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Larry Farnese's victory and the progressive movement
I think Larry Farnese’s victory is good for progressives. That’s true for three reasons. Continue reading
Category: Progressive Politics
Neighborhood Networks holiday party
A year and a half ago, a small group of people, chastened but activated by the result of the 2004 election and by our frustration with politics in Philadelphia, called a meeting to start a new group, Neighborhood Networks. To our surprise, over two hundred and thirty people attended our inaugural event. Since then, we have played a critical role in enacting ethics reform charter changes and in pushing for gun control. We helped lead the fight to raise the minimum wage and we supported a slate of progressive candidates in the 2007 Democratic primary. We have been a mainstay of the Philadelphia Campaign for Housing Justice and we have called for an end to the war in Iraq. We have fought against casinos and for the Cohen wage tax rebate. We have, in other words, won some battles and lost some battles. But we have made a difference in… Continue reading
The citizen’s agenda: begetter of dreams
I’ve probably attended more events held by the Great Expectations project than anyone other than the folks from the Inquirer and University of Pennsylvania’s Project on Civic Engagement who have been running it. I started by attending about 25 of the early events at which groups of citizens could come together to discuss their hopes and fears for the city and to put forward ideas to move the city forward. I’ve gone to other events since and recently took part in the forum for citizen leaders organized by the project. (I’ve blogged about my take on the new deal citizen leaders would like to create between the city and its neighborhoods, which is to create a relationship of no deals.) I’ve learned a great deal along the way. Many of the ideas I put forward during my campaign for city council and on my blog germinated or were shaped by… Continue reading
The fire next time
I sent this to a group of progressive activists who were meeting in Philadelphia in June 2007. I couldn’t attend because my daughter was graduating from middle school at that time. The May 2007 primary was disappointing for many of us. But I thought then, as I still do now, that good things would come out of the effort many of us had made during and before that primary. While I very much want to hear what you all have to say, I don’t think you will lose much from my absence as I’m still too close to the recent election to have had the time and energy to think through what it all means for the progressive movement in this city. Continue reading
On ward politics and street money
Originally posted at Young Philly Politics. A number of my responses to comments made at YPP are below There is an article in the Inquirer today that briefly reports on some of my experiences with ward politics during the last election. I was disappointed by the article, in part because I thought I was talking off the record with the reporter and in part because the article is misleading about the role that wards and street money played in my campaign or other grass roots campaigns. (The Inquirer will be running a clarification about part of the article tomorrow.) I plan to write about this subject in detail later, because these are two subjects that most people interested in Philadelphia politics do not understand very well and about which I learned a great deal in the last five months. Here are some preliminary points. Continue reading
How to have your neighborhoods and casinos, too.
By Marc Stier and Daniel Hunter It’s time to find a creative solution to the logjam over casinos at the waterfront. The charter change referendum blocking casinos from the Delaware River sites and any other sites within 1500 feet of a residential area is going to pass on May 15. Having led the campaign to restore the city’s zoning control over the casino sites, I am quite certain that the General Assembly will not reverse direction and take that control away from us again. And all those lawyers and public relations people who say that the charter change will be overturned in the courts are just blowing smoke. If there is any justice in Pennsylvania, then the result of the referendum will hold up in court. And, even if justice is lacking, casino opponents have the capacity to use the legal process to block casinos on the water front for… Continue reading
Yes, Virginia, there is a progressive movement in Philadelphia
Reposted from YPP http://youngphillypolitics.com/yes_virginia_there_progressive_movement_philadelphia There have been a couple of interesting threads at YPP recently that discuss what it means to be a progressive in Philadelphia and whether we really have anything worth being called a progressive movement in the city. And there was a great article in the City Paper this week that makes a pretty good case that there is such a movement but also pointed to some of the tensions within it. I’ve been pretty sick with flu-like symptoms all week and today I spent my first day at home since late December. So I have a little time to stop and think and take stock in where we are. I want to, as quickly as possible, discuss four issues: (1) What makes for a progressive movement as far as ideology goes; (2) Whether there are real ideological divisions within the progressive movement today; (3) Is the… Continue reading
The Great U-turn (on casinos and more)
with Christina Michaels and Daniel Hunter Ever turned onto a highway only to find yourself driving the wrong way? The road goes on for miles without a turn, taking you further and further away from the right path. Suddenly, up ahead, there’s a u-turn – your chance to finally head back in the right direction. That’s what the May primaries will be about. Our City government leadership has been heading the wrong direction. And up ahead, is the possibility of a u-turn and the chance to get back on course. Already in the fight against slots parlors and campaign “un-finance” reform we are seeing some glimmers of the u-turn to come. Continue reading
We deserve better: a reform agenda beyond the committee of seventy proposal
Bob Moses was an important leader in SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which played a major role in the latter half of the Civil Rights movement. I had the great privilege of meeting him when I was in College. When he organized in deep Mississippi he said the first thing to do was to teach people that they deserve better then what they have. He understood that thinking you deserve more, gives people a reason to fight for what’s right. If I could do anything for Philadelphia, that would be it – make us believe we deserve better, and give us hope that we can attain it. Recent debates on Philadelphia campaign finance laws are one more story of our broken politics – at several levels. We deserve better than the bill proposed by Councilman Kenny, which proposed huge increases in the caps on campaign contributions. We need to… Continue reading
This year, politics in Philadelphia will be different
Something really extraordinary happened in Philadelphia politics in the last two weeks. A usually respected Councilman introduced legislation that would have, for all practical purposes, eliminated contribution limits in the Mayoral election. The bills had sponsorship from a majority of Council members and almost every member of Council was ready to vote for it. And yet, after an outcry from progressive leaders, editorial page writers, and challengers to the incumbents from all over the city, the bill was withdrawn today. This is a major victory for the progressive movement in the city. And it is evidence of something I have been seeing out on the streets for the last three months. This year, politics in Philadelphia is going to be different. Continue reading