Region's Business July 11

IN MEMORIAM: CONGRESSMAN GRAY JOBS ‘NO LONGER THE ANSWER’

RENOVATED HISTORIC DOYLESTOWN HOME

REGION’S BUSINESS

PHILADELPHIA EDITION

A JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS

CATCHING UP WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Tracking down some of Philadelphia’s former greats in the worlds of business and politics

GOVERNOR’S FAILURE PUTS PARTISANSHIP IN SPOTLIGHT 2013 PHILLY GEEK AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED SIMPLIFYING CITY PARKING

11 JULY 2013

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CONTENTS

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Checking In

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Where Are They Now? In Memoriam: Former Congressman William H. Gray III The Tax Relief Bill You Haven’t Heard Of

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New Parkway Tech Simplifies Parking in Philadelphia

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Philly Geek Award Nominees Selected

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Ideas Column: Picking The Right Incubator

PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER James D. McDonald MANAGING EDITOR Terrence J. Casey ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rich Coleman CONTRIBUTORS Brandon Baker, Eric Boehm, Graziella DiNuzzo, Charlie Gerow, Timothy Holwick, Kevin Horne, Don Lee, Sandy Smith PROOFREADER Denise Gerstenfield ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Larry Smallacombe DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Deirdre Affel

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11 JULY 2013

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DEALBOOK

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Telemundo Acquires Philly Affiliate WWSI Telemundo Station Group announced completion of the acquisition of WWSITV, its Philadelphia affiliate, from ZGS Communications, the Associated Press reported.

Telemundo said it had taken full control of the station with completion of the transaction on July 8.

The announcement said the station will relocate in September to share facilities and resources with WCAU-TV. It plans to launch a local Spanish-language newscast in January 2014 along with a website, Telemundophiladelphia.com.

The company cited Nielsen figures indicating that Hispanics comprise 10 percent of the Philadelphia region’s designated market area, including southern New Jersey and parts of Delaware.

Corbett Reaches Extension With Camelot To Extend Lottery Bid Governor Tom Corbett struck a new extension with Camelot Global Services last week which will give the administration more time to work out the next step of privatizing administration of the Pennsylvania Lottery, PennLive. com reported.

The deal will be kept alive until July 31, giving both sides time to resubmit the proposed contract to Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

Ms. Kane rejected the proposal in February, saying that Gov. Corbett overstepped his executive authority in trying to privatize the lottery’s management without legislative approval.

Gov. Corbett’s administration has been working since then to rewrite the contract with Camelot to comply with Ms. Kane’s objec-

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Camelot has promised to generate $34.6 billion in profits over the next 20 years to fund senior citizens’ programs the Lottery pays for.

The Corbett Administration has said that is $3 billion to $4.5 billion more than the Lottery would produce by keeping its management in-house.

However, Camelot taking over the management would mean the loss of 170 state workers’ jobs.

Camelot has said it plans to hire as many displaced workers as possible.

REAL ESTATE

Pearl Properties Adds 1401 Walnut Street The Philadelphia real estate company, Pearl Properties purchased floors three through 12 at 1401 Walnut St. for $15 million, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.

The eight floors total 76,596 square feet and contain 36 apartments with two vacant floors.

LEGAL

Morgan Lewis Will Expand to Dubai Morgan Lewis, international firm with offices at 17th and Market, announced it will expand into Dubai, UAE. Ayman A. Khaleq and Jim Knight will join London-based Lewis Jones to serve clients with interests in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

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11 JULY 2013

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

GAMING

Pa. Slot Machine Revenue Decreases

No Vote Yet On Key, $45M Piece For School District Aid

Though the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported a drop in slot machine revenue of nearly 2 percent, gross revenue from slot machines still topped out at $2.4 billion for the second straight fiscal year.

Parx Casino led the pack with $376,418,086 in revenue in the past year.

Since the opening of the first casino in November 2006, taxes from slot machine play have totaled nearly $7.4 billion.

The missing items are valued at $196,000 from 11 different schools and consist of computers, cameras, snow blowers, musical instruments, air conditioners and medical equipment.

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SPORTS BUSINESS

Former MSG Exec Named Sixers CEO Adam Aron stepped down July 8 as CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers and has been replaced by former Madison Square Garden Sports president Scott O’Neil.

Mr. Aron will remain on the team’s board of directors and said he has increased his ownership stake in the franchise. Mr. Aron was part of the group that bought the franchise in 2011.

Audit Shows Most of School Inventory Missing City Controller Alan Butkovitz released the FY2012 School District of Philadelphia Internal Control & Compliance audit last week, and found 67 percent of the selected inventory could not be located.

TOURISM

The Atlantic City Alliance took its “DO AC” tourism campaign on the road, bringing a 15,000 pound, two-story popup casino to Penn’s Landing.

The roadshow is designed to promote Atlantic City and engage directly with its target audience.

The roadshow will be hitting Baltimore and New York next.

EDUCATION

Though some lawmakers contend that the state budget was delivered on time, a companion bill that would give a $45 million funding relief package for Philadelphia schools — the fiscal code — has not yet gone to a vote.

And a timetable for a vote has yet to be considered, Newsworks reports.

Though the Speaker of the House concluded the chamber for the summer, there may be ramifications if the fiscal code is not passed before late September.

Gov. Tom Corbett’s office has warned that there may be a $235 million cut in available funds if the fiscal code isn’t passed in time.

Senate Republicans are maintaining that there would be no negative impact if it is not passed right away.

House Democratic spokesman Bill Patton told Newsworks there may be other consequences.

“The fiscal code is 57 pages of arcane legislative language,” he told Newsworks.

“It would not surprise me if there are a number of other problems that have yet to be discovered by not getting this bill done on time.”

Meanwhile, the School Reform Commission canceled its meeting this week. It may reschedule if action is made on unresolved financial issues, officials said.

New Vet Hospital Gives Human Care A new $4.5 million specialty and trauma care veterinary hospital will hold its grand opening Saturday at its Malvern location.

Hope Veterinary Specialists (VS) will operate at a 21,000 square-foot facility that comes complete with three operating rooms, eight procedure rooms, 13 exam rooms, a dedicated ICU, 75 patient rooms, cages or runs and the latest in imaging technology.

“What really sets us apart is our people and their commitment to compassionate care,” Dr. Dennis Burkett, medical director, said. “You marry that to a good facility..., then you have the best of both worlds.”

The grand opening will be held 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 40 Three Tun Road in Malvern.

Dr. Dennis Burkett, Medical Director

According to Mr. Butkovitz the missing items were a result of: district personnel not maintaining adequate records to document equipment left in old facilities, personnel removing equipment from school premises without authorization and a new computerized inventory system that didn’t provide for sufficient accountability over deleted inventory.

“Allowing undocumented deletions of equipment in the inventory database increases the chance for thefts to occur,” said Mr. Butkovitz.

The audit also uncovered many shortcomings:

$66M

The cost of errors in cash and investment accounts that went undetected by District accountants

$14,000

Shortage in the District’s petty cash funds

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

WEEKLY BRIEFING

ENERGY

IKEA Adds Stations For Electric Vehicles IKEA announced its plans to plans to add 24 Blink electric vehicle charging stations across eight more locations countrywide, including Philadelphia.

Additionally, the IKEA U.S. corporate office in Conshohocken also will have units available.

The installation is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

On Heels Of Scandal, Turnpike Names New Advisory Committee

JOBS

Jobs Increasing In Summer Months The end of June into July saw several announcements of increasing jobs and more job openings.

In late June, Governor Tom Corbett announced that Accolade, a health assistant services company, would expand operations to support new growth, to the tune of 200 new jobs in Montgomery County.

“We are creating an economic climate in Pennsylvania that encourages companies like Accolade to reinvest in growth and create new jobs for our citizens,” Gov. Corbett said in a statement.

The Corporate Call Center, a Blue Bell firm that provides call center services to the insurance industry, is also planning to add 1,200 employees to handle the growth it expects from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. And according to data released by the Associated General Contractors of America, construction employment rose in Philadelphia by 2,100 jobs.

