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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Councilman Calls For NTI Oversight Committee

In City Council today, Councilman Darrell Clarke is about to introduce a resolution, calling on his colleagues to create an "NTI Oversight Committee," which would be made up of three members chosen by Council President Anna Verna, Mayor Nutter and City Controller Alan Butkovitz.

The $300 million Neighborhood Transformation Initiative was Mayor John Street’s signature anti-blight program. An audit released last week by the City Controller revealed widespread accounting problems in the program.

Clarke said the committee would be a similar joint-effort to the group that spent the summer studying solutions for the problem-plagued Board of Revision of Taxes. Clarke rejected a Nutter suggestion that his chief of staff, Clay Armbrister, should take the lead on any oversight of the NTI program. That suggestion came after Butkovitz released the audit.

"I think all the parties should be involved," Clarke told PhillyClout before the start of Council's weekly session. "Given the importance of this particular issue, there should be involvement by those three branches of government, not just the administration."

Mayor Nutter said he had not yet seen the resolution, although he noted: “I don’t have a problem with the concept.”
Posted by Catherine Lucey @ 10:35 AM  Permalink | 9 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:48 AM, 10/22/2009
    So the horses are gone, the barn door is wide open, and City Council will introduce a resolution to create a committee of three of the people most responsible for this state to form a "Barn Door Oversight Committee." Sounds like another Philly Democrat winner. How about this -- we appoint the FBI's Municipal Corruption Unit to do a full audit, and convene a federal grand jury?
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:53 AM, 10/22/2009
    Nutter to his credit is making a slow but good faith attempt to at least properly account for the huge amount of money missing. But Clarke, who presides over a district where almost one in two of all owners owe gross overdue property tax bills for years, wants to "fix" the BRT's assessments, and "fix" the waste in NTI. I bet he does. Clarke has put the "fix" in for some time judging from the stats in his own district. Clarke engages in votes for dismantling the fair and objective functioning of government. Cheap votes for too-low assessments and non-collection of property taxes is how this guy gets re-elected. Then spread around some NTI money, get some kickbacks, er, contributions, from the "low income builders" that never seem to get it off the ground, and you've got the election in the bag. Where's that new way? Nutter has to shut Clarke down, and all the bad Democrats, because this is killing the Philly Dem party, and we'll have a conservative governor as a result of all the fodder Philly Dems have given their opposition statewide.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:55 AM, 10/22/2009
    When can we see a link to the NTI report by Butkovitz? Usually the City Controller make the results of his audits immediately available online as soon as the press release comes out. What gives?
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:00 PM, 10/22/2009
    With all the mismanaged programs coming out of the audit by the City Controller, time to bring in a outside non-political auditor. The outside auditor will probably show a windfall of mismanaged funds being wasted at our expense.....
    — Dadair1
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:15 PM, 10/22/2009
    Patronage BIG TIME.
    — DennisR
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:36 PM, 10/23/2009
    They're putting an oversight committee now? Years after the fact? Is it April 1st?
    — Philly Phorever


9 comments
About The Philly Clout Team
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.
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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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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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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.
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Catherine Lucey
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Chris Brennan
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Jan Ransom
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