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Archive: March, 2012
Foreclosures are up 24 percent since January 2011 in Philly — and Councilwoman Marian Tasco says it's no coincidence that the start of that rise coincides with the end of state funding for the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), which is credited with keeping 6,100 families out of foreclosure during the recession.
Gov. Corbett has, in his latest budget proposal, cut HEMAP funding out altogether for a second year. So City Council passed a resolution today urging the state attorney general to use $69 million won in a settlement over foreclosure proceedings to revive the program. Tasco also introduced a resolution calling for hearings on the impact of losing HEMAP on the city.
Not that hearings are really necessary: it's pretty clear that this program performed extraordinarily well for Philly while it lasted, and had a statewide economic impact of $420 million. As Tasco says, "Considering that this wildly successful program has been used as a national model to fight foreclosures and keep homeowners in their homes, the end of HEMAP is a huge tragedy for our city and the entire commonwealth." She pegs the negative economic impact of each foreclosure at $75,000.
This morning. the mayor presented his proposed 2013 budget to City Council. We'll be digging deeper into it in the coming days and weeks, but here are a few handily-tweet-sized bullet points:
— The mayor is asking the city's unions to contribute more toward their costs to the city; he wants new hires to sign onto a "hybrid" contract and for current employees to pay more into their pensions.
— Following a citywide reassessment this summer, Philadelphians will pay taxes based on new property values. Some will go up, some down.
— The city anticipates more or less flat property tax revenue, and will actually (if the administration gets its way) be lowering the tax rate — but (see above point) that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be paying less property tax.
— $7 million will be reinvested into neighborhood libraries.
— 400 new police officers will be hired; Nutter says they'll all be placed on "foot patrol," in dangerous neighborhoods (though it's less clear for how long).
— The mayor referred to a new community policing strategy in high-crime areas, but has not yet offered details on how that will work.
— The city will begin investing in a new police HQ to replace the "Roundhouse" at Race & 8th.
— The city will invest in designs plans for a renovation of Love Park as part of its larger effort to "revitalize" the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
— The city will put $1 million back into the Office of Supportive Housing to help maintain the number of beds in shelters when the Ridge Avenue Men's Shelter closes.
— The city will be opening its first ever traffic control center.
Knowing Philly City Council, it's probably not the first time someone shouted "That's what I'm talkin' about!" when a resolution was introduced. In this case, the resolution was sponsored by Wilson Goode Jr. "on behalf of AFSCME locals 33 and 47."
The resolution, introduced this morning ahead of the Mayor's budget address, calls "on the Nutter administration to negotative a fair contract with AFSCME, the municipal workers union." Given that it's been three years since their last contract ended, the unions are pretty adamant that it's about time.
Several hundred AFSCME workers gathered at City Hall this morning, packing the place beyond capacity and holding signs that said "Mayor Nutter doesn't negotiate: he dictates" and "This city works because we do."
Dennis Staib, a city streets inspector who has been on the job for 21 years, said he was there because "I haven't got a raise for four or five years now. I hope the mayor starts taking hte city workers seriously." A Philadelphia Water Department heavy equipment operator, Joe (who didn't want to give his last name) said he's most worried about health and other benefits. Most of all, he just wants the security of a contract. "You don't know what's coming up day by day when you have no contract," he says.
[-1] A priest from Northeast Philly is arrested for attempting to solicit sex from a cop disguised as a prostitute in Kensington. “Relatively speaking,” shrugs Cardinal Rigali, “this is the best press we’ve gotten in years.”
[+1] U.S. Marshals capture a West Philly man convicted of tax fraud who’d previously escaped state custody by forging his own release papers. But then while the prisoner is in the bathroom the feds get a call from the president and he’s like, “let this guy go, that’s an order!”
[+1] Two art dealers in the New Hope area have stolen items returned to them, gift-wrapped, by an unknown person the police suspect is a depressed kleptomaniac. Or an amoral re-gifter.
[0] Three teenagers in Kensington steal a school bus and abandon it after a short joyride. Police suspect the kids are non-depressed kleptomaniacs.
[0] City Council’s Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs approves a bill to rename Robin Hood Dell East Georgie Woods Entertainment Center in 2015. “That’s the clunkiest, stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” says ghost of Georgie Woods. “I concur,” says ghost of Robin Hood. “Just pick one of us, you cowards.”
[-5] A Chadds Ford man is arrested for driving his SUV through a fence and onto a runway at Philadelphia International Airport, forcing a plane to pull up to avoid a collision. “Okay, now this guy was probably depressed,” says an officer on the scene. “Kleptomania, TBD.”
[-3] NBC 10 interviews “Eric,” a man from Philly who used an illegal jamming device to prevent fellow bus passengers from using their cell phones. And get this: He’s a pompous douche.
[+1] Occupy Philly protesters accuse Fox 29 of bowing to political pressure by choosing not to air a video that allegedly shows Mayor Nutter spanking the butt of a woman at a bowling ally. Fox 29 responds by agreeing right away.
[-2] After his nominating petitions are challenged, Nate Kleinman, an Occupy Philly protestor turned congressional candidate, withdraws from the Democratic primary ballot in favor of a write-in campaign. So that’s the last we’ll hear of that guy.
[+1] A major exhibition coming to the Franklin Institute in May features some Dead Sea Scrolls, a three-ton stone from the Wailing Wall and some artifacts allegedly recovered from the “Jesus Family Tomb.” Plus a guy dressed like Boba Fett handing out candy.
This week’s total: -7 | Last week’s total: -6
The recession and the cuts to library services that accompanied it have significantly impacted library usage in Philly, even though residents consider public libraries to be more important than ever, according to a new Pew Philadelphia Research Initiative study of libraries in 15 cities.
