Fiscal Board Approves Philadelphia’s 5-Year Plan

English: This is my own work, Public Domain Photograph, not copyrighted Ed Yakovich http://www.flickr.com/photos/10396190@N04 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Philadelphia’s finances are improving and are likely to continue doing so through 2019.

The Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) board made that optimistic determination Monday when it unanimously approved the city’s five-year plan.

The city’s fiscal overseers cautioned, however, that various risks were still associated with the Nutter administration’s long-term budget, including unresolved labor contracts, the School District’s fiscal crisis, and the pension fund.

Despite its concerns, PICA staff found enough good news in the five-year plan and in its most recent revenue reports to endorse that administration’s fiscal road map to 2019. So did the City Controller’s Office. Both the staff and the controller had recommended the opposite last year, for the first time in PICA’s history.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140722_PICA_likes_Phila__s_5-year_plan.html#qRukpGb4zKGUI7xu.99

Race Street Connector Project Back On Track With $1.1 Million Grant

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Walking or biking from Old City to Race Street Pier will become twice as nice later this year, as improvements to the north side of Race Street are set to begin this fall with a new $1.1 million state grant.

The Central Delaware Waterfront Corporation, the quasi-city agency that oversees both the city’s long-range plans for the waterfront and the development of the publicly owned parcels there, opened the south side of the Race Street Connector project more than two years ago.

Improved lighting, landscaping and hardscaping are designed to make traveling from neighborhood to waterfront more obvious and pleasant. The Race Street Connector was the first of a list of connector projects up and down the Central Delaware, all called for in the city’s long-range waterfront vision.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Race_Street_Connector_project_back_on_track_with_1_million_grant.html#fpfCMS41IBdxleUq.99

Philadelphia’s Future In The Numbers

English: View of Philadelphia City Hall from the corner of Broad and Walnut Streets. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of all the numbers that tell the story of Philadelphia today, one stands out as an unambiguous expression of confidence in the city’s future.

Last year, developers received building permits for 2,815 units of new residential housing, the most approved in a decade. Those units are worth an estimated $465 million, the highest annual amount on record.

Investors appear to be betting that Philadelphia’s population, which rose for the seventh straight year in 2013 to 1,553,165, will keep growing and that many of the new residents, young and old, will be looking for new homes and apartments.

There is some demographic evidence to support this expectation. In recent years, the city has experienced rapid growth in its population of young adults, many of them well-educated and upwardly mobile. In addition, an increasing number of aging baby boomers are leaving the suburbs and moving into the city. And the middle-class population appears to have stabilized after decades of decline.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140406_Philadelphia_s_future.html#Ukhw32j52iwf8tzl.99

In Happiness Rankings, Pennsylvania Feeling Kinda Blue

Map of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HOW YOU feeling, Bunkie? Something got you down?

In the annual Gallup poll measuring Americans’ sense of well-being, also known as the happiness poll, Pennsylvania was No. 36 in 2013, down sharply from 29 the year before. (Thank you, Gov. Corbett?) Since Philadelphians are the single biggest geographic group of Pennsylvanians, our civic angst probably drags down the ranking.

We have a schools crisis and send in a hothead as a healer. Crime by criminals is down but crime by cops is up. Buildings collapse, water mains explode, the mayor adds deputy mayors and bike lanes. Poverty is up, employment is down, as are the Phillies, Sixers and Flyers. No wonder we’re not happy.

Do I hear laughter from across the river?

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140303_Don_t_be_glum__chum.html#yTgJ8HAsd3rKLEHi.99

A Plan To Address Philadelphia’s Staggering Poverty

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In an unusually frank document, the city has laid out stark statistical descriptions of poverty in Philadelphia, accompanied by a plan to try to deal with the problem.

The Shared Prosperity Philadelphia plan, presented Thursday at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, states that at a “staggering 28 percent,” the poverty rate here is the highest among the nation’s 10 largest cities.  More than 430,000 of the city’s 1,547,600 residents live below the federal poverty line, the report points out.  The poverty line ranges from $11,490 for a single person to $23,550 for a family of four.

Further, black and Latino Philadelphians are twice as likely to be poor as whites.  “Most distressing,” the report continues, “39 percent of Philadelphia’s children are poor.”

Poverty is a “persistent and devastating problem” in Philadelphia, and holds back many residents, Mayor Nutter said at the event.  “We may never benefit from their knowledge and abilities because they will never have the chance to develop their talent,” he said.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130712_City_outlines_plan_to_deal_with_poverty.html#pqtpEKGxsieZayRO.99

Where’s The Collapsed Building’s Owner?

I STOPPED by the super swank Symphony House residences yesterday to have a chat with Richard Basciano about his killer building.

“Is he expecting you?” the cranky concierge asked.

Well, I didn’t know if the owner of the crumbling building that flattened a neighboring Salvation Army thrift store was expecting me.  But he should’ve been expecting someone – like officials from the city seeking answers about his choice of a discount demolition crew, for starters.

Basciano’s company paid some insta-demolition crew $10,000 for a job demo experts said should have cost closer to $250,000.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130609_Stop_hiding__Richard_Basciano.html#eIFpQjReFm5KIPiW.99

Woman Found Alive | 6 Dead | 14 Hurt Cleanup Underway

English: Center City viewed from West Philadelphia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though the rubble is being cleared, the collapse of two buildings in Center City that left five women and one man dead, in addition to the dramatic late night rescue of a survivor, will surely go down as one of the biggest tragedies in Philadelphia’s history.

City officials were still grappling with the events of yesterday early this morning.  They have yet to make an announcement as to what may have gone wrong at a demolition site that led to the destruction.

A search and rescue operation that was expected to continue today has apparently been suspended.  Early this morning, firefighters were standing by, not actively combing the site.  The ambulances that lined Market Street for much of yesterday are gone.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/6_dead_in_Philadelphia_building_collapse.html#18GCkOqYMexevE2F.99

Kill-adelphia: City Tops List Of Homicide Rates

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Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation’s 10 most populous cities, according to stats provided by each city’s police department. At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved.

With a few days left in the year, the city’s homicide tally stood at 324 Wednesday, including the eight victims allegedly killed in previous years by West Philly abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Last year, 306 people were killed, and the year before, 302.

But despite the jump in homicides this year, city officials prefer to focus on the past. When they compare numbers, they go back to 2007, when murders in Philly were at the five-year high of 392. Looking at it that way, they get a 17 percent decrease in the murder rate from 2007 to 2011.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20111230_Kill-adelphia__Yet_again__city_tops_list_of_homicide_rates.html?cmpid=124488459

A Nutter Idea…Think Dumber Than The Soda Tax

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Our favorite mayor, Michael Nutter, has come up with another ludicrous idea on how to rip-off Philadelphians to fill city coffers.   See link below for more details. 

http://theryancokeexperience.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/city-to-charge-for-blogging/    

TWO HUGE THUMBS DOWN for this lame-brained scheme.