The city Administrative Board this morning approved some changes to police recruitment in the city.

The board – which includes the mayor, managing director, city solicitor and finance director – agreed to lift an age limit on police recruits and to allow hiring of experienced officers who already have state certification.

Currently all police recruits must be under 40 and all do their training at the Philadelphia police academy. Under the new rules there would be no such age limit and certified officers would not have the same Philly training requirements.

Officers who are already certified would likely have some education on Philadelphia procedures, said Director of Human Resources Al D’Attilio. He also said that officers with more experience could be paid at a higher grade within the police officer pay scale.
 

SugarHouse is building a casino on this lot at Delaware Avenue and Shackamaxon Street.

It's been more than a month but two things haven't changed:  The planned SugarHouse casino in Fishtown still wants to rent a publicly-owned pier for temporary parking.  And the casino's investors still don't have a deal with the Delaware River Waterfront Corp., which manages the land for the city.

Alan Greenberger, a DRWC board member and executive director of the City Planning Commission, told his fellow board members this morning that negotiations continue with the casino investors, who hope to be open for business by next summer.  Their plan is to initially surround the first phase of the casino with surface lots and then start building a parking garage, perhaps in mid-2011.  The investors want to rent the pier near Spring Garden Street for temporary parking during the garage construction.  That pier was once home to the city's trash incinerator.

"Nothing's been finalized," Greenberger said of the negotiations.  The City Planning Commission approved the SugarHouse plan of development last month, the last major bureaucratic hurdle for construction to start.

Matt Ruben, president of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, said his group considers the parking lot now on the pier to be a blight on the only sizable chunk of publicly-owned land on the central Delaware riverfront.  "I think there's a risk here of tying up that site for at least three and possibly six years," Ruben warned about the negotiations for casino parking.

Steve Wexler of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, asked the board to avoid using the pier for casino parking unless no other option was available.

Greenberger said it was clearly in the best interest of the city and the surrounding neighbors to see the pier developed but noted that could take a few years, as part of a larger master plan being drawn up for the riverfront.  "It's a special site," Greenberger said. "I think we all want to see it developed."

Comcast executive David L. Cohen, who serves as board chairman for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, called Mayor Nutter's doomsday budget plan "unthinkable" today after an early morning pow-wow between Nutter and the city's business leaders.

"I think this is almost unthinkable what the impact would be on the business community. The business community, we’re all about generating jobs and growing the economy and growing the tax base. And who wants to move to a city with no recreation infrastructure and no free library system, with twice a month trash collection," Cohen said.

Cohen, who also served as chief of staff to Gov. Rendell during his time as mayor, said that he and other business leaders would be reaching out to legislators in Harrisburg to urge them to approve Nutter's two budget requests.

"No one has said to me that the city’s ask is unreasonable, that it’s ridiculous, that it’s not founded in public policy," Cohen said. "Nobody in Harrisburg wants to see the city of Philadelphia lay off 3,000 people, lose a thousand police officers, 200 firefighters."

Nutter wants state lawmakers to approve a temporary 1-cent increase to the city sales tax and changes to how the city pays into the pension fund. Without those approvals, the city will have a $700 million hole to fill over the next five years.

Yesterday, Nutter held a rally in City Hall to push Harrisburg for action, saying that without their help, the city would be forced to implement a contingency budget, which would lay off up to 3,000 workers, shut down libraries and recreation centers and reduce trash pick-up to twice a month.

The state budget impasse has delayed millions in payments to the Philadelphia School District.

We try to answer some of your budget questions.

Read about Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.'s dance moves in today's PhillyClout column.

PhillyClout has taken to calling it "Plan C for Calamity," the third version of the city budget for the fiscal year that started on July 1 that will be implemented if the state General Assembly doesn't approve a 1-cent increase in the city's sales tax and changes to how the pension fund is replenished.

Here are the gory details:

• The Police Department will eliminate 972 jobs, including 739 officers, 43 civilians and 190 jobs left empty.
• The Fire Department will deactivate six engine companies, three ladder companies and five advanced life support medic units.  It will also eliminate 36 officer jobs, 120 firefighter jobs and 40 paramedic jobs.  Five fire houses would be closed.
• The Health Department will close two Health Centers, eliminate the Medical Evaluation Unit and cut 112 jobs.
• The Streets Department will reduce trash pick-up to every other week and cut 400 jobs.
• The Department Parks & Recreation will close all recreation centers and cease all programs while cutting 450 recreation jobs and 142 park jobs
• The Free Library of Philadelphia will close all branches and eliminate 490 jobs.
• The Commerce Department and City Planning Commission will lay off a combined 59 jobs and cease operations.
• In all, about 3,000 jobs will be eliminated, including posts in the Mayor's Office, the Managing Director's Office, the Department of Licenses & Inspections, the finance Department, the Division of Technology, the Human Resources Department, the Records Department and the Department of Revenue.

Poll: Are you for or against the sales tax increase? (1400 votes)

Mayor Nutter is now leading a City Hall rally called to talk about looming layoffs and service cuts if state lawmakers don't approve the city's budget requests.  Nutter took the stage in the City Hall courtyard with Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Fraternal Order of Police president John McNesby and other officials.

