Email this postNutter Wows Mayors Conference
Mayor Nutter has also been attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors, chatting with leaders from other cities about crime control and education reform.
He was also elected to the organization's Advisory Board, a body of more than 20 mayors who play a role in guiding the organization and advocating for policy on the national stage.
Nutter said he was encouraged to run for the position.
"I think that given Philadelphia's prominence and strategic location, I think it’s important for the city to play a more prominent role in the conference of mayors," Nutter said.
Asked about Sen. Barack Obama's speech -- in which he said cities shouldn't expect more federal aid, according to a New York Times report -- Nutter said only that federal funding is key to improving cities.
"I didn’t hear the speech. I’ve heard different variations on what the senator said and what it meant to different people," Nutter said. "Clearly the federal government must step up from a resource and a funding standpoint."
He was also elected to the organization's Advisory Board, a body of more than 20 mayors who play a role in guiding the organization and advocating for policy on the national stage.
Nutter said he was encouraged to run for the position.
"I think that given Philadelphia's prominence and strategic location, I think it’s important for the city to play a more prominent role in the conference of mayors," Nutter said.
Asked about Sen. Barack Obama's speech -- in which he said cities shouldn't expect more federal aid, according to a New York Times report -- Nutter said only that federal funding is key to improving cities.
"I didn’t hear the speech. I’ve heard different variations on what the senator said and what it meant to different people," Nutter said. "Clearly the federal government must step up from a resource and a funding standpoint."
Why would Obama's speech be any differnt than the Federal policy since the Clinton Administration? Simply put the Fedeal gov't (no it is not a Dem vs Rep issue) enacted laws which they fail to fund. I am not a Dem but Obama's position is correct in that throwing money at urban problems rarely works...grassroots change is the only thing that will make a difference.
If you did an analysis that was without any bias of any kind, just a true portrait of housing that received federal funding that worked, and housing that was a source of crime, blight, and drugs, you'd be forced to conclude that for all the senior assisted living construction, there are still more vacant lights, blighted lots and properties, and tenants in scattered site and HCV housing that are druggy and bring down equity. Federal block grants are just too poorly regulated. There has to be a way to fund only initiatives and programs that truly work and allow communities to complain about the spots that are not working openly, honestly, and in the sunshine. Warehousing the poor in the inner city in housing that excludes all controls by the marketplace result in the community not wanting low income housing at all. It makes more sense to simply move people to where the jobs are that they are qualified for, rather than create multigenerational dysfunction that gets paid for each month out of YOUR paycheck.
Sorry I meant "vacant lots" which are owned by some government entity, city, state, or federal that is waiting for federal funding in order to build no or or low property tax paying housing that no one wants to deal with when a bad tenant moves in.
Don't just take my word for it, look at the lost property tax revenue potential in these government entity held delinquent properties in Philly: www.hallwatch.org/proptax/about/redelinq/stats/topdelinquents/mailingaddress
Is the answer to simply let these entities wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for federal funding while private buyers are shut out from the chance to invest private money into renovation? We've gone too far into non-market based approaches. The city can't possibly match what the private investors can do and city property has never been more valuable. Stop funding this madness, auction off the tracts of vacant land, and let's get enough paying owners back into the tax base for good schools, enough police, courts, and progressive incarceration.
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