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Youtube is horizontal, buddy. Hold your phone that way.
Phil
ly's Small Amounts of Marijuana program saves the city an estimated $2 million per year (despite its imperfections) — but it will be eliminated by July 1 unless the District Attorney's Office gets more funding. That's a promise from District Attorney Seth Williams, who told City Council at budget hearings this afternoon that the flat-funding of his budget — as proposed in an "arbitrary" fashion by the Nutter administration, which Williams claims ignored his request for budget input — would require him to make "unfortunate choices" that could ultimately cost the city money, fill city jails and roll back successful public safety initiatives.
Williams says the flat-funding is functionally a budget cut due to increased salary obligations. He is asking for at least $2.75 million more for public safety initiatives, and $2 million to prevent programmatic cuts. He calls that a "bare bones" request — it doesn't cover things like modernization of a computer system left over from the 1990s.
At City Council budget hearings today, a panelist made a remark about state legislators' notorious disinterest in helping out Philadelphia. But Council President Darrell Clarke responded that he'd have to take a pass on Council's beloved tradition of Harrisburg-bashing for the day: He'd just gotten word that enabling legislation for his proposed "gentrification relief" plan for property taxes, to ease the impact of the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) had passed out of committee.
The House Urban Affairs Committee approved three bills: one that would let municipalities place liens on delinquent property owners' land elsewhere in the state, a second that would let Philly offer tax relief based on factors like age and ability to pay, and a third that would let the city implement a means-tested program allowing property owners to pay their taxes in installments.
All three bills now move to the House floor for a vote. Not yet approved out of committee: A fourth bill that would call for a constitutional amendment enabling Philly to tax its businesses and residences at different rates. That proposal was considered important to the roll-out of AVI since a side-effect of the initiative is that a significant amount of the tax burden will shift from commercial properties onto previously undervalued residential ones. City leaders have been trying to figure out ways to ease that shift, such as exempting the first $30,000 of any owner-occupied property's value from its taxable value, ie. a homestead exemption.
For Philly's Latino Catholic population, attending Spanish-language mass is an increasingly challenging proposition. That's because one church after another serving Latino populations has closed: St. Henry in Hunting Park, St. Boniface in Norris Square, and now, possibly La Milagrosa, a chapel at 19th and Spring Garden that many Latino Catholics see a cultural and religious landmark, believed to be home to Philly's first Spanish-language mass. The parishioners are wondering: Is the church selling them out to settle its debts?
That was the question underlying a rally on Sunday outside the chapel, where La Milagrosa supporters and members gathered in the street for a "Last Mass" to bring awareness to the chapel's proposed closure and sale. "Faith is not for sale, community is not for sale, family is not for sale, history is not for sale. But this building is very much for sale," said Gloria Casarez, the city's LGBT Affairs Director, whose great grandparents were early members of the church. "The archdiocese has thrown us out on the street today. We hold services on the street today because the archdiocese's decision is to sell our home."
Church member Clara Jerez, a Colombian immigrant, has been attending mass here for eight years, though she lives in South Philadelphia. She speaks English, but travels across town for the Spanish-language mass, which was the closest thing she could find to the services she was used to back in Colombia. She's not sure what she'd do if La Milagrosa closes. "I think I will not find any place like this. This was like a home for us," she says.
Organizing for Action (aka, the former Obama re-election campaign) volunteers will tomorrow do something they likely never anticipated: They'll be rallying outside Sen. Pat Toomey's office to "praise him for standing with the American people." They are, of course, focused on Toomey's background-check legislation, which was defeated in the Senate this week, thanks to Republicans who President Obama says "caved to the pressure" of the gun lobby.
Meanwhile, although the Sandy Hook shootings (and the gun violence that continues weekly on the streets of Philadelphia) may feel recent to many of us, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe apparently thinks it's not too soon to get "Locked and Loaded."
He's announced a "Locked and Loaded Line-up" of pro-gun all-stars for his Second Amendment Action Day festivities, to take place on Tuesday. Reminder: Since the Newtown, Conn., shootings, Metcalfe has: Presented legislation making federal gun controls unenforceable in Pennsylvania; written to Toomey to pressure him to back off gun-control efforts, however mild they may be; and launched a coordinated lobbying effort to induce gun manufacturers such as Beretta, Remington and Magpul to relocate to the Commonwealth.
In the not-too-distant future, the corner of 17th and Carpenter could look something like this rendering. That, some would say, would be a substantial improvement on what's currently there. That is: not much at all.
