphere around housing issues, and allowing her to hold… Continue reading

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Coming attractions: inclusionary housing

  By Housing, Philadelphia, Social Justice

One of the most interesting ideas for neighborhood development is coming to Philadelphia—Inclusionary Housing. It is being brought to you by a new alliance, the Campaign for Housing Justice. You can be there for the premiere if you come to a Rally for Housing Justice Tomorrow, Thursday, June 14, 9:30 at the Clothespin (15th and Market). Inclusionary Housing is a policy that requires residential developers who are getting a tax break, zoning variance or other benefit from the government to provide affordable housing in return. Developers of large projects are required to set aside a certain percentage of their units for affordable housing. Developers of small projects are required to contribute to a fund for affordable housing, such as our Housing Trust Fund. (The policy is called inclusionary zoning in other places, but for reasons we don’t need to go into here, we have adopted another name in Philadelphia.) The… Continue reading

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Housing trust fund testimony 2: the power of Council

  By Housing, Philadelphia

This is the second part of my testimony on the Housing Trust Fund. During the course of the hearings Councilwoman Blackwell complained about how district Council members did not have enough control over housing project in their district. This issue will definitely come up again, as Councilwoman Blackwell has proposed an ordinance that would require the Trust Fund advisory board to report to Council as well as the Administration. This might not be a bad idea as the advisory committee does make recommendations about how Housing Trust Fund money should be distributed between, for example, new construction and the rehabilitation of existing housing units. As Councilwoman Tasco pointed out during I interchange I had with her in the hearing, this does seem to be a role for Council. However whether Council should approve each project is, I think, a different matter as I explain below. Continue reading

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Housing trust fund testimony 1: don't divide the fund

  By Housing, Philadelphia

This is the first part of my testimony before City Council on the Housing Trust Fund. My argument here is against Councilwoman Blackwell’s proposed ordinance to divide the Housing Trust Fund money equally among the ten council districts. While this idea died in committee, it may come back again. So I thought it might be a good idea to post it. Chairwoman Blackwell, Members of the Committee Thank you for giving me an opportunity to testify about this ordinance. Continue reading

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Why and how we should make voting easier

  By Elections and Voting, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Yesterday I joined a group of political activists who met with the leadership of the Committee of Seventy to urge the group to take the lead in pushing some new efforts to make it easier for people to vote. We hope a number of new initiatives will come out of our conversations, including greater efforts on the part of our city and state government and public and private businesses organizations like PGW, the Water Department, Comcast, and Verizon to inform citizens about when and how to register to vote and about when and where to vote. Continue reading

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Sad day for the PA Constitution

  By Love and Sex, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted yesterday in favor of a PA Constitutional Amendment that would not only ban gay marriage but could be interpreted to deny both gays and straights domestic partnership benefits. What do you say about this outrageous action? The legislators who voted for it know that they are, for the first time in our history, inserting a provision that discriminates against a group of people into our constitution. They know how ridiculous it is to say that people who want to the right to marry are a threat to the institution of marriage. They know gay and lesbian friends and family members who are appalled by what they are doing. They don’t care. They are pandering to their political base and hoping to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that will drive up turnout among the intolerant minority. Talking won’t do it. We need to… Continue reading

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Hearing on the housing trust fund

  By Housing, Philadelphia

Council Hearings are being held today (Wednesday, June 7)) and tomorrow (Thursday, June 8 ) on three ordinances related to the Housing Trust Fund, which remains in danger. Here is some information on the hearing, the ordinances that will be considered, and my view of those ordinances. I urge you to contact your council members and all the at-large council members to express your views on these bill. You can find phone, fax and email contact information for Council members on my website. Or you can use the Hallwatch Faxbank Service to send a fax to all council members who represent you. Continue reading

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Housing trust fund shenanigans, continued

  By Housing, Philadelphia

As I previously reported, the budget passed by Council a week and a half ago included an amendment, sponsored by Jannie Blackwell, that transferred Housing Trust Fund money from one line item to another, thereby blocking expenditures of Housing Trust Funds on the creation of affordable housing in the next Fiscal Year. Early last week, Councilman Darrell Clarke introduced a transfer amendment that would move the money back. After a meeting of the advisory committee on the Trust Fund, Councilwoman Blackwell promised to vote for the transfer amendment. And then new threats to the fund arose. Continue reading