Of the 339 metro areas, Philadelphia ranked 136 for construction work.

A three-person advisory committee is now in place to review policies and procedures of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, PennLive.com reported.

The news comes during a trial that accuses former turnpike officials and contractors of corruption.

The committee members are: John L. Gedid, of Mechanicsburg, founder of Law & Government Institute at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg.

Maureen Lally-Green, of Butler County, retired State Superior Court judge and current associate general secretary of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

M.G. Patel, of Harrisburg, retired PennDOT chief engineer and construction company executive.

The committee is part of CEO Mark Compton’s attempt to improve the

turnpike’s image and practices. Its first meeting was this week and it plans to give suggestions for improvement to Mr. Compton.

Five Days of Testimony

During the testimony, many witnesses said they gave gifts to turnpike officials, but also pointed out that they were not instructed to give gifts and none of the defendants offered to engage in a trade of gifts for turnpike contracts.

Gifts included a $4,000 travel voucher, stays at the Hotel Hershey, expensive meals and a flight to Tampa.

Stephen LeCheen, attorney for former turnpike chairman Mitchell Rubin, told PennLive the five days of testimony in late June “couldn’t have gone better.”

Closing arguments will be made in front of District Justice William Wenner on July 16.

REAL ESTATE

Phila. Archdiocese To Auction 8 Sites The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will auction off eight properties on July 24, the Inquirer reported.

Three former convents, two former schools and three parcels of land in Bucks and Montgomery Counties will be up for auction by Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Co. The parcels of land were originally purchased for developing new parishes, though now that prospect is unlikely.

Rising Mortgage Rates Drive Buyers Off The Fence The latest sign of a housing market that’s heating up: Pending sales contracts have hit a seven-year high.

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Philly Could Become Natural Gas Export Hub The brokers selling Philadelphia Gas Works are planning to tout the idea of exporting liquefied natural gas as one of the city-owned utility’s main potential growth opportunities, the Inquirer reports.

JPMorgan will formally issue a request for qualifications in early August from prospective bidders for PGW.

JOBS

The National Association of Realtors reports that its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for May 2013 was at its highest level since December 2006. The PHSI measures sales contracts.

May’s index of 112.3 is 6.7 percent above April’s index of 105.2 (revised downward from an initial estimate of 106.0) and 12.1 percent above its year-ago level of 100.2.

May marks the 25th straight month that the PHSI has stood above year-ago levels. The PHSI, which measures contracts expected to close within 60 days, has historically been a reliable predictor of actual home sales. An index of 100 equals average contract activity in 2001, the year the index began.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said recent mortgage-rate hikes may be driving fence-sitters to buy now. “Even with limited choices, it appears some of the rise in contract signings could be from buyers wanting to take advantage of current affordability conditions before mortgage interest rates move higher,” he said. “This implies a continuation of double-digit price increases from a year earlier, with a strong push from pent-up demand.”

This article was originally published at the Philly Living blog at PhillyLiving.com.

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11 JULY 2013

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WEEKLY BRIEFING EXECUTIVE BOOKSHELF

WHO TO FOLLOW

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His account is a great way to not only stay on top of his helpful content, but to also stay in the loop with new marketing solutions.

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Kick The Bad Work Habits That Masquerade as Virtues Preparation. Creativity. Fairness. Passion.

Excellence. These all sound like good virtues to have at work, but are there downsides?

Jake Breeden shares his wisdom on the subject in his book, Tipping Sacred Cows.

Mr. Breeden, Global Faculty Member at Duke Corporate Education, examines the aforementioned virtues plus several other bad habits disguised as good virtues and instructs readers how to change their thinking.

One Amazon reviewer says, “Throughout the book, Breeden offers many insights and wise counsel that may undercut the conventional wisdom when it comes to leadership.”

Foresee Many weather apps will try to let you know if you should bring an umbrella or help you decide what to wear.

Foresee ($1.99) for iPhone and iPad goes further than that — it plans out when you should do your favorite activities.

You start out by inputting your frequent outdoor activities and your ideal conditions for them. Foresee takes that information and provides an “activity forecast,” allowing the user to see the most ideal times for their activities, based on weather forecasts.

A great app for those who want more control over their schedules when inclement weather is a distinct possibility.

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Federal Donuts Gives Out Free Chicken — For Life July 6 marked National Fried Chicken Day and Federal Donuts, the fried chicken and donut eatery, celebrated by placing 10 “golden tickets” in certain boxes at its Center City and Pennsport locations.

The prizes ranged from coffee beans, t-shirts, donuts and for one very lucky chicken eater?

Free fried chicken for life.

The winner received her ticket at the Pennsport location and will now be able to receive one free half order of fried chicken per week for the rest of her days — or the restaurant’s.

On top of that, it was her first time visiting Federal Donuts.

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11 JULY 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Mobil CEO Did More Than Just Advertise

Charlie Gerow is CEO of Quantum Communications, a Harrisburg-based public relations and issue advocacy firm.

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

American business lost an icon late last month. Rawleigh Warner Jr. passed away at the age of 92 in late June.

Although not a household name like Iacocca or Jobs, Rawleigh Warner was a visionary leader in American business and a master of my profession, public relations.

Mr. Warner, chairman and CEO of Mobil Oil during the 70’s and 80’s, pushed the company hard in the direction of new domestic supplies as a way of releasing us from the bonds of dependence on foreign oil.

He transformed his company from stem to stern, including changing the company’s legendary logo to what became the ubiquitous blue-with-a-red-”o” Mobil sign. He was also in the vanguard of a movement away from traditional advertising that had dominated marketing since the end of World War II. Warner was a leader in “advertorials,” and he pioneered in the use of product placement and sponsorships as marketing tools.

He made the switch away from conventional advertising in the early 70’s when television was in its heyday.

He enhanced Mobil’s corporate image and brand by sponsoring highly acclaimed television programs like PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater.” And he took on issues with a vengeance.

When the liberal media complained of “excessive profits,” Warner shot back with his famous advocacy advertising, saying that corporate profits weren’t high enough and arguing for fair play and the benefits of prosperity for all.

His efforts in this new type of marketing won him the “Adman of the Year” distinction from Advertising Age. But his marketing efforts were much more than ads.

Warner understood and embraced a phenomenon that was already growing in the mid-70’s. It was the emergence of PR as an integral part of marketing budgets. In the golden era of advertising (the stuff that made “Mad Men”), advertising dominated marketing, driven largely by the rapid ascendency of television. Several experts have argued that the incredible growth in advertising volume ultimately caused its erosion.

Renowned marketing strategist Al Ries (“The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”) and former Coca Cola marketing chief Sergio Zyman (“The End of Advertising as We Know It”) have contended that the

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advertising industry lost focus, shifted from advertising that drove sales to that which won awards and lacked the credibility inherent in public relations.

They both suggest that brand is best built with public relations because it meets the consumer’s desire for trusted, customeroriented communication.

By getting a company or its products mentioned by credible third parties, people are more likely to pay attention to and believe the message. It’s old fashioned “word of mouth.”

I often joke with new clients that I can get them on the cover of Time Magazine.

“It will look exactly the way you want it to look,” I tell them, “and it will say exactly what you want it to say.”

Knowing that they are being set up, they wait for the catch.

“The problem is,” I continue, “it’s the back cover.” The point is instantly made. We might be able to get our client on the front cover of the magazine. It won’t look exactly the way they want or say precisely what they’d like it to say, but it carries the credibility that the back cover lacks. That’s the power of earned media.

While Warner grasped these concepts three or four decades ago, today they are even more significant.

While there is competition for marketing

dollars from ad agencies, PR firms, digital shops and others, there is increasing collaboration.

Today the best strategic thinking and innovative ideas lead the way.

With marketing budgets set to increase significantly (five percent through 2015), and in part because of the trail Rawleigh Warner Jr. blazed, public relations is no longer relegated to an ancillary function.

It is the fastest growing discipline and a lead component in integrated marketing campaigns. It has emerged as the steward of overall marketing and communications strategy.

