We recored the first It's Our Money podcast and it is now posted on our site. I thought YPP readers might be interested because it features Helen Gym, a frequent commenter on YPP. Helen is joined by Wayne Harris, who is the budget director for the School District of Philadelphia.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the feed through iTunes or any other podcasting software.

Hey!

Did you know that there are more people on death row from Philadelphia than any other part of the state? That fact is courtesy of District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who aggressively seeks the death penalty whenever possible. I just posted an article to It's Our Money that looks at the financial cost of seeking so many capital convictions. Here is a little taste:

There are 222 people on death row in Pennsylvania. Of that group, 116 are from Philadelphia. No other city or county in the state comes close to our numbers. It's true that Philadelphia has the largest population, but that doesn't completely explain why our city is so well represented on death row. Prosecutors in Philadelphia seek the death penalty at a much higher rate than other parts of the state. For example, prosecutors in Pittsburgh seek the death penalty about one fourth as much as their counterparts in our city.

Deciding to seek the death penalty-- and paying the extra costs associated with that choice-- is completely up to discretion of prosecutors. Lynne Abraham strongly supports capital punishment and uses her office as a tool to implement that policy. As a result, Philadelphia taxpayers wind up paying a higher tab to prosecute death penalty cases than people in other parts of the state.

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Tomorrow is the final opportunity for the public to testify about the mayor's proposed operating budget. If you'd like to tell City Council how you think our money should be spent, this is your chance!

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:30pm. There will be a break at 4:30pm and then testimony will resume at 5:30pm. Right now, the hearing is scheduled to last until 7:00pm but it may run later depending on how many people come to testify.

I've been told that the afternoon slots are all filled, but there is still space in the evening. To get your name on the list, e-mail Sharon Ortiz at sharon.c.ortiz@phila.gov or call 215-686-3407.

If you can't make it to the hearing, be sure to speak your piece in our "Testify!" thread on It's Our Money

From the Philadelphia Daily News

Young, and feeling that health-care anxiety
By BEN WAXMAN

A FEW DAYS ago, I got the ID card for my new health-insurance plan in the mail.

I breathed a sigh of relief. For a brief period, I'd been walking around uninsured. Being without health insurance has become a troubling rite of passage for young adults and is quickly approaching a crisis point.

To be honest, I'm fairly lucky when it comes to health care. My mother has a great policy at work that covered me during college. I started my first job about six months ago, and my employer provides insurance. There are plenty of young people who aren't as lucky.

I don't think anything in my latest op-ed will be news to anyone who regularly reads Young Philly Politics. First, poverty is Philadelphia's biggest issue. Second, Bread and Roses Community Fund supports dozens of worthy organizations that are working to find a solution to this difficult problem.

Give to them now! Click here to give a gift to the whole city.

Funding grassroots start-ups
Philadelphia Daily News, 12/18/07
By BEN WAXMAN

During the holiday season, our contributors are highlighting the miraculous work done by some local nonprofits and charities.

A FRIEND recently visited Philadelphia.

He was driving from western Pennsylvania, and there was a huge accident on the turnpike. He took a back way into the city, and wound up driving right through some of the worst pockets of poverty in Philadelphia.

It was a side of the city he'd never seen, though he'd visited half a dozen times. He was taken aback at the abandoned houses, streets in disrepair and vacant storefronts. He'd only been in Center City and adjacent areas, so the poverty was invisible.

Every year at this time, Philadelphians are asked to give to organizations that provide a warm coat or hot meal to a family in need. These are certainly worthy, but I want to live in a city where homeless shelters are obsolete. If you make a donation to Bread and Roses Community Fund, you'll be supporting work to end poverty in Philadelphia.

Yesterday, members of the Legislative Black Caucus walked off the Pa. House floor in protest of the lack of action on sensible gun control. Lawmakers, most of whom are from Philadelphia, staged the protest during a vote on the open records bill. The leadership of the House Democrats, which includes Dwight Evans, have met with the Black Caucus and say they are trying to address their concerns.

The focus on open records is mostly driven by the press and activists like Russ Diamond. I am sure that polls show a majority of people support the legislation, but it just is not the number one concern of most voters. The walkout is a dramatic reminder that there are vital issues not being addressed by the state legislature.

Open records is not the only piece of legislation that can be held up by the walkout. Democrats cannot pass their plans for alternative energy, property tax relief, or health care without the support of the legislators that walked off the floor. With the governor on their side, the legislators who walked off the floor could throw a major wrench in the system.

However, I will say that I am a little disappointed that other members of the Philadelphia delegation have not joined this protest. There is not a single part of the city that has not been touched by gun violence and every elected official needs to be part of the solution.

Last week, Washington Redskins Free Safety Sean Taylor was shot and killed at his home outside of DC. He was shot in the leg, but bled to death because the bullet went through an artery. Taylor's teammates played through the grief on Sunday.

