Category: Public Policy

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The Republican Gang of Six and the PA State Budget

  By Federal Budget, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Budget

In Pennsylvania today, we face an budget crisis of huge proportions. In the face of drastically reduced revenues due to the recession, the state faces a enormous deficit. And there are only two ways to deal with it. The Republicans in the State Senate have proposed massive reductions in state spending that would had devastating effects on education and health care, particularly for children. The Democrats, lead by Governor Rendell, have proposed temporarily raising the state income tax, which is one of the lowest in the country. The state budget crisis is all about the Republicans in Pennsylvania being captured by the extreme anti-tax, anti-government ideology that has dominated the Republican party in the South and West for years but is relatively new here. These ain’t your grandfather’s Republicans. And, frankly, when Republicans control the Senate by ten seats, I’m not sure there is all that much we can do… Continue reading

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Why protests continue at the Valley Swim Club

  By Racial Justice

There are reports that The Valley Swim Club is offering the Creative Steps Day Camp an opportunity to return. I know nothing more than what is being reported in the Daily News at http://tinyurl.com/moea74. That’s a good first step. But I don’t know whether the club has offered an apology for its actions or is willing to take other steps to undo the harm it has caused. In the meantime, while things remain unsettled, the pastors, and people in the neighborhood, and those of us who have been organizing protests to this point, believe they should continue. Continue reading

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Next Protest: Saturday July 11 12:00 Noon

  By Racial Justice

First the critical news: Protests at The Valley Swim Club will continue Saturday, July 11, at 12:00 noon at 22 Tomlinson Road, Huntingdon Valley. Please join us. Yesterday about 45 people joined at various times in a hastily planned protest that lasted for a number of hours. We stood and marched around the entrance to the swim club chanting “Jim Crow Swims Here” and “No Justice, No Peace.” I was really gratified to see that most of the people protesting came from in the neighborhood. There were about four or five of us from West Mt. Airy. Continue reading

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Protest racism at the valley swim club today 5:30 pm.

  By Racial Justice

You may have read or heard or yesterday that a Huntingdon Valley swim club decided to cancel an agreement with a Northeast Philadelphia day camp to allow campers to swim at the club two time a week because, the black campers would “change the complexion…and atmosphere of the club.” Kids who came to swim were summarily asked to leave the pool and told not to come back? What is there to say to decent people about the existence of blatant racism in this day and age? It’s grossly immoral. It’s enormously ignorant. It’s a throwback to days most of us hoped were long gone. And it can’t be allowed to stand without legal action and protest. Not to stand up and say that this sort of behavior is beyond the pale, is to allow it, and the attitudes behind it, to survive one more day. Continue reading

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The digital divide and equality of opportunity

  By Media Justice, Philadelphia

OK, here is the funny thing—or rather two funny things—about my writing on this topic. The first is that I’m one of the most net connected people I know. I use a computer for work or fun probably eight to ten hours a day and always have email, and IM windows open on my computer. And when I’m not on my computer, my phone is connected to a broadband connection through which I email, text, and IM. The second is that one of my closest friends is organizing around media related issues and has a particular concern with overcoming the digital divide. And yet, until today, when I read some responses to a very good op-ed in the Daily News by Hannah Sassaman and Todd Wolfson about the possibility of securing federal money to create a public broadband network in Philadelphia–a network that would help overcome the digital divide in… Continue reading

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June 25th Town Hall Photos

  By Health Care

Created with flickr slideshow. Here are some photos of our event with Representative Joe Sestak, Senator Specter; Dr. Valerie Arkoosk of the National Physicians Alliance; Jeff Blum, executive director of US Action; Ed Mooney of the Communication Workers of America; Jeff Garis, chanter extraordinaire of Penn Action, and the whole incredible scene. More photos and video coming this week.k. Continue reading

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Health Care events all over Pennsylvania

  By Health Care

In May and June, HCAN PA has ramped up its efforts. We are holding four to five health care events every week. The picture, which links to a short video, is from a Health Care Rally in Pittsburgh on May 28 which came a day after we did a Health Care Town Hall in Erie and two days after an event in Montgomery County. (Our rally was held at Mellon Square underneath Senator Specter’s office, to which I was pointing.) Continue reading

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Passion and Commitment at the HCAN PA Town Hall in Washington.

  By Health Care

I’ve been to a lot of political rallies and events. And, if truth be told, a lot of them are pretty dreary. Speeches go on for too long. And pretty much every rally is subject to the funny observation I first hear from Mo Udall about political conventions, after the first 15 minutes “everything has been said but not everyone has said it.” I think the Pennsylvania town hall yesterday was a little different, especially at the beginning and the end. Continue reading

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Our buses are full but you can still virtually join us at the PA Town Hall in Washington

  By Health Care

Pennsylvania Health Care activists have been on the move for months, holding four to five events every week all over the state. And tomorrow, about 2,000 of us are heading to Washington DC for a national rally followed by a Pennsylvania Town Hall. I know that many of you wish you could join us. We do have a few seats left in Pittsburgh but otherwise the 20 HCAN buses and the 16 buses being run by our labor partners are pretty much full. If we had enough buses, we could have taken 5,000 people from PA to Washington. But you can watch our Pennsylvania Town Hall tomorrow, Thursday June 25th at 1:30 pm, on a webcast at http://tinyurl.com/mab6sp Senator Specter and PA Representatives Dahlkemper, Doyle, Sestak and Schwartz will be speaking at the Town Hall along with many of the leaders of HCAN and our coalition partners in the state.… Continue reading

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Table games part of PA budget Deal: Could this provide a path to fixing casinos in Philly?

  By Casinos, Philadelphia

A Terry Maddona tweet says: Reliable sources in Harrisburg suggest that table games will be approved for Pa casinos as part of eventual budget deal. I’ve argued for a long time that, if we are going to have gambling, we made a mistake by starting with slots. Table games have an appeal to members of the the professional–mangerial calss who can better afford to blow their money. I’d prefer not to finance our government with gambling. But the residents of the city live with a high end casino–preferably one where you had to wear a Tux and drink your martinis shaken not stirred—much more easily than a slots parlor. I would think that a high end casino in the Strawbridge building would have relatively more appeal to tourists and well-off suburbanite than a slots parlor, which would appeal as well to the poor and working class in the city. Continue reading