Archive: February, 2013
The Philly Cycling Classic, the city's new bike race just got its first sponsor.
New Penn Financial is set to dish out six figures toward the summer event. Spokesman Ed Donovan would not disclose the exact dollar amount the company will contribute. Last week, Ken Smukler, spokesman for Congressman Bob Brady said preliminary costs for the race were $500,000.
The new race will be held on June 2, the same date the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship was set to be held. But, the event's founder David Chauner announced last month that there would be no 2013 race due to a loss of sponsors and rising city costs. He also still owes the city over $300,000 for last year's race. Brady stepped in and has since created the Philly Cycling Classic.
Philly Cycling Classic Announces First Sponsor Commitment -- New Penn Financial
The Plymouth Meeting-based lender becomes the first sponsor to support the new Philadelphia cycling race
Philadelphia, Penn – February 4, 2013 -- The Philly Cycling Classic today announced its first major sponsorship commitment as New Penn Financial, headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, PA, has agreed to become a six-figure sponsor of the newly announced professional cycling race in Philadelphia in 2013.
High-tech databases, collection agencies, call centers, new legislation and some saucy tough talk.
That's Mayor Nutter's plan for cracking down on tax deadbeats in Philadelphia, which lets more property taxes go uncollected than any major U.S. city.
"Now there are some other trifling raggedy people around here who can actually pay [their taxes] who don't pay," Nutter said Monday at a press conference. "We're going to chase their little asses down as hard as possible."
The mayor announced that his administration is investing $40 million, hiring 55 new employees and developing new analytics systems to get on top of the half-billion dollars owed to the city by delinquent property owners, many of whom haven't paid taxes in years.
He's also continuing the city's push for legislation in Harrisburg that will help him crack down on deadbeats.
The administration hopes its new strategy will result in $260 million in new revenue by 2018.
We here at PhillyClout world headquarters were having some fun a little more than a week ago when we coined a term for politicians and city employees using a new online budget tool from City Controller candidate Brett Mandel to look themselves up. It sounded like Googling yourself. And Mandel's mascot is a bulldog. So we said people in City Hall now had to "bulldog themselves."
Sadly, that is no more. Mandel tells Technically Philly on Monday that he has taken down individual city employee salary information in a show of "abundant" caution. Apparently the easy access to information that is public by law made some people queasy.
You can still hunt the web site for curiosities from the fiscal year 2012 city budget. Let us know if you find something fun.
Damaged caused by Sandy impacts money and tourism in central N.J.
Former schools superintendent Arlene Ackerman died over the weekend after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Retired Daily News columnist Elmer Smith takes a look at some of Ackerman’s good points.
The Center in North Philadelphia helps children with education.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended without pay on Friday afternoon three of the nine judges indicted Thursday for what federal investigators called a massive "culture of ticket-fixing" at Philadelphia's Traffic Court
The judges suspended included Michael Sullivan, who had been administrative judge until he was removed from the leadership post in December 2011 by the Supreme Court while the federal probe was still going on. Also removed were Judge Michael Lowry and Chester County District Judge Mark Bruno, who heard cases in Traffic Court.
The three judges "were relieved of all judicial and administrative duties without pay pending further action by the Supreme Court," a news release said.
The Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board on Thursday filed petitions to have those three, along with three more indicted judges in the case, suspended without pay. The other petitions were for former Traffic Court Administrative Judge Fortunato Perri Sr., Bucks County District Judge H. Warren Hogeland, and Delaware County District Judge Kenneth Miller.
A week ago, City Finance Director Rob Dubow said that the administration had all but completed its citywide review of properties for the Actual Value Initiative and that district Council members would receive neighborhood breakdowns of those numbers by the end of January.
Well, it's Feb. 1, and there's still no word on what the city's new property-tax system will mean for different areas of the city.
"It's frustrating. We were told we were going to have this in September, then we were told that that wasn't going to happen until Christmas, and now it's a month after that," Councilman Brian O'Neill said on Thursday. "We're just left to sit and wonder like everyone else."
So what's taking so long?
On Monday, Mayor Nutter said he's already seen a "very preliminary update, kind of a top-level overview." While he couldn't remember specific neighborhoods that would be affected more or less than others, he did say he doesn't think there's going to be much reason for concern.
"I don't necessarilly know that there are any big surprises and in some instances a bunch of folks are going to be actually pleasently surprised," he said. "I would characterize what I've seen as nowhere near as bad as folks may have been anticipating."
After years of stalemate, the Nutter administration on Friday asked a judge to allow the city to impose his "final offer" on the city's largest union.
Nutter is seeking permission from a Common Pleas Court judge for the city to implement the plan he presented to District Council 33 two weeks ago. The plan includes incremental pay raises in exchange for cost reductions in overtime rules, possible furloughs, a less generous pension plan for new hires and other changes.
"Union leaders have held our public employees and the taxpayers hostage," Nutter said at a press conference. "We are no closer to an agreement today than we were four years ago."
DC 33 President Pete Matthews said that his union is still willing to bargain and that Nutter's desire to implement terms unilaterally is typical of the way he negotiates.
"That does not surprise me. I’ve said it in the past: He tries to act like a dictator. He dictates terms," Matthews said.
It looks like an uphill battle for the administration. In 1993, a Commonwealth Court ruled that the Housing Authority was not allowed to impose terms on its workers as long as they didn't strike, and the state Supreme Court took a pass on the case.
Nine Philadelphia Traffic Court judges, the court's former top administrator and two businessmen are charged in a sweeping indictment of what federal investigators called a "culture of ticket-fixing." One familiar name that popped up in the probe: Jimmy Tayoun. Ronnie Polaneczky reads the indictment and considers a few key points.
Gov. Corbett was already having a bad week: His poll numbers look weak, his fellow Republicans in the legislature don't back all of his plans. Now this: His son-in-law, a Philadelphia cop, was reportedly caught in a sting operation Thursday taking money from a car he thought was impounded in a drug case.
And former Philadelphia Housing Authority chief Carl Greene's lawsuit against the agency is turning into a contentious grudge match between him and his old boss, former Mayor John Street.
Follow Chris on Twitter
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
Follow Dave on Twitter.
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
Follow Jan on Twitter
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
Follow Sean on Twitter
