San Fran Watter Bottle Ban

According to the Associated Press, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order banning City departments from buying bottled water, even for water coolers. The bottle ban goes into effect July 1 and will extend to water coolers by December 1. The move is intended to staunch global warming and save taxpayers' money. In a press release announcing the move, the Mayor expressed concern over the environmental impact of making, transporting and disposing of the bottles. Over a billion of the plastic vessels end up in California's landfills every year. When the ban goes into effect, City and County (San Francisco is both a City and County, just like Philadelphia) offices will dispense municipal tap water.

I Saw a Fox Last Night

At about 11:00 PM last night, the motion-activated light in my back yard went on. I looked out the window and saw a little red fox. Right here in East Falls. Very cool.

Friday Agricultural Factoid

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside. Further, the Commonwealth ranks sixth nationally in strawberry production at $12.8 million.

Energy Independence for Pennsylvania

Governor Edward G. Rendell tonight praised the House of Representatives for overwhelmingly approving two major components of his Energy Independence Strategy. The chamber voted to approve two measures tonight. House Bill 1202, which provides for cleaner fuels and makes Pennsylvania less reliant on foreign oil, passed on a vote of 138-60, while House Bill 1200 was approved by a margin of 129-69. HB 1200 paves the way new economic development opportunities in the rapidly growing clean and renewable energy technology development industry. House Bill 1200 expands the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority to encourage new investments in the state’s growing renewable energy development and deployment fields. The authority will target grants, loans and tax credits to alternative energy manufacturers and energy-efficient companies to promote research in the field and attract new jobs to the state. PEDA is an independent financing authority established to help finance clean energy projects in Pennsylvania. Governor Rendell brought the board back to life in March 2005 after years of inactivity to help create new economic opportunities for Pennsylvania. Since that time, PEDA has awarded $21 million in grants and loans for 57 clean energy projects that are leveraging another $240 million in private investment. The projects will create 975 permanent and construction jobs. House Bill 1202 mandates new standards for clean burning fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, and by increasing demand for these products, will help create new opportunities for the state’s farmers. The bill requires that gasoline be blended with 10 percent ethanol and that diesel fuel eventually include 20 percent biodiesel once in-state production reaches certain levels. The Governor’s Energy Independence Strategy is designed to save consumers $10 billion in energy costs over the next decade, increase Pennsylvania’s alternative and renewable energy production capacity, reduce the state’s dependence on foreign fuels, and create more jobs. For more information on the Energy Independence Strategy, visit http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/.

Wall Street West

According to an article in the New York Times, Pennsylvania is looking to offer itself as an alternative to NYC as a backup facility site for New York City’s financial industry. Pennsylvania officials are promoting a nine-county region 100 miles west of Manhattan as the place to put backup facilities for Wall Street. Governor Rendell announced plans to build a $24 million fiber-optic network to carry data from Manhattan to Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA).

Better City Services: More Thoughts

Rationalization of City Department/Agency Service Districts

There is little to no coterminity between the service districts of various departments/agencies in the City. This means that there is little opportunity for inter-departmental cooperation and the efficiency and effectiveness it promotes. Presently, you cannot call a meeting of all “District One” departmental representatives to a meeting to focus on a particular problem in a specific area of the City. The system isn’t set up that way. However, imagine if the City were separated into 10 or so fairly large agglomerations of similarly situated and/or proximate neighborhoods with coterminous departmental service districts and a deputy managing director overseeing operations. It would produce an accountability system and focus currently lacking with respect to service delivery to neighborhoods.

Friday Agricultural Factoid: One Day Late

According to the Commonwealth's Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania has over 700 golf courses, generating $1.1 billion in economic benefit. The industry supports local agriculture businesses like greenhouses, nurseries and sod farms.

Creating an Office of Neighborhoods for Philadelphia

While everybody says that Philadelphia is a “City of Neighborhoods”, it is surprising how little attention and support they are given from the Mayor’s office and the City of Philadelphia’s government generally. Philadelphia neighborhoods aren’t quaint abstractions, but real places that have “organic jurisdictional form”; that is, they don’t have the legal standing of a separate municipality, but they have issues and concerns that distinguish them from other neighborhoods. Despite the reality of neighborhood differentiation, the structure of City government does very little to recognize this form or to support neighborhood-based and focused community organizations.

