From a press release from the Media Mobilizing Project:

Local residents urged to call Mayor Nutter May 21 and demand his administration block Earthlink from dismantling the city's WiFi network

When: Wednesday, May 21st 9AM-5PM
Phone Number: (215) 686-3000 or (215) 686-2250

Media Mobilizing Project and local broadband activists are urging Philadelphians to call Mayor Michael Nutter on Wednesday May 21, to demand that the city step in to save the Wireless Philadelphia network and keep digital inclusion as part of it's agenda. Earthlink plans to begin dismantling the $17 million network June 12, after failing to convince either the city or a non-profit to assume ownership.

Governor Rendell has grown increasingly isolated as a politician still openly advocating for the development of SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos in Philadelphia. Not only has he dismissed and become increasingly hostile to the residents who oppose these developments but he has also failed to provide a solid cost/benefit analysis to back up his claims of the economic benefits of casinos.

Governor Rendell claims that casinos will bring 7,000 new jobs into the city while an independent study by Temple economics professor, Fred Murphy, shows casinos could create net job loss of 5,900 jobs. Rendell has budget only .001% of casino revenue to deal with gambling addiction when it could cost the city up to 2,000 times more to deal with the impact of those new addicts. Many of the studies done to date give no estimate for costs of things like reduction in property values, medical emergency services and other municipal costs, reduction in taxes from businesses that close due to competition with casinos and the opportunity cost of using the Delaware Riverfront for other projects.

These numbers have led many people to believe that the figures that the Governor has been using to promote casinos as a panacea for the economy are grossly overstated and misleading. For the past few weeks, Casino-Free Philadelphia has been on a campaign to create more accountability to the hidden costs of casinos. On April 10th, Casino-Free Philadelphia will be gathering at the Governor's Philadelphia office for a "debate-in," (like a sit-in) and plan to stay at Rendell's office until he agrees to a debate on the costs/benefits of casinos. Casino-Free is inviting any member of the public who wants to come observe the action to show up on April 10th.

For more information go to www.casinofreephila.org or contact Lily Cavanagh at lily@casinofreephila.org.

Has it been a year already? If it is HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMOKING BAN!!!!!!

Time flies when your not smoking in public places anymore. I doesn't even seem like a year now since City Council ,headed by then Councilman Mike Nutter at the time, passed the bill that people thought would kill every establishment in the area. God forbid we can't smoke at our tavern anymore? Off with Nutter's head! People were saying that last year, just before he announced that he was running for Mayor. I thought this would be his down fall , first your taking our cigarettes , then you wanted to stop and frisk? But it seems that the ban and Nutter survived with flying colors. Who would have thought that the calm would be so nice after the smoke storm.

Yesterday, the City’s well regarded recycling coordinator quit in a huff. Seriously, a huff. This is not the farewell of someone who cares whether or not she burns bridges:

After only 18 months on the job, Joan Hicken sent a sarcastic note to associates Friday, saying: "It's been a real . . . pleasure." An autoreply to e-mails sent to her city in-box reads: "I will be out of the office starting 08/31/2007 and will not return until 12/31/2007. Actually, I won't be returning!"

Hicken was apparently a very well regarded person in the profession, who was chewed up and spit out by the that squelches innovation, the Bureaucracy of the Philadelphia city government. I know there are some who would like to spin this as simply a disgruntled employee. But when person after person says basically the same thing, you have to wonder what is going on in City Hall.

Sampson met with her shortly after she started, when "she was going through the kind of shock professionals go through when they come to Philly."

Nine weeks into the job, she still had no city e-mail address.

Or…

"I think one of her bigger frustrations, which I gathered from lots of meetings, is that there is no overriding, well-organized goal for the city. No action plan."

Or…

She said that "almost nothing about the decisions that have been made in the department the last couple years has made sense. . . . There's a lot of stop and go, smoke and mirrors, without a whole lot of accountability."

Recyclying and the environment are really perfect examples of the City not being able to get out of its own way. Philly was the first major city to require everyone to recycle; we could have continued to become a national leader. Instead, we have pitifully low rates of recycling that trash (badda bing) the environment, and cost us money. Then, we have innovative programs in the City, like RecycleBank. But they get very little traction with City Government, so, it doesn’t go anywhere beyond a couple neighborhoods.

We could be a leader, helping the environment, and saving money. Instead…

I am not one to hit at City workers, most of whom work hard in their jobs. But something here- culturally if nothing else- has to change. The bureaucracy is going to have to figure out how to help innovate, or we are all going to be taken down with it. In the meantime, its trash day in Fairmount, and the trash trucks are filling up with glass and cans.