Category: Social Justice

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Mark Alan Hughes, The Decoupling Strategy, and The Nutter Administration

  By Economic Development, Philadelphia, Social Justice

I have had really high hopes for Michael Nutter as Mayor since the primary in May 2007. But along with those hopes, I’ve had a nagging worry since October 2007. That’s when Mark Alan Hughes, who once served as a policy advisor to the Nutter campaign and is now the sustainability director, published two deeply disturbing columns about his vision for the future of the city. You can read them here and here. At the time he published those columns Hughes did not work for Michael Nutter. And I had heard Nutter speak enough during the campaign to feel confident that the then future Mayor did not share the ideas found in those columns. But, in the last few weeks, I’ve started to worry that maybe what Hughes wrote reflects the policy of this administration. I’ll explain why in a moment. First I have to present Hughes’s vision for the… Continue reading

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What Does Social Justice Mean for Philadelphia?

  By Philadelphia, Social Justice

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

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Community Based Economic Development Strategies II

  By Economic Development, Philadelphia, Social Justice, Taxation

In the first post in this series I argued that we need an economic development strategy that no only creates middle and upper incomes jobs for educated workers but that leads to a rebirth of troubled communities. In this post I want to point out some of the key differences between what I will call a community based economic development strategy and a tax cutting economic development strategy. Continue reading

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Community Based Economic Development Strategies I

  By Economic Development, Philadelphia, Social Justice, Taxation

I have been writing here, and talking on the campaign trail, about developing a “community based economic development strategy.” I want to explain in a little detail what I mean by that phrase and why it is different from, though perhaps partly complementary to, other strategies for economic growth, such as the tax cutting strategy. Continue reading

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Learning from the minimum wage campaign

  By Pennsylvania, Political Organizing, Social Justice

I am very glad that I got back from my vacation in time for the ceremony yesterday at Sharon Baptist Church to celebrate Governor Rendell’s signing of the minimum wage bill. The Governor spoke passionately about helping the working poor. The sponsors of the bill Senator Tina Tartaglione and Representative Mark Cohen spoke as did Bill George the head of the state AFL-CIO and John Dodds, the leader of the Minimum Wage Coalition. There is an important lesson for all of us in this tremendous achievement. When I joined the Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition at one of its first meetings in April 2005¸ very few people outside of the room thought we had much chance of getting an increase in the minimum wage through a Republican General Assembly in 2006. Indeed, at the time, Governor Rendell did not even support an increase in the minimum wage. Many people thought… 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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What we lost today and why

  By Philadelphia, Social Justice, Taxation

Today Council voted 11 to 4 to delay the Cohen Working Families Wage Tax Rebate for three years. It was supposed to start in 2010 and is no delayed until 2013. Since the program ramps up gradually, final implementation will be in 2018. Keynes said that, in the long run we are all dead. Certainly by the time we get to 2018, many of the working poor and middle class people alive today who could benefit from a reduction in their wage taxes will be dead. Whether the Tax Rebate program will ever go into effect is now an open question. Unless we build the political will and find the politicians to support the wage tax rebate, it is not unlikely that every there is a budget shortfall our politicians may well decide to turn to put off the wage tax rebate again. After the vote, some Council members suggested… Continue reading

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Don't balance the budget on the poor

  By Economic Development, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics, Social Justice

 The latest budget deal between Mayor Street and City Council leaders calls on Council to enact an ordinance delaying implementation of the Working Families Wage Tax Rebate for two years. This rebate was the last major proposal introduced by the late Councilman David Cohen. Continue reading