Giving the Gift of Mean this Holiday Season

Representative Scott Boyd (R – Lancaster) is drafting an amendment to the Pennsylvania State Constitution that would deny gay/lesbian families legal recognition. Four other representatives have already signed on to this proposal called the “Pennsylvania Marriage Protection Amendment”. On December 6, the Pennsylvania Family Institute sent an email urging their members to contact state legislators to support this amendment. If you’re not a homophobe, please contact your state representative and ask them to actively oppose this mean-spirited legislative initiative. By the way, homophobes in the legislature have already established in Pennsylvania law a prohibition against gay/lesbian marriage; this amendment is not necessary, and is only designed to add insult to injury.

If you’re heterosexual, the “Marriage Protection Amendment” would affect your family as well – not just families with same-sex partners. For example:

• In Ohio, courts have ruled that unmarried people, including unmarried heterosexual couples, may not seek protection from abuse orders.
  
• In Michigan, groups are challenging domestic partner benefits for employees.
  
• Virginia’s recently enacted amendment is so broad that it may interfere with the rights of all Virginians to create wills, medical directives, powers of attorney, child custody and property arrangements, and even joint bank accounts.

Robert Reich: How Unequal Can America Get Before We Snap?

Robert Reich was the 22nd Secretary of Labor. During his tenure, he implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), advocated against sweatshops in the U.S. and illegal child labor abroad, and spearheaded the Clinton administration’s successful effort to increase the minimum wage, among many successful initiatives. I’ve become a fan of his NPR spots and also just listened to a lecture he gave in Berkley entitled “How Unequal Can America Get Before We Snap”, which I recommend.

Pennslvania Agriculture Industry: Blue Chippers

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Commowealth chipmakers Utz Quality Foods and Herr Foods are leaders in the Baltimore/Washington and Philadelphia markets, respectively. According to recent analyses of supermarket sales, totals for both companies ranked #1 in each market over the national leader, Frito-Lay.

BPT and the Chamber: Let's Seek Quid Pro Quo

Why not ask the Chamber of Commerce - as the organization ostensibly representing Philadelphia-area businesses - to put their money where their mouth is in terms of the argument that Business Privilege Tax ("BPT") cuts translate into increased employment, business expansion, and economic opportunity. Let's ask them - in exchange for BPT reduction or elimination - to create a quantitative, measurable array of economic benefits (e.g., more jobs) for the City of Philadelphia. A continued program of tax reduction could be tied to the prior period's performance (three to five years?). If positive results were not achieved, there'd be no further tax cuts, if job creation goals were achieved, then the tax cutting program would continue. This concept would be an expansion of the more targeted job creation tax credit programs that Councilman Goode has championed. Could it work?

Thanks to A Smoke Filled Room for helping to refine this concept.

We Already Knew: Downtowns are Back

There’s a new report by the Brookings Institution that confirms what downtown boosters have known for years: downtowns are back – in a big way – as high-end residential and entertainment districts. The report also has some general advice for city leaders: it finds a “relationship between density and the ability to attract downtown residents.” The import of this finding is that cities should not build communities and housing that looks and feels suburban. That is, if people want suburban living, they’ll live there. Downtown residents are a different species; they want density, sidewalk dining, action, buses, culture, honking horns, and bikes on the sidewalk. In short, they want urban life.

Homegrown Energy Solutions from the Rendell Administration

Governor Rendell has been aggressive in developing homegrown energy solutions. His efforts include:

• The East Coast’s first commercially viable biofuels storage and blending system in Middletown, Dauphin County. The plant will replace 3.2 million gallons of foreign oil with domestically produced biodiesel and will keep about $6 million worth of energy dollars in the commonwealth by reducing the state’s need to purchase imported fuels.

• The nation’s first-ever waste-coal-to-diesel plant and creation of a fuel consortium that will purchase nearly all of the cheaper, cleaner, diesel fuel that will be produced at the Schuylkill County facility. The plant, which is being built by Waste Management and Processors Inc. of Gilberton, Schuylkill County, will use waste coal to produce as much as 40 million gallons of clean-burning diesel annually. Construction will create as many as 1,000 jobs. Operating the plant will produce another 600 permanent, high-paying, positions. The company expects to break ground and start construction as early as spring of 2006.

• The Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant Program, which funds projects that build markets for advanced and renewable energy technologies that use biomass, wind, solar, small-scale hydroelectric, landfill methane, energy efficiency, coal-bed methane and waste coal. The program has awarded $10 million and leveraged another $26.7 million in private funds since its inception in May 2003.

• The Renewable Agricultural Energy Council, which focuses on developing and expanding agricultural energy industries in Pennsylvania. Renewable agricultural energy has the potential to support and grow the agriculture industry by providing as many as 64,000 additional jobs. Renewable agricultural energy can help diversify agricultural activities and stimulate the growth of crops that strengthen the agriculture industry.

• Expansion of the state’s Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant Program, which invests in enhancing the infrastructure necessary to expand the state’s capacity to produce alternative fuels. AFIG also helps residents purchase alternative-fuel vehicles and finances related fuel projects to create new markets that can have measurable impacts on pollution reduction, environmental protection and economic growth.

