Understanding The Johnson Street Dispute

Mt. Airy Times Express and Germantown Courier, September 22, 2004. Also published as On Johnson Street, The Issue is Not Race, Philadelphia Public Record, October 7,2004 The current dispute over the West Johnson Street properties has been among the most complicated and contentious issues WMAN has dealt with in the six years I have been involved in the organization. I would like to explain to the communities of Mt. Airy and Germantown what this issue is about and, also, what it is not about. Continue reading

Put SEPTA on the rails with slots

Reprinted from the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 28, 2004 The artful compromise is one of the highest accomplishments in politics. Our great politicians are those who can bring opposites together or frame an issue in a way that generates broad support. Right now, politics here is, with one exception, at an impasse. Our mayor and City Council are struggling over budget and tax issues. Transit agencies and commuters are pleading with state officials to provide the new, dedicated funding that would enable them to avoid disastrous cutbacks or equally debilitating fare increases. The governor and General Assembly are divided about education policy. Gov. Rendell’s Growing Greener II environmental program is an anathema to Republicans. It is only on the issue of slot machines that Democrats and Republicans seem to agree. The solution to all our difficulties then is obvious: Put slot machines on SEPTA commuter trains. Continue reading

The transit crisis is not over

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

Inventing (and un-inventing) West Mt. Airy

Mt. Airy Times Express, January 7, 2004 (WMAN) and East Mt. Airy Neighbors (EMAN) have invited members of the community to join the Boards of each organization at our annual joint meeting, which will be held Tuesday, January 13, 2004, 7:30 p.m. in Hagan Hall of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, 7301 Germantown Avenue. The purpose of this meeting is to begin a discussion about the future of the two organizations. Among the topics we will discuss is the possibility of merging the two organizations. In order to encourage the broadest and most inclusive discussion, the meeting will be led by a professional facilitator who does not live in our community. This meeting was prompted by a committee appointed to discuss the ongoing relationship between WMAN and EMAN. Derek Green, the president of EMAN, and I encouraged the two boards to form this committee earlier in the year. Our aim was… Continue reading

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

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

Why we may have to fight

It is not easy for those of us who came of age politically during the Vietnam War to support any war, let alone one that does not respond to an imminent threat to our country. We know that war is horrible, even for the victors. And we distrust those who tell us that war is necessary, especially when we can see alternatives. These are healthy instincts. They account for the opposition of many people to President Bush’s determination of go to war against Iraq in order to disarm Saddam Hussein. But even our best political instincts have to be checked against the truth of the situation we face. Unless Saddam changes direction and agrees to disarm, war is likely to be the best response to our situation. What are the alternatives to war? The first is deterrence. We can prevent Saddam from using weapons of mass destruction to pursue his… Continue reading

Misunderstandings abound in Cecilian Village project

Chestnut Hill Local, January 18, 2003 The dispute over the Sisters of St. Joseph’s (SSJ) proposal to place 49 units of low-income senior housing in the historic Pelham district of Mt. Airy has, as it should, generated a great deal of debate in this papers’ letters columns as well as in many private discussions. But along with reasoned argument and debate have come some serious mistakes and misimpressions about what is at issue in this dispute. I would like to correct one of them here. The most serious—and indeed appalling—charge that has been made in this debate is that WMAN is acting to protect the interests of well-off and mostly white homeowners who fear that the proposed project will bring low-income and mostly black senior citizens into their midst. This claim has been a sub-text in some letters to the editor that have recently published. And we have heard reports… Continue reading

A new supermarket for Mt. Airy

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

How to fight the politics of racism

The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 20, 1990 Racism is widely–and rightly–thought to have been a major factor in Jesse Helms’s victory over Harvey Gantt in the North Carolina Senate race. But the way in which racism was important is rather different than commonly understood. Many white voters were encouraged to come to the polls by the racially tinged Helms campaign. But few people voted against Gantt just because he is an African American. Most of the voters in North Carolina who are influenced by racial considerations would probably not vote for any liberal democrat, black or white. Indeed, exit polls show that Gantt won 35% of the white vote. This is only a few percentage points less than white candidates such as Jim Hunt received in his 1984 race against Helms or Bob Jordan attained in his unsuccessful race against Governor Jim Martin in 1989. The real damage that racism did in… Continue reading