Ron Panepinto Jewelers
7001 ROOSEVELT BLVD.
700 Sansom St. 215-923-1980
PHILADELPHIA, PA 215-331-6600 Jim Stevenson Union Member Sales Representative
J.Stevenson@northeastlincoln.com
Vol. X. No. 31 (Issue 444)
Serving City-Wide Political, Labor, Legal and School Communities of Philadelphia “The good things we do must be made a part of the public record”
A Hidden Government
by Tony West It’s not part of the government. However, it runs for the most part on government money as it pursues important public missions. Yet its workers aren’t civil servants. It’s a major employer, with 450 full-time employees. Scarcely a neighborhood in the city doesn’t see some of its activity. Yet you rarely encounter its name on the street. That’s because the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition usually doesn’t act under its own name. You may know it instead as “Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia”, “Gay & Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative”, “Men United for a Better Philadelphia”, “West Philadelphia Tool Lending Library” – or any other of the 90-odd community action groups that take shelter under the GPUAC umbrella.
Collectively, GPUAC’s $41 million budget is as big as many a small suburban borough’s. But its entire mission is to sustain grass-roots activists. This is based partly on philosophy. GPUAC stems from a merger between two groups, the Urban Affairs Coalition and the Greater Philadelphia Partnership that came into being during the civil-rights era from a belief many communities, particularly minorities were not well served by official government programs. Those communities wanted to develop their own structures for addressing urgent problems. Poverty and related issues such as health, education and employment were then, as they are today, central concerns of GPUAC. It is also based on a reality of public services in the 21st century. The (Cont. Page 13)
PHA Proves It’s A Strong Investment A newly released evaluation by Standard & Poor’s rates the Philadelphia Housing Authority on the same credit-worthiness level as such companies as Procter & Gamble, Merck & Co. and United Parcel Service. S&P says PHA is strong and stable, an endorsement of PHA’s ability to carry out its mission of developing and managing quality public housing during a time of continuing cuts in Federal funding. This striking endorsement of the agency’s fiscal prudence suggests PHA is in the forefront of reinventing the publichousing mission to succeed in an age of limits.
www.PanepintoJewelers.com We Buy Gold & Diamonds
S&P cited several factors as contributing to PHA’s investment grade (AA-) rating: (Cont. Page 12)
...PHA Exec. Carl Greene.
Value 50 ¢
July 31, 2008
Knights In White Linen
DISTRICT ATTORNEY hopefuls Dan McCaffery and Seth Williams put their differences aside to celebrate with birthday boy Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. at his “White Linen” birthday party at Manayunk brewpub last week.
The Tax Everyone Likes It isn't too often elected officials can celebrate raising taxes. But legislation signed by Gov. Ed Rendell will allow Philadelphia to raise the hotel occupancy tax by 1.5%. HB 2167 seeks to leverage local resources and expand tourism marketing efforts, bringing additional visitors to the region. Funds collected would be allocated for increased tourism promotion and for the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The new legislation will not take into effect immediately. City Council must first craft and pass legislation in the upcoming session. It is, however, a rare charmer among taxes; after all, it falls almost exclusively on people who don’t live or vote in Philadelphia. “State and City governments are united with Philadelphia hoteliers with the vision and the goal of having more people visit this great city and explore the greater region,” Rendell said as he signed HB 2167 into law. Several elected officials were on hand to support the new measure. On behalf of the City, Mayor Nutter and Councilwoman Marian Tasco voiced their support of the expansion of the Convention Center, the increase of
the hotel occupancy tax and ability to bring more tourist and conventions to the City of Philadelphia. “We recently hosted the National League of Cities Women In Municipal Government Summer Conference and the National Conference of Governor’s here,” said Tasco. “By expanding our tourism marketing efforts, we will be able to bring more conferences to the City as well as (Cont. Page 12)
2 Guvs Press For Infrastructure Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-chairs of the Building America’s Future coalition, have urged the Republican and Democratic National Committees to adopt pro-infrastructure planks in their party platforms when the na(Cont. Page 13)
GOV. ED RENDELL signed legislation calling for increase to hotel tax occupancy. Witnessing were State Reps. Dwight Evans and Jewell Williams, Councilwoman Marian Tasco and Mayor Michael Nutter. Photo by Commonwealth Media Services