Here's some easy reading.

This Freakonomics article refers to a supposed "public library renaissance," and links to a Boston globe article purporting libraries to being a sort of recession sanctuary.

Just thought I'd quickly link to some nationally-read literature regarding the prevailing topic at hand, in case you might have missed them.

If I'm not mistaken, there has been more unanimity at YPP around the issue of libraries closing than any single other issue since I've been logging on. In fact, I don't believe that I've seen one comment in support of the library branches closing.

To unify this, uh, opinionated, group takes some doing, and I think that Mayor Nutter deserves all the credit.

Go this link for more info about Thursday's event:

http://phillyimc.org/en/counter-protest-we-stand-israel-rally

When: Thursday 1/8/09 @ 11:30am Where: Meet at 15th St. & Market St. by Clothes Pin Statue (we will move together to rally at Love Park at 11:50 am).

As a group of Jews and people of all backgrounds, we stand with the world majority-- including the thousands of Israelis who've taken to the streets to protest the actions of their government- in calling for an immediate end to Israel's current and devastating aggression in Gaza, for Israel to be held accountable for it's actions, and for our fellow Pennsylvanians to join us.

Also, below is an excellent essay up at the IMC:

Palestinians Will Never Forget

by susan abulhawa

Public hearing on ethics and campaign-finance reform:

A mayor's task force will be wrestling with four topics: campaign-finance reform, outside employment by city employees, political-activity restrictions, ethics/conflict-of-interest rules; and lobbyist registration. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St.

Witnesses will have up to five minutes to testify, or they can submit written testimony. Preregister, or send written testimony, by e-mailing Michael Schwartz at schwartzma@pepperlaw.com, by fax at 800-615-2315, or by mail to 3000 Two Logan Square, 18th and Arch streets, Phila. PA 19103. *

This is from the Daily News's "Quid Pro Yo" editorial today:

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20090107_QUID_PRO_YO_.html

From this year's Mummers Comics Brigade "Aliens of An Illegal Kind"

Generally, I avoid most things to do with Joey Vento; he does enough shameless publicity stunts to earn him his ignoramus ranking. This post isn’t about him, but it is about the Mummers and their embarrassing use of public dollars – in a time of financial crisis – to promote this kind of garbage.

A few people who watched this year's Mummers Parade took offense to Vento's starring role in a performance by Comics brigade B. Love Strutters titled "Aliens of an Illegal Kind."

The skit featured Vento popping out of the top of a float labeled "Gewizno's Steaks" with a "When ordering, speak English" sign. Vento waved a poster reading, "What?" and tossed fake cheesesteaks into the crowd.

Then an announcer for B. Love Strutters cried out, "Uh-oh, here comes the Border Patrol!" Club members wearing Texas-sized cowboy hats and brandishing wooden rifles pretended to hold back a rioting crowd of "immigrants" from storming the border "fences." As the immigrants burst forth, they traded in their country's flag for an American flag, and a Mummer dressed as President-elect Barack Obama handed out Green Cards.

No, it's not a joke:

Granted mid-season shows have a notoriously short lifespan, but still . . . is it possible for one of the most renegade agencies in the country (IMO) to get a vainglorious show that at best, hypes up the work of agents who are frequently poorly trained and overworked, and at worst stokes racial profiling, anti-immigrant sentiment and general xenophobia and ignorance?

Seriously, how secure do you feel when you see agents drawing guns against a family with children who were trying to cross the US-Mexico border - only to find it a case of mistaken identity (as was featured in tonight's episode)?

The hard thing in making the case against closing eleven branch libraries is that the fiscal crisis of Philadelphia is not entirely a mirage.

That’s why it is important to understand that the branch library closings have never fundamentally been about the budget crisis. The Mayor and Siobhan Reardon are misleading us when they keep insisting that we had to close libraries because of the city's budget troubles.

I’m not sure I fully understand what the library closings are about. But this is what I’ve managed to piece together from talking with librarians here and elsewhere in the country as well as with people familiar with some of the inner workings of the library administration.

Women have often shown themselves to be most concerned with toxins in the environment because their bodies and their children are most affected. Philadelphia has allowed many toxic brownfields to lay unremediated for years. The health in this city is one of the worst due to pollution. Behavior problems, such as violence can be directly attributed to toxins in the environment and also cause cancer, fertility problems, asthma and more.

Cleaning up the environment and going Green, as is the will of the people in Philadelphia, could be the most effective weapon against crime in this city.

We need a DA who is strong on prosecuting environmental crime. I have the name and contacts for the original polluters if any of you DA candidates are serious.

A clean environment will also help those kids read better if they ever get to go to the library.

Our citizens are not buying the argument that because Philadelphia has more libraries per resident than cities of comparable size we should downsize and bring our city in line with "the norm." Instead, we're proud of the fact that we are leading in providing branch libraries for our residents.

Also, when we learned that most of these other cities had libraries in all their elementary schools, the argument was further weakened.

But to what extent is the argument true? Yes, Philadephia does have more libraries per resident than most cities of comparable size, but the difference is not that great. My husband did some research and I think the results are worth sharing. I’ve done this as attachment to keep tables in alignment.

Check out these excerpts from a Committee of 70 press release today:

PHILADELPHIA – January 6, 2008 – The Committee of Seventy today announced its support for Mayor Nutter’s appeal of Common Pleas Court Judge Idee Fox’s decision barring him from closing 11 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia without the approval of City Council.

...

The organization was instrumental in drafting the 1951 Charter that purposely created a strong mayor form of government for Philadelphia. “We firmly believe that this is the best model for this city and that the erosion of this principle can lead to chaos,” Stalberg said.