Philadelphia Marathon Breaks Participation Record

Last weekend’s 12th annual Philadelphia Marathon was the largest ever, with 1,500 more runners than last year. The event is ranked among the top 20 marathons in the nation. Of note, the women’s division winner was a local, Emily Kroshus – age 22 - of Manayunk.

Instead of TABOR...

What would be a responsible plan for imposing spending caps on state spending?

If legislators are serious about capping spending, they should tell the public where state spending should be reduced and then they should seek to enact such spending cuts when they vote on the annual state budget.

Before locking the Commonwealth into spending cuts with unknown consequences, the General Assembly should hold public hearings on any spending cap proposal they are considering. So far the House and Senate have not held a single public hearing on any spending cap proposal. They have already taken votes on these important legislative proposals without one opportunity for the public to comment on or question the cap proposals. Hearings would allow the Administration and citizens affected by state programs to discuss the impact that caps could have on the Commonwealth’s goals to increase educational attainment, accelerate economic growth, enhance environmental protection, and protect public health.

Hybrid Technology for the Home

The Braintree Electric Light Department in Massachusetts is launching a pilot program to test new “mini-power plants”; natural gas-powered hybrid energy systems that can be installed in private homes. The units generate enough electricity and heat to satisfy a household’s daily needs. These systems produce electricity more than twice as efficiently as an average power plant and are already used – where else - in Japan and parts of Europe.

Is PA Spending Out of Control?

No. In 2003 (the most recent year for which Federal data is available), Pennsylvania ranked 26th in spending per capita, slightly below the average for all 50 states.

TABOR? Why Not Just Follow the Constitution?

Article 8, Section 13 of Pennsylvania's state Constitution requires a balanced budget. The Constitution states that the General Assembly shall not make appropriations that exceed actual and estimated revenues and surplus available in the same fiscal year. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania cannot adopt a budget that exceeds its revenues.

Turkeys in the Commonwealth: The Legislature

So, some in the State Legislature would like to pass a "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" bill that would limit budget expenditures to inflationary levels. What has our fiscally prudent legislature been doing over the past three budget years to reduce its spending? Nada mucho. Between the 2002-03 and 2005-06 fiscal years, the Legislature has increased its budget by nearly 35% – from $252.4 million to $340.4 million. This compares to 5% annual growth in the overall budget, and a 9% cut imposed by Governor Rendell on state agency operating budgets. The message? "Do as we say, not as we do".

Turkeys in the Commonwealth: Not the Legislature

The Commonwealth ranks 9th nationally in turkey production, with 9.5 million birds raised on PA's 704 turkey farms. The average market price for a turkey was 47 cents per pound, making turkey production a $101.4 million industry in our state.

Ethics/Reform Movement Presses On

From the Committee of 70, "Members of the Law and Government Committee voted today to push forward six pieces of ethics-related legislation with minor amendments. The bills now move to the floor of the entire Council where members will have the opportunity to take the next step in ethics reform and answer the voices of the voters who made it clear on November 8th that they want change."

Germantown Condomania

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Westrum Development Corporation has preliminary plans to build between 200 and 400 townhouses on a portion of Germantown Community Health Services' campus.

The Benefit Bank

The Benefit Bank is a web-based software program – developed by Solutions for Progress (a Philadelphia-based company) - that helps low and moderate income individuals apply for benefits and tax credits that they and their families qualify for. Billions of dollars go unclaimed because applying for state/federal benefits are time-consuming and confusing; this program aims to lower the barriers to application.

University City Condomania

According to the University City District, the Hanover Company (out of Houston) has broken ground on a project they’re calling “Domus” (that's a Roman word for “house”). It’s a $71 million project that will include 290 luxury homes and will rise eight stories on a former surface parking lot at 34th and Chestnut.

The Philadelphia Public School Notebook

For those who want to know more about what's going on in the Philadelphia School District - arguably the entity most integral to our City's long-term social and economic success - might AHT recommend The Philadelphia Public School Notebook, which, according to their website is "an independent quarterly newspaper that serves as a voice for parents, students, teachers, and other members of the community who are working for quality and equality in Philadelphia's public schools."

Pennsylvania’s Agriculture Economy

The National Agriculture Statistics Service recently released information about Pennsylvania farmers' 2004 cash receipts. Milk accounted for 36.4% of the $4.9 billion in gross sales across the Commonwealth. Rounding out the top five were cattle/calves with 9.5% of sales, greenhouse & nursery products 8.8%, Agaricus mushrooms 7.8%, and eggs 7%. Broilers, hogs, corn, hay and turkeys occupied the remaining top ten positions. Other commodities were each less than 1% of the total gross sales.

A Victory for Nutter and the City of Philadelphia

Councilman Nutter’s ethics reform ballot initiative passed yesterday by a 6-to-1 ratio, the largest margin for such a measure in 15 years. The huge margin of victory dispels two myths:

(1) That Philadelphians don’t want an ethical, reform-oriented government; they clearly expect it, and

(2) That Councilman Nutter is a “lone wolf” and that he has no political base. From getting this measure through Council to galvanizing overwhelming public support at the polls, Councilman Nutter has shown himself to be quite adept at both the “inside” and “outside” components of the local political game.