philly

Today marks three years and two days into this blog. Crazy.

I like to think of myself as some kind of bleeding edge technophile. But I sure as hell don't have the big bucks to back it up and lately, I haven't been able to read up on things as much as I'd like to leaving my ass behind. Online video is a place where I'm especially behind. I was reading my daily dose of /. when I came across this article on a company called Democracy: Internet TV and it's $100k Mozilla Foundation grant. A screenshot of one of the screens of the Democracy Player is above.

It's like a video iTunes or video blog reader. I downloaded v0.9.5.3 earlier and started downloading some video. One of the first vodcast feeds I subscribed to on my player was Fork You's and I started to get caught up. Another one of the firsts was The Onion News Network. Priceless. This thing is pretty cool and I expect them to do good things with the $100k boost.

They're changing their name to Miro soon.

Those are organic, local eggs. Yes, they are brown, light pinkish brown and totally green. A friend of mine swears they're the best eggs she's ever had. They can be found at Sue's Produce over on 18th and Sansom Sts. I buy the cage free ones and feel good about it. I've never had bad eggs.

I've had poorly prepared eggs, but never tasted eggs that, by themselves, tasted bad. I find that odd. I've had bad burgers, bad salad, bad milk, bad bread. Shit, I've had bad water. But I really can't remember having bad eggs which makes me think that all eggs taste just about the same. Maybe it's because I put hot sauce on all my eggs and the taste is hidden to some degree. Or, maybe eggs don't get bad. I don't know. But in all my years of eating eggs - well over 20 years - I can't recall a bad egg.

On a similar note, it's farmers' market season again! I love the farmers markets around town. There is most likely a farmers market by where you live. There are the Farm to City markets and the Food Trust markets. As far as I know, those are the two groups sponsoring markets around town.

The season lasts from a couple of weeks ago through late November for most of the farms. Through the coming months, the market stalls will change from one piece of produce to the next. On Tuesday, I saw rhubarb, lettuce, tomatoes, scallions and strawberries. At the South and Passyunk market, I also saw stalls with local cheese, local bread and local meats and even a stall with candles and potpourri. I don't get potpourri.

The one in front of 12th St Gym had their usual lot of pies pies pies and other baked goods. I don't pay attention to the rest of the stuff they have out (assorted produce), because their baked goods are so good.

From the small selection of farmers' markets I've been to in Philly, the largest and best attended one is Rittenhouse Square's Saturday market. The south sidewalk of Walnut St is lined from 18th St to 20th St each week with tons of good stuff. I can't wait until it's honey crisp season - best apples on the planet.

This year, a new market is opening up and it promises to be huge. On July 1st, The Food Trust is opening up the Headhouse Square Farmers' Market with, at minimum, 25 vendors. Should be cool

Go support your local farmers bringing you good local food. Learn a little bit about why/how buying fresh and buying local is good for you and good for the economy here.

Local streetartist Commy is really doing some awesome pieces. There's another piece s/he does which is a skull with a spine still attached to it, but I haven't seen one fully intact. There aren't too many people doing pieces this large in Philly.

This one is around 13xx Lombard St

No keypad right? That's because they're on the other side, this side is the music player side of the phone. It's the [relatively] new Samsung UpStage wireless phone and I'm currently reviewing it as part of the Sprint Ambassador Program. I've been invited back for 'Phase III' and I'm on my third free phone. I get to review Sprint's Power Vision package which has streaming video, unlimited talk time and unlimited downloads - so I can download all the ringtones I want :). The iPod-looking d-pad at the bottom is a 5 button mechanism, not a smooth scrolling one. It takes a little getting used to, but not too shabby.

This is the phone side of the phone along with my grubby fingerprints. You'll notice that the screen is tiny. Not good for txting at all. I'm so used to my Motorola Q's QWERTY keypad and large screen, it's spoiling me. I don't think I'll leave the smartphone realm of things anytime soon. The keypad is perfectly responsive and the screen is bright and legible [unless you have grubby fingerprints on it].

