Nutter schedules "town hall" meetings on budget cuts
It is an explanation.
Faced with anger over plans to close 11 city libraries, among many other budget cuts, Mayor Nutter has announced a series of eight "town hall" meetings to explain the hows and whys of the city's fiscal problem. (In a nutshell: recession= less tax revenue=$1 billion in budget cuts over five years.)
The sessions will be held from 7-8:30 or 9 p.m. The public is asked to show up at 6:30 to 6:45 p.m.
Here's the key explanation from the mayoral press release:
...city government leadership will explain the difficult decisions that need to be made, share the principles that guided the process, and to listen to any concerns that citizens may have...
"This is an opportunity for Philadelphians to hear directly from the leadership of city government on changes that will have an impact on their communities," said Mayor Nutter. "At each session Mayor Nutter will make opening remarks and run the audience through a short overview presentation and then open up for approximately an hour-long Q&A session."
Among others, those in attendance will include: Finance Director Rob Dubow, Budget Director Steve Agostini, Police Commissioner Ramsey, Fire Commissioner Ayers, Recreation Commissioner Slawson, L&I Commissioner Burns, Streets Commissioner Tolson, and Fairmount Park Commission Executive Director Mark Focht.
Dates and locations are as follows:
Tuesday, November 25th
South Philadelphia High School
2101 S. Broad Street
Monday, December 1st
Kensington High School
2051 E. Cumberland Street
Tuesday, December 2nd
School of the Future
4021 Parkside Avenue
Monday, December 8th
John Perzel Community Center
2990 St. Vincent Street
Tuesday, December 9th
Roxborough Memorial Hospital
Wolcroff Auditorium
5800 Ridge Avenue
Wednesday, December 10th
Benjamin Franklin High School
550 N. Broad Street
Tuesday, December 16th
Kingsessing Recreation Center
5100 Chester Avenue
Thursday, December 18th
Martin Luther King High School
6100 Stenton Avenue
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