August 05, 2008

Dude In Funny Photo Indicted

Catherine Lucey sends news that Jack Kelly's chief of staff has been indicted, along with three local developers. The local developers did not appear in any funny photos, however, so who cares about them?

Breaking News: Council Staffer & Developers Indicted [Clout]

Posted by D-Mac at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2008

Who On Council Save Us From Fast Food?

By now you may have heard about the ban on new fast food restaurants in South L.A.; although the ban is only for a year, it supporters hope to make it permanent.

Here's the reasoning for the ban, from Slate's Will Saletan (I'm only quoting this so I could attach the excellent caption from the Slate article, at right):

Start with the press release issued a week ago by the moratorium's sponsor, Councilwoman Jan Perry. Its subhead says the ordinance will "help spur the development of diverse food choices." In the second paragraph, Perry declares,

This ordinance is in no way attempting to tell people what to eat but rather responding to the need to attract sit-down restaurants, full service grocery stores, and healthy food alternatives. Ultimately, this ordinance is about providing choices—something that is currently lacking in our community.

How does blocking new fast-food outlets provide more choices? It helps local officials "attract grocery stores and restaurants to the area, by preserving existing land for these uses," says the release. And why does the moratorium apply only to the poor part of town, around South-Central L.A.? A fellow council member explains: "The over concentration of fast food restaurants in conjunction with the lack of grocery stores places these communities in a poor situation to locate a variety of food and fresh food." Supporters of the moratorium call this state of affairs "food apartheid."

Okay, it's time to do a little interactivity: Clearly, this legislation is coming to Philadelphia. But which City Council member will be the one to introduce it? My best guess would be Blondell Reynolds Brown, she of the tour guide regulation aiming to prevent hilarious tour guide lies. A buddy of mine who used to cover City Council says a majority of the ridiculous Council legislation comes out of the Northeast (no surprise), though.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if several Council members got stuck,Three Stooges-style, in a doorway in City Hall while rushing to get back to draft legislation like this.

Council bans new fast-food outlets in South L.A. [LA Times]

Posted by D-Mac at 01:18 PM | Comments (2)

July 02, 2008

Heroes Try To Stop Stupid City Council Law

Okay, it's time to write more about my new favorite people in this city: The ones suing the city for its new law requiring tour guide licensing.

They are simply on the attack with an all-out media blitz following up on Elmer Smith's column yesterday. There is an op-ed from an Institute for Justice lawyer in the Inquirer and another in the Daily News from one of the tour guides suing.

The writing by the I4J's Bob McNamara is full of typical unintentionally hilarious libertarian seriousness -- "This is a direct assault on fundamental American freedoms" -- but makes the argument pretty clear: The government is limiting who can talk on streetcorners by imposing requirements on what they can say with a tour guide test. That's not the reason I gave for keeping tour guides unlicensed -- they tell awesome lies like, "City Tavern is where the First Continental Congress met" -- but it seems to make sense.

The city can probably institute optional "factually-certified™" tour guide registration or whatever, but can't make it mandatory. Either way this shakes out, I'm totally looking into setting up a tour where you can be sure you won't be told one accurate thing at all.

Also, since I've been laughing at awful Internet comments all week -- I do this all the time, but I've been posting some of them the past couple days -- this comment on the Daily News article is awesome.

ghost stories and anecdotes are a far cry from patently false or misleading information about historical events, which I believe is the main concern here. Statements made in the course of doing one's job are not protected by the first amendment. If I sell hot dogs and I tell my customers my hot dogs will make them taller, I'm a liar and will be fired (or lose my customers). i have no recourse under the first amendment. Your efforts should be directed at making sure the law is implemented as fairly as possible, with everyone's best interests in mind. If you try to have the law struck down with a free speech argument you will be wasting your time.

This is also awesome: "Mike Tait is a Philadelphia tour guide who is filing a lawsuit today against the city to secure his constitutional rights."

Photo by waffler, Creative Commons license

Posted by D-Mac at 12:48 PM | Comments (1)

June 26, 2008

City Council Is Like The Internet

Where can you find people who treat things like the closing of a cheesesteak shop with all the intensity one might find at the Battle of Guadalcanal? Right: The Internet. But you can also apparently find them in City Council.

