Heard in the Hall

Archive: May, 2012

Painterly plop has shiny new glow

POSTED: Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 6:37 PM

Miriam Hill

The dollop of paint that is part of the Claes Oldenburg sculpture on Broad Street does look a lot less like poop now that it has a shiny new coat of orange paint.

But why was the sculpture repainted? To make it less tempting to those who saw it and felt an urge to find a large plastic bag to scoop it up?

No, it was scuffed and dirtied, mostly by skateboarders, said Heike Rass, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, whose buildings bracket Lenfest Plaza, home to the sculpture.

Thank you, @jeff_deeney, for pointing it out!

Friction among city commissioners

POSTED: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 2:39 PM

BOB WARNER

A new set of city commissioners – Stephanie Singer, Anthony Clark and Al Schmidt – has been running Philadelphia’s election machinery for the past five months, delivering on campaign promises of more transparency and efficiency.

They’ve ended a double-dipping practice that allowed hundreds of election-day workers to do two jobs at once, collecting double and sometimes triple pay. They’ve opened up temporary jobs to anyone who wants to apply, not just those who submit their names through ward leaders and party organizations.

They’re investigating some voting irregularities in past years, where the official vote counts are higher than the number of people who signed in at the polls. They’ve invited the city’s inspector general to investigate any tips involving misbehavior in the commissioners’ offices.

And the commissioners’ website – for years an empty shell with virtually no useful information – now has links to a broad array of election material, from political calendars and campaign finance rules to ward maps, voter registration forms, absentee ballot applications, past election results and advice on the state’s new voter ID law.

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City Republicans skirmish over party leadership

POSTED: Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 6:20 PM

BOB WARNER

The skirmishing inside Philadelphia’s Republican Party is heating up again, this time focused on the status of Vito F. Canuso Jr., who either is or was the party chairman, depending on which faction is telling the story.

Canuso is still listed as chairman on the party’s official stationery, thanks to a disputed vote of some Republican ward leaders two years ago at the United Republican Club in Kensington. Some duly-elected ward leaders were barred from the premises, others were ejected before the vote took place and others were allowed to vote despite challenges that are still pending, two years later – overall, such a mess that the credentials committee of the state Republican party (already at odds with the party leadership in Philadelphia) said Canuso’s election was invalid and took away his vote at state committee meetings.

But the party’s de facto leader, general counsel Michael P. Meehan, says Canuso is still Philadelphia chairman in all other respects.

Ward leaders Matthew Wolfe and Michael Cibik, part of a dissident faction that has been battling Canuso and Meehan for the past two-plus years, beg to differ. They say the chairman’s post is vacant, and they invited some of the city’s Republican ward leaders – about 32 they regard as legitimately elected – to a meeting Wednesday night in the St. Michael’s Church hall at 335 Fairmount Ave., to fill the vacancy.

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Council Ponders Dire Schools Prediction

POSTED: Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 7:05 PM

Troy Graham @troyjgraham on Twitter

The School District’s top man, Thomas Knudsen, made a dire prediction Tuesday night: If the city doesn’t cough up more money, schools won’t open in the fall.

So, how did that news play Wednesday in City Council, where members were listening to public testimony mostly opposing a property reassessment plan that would deposit an extra $94 million in the school budget?

“Unfortunately, it looks like the hyperbole has begun,” said Councilman Bill Green. “I would say that Mr. Knudsen should not start the conversation with Council with threats because we’re the ones with the votes.”

This is the second year in a row the school district has turned to the city to fill a giant shortfall in its budget.

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