The rapid rise of social media has helped fuel this shift in the same way television did for advertising in the 50’s and 60’s.

Increased emphasis on story-telling, reputation management and crisis communications has been a hanging curveball for public relations professionals.

And the Internet has allowed public relations experts to showcase their ability to build communities and advocate more effectively with multiple audiences.

Rawleigh Warner Jr. led Mobil to become the nation’s second largest oil company.

Mobil later merged with the biggest, to become Exxon Mobil Corporation, in a deal valued at more than $80 billion.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Warner. Your work lives on.

11 JULY 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

11

Governor Corbett Outlines Plan for School District

Timothy Holwick is a freelance writer covering Philadelphia government.

Find more coverage at citycouncilmatters.com.

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

Last week Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett detailed his plan to answer the Philadelphia School District request for financial assistance from the Commonwealth’s budget. The Philadelphia School District had requested $60 million in funds from the City of Philadelphia, and $120 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it appears, for now, that the answer to the District’s request came up short from both sources.

The City sought to answer the School District’s request through three different sources: (1) an increase in the per-drink tax on alcoholic beverages, (2) a $2 per-pack tax on cigarettes, and (3) more aggressive collection of delinquent property taxes in Philadelphia, an effort related to the wellpublicized Actual Value Initiative.

When the time came for Pennsylvania to offer its solutions, only the third choice remained on the table, and the School District is now officially counting $30 million in extra revenue from the collection of delinquent taxes. The per-drink alcoholic

beverage tax stalled in City Council, but Council did seek approval from Pennsylvania legislators on the cigarette tax. However, the Pennsylvania Legislature recessed without considering the request.

Governor Corbett’s plan to address the School District’s budget needs seek to reverse a deficit totaling over $300 million.

It comes with conditions, such as eventual concessions from the union workforces serving the District. Labor groups have already begun protesting the Governor leveraging school funds to undermine the City’s expensive pension system.

For now, however, City officials were most concerned about a portion of the plan that allows the City to borrow $50 million against future sales tax revenue. The City’s sales tax was raised in 2009 from seven percent to eight percent in order to help assist the City cope with the economic downturn occurring at the time. That sales tax increase was set to expire and the City’s administration had no intention of extending it. For now it seems that the Governor

has made that decision for the City, and it is not in a position to turn down the $50 million needed for the schools.

Governor Corbett’s plan also included $45 million which comes from a now-forgiven debt the Commonwealth had with the federal government. Corbett had pledged the money to Philadelphia schools some time ago, but for the time being, the money is tied up in a fiscal code debate in the PA legislature.

This was not the first time City Council sought the Commonwealth’s help meeting a School District budget gap, nor was it the first time they were disappointed with the response. Political differences between the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania government and the Democrat-dominated City government continue to be at the heart of the dispute. Aligning with those political positions, the City now sees the Governor using state-level dollars to push the City into restructuring its labor agreements, an already-unpopular issue within the Philadelphia borders.

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11 JULY 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Governor Corbett Strikes Out With Latest Budget

Eric Boehm is bureau chief for PA Independent, a project of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

As he signed his third state budget late Sunday evening, Gov. Tom Corbett was inevitably asked about his feelings after seeing so much of his major policy agenda go unfulfilled this spring.

The governor responded with a football metaphor.

“It’s the end of the first quarter,” he said.

“We have a long way to go.”

He was referring to the fact the two-year legislative session is only about one quarter of the way to completion. It will not end until Nov. 30, 2014. But he’s not fooling anyone if he thinks major initiatives such as these won’t get harder to pass as the next round of elections creeps closer.

If we’re going to talk about sports metaphors, I’ve got one for the governor.

If this budget season were a baseball game and Gov. Corbett were the star player, he would have gone 0-for-3 while grounding into a double play. That’s four outs in three at-bats.

The 0-for-3 is the obvious part. A plan to privatize the state liquor stores failed in the state Senate, a $2 billion transportation infrastructure spending plan went down in the state House and Gov. Corbett’s push to reform

the state’s financially troubled public pension plans never got much traction in either chamber.

But the governor ended up making an additional “out” by agreeing to slow the scheduled phase out of the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax, which businesses pay on assets, during the final days of the budget session. The tax would have gone extinct Jan. 1, 2014, but it will now continue until 2016, when Gov. Corbett may no longer be in office.

The administration said the continuation of the business tax was necessary to fund pension obligations. But really it was only necessary to backfill pension payments that Gov. Corbett planned to underfund when he initially proposed his budget in February.

To be fair, not all the blame can be placed on Gov. Corbett’s shoulders. Republicans in the state House and state Senate get an equal share, for tying together issues such as liquor privatization and transportation, then turning them into a political ball of yarn that became so tangled it was impossible for either side to pull together the necessary votes.

But it all comes back to Gov. Corbett, who got the final say on the budget.

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“It just didn’t get done,” he said Sunday night when asked about all the missed opportunities of the budget session.

Such a blasé attitude is not what you would expect from a leader who just saw his three biggest policy goals go down in flames. Gov. Corbett could have, and should have, put his foot down and forced the Legislature to give up part of their summer holiday to return to Harrisburg.

He could have refused to sign the budget.

He could have called a special session for liquor, transportation or pension reform (though not all three since special sessions are limited to single subjects). And even though special sessions are historically unproductive in Pennsylvania, it would have been an outward sign he was unwilling to back down.

This session was Gov. Corbett’s chance to put his stamp on Pennsylvania political history.

With his poll numbers in the tank, it may have been the last chance he will get.

Monday, Corbett’s re-election campaign sent an email touting the budget’s passage with a headline that read “Delivering Results.”

I suppose that tested better than “Hey, We Tried.”

11 JULY 2013

2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

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Parkway Technology Makes City Parking Easier, Safer SUBMITTED

BY BRANDON BAKER Parking has never been the biggest pleasure of Philadelphia living, but Center City-based Parkway Corp. is aiming to assuage some of these stresses with its latest innovation.

The company introduced a brand-new camera system, dubbed Park Assist, in Liberty Place parking garage last month.

Beyond indicating parking occupancy through an LED light, the system can scan for license plate numbers using a special algorithm to determine the current location of a vehicle.

Four hundred of these privatelydeveloped cameras have currently been installed.

“A good percentage of our customers, they’re busy, they’re running around, and they forget where they parked,” said Rob Zuritsky, president of Parkway and a third-generation Zuritsky in the company. “Literally, you can use it with an app on your phone, or go to a kiosk in the garage and plug in a license plate to find your car.

It’s almost instantaneous — the system’s very clever.”

Mr. Zuritsky said that, around mid-June, the garage had been experiencing a crime wave — not just the usual “smash and grab” crimes, he said, but an unprecedented instance of two people scouring the garage in search of cars whose doors were unlocked.

“We were getting reports of this, and with smash and grabs, at least you know what happened, because there’s glass everywhere,” he said.

“This had been going on for a week or so, and somehow we got wind of it, and got a license plate. With the cameras in our facilities now, we can read license plates, so we asked our system to report to our head of security with an email when this vehicle came into our facility — and we caught ‘em. They were arrested about a week ago.”

Though Philadelphia is not one of Parkway’s strongest-performing cities — it also maintains parking operations in Baltimore, Toronto, Richmond, [TK], and [TK] — Mr. Zuritsky reported that business has been on an uptick at the Lib-

Steadily, but almost quietly, Philadelphia has become a hotspot for entrepreneurs.

The combination of great ideas, available capital and a welcoming environment have set the stage to make 2013 a breakout year for innovation and new businesses. erty Place location since the introduction of the camera system.

“I really have nothing else to attribute it to,” he said. “The first quarter was bad, and it’s kind of bad throughout the city [right now]. Nothing else has changed in that complex, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised.”

Parkway, which employs 400 people, also manages a real estate business, which is involved with the development of the Home2Suites Hilton that will surface at 12th and Arch streets, as well as a new Penn Medicine high-rise being constructed at Eighth and Walnut streets.

To Learn More ...

For more information on sponsorship opportunities or to suggest story ideas, call our main office at 610-940-1656.

