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Thursday, November 5, 2009
Where's that bike-sharing program?
Sisters Alice (left, in left photo) and Napol Wills, both Central High students, carry their bikes down the school steps after being able to park them in the gym for the day. (Photo: RON TARVER / Staff photographer)

No matter how long this transit strike lasts, we’ll always have Paris – as an inspiration for Philadelphia to launch a French-style bicycle sharing program of its own.

It would be like PhillyCarShare and Zipcar for cyclists: You’d grab a bike from a kiosk, ride it to your destination and leave it at another kiosk for others to use.

In a transit strike, it would be a life-saver. In France, it's already proven its worth during two transit stoppages. As Russell Meddin, who’s coordinating efforts to make bike-sharing a reality here, reports:

On September 24, 2009, there was a total transportation strike in Lyon, France. No Metro, No Trams, No buses! The city went to work by Velo’V, its 4 year old bike share program. There are 4,000 bikes in the Velo’V system. They bikes were pressed into service over 45,000 times. Each bike was used on average 12 times during the day. The newspaper Francesoir said that there was a Velo’V bike taken from a docking station every 2 seconds. This was highest one day total of bike usage in Lyon.

It is important to think about measuring the economic benefit these bikes had in keeping the city going through what would have been a crippling strike.

This isn’t the first time bike sharing bikes came to the rescue. In the transport strike of Paris in October 2007, when Vélib’ was only 3 months in service and with just 11,000 bikes on the street, they recorded 116,000 usages in 18 hours and nary a boulangerie was shuttered.

In our town’s case, during this transport strike, bike sharing would keep only the pretzels tied into knots, rather than the traffic.

»  More Where's that bike-sharing program?

Posted by Russell Cooke @ 11:51 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Now Christie has to get specific
Republican Governor-elect Chris Christie greets supporters on election night at his headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. (AP Photo/Christopher Barth)

 

Now the bad news for Chris Christie: He must actually try to govern New Jersey.
 
Congratulations to Christie, a Republican and former federal prosecutor who scored an impressive victory on Election Day over Democratic Gov. Corzine. Even with third-party candidate Chris Daggett in the race, the outcome really wasn’t close.
 
Christie was outspent by the wealthy incumbent in a heavily Democratic state. But he persuaded voters that he’ll do a better job making New Jersey more affordable and prosperous.
 
Exactly how he plans to do that, Christie was not willing to share with voters during the campaign. He promised to cut spending (something that Corzine actually did). But it won’t be enough to balance a budget with a projected shortfall of at least $8 billion.
 
Restoring property-tax rebates? Perhaps a fraction in his first year, Christie said, when he figures out how much the state can afford.
 
Income-tax cuts? Only for the wealthiest New Jerseyans in his first year, Christie said. He wants to allow a Corzine tax increase to expire, dropping the top rate from 10.75 percent to 8.9 percent on households earning more than $1 million. To make up for that lost revenue, he plans to cut the budget deeper. Voters can’t say they weren’t warned.
 
If Christie is to have better success than Corzine in managing the state’s troubled finances, he’ll need some luck in the form of an improved national economy. More robust tax collections would help him balance the budget without imposing drastic cuts in services. But at this point in a slow recovery, such good fortune doesn’t appear likely.
 
Like Corzine, Christie plans to save money by shortchanging contributions to public-employee pension funds. It’s merely deferring a growing liability, but Christie might have better luck than Corzine in curbing the costly benefits of unionized state employees.
 
Corzine lost his reelection bid despite significant help from President Obama and Vice President Biden. Some voters in New Jersey and elsewhere did intend to send a message to Obama, but most said in exit polling that the election was not a referendum on the president. Their concerns were more local — high taxes, corruption, and an unemployment rate in New Jersey slightly higher than surrounding states’.
 
The off-year election results were not a national referendum, but the Republican Party had some successes it can tout. In Virginia, the only other state electing a governor, Republican Robert McDonnell triumphed. Independent voters in New Jersey and Virginia supported the GOP this time.
 