Yesterday, At-Large City Councilman Bill Green wrote a hilariously serious letter to the Daily News titled "cheesesteak in society." In the letter -- about the booting of Rick's Steaks from the Reading Terminal -- he wrote that "people entrusted with preserving public assets apparently abusing their positions of authority to advantage their friends and associates." He also noted that he went to grade school with Rick Olivieri.

Councilman Frank DiCicco wasn't having any of it, firing off a letter (and CC:ing City Council and the mayor) telling Green: "I read with interest your letter in today's Daily News and continue to marvel at your inexperiences, your political naivete and your inability to see an issue for what it truly is." He also accuses Green of "merely attempting to grand stand and gain public notoriety."

And then, at the end of the whole hilariously over-the-top letter, he writes this:

In closing, I have earned a reputation of being one of the most level-headed members of Council. I am proud of my ability to build consensus because I treat each member, whether freshman or veteran, with the respect he or she deserves. Unfortunately, with you, I have reached the end of my rope and would strongly suggest that you alter your tactics and tone.

You really need to read the whole letter. As you can see, it is certainly nice and level-headed.

Cheesesteak retort comes with some hot pepper [Daily News]
Photo by kaplanbr, Creative Commons license

Posted by D-Mac at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

City Council Members To Get New Wheels

Before City Council leaves for its three month vacation today, let's tell them what they've won: A new car!

Yes, it's time once again for the tradition where City Council members all get new cars for their service to the city. Chris Brennan lets us know their options: "Council members can replace their city-issued cars with one of three new models: the Chevrolet Impala, the Chevrolet Malibu or the Ford Taurus." And they don't even need to have a dollar left to give to Bob Drew to buy the car after they guess all the numbers.

Grads & Council: Can I Get A New Car? [Clout]

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April 30, 2008

Bike Share Hearing Today At City Council

After dealing with a bomb threat at the Bicycle Coalition offices yesterday, today bike lovers will ride into City Council to explain why a bike share program is a cool idea. (City Council, naturally, had to pass a resolution to hold this hearing.)

Riders would pay a variety of fees (daily, weekly, yearly, etc.) to ride a bike; riders could even take one-way trips from bike station to bike station, which is pretty neat. Bike Share Philadelphia wants to start with 1,000 bikes, hopefully old Huffy White Heats.

And everybody loves the idea, except for maybe whoever called in a bomb threat. "This would provide a welcome addition to our public transit options here in the City," SEPTA Watch writes. The hearing's on the fourth floor of City Hall at 2.

Posted by D-Mac at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)

April 20, 2008

Councilwoman Wants To Ban Toy Guns

Philadelphia Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller is concerned about the gun violence in this city.

Crowd: How concerned is she?

Why, she's so concerned with the gun violence in this city she's going to ban the sale of toy guns!

(Pause for laughter.)

Exactly, that's not funny. Because, of course, it's true! It's buried in this Friday Inquirer City Council roundup: "Just how to determine which toy guns meet those characteristics will be discussed in hearings, Miller said. Her legislation includes detailed exceptions, including toys that are made of see-through plastic or have bright coloring."

Hey, wait, that doesn't even sound that awful. Oh no, has a City Councilwoman finally introduced stupid nitpicky legislation that's well-thought out in advance and essentially bulletproof? Oh well. I guess I could complain about time wasted in hearings, but it's not like that time was going to be used for something more important. I'll have to investigate more.

The legislation isn't up on the website yet, but hopefully the wording will be better than it was for the voluntary toy gun sale moratorium last fall, which began: "The City Council Of Philadelphia Calls Upon The Responsible Merchants Of Philadelphia – During These Troubling Times, With Gun Violence At An All Time High - To Implement A Voluntary Moratorium On The Sale of Toys Guns In The Philadelphia Stores." (Other than that, it wasn't that bad, surprisingly. Donna Reed Miller clearly does not want to be made fun of for this.)