The web: RegionsBusiness.com Facebook: Facebook.com/regionsbusiness Twitter: @RegionsBusiness Sponsored by

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11 JULY 2013

2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

DIARY OF A STARTUP

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Geekadelphia Reveals 2013 Philly Geek Awards Nominees, Event Details

Happenings Media Looking Forward To What’s Coming Next

Drexel Dives Into Early-Stage Venture Capital Drexel University will be creating a program that will incubate and create seed funding for new technologies developed by students, faculty and alumni.

The new program, “Drexel Ventures” looks to continue Drexel’s priority of fostering economic development in the area, while making it easier for researchers to enter into partnerships with the private sector and translate their work into the marketplace.

As the current crop of our “Diary” series wrap up their time as Region’s Business guest writers, they reflect on what the startup life has brought them in the past six months, and what lies ahead just on the horizon.

In the words of Happenings Media’s Tina Paparone: A few weeks ago, as I sat in the Happenings Media office with my business partner, Angela Giovine, I experienced the familiar surprise that the day was almost over; 4 p.m. had come out of nowhere. Angela reminisced about the days we both spent in corporate America: “Remember when we used to sit in our cubicles waiting for the minutes to pass?”

It seemed like lifetime ago. Since going out on our own, we could honestly say that we had never felt that time was moving by too slowly.

While it didn’t need to be said aloud, in that moment I knew that we were both thinking about how incredibly lucky we were to be making a career out of what we love to do.

I find myself shocked that half of the year has passed by so quickly. In between Happening List contests, red carpet events, new websites and trainings, six months flew by.

Keeping us busy this summer is a new location launching in Monmouth County, N.J. next month as well as three more Happening Lists competitions popping up across the network — in Ocean County, Nassau County and Brooklyn next. We’re also in the midst of launching a membership platform to educate, inspire and collaborate with the greater hyperlocal industry.

Moving forward, I hope that you’ll continue to be connected to the Happenings Media’s journey — whether you’re reading stories from local Happening publications, dressing to impress at a future Red Carpet bash in your hometown or following Happenings Media through social media for the latest. If it’s digital, Happenings Media will be there sharing the latest and greatest in local lifestyle.

INVESTORS

FLICKR.COM/GLOKBELL

This coming August, Philadelphia’s blossoming science and tech culture will be honored at the Philly Geek Awards.

Presented by Geekadelphia and the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University, the Philly Geek Awards will be held on Saturday, August 17 at the Academy.

Geekadelphia announced the award nominees this week. One of the highlycoveted awards includes Startup of the Year, which honors a new, local business doing exciting things in Philadelphia while also making an impact across the country.

Nominees include PageVamp, a service that helps people create websites using their Facebook pages; Autism-expressed, the only online learning platform for teaching adolescents with autism to use digital and social media; and Artisan, a mobile experience management platform that makes app updates easier for users.

Other awards include: Scientist of the Year: Dr. Pat McGovern, Kimberlee Sue Moran, Jordan Miller.

Feature Length Indie Film of the Year: Detonator, The Backyard Philly Project, This Time Tomorrow.

Geek Story of the Year: DuckDuckGo, Pong on the Cira Centre, 3-D-Printed Organs.

Viral Project of the Year: We’re Never Ever Ever Going to Win With Andy, Dialogue Tree, Intern Abuser.

Mobile App of the Year: Michael Kiley’s Empty Air, BizVizz, Philly 311.

Web Project of the Year: Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, Axis Philly, Hacking the Gender Gap. Comic Creator of the Year: Jared Axelrod, Andrew Goletz, Christine Larsen.

Social Media Campaign of the Year: #GunCrisis, Neighborhoods: Guest Instagram Project, Philly Love Notes.

Hacker of the Year: Dr. Frank Lee, Chris Alfano, Philadelphia’s Space Apps TEAM. Event of the Year: Nerd Nite Philly, Philly Give and Get, Open Air Philadelphia.

Visual Artist of the Year: Sean Martorana, Austin Seraphin, Hawk Krall.

Indie Game of the Year: Velociraptor! Cannibalism!, Perfection (Greg Lobanov), Pixel Lincoln (Island Officials).

Geek of the Year: Matthew Akana, Dr. Frank Lee, Dan Ueda.

Drexel Ventures will also administer a new innovation fund and business incubator developed to move University inventions closer to the marketplace and to make seed investments in Drexel start-ups.

Its mandate includes identifying and supporting business development opportunities, expediting intellectual property licensing, supporting business incubator and accelerator programs and connecting Drexel’s community of innovators to other entrepreneurs and funding sources in the national innovation ecosystem.

“Our faculty, students and alumni are making discoveries that advance knowledge on a daily basis,” Drexel President John A. Fry said. “This initiative will ensure that the Drexel community continues to fuel innovations in Greater Philadelphia and beyond for decades to come.”

11 JULY 2013

2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

15

Picking Right Incubator, Making Most Of It

Parry Bedi is the CEO and CTO of SocialGlimpz. He is also the co-founder of EMR Xpress, a provider of emergency room management software.

SEED PHILLY

T

Sami Kaipa is the COO of SocialGlimpz and has received two patents in the area of data mapping.

This column was originally published on the Entrepreneurship Blog at beacon.wharton.upenn.edu.

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

he idea for SocialGlimpz was born when we worked on the go-tomarket strategy for a Bay Area startup as part of our market research course at Wharton.

There we discovered significant hurdles in the qualitative data gathering process — specifically, how hard and expensive it is to capture accurate, useful market insights.

Thus we decided to build a solution that both lowers the cost (effort) on respondents and provides a greater degree of validation of their responses and does so relatively inexpensively, thus changing the way products are made and services delivered.

While Executive MBA students at Wharton San Francisco, we joined the Venture Initiation Program (VIP) and won a Snider Seed Award. After graduation, we continued working on SocialGlimpz full-time.

Late last year we decided to join an accelerator.

A great accelerator can get your company off on the right foot.

They help you find focus, build key relationships, and perhaps most importantly, support your capital raising efforts.

We built a list of criteria, such as strength of mentors, reputation, past successes and corporate access.

After looking through a number of incubators around the country, we decided to apply to Tech Wildcatters (a Forbes top ten accelerator) out of Dallas.

Perhaps the single most important reason for us was the fact that TWC focuses exclusively on B2B and B2B2C companies and the fact that the Dallas Fort Worth metro area

is home to over 10,000 corporations, giving it the largest concentration of corporate headquarters in the United States.

Many of these companies can be potential customers for SocialGlimpz. Thus, we packed our bags and moved to Dallas for the duration of the program.

The mentors of the program are its biggest asset. We built relationships with dozens of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders that will last well after the program ends.

They helped us cultivate and perfect our pitch, they advised us on short and long-term business development strategies and assisted with marketing.

Most importantly they were our advocates when it came to finding financiers and corporate development partners.

The mentor group has an amazing rolodex of individuals in key positions that have proven to really accelerate our growth.

As an example, one of the mentors, Ryan Scripps, put us in touch with executives at the Richard’s Group, one of the largest advertising and marketing agencies in the nation.

We also picked up an investor and advisor during the program named David Humphrey, the ex-CEO of Massage Envy, who has been a great asset to us in navigating the complex world of B2B sales.

A necessary ability for an entrepreneur, especially in the early stages when the ambiguity and risks are high, is being able to convince others to believe in you, be it your customers, investors or employees.

For some, this comes naturally and for many, it’s learned behavior. The Tech Wildcatters program gave us the tools to be effective promoters of our own cause.

For example, when we needed to prepare

material for our next sales meeting, Tech Wildcatters enabled us to get the support of an advisor who has spent years doing this for startups just like ours. Building a successful company is not only about knowing what to do, but also knowing what not to do.

Having people around who have done it before helped us avoid pitfalls and focus on the highest value activities.

When we first joined the accelerator, we made a few mistakes, but were able to quickly recover to get the most out of the program.

Here is our advice on ensuring you get everything you can out of whatever entrepreneurial program you are in: The onus is on you to engage with the members of the incubator eco-system. You can’t expect the program managers to do all of the work for you.