Cornerback Shawn Springs said he choked up as he dressed for the game next to Taylor's unmanned locker. Cornerback Fred Smoot said he cried the first few times Buffalo had the ball. The Redskins' pep band began the day with a sad, swing-low song called "Going Home."

Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss - who played for the University of Miami, same as his close friend Taylor - held up his hands in a new three-fingered salute to his late teammate's jersey number, using his index and middle fingers to form a "2" and his little finger to form the "1" after each of his five catches, often looking toward the sky.

The OT threat to our health
by Ben Waxman
Philadelphia Daily News, 11/15/07

Thousands of nurses and other health-care workers across Pennsylvania being are overworked by a practice called mandatory overtime.

This policy is bad for the employees, their families and the public. The state House has passed a bill banning it - and the Senate should do the same.

Anyone who has watched "ER" or even "Scrubs" knows that health-care workers have exhausting schedules. That's the nature of a 24-hour industry.

But many people may not know that some workers are forced by supervisors to work past their regular shifts. Nurses and other caregivers are sometimes required to keep working for several more hours - sometimes even an entire shift. If nurses refuse to stay, they can be disciplined, fired, even lose their licenses.

"YOU'D THINK that, after working 16 years for the same company, Clarence Berry might be afforded the dignity of being able to call in sick from work, just once, and not have it deflate his paycheck..."

We've been having a lot of discussions about colleges and how to keep them from getting out of reach for poor and working-class students. I'm glad to see that Juniata College, my alma matter, is committed to remaining affordable and getting some positive press for it:

In marketing materials for the campaign, officials say the average four-year cost of attending Juniata is more than $60,000, when financial aid is factored in.

They compare it to more than $120,000 for six years at Penn State University _ a public school whose flagship campus is about 20 miles north of Juniata _ citing a study by a statewide lobbying group for independent colleges that found students at public colleges are likely to take longer to graduate.

Just a reminder to vote for YPP-endorsed judicial candidate Ellen Green-Ceisler. Ellen won an almost impossible victory and will make a great addition to the Court of Common Pleas. From the Inquirer endorsement:

ELLEN GREEN-CEISLER is everything you would want in a judge - smart, independent, gutsy. How else could this former city prosecutor and investigative TV producer (not to mention soccer mom) have served so ably as the Police Department's civilian oversight officer and yet earned the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police?

Here is my latest op-ed from the Philadelphia Daily News:

NRA distorts reality on guns

By BEN WAXMAN

I WENT TO college about four hours west of Philadelphia in a very rural area.

I knew many kids who hunted and owned guns. Now that I live in Philadelphia, I'm puzzled by the way politicians and the media treat the issue of gun control. The perspective of the average gun owner seems completely missing from the debate.

Last week, John C. Sigle, the president of the National Rifle Association, came to the Philadelphia area to denounce the renewed push for legislation to limit the number of guns an individual can purchase to one a month. According to Sigle, laws limiting gun purchases would negatively affect lawful gun owners.

A few summers ago, I did an internship with AFSCME DC 47. It was a little different from the average internship, but I guess that's to be expected-- DC 47 is different from your average union. Tom Cronin, longtime leader of DC 47 and also a supporter of various progressive struggles, recently retired. I thought readers of YPP might be interested to read the speech he gave at a retirement dinner in his honor.

First off, I want to thank everyone here for organizing this august occasion and of course for allowing me to lead D.C 47 as its president for this many years.

It’s been an honor to serve.

You have to have a kind of dual personality to be a union leader.

There are times to be flexible.

And there are times to tell the powers that be to take a walk.

And you can be too flexible. Too pliant.

At which point you may find yourself in the habit of yielding. This is what those on the other side of the bargaining table want.

Grouch Marx once said:

There has been a lot of talk on YPP in recent weeks about criminal justice reform. It's an incredibly important area and a new report out by the American Bar Association certainly underscores the need for drastic change.

The 324-page report urged the state to preserve biological evidence for post-trial DNA tests, videotape homicide investigations and implement modern witness-lineup techniques - three procedures the ABA said would add accuracy, integrity and efficiency to a process long maligned both by proponents and opponents of the death penalty.

The ABA study, crafted by five veteran Philadelphia-area lawyers, including a judge and a prosecutor, also criticized the state for failing to provide adequate lawyers and investigators for poor defendants at trial.

The suburbs surrounding Philadelphia have long been regarded as a Republican stronghold. Moderate Republicanism, perhaps best personified by Sen. Arlen Specter, has ruled the day. This has begun to change as the Pennsylvania GOP has moved farther and farther to the right. Democrats have a good shot at winning the majority on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners as more suburbanites turn away from the Republican Party.