Vol. III No. 14 (383)
Keeping You Posted With The Politics Of Philadelphia
January 25, 2012
Philadelphia Daily Record
PHILLY GOES VAN GOGHS
WORLD-CLASS ASSEMBLY of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings will light up Art Museum starting Feb. 1. Story page 3.
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Calendar Jan. 27- 8th Dist. Councilwoman Cindy Bass and staff will host Coffee Meet with residents at Jim & Rita’s Fine Cuisine, 4938 N. Broad St., 8-10 a.m. Jan. 27- State Rep. Rosita Youngblood holds Fish or Chicken Fry at Lou & Choo’s, 2101 W. Hunting Pk. Ave., 5-9 p.m. Tickets $10. Feb. 4- Green Night Out features Prof. Eileen Appelbaum to discuss “Paid Sick Leave & Paid Sick Days” at Singapore Restaurant, 1006 Race St., 7 p.m. Space is limited, so RSVP Green Party at (215) 243-7103. Feb. 8- Judge Angelo Foglietta is sworn in at City Hall Rm. 653, 4:00 p.m. Recpetion follows at Law Library. Feb. 9- Steve Aldrich of IBEW Local 269 invites all to reception in honor of State Rep. Tina Davis at Bailey’s Bar & Grille, 6922 Bristol Emilie Rd., Levittown, Pa. Host $1,000, Patron $500, Friend. $250, Supporter, $50. RSVP Seth Skversky (215) 550-1186. Feb. 10- Fundraiser for cancer survivor Vicki Cum-
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mings at SmokeEaters Pub, 7681 Frankford Ave., 7-10 p.m. Donation $35. If you cannot make event, donation to “Friends of Vicki Cummings” c/o The Lucas Family, 3128 Cottman Ave., Phila., PA 19149. For info Friendsofvickicummings@yahoo.com Feb. 10- Arthur Green presents 14th Ward Pre-Valentine’s Day Cabaret at Barber’s Ha., Broad & Oxford Sts., 9 p.m.-??? Donation $10. For info Arthur Green (267) 9867948. Feb. 10-12- Penna. Progressive Summit at Convention Ctr., Broad & Arch Sts. Variety of registration fees, $50-$150. For info paprogressivesummit.or g. Feb. 13- Fundraiser for State Rep candidate Al Simpson at Breen’s Pub, Huntingdon Pk., 6-9 p.m. Ticket, $35, sold at door. Feb. 21- Alliance Française de Philadelphie Mardi Gras celebration at Restaurant School, 4207 Walnut St., 6:30 p.m. Roaring ’20s theme, prize for best costume. Tickets $60. For info (215) 7355283.
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Chester Mayor Pushes HIV/AID Proclamation His Honor, Mayor John Linder of Chester, Pa., and Chester City Council, intend to make a proclamation at today’s City Council meeting regarding HIV/AIDS awareness. Mayor and Council will also be voting on
resolutions made regarding additional new staff to the Linder Administration. The City Council Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. Jan. 25, inside Council Chambers at City Hall of Chester City, 1 Fourth Street, Chester, Pa.
‘V’ is for Van Gogh! Seven banners spelling “Van Gogh” were mounted across the East entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art today promoting Van Gogh Up Close exhibition, which opens to the public on February 1 and runs through May 6, 2012.
only US stop for this international show which presents some of the artist’s most daring and innovative paintings that have never been seen together.
ers, trees, open fields, forest interiors, and countryside vistas. Loans from major museums and private collections in Europe, North America, and Japan include van Gogh’s The exhibition features over 70 famous Almond Blossom, Sunflowworks including 46 still lifes and ers, Iris, Sheaves of Wheat and landscapes van Gogh made in Vineyard at Auvers. Van Gogh Up Close exhibition is the France that are “close-ups” of flow-
PFT President Jerry Jordan Reelected To New Term President Jerry T. Jordan will serve another four-year term at the helm of the state’s largest school-employee union, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, after running unopposed for President.
our students every day,” Jordan said. “This is an extraordinarily challenging time for Philadelphia educators, parents and students, but I will never stop advocating for teachers and staff to have the resources they need to ensure that stuIt is only the second time in the dents have the opportunity to get a union’s 47-year history that a standgood education. ing president has run unopposed. “Too often, the remedies to School Also elected was Jordan’s slate, the District budget problems target stuCB (Collective Bargaining) Team, dents, public schools, teachers and for PFT Executive Board as well as staff disproportionately,” Jordan delegates for the 2012 American added. “You can’t provide a 21st cenFederation of Teachers’ bi-annual tury education by stripping schools convention and the 2013 AFT Pennof every last resource.” Jordan has sylvania state convention. been president of the PFT since 2007.
and English as a Second Language teacher in 1976. He joined the union that year and served as a PFT building representative, legislative representative on the Executive Board, a PFT staff representative, a special assistant to the PFT President and general VP. He has been a member of the PFT Negotiating Team since 1992 and chief negotiator since 2000.