Take it upon yourself to proactively get a list of mentors, corporate partners and investors who are active with the program.

Do your research on these individuals and reach out to the ones that can assist your company, and do it as soon as the program starts. Sometimes it might take the full 12 weeks, or longer, to build the needed relationship with these folks to establish a fruitful partnership.

In general, asking rarely hurts. Whether it’s asking someone to be an investor, or asking a company to pilot our offering, we found it more often beneficial to just go ahead and do it.

In our specific case, we built relationships with many potential investors, who, as we learned after the fact, were seriously interested in SocialGlimpz, but ultimately told us that since we never asked, they had tied up their capital in other areas.

Don’t be afraid to ask!

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11 JULY 2013

2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

LifeVest Disrupts the Corporate-Wellness Industry Business: LifeVest Health Founders: Jon Cooper, Michael Logsdon, Brad Patterson Contact: help@lifevesthealth.com

BY BRANDON BAKER Jon Cooper and his team of seven at LifeVest Health are enchanted by the euphoric ups and downs of the stock market.

As health and financial junkies, they’ve managed to combine stocks and health benchmarks as a way to incentivize healthy lifestyle choices for the masses — that is, they’ve created a literal stock market for health.

The journey of LifeVest and its corporate-wellness stock market began a year ago in Denver, CO, the company having been formed

by University of Pennsylvania

graduates Jon Cooper and Michael Logsdon, as well as their personal friend Brad Patterson, who graduated from George Mason University.

In that year, LifeVest has relocated to Benjamin’s Desk in Philadelphia, and has received seed funding from Tigerlabs Health and Jeff Margolis — CEO of TriZetto, a $1.4 billion leader in health IT. “LifeVest Health is creating a carbon credit for health care,” Mr. Cooper said. “We came out here to Philadelphia for three reasons: an investor, our customers — Denver’s an awesome place to live, but when you have a business model [like ours], it’s best to be close to your customers — and, third, we just have family ties to the area. …

We’re where we want to be right now.”

Working under the common premise that businesses prefer a healthy workforce, LifeVest marks the corporate wellness industry as “prime for disruption,” having created a simple-and-clean stock market for employees that holds them accountable for sticking to fitness routines and diets by using their own money as a motivator.

Mr. Cooper hopes companies will adopt their all-new platform as a more lucrative investment of the $6 billion already spent on wellness.

Mr. Cooper cited early adopters of its newly launched product as a positive sign of what’s to come, and marked 2015 and 2016 as his target years for mass commercial growth.

In the meantime, LifeVest will be looking for an additional round From left: Jon Cooper, Mike Logsdon and Brad Patterson TECHNICALLY PHILLY of funding as Fall 2013 approaches.

1st Annual

MARCUM I N N O VATO R of the Year

AWA R DS

November 14, 2013 Is your company a catalyst for change?

Have you pushed the boundaries in your industry?

Is your innovation helping to boost Philadelphia’s growing economy?

Marcum LLP and Region’s Business are in search of Greater Philadelphia’s top innovators, and we want to hear from you.

The 1st Annual Marcum Innovator of the Year Awards will honor businesses of all sizes that are pioneering new advancements in the fields of Health/Biotech, Technology, Business Management, and Energy. Three winners will be named in each category, based on company size.

Tell us about your break-through innovation and what makes your company a leader in our region by emailing a 500-word summary to innovation@regionsbusiness.com.

Submissions must be received by September 1, 2013.

Winners will be announced at a Gala Awards Ceremony at the Franklin Institute on November 14, 2013. Don’t miss out on this spectacular opportunity to join our region’s business leaders in recognizing and celebrating the spirit of innovation in and around Philadelphia.

For complete details including nomination criteria, please call Jacki Hallinan at 484.270.2715.

Ben Franklin may have been Philadelphia’s first and most celebrated innovator, but he did not have a corner on the market. Who knows? You could be Philadelphia’s next Innovator of the Year!

For tickets to the event, please call 610-572-7112 ext 102. If you are interested in sponsoring this event, please call Deirdre Affel at 610-572-7136.

Marcum LLP is a top national accounting and advisory services firm.

Sponsored by

Discover the

Difference

www.marcumllp.com

International Member of Leading Edge Alliance

ASSURANCE

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Once again, Region’s Business checks in with some notable Philadelphians in the worlds of business and politics

STORY BY GRAZIELLA DINUZZO ILLUSTRATION BY DON LEE

Top: Pat Croce, former owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and entrepreneur Right: Jim Murray, former General Manager of the Philadelphia Eagles and founder of the Ronald McDonald House Bottom: Lynda Resnick, billionaire philanthropist and master marketer Left: William H. Gray, III, former president of the United Negro College, US Congressman and Pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church.

Mr. Gray passed away July 1 ILLUSTRATION BY DON LEE

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

JIM MURRAY Former Philadelphia Eagles General Manager and founder of Ronald McDonald House THEN: Jim Murray grew up a poor Irish kid on Brooklyn Street in West Philly. He used the lessons learned on the basketball courts, in his strong Irish Catholic home and through his faith to create a successful career and life of giving.

Mr. Murray began his sports administration career with the Tidewater Tides baseball team before leaving for active duty as a Marine. When he returned, he took over as assistant general manager of St. Louis Cardinals affiliate Atlanta Crackers.

Mr. Murray joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969, working on the public relations staff. He took over as an administrative assistant two years later.

In 1974, Mr. Murray was named general manager, a position he held for more than nine years. Under Mr. Murray’s watch, the Eagles made the NFL playoffs four times, facing the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV. Mr. Murray (and owner Leonard Tose) were responsible for hiring head coach Dick Vermeil.

He left the Eagles in 1983 and joined the Garden State Racetrack in Cherry Hill as the Director of Mar-

keting.

In 1974, when Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill’s 3-year-old daughter was receiving treatment for leukemia at St. Christopher’s Hospital, he, like many other loved ones, would sleep on hospital room chairs.

Dr. Audrey Evans, head of pediatric oncology unit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), dreamed of a comfortable temporary residence for families. Mr. Murray made it happen.

He convinced Don Tuckerman, of the local McDonald’s advertising agency, and McDonald’s Regional Manager Ed Rensi, to create a St. Patrick’s Day Green Milkshake (today’s Shamrock shake) to raise funds to purchase an old house located near CHOP. Today, more than 350 Ronald McDonald houses exist in 35 countries, supporting more than 10 million families.

NOW: Mr. Murray’s website reads: “Jim Murray PR and Public Relations,” but when asked what he is currently doing, he said, “I work at Trinity International. It’s a mystery.

“I don’t know what I do, all I know is I’m blessed to have grown up with the basic values of life, just be a good neighbor. I’ve come full circle from where it all began on Brooklyn Street.”

I’M BLESSED TO HAVE GROWN UP WITH THE BASIC VALUES OF LIFE, JUST BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR. I’VE COME FULLCIRCLE FROM WHERE IT ALL BEGAN ON BROOKLYN STREET.’ Today, at age 85, Mr. Murray‘s phone continues to ring with requests for speaking engagements and appeals from charities. He is currently working with the Center for Autism, Healthy Hoops and Frankies World.

Mr. Murray has received numerous awards for his lifetime of giving, and they include: the 2005 Award for Outstanding Catholic Leadership given by the Catholic Leadership Institute; the 2002 first annual Leonard Tose Award; Citizen of the Year Award from the American Medical Association in 1999; the Distinguished Service Award from the American Legion in 1992; induction into the Philadelphia City All-Star Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1992; President Ronald Reagan’s Medal for Volunteers of America in 1987; and the prestigious Bert Bell Man of the Year Award from the Bakers Club of Philadelphia in 1983.

Mr. Murray and his wife, Dianne, have five children and three grandchildren.

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Former Congressman Passes Away

JTA.ORG

BY KEVIN HORNE

P

hiladelphia icon and former U.S. Congressman Bill Gray died last week at 71, according to a family spokesperson.

