The Inky's Chris Satullo had his laptop with him during the potluck and was able to type much quicker than I was able to scribble longhand styles (no stenography classes for me). He's put up a post on the Great Expectations blog with a bunch of direct quotes from the night. The post is up here and is a great complement to the 2600 [chroist] word post I put together.
It was Wednesday night and what better thing did I have to do than to head to a potluck dinner with 2007 Philadelphia mayoral candidates Al Taubenberger (R) and Michael Nutter (D)? Pictured above are eight of the ten Philadelphians who made it out for the potluck dinner/discussion with the candidates at the center of the shot. But how did we all get to this South Philly home for the dinner? Let's back up a sec.
Great Expectations is a joint venture between the Inquirer and the UPenn Project on Civic Engagement; the full project description here. After the primaries back in May, then editorial page editor Chris Satullo ran into Democratic primary winner Nutter at a restaurant. Nutter brought up the idea of a series of get-to-know-you dinners in neighborhoods all around Philly. Great idea, but one condition, Satullo said, Taubenberger's gotta be there too. And thus the potluck dinners were born. How'd I end up in the fray? Well, you write 3,100 posts over the course of three or so years, you piss some people off, you make some people happy and maybe, just maybe, you get noticed by someone with some juice and maybe, just maybe, those someones have someone send you an email asking you to trot down to South Philly with your gear and have some free grub. Who could say no? Back to the dinner. Satullo segued into South Philly by quoting colleague and Philadelphia legend, and South Philly native, Acel Moore, that there are two kinds of people: those from South Philly and those who wish they were from South Philly. Since I don't wish I was from South Philly, I guess I'm from South Philly. Go figure, I thought I was from NY — I learn something new from the Inky almost every day.
Twenty-three people in total made it out for the inaugural potluck in South Philly. The organizers even had seating arrangements covered. I just happened to be seated next to someone I knew — former candidate for City Council Damon Roberts. He ran for Councilwoman Anna Verna's Second District seat and lost. And full disclosure: I passed out literature for him in the Second District. To my left was Satullo who pecked away on his laptop while I wrote longhand in my pad; Satullo noticed this a few minutes into the discussion and said that we should switch places behind each other's note taking devices. Why no laptop for me? Since I had my photo gear with me, I figured it would be easier to put down a pen and pad than a sensitive laptop.
The guests were from all over Philly, half from the neighborhood, half from a little more than around the way. Backgrounds were varied, but they all cared about the city and were all eager to discuss things in such an intimate setting. The group was half white, between 35 - 65 with professional backgrounds ranging from working in a publicly elected official's office to retired. Harris Sokoloff, faculty director of the PCE, put up one of those gigantic Post-It notes on the storm door and had the group yell out issues they wanted to see addressed by the next mayor.
The BPT and other tax-related issues and education were at the top of the list. Down at the bottom was violence and safety. Satullo remarked under his breath that he was surprised that it took so long for that to come out — so was I. Also on the list were healthcare issues, work opportunities for ex-offenders, parking issues in neighborhoods, lack of concern for neighborhoods north of Cottman Ave among others which didn't fit on the sheet. After everyone was finished stuffing their faces with the wonderful food everyone brought (damn, I love me some proscuitto!), Sokoloff started the discussion off with the issue of gentrification: wealthier people are moving into not so wealthy areas and driving up taxes to a point where those who live there can no longer pay for their houses.
Nutter called the current state of real estate taxes antiquated and the situation backwards. He explained how real estate taxes were doled out. The simplified version… First, City Council decides what the tax rate will be for the year. Then the Board of Revision of Taxes performs a housing reassessment. The reassessment is actually not a 100% valuation, but 70%. Why? Who knows. Nutter extrapolated the bass-ackwardsness to the situation where the property value goes up after the tax rate is decided. He noted that in many other cities, the process is reversed: first the reassessment is done, at 100% (which Nutter thinks Philly should go to). Then the city council meets to determine how much money they want to get out of the real estate tax and tax away accordingly.
Franklin Evans posed a question on the history of the ten-year tax abatement and how it came to be. Nutter took the first stab. The abatement started in 1991 and was introduced by City Councilman Frank DiCicco at at time of real estate stagnation. It's been good for the city bringing in lots of new development. That said, Nutter said that it's not needed in all parts of the city anymore in its current state.
Taubenberger went another route and posed a different way to tax people's property: to introduce a tax rate based on what a homeowner paid for the property and have that rate be constant for the duration you own your property. Assessments would have to be performed for properties which were gifted and other exceptions would arise.