But Democrats won congressional races in northern California and in an upstate New York district that was represented by Republicans for a century.
 
The New York contest pointed to a continuing challenge for the GOP. The moderate Republican candidate gave way in the final days to a conservative opponent endorsed by Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, resulting in a Democrat winning the seat.
 
The GOP is still grappling with whether it wants “pure” conservatives or a big tent, and the rift is as prominent as ever. Christie won by embracing all comers.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 4:00 AM  Permalink | 2 comments
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thrown under the bus

No matter how long this SEPTA strike lasts, let’s hope Day 2 was rock bottom. It couldn’t get much worse.

An R5 Paoli train caught fire yesterday during the morning rush, just outside the Overbrook station. A SEPTA official said the likely cause was electrical.
 

The train was packed with nearly 700 passengers. Nobody was injured, but the suburban commuter line was shut down for two hours, complicating an already chaotic rush hour. Many commuters walked off the tracks to look for alternatives. Others waited for help from SEPTA.
 

SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said the transit agency tried to send “rescue” buses to the scene to transport stranded passengers, but picketers from Transport Workers Local 234 prevented the buses from leaving the Victory terminal at 69th Street.
 

»  More Thrown under the bus

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 2:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Stirring words in controller hopeful's concession speech
Republican challenger Al Schmidt , who lost his bid for city controller on Tuesday.

Former city housing director Tommy Massaro was impressed enough with city controller candidate Al Schmidt's concession speech to send the original draft. He's right. It's a classy speech.

Schmidt, who was the Editorial Board's pick for controller, writes: 

"You're witnessing history tonight--because this is the first step in reform in Philadelphia in years. And you're witnessing it at a somber time in Philadelphia's history. The city is in a fiscal crises. Revenue is less than projected--expenses are higher than expected, and our leaders don't have a plan.

I'm disturbed that city agencies haven't been audited. I'm disturbed that the Parking Authority hasn't been audited. Why? I don't know. Are they covering something up? We're going to find out.
 
I'm even more disturbed that The Republican Party in Philadelphia is perceived as a division of The Philadelphia Parking Authority.

»  Schmidt's parting thoughts

Posted by Russell Cooke @ 1:30 PM  Permalink | 4 comments
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Election Day progress?

Many pundits are talking about the key Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia and whether voters are sending a message to President Obama or upset about the economy and taking it out on incumbents.


Meanwhile, an overlooked trend line points to continued progress when it comes to race relations and gays:


* York, Pa. elected Kim Bracey as its first African-American mayor. The working-class city in central Pennsylvania has struggled with racial tensions over the years, including riots that erupted 40 years ago.
 

* Atlanta elected Shirley Franklin its first white mayor since 1973. Past elections have often been laced with racial tensions in the city that in the turbulent 1960s billed itself as “too busy to hate.”
 

* Houston is on the brink of possibly electing the first openly gay mayor in a major American city. Annise Parker is collected the most votes yesterday, but is headed for a run off next month against former city attorney Gene Locke. If Parker wins she would make Houston the largest city with an openly gay mayor.
 

One other trend that is good to see: all three pathbreaking candidates are women.
 

Posted by Paul Davies @ 12:23 PM  Permalink | 1 comment
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The strike, Day Two

Thanks to the Center City traffic this morning, there was plenty of time to ponder what should be done about the strike by Transport Workers Union Local 234, which is largely the cause of all the Center City traffic this morning.

Here are some thoughts:

1) Mayor Nutter should get the buses, subways and trolleys running. I'm guessing there are plenty of people who would be willing to work for the current level of salary and benefits that SEPTA workers enjoy. Most could probably step into the positions without too much training, although developing the disdain toward customers that some transit workers have perfected might take a little longer.

2) As for the deal that SEPTA workers rejected -- described as "sensational" by Gov. Rendell in this morning's Inquirer article -- make it a little less sweet. For example, for each day of the strike, drop the proposed salary increase by 1 percent, increase the worker contribution for health benefits and pension by 3 percent, and cut the offered signing bonus by $400. Rendell was quoted as saying that union leaders rejected a $1,250 signing bonus, a 2.5 percent raise in the second year of the deal, and a 3 percent raise in each of the next three years. Not bad considering the economic times.