Mr. Gray was attending the Wimbledon tennis championships in London when he suddenly died from natural causes. The spokesperson said that Mr. Gray was in good health and had not shown any symptoms of illness.

President Obama praised Mr. Gray in a statement.

“Bill Gray was a trailblazer, proudly representing his beloved Philadelphia in Congress for over a decade as the first African-American to chair the Budget Committee and to serve as the Majority Whip,” President Obama said. “Bill’s extraordinary leadership, on issues from housing to transportation to supporting efforts that ended Apartheid in South Africa, made our communities, our country and our world a more just place. Michelle and I extend our deepest sympathies to Bill’s family, especially to his

wife Andrea and their three sons.”

Mr. Gray, a minister at Bright Hope Baptist Church for more than 40 years, was elected to congress in 1978. He served Pennsylvania’s 2nd congressional district until 1991.

As a congressman, Mr. Gray was an outspoken figure in congress against apartheid in South Africa.

Following his career in congress, Mr. Gray served as the president of the United Negro College Fund.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Congressman Bill Gray,” Senator Bob Casey said in a statement. “As a member of Congress, he was a tireless advocate for the people of Philadelphia and a trailblazer for a new generation of African American elected officials. My thoughts and prayers are with Congressman Gray’s family.”

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter ordered the flags at half-staff July 2 to honor Mr. Gray and his service to the city.

“I am truly stunned, saddened and hurt by the loss of this great man who was so influential in my

own growth as a public servant as well as dozens of other Philadelphians, particularly in the African American community,” Mayor Nutter said in a statement. “Bill Gray was also a unifying force bringing together a multi-racial coalition to work in the best interests of all Philadelphians. Bill’s passing is a dramatic and significant loss for Philadelphia, the Commonwealth and the nation he served with honor and distinction.”

Senator Pat Toomey’s office also released a statement.

“Rep. Gray’s leadership as both a Member of Congress and as a pastor has left an indelible mark on generations of public servants,” the statement read. “In particular, Rep. Gray was a pillar of Philadelphia’s African American community and will be fondly remembered as a mentor to men and women who sought to serve their communities. Kris and I will keep Rep. Gray’s family in our prayers.”

Mr. Gray leaves behind a wife and three sons.

This article was originally published at PoliticsPa.com.

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Pat ‘Pasquale’ Croce Former Philadelphia 76ers Owner and Entrepreneur

TWITTER.COM/PAT_CROCE

THEN: Pat Croce wrote the prescription for living the life of your dreams.

His appearances on national talk shows inspired millions to get in life’s driver seat.

Mr. Croce began his career as a physical therapist and athletic trainer, hired to help train Shawn Bradley, a seven-foot-six-inch center.

Outside of the Sixers organization, Mr. Croce founded Sports Physical Therapists (he sold the chain of 40 centers for about $40 million in 1993).

He was chosen as President of the basketball team in the mid-’90s, and the team rose from the depths of the NBA to the Finals in 2001.

Mr. Croce’s dynamic personality and sage advice filled the pages of several of his self help books with titles such as: “I Feel Great and You Will Too,” “Victory Journal,” “Lead or Get Off the Pot,” and “Do It Now Journal.”

Mr. Croce is known for a passion for pirates. According to Key West Lakeland Ledger newspaper, he has a Jolly Roger tattoo on his left hand, a ship on his left forearm, a parrot on his shoulder and a molar cap etched with skulls and cross bones.

Mr. Croce has written several books on pirates: “Pirate Soul: A Swashbuckling Journey Through the Golden Age of Pirates:” “My Pop-Pop is a Pirate; “Blackbeard;” “Pirates of St. Augustine;” and “The Pirate Handbook.”

In October 2011, Mr. Croce financed and participated in a monumental expedition which located the shipwrecks of Sir Francis Drake.

NOW: There’s no stopping Pat Croce.

His empire, based in Key West and St. Augustine, Fla., includes authentic and iconic restaurants: Rum Barrel; Island Dogs Bar; Green Parrot Bar; Charlie Mac’s 404; Turtle Kraals and Half Shell Raw Bar. He owns the St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum, a $10 million Pirate Soul Museum which features authentic pirate artifacts, many from Croce’s personal collection. He also owns Greate Bay Country Club; Greate Bay Racquet and Fitness; and Medkita Physical Therapy Consulting, a physical therapy consulting company that specializes in the improvement and management of outpatient physical therapy clinics.

In March, Mr. Croce opened the Colonial Quarter Living History Museum in St. Augustine.

He also remains busy on the speaker’s circuit, reminding listeners that “‘should have’ stinks,” and “take action on your passion.”

Lynda Resnick Billionaire, Philanthropist, Master Marketer THEN: Lynda Resnick’s spotlight began at the early age of four when her father, Jack Harris, producer of the cult favorite, The Blob, cast her in a recurring role of The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour broadcast on WCAU-TV. At age 19, then Lynda Sinay, founded a fullservice advertising agency, Lynda Limited, which sparked the flame for her fiery success in branding and marketing.

Her second marriage to her business partner, Stewart Resnick, formed a powerful union of marketing genius, resulting in a series of successful ventures, corporate management and product development, under the Roll International Corporation. In 1979, the Resnicks purchased Teleflora and Lynda introduced a new idea “Flowers in a Gift,” delivering flowers in a keepsake container, winning her the gold Effie marketing communications award.

Her passion for healthy alternatives was fueled the creation of POM Wonderful and purchase of Fiji Water.

The pistachio orchard she owned contained pomegranate trees, which according to folklore contained a plethora of medical benefits.

In 1996, she sponsored millions of dollars in research on pomegranate consumption which claims to be “full of antioxidants called phytochemicals.” By 2002, she created the POM Wonderful logo and the eye-catching hourglass-shape bottle.

In 2010, the FDA issued a cease and desist order to POM for unapproved health claim labeling.

In 2004, the Resnicks acquired Fiji Water business, branding the water as exotic and unique and sold 4.6 million cases in its first year. By 2008, Fiji became the largest imported bottled water brand in the U.S. Ms. Resnick’s creative business mind influenced the marketing strategy for the Franklin Mint, which the

Resnicks owned from 1984 until 2006. She obtained the licensing to sell high-end collectible dolls such as the Scarlett O’Hara, which generated $35 million in sales.

NOW: “What do you do when you face those facts about privilege and luck? You have to give back,” Lynda Resnick said in a March 2013 Huffington Post interview during the Aspen Institute Aspen Festival.

Her philanthropy initiatives within her company, POM Wonderful, include providing her employees with up to $1,000 to gift to causes of their choice and up to $10,000 matching funds for personal donations they make to charities.

Ms. Resnick currently serves as vice chairman of Roll International and invests her time, money and influence on a number of boards and charities. Since 2010, she has funded the Central Valley Leadership Project, which focuses on education initiatives and the transformation of low-income towns.

The Resnicks also provide scholarships to the children of workers on the farms and vineyards they own — Paramount Farms and Paramount Citrus Companies, as well as JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery and Landmark Vineyards.

She serves on the Executive Board of The Aspen Institute and chairs the Development Committee; the Executive Board for the UCLA Medical Sciences; CaP CURE and the Milken Family Foundation.

She is a Trustee and Executive Vice President of Los Angeles County Mu s e u m of Art, as well as the Chair of the Collections Committee, and is a Trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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11 JULY 2013

FINE ESTATES PREVIEW

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Renovated Historic Home In Doylestown Margaret Mead, a highly-respected and accomplished anthropologist and writer, grew up in this Doylestown home where she attended Doylestown high school and graduated in 1918.

The six-bedroom, three-bathroom house is now on the market for $1.7 million and features thorough renovations by the current owners.

Included is front and rear porches, a matching carriage house and a detailed ornate slate roof.

The huge, open kitchen is complete with a built-in breakfast banquet, granite and butcher block counters and state-of-the-art appliances.

A very large butler’s pantry offers a wine refrigerator and additional cabinetry.

The banquet-size room can serve very well for large family gatherings or holiday gatherings, while the dining room moves into the equally large living room with oversized windows and high ceilings.

This family home will let you be a part of history while enjoying modern living.

