The New Civility, An Old Bully

While the rest of Philly is ready for civil dialogue, the Honorable Ed Rendell blew into town and threw a big-baby hissy fit.

by Bruce Schimmel

With Michael Nutter, the mood around City Hall is markedly more pleasant, more respectful and more civil. It is a new day, and for now the sun is indeed shining — even with the prospect of dark clouds from Harrisburg on the horizon.

But it's hard to get accustomed to City Hall's new ways. I arrived late to a press conference hosted by the mayor recently because it had actually started on time.

I had forgotten to reset my internal clock to real time. I was still on the John Street clock. As in, I am the man, this is my time, so screw you all.

Compare that to the almost jaunty atmosphere surrounding Nutter. It's like someone has dusted off a fine old book on civility, and decided to actually follow the rules to which we once all agreed.

Under the old regime, a request for routine information was routinely ignored — unless silence was far more damning than the information itself. Even then, deadlines passed without a peep. So it became something of game to see how many ways you could nuance a "no comment."

Today, if I ask a fair question, I get a fair answer. No longer are fourth estaters treated like invaders. Like the citizens we represent, we are part of a process, which includes the cardinal rule of civility: Don't lie.

Which brings us to the dark clouds building on the horizon. While the rest of Philly is ready for honest civil dialogue, the Honorable Ed Rendell blew into town last week and threw a big-baby hissy fit about casinos.

The governor referred to a "City Council with no guts that can be extorted by community groups." He threatened that Harrisburg would roll over City Council if it didn't comply.

But facts is facts, Guv. Accusing council of being extorted — that's your word — by neighborhood shakedown groups is fiction and hypocrisy.

It is fiction because I know of no legitimate neighborhood group that's willing to sit down with anyone, council members or developers, to talk about payments ... er, I mean "community benefit agreements."

It is hypocrisy, because Rendell himself called groups together for a secret meeting last year at the Bellevue. He himself tried to bully them into cutting a deal with developers. But when almost all refused to talk about anything except relocating the casinos, the governor left in a huff [Loose Canon, "Secret Slot Talks," Aug. 9, 2007].

Now Rendell has the gall to state that these same groups, who refused the governor's money offers, are "extorting" City Council.

Likewise, I believe it's fiction that there's any significant support for jobs in casinos. Notice I said jobs in casinos, not jobs building casinos — for which there is vociferous support from big guys looking for construction work.

But I've never met anyone in a pro-casino crowd who says, "Hey, I want to work in a low-pay, go-nowhere job in a casino."

Still, that's the apparent claim of the governor's New Little Friend in Council, Darrell Clarke. A former Street protégé, Clarke has apparently found a new patron in Rendell for he's willing to mouth the foolishness that there's a "large majority of Fishtowners" who approve of casinos.

I don't believe it, and I've asked the councilman to back his claims with facts. Likewise, I've asked the governor to offer evidence that casinos are good for the economy. I've asked both, and both have declined.

Fellas, it's a new day in Philadelphia. Once the sun begins to disinfect our little backwater, your political sludge will really start to stink. Silly me for thinking that basic civility will outshine your bullying. But I believe that this is where it starts.

(bruce@schimmel.com)