Archive: January, 2008
Catherine Lucey
Crowded papers today. We have hijinks in Council, Nutter facing off with the state on casinos and Rick Mariano's memoirs. And the schools CEO search drags on.
Nutter definitely seems to be playing the tough guy. The Inquirer reports that Nutter is planning to enforce gun laws passed by City Council, regardless of whether the state says he can. How macho of him...
Catherine Lucey
The first City Council session of the new year ended not long ago. A big slew of legislation was introduced, but none of it can be acted on just yet.
A few key pieces:
- The Nutter administration transmitted a number of charter changes. They want to remove the rule limiting department heads to only two exempt deputies. And they want to permanently make the Commerce Director and City Representative two seperate jobs.
- Nutter also sent over legislation that would lift the salary caps on top department heads. This comes after he bypassed those rules for his managing director and police commissioner by giving them extra titles and extra pay.
- Councilman Bill Green did introduce his bill to ban elected officials from receiving DROP payments. But clearly his noise on this issue has ruffled some feathers. Councilwoman Marion Tasco introduced her own resolution calling for a study into the DROP program.
Catherine Lucey
And today is the first City Council session. With three new members trying to prove themselvs and a lot of old members determined not to let them, it should be a party!
The Inky has a good rundown of the many bills expected to be introduced today. Yes! History tests for tour guides. It's about time.
One issue that's gotten a lot of attention -- new Councilman Bill Green wants to introduce a bill to end the DROP program for elected officials. He has a letter in today's Daily News about it.
Catherine Lucey
We're told that a heavy hitting local pol recently said of the presidential race -- Who's the guy that can beat the skirt?
Gov. Ed Rendell got behind the skirt -- AKA Hillary Clinton -- this afternoon. Mayor Nutter -- who has already endorsed Clinton -- came up from DC for the occasion.
The Inquirer's Larry Eichel has the full report here.
Apparantly Bill Clinton asked Ed for his backing over two months ago, but he didn't want to support Hil with Biden and Richardson still in the race.
Catherine Lucey
In case you care, the Rendell endorsement of Hillary Clinton has been delayed The little lady is late. We're told it will begin around 3 p.m.
Catherine Lucey
State Sen. Vincent Fumo is having a hard time unloading his Spring Garden mansion. Yesterday, realtors Prudential Fox and Roach dropped the price of the 27-room Victorian home from $6.9 million to $5.9 million.
What a steal!
Fumo put the house, located at 22nd and Green, on the market in October. He needs the cash to pay the legal bills associated with his federal corruption trial.
We would love it if someone would take a tour of the place and tell us about it. In addition to six bedrooms and seven full baths, the house boasts a wine cellar, an indoor shooting range, a roof deck, a separate guest suite and separate servants' quarters.
Fumo has also put his lavish Florida vacation home up for sale. According to the Intercoastal Realty website, that house is still on the market also.
Fumo also owns a New Jersey beach house and a Harrisburg-area farm.
Catherine Lucey
Financial blob that is.
We just got off a conference call about the Pew report. According to co-author Katherine Barrett things aren’t looking good.
“It would be comforting to think
A few facts:
- Unchecked, by 2012 benefits will consume 28 percent of the city budget.
Catherine Lucey
Lots of coverage of Nutter calling for a review of police shootings. The Daily News and Inquirer both have stories.
As we told you yesterday, Nutter is scheduled to be in DC today for the US Conference of Mayors.
From the department of depressing news The Pew Charitable Trusts released a report this morning on the cost of Philly's employee benefits. It's pretty dire, basically saying that the cost of benefits is growing so fast that if the city doesn't do something it could soon have difficulty paying for basic services. It may be a new day, but Nutter's stuck with the old problems...
And in unrelated political news, Governor Rendell will be endorsing Hillary Clinton this afternoon in City Hall. A longtime pal of the Clintons, we hear Rendell had been under a lot of pressure to make an endorsment early. Even though Pennsylvania isn't a major primary state, he does have some serious fundraising prowess.
Catherine Lucey
So it's a big day for the mayor tomorrow. He's heading to the US Conference of Mayors.
We declined the invitation to join him, because he's leaving Philly on a 4:30 a.m. train. Also we're not sure we could stand the excitement. An entire day listening to mayors discussing climate control and budgetary constraints? Yawn.
And after all, the problems of the big-city mayor are so well portrayed on The Wire.
I don't think Mike is on the schedule for anything major, but maybe he'll treat them to a little Rapper's Delight.
Catherine Lucey
Mayor Nutter just said that he has asked Police Commissioner Ramsey to review the department's policy on the use of force.
"I've asked Commissioner Ramsey to do a complete review and come back to me with recommendations on our use of force in the city," Nutter said.
Nutter said he asked for the review after cops accidentally shot and killed a man at a New Year's Eve house party. He said the recommendations will be included in Ramsey's crime plan, which is due at the end of the month.
Since the New Year's Eve incident there has been another police shooting. Two men were shot dead by police a week ago -- one of them was the great-nephew of former mayor W. Wilson Goode.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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