For more information, please contact Arthur Mazzei of Addison Wolfe Real Estate at (215) 862-5500

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

REAL ESTATE

The AVI Tax Relief Bill You Haven’t Heard Of

BY SANDY SMITH

P

erhaps the headline is a bit extreme, but we can’t recall seeing anything about the “gentrification relief � bill Philadelphia City Council passed in the closing days of its session until we saw an item on Philadelinquency.com (PDQ) explaining it in plain English.

It’s not a done deal yet, for a state law must be amended for it to take effect, but should that happen, it would provide significant tax relief for longtime homeowners in many neighborhoods where new real estate construction has led to steep rises in property values.

The bill, which PDQ has dubbed “Gentrification Protection,� would cap and freeze assessments for 10 years for longtime owner-occupants

820 Brushtown Rd, Gwynedd Valley, PA

84 Norristown Rd, Blue Bell, PA 19422

$3.65 M (6005156)

$965,000 (5962964)

5 beds | 6 full, 3 partial baths Timeless & Elegant describe this true estate in prestigious Gwynedd Valley. Built by the builder, for the builder, the residence is sited on over 1.5 acres and offers over 11,000 sf of living space. This home was designed for those with the most discriminating taste and an appreciation for fine living.

5 beds | 5 full, 1 partial baths Meticulously maintained, solid built, Philomeno & Salamone estate home offers nearly 6,000 sq.ft. of living space on 3/4 acres w/3 bay garage. Conveniently located on a private cul de sac in desirable Blue Bell,this home was designed to entertain with its’ custom finishes t/o including newly renovated gourmet kitchen.

1204 Hunt Seat Dr, Lower Gwynedd, PA

936 N Penn Oak Rd, Lower Gwynedd, PA

Nicole Miller-Desantis

(215) 641-2727 (office) (267) 419-1454 (direct)

whose assessments have risen more than 300 percent under the Actual Value Initiative and whose income falls under a certain threshold — specifically, 150 percent of the Area Median Household Income as defined

by Census Bureau figures. For a four-person household, that figure is currently $118,750, so the cap would take in the great majority of homeowners in Philadelphia.

The bill defines “longtime owner-occupant� as anyone who has owned a home and used it as his or her principal residence for at least 10 years (five years if the owner acquired the property with help from a government or nonprofit housing program).

There is an important catch: The property must be current on its tax payments, or the owner must be making installment

(215) 850-1305 (cell) (215) 999-5817 (fax)

$1.125 M (6196317)

$948,500 (6196308)

payments or in a payment agreement.

Those who qualify will have their assessments frozen at 300 percent of the property’s former assessed value for 10 years or until the house is sold or transferred to a relative, whichever comes first.

The bill is awaiting Mayor Michael Nutter’s signature but cannot take effect until a provision in the state law authorizing gentrification relief measures for first- and second-class cities that forbids means testing is removed.

PDQ blogger Christopher Sawyer estimates the cost of this provision accounts for .05 percent of the 1.34 percent property tax rate under AVI. This article was originally published on the Philadelphia Real Estate Blog at PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com.

5 beds | 3 full, 1 partial baths Tastefully decorated colonial in desirable Polo Club Estates in the heart of Gwynedd Valley. Sited on over an acre, this well positioned, brightly lit home has improvements throughout. Hardwood flooring, custom paint, newly renovated powder & mud rooms along with numerous other finishes that highlight this beautifully maintained home.

4 beds | 3 full, 2 partial baths Sited on a nearly 1 acre wooded lot in popular Penn Oak, this pretty stone colonial boasts nearly 7,000 sq. ft. of living space w/ its full, finished, walk-out basement. This home offers a bright, open floor plan with access to the outdoors from nearly every room. Kitchen w/ Breakfast Room is welcoming and provides access to large, rear deck for easy entertaining.

Blue Bell Office 686 Dekalb Pike Blue Bell, PA 19422

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Q&A

11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

THE ROGERS BROTHERS’

NEW STATION IN LIFE

Brothers Simon (left) and Adam Rogers are the co-founders of the Transfer Station, the up-and-coming coworking space in the heart of Manayunk at 114 Green Lane, where they have a vision of bringing the entrepreneurial spirit back to Main Street.

What is the elevator pitch for the Transfer Station?

SR: It changes depending on who we’re talking to, as the Transfer Station is so many things to so many different people. If you were an artisan, I’d say it’s a place for you to sell and make your work. If you were a small business, I’d say it’s a place to get started, or to launch, or conduct meetings, or to have an office. If you were an event planner or someone looking for a space to perform, I’d say its the coolest space in Manayunk. If you were an innovator, I’d say it’s a pretty cool place to make your ideas happen in the basement with our little maker lab. It’s sort of a launchpad for small businesses, a way to bring back the small artisan or entrepreneurial spirit back to Main Street.

What’s the philosophy behind the Transfer Station?

AR: Manayunk was an industrial town as of the mid-’70s and fell on hard times. Everything left. Then some artists came around and said, “This is a good location,” and started setting up shop. It took off, people loved it and eventually the prices started to rise. The artists got pushed out, restaurants came in and bars came in. Now you can’t afford a space on the street if you’re a small business.

We want to bring that accessibility back. We see and have met a lot of artisans or small businesses that don’t have the infrastructure and don’t have the means to take a great idea to the

/theXFR

@theXFR

larger market. And we want to make that process accessible, whether its through the physical space or the services behind the space, we want to support them in growing, and we want them to outgrow us, take off, become successful and relocate to another spot on Main Street.

What makes the Transfer Station different from the other coworking spaces in Philadelphia?

SR: No. 1, the integration of the creative media services. A lot of the small businesses we work with may have great ideas, but the main challenge they hit is how they market themselves. I run an advertising agency that we are migrating to become the in-house creative agency that will make very high-end media accessible to all of our members. If somebody comes up with a great idea, they can sit down with our creative and strategic steam and figure out how to present that idea.

No. 2 is, as far as we know, nobody we know is doing this co-retail model.

So, the entire first floor, just like you have coworking space with shared desk space, these are small, shared stores or individual stores. The idea is that you can’t afford a place on Main Street at all, if you’re an individual or small business, it’s ridiculous. So we want to make a way for people to have main street storefront space that they can afford through sharing, collaboration and eventually they’ll outgrow it and get their own location.

theXFR.org

11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

OPINION

27

Corbett’s Failure Puts Partisanship in Spotlight

M

G. Terry Madonna is director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College.

Michael Young is managing partner of Michael Young Strategic Research

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

ost attention in the bruising battle to adopt the recently enacted Pennsylvania budget focused on whether the state budget passed on time. It did.

But a story far more important than budget passage itself was largely missed in covering the late night, last-minute theatrics now de rigueur with state budgets. That story poignantly revealed to those watching the deep polarization that now exists within the Pennsylvania legislature.

Nothing illustrates these deep fissures more than the debate over Gov. Tom Corbett’s “big agenda” items: liquor privatization, transportation funding and the state pension debt.

As widely reported, these three highly touted priorities failed to pass, shocking many observers who expected at least some would pass, since Corbett’s own Republicans hold majority control of both houses of the state legislature.

Even more shocking perhaps is why they did not pass: clearly Corbett’s priorities failed—not in spite of Republicans controlling the legislature—but rather because Republicans control the legislature.

Let’s be clear. State history teaches that one party control does not guarantee a ready-made consensus for a governor’s agenda.

One needs go back no further than the last elected Republican governor to find an example. Gov. Tom Ridge, a popular and effective governor, enjoyed Republican control of the legislature during his entire eight year tenure. Yet he still failed to pass several of his priorities, including school choice and liquor privatization.

Ridge, however, never made school choice or liquor privatization a must win for his administration. Corbett by contrast did make passage of his priorities the central policy focus of his first term.

Consequently, the failure to pass these items cannot be interpreted other than a failure for Gov. Corbett.

To be sure it was that. But much more important and much less well understood, it was also a defining moment for the state legislature.

