It's Say Stuff Month!

If you're going to get messy with your numbers, say it, don't spray it.

by Isaiah Thompson

It's Say Stuff Week, everybody! On second thought, let's make it Say Stuff Month, because I say so!

Embrace it, a la casino mogul Steve Wynn, who revealed the plans for the new Foxwoods casino this week. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wynn replied to Mayor Nutter's "concerns about the casino fitting in with the city's overall plan for the waterfront" by nonchalantly telling him that "he could envision buying" nearby land for ... a hotel for his new casino!

Fascinating stuff: Of the many things I "could envision" myself, Wynn building a hotel doesn't rank high — especially since his casino, like most of the casinos magically pouring money into our local governments' pockets, is of the "convenience" variety, aimed not at tourists but at you and me. And especially since Wynn was quite explicit in telling the Gaming Board, media and his investors that he wasn't going to build a hotel. Maybe, he's just saying stuff ... stuff that Nutter wants to hear. Keep up the good work, say I, Steve: Say Stuff Month doesn't last forever (and Do Stuff Month is a killer).

Mayor Nutter shouldn't mind, anyway. He's been saying some stuff of his own, of late: like how he's tired of people saying stuff about him not cutting the size of government. In a letter to the Inky last Friday, Nutter noted that he's cut the budget by $160 million and that "since December 2008, the city's general-fund work force has shrunk by about 800." He said it, it's stuff — and so his stuff has been said.

Of course, the mayor picked his words wisely. He did cut 800 jobs between December 2008 and last April 2 — but December 2008, it turns out (about four months after the economy had crashed) saw the second-highest staffing levels of the Nutter administration.

According to the city's projections, Nutter will have actually added about 200 employees to the city's payroll by this June. The city's Five Year Plan shows us adding another 165 positions in 2011 and another 174 on top of that by the end of fiscal year 2012.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not getting all anti-government on you (talk about saying stuff). But if you're going to get that messy with your numbers ... well, say it, don't spray it.