While economies of scale are important to achieve, the ineffectiveness of service agglomeration for a city government trying to serve a socio-economically diverse constituency City presents its own set of problems; one size does not fit all.

Mike Nutter's Acceptance Speech

It was a great night and a great speech; watch it here.

Nutter Wins!

Photo of the Philadelphia flag is from Phillyskyline; Mike Nutter has won the Democratic Primary and will likely be the next Mayor of Philadelphia.

Nutter Endorsements

They're not just coming from the major dailys anymore, many local blogs have endorsed Nutter. Here are just a few:

Phawker
Booman Tribune (a nationally known blog that is Philly-based)
Laepplehertzog
Truth, Justice, and Peace

And of course, even before America's Hometown was a blog, we've been endorsing Michael Nutter for Mayor since 2003.

Chris Bowers on the Mayor's Race and Politics in Philadelphia

Commentary from Philadelphia's own Chris Bowers on the Mayor's race over at MyDD can be found here.

A Union Endorsement for Nutter

From the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Nutter also received the endorsement of Local 835 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents 1,975 skilled tradesmen at area universities and cultural institutions."

Michael Nutter' Latest Television Ad

Michael Nutter's latest ad is here. It presents the deluge of endorsements he's recently received.

The Fallser Endorses Mike Nutter for Mayor

The Fallser - East Falls' community newspaper - has endorsed Michael Nutter for Mayor. Said the Fallser:

More than any other candidate, Mr. Nutter’s plans have both depth and substance. He is the brightest, most knowledgeable about Philadelphia and adjacent suburbs, and best able to articulate his plans for the city.

Mr. Nutter pledges to use the City’s economic development resources to create opportunities for all Philadelphians, including small business owners and middle class residents, now being squeezed out by Philadelphia’s shrinking job base. “I understand how to create neighborhood jobs,” he says, “I’ve been doing it as a District Council member for 15 years.”

P.S. East Falls is a fairly large neighborhood with more than 10,000 people.

Hot Places, Cool Spaces

Check out this link for some very neat, environmentally conscious developments in the Fishtown/Northern Liberties sections of town.

Michael Nutter's Latest Ad

Michael Nutter's latest television ad is here.

When Republicans Attack

Has anybody heard about the Republican review of Governor Rendell's appointments to the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Kathleen McGinty and Mike DiBerardinis? If not, there's a post over at Young Philadelphia Politics that does a great job of explaining what's going on and why we need to speak up. The post on YPP is here; I'd also urge you to send an email to State lawmakers here.

Michael Nutter Continues to Surge

News from the Nutter Campaign:

He's raised $3.4 million so far, likely more than any of the non-self funded candidates. He's raised $325,000 in the last four days!!

Also, the latest NBC10 Survey USA poll confirms Nutter's position as "co-frontrunner" with Tom Knox. The SurveyUSA poll has Knox with 29 percent and Nutter surging into second with 27 percent, 13 points better than the last poll for NBC10. Fattah stays at 18, Brady falls to 11 and Evans to 9.

Matt McClure (Candidate for 4th Councilmanic District) Releases Fairmount Park Plan

On the 135th Anniversary of Arbor Day, Matt McClure, candidate for the Fourth Council District, released his plan for making immediate improvements to Fairmount Park by providing secure and adequate financial resources and clearly accountable leadership to make system-wide improvements.

Once elected, McClure has committed to immediately fighting for complete implementation of the Fairmount Park Commission’s Five Year Funding Plan. The majority of Fairmount Park’s 9,200 acres lies within the Fourth Councilmanic District.

“Its time to end the secretive backroom deals that select our Park Commissioners and City Councilmembers,” stated McClure. “Instead, I want to work hand-in-hand with an independent commission and parks advocates to keep our parks well-maintained, safe, and attractive. Fairmount Park is one of our region’s strongest assets, and with some innovative approaches to income retention and entrepreneurial opportunities, I believe that not only will we have the largest urban park system in the world, I believe we can also have the best.”

Matt's full plan for Fairmount Park can be found here.