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.

It wasn't much of an answer, though. I own the two lots next to my house and they are fenced off and I and my neighbor park our cars on them. It's a good deal for our street, because two cars get off the somewhat limited street parking and we only need half the length of a car to maintain access to the space, leaving more space for everyone else.

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.