For more restrained commentary on this issue, please head to the place where I first read about this, Domelights. An example: "I'm sick of 'it's society's fault, it's the gun's fault, there ain't enough jobs.....etc. etc." Ha, how dare politicians attempt to end poverty and improve society.

Posted by D-Mac at 07:45 PM | Comments (2)

April 09, 2008

Councilwoman Confused By This 'Parody'

City Council recently passed Blondell Reynolds Brown's bill requiring licensing and regulation of Center City tour guides, and Phillymag recently interviewed her about it.

In addition to doing poorly on a Philadelphia history quiz -- tsk, tsk! -- Brown also... well, you read.

I think the real question here is, why not let tourists believe everything we tell them about our history? It sounds so much cooler if guides say the Declaration of Independence was actually penned by Bruce Springsteen.

Put that in a movie. What do you call it when you take an experience and make fun of it?

… A parody?
A parody! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Put it in a parody first and then tell the real story. That’s really not a bad idea. Especially for Bruce Springsteen fans, of which I am one.

Whoo! Thanks, Councilwoman, from saving us from faulty tour guides who tell us Ben Franklin was on the 1983 Sixers with your licensing program and its nonrefundable application fee. The only thing that'd make this bill worthwhile is if the test costs enough to put Ride the Ducks out of business.

Philly Grill: Tour Guide Disciplinarian Blondell Reynolds Brown [Phillymag]

Posted by D-Mac at 04:30 PM | Comments (2)

February 20, 2008

Tour Guide Regulation Moving Along

Exciting new tour guide regulation is closer than it has ever been. KYW 1060 reports local historian Ron Avery testified to City Council:

"Right now anybody can be a guide in Philadelphia... A test on those facts at least gives them the basics -- so they'll know that Betsy Ross did not sew half the uniforms for the American Revolution, as one guide told me."

Oh. So will the tour guides be required to tell everyone the Betsy Ross story is a complete fabrication? Hopefully.

Also, the Inky's Jeff Shields reports there's still a little work to do on the bill: "Brown said the bill still has work to do -- defining what exactly constitutes a tour operator, what types to exempt (such as foreign-language or out of town interpreters)." So, you know, a large majority of the bill. Unless the history tests are already written!

Tour Guides moves out of committee [Heard in the Hall]
History Tests May Soon Be Required for Philadelphia Tour Guides [KYW 1060]

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January 25, 2008

Mint Prohibition Doesn't Work!

What have I been telling you people? When you try to ban mints, the only people helped are the illegal mint sellers. How else to explain, a day after Hershey's pulled the plug on Jill Porter's crack cocaine mints, the plethora of listings on eBay for the "discontinued, limited edition" mints. On the street, Hershey's mints go for about $2.19. But now that they've been forced to the black market, the mints are selling for close to 10 bucks (plus shipping) with several auction days to go.

Now our children are going to buy the mints online, replace them with real drugs and sell the fake mints to their friends, who will respond with a hail of bullets. Sound far-fetched? This was one of the reasons the company banned the mints that somehow "glorify the drug trade." Really. People actually said that.

Apparently the crusade wasn't limited to Philadelphia, although Philly was apparently the only city to call for Hershey's to remove "Ice Break Pacs," whatever they are. The Daily News gloats today over its great triumph for humanity.

Meanwhile, the activists are not happy, and are still boycotting Hershey products. I urge all good Philadelphians to smoke a little crack for ol' Milton Hershey and his crack cocaine mints tonight. RIP, Ice Breaker Pacs.

Posted by D-Mac at 10:53 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

January 24, 2008

City Council Just On Replay In 2008

City Council meets for the first time in the post-John Street era today, and it's already getting ready to do important work.

By important work, of course, I mean City Council members are re-introducing previously-failed bills. Jim Kenney wants to get rid of the requirement one has to live in Philly for a year to apply for a city job. This will be time #3 introducing it for Kenney, but it will only be attempt #2 for Blondell Reynolds Brown's exciting tour guide regulation bill!

The idea is that if we make tour guides take a history test and get certified, they won't tell us that Thomas Jefferson invented the light bulb. Plus, city bureaucracy will certainly be streamlined if it has to certify freaking tour guides.