Nutter added that the gross receipts tax needs to be reduced as it is killing business. As long as Philadelphia has the nation's #1 business tax burden in the nation, it will not grow as well as other cities can/will until it reduces the burden on new businesses moving to town and shows that Philly is a business-friendly city. Freda Egnal, from West Philly, commented that she's been surprised by Nutter's constant pro-business mentality throughout his campaign. She said that usually it's Republicans who look out for business and Democrats usually look out for social issues. Nutter calmly noted that this isn't about Democrats and Republicans and their nationwide or statewide trends, this is about making Philadelphia work, figuring out how to make Philadelphia work. And part of that is creating jobs in town by bringing in more new business. We also have to better take advantage of our own geography, namely our abundant waterfront space, as cities like Boston, Chicago and New York have done to great success. I couldn't agree more — the I-95 barrier between the city and the river literally kills access. In a previous forum on design, Nutter sounded off his support to sink I-95 to give the waterfront back to the city's people. He said that this plan was well worth the longterm investment for the betterment of the city.
Taubenberger spoke of his involvement in the tax reform commission, thanks to Nutter and his lead in City Council on the issue, and his experience as President of the Greater NE Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce - the second largest in the city, with 3k+ members. He said that most of the members of the Chamber were small business and that there has been a steady trickle of businesses closing shop and moving out of the city for various reasons: taxes getting out hand, too much violence in the city, a declining school system… the list went on. He noted that these are the businesses that don't make it to the papers, but they leave every day. Only the big ones like AAA leaving [and moving to Wilmington, DE] make it to the papers, but the equivalent of AAA's 800 jobs disappear over time through all of the closed storefronts dotting neighborhoods all around town. He said that this city needs jobs and people want to work, but can't. Bringing the conversation back to one of the points on the discussion list, he said that America is a second chance nation and that ex-offenders need that second chance, once out of incarceration, but if there are no jobs, they, and other Philadelphians, have to resort to desperate measures to make ends meet. The key to creating new jobs from new businesses is to lower taxes.
The conversation moved onto schools. Philly getting its share of money from Harrisburg, the role of the Mayor and the role of parents in the education of our children. Nutter plainly stated that Philadelphia is not getting its fair share of money for our schoolchildren. He lives three blocks from a Lower Merion school district. If his family were to move those three blocks, his children would see the money spent on their education rise from $10k/student to $18k/student simply from geography. Unless you live under a rock, without TV or access to the news, you know that Nutter's daughter goes to public school here in Philly. Mr. Evans said that his three children are all in the public school system in Philly and that his wife has been a teacher in the system for the last thirty-five years. He, speaking as a pseudo-insider, said that Philadelphia sorely needs a professionally run school district. Diana Piperata, from East Torresdale and a product of the Philly Catholic school system, said that it's not necessarily about the money per student, but a difference in the quality of care given.
Kenyatta Johnson, South Philly resident and Public Safety liaison for State Senator Anthony Williams (D), said that students need proper standards to meet and without a proper set of standards (not those No Child Left Behind bogus standards), our kids have nothing to shoot for.
Nutter listened intently through the discussion by the prospective constituents and said that the other part of the education equation is the involvement of parents. With public schools taking in everyone who shows up at the doorstep, many children start school not knowing basic pieces of information and lack social skills. Extra time must be set aside for those kids which slows down the system. Teachers spend money out of pocket on their kids as there is no money to go around to the hundreds of thousands of kids enrolled. Buildings are eroding. With all this, the kids can figure out that somewhere, up the line, someone doesn't care about them.
Sokoloff noted that under the current state of things, the city, let alone the mayor, has little power to control what happens in the schools with the final word coming from Harrisburg (like parking!!!). He asked what was the mayor's role, under the current system, in regards to the state of education in the city.
Taubenberger said plainly that the mayor must solve the ongoing problems of guns and violence as they are tied to the education system through the city's youth. Nutter said that it's the mayor's obligation to go to Harrisburg and get more money, to show moral leadership in the streets to beef up afterschool programs. He noted that the most dangerous hours were between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.: a period of time that kids should be engaged in various activities — not including hanging out on the corner. Local schools, rec centers and libraries should have a continuum of service keeping kids engaged and tiring them out so that they go to sleep (laughter from all the parents in the room). Taubenberger added that they get up the next day and continue the cycle (and not out of school and in trouble, I presume). Nutter said that we need those old public service announcements of "Do you know where your children are?" but instead of being at 11 p.m., run them at 3.30 p.m.
Mr. Johnson shared a story he recently read stating that JV sports are facing cuts. In particular, JV soccer for boys and girls has been cut for the upcoming school year. It is expected that other minor JV sports would be cut; basketball and football wouldn't be cut. Mr. Johnson said that with more kids without activities after school, more problems rise. The most tragic being when the right kid — one who should be playing a sport or otherwise productively engaged — is in the wrong place at the wrong time and something goes down. Many of the 400+ murders Philadelphia will endure by year's end will be school-aged kids. Babies. Taubenberger said that the mayor has to lead as he has a very strong bully pulpit in the city. Keeping kids off the streets is so important that it should be discussed every day. We, the taxpayers, pay for the public school buildings; they should be used productively throughout the day and week to keep kids engaged.
