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Also this issue: Filling the Boyd Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves Never Say Die No Bedfellows Here The Bell Curve |
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June 20-26, 2002
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Homeless advocates are gearing up to fight Councilman Jim Kenney’s newly introduced bill that would add stiff penalties like jail time to the city’s anti-panhandling ordinance. Kenney’s bill would still favor a treatment approach but uses a maximum 30-day jail sentence and $300 fine as a last resort.
Kenney spokesman John Hawkins says the councilman "does not want to put any homeless people in jail, [but] he is very concerned that the current system does not work and is not serving the needs of Center City residents and businesses or the homeless."
Marsha Cohen, executive director of the Homeless Advocacy Project, calls the bill "a knee-jerk reaction to a perception of increased aggressive panhandling." She argues,"There is no point in giving fines to homeless people that they can't pay."
Cohen believes the bill if passed would ultimately be counterproductive. Giving homeless people criminal records "can interfere with their ability to access public benefits or to get a job."
The mayor’s wife, Naomi Post, defused controversy in January when she took herself out of the running for the appointment as the city’s new director of social services. But in her role as head of Philadelphia Safe and Sound, a nonprofit policy-analysis group focusing on children’s issues, there’s still plenty of room for conflicts of interest.
At a recent press conference touting Safe and Sound's annual report card on the state of Philadelphia's children, Post couldn't help but slip in some praise for the mayor's anti-blight plan, the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative.
The press conference was set up by Bala Cynwyd-based Keel Communications. Yes, that's Keel as in Acting Communications Director Frank Keel, the mayor's top press flack. Keel has worked for Safe and Sound for years. In fact, it was the Post connection that got his foot in the door for the administration spokesman job.
Keel put in a personal appearance at the Safe and Sound press conference in North Philadelphia. As Post chatted with journalists, Keel's cell phone and BlackBerry wireless e-mail device kept going off. Toward the end of the press conference, Post snapped at Keel for paying more attention to his e-mail than to her talk. Keel informed her that the e-mail he was reading was from the mayor.
Lost in the controversy over whether the seats on the new SEPTA commuter train cars would accommodate the oversized butts of America’s fattest city was anything else about the new train cars. SEPTA spokesman Jim Whitaker says the new cars will reduce overcrowding on rush-hour trains and make trips faster. In addition, conductors will no longer shout out the next stop as the new cars will have “voice enunciation” technology like that on the Market-Frankford El. (“Next stop Fifth Street for Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.”)
In case you missed it, a third of the seats in the new rail cars will be 21 inches wide. The rest will be the traditional 18.
Each City Council session begins with an award being given by Council members to worthy Philadelphians, and last week’s session was no different. Craig Schelter, former executive vice president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. (PIDC), a nonprofit organization created to be the City of Philadelphia’s official economic development agency, was honored for his many years of service to the city.
Schelter recently left PIDC to start his own economic development and city planning consulting firm. The only problem is, he hasn't exactly left. Schelter is still listed as an executive VP on the PIDC website, and he still has the same office phone number, complete with secretary still answering, "Craig Schelter's office." That's because, as Schelter quipped after accepting the award, "PIDC is my first client. They told me I could say that."
Since PIDC is government-affiliated but not technically part of the government, its employees are exempt from the "revolving-door clause" of the state ethics law, which prohibits former government employees from consulting for their old agencies until a year after they've departed.
The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission ruled in a 1989 decision that PIDC is not a governmental body and is, therefore, not subject to state ethics regulations.
On June 24, Bella Vista United Civic Association will host its first citywide “Reason to Stay Summit.” The meeting, organized in conjunction with two other neighborhood groups -- one from Northwood, in the Northeast, and one from Ridge Park, near Roxborough -- will share ideas for neighborhood improvement.
Bella Vista has hosted its own "reason to stay" meetings for years, but this year expanded to a citywide forum. Vernon Anastasio, president of Bella Vista United, says he invited every civic association in the city.
"There are reasons why every year we lose thousands of residents," Anastasio says. Anastasio hopes the summit will allow residents from different neighborhoods to learn which neighborhood revitalization strategies work and what political changes are needed to slow and ultimately reverse the exodus.
