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Archive for “City Council” news
Bill Green Basically Calls His Job a Waste of Time
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 5/16/2013
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According to the Daily News's math beat reporter, at-large Councilman Bill Green has missed 15 of 16 budget hearings in the last two months. Brian O'Neill and Marian Tasco came in "second" and "third" in the absentee wars. Green's rationale?
"The entire idea of waiting four hours and asking 15 minutes of questions is just not a good use of anybody's time."
Combine this with his weird "no" vote on Jim Kenney's gay rights bill, it appears Green is trying to pull a "Costanza," in which doing the least popular thing possible nets him the most popular support. The man might be
Say Neigh to Councilman Squilla’s Horse-Carriage Expansion
By Brian Howard 5/14/2013
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City Councilman David Oh Is Wrong About Collecting Kids’ Library Fines
By Brian Howard 5/07/2013
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City Councilman Cracking Down on Kids’ Overdue Library Books
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 5/06/2013
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Oh, David Oh. This issue might not be a political winner. The at-large Republican councilman is upset with the Free Library of Philadelphia, which starting July 1st, won't collect late fees from kids with overdue books. The FLP says it would rather lose money on fees than discourage kids from reading. Here's Oh:
Many parents, myself included, use the late fines as a way of teaching our children about responsibility. I don't think this is money we should deny to the libraries."
Instead, Oh's proposed a bill that would use the approximately $70,000 a year in fees to provide funding for children's
Which Philly Neighborhoods Aren’t Paying Their Taxes?
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/26/2013
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Newsworks has crunched numbers on which council districts have the highest rates of tax delinquency. (The whole city, as Patrick Kerkstra has found, is basically the worst in the country at collecting taxes.) The highest rate of delinquency goes to...Cindy Bass, who represents the Northwest. Her district owes a collective $94,151,72. Second place is owned by Council President Darrell Clarke, whose North Philadelphia district owes 88,807,574. The loser (winner) is Bobby Henon, whose northeast Philly district owed only $17,211,032. [Newsworks]
City Council Threatens to Subpoena Mayor Over AVI
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/19/2013
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Certain City Council members, frustrated at the at-times erroneous nature of the city's new AVI property assessments, are asking the city to reveal their exact methodology.
Five houses in one block in my district are assessed in the aggregate of $3.2 million less than they sold for in the last few years," [District 2 Councilman Kenyatta] Johnson said. "One house sold for $1.4 million in 2012 but [the Office of Property Assessment] assessed it at $700,000."
I.e., What were you guys thinking?! Council President Darrell Clarke is threatening to use its subpoena power to review the city's system, if the Nutter administration
Freaked Out By the Gender-Neutral Bathrooms in Jim Kenney’s LGBT Bill?
By Liz Spikol 4/17/2013
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Last Thursday, a City Council committee approved Councilman Jim Kenney's LGBT equality bill, which offers spousal partnership benefits to non-married life partners—hospital visits, "next of kin" designation, retirement benefits, even a tax-credit incentive to employers. Some of what's in the bill has been discussed by Philadelphia's City Council before, and some of it even passed in 1998—only to be struck down by the state Supreme Court.
Major LGBT Rights Bill Coming to City Council
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/10/2013
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Tomorrow At-Large Councilman Jim Kenney will announce a piece of sweeping LGBT rights legislation. Here's what he's proposing:
* Create the first in the U.S. “Equality Tax Credit” to incentivize employers to deduct the cost of employee health benefits when adding new plans that do not discriminate against LGBT employees and their life partners.
* Require the Mayor to report on the state of LGBT equality in Philadelphia, which must identify government services and policies providing unequal treatment to LGBT Philadelphians.
* Guarantee spouse-equivalent treatment in hospitals and banning discrimination in medical decision making.
* Require accessibility for LGBT families on city forms (ex.
The Battle over NFL Concussions Will Be Fought in Philadelphia
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/10/2013
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The fate of the NFL's concussion problem is in the hands of a Philadelphia judge. Yesterday in federal court, lawyers representing 4,200 former NFL players (about 1/3 of all retired footballers) made their case in federal court to judge Anita Brody that they should be able to sue the league for brain injuries sustained on the playing field. By glorifying violence, encouraging injured players to ignore injuries, and suppressing medical evidence, they argue, the NFL should be held liable for what has become a disturbing pattern of brain injuries. The NFL argues that the risk for such injuries are essentially
Add Paid Sick Leave to List of Stuff NYC Does that Philly Doesn’t
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/04/2013
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For the second time in his Mayoralty, Michael Nutter has vetoed a paid sick-leave bill, claiming it would render Philadelphia's business climate uncompetitive, especially compared to its suburbs, which don't enforce the policy. Bill sponsor Bill Greenlee has 11 votes in the bag, and is still desperately seeking the twelfth that would override Nutter's veto. But hope is slim. New York City, which has long been in the same boat, has finally garnered enough council support to override Mayor Bloomberg's veto of a similar bill. For good measure, here's some research on why San Francisco and Connecticut in fact grew