South of South Neighborhood Association (SOSNA) is working with Councilman Kenyatta Johnson's office to try to get this land from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) in order to preserve some green space in the area. As other PRA land nearby is set to be developed, residents of the neighborhood believe this may be one of of the last opportunities to do so. If it works out, it will be the third new or reopened park in the area benefiting from private funds and spearheaded by residents and local civic groups. The other two are Catherine Park — on a city-owned site that was part of Philly's legacy of forgotten pocket parks and benefited from a sponsor-a-brick fundraising campaign — and Julian Abele Park, a now-manicured space that will have its grand opening on May 18.
As for 17th and Carpenter — aka Carpenter Green — it's still in the early stages of planning. The vacant lot abuts two condemned houses, which could also be included in a proposed park, says Andrew Dalzell, program coordinator for SOSNA. Nothing is close to finalized, but the PRA "has expressed interest in this becoming green space," Dalzell says.
[+1] Commissioner Charles Ramsey says that 20 percent of the Philly Police Department’s tips come from social media. “And the rest are usually tucked into our belts or delivered in a ‘make it rain’-type fashion.”
[+2] City Council contemplates “gentrification tax relief” to help keep longtime residents from getting priced out of their neighborhoods due to property-tax reform. Basically, if you see some grad student in skinny jeans or high-waisted shorts, you can demand a dollar.
[+1] ViaductGreene, the group working to turn the Reading Viaduct into a park, changes its name to Friends of the Rail Park. “We came across the old name on Urban Dictionary. That shit is nasty,” explains spokesperson. “And yes, we are aware of what ‘rail parking’ is and we’re cool with it.”
[0] SEPTA operating budget director Frank Gormley says, “We believe the new fare system will be widely embraced by our customers.” Adding, “And if they don’t, they can take PATCO right the fuck on out of the city.”
[+1] Two new boat cruises will soon launch on the Schuylkill: “Different Night, Different Lights” and “Secrets of the Schuylkill.” If those do well, other cruises may be added that don’t involve a whole bunch of strangers doing acid and fucking each other up and down the river.
[0] Police say the woman who claimed to find a baby behind a house in North Philly is actually the child’s mother. Now she’s really glad she found it.
[+1] A homeless man turns himself in to police after a North Philly woman releases a photo she took of him robbing her house. “I just really wanted a copy of that photo,” he says. “It’s a good look for me. Standing in a house.”
[+4] The new Jackie Robinson biopic 42 doesn’t pull punches in dealing with the Phillies’ racist history. And somewhere, deep in South Philly, an other-wise well-meaning Mummers captain gets a terrible, terrible idea.
This week’s total: +10 | Last week’s total: 0
Just over half of the estimated 347,000 Philadelphia homeowners eligible for the homestead exemption, which currently offers a $30,000 tax break to residents, have already applied and been accepted. That's not good enough for City Council members, who are worried that many city residents just don't understand the impact the Actual Value Initiative could have on their tax bills next year.
So, Council is looking to push the deadline for filing the extension back to Sept. 30. Council President Darrell Clarke today introduced a proposal to move the deadline, which was previously set at July 31, citing insufficient outreach efforts by the city and the administration's failure to distribute information in languages other than English.
“Council offices have begun mailing applications to qualifying households that have not yet applied, and the response has been positive,” Clarke said in a statement. “I am concerned residents will be more difficult to reach in the summer. We also have found one-on-one sessions with residents — particularly elderly homeowners — are more effective in encouraging Homestead participation. I hope the Administration agrees that extending the application deadline is the right thing to do for Philadelphia taxpayers.”
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce presenting its William Penn Award to J. William Mills III, regional president of PNC Bank, just doesn't make sense to a local Quaker group, who see the award as smearing the good name of Quaker icon William Penn.That's because PNC is a top financier of mountaintop-removal coal mining, an environmentally disastrous practice and something the Quakers figure Penn would have been dead set against. So, the Quakers are turning out to protest the award tomorrow night — peacefully, of course.
Former staff writer Isaiah Thompson's months-long investigation into the process known as “civil asset forfeiture” has won a Special Recognition Award, which include a $2,500 prize, from the 2013 Larry Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism, administered by the Temple University Center for Public Interest Journalism. The story was also named a "Finalist" in the Multiplatform category of the prestigious national Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards.
Thompson showed how civil asset forfeiture carried out by the District Attorney’s Office lets the DA sue to take ownership of property and, if successful, keep it -- regardless of whether the person sued actually committed any crime. As Thompson wrote, essentially "the government can seize 'criminal' property without proving a criminal case." The story was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Way to go, Isaiah!
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