Phila. Council Reintroduces Failed Bills from John Street Era [KYW 1060]

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January 15, 2008

Councilman Still Hopes To Save Duck Livers

Now that City Council is back in session and everybody is ignoring David Oh's lawsuit about the November election, we can move on to pressing issues. And then once we fix all of those -- should be like a week or two, I bet -- Jack Kelly can try to ban foy grass again.

Kelly's wish to ban of the french delicacy made out of bird liver comes not out of wanting to control our lives, but because foie gras is just mean to animals: "I'm not against any food product whatsoever. But what I am against, I'm absolutely against, the torturing of any animals. Any animals."

Kelly is the candidate who was elected by people like Stu Bykofsky, who voted for him because he likes animals. (This is different than people who didn't vote for Tom Knox in May because a guy in a giant shark costume told them not to. Man, politics is confusing.)

Anyway, expect more protesters in real life but not in the comments of this blog, as thankfully the foie gras people aren't as organized online as they are in real life, or they are apparently better at recognizing satire (or whatever) than supporters of a certain presidential candidate are.

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December 05, 2007

Wilson Goode: You're Full Of Crap

Hey, is this the new "brothers and sisters are running the city"? Let's hope not. But I do really enjoy Wilson Goode Jr's recent comments, where he just comes out and says he wants this construction project to hire black people. Geeze, if only all politicians made it this simple:

Convention Center officials originally promised to set aside at least one-quarter of the construction work for minority and female-owned companies. Councilman Wilson Goode last week described that as "crap." Now, the Convention Center is promising to work toward 50 percent minority and female participation. Goode said that's realistic only if the Center is willing to hire minority firms from other parts of the country:

"If you don't do it on this, the largest public works project in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, then you're still full of crap." Goode wants a certain percentage set aside specifically for African-American contractors.

See? Simple as that.

Hiring Plans for Pa. Convention Ctr. Expansion Still in Limbo [KYW 1060]

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November 30, 2007

City Council, Home Of Pointless Arguing

Wednesday, there was a hearing in City Council about a housing bill that would require developers to set aside homes to low- to middle-income residents. And, of course, developers had a problem with it. But there was a reasonable debate in City Council about the bill, and although the developer Carl Dranoff disagreed with Councilman Wilson Goode, he... oh, whatever, you know this is a lie.

(Goode): "What you're saying is that, as a developer, you do not want to reinvest in an inclusionary zoning program?"

(Dranoff): "No, I never said that sir. Not at all. I am saying, and remember I started my testimony, excuse me I have the floor! I'd like to finish what I'm starting!"

(Goode): "No actually, I have the floor."

(Dranoff): "You asked me a question. I'm answering it. I'm answering your question."

(Goode): "I have the floor. The chair recognized me."

(Dranoff): "OK."

Both of these guys make a ton of money and could afford a really nice house, if you're wondering.

Affordable Housing Bill Triggers Testy Exchange in Council [KYW 1060]

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November 26, 2007

City Council To Regulate Buses, Dentists

The Inquirer's Heard in the Hall blog reports on the lame duck City Council session that begins today. Any bills not passed during the three-week session will have to be introduced when the new council is sworn in next year, which is pretty much the same group of people anyway.

Still, it's a pain to get legislation introduced or something, so City Council is rushing to get a whole boatload of bills passed. Blondell Reynolds Brown wants to pass a bill "that would require dentists to provide some degree of disclosure about the mercury contained in fillings." Brown also wants to ban kids from fundraising in the street, which means the police are going to get to arrest little kids or something. Hilarious! Darrell Clarke wants to make it illegal to burn a cross or hang a noose.

Continue reading "City Council To Regulate Buses, Dentists"

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November 08, 2007

City Council At-Large Races Still Going On

In the race for the second minority party seat in City Council, the battle could drag on for, well, ever. As of this morning, David Oh was up 12 votes on Jack Kelly.

The stakes are high. If Kelly loses, Philadelphia's animal population will be devastated. Foy grass will never be banned.

Meanwhile, Wilson Goode's staff includes at least one seven-year-old who can stay inside the lines.

