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Archive: April, 2012
Take a break from school voucher attack ads. It's space robot time. The campaign between longtime Philly state Rep. Babette Josephs and her former campaign treasurer Brian Sims just took a turn for the extraterrestrial, with a new mailer from the Josephs campaign that declares "danger!" because Sims (with Gov. Tom Corbett) is "Lost in Compromise." The inspiration, presumably, is that Sims has promised to be more effective than Josephs largely by reaching across the aisle to get things done in Democrat-hostile Harrisburg.
It's kind of a reach, given that Sims is describing himself as a progressive, and wants to work with Republicans, he says, on stuff like bridges and transportation funding, not restricting abortion rights. But Josephs response is, "What vote is he going to give up?" To win a compromise, he'll have to do something distasteful to his Democratic base, she argues. In any case, Josephs gets points for creativity, right?
The Sims campaign, for its part, argues that Josephs is using "baseless smear tactics" and that her campaign is possibly unethically recycling language from her legislative website on her campaign site. The full Sims press release follows. But first, the mailer:
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, which presents the Keystone Press Awards, is recognizing a number of CP staffers for the outstanding work in the past year! While they practice their acceptance speeches, here's a rundown of the big winners.
FIRST PLACE, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: Isaiah Thompson took home the prize for "Why is Harry Bennett Dead?" The story delves into the shooting death of a mentally ill man at the hands of Philadelphia police, and the scant investigation that followed it.
SECOND PLACE, SERIES: Isaiah and Anthony Campisi, "The Abandoned City." Coping with blight remains one of Philly's greatest challenges. Read this story from last April and get outraged about the recent fire in Kensington all over again.
FIRST PLACE, PERSONALITY PROFILE: Josh Middleton won for "Preaching Out" a profile on pastor and AIDS activist Adrena Ingram, a former homeless addict who turned around her own life and others'.
As well, CP photographer Neal Santos took home first and second place for best news photo. And our desgin team, led by Reseca Peskin, earned first place in page design.
Could Rick Santorum be headed back to the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he penned an arch-conservative column for $1,750 (daaa-mn!) a pop from 2007 to 2009? That's what reporter Thomas Fitzgerald speculated in today's Inquirer article about what lies ahead for the former senator from Pennsylvania after he dropped his presidential bid before what could have been a humiliating home state primary loss on April 24.
"Some have suggested," writes Fitzgerald, "that Santorum could cash in on the lecture circuit, repair to a think tank, head for a commentator's job - perhaps with Fox News, where he was employed before his run - or even return to writing a column for The Inquirer."
"It hasn't been discussed or explored to my knowledge," editorial page editor Harold Jackson responded.
It would likely be up to the new ownership team, which includes parking magnate Lewis Katz and South Jersey Democratic political boss George E. Norcross III―people the New York Times' David Carr this week called “newspaper barons.”
The East Kensington Neighbors Association just sent out an e-mail blast for a Sunday night vigil for the firefighters lost and injured in the massive Thomas Buck Hosiery building fire. The event follows an open house at East Kensington's Firefighters Portrait Gallery, which happens to sit just two blocks from the site of the deadly blaze. Also, details on the funeral services for the fallen firefighters below.
City Council was due today to consider a resolution to hold hearings on the Department of Parks & Recreations' proposed ban on outdoor feeding in Philadelphia, widely seen as an effort by Mayor Michael Nutter to clear Philly's homeless off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway ahead of the opening of the Barnes. Homeless advocates weren't waiting for the hearing: they showed up in force at council today to argue that — on top of allegations of discrimination and worries that conditions for the homeless will only grow worse — the ban violates their right to fulfill their Christian duties by feeding those in need. They said there are already reports of Parks & Rec staffers kicking homeless off the Parkway, and worry about what's to come.
Rachel Hosan of Liberti church in Fairmount, which serves meals on the Parkway every Friday evening, told Council: "Our church's ministry on the Parkway is an expression of our faith in Jesus Christ... We're concerned that this regulation will prevent us from practicing our faith."
Yesterday's City Council budget hearings on SEPTA did not, at the outset, promise much in the way of fireworks.
This reporter tweeted suggested questions of a sort that never materialized: (One example: why is it that El operators often fail to mention trolleys aren't running (requiring passengers to remain on the train until 40th street) *before* passengers leave the train to discover SEPTA's only reliable indication of trolley diversions — a blinking blue light?).
But most of the questions asked by Council members were not of the boat-rocking variety; until, that is, it came time for 6th District Councilman Bobby Henon to ask his questions.
After a few routine inquiries, the Councilman, with a round of somewhat awkward throat-clearings, asked: "You would not endorse a company doing business with your organization who had broken the Davis-Bacon law?" referring to a federal act requiring that certain federally-subsidized contractors pay prevailing local minimum wage laws.
"Any contractor that we hire is obligated to comply," with that law, answered SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey, saying the company could be "disbarred" from working with SEPTA.
"I'm going to reference a subcontractor who, it's been brought to my attention, has some issues," said Henon."I'm going to ask you a list of questions."
The questions, though somewhat hard to understand, revolved around accusations by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 that a subcontractor working for SEPTA, the Fairfield Company, has systemically misclassified work assignments in order to underbid other competitors for several major SEPTA contracts.
IBEW Local 98 is the powerful electricians' labor union run by political boss and local kingmaker John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty. Councilman Henon previously served as that union's political director, and his campaign for City Council was heavily supported by Local 98 and a political action committee controlled by Dougherty.