Jordan was elected at an Executive Board meeting Monday night when PFT Secretary Freda Sydnor-Joell cast a single ballot on behalf of Jordan and his slate, as specified in the PFT Constitution. The new PFT of“I am honored to have the privilege His new term begins Jul. 1. Jordan ficers, Executive Board Members to serve our dedicated teachers and joined the School District of and delegates are listed on the support staff who give so much to Philadelphia as a Spanish language PFT’s Website, www.pft.org. • PHILADELPHIADAILYRECORD.COM
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EPA Announces Who Pays For OxyChem Site The US Environmental Protection Agency today announced current and former owners and operators of the Occidental Chemical Corporation Superfund Site in Lower Pottsgrove Township, Montgomery Co. have agreed to pay $2.1 million in past cleanup costs for the site.
Under the “Superfund” law, the landowners, waste generators and waste transporters that are responsible for the contamination of a Superfund site must either clean up the site, or reimburse the government or other parties for cleanup activities.
In a consent decree filed in federal court by the Justice Department on behalf of EPA, the companies also assumed responsibility for all future cleanup costs at the site. The companies included Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations and Glenn Springs Holdings, Inc.
OxyChem currently owns the site where it manufactured polyvinyl chloride plastic resins from 1980 to 2005. OxyChem purchased the site from Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. (now known as Bridgestone Americas Tire operations), which manufactured tires and PVC there from approximately 1945 to 1980. Set-
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tling defendant Glenn Springs Holdings, Inc., a corporate affiliate of OxyChem, is the current operator of the site. Glenn Springs assumed management of the site in 2005 after OxyChem closed its PVCmanufacturing facility. From 1942 to 1985, operators used the site for disposal of industrial wastes including cutting oils, metal filings, tires, and PVC sludge resins. In 1989, EPA placed the site on its Superfund list of the nation’s most contaminated sites to address unsafe levels of trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and other hazardous substances in the soil and groundwater. OxyChem, under EPA oversight, performed remedial action at the site and completed construction in 2008.
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CCO Premiers New Opera Center City Opera Theater will present the first staged workshops previewing an emotionally moving and musically eclectic new opera ... Slaying the Dragon, by composer Michael Ching and librettist Ellen Frankel, which confronts contemporary themes such as ethnic tolerance and stereotyping. It is set for its world premiere this June in Philadelphia.
Inspired by real events, Slaying the Dragon is the tale of Jerry Krieg, a white supremacist whose life of hatred is turned around due to the compassion and kindness of a rabbi and his wife. The true story, as depicted in the novel Not by the Sword by Kathryn Watterson, is about atonement, forgiveness, and redemption. Through their unlikely relationship, Kreig and Rabbi Goodman are each forced to face
their dark past and break away from its incarceration. Workshops for Slaying the Dragon are at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 at Opera Delaware in Wilmington and Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. at the Ethical Society in Philadelphia. General admission is $15; for more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.operatheater.org.
Bad Division: Controller Questions School District Math In a letter to Thomas Knudsen, the new chief recovery officer for the School District of Philadelphia, City Controller Alan Butkovitz today raised serious concerns over a “number of conditions,” which raises substantial doubt over the School District’s continued viability.” Butkovitz stated, “Unless School District management can provide compelling evidence to alleviate this doubt, our Independent Auditor’s Report will include an explanatory paragraph to reflect our conclusion of substantial doubt to continue as a going concern.”