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October 26, 2007

Perplexed City Council Ready To Fix Your TV

As you may know, in early 2009 television will cease analog television broadcasts and transmit only digital. People with cable won't really have a problem, as will those with newer televisions. Those with old-timey TVs will have to purchase a converter box; the government will provide $40 coupons to anybody who wants 'em. (Look! The government has produced a less-than-helpful .PDF.)

While the government will make a boatload of money by auctioning off the old spectrum that formerly transmitted analog TV, the whole switchover is most certainly going to be a mess. (People, as you may know, are idiots.) But, never fear, Philadelphians: City Council is here to help!

"When the television doesn't work, they're going to call us." City Councilwoman Marion Tasco knows phones at city council offices will light up when TV goes all digital in February of 09: "We need to explain to them what's going on."

When someone's TV goes out, do they really call City Council? Man, I think I just realized that despite the six-figure salary, you have to deal with idiots all the time; I don't know if it's worth it. "Hey, Jim! My television isn't working!" "Yo, Brian, my refrigerator is broken!" "Um, Jannie, did you see today's Dilbert? It's hilarious!"

City Council Gets Briefed on Switch to All-Digitial TV [KYW 1060]

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October 25, 2007

Breaking: Residents Of Neighborhood Complain

We all know politicians hate college kids. One, college kids don't vote, and two, old people hate kids, and politicians are old. And so when City Council -- one day after hearing testimony about public urination in Manayunk -- holds a hearing about rowdy college-age kids in Manayunk, one might expect it to be another day of college-kid bashing.

Not so! You see, college-age kids also spend money in Manayunk, so nobody wants them to leave altogether. So what can you do? Find somebody else to blame: absentee landlords!

“A lot of times an absentee landlord will buy a home and make it a triplex or duplex without proper permits,” said Patty-Pat Kozlowski, an aide to Councilwoman Joan Krajewski. “A lot of people complain about trash violations, animal violations, overcrowding.”

For the past two years, Krajewski’s office has investigated nuisance renters in Philadelphia and found that absentee landlords who live out-of-area are a major problem. Their solution is to require landlords from outside of Philadelphia to have a “local agent” to be held accountable for L&I violations and quality of life issues.

And then the head of the Manayunk Development Corporation said all the kids need to be watched over by an authority figure, because that is something that all the twentysomethings in Manayunk really want.

Animal houses targeted [Metro]
Yesterday: Old Manayunk Residents Have Pissing Contest With Twentysomething Manayunk Residents

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October 18, 2007

Jack Kelly Unsure Of How Many Legs Ducks Have

Jack Kelly, the at-large City Councilman, who has proposed the foy grass ban, is running for re-election along with the rest of council. He's in a tough fight with upstart fellow at-large candidate David Oh, and so he's totally pulling out all the stops by, uh, using cute dogs to get the public's attention. (The other minority party at-large candidate, Frank Rizzo Jr., could probably run a dogfighting ring and still get elected.)

A billboard on I-95 in the Northeast attempts to get the public's vote: "Jack Kelly. Fighting for everyone. Two legged. And four-legged." Ducks, of course, have two legs, so presumably Kelly is attempting to get the dog-lover vote. Or maybe he wants the all-important Barbaro fan support!

Anyway, Kelly explained his support to Metro: "I love animals. I’ll be first one to admit a weak spot for them. The three groups most vulnerable are children, seniors and animals. I'm sorry, I can't help it." Oh, man, he's using the "think of the children/seniors/animals" platform. Next he's going to run an ad where David Oh is elected and a nuke hits Philly.

Protecting "four-legged" friends? [Metropolis]

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Darrell Clarke Wants To Track What You Buy

Hey, know what'd be fun? Having your driver's license scanned every time you want to purchase cigarettes and beer! That sounds like a gay old time, honestly. Well, if City Councilman Darrell Clarke has his way, that's what you'll have to do in Philadelphia! Yes, Clarke wants to track purchases of every can of beer or carton of smokes sold with in city limits.

