The Disease that infects us all...

Racism, no other disease infects the world more. Not Swine flu, Ebola, Cancer nor HIV/AIDS have infected the world more than the ignorance of racism. Racism since the days of slavery and the 50's, 60's and 70's in its blatancy days is now a silent, subtle and passive/aggressive socially constructed tool used to manipulate, control, exploit and degrade people solely based on the color of someone's skin.

Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason." Abraham J. Heschel

HERE'S the TOP 5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GO TO THE SITE www.nopropertytaxhike.com

1. Higher property taxes means our slow housing market will get even slower.
2. The city's property taxes are levied based on "WHO YOU KNOW". Just ask Senator Vincent Fumo.
3. Philadelphians carry one of the HIGHEST TAX BURDENs IN THE COUNTRY
with property taxes at their current rates .
4. Hundreds of millions of dollars of non-taxed real estate sits on the shelf at City Hall --- and they won't sell it to developers who will develop the land and put it in the hands of those who will pay property taxes.
5. For many people near retirement age who have seen their 401k funds dwindle, higher property taxes damage their only retirement asset.

When every other major city in America is cutting bloated public employee rolls, Philadelphia decides to place most of the burden on balancing the budget on homeowners and this is wrong.

LOG ON, SIGN THE PETITION AND PASS IT ON

Please just come. People around the country are standing up today for the rights of all people and families to love each other with equality under the law.

TODAY, Saturday November 15. 1:30 to 4 pm. Dilworth Plaza at City Hall.

All kinds of details here: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Philadelphia?t=anon

The public announcement by mayor Michael Nutter that Philadelphia faces a serious economic crisis should have come to no surprise to anyone with even a passing acquaintance with the economic state of Philadelphia, its current budget or its 5-year plan.. Adding insult to this injury is that we are faced with a fiscal tsunami without the benefit of a rainy day fund, despite many of us, most notably Councilman Jim Kenney, demanding one for the last eight years.

Sadly, the Administration’s proposals to rein in the budget amount to little more than temporary diversions that will still have us headed for trouble in the future.

These proposals go right to the essence of what government should do for its people. Closing libraries, rolling back snow plowing and bulk trash removal, cutting police hires, and closing pools will have a devastating effect on Philadelphia’s children and the poor and middle class families to which they belong.

Saturday November 1
9:00 a.m.
Friendship Gate (10th and Arch)
10:00 a.m.
City Hall

Last December, we won a historic victory when City Council passed Part 1 of an Inclusionary Housing bill. However, that bill doesn’t get us a single new affordable housing unit unless we pass Part 2. IT’S TIME TO GET IT DONE!!!

Join with the Philadelphia Campaign for Housing Justice for a RALLY FOR INCLUSIONARY HOUSING IN PHILADELPHIA!

Thursday, September 25 – 12:00 noon at Dilworth Plaza, City Hall, Northwest corner

Inclusionary housing is an affordable housing policy that requires builders of market-rate housing to include a fair percentage of affordable housing units in their developments or to contribute to a fund dedicated to affordable housing (an “in-lieu fund”).

It's crucial to get the implementing legislation passed--they need bodies at City Hall tomorrow to show that Philadelphians support having the private sector help fix the affordable housing problem too. Last time there were some reallllly cute kids in little painted cardboard house costumes, so get creative!

*****
And, like affordable housing, there are a host of urban problems that really are regional problems, that need regional solutions.

This Sunday, come out to be a part of the exciting "First Suburbs Project" and start organizing for those solutions to become reality!

Do you care about Southeastern Pennsylvania, believe that citizens can and should impact policy and legislation and want to ensure that all people in our region have quality education, working infrastructure to support our communities and appropriate housing?

The Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) First Suburbs Project is an exciting well-organized coalition of suburban leaders addressing these issues head-on ~ and I think that you should come be a part of the process.

Details:
First Suburbs Public Forum - Advancing an Agenda for Regional Change - Sunday, September 28, 2008, 4pm to 6pm at St. Patrick's Catholic Church - 714 DeKalb St., Norristown, PA 19401

On September 28, 2008, over 600 suburban leaders will convene at St. Patrick's Church in Norristown to unveil an agenda for change centered on three policy areas: education finance, infrastructure, and housing. This agenda will be presented to the dozens of legislators including State Senators Edwin Erickson and Anthony Williams, State Representatives and County Commissioners who have committed to attend (see attached flyer for a list). There is a chance that Governor Rendell will be there. These elected officials will hear an agenda for change that has specific, actionable steps that will benefit the older developed suburbs of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and the region as a whole.

Some history: The agenda that will be presented has been developed by hundreds of suburban leaders, who have participated in working group sessions over the course of the past year. The First Suburbs Public Forum builds from the previous gatherings of the First Suburbs Project. In December of 2007, at the First Suburbs Summit at Bryn Mawr College, over 350 suburban leaders launched Issue Action Groups in the three policy areas of education finance, infrastructure, and housing. In May, 2008, at the First Suburbs Issue Convention at Bishop McDevitt High School in Cheltenham, over 300 suburban leaders reconvened to review the principles developed by each Issue Action Group and to select the immediate priority issue for the organization. Since then, the Issue Action Groups have continued to meet to develop specific action steps, consistent with the principles they identified in May. For more information on SEPA First Suburbs Project, go to: www.sepafsp.org

Who should come:
You, your loved ones, young people, old people, anyone who you know who cares about these issues. The meeting is only 2 hours and will not run over. (My father has been very involved in this effort and will be the mc, so I can give you my personal word on that.) Leaders will be asking the legislators for specific commitments so we need as many people there to show support as we can.