This is one of the sides. As you can see, this thing is pretty thin. That's the headphone/power cover, volume rocker switch and a dedicated reset button. I haven't had to use the reset button, but having a dedicated reset button there like that, and not being a software heavy smartphone does raise some questions as to the stability of the OS of the phone.

This side has a spot for the microSD card (included is a 64MB card), the hold/lock button and the button to flip the phone from 'phone' mode to 'music' mode. It's a simple thing and comes complete with a quick animation telling you to flip the phone.

Sprint's service still sucks major goat balls. Barely any service within my apartment while Verizon comes through loud and clear. The battery life on this phone sucks. Four days of it sitting on my desk unused and it's dead - the poor service probably drains the battery quickly, but 4 days! It comes complete with a wallet-like thingie which holds an external battery. Talking with that thing on makes you look stupid. The form factor of the phone is nice, but at the cost of HORRENDOUS battery life - not worth it.

It's a nice phone, but its battery sucks. And if you're using the cool Power Vision features, the battery is sure to go dead even quicker.

I spent the day working the polls for the Andy Toy campaign. I started out hanging posters at 6/Lombard, voted at Seger Park and then headed to 10/Ellsworth for a few hours. I ended up back at 6/Lombard for the afternoon shift after a stop off at campaign HQ at 10/Fairmount where I handed out tons of literature. Me and my friends who worked on the Toy campaign (among others) headed up to HQ for the victory party and camped out watching results and meeting many of the other volunteers we met along the way. Above is Andy with his mother two people over to his right and campaign director two people to his left - all watching the results come in.

It just didn't happen. The mark the campaign predicted they needed to win one of the five At-Large City Council seats was 40k. Andy hit that mark and then some. He finished 9th out of 19 far outpacing the other four progressive challengers D. Green, Stier, Ruben and Hunt. Juan Ramos lost his seat by a solid 7k votes while son of former mayor Bill Green raked in 60k votes to land the #4 spot.

It's a disheartening cycle.

But Michael Nutter pulled it out and for that I am very happy. His plurality will likely be a landslide come November. His party at the Warwick looked like fun. We didn't make it over there, we stuck around Andy's party until the end.

It's people like Andy and Pat Toy who keep me coming back to the ugly world of politics. It's people like Kim, Danie, Ryan, Sabra, Liz, Dave and of course Lady who keep me sane and going through it all.

Election results can be found here [judicial results] and the results for the shadow election concerning referendum question #1 can be found here in the coming days. That one is going to take awhile due to all the hand counting and verifying it will take.

To take a quote from Nutter's acceptance speech: Today is a new day.

John's comment is a good one and it deserves an answer and below is a copy of the letter describing the reasoning my POD crew used in deciding who to endorse and work for.

Dear Neighbor,

Because Tuesday's primary election is so complex, with each ballot featuring 9 questions and over 90 candidates for 25 offices (including 19 candidates for 5 council at large seats), our small group is issuing recommendations. We are 6 people who live and work in Center City, and have the time and interest to attend candidate forums and research ballot questions. We volunteer for candidates who will serve the interests of residents and small/local businesses and improve life in our city. When we're not involved in elections, we work on preservation, greening, and relocalization issues. These attached materials may be taken into the election booth. Please use them as you see fit.

OUR CRITERIA FOR CANDIDATES

We looked at three things:
1. Does the candidate have a vision for the city that is realistic, sustainable, and equitable?
2. Does the candidate have plans to secure the city's environment, infrastructure, and local economy in the face of climate change and emerging energy constraints?
3. Has the candidate made significant contributions to the quality of life in our city?

Our recommended judicial candidates received the highest available rating from either the Philadelphia or Pennsylvania Bar Association, support privacy and other civil rights, cared enough to attend meetings and candidate forums, and were well-informed and responsive during interviews.