However, faster than you can say "the lobbying arms of the tobacco and alcohol industries would shut that down in a second" -- so, actually, not really all that fast -- the plan is kinda dead, since it would require intervention at the state level. But since he can't pass a law tracking how much we smoke and drink, Clarke came up with a better idea: Tracking purchases of spray paint!

Apparently, graffiti is a out of control here in Philadelphia. Need proof? "Graffiti is out of control in the City of Philadelphia," said Darrell Clarke. And, so, Clarke has introduced a bill requiring the scan of a driver's license for anybody purchasing spraypaint, since he says the stores are selling to minors, who are then tagging City Hall and the Comcast Center.

"Unless that information is inserted through the scanner into the register, the product will not register, so therefore there cannot be a transaction," he told KYW 1060. The problem, of course, is that most of the graffiti done in this city is done by adults. Clarke might just as well have introduced a bill telling kids to get off his lawn.

I can't wait 'til the regulation of adhesive paper passes, in order to combat El Toro and Bob Will Reign and any of the other cute characters who pop up on the backs of stop signs.

Councilman Wants Stricter Controls on Spray Paint Purchases [KYW 1060]
Attn. City Council: Most Graf Nerds Are Grown Ass Men [Philebrity]

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October 10, 2007

City Council: Let Them Discuss Cake

If you need to know why the City Council (namely Councilwoman Joan Krajewski) is revisiting the trans fat ban, all you need to do is check out the mouthwatering CBS 3 report, which features multiple shots of donuts and makes you gain weight just by looking at it.

But City Council didn't just buy some donuts from local bakeries and then decide to reverse the ban. No, they debated it for three hours, according to Metro's new blog, cleverly titled Metropolis.

One of Juan Ramos' reasons for wanting to keep the ban on artificial trans fats? Avoiding national confusion.

Councilman Juan Ramos: "Philadelphia is nationally known as a trans fat-free city, this amendment would create confusion across the country."

Farmers in Idaho would just not know what to do if Philadelphia exempts "mom and pop" bakeries from the trans fat rules, which it's going to do of course.

City Council Bake-Off! [Metropolis]
Local Bakers Take Trans Fat Fight To City Hall [CBS 3]

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September 20, 2007

Marian Tasco Says What We've All Been Thinking

City Council is back in session, which can only mean one thing: Angry comments from politicians.

Marian Tasco, you're up. How's the Street administration treatin' ya?

"I'm not voting for any legislation generated by this administration - because I don't trust it," said Councilwoman Marian Tasco.

Hmm, I appreciate the sentiment, but what exactly does she not trust Street on. Is he going to pull the football away at the last minute and send Marian Tasco flying through the air?

Phila. council is back: Let jockeying begin [Inquirer]

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July 03, 2007

Idiot Hates Gays, Writes Column About It

There's a short opinion piece in the current edition of the Northeast Times about the ongoing saga of the Boy Scouts and that building the city is probably going to kick them out of. The national Boy Scouts organization prohibits gays from joining their little club. This is the group's right, of course, but the city also has the right to stop giving them free prime real estate on the Parkway since they won't let Bruce and Lance into the club.

The opinion piece is by Robert Knight. He's the director of the Culture and Media Institute, which is a conservative group that writes about how the evil liberals in Hollywood and the media are going to make sure this country is overrun by gays and Muslims (who are great friends, you know!) and Mexicans and whoever else isn't Christian.

Now, Knight is attempting to convince you the Scouts should stay in the building. The column contains all the normal lies -- all homosexuals are pedophiles, not many priests molested kids actually, homosexuals shouldn't be role models, etc. -- and preaching to the choir, but the intro is like a bad joke I'd reject:

Philadelphia has big city problems. The murder rate is on the rise, and gangs make some areas unsafe even in the daytime. It’s no secret that fatherless, undisciplined boys are the main reason the streets are deadly.

So what is the city doing about it? Let’s imagine for a moment that we’re in a Philadelphia City Council discussion.

"How about a crackdown on gangs? Or a crackdown on drug dealers?"

"Nah. Those people shoot back. I’ve got it! Let’s persecute the Boy Scouts! They won’t give the police any trouble."

