PubliusCommentary and analysis about city, state and regional issuesSleight of Hand
It's early in the year, but I feel confident in predicting that the biggest political train wreck in Philadelphia in 2012 will be the AVI, the city's plan to reassess all properties to more closely reflect market value. AVI...
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Wretched Excess
We all end up with adjectives attached to our names. Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno had a number of them -- beloved and legendary are two. He added another on Sunday, when he died at age 85. He is...
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Murder, Inc.
Just when you think you have a problem under control, it slips from your grasp. Mayor Nutter is probably regretting his rhetoric over lowering the homicide rate, At least he is getting frustrated at the trend lines, using the word...
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Management by Dithering
One of the lessons to be learned in the forced closure of dozens of Catholic schools in the region is the danger of institutional drift. For decades, Catholic schools had a fixed and firm role in the world: education and...
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He's Baaack!
Now comes Rick Santorum's 15 minutes in the limelight. His showing in Iowa this week guarantees that. With little money and no organization to speak of, the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania placed second in the Iowa caucuses, just eight...
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Whose Willie Was It?
My favorite story of Christmas week was about the Philadelphia Traffic Court judge escorted off the premises because he allegedly showed photos of his genitals to a female court employee. The appropriately named Willie Singletary was relieved of his judicial...
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Scandal at Traffic Court
What a shock. It seems there is politics involved in Traffic Court. If you are politically connected you get treated one way; if you are not shut up and pay your fine. Did money change hands as part of the...
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A Bold, Brazen Item
To use a phrase favored by my nuns, Myron Berman is a bold, brazen item. In 1999, Berman, a New York real estate guy and principal owner of an office building at 7th and Spring Garden Streets, had crews erect...
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Goodbye, Mumia, Goodbye
The odds are that Mumia Abu-Jamal has made his last appearance on the front page and that it a good thing. The case of the man who shot and killed Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner 30 years ago today (Dec....
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Milton ♥ Arlene
If I had one wish, it would be that Arlene Ackerman hook up with Milton Street. I don't know Street's current marital status. I know at one time he had a long-term relationship with a woman who lived in...
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No Second Act
They say there are no second acts in American lives and that seems especially true of the Occupy Wall Street movement and its local manifestation. In fact, the local protest seems even more askew, at least in its symbolism. Occupy...
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A Significant Effect
What's happening at Olney High School this year could have a significant and widespread effect on urban public education. Hired by the district to take over one of the worst high schools in the city, the Latino educational group Aspira...
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In Defense of Mike McQueary
Am I the only person in America who is not surprised or outraged by how Penn State assistant Mike McQueary reacted after he witnessed Jerry Sandusky allegedly raping a 10-year-old boy in the showers at the school in the now...
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The Last Hurrah
Tuesday's election is probably the last time we will see Michael Nutter's name on a ballot for public office. The mayor will be 58 when his second term ends. The City Charter limits him to two consecutive terms. I don't...
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Is That All There Is?
The planners at the Philadelphia School District labored mightily and produced a mouse with the school closing/consolidation list released Wednesday (Nov. 2). As Peggy Lee would put it, the plan had an "Is That All There Is?" quality to...
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