In February, as reported (only) by PlanPhilly, Local 98 asked a SEPTA board to disqualify Fairfield, citing "serious allegations" against the company.
"What I'm trying to do here is establish a record of how people circumvent and how people [undercut] bids systematically by misclassifications on their bids," Henon told Casey yesterday, though he did not go on to elaborate the details of these allegations.
According to a document reviewed by City Paper, IBEW Local 98 has apparently conducted its own investigation of the Fairfield Company and appears prepared to make the case that it was able to underbid other companies for SEPTA contracts by paying for labor at lower rates than required under the Davis Bacon Act.
Reached by phone after the hearing, Henon told CP he's looking out for Philly workers, citing high invovlement rates of local, minority and women-owned businesses in IBEW Local 98's work on the convention center.
The city Revenue Department's testimony at City Council budget hearings this week wasn't exactly the makings of cocktail party conversation, which may be why no one seemed to pay much attention when Revenue's chief counsel, Frances Beckley, mentioned that they're tinkering with some new policies on sheriff's sales. One change would be to bring a property to sheriff's sale for less than is owed when it's determined that the property likely won't sell for the total back taxes and liens on the books. Another is to bring properties to sale based on Department of Licenses and Inspections liens, which might be a significant blight-fighting tool.
"We have always compromised on properties [that won't sell] eventually, but before typically on the third try we would lower the price. Given that we're working hard to go through the tax delinquent properties, it seems like a waste of resources," Beckley explains to CP. The new policy would bring properties to sheriff's sale for estimated market value on the first go-around.
Another change: "We've been authorized by the Finance Director to work with L&I to sell properties for tax delinquencies that we would not choose solely for revenue-raising purposes, but that L&I has determined are a nuisance to the neighborhood," Beckley says. "We just got our first list of L&I properties that are tax delinquent." That means the first such properties should hit sheriff's sale in about six months.
For years, Norris Square Civic Association has been working on a plan to redevelop the old St. Boniface church site at Hancock and Diamond Streets into co-op housing, a community center, a school and daycare. Now, the group sees a proposal by district Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sánchez to remap the residential properties in the area, from York to Berks and Second to Front streets, as the death-knell of a project that has $5 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants, $5 million in state funding and $1 million in sunk design costs. Which was the reason, presumably, that NSCA representatives were outside a zoning meeting Monday night handing out these fliers:
The allegations — that the remapping will bring gentrification, and that it will prevent tear families apart by making current living situations illegal — are pretty over the top. Sánchez said she just wanted to ease an increasingly tight parking situation, prevent apartment buildings from rising unchecked through the use of by-right development afforded by the current zoning designation and make sure residents have a say. She says she's responding to residents' concerns about a growing number of conversions from single to multifamily housing have increased density in the area; the NSCA is behind many such conversions.
"It's important to get this in now," Sanchez told community members, because as the new zoning code takes effect in August the current zoning designation will become even more liberal. She expects the zoning overlay could eventually extend to Lehigh Avenue. Martin Gregorski of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission said the area was due to be remapped anyway, when the new Lower North District Plan is done, probably next year.
The letters K and A, in Philadelphia, are shorthand for trouble. In the 1950s, what started as an efficient burglary ring evolved into the K&A Gang, considered to be partly (along with the Junior Black Mafia) responsible for making Philadelphia the meth capital of the world in the 1980’s. And if you’ve ever wanted to ask real-life old-school mob guys questions, this is your moment.
Local author and Temple professor Allen M. Hornblum will be speaking with the Frankford Historical Society about his latest book “Confessions of a Second Story Man: Junior Kripplebauer and the K & A Gang”. Hornblum describes the K & A Gang as “two-fisted, beer-guzzling, ear- and nose-biting hoodlums”. The books focuses on the gang’s roots as a chaotic and un-slick group of thieves consistantly avoided police and became Philadelphia drug kingpins within 30 years of formation. Hormblum has also invited several retired K&A gang members to share their experiences and answer questions.
The event will be held at the Frankford Historical Society today at 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Members of the Frankford Historical Society get in free; everybody else pays $5. The society is located at 1507 Orthodox St., and can be reached at 215-743-6030.
A weekly series of foulmouthed investigations into empty lots, dead-ass proposals and other development and design phenomena in Philadelphia. Find more stories like this at philaphilia.blogspot.com.
JFK Boulevard from 20th Street to the Schuylkill River — Well before the proposal of the Philadelphia River City, the same area was the site of another massive multi-building proposition, the Century 21 Complex. This mixed use mega-city within a city, if built, would have changed Philadelphia forever. The project, unlike the River City, wasn't killed by NIMBYs worried about shadows; it faded away without a whimper.
It all began in the 1966, when thoughts were floating around about the upcoming Bicentennial, 10 short years away. The United States Congress formed the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, which would plan the nation's celebration, centered around a single exhibition in an American city. Philadelphia, home of the legendary Centennial Exhibition and the disappointing Sesquicentennial Exhibition, submitted plans for a Bicentennial Exhibition, one that would trump them all.
Salivating at the prospect of millions of visitors coming to the city all at once, many local businessmongers came up with pie-in-the-sky hotel plans. Matthew Weinstein, a big time developer and Lower Merion civic booster, was one of them. In 1967, he contacted architect Pietro Belluschi, who had recently designed the famed Rohm & Haas Building, about creating a motor inn in Philadelphia to serve the throngs of humans that were expected to descend upon the city in 1976.
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