"Yeah, this will be a great way to pay back those gay groups for donating to our campaigns. The media will love us, too. Watch how they’ll frame this: ‘Enlightened Officials Reign in Hateful, Bigoted Boy Scouts!’ Good for us! Now, let’s take a Starbucks break!"

Ha ha! What a knee-slapper!

"Now, Daniel," you might be saying here. "This sort of sounds like some sort of post you would make when you're really stretching to find a joke." Agreed! The only problem is, I am trying to make you laugh (and probably failing, if I did it this way); if you don't laugh, it has very little consequence for me except maybe a thread or two on Phillyblog where they write mean things about me and oh no whatever will I do!

"Now, Daniel," you might be saying here. "Isn't it a little odd that the Boy Scouts want to ban gays. Aren't the Boy Scouts pretty much the gayest group imaginable already?" Hey, I make the jokes here!

City of Brotherly Love hates the Boy Scouts [Northeast Times]

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June 15, 2007

City Council: With Our Work Done, It's Vacation Time!

Woohoo! After one week as a "pro-choice city," Philadelphia is now no longer one, as many of the people who voted for the bill decided it was more important to pander to angry Catholic constituents than stand by their convictions. Hooray!

The city wasn't declared both a pro-choice and pro-life city, but instead the week-old resolution was simply rescinded. "I'm angry with myself for not abstaining," said Councilman Jim Kenney, who voted yes last week. "It's not something I think we should have forced on the public at large." Or he got a lot of angry phone calls.

Blondell Reynolds Brown, who sponsored the original legislation, clearly got a lot of angry phone calls, too, but told everyone who disagrees with her she's actually the only one who could possibly be correct: "I have learned as an enlightened pro-choice advocate that there may have been other ways to make my position known."

Meanwhile, City Council passed over 80 bills, giving almost all of them less debate or discussion than the meaningless repeal of the meaningless resolution. And now they're on vacation until September! Good work, guys! You earned that summer break!

Council repeals 'pro-choice city' resolution [Inquirer]

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June 14, 2007

City Council Backtracks, Panders, Wastes More Time

Last week, Philadelphia City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown helped pass a resolution declaring Philadelphia a "pro-choice city." This was, of course, a pointless resolution that wasted more time than Mark B. Cohen does reading buying books.

Those in City Council who voted for the proposal apparently forgot a few things about this city. (1) Many citizens of this fine city are members of the Roman Catholic Church -- official motto: "Complicit in the spread of AIDS in Africa since 1981" -- and (2) Philadelphians love to get really angry over things that don't mean anything.

And, so, City Council is prepared to waste even more time with new resolutions declaring the city both pro-choice and pro-life! (Hey! What about Philadelphians who have no opinion?) I can't wait 'til the resolution declaring the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as "sad" and one saying embryonic stem cell research is "an issue currently being debated."

Frank Rizzo has simply planned a bill rescinding the pro-choice label, while Brian O'Neill have planned resolutions declaring Philly both pro-choice and pro-life and even Blondell Reynolds Brown is thinking about voting for O'Neill's bill. Looks like somebody got an earful from her constituents! In fact, several people who voted for the "pro-choice" bill are suddenly backtracking, proving it's not just national politicians who pander at every opportunity.

Councilman Darrell Clarke, who supported Brown's resolution last week, said yesterday that he sees O'Neill's alternative as "reasonable. It understands the diverse nature of the city and that we have diverse views on all issues, so I can probably support his resolution." He said he was "not comfortable" with Rizzo's language.

Councilman James Kenney, likewise, said he wants to reconsider the pro-choice resolution, which he supported last week. "I clearly support a woman's right to choose," said Kenney, who had not decided between the two resolutions that will be submitted today. "That's my personal belief, but in retrospect probably we should not be forcing that belief or label on the city as a whole."

In retrospect, City Councilpeople got a bunch of calls from angry little old ladies who go to church every day. And since those are the only people in this city who vote, it looks like it's time to waste some more time!

Pro-life? Pro-choice? Hey - we're both! [Daily News]
June 8: City Council Wasting Its Fucking Time Once Again

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