Stalberg added that, while the Charter places some very specific limitations on a mayor’s power to cut the budget – for instance, City Council’s budget can’t be slashed – it does not restrict his or her ability to close library branches or swimming pools.

“Some people may not like the Mayor’s choices or how they’ve been communicated,” Stalberg said. “But the Charter unquestionably gives him the right and obligation to act.”

OK, so leaving aside long-term Charter arguments, isn't there in fact a law on the books that requires the Mayor to seek Council approval before closing pubic facilities? Is 70 really implying that it's ok for the Mayor to ignore laws he does not like?

Um, that seems kind of like a crazy thing for a watchdog group to be saying.

Who is the Committee of 70 anyway? Although the 70 board is large, its members are almost entirely made up of representatives from corporations or large private law firms. According to their website:

A small Executive Committee oversees the management and policy decisions of the Committee of Seventy. Several very prominent business and community leaders will soon join the Executive Committee in order to show their commitment to clean government and to improve funding and results.

Well listen up prominent business and civic leaders. It's very important that we have a group devoted to government oversight and accountability. But if that is 70's role, it's not cool to support the Mayor breaking the law.

It's possible the Mayor will win on appeal, but it's not like the Mayor took himself to court. He ignored the current law and only because he was called on out it are we where we are today. Seems to me like you guys might want to back away from this one or at least slap the Mayor on the wrists some before you issue a press release supporting his larger powers.

Perhaps more importantly, there are two hugely important transparency and ethics questions at hand that 70 has NOT addressed in the library debate and larger budget deficit issue:

1. We really have no idea how much trouble we're in. Council, the judiciary and the citizens of Philadelphia are all relying on budget projections for the current budget and the one to come that come from the Mayor only. If 70 really wants to be helpful, maybe you all could hire an auditor or work with Council, PICA or the Controller's office to get some independent analysis of the scope of the "crisis" we face.

2. Patronage and government waste still exist. Assuming there is some level of budget crisis--at the very least in next year's budget--shouldn't 70's focus be on trimming the fat in government? A thorough independent study of government waste would be super helpful. If 70 got started on one right now, I am sure they could come up with a plan to recover at least 10 or 20 million dollars for next year's budget from patronage jobs.

Speaking of patronage jobs...Zack I'd like to personally remind you of a meeting we had in 2006 where we went over a list of ideas to improve turnout and participation in municipal elections. I believe you said then that you would present some of those ideas to the City Commissioners and work to implement them. I can dig up the follow-up letter I sent to you afterwards, but either way, as much as I appreciate your role as a government watchdog, I hope to retain your leadership on election reform even more.

Last month, the Nutter administration submitted a $2.6 billion wish list to the Obama transition team. At the top of the money pile – ahead of new schools and a youth study center? The Market East/Foxwoods casino – coming in at a cool $167 million* (correction: $125 million).

Just because there’s no plan in place doesn’t stop the City from putting it forth. After all, here was Terry Gillen’s reason for including the Market East casino project:

"We just want to make sure the opportunity for funding doesn't go away just because the project's not ready to be defined," said Terry Gillen, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority and senior adviser to the mayor.

Well, it’s not just Philadelphians who aren’t sold on that kind of logic. Earlier this week, the national press, including the Washington Post and CNBC, took notice of this line item after GOP leaders flagged it as one of the top examples of a stimulus package that was anything but pork barrel politics as usual:

Watch CNBC’s video here.

My favorite line?

"The mayors are calling a lot of their projects shovel ready. The question might be asked is what it is that they’re actually shoveling."

But more seriously, Nutter’s delineation of $125 million for the casino is troubling because it’s the first time a ballpark number has been put on the potential cost of the Market East location.

I think it's good that many posters here want to pressure Harrisburg to pass laws that will help reform Philadelphia's systems and improve revenue streams without adversely impacting those with a reduced ability to pay, one of the canons of modern taxation.

Here's some ideas that one of my board members and I wrote up in support of a bill introduced by Rep. Rosita Youngblood. None of these ideas are original (except LVT!, but they are used to a great extent in other states; Pennsylvania is back in the dust as far as state-wide options or protections for low-income property owners.

It's meant more as a digest,with some commentary on the merits of each program. I hope this helps as a resource.
H. William Batt, Ph.D. Center for the Study of Economics
Joshua Vincent, Director, Henry George Foundation/USA

There are two important pieces up now at the Philly IMC. This one by Ed Herman:

http://phillyimc.org/en/inky-notes-january-5-2009-inky-struggles-unsucce...

More than a week after Israel began its escalated bombing of Gaza the Inky has yet to put up an editorial on the subject. I’m sure they are struggling painfully to figure out what to say, with the U.S. political establishment solidly supporting Israel, and the Israeli supporters - without - limit ready to pounce on any criticism, on the one hand, and the savagery and high civilian death toll of the attack, large global repulsion and protest at the assault, and Inky claims of editorial adherence to human rights and international law principles, on the other hand.

And this compilation feature, with lots of great photos:

http://phillyimc.org/en/philadelphia-gaza-solidarity

OK, folks, let's see if I can get your attention. I think it may be that we should have cuts in Philadelphia taxes.

No, I haven't gone all Brett Mandel on you. I'm not for tax cuts at any price, nor do I see them as the best tool for moving, shall we say, Philadelphia Forward. If cuts in Philadelphia taxes mean the slightest decrease in City services, or cuts in benefits for City workers, I remain against them. But Philadelphia, compared to other cities and counties in the State is overtaxed . . . by a lot. That's not only wrong from the standpoint of economic policy, it's just plain unfair. And tax equity should be a value that's high on the list of anyone calling themselves progressive.