Sokoloff brought up the role of parents as Nutter alluded to it. Mr. Evans said that he is very involved with his kids, at Masterman. The parents there cannot afford to pay high-priced union laborers and end up doing work like painting and minor construction themselves. It brings the community together with amateurs spilling paint and falling off chairs. It shows kids and teachers that parents really care. He also said that the rec center by in his community, Marian Anderson, is severely underutilized and locked up but still, it's fully lit up at 3 a.m. He wants to see a full open audit of the city's expenses to see where his money is going and how it is being mismanaged. Taubenberger stressed the importance of rec centers in the lives of children. The new people kids meet at rec centers and the interaction is priceless.
Satullo, sensing the end of the night, asked the candidates what they'd ask from their constituents; a Yo Citizen! version of their popular Yo, Mike! Yo, Al! section. Nutter asked that his constituents clean up their neighborhoods. The potato chip bags, cans, bottles, food which litters our streets were not put there by the government. He said that the city would meet us halfway and pick up the trash when piled up, but it can't be burdened with job of cleaning up after citizen slobs. Taubenberger wants people to start or join their neighborhood Town Watch. He is an active member of his neighborhood's Town Watch once a week, even during the campaign. He said that citizens stand and fall with the health of their community. Nutter added that parents become more involved in what goes on in their kids' schools and that employers should get involved and make arrangements for parents to be more involved with appropriate time off for those who need it to meet with school officials. Taubenberger, whose wife is also a public school teacher, said that he constantly hears how few parents show up for parent-teacher day no matter what time of day the meetings are held — he agrees that parents must be more involved in their kids' schooling. Satullo promosed that a Yo Citizen! section would appear in the Inky before the election.
At the end of the night, Nutter and Taubenberger joked that since this potluck went so well, that they'd be starting a tour of every single block of Philly. They estimated they'd be done sometime in 2011. Joking aside, it was a wonderful night. It was a refreshing change to see candidates up close and personal as if I paid $10k (through a PAC of course!) to have such an intimate evening with them and about a dozen other neighborhoodies. Thank you once again to the gang at Great Expectations for letting me be a part of it all, and stay tuned for more blogger reports from some of the region's finest scribes in the coming weeks.
And full disclosure: I handed out thousands of brochures for and endorsed Michael Nutter during the Democratic primary in May.
Cross posted at the Great Expectations blog
The image above is a collage of the 38 shots up in my Comcast Center Gallery from my trip up to the top on August 7, 2007.
Enjoy.
These photos are for sale if you'd like to purchase any.
I took a few hours off of work on Tuesday to take a trip to the top of the Philly world - the yet unfinished Comcast Center - for a hardhat tour courtesy of Liberty Property Trust. Holy shit is that a view. It was a million degrees outside and we had to be in pants and boots, but it was worth it. The haze made things not as fun for taking photos, but I got some winners in.
The shot above was the view from where we entered the work site. This shot is a 900px wide 180° panorama looking south from the 55th floor of the Comcast Center. The 55th floor does not have windows installed just yet which gave us an unobstructed view of things. You can see the two I-beams at either end of the photo covered with fireproofing (I'm pretty sure that's what it is). From left to right, you can see the Delaware River, City Hall, Liberty Towers, Mellon Bank Center, IBX buildings and the Schuylkill River. Bitchin.
We saw the underground concourse, the entryway pavilion, the 55th floor (just above the cutout if you're looking at the building from the south), the 30th floor (complete with a bathroom with waterless urinal) and the JFK Blvd entryway area. The craziest part of the day for me was riding in the exterior elevators. It was surprisingly calm up on the 55th floor without windows. I thought it would be windy up there, but nope. I would've loved to go up top, but it was too dangerous.
A proper photo gallery is coming for the shots I took.
And thanks again to Liberty Property Trust for the tour.
I made it to my second First Friday in Old City this past Friday. It was a busy crowd as it always is. Above is a shot of some of the crowd in front of the Arden Theatre Company at 2nd/Filbert Sts. I went to this First Friday for two reasons: to meet some friends who had a friend [Anissa Lewis] who is in a show at the ArtJaz Gallery and I was also on assignment [shooting First Friday for a guide - we'll see if they pick any of the shots] which was cool.
And there's my friend Pat and his daughter who, seemingly, likes her some art. Or she wants to put whatever she's pointing at in her mouth.
It's a shame I'm not out at First Friday more often, but it always seems like there's another one around the corner and I always feel like, "Oh I'll just go next month" and then a year passes by. Maybe if I get my ass into one of those shows I'll go. Heh.