The crowd chanted "no budget cuts," when Nutter came to the podium. "I agree with you," the mayor replied.

Nutter wants state lawmakers to approve a temporary 1-cent increase to the city sales tax and changes to how the city pays into the pension fund. Without those approvals, the city will have a $700 million hole to fill over the next five years.

"It's a relatively straightforward request," Nutter told a crowd of hundreds, mostly social service advocates. "We're not asking the Commonwealth, we're not asking the General Assembly, we're not asking the governor for a dime."

Harrisburg legislators, who are locked in a month-long state budget impasse, have been slow to move on the requests. After weeks of quietly lobbying in Harrisburg, Nutter is going public today with his demands.

"We are hopeful for timely action, but as much hope and faith that we have, we cannot run a government solely on hope," Nutter said. "We need money."

Click here for a story in today's Daily News about what might happen with the city's budget if the General Assembly doesn't approve the city's requests.

We just got a copy of an email Library Director Siobhan Reardon sent yesterday to library staffers about today's budget rally at 2 p.m.*

PhillyClout wonders if workers citywide are getting the same message? And will they have to use personal time if they choose to attend or will they be on the clock? You may recall that last year before the Phillies Parade, Managing Director Camille Barnett instructed workers that they had to take personal time to attend the parade.

We've asked the press office these questions and will update when we get more info. Here's Reardon's note:

Dear all:

This is a head-up that the Mayor will be hosting a rally/press announcement tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. which is designed to encourage State lawmakers to get serious about resolving their budget impasse. The message will include dramatic impacts on all city departments if there is further delay.

We will be sending Boards members and community advocates to attend this rally. The mayor needs everybody to come and stand up for the City.

UPDATE: We just talked to the mayor's press office. They said Reardon wanted her staff to know about the event because the potential budget cuts could devastate the library system. But they said workers who attend the rally must get approval from their supervisors and do it on their own time.

* CORRECTION: The original version -- and headline -- of this post said that Reardon was urging workers to attend today's budget rally. Sandra Horrocks, of the Free Library, says that the email was simply to inform workers of the rally, rather than encourage them to attend. She also stressed that no libraries were closed today and no workers left their posts to attend the rally. PhillyClout apologizes for the confusion.

Here's the press release:

PCN TO AIR SPECIAL EDITION OF “ON THE ISSUES” WITH GOVERNOR ED RENDELL

This evening beginning at 7:00 p.m., PCN will air a special edition of “On the Issues.” Tonight Governor Ed Rendell will sit down for a one-on-one discussion about the PA budget.

Throughout the budget impasse, PCN has been airing special PA Budget editions of “On the Issues” with key lawmakers involved in the process. This week, the statewide public affairs network has conducted special “On the Issues” interviews with Sen. Jake Corman, R – PA Senate Majority Appropriations Committee Chair , Sen. Jay Costa, D - PA Senate Minority Appropriations Chair, Sen. Bob Mellow, D- PA Senate Minority Floor Leader and Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati , R – PA Senate President Pro Tempore.

“On the Issues” is part of the network’s Sunday evening lineup. The one-on-one informal discussion features government officials and other guests who candidly talk about the issues that face the Legislature. “On the Issues” is seen regularly on PCN every Sunday beginning at 7:00 p.m. Encore presentations can be seen on Mondays at 12:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

Special PA budget editions of “On the Issues” will air on PCN throughout the budget process. Visit the daily schedule at pcntv.com for airtimes of this special programming and other programming information.

»  More Rendell to Talk Budget on PCN Tonight

The Parking Authority strikes again.

State Rep. Tony Payton is calling on his colleagues in Harrisburg to support legislation requiring "more openness and accountability" at the Philadelphia Parking Authority.  Payton's legislation, now circulating for co-sponsors to sign on, comes on the heels of an PPA audit obtained by the Daily News, the Inquirer and KYW Newsradio this week.

The audit, conducted by City Controller Alan Butkovitz's office and an outside accounting firm, is still in draft form as auditors and PPA staff haggle over details.  The final version is expected to be released in about a week.  The draft says the PPA is top-heavy with managers and disorganized with its money.

Payton's legislation calls for a much closer look at the PPA.  He wants the state Auditor General to have the power to appoint a certified public accountant to perform an annual audit of the agency, which would be published for the public to read.  The bill also requires a forensic audit to examine the PPA's policies on topics such as ticketing and parking sign language while comparing the agency to parking agencies in at least two other cities.

The PPA claimed during the controller's audit that the scope of its responsibilities -- parking enforcement, red light camera tickets, taxi regulation -- makes it unlike any other parking agency in the country.

UPDATE, 11:45 am:  Butkovitz, a former state legislator, notes that his office has been shedding auditors in budget cuts for the past 15 years.  The state didn't come up with the cash to pay for the PPA audit, even though Gov. Rendell demanded the financial probe back in the Fall of 2007 after a series of stories in the Daily News.  That meant other projects had to be delayed to fund the PPA audit.

"If people want those audits, fund us to do it," Butkovitz said.  "We would be happy to expand auditing, not only in the Parking Authority."