Daily Record

Vol. III No. 121 (486)

Keeping You Posted With The Politics Of Philadelphia

July 31, 2012

Philadelphia Daily Record

‘Binding Is Binding’

“BINDING IS BINDING. Honor the award!” rose the chant as thousands of firefighters, led by Local 22, marched on City Hall last week to protest Mayor Michael Nutter’s refusal to comply with contract decision awarded in binding arbitration to Fire Fighters Local 22.

Other firefighters, in town for national convention, joined their union brothers and sisters. This week, political support for firefighters is rising.

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The Philadelphia Public Record

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Aug. 3- Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., to open second 4th Distric Officed at 5462 Ridge Av., corner of Hermit st. at 12 noon.

Aug. 3- State Rep. Rosita Younblood hosts County Resource Fair at Caanan Baptist Ch., 5430 Pulaski Ave., 11 a.m.2 p.m. For info (215) 849-6426. th

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Aug. 3- Arthur Green’s 14 Ward Cool Summer Madness Night at New Barber’s Hall, Broad & Oxford Sts., 9 p.m. $10 admission.

Aug. 4- State Sen. Anthony Williams hosts Family Fun Day with Keystone Mercy at Vare Rec Ctr., 2600 Morris sSt., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. For info Don Cave (215) 492-2980.

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Aug. 4— White Linen Birthday Celebration of Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., at Miss Tootsie’s Restaurant, 1312 South St., VIP reception 6 p.m., general ticketholders 8 p.m. For info Ajeenah Amir (202) 468-6936.

Aug. 4- 2nd annual Hunting Park Family Fun and Fitness Day at Hunting Park Recreation Center, 901 W. Hunting Park Av., from 11 am to 5 pm.

Aug. 6- Golf Outing to support Charles Gehret, Penna. State Senate GOP candidate in 17th

PHILADELPHIADAILYRECORD.COM •

Dist., at Sand Barrens G.C., 1765 Rte. 9 N., Swainton, N.J. Registration 9 a.m. For info Judy Camiel (610) 668-1730.

Aug. 10- 11 Two day Give Back Festival hosted by Nicetown CDC marking its 10th anniversary, 4300 Germantown Av. Aug. 15- Happy Hour Fundraiser for City Commission Chairwoman Stephanie Singer at Happy Rooster, SWC 16th & Sansom Sts., enter Sansom St., 5:30-7:30 p.m. $100-$500.

Checks made out to Friends of Stephanie Singer, 250 S. 17th St., #701, Phila., PA 19103.

Aug. 16- Mt. Airy Night Market will take place on Germantown Avenue from Carpenter Lane to Mt. Airy Avenue from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Aug. 17- Bobbie Carter Foundation Diabetes Games Night, 6:00 to 8:30 pm at Park Avenue Banquet Hall, 4942 Parkside Av. Buffet and wine sampling $5.

For info call Yanina Carterf at 267-586-2268.

Aug. 18- Barrett Rec Ctr. Advisory Board Community Day, 8th & Duncannon Sts., 11 a.m.-3 pm. No charge. Family fun day.

All invited. For info Sheila Bellamy (215) 457-4079.

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Stack To Mayor: Withdraw Appeal Of Fire Contract State Sen. Mike Stack (D-Northeast) said Philadelphia’s firefighters and paramedics deserve the Mayor’s support and the benefits awarded to them in their new contract.

“I know that these difficult, financial times make it nearly impossible to adequately fund every program; however, in a city the size of Philadelphia, we cannot afford to jeopardize the quality of our emergency services,” Stack said. “More importantly, fire safety Stack sent a letter yesterday urging Mayor Michael is an area that we must preserve and strengthen.”

Nutter to withdraw his appeal of the arbitration panel’s recent award decision, which will end a Stack said Controller Alan Butkovitz has pointed out three-year contract dispute. the City can afford to pay for the contract award. Additionally, the Fire Dept.’s recent cost-savings meas“Philadelphia firefighters and paramedics are brave, ures, including firehouse closings and brownouts, hardworking public servants who always answer the save an approximate $14.5 million per year. Stack call. They step up to protect the public from burning also said the General Assembly gave the City the auwarehouses and homes, auto accidents, gas spills, thority to increase its sales tax to pay for critical city and other dangerous situations,” Stack said. “Now services. it is our time to protect them.”

“The Mayor should focus on collecting the $515 Stack said the City should move forward and immillion in delinquent property taxes to bring in revplement the arbitration panel’s decision so that citienue, instead of fighting with the firefighters,” said zens of Philadelphia will continue to receive critical the Senator. firefighting services.

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Daily Waffles From Joe Sbaraglia (The Waffleman) CRACKER CRUMBSOn the crumbs, spread a layer of chocolate pudding.