"Philadelphians use their libraries less than their counterparts in most of the 14 other urban communities studied. On a per capita basis, the Free Library of Philadelphia is below average in terms of circulation and visits, even though it ranks relatively high in terms of branches per capita," the study found. "One factor contributing to Philadelphians’ relatively low use of their libraries has been the extraordinary number of times that branches have experienced temporary, unscheduled closings in the past few years. In Fiscal 2010, the system had 8,000 hours of such closings, an increase of more than 1,000 percent from two years earlier. In Fiscal 2011, unplanned closures were down to 3,662 hours. Many of these hours were lost due to staffing shortages, which happened in none of the other cities studied except Detroit."
There's a reason why Southwest Detective Joseph Murray has more than 600 Twitter followers: He uses his account, TheFuzz9143, to share valuable public safety information that residents felt helped them stay safer. But since Jan. 11, Murray has been offline while the Philly Police Department puts new social media policies in place. One West Philly resident, Amara Rockar, was upset enough about the loss to write to Commissioner Charles Ramsey and start an online petition.
"Unlike SpotCrime.com or other services, TheFuzz9143 provided descriptions of the perpetrators, what if any weapons were used, if the police suspected the crime was part of a pattern or string, and most importantly he would send updates letting us know when someone was caught and what prior cases the person might be suspected in. In our area, muggings etc. are usually part of a person or people attacking along similar locations and/or times until they get caught," Rockar explains. She says she used that information to make better, safer decisions for herself and her family.
In addition to safety advice, Murray also tweeted about a carjacker who didn't know how to drive stick shift and, as Rockar notes, "a picture of a neighborhood kitty resting on the warm hood of his patrol car while he was serving a warrant."
So you could see why the PPD would be worried.
After posting the petition, Rockar heard back today from PPD communications director Karima Zedan. Zedan assured her that Murray would be part of a pilot program to train staff in social media use. The email reads:
What might be the best headline I've read all year has confirmed that God is playing divide and conquer with our sins: the Risqué video porn shop at 43rd and Chestnut will soon be replaced by a state wine and liquor store.
“Liquor store will replace the current Risqué XXX video store,” the neighborhood's University City Review reports.
Many neighbors interviewed for the story expressed concern over the liquor store. Interestingly, no one seemed particularly happy about the porn shop's imminent demise.
The West Philly neighborhood's old liquor store was shut down because the building was unfit for habitation, prompting extremely long lines at nearby stores.
Over protests, petitions and objections by Democrats, House Bill 934 passed out of Senate committee Monday and is headed for a vote today — meaning that, by the time primaries come around in April, Pennsylvania is expected to have a new voter ID bill on its hands. The bill would require the presentation of photo identification at the polls, and, in the process of potentially disenfranchising thousands of poor, elderly and city-dwelling citizens, would likely cost Philly hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, the question is: Why?
Jeff Garvis, field director of Pennsylvania Voice, is one of many who doesn't buy the surface-level response that Gov. Tom Corbett is concerned about voter fraud, noting that he never prosecuted a voting fraud case as Pennsylvania Attorney General, and that Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele conceded in a hearing that there had been "no reports" of fraud. A more likely motivation: keeping Philly voter turnout down — a goal Corbett has laid out before. Says Garvis:"I think that's the key to why Gov. Corbett is pushing this. For a Republican to win statewide office, he needs to keep that turnout down in Philly." The bill is expected to impact Philadelphia disproportionately because Philly has many people without drivers licenses, as well as low-income individuals.
That's the sense on the Democratic side of the aisle as well. Democratic State Sen. Daylin Leach told the Inquirer:
"This is about nothing else than vote-rigging in Pennsylvania — trying to disenfranchise voters who vote the wrong way from the perspective of the people who support this bill. This is about Republicans saying, 'We don't like to lose elections, so how can we stop that from happening?' "
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Mayor Nutter and a small army of city officials and community leaders gathered at McPherson Square today — commonly known as "Needle Park," for obvious reasons — to announce the kickoff of the Annual Philly Spring Cleanup.
The choice of locale was symbolic: McPherson represents, on the one hand, just how bad things get in Philly — a major neighborhood park filled with drug activity and discarded needles — but has also been the focus of renewed attention.
Representatives of the Free Library, the Friends of the Free Library, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the office of Maria Quinones-Sanchez, the local CDC Impact Services, and a small but dedicated group of community residents have been meeting for months to try and improve the park. It's soon to see new lighting, a summer day program for kids, and, according to new 24th District Captain Charles Vogt, an increased police presence.
The mood was, as it tends to be at these sorts of events, jolly — but not without its subtle dark undercurrent.
As community activist Jonathan Centeno put it in a closing prayer, "This park is a place for children to play, a place to be safe, a place for community to come together — and for a long time, the environment has been different than that, Lord."
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) has held its final public hearings on a proposal to reduce empty classroom seats by closing and consolidating schools around the city. But some parents and community members worry that the plan will tear apart neighborhoods and impact students' safety.
As of this weekend's SRC hearing, the supporters of E.M. Stanton School at 17th and Christian have officially tried everything to convince the SRC of their case: flags, banners, T-shirts, petitions, a 37-page counterproposal complete with marketing and partnership plans, civil rights movement-style chants, Shakespeare readings, violin recitals, a drum circle and a student-written and -performed rap (presumably the first time the phrase "We made AYP eight years straight" has ever been incorporated into a hip-hop number).
But Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who showed up in support of Stanton, told the board that beyond the community commitment and the school's academic successes, there are other factors to consider. Among them: longstanding neighborhood hostilities. "We have a dividing line; it's called 'across the tracks.' It's south of Washington Avenue vs. the other side, 18th Street vs. other side. I just want to give you the historical context of what these young people would be up against."
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