A GENERAL RECOMMENDATION

Because we hope to replace entrenched machine politicians with independent candidates who meet the above criteria, and because non-incumbents are at a disadvantage, especially in primary elections, we strongly recommend bullet or limited voting in this election. Bullet voting is choosing one candidate for a given position when you have the option to choose two or more. This maximizes the chance for that one candidate to win. Limited voting is where you choose more than one, but fewer than the permitted number of candidates, again enhancing the likelihood that your preferred candidates will win.

The enclosed sample ballot shows the candidates we feel best meet our criteria, in order of strength.

NOTE: All of our non-judicial candidates oppose casinos in our neighborhoods, seek tax and zoning reform, ethics reform, excellent public education, environmental enhancement, and improved public safety through community policing.

MICHAEL NUTTER (Mayor): Served as Councilman for Philadelphia's 4th district for 15 years before resigning to run for Mayor. Pushed through ethics reform and led efforts to pass the smoking ban, along with numerous measures to improve the quality of life for people and businesses in the 4th District and citywide. Nutter has a well-developed set of issues papers, and among the candidates seems the most committed to reform. Two things about Mr. Nutter impressed us. We attended many, many Mayoral forums over the past several months. Unlike some candidates, Nutter showed up at all of them. During this time, he significantly improved his position on public transportation, accepted both criticism and new information with grace, and adjusted his views accordingly. In other words, he's not an inflexible ideologue or a puppet. He is the only mayoral candidate with a child who attends a Philadelphia public school.

ANDY TOY (Council At-large): Andy brought millions of dollars to the city for cleanup and redevelopment of polluted brownfield sites as part of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and helped to develop opportunities for small and large businesses while at the City's Department of Commerce. He seeks to build a cleaner and greener city, eliminate the Gross Receipts Tax, preserve neighborhood commercial corridors, and ensure public safety through improved lighting and other measures. If elected he would be the first Asian-American ever to serve on Council.

MATT RUBEN (Council At-large): Matt is President of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, where he has worked to promote beneficial development and improve quality of life for long-term residents, new neighbors, and small businesses. He wants to eliminate the Gross Receipts Tax for small and medium-sized businesses, extend the 10 year tax abatement program, obtain a fare share of education and transportation funding from the state, and restore local control over handgun laws.

MARC STIER (Council At-large): Marc is a co-founder of Neighborhood Networks, which is working to bring a more progressive voice to Philadelphia politics. Marc wants to bring new businesses to the city, revive our commercial corridors, and expand our port. He advocates revenue neutral tax reform that gradually replaces the Business Privilege Tax and wants to move away from our current real estate tax to a land based tax.

SUPREME COURT

C. DARNELL JONES II

DEBRA TODD

SUPERIOR COURT

ANNE LAZARUS: Judge Lazarus has an excellent reputation. Every lawyer we interviewed spoke of her in glowing terms.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

ALICE BECK DUBOW (Judge): When we interviewed Alice, she stressed her concern for Family Court, which has long been the ugly duckling of the Philadelphia court system. Family Court is important because it handles cases that affect the lives of children and families. Family Court does not get the resources that other Common Pleas divisions receive. If elected and assigned to Family Court, an assignment she would seek, Alice will work hard to dispose of cases fairly and quickly, which is especially critical where minors are involved, and would try to obtain a fair share of funding so that the court can operate more effectively.

THOMAS MARTIN (Judge): Thomas Martin graduated cum laude from Villanova University Law School in 1977, where he edited the Law Review. He has thirty years experience as a trial attorney in the areas of wrongful discharge, employment discrimination, personal injury, and contract actions. Martin thinks government should support the rights of the individual, not the other way around, and seeks to bring fairness to cases involving zoning and land disputes in our neighborhoods, where powerful business interests and community interests are often at odds.

MUNICIPAL COURT

DIANE THOMPSON (Judge, Municipal Court): Diane has 16 years experience in family law, where she worked to mediate settlements whenever possible. She believes everyone deserves fair and qualified representation and her pro bono work backs up her belief. Diane taught school from 1973 to 1986, spending the last few years teaching in the Philadelphia public schools.

