One of the major problems with politics in Philadelphia is that it is focused just on Philadelphia. However many of the most important problems we face are regional in nature. Our public transit system is clearly a regional problem. So is economic development and job growth. It is not just Philadelphia but the whole region that has been growing slowly. And many environmental problems, especially the loss of open land, are regional as well. Continue reading
I have been writing for months about how politics is broken in this city including the politics of casinos. As if we needed on more example, the PA Gaming Control Board today selected the Foxwoods and Sugarhouse casino sites. This decision was made not because of what’s best for the city, but because of insider politics. Continue reading
Reposted from Young Philly Politics In a world where it is getting harder to make a buck with ink and a printing press, isn’t it time we think about providing some public support for this vital resource? Everyone who is interested in the future of our city knows how important the Inquirer and Daily News are to us. We activists complain about them—especially when they don’t cover us as we would like by reporting every single word we say every day . But we know that without them, we would not know what is going on in the city without them, and no one would know what we do, either. The papers are not important just for the information we get from them. There is also the depth of knowledge—and evident love of the city—that makes reading long term reporters and columnists like Dave Davies, Tom Ferrick, Chris Brennan, Larry… Continue reading
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
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
Over the last week, Councilman Goode has 1. Defended his original campaign finance bill that guts our campaign finance laws by defining a candidate in a way that creates, as I have explained below, massive loopholes in the contribution limits. 2. Said both publicly and privately, that he would put forward an amendment that would define a candidate as anyone who is raising money for a political campaign. This was a major improvement although not quite as good as it might have been. 3. Failed to introduce the amendment at Council Continue reading
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
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
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
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