3) Unfortunately, there's probably no way to compensate the many commuters who are most affected by the strike. As U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah said in a statement, "The working men and women and their families in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia are the ones feeling the impact of today's transit system strike most severely ... They deserve better, and they deserve an immediate settlement." Amen. But even if they can't be compensated, let's charge the union for any costs the cash-strapped city incurs as a result of the strike. 

4) Thanks to the many police officers who are out there trying to keep traffic moving. 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Kevin Ferris @ 10:53 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Doing the right thing

Finally, a court ruling that considers the impact on the Luzerne County kids whose lives have been upended.


After stumbling during the initial stages of the upstate cash-for-kids scandal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court moved to try to restore confidence in the state’s juvenile-justice system. In an unprecedented ruling last week, the high court tossed out 6,500 juvenile-court cases tainted by an alleged kickback scheme involving a former Luzerne County judge.
 

The teens — many of them now young adults — had been duped into going before the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., without an attorney, for mostly minor offenses. After a perfunctory hearing, many found themselves immediately packed off to detention centers for months at a time.


Federal prosecutors allege that Ciavarella and another former judge, Michael T. Conahan, took $2.6 million in payments from the operators of two private detention facilities where the teens were jailed.
 

»  More Doing the right thing

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 2:10 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Corzine-Daggett: Perfect Together?

There's been speculation about whether Chris Daggett, the independent candidate for governor in New Jersey, is in the race just to boost the reelection chances of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine against Republican challenger Chris Christie.

Daggett has denied that he's in the race to help Corzine, but this report from PolitickerNJ.com suggests that Democrats may not be above trying to help Daggett. Corzine and Christie are in a tight race that many are watching around the country.

Posted by Kevin Ferris @ 1:00 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
SEPTA strikers showed disregard for customers
SEPTA workers on strike at the Southern Depot. (Sarah J. Glover / Staff Photographer)

 

Transit strikes always burden commuters, but the timing of today’s walkout by SEPTA employees was especially unfair.

 Transport Workers Union Local 234 went on strike at 3 a.m. with virtually no warning to the traveling public. More than 5,000 train operators, bus drivers, and mechanics did not report to work, shutting down all subway, bus, and trolley service in the city and bus lines in some suburbs.
 
That action left many people who must travel to and from work before dawn without any options. It was a cavalier way to treat loyal customers who depend on SEPTA to get to work or school.
 
The union had authorized a strike a week ago, but many people went to bed Monday night believing a walkout had been averted. The union had agreed under pressure from Gov. Rendell and other elected leaders not to strike during the World Series. But three hours after Game 5 ended in South Philly, the union walked.
 
So it was strike three for many working stiffs — a waitress trying to ride the Market-Frankford El to her job at a diner in Old City; hospital workers in Center City trying to get home after an overnight shift; a woman who was stranded on the first day of her new job. It was the same for tens of thousands of other riders like them, many of whom don’t earn as much as the average SEPTA employee ($52,000).
 
The strike began on a federal holiday when city schools were closed. Otherwise, the commuter chaos would have been even worse. But it also came on Election Day, making it more difficult for some people to vote before 8 p.m.
 
As of late Monday, there was no word of a settlement, raising the prospect of an uglier commute on Tuesday.
 
SEPTA’s largest union had been working without a contract since March. Neither Local 234 nor the transit agency should have allowed the impasse to drag on this long. It took the threat of a strike during the nationally televised showcase of the World Series to get negotiators closer to a deal.
 
As for SEPTA’s offer, it hardly seems like the kind of affront that would spark a walkout, especially in these tough economic times. Rendell said SEPTA proposed a $1,250 signing bonus upon ratification, a 2.5-percent raise the second year, and 3-percent raises in each of the next three years. The union is asking for raises of 4 percent annually and improved work rules.
 