SHORT VERSION: Vote YES on 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Vote NO on 2, 3, and 9.

NOTE: QUESTION 1 HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE BALLOT BY THE PA SUPREME COURT, BUT YOU CAN STILL CAST A BALLOT FOR THIS QUESTION AT 18TH AND WALNUT, NE CORNER OF RITTENHOUSE SQUARE, WHERE CASINO-FREE PHILADELPHIA WILL HAVE A BALLOT BOX BETWEEN 10AM AND 8PM.

LONG VERSION:

1. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to prohibit Council from taking any action that would permit licensed gaming within 1500 feet of a residentially zoned district, Development District, or certain residentially-related uses, and to prohibit the Department of Licenses and Inspections from issuing any license or permit authorizing licensed gaming with such areas?

OKAY, YOU NEED A MAP AND A COMPASS TO PARSE THIS SENTENCE. THE BOTTOM LINE IS, IF YOU DON'T WANT CASINOS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS — VOTE YES.

2. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended so that effective January 1, 2008, City elected officials may become candidates for nomination or election to any public office without first resigning from their City office?

IT'S ARGUED THAT LETTING THE CITY'S ELECTED OFFICIALS RUN WITHOUT RESIGNING WOULD LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD WITH STATE AND FEDERAL CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE. IN PRACTICE, HOWEVER, WE THINK RESIGNING TO RUN ACTUALLY BENEFITTED MR. NUTTER. IT MEANS THAT OUR LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE NOT CAMPAIGNING ON THE PUBLIC DIME AND ON CONSTITUENTS' TIME. AND WHILE IT MAY BE UNFAIR TO OFFICIALS, HAVING YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE SKIVING OFF WORK TO RUN FOR ANOTHER OFFICE IS A LARGER DISSERVICE TO THE PUBLIC. OUR ADVICE IS: VOTE NO.

3. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create a Youth Commission, with members between ages of 12 and 23 years of age, to be responsible for advising the City Council and the Mayor regarding issues affecting children and youth in order to ensure that children and youth have a voice regarding policies and decisions affecting them?

NOT TO BE SCROOGES, BUT THIS COMMISSION WOULD COST THE CITY $250,000 FOR TWO FULL TIME STAFFERS. WE THINK THE CHILDREN WOULD BE BETTER SERVED BY SPENDING THAT QUARTER MILLION ON THE SCHOOLS OR LIBRARIES. COUNCIL CAN TAKE TESTIMONY FROM INTERESTED CHILDREN AND YOUTH WITHOUT ESTABLISHING A PERMANENT COMMISSION. VOTE NO.

4. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide that the six appointed members of the City Planning Commission shall include an architect, an urban planner, a traffic engineer, an attorney experienced in land use issues, and two representatives of Philadelphia community groups that participate in land use issues?

CURRENTLY, THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION IS COMPOSED OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, CITY REPRESENTATIVE, AND SIX MEMBERS APPOINTED BY THE MAYOR. IT IS POSSIBLE, INDEED COMMON, TO HAVE A PLANNING COMMISSION WITH NO EXPERTISE WHATEVER IN LAND USE PLANNING. THE CURRENT COMMISSION IS COMPOSED OF A DEVELOPER, A COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT, THE PRESIDENT OF THE AFL-CIO, AND THE REQUIRED CITY OFFICERS. NOT REASSURING. VOTE YES.

5. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide that the City Planning Commission may extend for up to 45 days the time period within which it must provide a recommendation to Council on pending legislation affecting zoning, the City's physical development plan, land subdivision, or authorizing the purchase or sale of real estate?

CURRENTLY, THE PLANNING COMMISSION HAS 45 DAYS TO PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL ON WHAT ARE OFTEN COMPLEX ZONING, USE, AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES THAT AFFECT MANY STAKEHOLDERS AND COMMUNITIES, AS WELL AS THE ENVIRONMENT. DOUBLING THAT PERIOD TO 90 DAYS IS REASONABLE, CONSIDERING THE LONGTERM IMPACT OF SOME OF THESE PROJECTS, AND WILL GIVE GREATER OPPORTUNITY FOR AFFECTED COMMUNITIES AND INDIVIDUALS TO BE HEARD. VOTE YES.

6. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for the creation, appointment powers and duties of an independent Zoning Code Commission which would recommend amendments to the Philadelphia Zoning Code to make the Code consistent and easy to understand, and to enhance and improve Philadelphia' city planning process while encouraging development and protecting the character of Philadelphia's neighborhoods.

ZONING CODE IS BADLY IN NEED OF REVISION. A COMMISSION DOES NOT GUARANTEE RESULTS, BUT AT LEAST IT'S A START. VOTE YES.

7. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to state the citizens' views regarding the mission served by U.S. troops in Iraq and that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the United States to make year 2007 the time to redeploy U.S. troops out of harm's way in Iraq?

CITY COUNCIL HAS ALREADY VOTED 16-1 ON A RESOLUTION URGING THE UNITED STATES TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME "AS EXPEDITIOUSLY AS POSSIBLE." THOUGH THIS QUESTION IS POORLY WORDED AND HAS NO BUSINESS IN A CITY CHARTER, WE DON'T HAVE REFERENDA HERE, AND THIS IS THE ONLY OPPORTUNITY THE CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA WILL HAVE TO SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES ON RECORD. WE THINK IT'S WORTH SUPPORTING IN PRINCIPLE. IF YOU AGREE THAT THE TROOPS SHOULD COME HOME THIS YEAR.VOTE YES.

8. Should the City of Philadelphia borrow $129,595,000 for and toward: Transit; Streets and Sanitation; Municipal Buildings; Parks; Recreation and Museums; and Economic and Community Development.

SADLY, WE COULD NOT OBTAIN MORE PRECISE INFORMATION ON HOW THIS MONEY WOULD BE SPENT. HOWEVER, THE CITY HAS RETIRED LARGER BOND ISSUES, AND SO ON BALANCE WE THINK THIS BOND IS PROBABLY SOUND. VOTE YES.

9. Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to add a provision stating that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the stopping of real estate tax assessment increases which would result from the Philadelphia Board of Revision of Taxes' use of a new method of figuring tax assessments called "Full Valuation"?

"FULL VALUATION" DOES NOT CORRECT THE EXISTING INEQUITY OF PENALIZING OWNERS WHO MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE THEIR PROPERTIES, WHILE REWARDING THOSE, INCLUDING SPECULATORS, WHO LET PROPERTY FALL TO RUIN. IT DOES NOT ESTABLISH ACTUAL VALUE, THAT IS, THE PRICE OF PROPERTY UPON ACTUAL SALE. "FULL VALUATION" REMAINS FULL SPECULATION. IT DOES SIMPLIFY THE CALCULATION OF TAX, MAKING IT A PERCENTAGE OF ASSESSED RATHER THAN DISCOUNTED VALUE. IT IS INTENDED TO STANDARDIZE METHODOLOGY AND (IN THEORY) LOWER THE TAX RATE. HOWEVER THIS QUESTION SEEKS TO RAISE THE ASSESSMENT OF MOST PROPERTIES WITHOUT ANY GUARANTEE THAT COUNCIL WILL LOWER THE RATE OF TAX IMPOSED. THAT SAID, THE SYSTEM WE HAVE NOW IS PERFECTLY AWFUL FOR THE REASONS GIVEN ABOVE, AND WHICHEVER WAY WE VOTE, IT IS NON-BINDING. ON BALANCE, WE RECOMMEND VOTING NO.

GO VOTE

If you want a .pdf of the above image, click here for a 2-up on a page so you can cut it and give one copy to a friend.

It's gonna be a crazy next two days.

Question 5 moved on to transportation and how transportation within the city could be more efficient. Bill Green stated the obvious: we need dedicated funding. We should work with the suburbs. And he also suggested that the gas tax for roads in Philadelphia be applied directly to SEPTA - but then how are the streets maintained?

