That was the conclusion of an enjoyable and enlightening meeting of community and civic leaders convened by the Great Expectations Project of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Fels Institute. The goal of the meeting was to discuss the relationship between community and civic groups and the city and to determine whether a new deal needs to be struck among us. What we really want, it seems is a no deal.
Our Complaints
There was a surprising unanimity in the kind of complaints community and civic group leaders had about our relationship to the city.
We complained about the lack of transparency in this relationship. The city provides all kinds of help and support to community groups, CDCs (community development corporations) and NACs (neighborhood advisory councils). But there is no once place to find out what is available. Different groups in different neighborhoods make different deals with city officials and, most often, their district council members without having any clear idea what and how much other groups receive.
We complained about the unfairness in the distribution of both city services and support for civic groups. It was evident to everyone that whiter, richer neighborhoods get better services more than poorer, blacker neighborhoods. It was also clear that whiter, richer neighborhoods are more likely to have civic associations with a large membership, a substantial budget, a paid staff, and a close relationship with city officials.
We complained about how much time we must give to case work, to dealing with the problems individuals have in getting a response from city agencies, from the notorious Department of License and Inspections to the Police Department to the Recreation Department, the Streets Department, and beyond. Most of us think the city should be able to find all the trash cans to be emptied, all the leaves to be picked up and all the snow to be removed without us having to call city agencies to point them out. Most of us think city agencies should be able to enforce its housing code without political pressure being brought to bear on them by ward leaders or Council members on behalf of community activists. Most of us would like to spend more time dealing with broad community issues and, especially, developing neighborhood plans that we apply to particular zoning case. Instead, we are besieged by our constituents who ask us to help make city government work a little better in our neighborhoods.
We complained about how difficult that case work is. A few of us told about how we managed to find out the real numbers—and the real officials—to call if you want something done in the city as opposed to the numbers and names listed on websites.
We complained about all the time we have to take to get good results outs of the zoning process.
And we complained about being enablers for a political system that does not work. Many of us are proud of our ties to our political officials. But, at the same time, we know that we have made a Faustian bargain. We can’t get what we need in our communities without the help of our district Council members. And yet, to get that help, we have to officially or not return the favor. And that props up Council members who are, shall we say, not shining examples of politics at its best.
Our Solutions
There was a wide range of solutions proposed—and since we met in a number of small groups, I undoubtedly didn’t hear all the good ideas that came out of the meeting. (I expect they will be reported on the Great Expectations website.) But here is a smattering of the good ideas I heard during the day:
• Creating a website that lists all the programs and funds available to community groups, CDCs, and NACs—from housing counseling to street clean-ups to money for commercial corridor improvements.
• Creating a standardized application for these funds and programs and an open, transparent process for evaluating those applications in terms of clearly stated and fairly applied criteria.
• Creating special boards composed of community activists to approve these applications, taking the decision to distribute funds going to neighborhoods out of the hands of Council members and bureaucrats.
• Bypassing city government entirely by allowing citizens to designate $25 or $50 of their wage tax to a local community group.
• Allowing the paid staff of community groups and civic associations to receive health insurance under the city’s health plan.
• Reforming the zone code in a bottom up process that allows community groups to apply standard zoning codes to their own neighborhood and that protects their right to block inappropriate development in their neighborhood, perhaps by giving neighborhood zoning boards first crack at applications for variances.
• Ending the privilege of district Council members to direct city funds and make planning decisions in their own districts.
The theme of all these ideas should be evident—replacing special deals with the no-deal.
How to Create a No Deal
One answer came up again and again: Right now we are divided and conquered by council members and bureaucrats. We need a city wide organization of civic associations to fight for the reforms we seek.
That, however, is a very difficult thing to create. There were probably 100 representatives of community groups in the room and there may be more than 500 community groups and civic associations around the city. There is not even a good list of those groups. How can we find, let alone organize them”
A few of us pointed out that creating such an organization is not all that difficult. Ten people with good will and a few afternoons to spare can design and launch it. The problem is how to keep it going. Doing so is, I believe, impossible without paid staff. (The Inquirer and Fels Institute, after all, provided the staff needed to launch this event.)
There is only one solution, I believe. We have a number of large and well funded philanthropic foundations in this city. Many of them say they want to help reform city government. Perhaps one or more of them will provide the funds we need to put this plan into action. That is the best possible contribution they could make to making Philadelphia a city of no deals.