Monday night was the first of ten meetings where the Great Expectations Agenda is opened up to each of the ten councilmanic districts to discuss. I made my way to the Klein Jewish Community Center in Councilman Brian O'Neill's 10th District (the Bustleton section of the NE). In addition to the 7 or so staffers, about 20 citizens came out as well as Councilman O'Neill, Councilman Jack Kelly and Councilman Bill Green. It was a smallish group, but the discussion was lively.
Before the discussion started, the group was given a moment to go over a cheat sheet of the agenda and the main goal of each section. For some of the group, it was their first time seeing the agenda, for others, it was an old hat as they had been at the initial meeting in the 10th District with over 100 people in attendance. The initial plan for the night was to break up into three small groups to discuss different parts of the agenda, but with a smaller group, we voted to discuss one grouping (Planning & Zoning, Neighborhoods, Environment and Crime) in depth, then discuss the New Deal between the city and the citizens and then close with an open session with the Councilmen in attendance. While the Inky's Chris Satullo went through a brief intro to each of the agenda sections, I learned a bit regarding the Education node in particular. He noted that since the state took over the system in 2001, funding for Philadelphia's schools has increased by over $400M (more than 7% per year); for the 5 years prior to the takeover, the funding was stagnant. If anything, the state takeover has made Harrisburg more willing to provide monies to the state's largest school district. Philadelphia's per pupil spending is now above the state median. But sadly, Philadelphia ranks 92nd out of the 100 largest cities in the US of citizens with college degrees; Mayor Nutter wants to double the number of Philadelphians with degrees.
The group went through a lightning round talking about the likes and dislikes of each of the four agendas in the group we were discussing. In regards to Planning & Zoning, Jan wanted to jumpstart the preservation laws; Murray is in favor of neighborhoods getting more of a say in the planning and zoning process instead of a group of people in City Hall deciding things for the whole city. In regards to Neighborhoods, Ethel wanted to know the difference in tax money collected before and after the 10 year tax abatements went into effect; Elaine, new to Philly, is concerned with continuing to be able to afford where she lives and to not be priced out sooner than later. In regards to the Environment, Mike (the city planner for the NE) wanted to reduce the streetscape between larger green spaces and embrace the smaller green spaces in neighborhoods; Jan was concerned with private wills being disregarded for public usage - he pointed specifically to the Microsoft School of the Future at 42/Parkside and how for as long as he can remember was parkland; Chuck Pennacchio (disclaimer, I worked between 20-40hrs/wk on his US Senate campaign), Executive Director of Healthcare4AllPA, piggybacked on Jan's comment and was concerned with eminent domain by the city. In regards to Crime, Warren, a former city employee in the '50s and '60s in the Public Health department, wants to see Nutter reinstitute the city's stricter gun laws and let Harrisburg take the city to court; Murray wanted to know what other crime-ridden cities were doing to solve their problems; Brian said that crime isn't a symptom, but rather a result of incredible poverty, few jobs and poor schooling.
Talking about Planning & Zoning more in depth, the floor opened with Mike saying that the city needs a good comprehensive plan, but that it needs proper enforcement. Murray wanted more control locally and also wanted to know how one got on the planning commission (a question for the council members later).
Alan wanted to clarify that "neighborhood" doesn't mean the 5 loudest people on the block stating that they represent the neighborhood, but in reality, they're just the ones squawking.
From the back of the room, Councilman O'Neill stressed that people living closer to projects must have a louder voice whether they like or dislike the project. I thought his tone indicated a NIMBY stance. An older gentleman, Joe, had obviously been fighting with City Hall for sometime from the NE. He said that City Council wouldn't help citizens who had objections, neither would the Inquirer. When moderator Harris Sokoloff asked what people should do, Joe replied that they should put up websites and spread information; he has two going up soon. Joe said that in the past, he had gathered petitions of homeowners in his area protesting things, 100% signing he declared, and presented them to his council representative to no avail. The projects, I believe around Grant Ave, went on he said. Back to square one.
Alright, so what about this "New Deal" we're supposed to have with the new reformist city government. Murray said that the money (pay to play) must be eliminated for things to work. Jan said that accountability was key and that money must be used efficiently and not in an ad hoc manner. Elaine was told by everyone once she moved to town that pay to play is how things work here, echoing Murray's plea. Warren asked for a 311 system and saw it as a Utopia. Satullo pointed out that other cities (NYC, Baltimore) have implemented it to much success and that it doesn't necessitate a Utopia to exist; Warren shrugged. Joe plainly stated that if pay to play wasn't fixed, this city we would go the way of Rome within 25 years and crumble (you heard it here first!).
Alan shared a personal anecdote. He wanted to contact the city in regards to a composting program. He called the Streets Department. He was told it wasn't their issue. It was Recycling. But instead of switching his call on their end, Alan was given a number to call because the capability to switch a call doesn't exist in our city's phone system. He called Recycling. Recycling told him it wasn't them. I think they told him it was L&I. He was given another number to call. He called L&I. He was told it wasn't them either and was given another number. He called the final number and it rang and rang and rang. Nobody picked up. Finally a recorded message kicked in and told him to call 686.1776 and somebody would be able to help him. Everyone erupted into laughter. It's funny cause it's sadly true. How can this city not have the ability to simply switch callers from department to department? It's a simple hate the customer trick that large corporations do themselves. It's a way to dissuade you from getting to a live person and for you to become discouraged and hang up. The 5th largest city in the most powerful country in the world should be better than that.
The next post will be on the final hour of the night which had the Councilmen up front for a pretty frank discussion.
Flickr set of the entire night up here.
Please check out the Great Expectations blog and their events page to see where you can learn about this ongoing civic engagement project. I'll be reporting from two more of these councilmanic district events.
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