Rodney Little said that we need to open up our services to outsiders. He suggested another private entity to come in and run SEPTA.

Marc Stier, a coalition leader at Pennsylvania Transit Coalition repeated the dire facts: SEPTA riders now fae a 30% hike with a 20% service cut. The city needs more power. The Transportation Commission hasn't met in 6 years, he said. One way to alter transit, and he feels improve transit, is to have a modified light rail system put in place with trains running all over the place in 15 minute intervals. Nobody would need a schedule, they'd know exactly when the trains would be coming [not that SEPTA is ever on schedule anyways].

Andy Toy said that leadership and funding are the two key points to making transportation work in Philadelphia. We need more votes on the board. We need new people representing Philadelphia on the board. SEPTA needs to be more interactive with the communities it serves - it is obviously out of touch. SEPTA must consider itself a transit of choice instead of a last option. People wanting to take SEPTA, now there's a crazy idea.

Question 7 brought up a possible single stream, once a week, city wide recycling program and more regular trash pickup around town. Rodney Little was first up and said that there weren't enough city workers and not enough money to pick up trash everyday. He flat out said "we just can't do it" to which Wilkinson stated that in her many years at the Daily News, she had never heard a politician utter that phrase.

Marc Stier brought up RecycleBank - he said that the entire city must adopt the program, coupons and all. Local money spent locally is the best way to stimulate an economy and recycling would save about $20M a year [I've heard numbers ranging from $17M - $35M]. He said that trash is a problem in the city, but not everywhere.

Andy Toy said that Maurice Sampson, chair of RecycleNOW Philadelphia, must come back and work as a leader within the city government. Recycling saves money, it's an absolute no brainer. He added that the city needs better education on trash and recycling processes.

Matt Ruben said that single stream recycling every week is very easy. You never have to schedule which week you need to put out what - it's every week! He cited the current recycling rate as 6% city wide. If the city were to partner with the largest businesses in the area to educate it's employees on recycling, that would put a huge bump into that % and those within those companies would take those habits home.

Former Chief of Staff for former Councilman Angel Ortiz Ben Ramos [late arrival] said that the city needs to find the resources to make this happen and it is unacceptable to say it can't be done. He said that the city must also enforce street cleaning and parking signs as there are so many who simply disregard signs and the repercussions aren't impacting enough to bother abiding by them.

Question 8 was on the 10 year tax abatements and how it shifts the tax burden on older buildings - how should it be fixed? Mike Ellis [late arrival] is against the 10 year tax abatement. He said that with such an abatement in place, the city isn't making all the money it could or should without it. The majority of the new construction are expensive condos which most people cannot afford so it's not benefiting many people. He said he'd be for a 1 or 2 year tax abatement.

Caryn Hunt said that the city needs to create incentives for affordable housing.

Matt Ruben pointed out that there are more per capita abatements in his neighborhood of Northern Liberties than anywhere else in the city. He said that they key to them are more mixed income and mixed use developments and pointed to Liberties Walk as a good example of that. He said that commercial corridors need to be within residential areas and that we need more green buildings.

Andy Toy suggested limiting the abatements to 5 - 7 years instead of 10. He noted that the first developments which went up under the first run of the 10 year tax abatement were coming offline now and that the money collected from the tax payments to be ought to be placed within the affordable housing trust fund. He added that the tax abatements (however long they are) should be capped for homes over $1M.

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown arrived latest and spoke on the conditions in politics in the state of Pennsylvania. She said that she wanted the glass ceiling removed for women to advance in politics in Pennsylvania and that she wanted her daughter to not have to experience the ceiling which is currently in place. She pointed out that Pennsylvania is ranked 47th in the nation in regards to how many women there are in the state legislature. With campaigns becoming more and more expensive, she said that women are put at more and more of a disadvantage as women don't tend to give as much money to candidates. She said that her impetus to run was after a visit to Harrisburg when she saw, out of the 50 senators, there were 46 white men, two blacks and 2 women. Change must come from within.