On to the chocolate pudding, spread a layer of graham cracker crumbs. Then gently pour vanilla pudding on the

crumbs.

Spread more crumbs on the vanilla pudding. Then alternate the pudding and crumbs until the pan is full. Top with chopped walnuts. Place the pan in the refrigerator (ice-

4 BIG SALES WEEKLY

box) until the puddings had set, the ice box cake was then ready to eat and enjoy.

ICE CHIPS - The ice man cut a large block of ice into smaller pieces for sale. In the process of cutting these smaller pieces, chips of ice broke off the larger block.

When the ice man went to deliver the ice into the house, the chips were appropriated and eaten by the kids who just happened to be nearby.

ICE CREAM MAN sold, from his push cart, a creamy, delicious home made, Italian style ice cream. He scooped it into a sugar cone. One dip cost a nickel. Two dips cost a dime. It only came in two flavors . . . pink or white.

To buy a copy of this book E-Mail Dwaffleman@aol.com

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THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

City Housing Market May Be Recovering Following several years of recession-induced price declines in which house values fell by an average of 22 percent from their peak, Philadelphia’s housing market surged to life this past spring with the single largest quarterly gain in house prices since the housing bubble burst in mid-2007.

This is revealed in Econsult Corp.’s latest survey of the city’s real-estate market.

The typical Philadelphia home increased in value by 7.6% on a quality- and seasonally-adjusted basis this past quarter, according to the latest data from the City’s Recorder of Deeds. With this latest gain, homeowners have recovered nearly a third of their home’s lost value since house prices began dropping five years ago. House prices are now back at levels not seen since mid-2005.

House price increases were generally citywide, and were even in the double digits in some locales. From smallest to largest, the average change in house prices by neighborhood in Q2 are: University City (-0.1%), Northwest Philadelphia (0%), Upper Northeast Philadelphia (+1.6%), Lower Northeast Philadelphia (+5.7%), Center City/Fairmount (+6.5%), Kensington/Frankford (+12.1%), South Philadel-

phia (+12.4%), North Philadelphia (+14.6%) and West Philadelphia (+14.7%).

Other data also provide indications Philadelphia’s housing market is finally beginning its recovery: • There were 20 home sales in Philadelphia that had a price in excess of $1 million in Q2, a large jump from the seven that occurred in the previous quarter and the highest level since early 2008.

• Indicators of housing’s fundamentals, such as the city’s Price-Rent ratio, Affordability Index and Inflation-adjusted HPI, are back in line with their long-run historical averages.

• Housing inventories, as measured by the number of homes currently listed for sale in Philadelphia, are down 25% from their peak, and are continuing to decline.

• Homebuilder sentiment rose both nationally and regionally to a new post-recession high in June.

• The Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s Housing Sector Index, which is a composite index of housing-related companies (e.g. homebuilders, mortgage insurers, builder’s supply • PHILADELPHIADAILYRECORD.COM

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THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

firms), also rose to a new post-recession high in July.

While a number of measures may indicate an increasingly brighter outlook for the housing market, it should be tempered with other measures that suggest that challenges remain.

The spread between the average house price and median house price in Philadelphia jumped to an all-time high of nearly $40,000 in Q2. This spread was only $16,000 two years ago. Such dispersion may suggest a segmenting of the housing market – where a disproportionate amount of current sales are occurring in the relatively higher-priced segment of each neighborhood submarket. The result is these higher-priced sales could be skewing average prices up, while many homes in the lower-priced segment of each submarket are still stagnating in their value.

While the data uniformly indicate house prices rose this past quarter, they also uniformly indicate house sales remained low. Only 3,079 homes changed hands in Philadelphia this past spring, which is the lowest level of spring sales since 1995. Not only is this just a few hundred more than the 2,759 that sold this past winter, but it occurred during a period when there is typically a significant seasonal increase in home sales as winter transitions into the usually-busy spring selling season.

Moreover, this spring’s level of home sales was below the levels of the springs of recent years, when economic conditions were even worse than

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they are now: 2011 (3,433 sales), 2010 (4,184 sales) and even during the depths of the recession in 2009 (3,398 sales). Lastly, while inventories do continue to trend downward from their alltime high of a few years ago, they remain well above their average that would be considered typical of a balanced housing market.

However, even if some of the data indicate housing’s recovery may still be facing some headwinds, Philadelphia has consistently continued to outperform most US cities during this downturn.

With these latest house-price changes, Philadelphia moved up in the rankings of US cities for the least house-price declines since the peak, according to house price data tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller. Just six months ago, Philadelphia was ranked fifth out of 21 cities with the least house-price declines.