SEPTA also offered to increase pension payments to workers (the union contends SEPTA has chronically underfunded its pension plan), and not to increase employees’ health-insurance contributions, now at 1 percent.
 
To many workers out there, and to a legion of the unemployed, such terms sound like a dream, not a reason to ambush commuters with a citywide shutdown of transportation services. If it hasn’t, the union should return to the bargaining table with that in mind.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 6:03 PM  Permalink | 43 comments
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Inquirer endorsements

Today is Election Day. Here is the list of candidates The Inquirer has endorsed for races in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.

New Jersey

Governor
Jon Corzine ( D.)


State Senate Sixth District
James Beach (D.)


Ballot Question “Green Acres” open-space bond issue: Yes.
 

Pennsylvania
 

Supreme Court
Joan Orie Melvin (R.)
 

Superior Court
Robert J. Colville (D.)
Anne E. Lazarus (D.)
Judith F. Olson (R.)
Teresa Sarmina (D.)


Commonwealth Court
Kevin Brobson (R.)
Linda Judson (D.)
 

Read more about the judicial candidates at http://go.philly.com/judges2009
 

Philadelphia
 

District Attorney
Seth Williams (D.)
 

Controller
Al Schmidt (R.)
 

Posted by Inquirer editorial board @ 3:00 AM  Permalink | 4 comments
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About The Inquirer Editorial Board
Harold Jackson, a winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement. He graduated from Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., in 1975, with a degree in journalism/political science. He has also worked at the Birmingham Post-Herald, United Press International, the Birmingham News, and the Baltimore Sun. He was at The Inquirer in the mid-1980s, returned in 1999, and became editorial page editor in 2007.

Paul Davies is the deputy editor of the Editorial Page. His newspaper career has spanned more than 20 years and includes stints at The Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Daily News. He graduated from the University of Delaware and received a masters in journalism from Columbia University, where he was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow. He was born in Philadelphia and still lives in the city.

Tony Auth began drawing while bedridden for a year and a half at the age of five. He graduated from UCLA in 1965 and worked for six years as a medical illustrator while doing three cartoons a week for various college newspapers. Tony has been happily ensconced as The Inquirer’s editorial cartoonist since 1971. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and has won numerous other awards, including five Overseas Press Club Awards, the Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished service in Journalism, and the Herblock and Thomas Nast Prizes. Tony is married to Eliza Drake Auth, a painter of realistic landscapes and portraits.

Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a member of The Inquirer’s editorial board. Her column appears twice weekly in The Inquirer and runs regularly in many other newspapers around the United States. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq.

Kevin Ferris is an assistant editor on the Editorial Board who oversees the Sunday Currents section and writes a weekly column on a wide range of issues. In his 15 years on the board, he’s handled letters to the editor and the Community Voices pages and has been Commentary Page editor. He started with The Inquirer in 1986, and his assignments have ranged from the copy and news desks to the Chester County bureau and the national/foreign desk.

As an editorial writer for The Inquirer for the past two decades, Russell Cooke has written on a wide range of topics covering government, legal, civic and social issues. Before joining the Editorial Board, he was a reporter in the Inquirer’s City Hall bureau.

Editorial writer Dave Boyer joined The Inquirer in 2002. He writes about politics, government, the economy, sports and many other subjects, but draws the line at writing about "Jon & Kate Plus Eight." He has won journalism awards and insists bribery was not involved. A native of Allentown, Boyer graduated from Penn State. He and his wife reside in Center City, where they enjoy strolling and paying the wage tax.

Melanie Burney joined the editorial board in January 2008 after covering education at the Inquirer for eight years. She previously worked at the Associated Press in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. She is a graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Josh Gohlke has been The Inquirer’s op-ed editor since last year, editing the daily commentary page and writing occasional editorials. He came to the Inquirer after eight years at The Record of Bergen County, N.J., first as a reporter covering local and state politics and government and ultimately as the deputy editorial page editor. He also worked as a reporter for several smaller papers in New Jersey and California. Josh was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Philadelphia.

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