• The district’s continued ineffectiveness in solving its growing budget gap. t the October 26, 2011 School Reform Commission meeting, district management presented an update of its gap closing plan, which indicated a projected gap of $22 million that remained unresolved. This unresolved gap grew to In his letter to Knudsen, Butkovitz $61 million at the Jan. 19, 2012 raised issue with the following conSRC meeting, indicating managecerns:
ment’s inability to come up with realistic initiatives to effectively close the gap. • The district’s limited authority to further cut costs to close its ever increasing budget gap. According to the district’s fiscal year 2012 budget update presented at the Jan. 19 SRC meeting, the gap-closing plan has already involved $410 million in cost cuts to district operations. The pres-
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THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD entation provided various options to address a $61 million projected budget deficit which involves a variety of additional cuts to the schools and central office, substantial elimination of safety officers, and system-wide compensation savings. Given the already extensive cost cutting measures that have been taken to date, Butkovitz questions (1) the district’s authority to implement these additional cuts, and (2) the feasibility of implementing the cuts considering such factors as impact on school operations and safety, union and community opposition, increased risk of noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations, and potential exposure to additional liabilities such as lawsuits. • The inability of the School District to identify additional funding streams. In fiscal year 2012, the School District has experienced unprecedented reductions in its federal and state funding. Based upon the latest Operating Funds Financial Statement presented at the Jan. 19 SRC meeting, fiscal year 2012 federal and State funding was projected to be $408 million less than fiscal year 2011 grant revenues. This reduction was caused by the elimination of federal Stimulus and Education Jobs Fund grants and decreased State funding. Anticipated additional funding sources — $53 million of City funding (primarily from increased real-estate taxes and 6|
parking rates) and a $37 million loan from SEPTA to fund student trans-passes — have already been factored in as revenue sources in calculating the $61 million projected deficit. To date, district management has not identified any additional funding streams to assist in overcoming the fiscal year projected 2012 budget deficit. • The deferral of fiscal year 2012 expenditures to the future. The budget gap closing measures taken by the School District involved non-recurring savings of $140 million that deferred fiscal year 2012 expenditures to future years. These included (1) $61 million of debt principal and interest payments due in fiscal year 2012 that were refunded and deferred to future fiscal years; (2) $42 million of a one-time deferral and elimination of payments to the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ Health and Welfare Fund; and (3) a $37 million trans-pass loan from SEPTA to be paid back in future years.
creases for such items as wages and benefits, debt service, and pension contributions. This starting gap of $269 million could grow even significantly more if the fiscal year 2012 deficit is not closed and there are any additional costs and/or lost revenues. To date, the District has not presented any formal plans on how it will overcome the budget gap for fiscal year 2013. “Because the conditions raise serious concerns about the district’s continued viability, it is imperative that the School District explain to us, as quickly as possible, how they plan to deal with the adverse effects of the conditions we outlined,” said Butkovitz. “We must know their strategies so we can determine if they will mitigate the adverse effects of the conditions we outlined, and whether the strategies can be effectively implemented by the School District.”
The Controller’s Office has targeted Feb. 10 to release its Independent Auditor’s Report for inclusion in the • No formal plans to address the pro- district’s Comprehensive Annual Fijected fiscal year 2013 budget gap. nancial Report. Butkovitz requested The School District’s fiscal year that the School District respond by 2012 budget update presentation in- the close of business, Jan. 27. dicated that the projected fiscal year To view a copy of the City Con2013 starting budget gap was $269 troller’s letter sent to the School million – caused by the loss of $169 District’s new Chief Recovery Ofmillion of non-recurring savings and ficer, please visit the Controller’s expenditure deferrals in fiscal year website at www.philadelphiacon2012 and a projected growth of troller.org. $100 million in mandated cost in-
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Philly Nets MLS All-Star Game
The 2012 MLS All-Star game is Garber appeared at the news confercoming to the City of Brotherly ence with Union CEO Nick Love in July. Sakiewicz, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Chester, Pa. The showcase exhibition game was Mayor John Linder. awarded to the Philadelphia Union, who will host the annual event Jul. Last year’s game was held at Red 25 at PPL Park. Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., and featured top MLS players taking on The opponent will be announced in Manchester United. two months, MLS Commissioner Don Garber told reporters at The game will be broadcast on Philadelphia City Hall on Tuesday. ESPN2, Galavision or Telefutura, and in Canada on TSN and RDS. “We have nothing specific yet,” ESPN International will make the Garber said. “We’re hoping to have game available in more than 130 something soon, within 60 days. countries. In addition, the game will That’s the plan.” be streamed online, and on ESPN3
and WatchESPN in the United States. Manchester United defeated the MLS All-Star team, 4-0, in last year’s event. The game featured MLS stars Thierry Henry and David Beckham. “I’m anxious to find out the opponent like everybody else,” Sakiewicz said. “You know what, from where we were four years ago, when we didn’t even have a stadium, to where we are now, this is amazing. I think the fans are going to be rewarded in a big way.”
McCaffery Defers To Murphy For AG Attorney Dan McCaffery has decided to not seek the Democrat nomination for the State’s Attorney General post. He will be among those supporting former Congressman Pat Murphy.
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