Question 2 asked whether or not the candidates supported the Brown/Clarke proposal to change the Fairmount Park Commission. Matt Ruben, President of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, said he was hesitant to combine agencies as the public doesn't have the confidence in the system it once had. He said that the city has to do a better job in promoting eco tourism to help generate funds for parks and that the parks should be able to keep the funds generated from their efforts instead of having the funds put into the general city fund.

Bill Green said that the mayor should not have the power to appoint any crony s/he wants and that judges should be impartial enough to appoint a ruling commissioner.

Andy Toy, former President of Woodrock and former Department of Commerce member, said that there is no accountability now. He said that they mayor should still be involved in the decision making process, but not the one ultimately appointing people. He agreed that the parks system needed dedicated funding and that the parks system should be able to keep all monies it generates.

Question 3: In a few years, the city's pensions will take up 25% of the city's budget. What will you cut to fund the pensions or where would you find money to fund it? Rodney Little, a Sgt. Maj. in the Army based in Fort Dix, said that the pensions should never be frozen suggesting that the city do anything it can to keep paying out the pension as those who worked their whole lives for their pensions should not be denied it now. He noted that a Fraternal Order of Police pension (I believe he was referring to FOP Lodge 106 in Chester as he referred to them in his opening remarks) causing much trouble for all. He suggested that 401k plans be instituted to lessen the burden with dollar for dollar matching funds from the employers.

Marc Stier said that the city needs to be smarter in how it spends money. One knee jerk reaction many candidates have been espousing is the hiring of 1,000 new police officers, Stier thinks this will never work as it costs too much money and there is nowhere to find that money. Adding to the budget does not help solve the current budget's problems nor the problems when pension payments take up 25% of the budget. He said that the Business Privilege Tax isn't a good thing, but we do need taxes; smarter taxes. He suggested cutting healthcare costs, but I didn't catch exactly what he said - something about creating a larger pool of providers [?] to cut costs.

Andy Toy noted the 500k people Philadelphia lost in the last 30 years - the city must grow back it's tax base. Investments made by the city's pension fund have been poor; we need better fund managers, he said. He also noted that other cities have been making money off of their funds, there is no reason why Philly shouldn't.

Councilman James Kenney pointed out that there has only been a single cost of living adjustment in the recent past [for the pension fund?] and that the next one wouldn't come for another 15 years. He agreed that the investments had been poor. He [already?] proposed a new bill to redo the cost of living adjustment.

Question 4 asked the big question: Should the city rely on gambling revenue for money?Derek Green, former chief legislative aid for Councilwoman Marian Tasco, said that the city needs to be in control of what happens within the city [home rule charter!]. The city wasn't involved in the discussion and we should have been from the start. He said that neighborhood issues were not addressed.

Councilman Bill Greenlee said that the City Council was the first place the city was given a vote [not sure if this was a good or a bad thing he's pointing out] and that no, gambling cannot be relied on for revenue for the city.

Caryn Hunt, an anti-casino activist, said that the decision, mandated by the state, was corrupt from the start. She was part of a citizens' campaign to collect 27,000 signatures across the city and she feels it was the citizens who woke up the city government and the city government was not proactive in this. The casinos will suck wealth from the city and Philadelphia will have to wait its turn for the money to trickle back down the ladder from Harrisburg once it is finally allocated she said. She pointed out (as I constantly do) that the wage tax relief for each resident of Philadelphia is a whopping $100 and that the casinos will provide no tax relief.

Matt Ruben called 'casino revenues' an oxymoron. The addiction rate is 3% and that rate doubles with with close proximity to a casino. With the casinos plopped down in the middle of neighborhoods, 6% of those living in proximity would become addicts. Money goes in the front door of the casinos and never comes out the back door to help the social repercussions in the neighborhoods. Ruben pointed out that his involvement in the anti-casino movement delayed his entry to the race as he was busy organizing in his Northern Liberties neighborhood for some time.