I live in Philadelphia, should I still come:
Yes, this is about regional equity and is important for everyone in our region. Plus, Norristown is only 25 minutes away, especially on a Sunday afternoon.

The Philadelphia web-site has a very simple answer to the long-overdue 311 system, it's the Help Me page. It's no substitute for a full 311 system, but, in the meantime, the idea is pretty good. Assign city staffers that can ferret out the answers to different questions emailed in to one central email address.

Good in theory, but it's never, in my experience, worked. It was there in the Street Administration and it is still there under Nutter. There doesn't seem to be any difference. The City should either make the HelpMe@phila.gov system an important part of several city staffers jobs and make sure they do it right, or they should take the web-page down. Having it and seeing how poorly it works just makes getting around City Government even more frustrating. It's almost as if they are laughing at us.

The first time I emailed HelpMe, I did get an answer.

The problem is, people park in front of the entrance all the time so we often can't get in, or, worse, out.

So I wrote in to find out how you get those stripes painted on your street that denote the fact that no one should park in front of the entrance to the gate. Can you just do it yourself? Do you have to pay someone? Do you have to get it licensed?

That was my question.

The answer I got (I'm not making this up) was: "Not sure! I do know you're responsible for the curb cuts, though."

Did I ask about curb cuts? In fact, that's already done. Thanks. How about maybe looking into the question for a minute rather than going off the top of your head? If the people who receive the Help Me questions can't be bothered to research them, then what's the point of having the system?

VIDEO interview with J. Patrick O'Connor: "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" #1/3

by Hans Bennett

WATCH THE VIDEO!

On May 1, the day of his book's release, author J. Patrick O'Connor was interviewed at Philadelphia City Hall about "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal." The following day, The New York Times featured the book in an article by Jon Hurdle: "Book Asserts Black Reporter Didn't Kill White Officer in '81."

Every morning, I wake up to the sound of WHYY radio. Today, the first words I heard as I opened my eyes were those of the City's new Managing Director, Camille Barnett. She was talking about making Philadelphia a model for efficiencey in the delivery of city services. She was talking about the highly effective marriage of a 311 non-emergencey telephone system to CitiStat, the computer program used by places like San Francisco and Baltimore to manage the way by which we handle service requests.

Earlier tonight, I attended the wedding of Ryan Bunch and Micah Majoubian at City Hall. As I walked up to the building before the ceremomy, I was pretty surprised to see about 20 protesters. Apparently these crazies can read, and had seen the front page Inky article about the wedding earlier this week.

The article detailed Mayor Street's role officiating this ceremony. The Mayor had said he would not sign a marriage certificate, but was simply officiating a non-legally binding ceremony as a friend of Micah's.

The protesters felt that the Mayor's participation was inappropriate so they threw some signs in their trunks, with sayings like "Homosexuality is a Sin" and quotations from Corinthians and Leviticus, and came downtown to protest.

Boy is that First Amendment pesky.

I don't dispute these folks' right to protest, but I gotta tell you, I was shocked by their disrespect. There's a Bridezilla lurking inside of me, so even though this wasn't my wedding, all I could think was "leave them alone, it's their SPECIAL DAY!"

In all seriousness, who would protest a wedding? Well, obviously the radical right would. These protesters were from Repent America, the group that has made a nuisance of itself protesting Philly gay pride events. Their brethren in [the perversion of] Christ, like God Hates Fags, have been perfectly happy to protest at funerals in the past. Tacky.

So anyway, I see all these protesters. And I gotta tell you it hurt my feelings some. I don't know if I mentioned this before, But I'm gay. And as much as I know homophobia exists in the abstract, it's always upsetting when it hits you in the face. Joel, my boyfriend, acts fast. He grabs my hand and we walk past a phalanx of protesters and police into City Hall.

The ceremony itself was great. The Mayor did a great job, and as much as he made point to the Inquirer that this was not going to be a marriage ceremony, save the marriage certificate, that's exactly what it was.

After the service we all troop outside to blow bubbles and send Micah and Ryan off to the reception in CarShare Mini Cooper. We've all done the blowing bubbles/throwing rice thing before right? Ever try it with 20 right-wing nut job protesters?

My intention in this post (at which I may be failing) is not to lecture about the need for LGBT rights. That should be obvious. And for the record, I get that Mayor Street officiating at a wedding at City Hall opened the door for a private event to be publicly protested. However, today's events do inspire me to share is that the issues we talk about here are real.

I mean I guess that's obvious right, but to see protesters today at a private event (not Outfest or Equality Forum) is a reminder to me that there are no polite battle lines. And not just on LGBT issues either.

It may not be customary to see protesters at the homes of low-income Philadelphians with signs that say "you deserve to be poor," but the assault by predatory lenders, gentrifiers, the gun lobby, insurance companies, and others is just as personal.

More simply put, the lack of progressivity in our local, state, and national laws is no accident. Sometimes it's because of incompetence and laziness and petty politics and/or corruption. But sometimes our lack of progressivity is because of plain old selfishness and greed and wrong-headedness.

I know politics is personal, but sometimes I forget how personal. Today was a good opportunity to reaffirm that.