Blogger Calls For Soccer Stadium Stand-Off For City Budget
The word "hostage" is being thrown around a lot to describe the city's budget, caught in the middle of a larger feud between Gov. Rendell and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Delaware County Republican. Pileggi has the power to act on legislation allowing the city to increase its sales tax by a penny on the dollar and change the way the city replenishes its pension fund. Those two measures, worth $700 million in the next five years, would help the city avoid 3,000 layoffs, including hundreds of cops and firefighters. But Pileggi won't budge until he and Rendell can settle the state budget, now 38 days overdue. Rendell wants more revenue. Pileggi wants massive cuts. And Philadelphia waits, with an Aug. 15 deadline to implement a doomsday budget.
Blogger Calls For Soccer Stadium Stand-Off For City Budget
Chris Brennan
The word "hostage" is being thrown around a lot to describe the city's budget, caught in the middle of a state spending feud between Gov. Rendell and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Delaware County Republican. Pileggi has the power to act on legislation allowing the city to increase its sales tax by a penny on the dollar and change the way the city replenishes its pension fund. Those two measures, worth $700 million in the next five years, would help the city avoid 3,000 layoffs, including hundreds of cops and firefighters. But Pileggi won't budge until he and Rendell can settle the state budget, now 38 days overdue. Rendell wants more revenue. Pileggi wants massive cuts. And Philadelphia waits, with an Aug. 15 deadline to start implementing a doomsday budget.
Enter Sean Dorn, a self-described "obsessively prolific blogger" who posts on YoungPhillyPolitics.com and the former PhillyBlog.com. Dorn has launched a petition drive, calling on the Delaware River Port Authority and Rendell to stop all payments for a soccer stadium being built in Pileggi's district for the fledgling Philadelphia Union until the city's budget issues advance in the Senate, apart from the state budget negotiations. Dorn is also posting on the issue at YPP.
There seems to be no signs of anyone backing down anywhere in this mess. At some point, will former President Bill Clinton jet into Harrisburg to negotiate for the release of the city's budget? Stay tuned.
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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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