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
www.PanepintoJewelers.com We Buy Gold & Diamonds
Serving Citywide Political, Labor, Legal and School Communities of Philadelphia
Vol. X. No. 37 (Issue 450)
“The good things we do must be made a part of the public record”
Value 50 ¢
September 11, 2008
Eagle Lucky For Produce Center No longer will the merchants of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market, better known as the Food Distribution Center, feel like a bunch of unloved gypsies. They were needed. But nobody seemed to understand that to stay in business they needed new facilities, and in a hurry. Competition from other major food centers was providing services they couldn’t. Looking to take them away from Philadel-
phia was the eager state of New Jersey, which offered them a huge new facility. But they declined, after entreaties from State Sen. Vincent Fumo and Gov. Ed Rendell. They were promised a new home at the Naval Yard. However, limited ingress and exits and a bunch of other factors didn’t make them all happy campers on that site. Now, finally, they have good news to celebrate as a new home for them is planned
along Essington Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia across from the Airport Auto Mall. The State is funding the development at a cost of almost $219 million and it will be supervised by a no-nonsense Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, barreling along with a well-thought-out plan to expand the Port of Philadelphia. Food Distribution dealers didn’t know it at the time, but they were to be the benefici-
ary of PRPA’s drive for additional land for port acquisition. Supporting this move were Port unions, terminal operators and shippers. Propelling this effort were the strident appeals of State Rep. William Keller and Congressman Bob Brady as well as the International Association of Longshoremen, in particular Local 1291 led by President Boise Butler. (Cont. Page 20)
A Smaller City Council? ‘It Should Happen,’ Says Goode AMERICAN BALD EAGLE captured by Public Record photog from long distance at Naval Base helped spike plans to relocate Food Distribution Center to Naval Base because federal laws protect its nesting site. SONNY DiCrecchio, of Philadelphia Regional Produce Market, looks on as Philadelphia Regional Port Authority Chairman John H. Estey addresses large turnout at groundbreaking ceremony at Food Center’s new home on Essington Avenue beside Airport Auto Mall.
MAJOR PLAYERS in making new home for Food Distribution Center were PRPA Deputy Executive Director John F. Dempsey, Jr., PRPA Board Chairman John H. Estey, State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo and PRPA Executive Director James T. McDermott, Jr.
A City Council with fewer members? It would have been unthinkable in the past, but the city’s DROP program may have created an opportunity to make that change. Electing to go out on Deferred Retirement Option Plan, which presents retirees with a good retirement package, are seven of City Council’s current Members. Two of those are the Republican City Council at-Large Members: Frank Rizzo and Jack Kelly. The other five, all Democrats, are 1st Dist.’s Frank Rizzo, 2nd Dist.’s President Anna Verna, 8th Dist.’s Donna Marie Miller, 6th Dist.’s Joan Krajewski and 9th Dist.’s Marian Tasco. City Councilman at Large W. Wilson Goode, Jr., thinks the time is ripe to reduce the size of City Council and save the City an estimated $1 million a year, effective January 2012, should the legislation pass and win voter approval. But the Charter-change legislation he will present to members won’t be given to them in quite the same form announced earlier in the press. That’s because his proposal to reduce the number of at-Large Council Members from seven to five has drawn a loud “no” from the city’s Republican Party and its three presently-voting Republican Council members. It could easily lead to a court challenge. The Charter, in effect, currently guarantees Republican Party representation in City Council by providing that while seven Council (Cont. Page 20)
CARL R. GREENE, executive director of Philadelphia Housing Authority, accepts a dividend check of $542,663 from Dan Labrie, president and CEO of the Housing Authority Insurance Group,right, and Dominic Mazzoccoli, the group’s VP for Underwriting. HAIG rewards member agencies that reduce number and size of insurance claims. PHA received largest dividend of any public housing authority in the nation.
PHA Wins Half Million Dollar Insurance Bonus The largest dividend check given to any housing authority in the country – a whopping $541,662 – has been presented to The Philadelphia Housing Authority by the Housing Authority Insurance Group. According to HAIG President and CEO Dan Labrie, PHA’s record of fewer and less-severe insurance
claims over the last year earned the agency the large dividend. PHA Executive Director Carl Greene attributed the across the board reduction in number and severity of claims to improved property management, increased safety awareness among staff and residents and better (Cont. Page 20)