Category: Urbanism

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The case for inclusionary housing

  By Housing, Neighborhoods, Urbanism

Philadelphia Daily News (PA), June 19, 2006 RIDE UP AND down the streets of Philadelphia these days, and almost everywhere you’ll see housing construction and rehabilitation.  This is wonderful. It brings new people into the city. Creates jobs. And helps revive neighborhoods that for too long have been in decline. New development also has tremendous potential for ameliorating social problems. Poverty, to start with, means low wages and frequent unemployment. But that’s perhaps not the worst of it. Low wages and unemployment are made much worse when you live in a neighborhood that is declining commercially, that lacks city services, parks and recreation facilities; that suffers from housing deterioration; and that is constantly threatened by crime. Children there are cut off from mainstream economic and political life and have little hope for the future. New development offers a chance to create a city of economically, ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods,… Continue reading

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Alternate Paths to Economic Growth

  By Economic Development, Philadelphia, Public Policy, Social Justice, Taxation, Urbanism

Last week there was another go round about the Business Privilege Tax (BPT) at a City Council hearing at which I testified on behalf of One Philadelphia. Most of the people who testified had done so before. They, and the council members who were there, seemed to know each other’s lines so well that they could repeat them in their sleep. But it has taken me a while to get my head around the various issues concerning taxation and it was my first time attending this particular circus. I thought it might be enlightening. After all, as the ad goes, if you haven’t seen it before, it is new to you. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really new to me or terribly enlightening. The problem with these hearings about the BPT, and with the whole debate about taxes in the city, is that it is terribly one dimensional. Taxes after all are… Continue reading

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The Slavery of Today

  By Philadelphia, Urbanism

Activism and Serendipity I sometimes ask activists I know how they chose to get involved in a particular issue. Often the answer is serendipity. An activist had a friend who got them involved in an issue or were working for an organization that took a new issue. That is more or less how I got involved in public transit activism. SEPTA threatened to close the R8 train line, which is vital for West Mt. Airy and, at the time, I was the President of our civic organization, West Mt. Airy Neighbors. So I jumped into the frey not because I played with toy trains as a kid but because I had to do something to save the train line around which Mt. Airy grew. Continue reading

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The kind of WMAN We Need

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

Published in the Mt. Airy Times Express, June 2005 West Mt. Airy Neighbors (WMAN) is just beginning our annual membership drive. This, year, our membership drive is more important than ever. The results of the membership drive will determine the kind of organization we will be in the next few years and beyond. Continue reading

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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