Rendell court appointments: That's the facts
Lawyer Tom Nocella has run for judge on at least four occasions and he lost each time. No matter. He might very well get to sit on the bench after all.
Lawyer Tom Nocella has run for judge on at least four occasions and he lost each time.
No matter. He might very well get to sit on the bench after all.
That's because Gov. Rendell last week tapped Nocella, a longtime Democratic City Committee insider, to fill a Municipal Court vacancy. (He would replace Deborah Griffin, who was removed from the bench by order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in May.)
In past years, Nocella has represented many a ward leader, the City Committee itself, and most recently Carol Ann Campbell, the Democratic Party secretary and former councilwoman.
In addition, he's on the radar of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics, which is trying to get a court order to force him to submit to a deposition about his role in depleting the campaign account of a political action committee affiliated with Campbell.
Though nominated for a Municipal Court position - the Senate must still decide whether to confirm him - Nocella ran twice as a Democrat for Common Pleas Court and once as a Republican.
If confirmed, he will be paid about $153,000 a year. To keep the seat, he would have to run in 2010.
Rendell has also nominated Joyce Eubanks - who was Campbell's legal counsel on Council - and Angeles Roca to fill two Common Pleas Court vacancies, positions that pay slightly more, $158,000 a year. Those terms, too, expire in 2010.
"The fact that the governor decided to nominate them," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said, "has to do with the fact that they were qualified and confirmable. Those were the criteria he always uses."
- Marcia Gelbart
PHA - the mortgage experts
It turns out that Wall Street's financial titans, who are reeling from their dalliances with bad mortgages, could have learned a lesson from the Philadelphia Housing Authority, of all places.
While the real estate bubble swelled on the strength of exotic adjustable-interest and no-interest mortgages, the PHA insisted that anyone buying its homes would have to stick to that boring old standard, the 30-year fixed mortgage.
The result? Not one of the Housing Authority's 390 homeowners has defaulted. What's more, because the authority subsidizes the cost of its homes, it vets would-be low-income homeowners far more thoroughly than the mortgage giants do, agency spokesman Kirk Dorn said.
If only Fannie Mae were so careful.
- Patrick Kerkstra
A step ahead for Chinatown community center
Chinatown's long struggle to build a community and recreation center on the north side of Vine Street moved a step ahead this week when the state legislature voted to turn over a parcel of state-owned land to the city.
Gov. Rendell signed the law Thursday turning a parcel on the northwest corner of 10th and Vine Streets over to the city Redevelopment Authority. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. had sought passage of the bill since January 2005.
State Sen. Vincent Fumo (D., Phila.) and State Rep. Mike O'Brien (D., Phila.) pushed the bill because the property is in their districts. The two are also involved in the proposal to move the Foxwoods Casino from South Philadelphia to the Gallery at Market East on Chinatown's southern border.
Fumo, O'Brien, the governor and the development corporation all rejected any link of the community center bill to the Foxwoods proposal, even though Chinatown's support will be critical if the Foxwoods move is to pass City Council.
"It's just a routine land transfer that hopefully will make life in Chinatown a little bit better by providing space to build a community center," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said.
John Chin, executive director of the development corporation, said O'Brien had promised him before summer break - long before the Foxwoods deal was on the table - that the community center bill would pass this fall.
"I think what got it moving was our loss of patience last year, when the bill fell down a few feet from the finish line," Chin said.
The center, which would occupy a 15,000-square-foot lot composed of the state property and two other parcels, has been discussed as a concept for 25 years. It still has to be funded, Chin said, and there is a long way to go.
- Jeff Shields