We got way more detail from City Council members about their summer plans than we could use in today's PhillyClout newspaper column. So here's a rundown of what members told us yesterday about what they're up to over the three-month summer recess.
Brian O’Neill said he expects to work on the review of the Board of Revision of Taxes. He’s also interested in reviewing the city’s role as a county, and how that affects Philly’s bottom line.
Maria Quinones Sanchez said the summer is a time when she visits recreation centers and attends block parties and festivals. “This is the time when we’re out on the street talking to folks,” she said. Sanchez also plans to take several weeks off to spend time with her ten-year-old son.
Darrell Clarke has a busy summer of community meetings, catching up on constituent concerns after a hectic legislative season. Top on his list: A soon-to-be released plan to bus children in his district from neighborhoods with closed public pools to neighborhoods where pools are open.
Jannie Blackwell was out of the office when we stopped by, at a neighborhood pool opening. Back in City Hall later, working right now on rolling back a new $500 fee for garbage collection for businesses. “It’s a real problem. It’s a real hardship for these small businesses.”
W. Wilson Goode Jr. was not in his office but quickly responded by e-mail, sending PhillyClout a report he is studying on how the city acquires and manages vacant property, a subject on which he introduced legislation earlier this year.
Jim Kenney, who has objected to depictions of Council as loafing at the shore for three months, joked the he would speak up on the telephone if the “seagulls get to loud’ for PhillyClout to hear him. Actually Kenney was in his office yesterday, working on some legislation he plans to introduce after Council reconvenes in mid-September.
Curtis Jones Jr. earlier this week gave a presentation to the city’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board on expanding Philadelphia’s community courts. He said he’ll continue to work on that this summer, as well as knock on doors in his districts to hear the needs of his constituents.
Frank Rizzo said he’s been hitting community meetings and talking to residents – he was at a Bustleton Civic Association meeting Wednesday night. He also said he’d spend some time this summer reviewing the Southport Terminal Project.
Bill Greenlee, who hit a pool opening yesterday, said the summer was a time to catch up on legislative work and constituent services. He said he’s working on several bills this summer.
Blondell Reynolds Brown said environmental issues are a top concern for her this summer. “I am using the summer to research and investigate what new opportunities exist surrounding environmental issues,” she said.
Donna Reed Miller was hurrying through dinner last night before heading off to a community meeting. She plans to work this summer with some activists trying to reduce violence in the city. She will also focus on efforts to create more job opportunities in property development in the city for minorities and women.
truly, the Daily News enjoys taking shots at City Council too much. if the Register of Wills or Clerk of Courts or Sheriff or City Commissioners got this kind of attention maybe they'd actually get some work done there...— rabbit23- With the money that we pay these councilmembers (including DROP payments, $100k jobs, giving your girlfriend a high paying no-show job as an aide and defending her after Fox29 finds out, and the unwillingness of some to take pay cuts while trying to increase our taxes multiple ways), maybe there should be someone to hold them accountable since the voters rarely, if ever, do. Kudos to the DN!— tricch04
- Why not allow City council to take unpaid vacations this summer since they do not work anyway.— junethe4th
- Why didn't Bill Green respond? Is he already back in Atlanta? http://local-issues.com/wordpress/?p=3 Philly Foibles www.Local-Issues.com— Philly Foibles
Comment removed.- I like how each member said they would listen to residents concerns at civic meetings , when most of them take a summer recess also ? Busing residents to other area pools ? Yea , lets over fill neighborhoods with people who don't give a hoot about their own pools, to voice their concerns about them closing , into area w/ people who fought long and hard , and active in their area rec centers .— philly_girL_215
- Rabbit, they have to get on Council AND on the Register of Wills, the Sheriff, the Dept. of Revenue, the BRT (still), the City Law Department Real Estate Tax Unit, the City Commissioner, the Office of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions, and every office not collecting tax revenue or making legal assessments. The city is owed half a billion, $522 million, in overdue property taxes, $1 billion in forfeit bail, and victim's compensation is badly enforced. All of these offices should be audited by the PA Auditor General. This is low hanging fruit for anyone who wants a fresh prize on their journalism resume, a good idea given the financial status of the papers here. Give these two writers credit for getting on Council for not working in a way that everyone else must -- showing up and performing, not "hanging out with your son" or "going to block parties."— CleanupPhilly
- Notice how not one of the items has to do with the Plan B budget that must come back after the sales tax hike fails, or has one thing to do with revenue collection, assessment like implementing AVI and changing the millage, or selling city property to put it back into the property tax paying base. Don't they realize how idiotic they sound?— CleanupPhilly
- I found this website www.reformphilly.com on another comment section of the online DN looks like it needs work but it has some sort of forum That i will be signing up for.— brtsucks
- Comment removed.
- I couldn't have said it better Bill.— healthy1
- Thank You Daily News for Doing something to help the people of Phila.— healthy1
- Make them complete a log of their duties, as every cop must do on duty. Then we pay them for the time they actually visited a swimming pool. By the way, thank goodness the pools opened, to give them something to do.— FJG JR
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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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