Category: Public Policy

No comments

The transit crisis is not over

  By Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Published Op-Eds, Transportation

The crisis in public transportation funding continues. To continue the present level of service SEPTA needs $70 million more than it can expect from the current level of fares and state support. And that does not include the funds necessary to reach a fair agreement with the Transport Workers Union next year. Without substantial new funding for SEPTA, the agency will be forced to propose drastic cutbacks in service or dramatic increases in our fares, or both. A superior public transportation system is vital to our region. To see this, we just have to imagine what would happen to our metropolitan area if public transportation were dramatically cut back: Our roads will be horribly congested.  More people will die in traffic accidents. Our hopes for economic development will be dashed. New businesses need to draw on skilled workers who live throughout the region. If workers do not have accessible, economical,… Continue reading

No comments

Democracy and Diversity

  By Academic, Civic virtue, Communitarianism, Conference Papers, Neighborhoods, NW Philly, Philadelphia, Political philosophy, Published Paper, West Mount Airy, West Mt. Airy Neighbors

This paper draws on my experience as a leader of West Mt. Airy Neighbors in the early 2000s as well as on my academic work on communitarian political thought. It was written for an International Conference on Deliberative Democracy held in Hangzhou, China in December 2004. It was published in Chinese translation in 2005 in a book edited by Bao-Gang He. An earlier version was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in 2003. Abstract One of the oldest arguments in the history of political theory is that strong communities are only possible where people live a life in common. And one of the central themes of participatory democratic theory is that involved citizens are only possible where communities are strong. Together, these arguments lead to the conclusion that strong, democratic communities must be homogenous. Homogeneity is frequently thought to be a prerequisite for strong communities… Continue reading

No comments

R8 preservation depends upon budget deal

  By NW Philly, Philadelphia, Published op-eds, Transportation

Mt. Airy Times-Express and Germantown Courier, August 6, 2003 The R8 Chestnut Hill West Train is still in danger. Although the recently approved SEPTA budget for the current fiscal does not eliminate the R8, further cuts are likely if SEPTA does not receive substantial additional funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Moreover, the new budget calls for severe cuts in services on R8 line, beginning in September. About Half all R8 Chestnut Hill West trains will be eliminated. SEPTA proposes to cut off-peak, weekday service on the line from twice an hour to once an hour. Inbound rains to Center City will run only once an hour beginning at 9:11 am. Outbound trains from Center City will run only once an hour except between 4:17 and 6:33 pm. Moreover, on weekends, trains will run only once every ninety minutes. The Northwest Campaign for Public Transportation believes that these cuts are,… Continue reading

No comments

SEPTA and Snidely Whiplash

  By Humor, Philadelphia, Published op-eds, Transportation, Urbanism

Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 9, 2003 The villain in this transit drama could be state officials or the “heroine.” Philadelphia-area residents are watching the theatrical melodrama “Saving SEPTA, 2003,” and Act IV has begun. The scene is set in Harrisburg, with Gov. Rendell, House Speaker John Perzel (R., Phila.), and Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill (R., Lebanon) in starring roles. Perched at the edge of our seats, we are waiting to see whether these three characters will redeem themselves, rescuing our flawed heroine, SEPTA, and saving the communities she serves. Act I began when the trio threatened our heroine by passing a budget that cut appropriations by $11 million. We were left wondering whether Rendell, Perzel and Brightbill were black-caped villains who wanted to force workers, widows and children from jobs and schools accessible only by public transit. Or were they good men who, in a moment reminiscent… Continue reading

No comments

The R8: We are not out of the woods, yet

  By Philadelphia, Published Op-Eds, Transportation

Chestnut Hill Local, July 3, 2003 Everyone in Northwest Philadelphia took a deep breath on hearing that SEPTA was proposing a new budget that did not call for the discontinuation of either the R8 train or the C bus. There is no doubt the effort of so many citizens in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy, Germantown, and East Falls to petition and lobby for our train and bus lines had much to do with this decision. The efforts of our political leaders—State Senator Schwartz, State Representatives Washington and Myers, and Council members Miller and Nutter—to lobby for our train and bus lines should be commended as well. Yet before we get carried away congratulating ourselves, we need to read the fine print of SEPTA’s new budget. To look at it closely is to see that we are not out of the woods yet. The threat to the R8 remains extremely serious… Continue reading

No comments

A new supermarket for Mt. Airy

  By Economic Development, NW Philly, Philadelphia, Published Op-Eds, West Mt. Airy Neighbors

Mt. Airy Times-Express, May 9, 2001  A New Supermarket for Mt. Airy Position Paper on the Proposal for a New Acme Supermarket In Our Community  West Mt. Airy Neighbors (WMAN),  Mt. Airy USA, (MAUSA), South Mt. Airy Task Force (SMATF)  Mt. Airy needs and deserves a new, first-class supermarket. Why? A supermarket in our community is a necessity for neighborhood residents, especially those who come to the existing Acme on foot or by bus. Mt. Airy has the buying power to support a new first-class supermarket.  Today, a majority of Mt. Airy residents do their grocery shopping elsewhere—often outside the city—where they have access to new stores that, unlike the current Acme in Mt. Airy, are clean, well-designed, stocked with fresh food, staffed by trained, courteous employees, and able to provide many of the services found in the best contemporary supermarkets. Not only will a new first-class supermarket be a much… Continue reading

No comments

Lani Guinier and American political principles

  By Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, US

The withdrawal of the nomination of Lani Guinier to be assistant attorney general for civil rights is a sad reflection on the skills of the members of the White House staff who failed to either foresee or prepare for the onslaught against her. It is an even sadder reflection on the unprincipled opportunism and, in  some cases, hypocrisy and demagoguery, of her opponents, who grossly misrepresented her record. The saddest part of the whole affair, however, is that we will not see the issues raised by the nomination of Professor Guinier debated in front of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate. Such a debate would have provided an extraordinary opportunity for public education on the principles of American politics. And it would, I think, have shown us that it is not Professor Guinier, but her opponents, whose arguments betray a striking misunderstanding of the constitutional, political and moral traditions of… Continue reading