But with this most recent price increase, Philadelphia has moved into third place, behind only Dallas and Denver, as having the least house-price declines. At its trough, Philadelphia’s housing stock had fallen in value by 22% since declines began five years ago. With this most recent gain, Philadelphia’s house prices are now down only 15% from their 2007 peak.

Econsult, a private consulting firm, is the dominant force in real-estate analysis in the Delaware valley Region. It combines state-of-the-art analytic methods with extensive professional experience in consulting, academia and government.

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Fattah Spotlights Leadership For Youth Needs Today Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-Phila.) is pursuing said. activities today in town that advance his leadership Fattah, who served on the Community College agenda for young people’s education and health. board when he was a state legislator, has led efforts Yesterday he hosted a fundraiser in partnership with on behalf of CCP and other community colleges the Community College of Philadelphia Foundation through his work in Congress as a senior member of to generate scholarship money for students at the the House Appropriations Committee.

Community College, continuing his record of leadLast September, Fattah announced CCP was choership for the institution with the city’s largest postsen to administer a $20 million grant from the US secondary enrollment.

Dept. of Labor to prepare job training programs at This morning, Fattah participated in the AVID Sum- 14 Pennsylvania community colleges partnering mer Institute Celebration recognizing students and with private employers for critical jobs in the new teachers in this national college-readiness program. economy. The grant, provided under the Trade AdLater he spoke with aspiring young writers in the justment Assistance Community College and Cacity’s Mighty Writers Program and participates in a reer Training program, was cited by President news conference at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Obama in his 2012 State of the Union address.

Children to unveil a major investment in children’s Within the past year, Fattah has announced a health. $600,000 grant under the Predominantly Black In“Each of these activities aims to benefit young peo- stitutions Program of the US Dept. of Education. ple in Philadelphia and our region by improving their life, health and educational chances,” Fattah

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THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

Philly Vacations: The Price Is Right!

With the vacation season at its peak, enjoying a night out in Philadelphia can be an economical vacation while still enjoying the amenities that all big cities can offer. According to City Controller Alan Butkovitz’ latest economic report released today, the average cost for a night out in Philadelphia is $273, which is about 25% less than New York City or San Diego.

The Controller’s economic report includes a review of the average cost of spending a night out in the 10 most populated U.S. cities. By comparing the prices of meals, taxis, cocktails and hotels, the average cost for a night out in Philadelphia is $273, which is compared to the following cities: San Diego $358, New York City $342, Chicago $324, Los Angeles $311.

Along with reviewing cities’ vacation costs, the Controller’s economic report also shows that Philadelphia’s June tax revenues increased 3.2% over June 2011, totaling $176 million. Monthly sales tax collections totaled $20.97 million, which is a 2.5% increase from June of last year. Tax revenue collections for the fiscal year end totaled $2.9 billion, which is 2% more than what was collected in fiscal year 2011.

The Controller’s economic report is compiled on a monthly basis and includes an Economic Snapshot and Forecast, as well as real-estate information and other local statistics. These reports are circulated every month to assist key decision makers in understanding and anticipating local and national ecoThe average cost for a meal for two at a mid-range nomic trends. The Controller’s economic report is a restaurant in Philadelphia is $48, which is $30 less useful tool for policy makers and analysis in underthan in New York City, $12 less than San Jose and standing our regional and local economy. $8 less than in San Diego. Include drinks before the To view this month’s economic report, please the meal and expect to pay about $16 for drinks for two City Controller’s website at www.philadelphiaconin Philadelphia, compared to $25 in New York City troller.org. or $21 in Los Angeles and Chicago.

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THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

DeBunda Reelected Vice Chair Of Philly Pops Group Attorney Salvatore M. DeBunda, co-managing partner of the Philadelphia office of Archer & Greiner PC, has been re-elected as a Member and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Encore Series Inc., the nonprofit organization that presents the Philly Pops orchestra.

Led by Grammy-award winning pianist/conductor Peter Nero, the Philly Pops is a one-of-a kind orchestra that authentically performs a wide variety of musical genres. Featuring talented musicians from the musically rich Philadelphia region, the Philly Pops consistently brings audiences to their feet with exhilarating performances.

ESI presents concert series and other cultural events, and educates the public about music. At the begin-

ning of each school year, Pops musicians visit a wide variety of schools and school music programs to perform small ensemble concerts designed to introduce students to basic musical elements. The musicians also conduct special workshops and demonstrations, and coach middle- and high-school music groups.

DeBunda, of Blue Bell, Pa., has a diverse practice that spans a number of industries. He represents corporate, healthcare and media clients, including major cable television franchisees, as well as significant private and family-owned companies, nonprofit organizations, and horse ownership, racing interest and trade associations.

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