The making of the legislative sausage is the quintessential “black box” in state politics. Few get to see how it gets made; fewer perhaps care. But understanding what happened and didn’t during those crucial end of June days probably matter more to state politics than the ultimate fate of Tom Corbett.

What happened can be summed up in a single word: “partisanship” — pervasive, prevalent, pernicious, partisanship — more intense than any in modern times. Partisanship also has polarized not only Republicans from Democrats, but likewise the state house from the state senate, ominously mirroring the same toxic partisanship so virulently widespread in the U.S. Congress.

The historical causes of Pennsylvania’s increasingly polarized politics are multiple, but three major events going back to the last decade are pivotal, notably: · The legal and political fallout from the infamous legislative pay hike of 2005; · Then Attorney General Tom Corbett’s bonus-gate prosecutions of lawmakers and legislative staffers; · The huge GOP 2010 sweep in Pennsylvania, giving Republicans a political trifecta—the governorship plus large majorities in both houses of the legislature.

Party sweeps are not unique in state politics. But the conservatives arriving in Harrisburg as a result of the last three elections represented a very different type of politician than normally seen in Pennsylvania.

Unlike their earlier brethren they are much less practical and far less likely to compromise. They are much more rigidly ideological, eschew compromise as a matter of principle and have a limited view of the role of state government.

These new conservatives now form an operational majority in the state house.

House Democrats also have changed. Republicans may have moved further to the right than Democrats to the left. But Democrats, too, have moved far from the center. Having lost much of their once formidable rural base, house Democrats increasingly are confined to urban constituencies.

Consequently, they have become much more ideologically oriented, much more liberal and much less likely to compromise.

Conversely, the senate remains less ideological, less rigid and far more likely to bargain on key legislation.

The sharp contrast between the two chambers was exposed dramatically during the recent budget battle.

In the senate, three key pieces of budget legislation, the 2013 budget, a Medicaid expansion bill and transportation funding passed with considerable bipartisan support.

In the house, by sharp contrast, two separate budget bills plus a liquor privatization bill passed without a single Democratic vote.

The implications of this growing polarization stretch far beyond the 2013 budget battle. Republicans in the house, legatees of Corbett’s 2010 conservative takeover, should have been his champions, insuring that he and his agenda would triumph. But instead, refusing to compromise, adapt or bargain, they have killed what they would create.

This in turn has further undercut Corbett’s credibility with voters providing Democrats abundant opportunities to charge Republicans with failure to govern and planting the seeds that may regain the governorship for Democrats in 2014 as well as one or both legislative chambers.

One of the oldest axioms in politics is that governing has a price as the party in power gradually wears out its welcome with voters. But the 2013 budget battle reminds us that there is also a price for not governing.

State Republicans might soon learn how high that price can be.

POLLS

Polls Don’t Look Good For Corbett The latest poll from Republican firm Harper Polling shows that a majority do not wish to see the governor re-elected — by a 32-point margin.

56%

Respondents who believe Gov. Corbett shouldn’t be re-elected

24%

Respondents who believe Gov. Corbett should be re-elected

20%

Respondents who aren’t sure if Gov. Corbett should be re-elected

41%

Respondents who said they will vote for a Democrat in the upcoming election

40%

Respondents who said they will vote for a Republican in the upcoming election

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

OPINION

When Jobs Are No Longer The Answer T Allan Sheahen is the author of the new book “Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security.”

He is a board member of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network.

Contact Allan at alsheahen@ prodigy.net and at www. basicincomeguarantee.com

CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business.

he current unemployment rate of 7.6 percent means close to 20 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed.

Nobody states the obvious truth: That the marketplace has changed and there will never again be enough jobs for everyone who wants one — no matter who is in the White House or in Congress Fifty years ago, economists predicted that automation and technology would displace thousands of workers a year. Now we even have robots doing human work.

Job losses will only get worse as the 21st century progresses.

Global capital will continue to move jobs to places on the planet that have the lowest labor costs.

Technology will continue to improve, eliminating countless jobs.

There is no evidence to back up the claim that we can create jobs for everyone who wants one. To rely on jobs and economic growth does not work. We have to get rid of the myth that “welfare-towork” will solve the problems of unemployment, poverty, and homelessnes.

“Work” and jobs are not the answer to ending poverty. This has been the hardest concept for us to understand. It’s the hardest concept to sell to citizens and policy makers. To end poverty and to achieve true economic freedom, we need to break the link between work and income.

Job creation is a completely wrong approach because the world doesn’t need everyone to have a job in order to produce what is needed for us to live a decent, comfortable life.

We need to re-think the whole concept of having a job.

When we say we need more jobs, what we really mean is we need is more money to live on.

Basic Income Guarantee

One answer is to establish a basic income guarantee (BIG), enough at least to get by on — just above the poverty level — for everyone. Each of us could then try to find

$200,000 per job.

Think of it as the opposite of trickle-down economics, where we give huge tax breaks to the rich in the false hope that something will trickle down to the rest of us.

Not a New Idea

WE SHOULD REPLACE THE RAGBAG OF SPECIFIC WELFARE PROGRAMS WITH A SINGLE, COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OF INCOME SUPPLEMENTS IN CASH — A NEGATIVE INCOME TAX.’ —MILTON FRIEDMAN

work to earn more.

A basic income would provide economic freedom and income security to everyone.

It would provide a direct stimulus to the economy, which would help create more jobs.

We could pay for a Basic Income Guarantee by eliminating most of the 20th-century programs like unemployment insurance, welfare, Social Security, Section 8 housing, etc., and by having the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.

Billionaire Warren Buffett admits he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Mitt Romney said he paid only 13.9 percent in federal income tax in 2010, despite earning $22 million. Average-income Americans pay about 20 percent.

A BIG would be cheaper than a jobs program. President Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan promised to create 3 to 4 million jobs at a cost of $862 billion. That’s over

Basic income is not a new idea.

It’s been debated among policymakers in several nations since the 1970s.

The late economist Milton Friedman said, “We should replace the ragbag of specific welfare programs with a single comprehensive program of income supplements in cash — a negative income tax.”

Opponents claim we shouldn’t pay people not to work. But the duty to pursue work is based on the mistaken assumption that there is work to be had.

In the post-industrial age, the USA will provide ever fewer opportunities for low-skilled workers. Policies in pursuit of full employment make no sense.

The Basic Income Guarantee Can Work

In 1982, the state of Alaska began distributing money from state oil revenues to every resident.

The Alaska Permanent Fund gives about $1,000 to $2,000 each year to every man, woman, and child in the state. In 2011, the amount was $1,174. There are no work requirements. The grant has reduced poverty and the inequality of income in Alaska.

A 10-year, 7,800-family, U.S. government test of a basic income found that most people would continue to work, even when their incomes were guaranteed.

A test in Manitoba, Canada, produced similar results.

Most Americans are six months from poverty. Middle-class people who worked all their lives, then lost their jobs and saw their unemployment benefits expire, are now sleeping in parks and under bridges.

A basic income guarantee would be like an insurance policy.

It could give each of us the assurance that, no matter what happened, we and our families wouldn’t starve.

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

OPINION COMMENTARY FROM ACROSS THE WEB

Colleges Encouraging Spending, Not Saving

Congress Drops Out On College Lending Crisis

Believe it or not, Americans used to save about one-tenth of their after-tax income. By the 1990s, that percentage had dropped to less than 5 percent, and from 2003 to 2012 the average savings rate had fallen even further.

We can point to many reasons for this decline. An important unrecognized culprit is the American university - and not just because the costs of higher education have far exceeded inflation. Colleges impose a very high private penalty on savings, giving people incentive to consume rather than save.

Moreover, this penalty - call it a tax - has grown substantially over time in a stealth fashion with rising college attendance, soaring tuition charges and more aggressive tuition discounting by colleges.

Showing indifference to an entire generation,

RICHARD VEDDER FOR THE PATRIOT-NEWS, 9 JULY 2013

Congress took off for its summer break without addressing student loans. As a result, interest rates on new Stafford loans doubled last week, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

This is the second year in a row that Congress has failed to respond to the nation’s highereducation lending problem. Last year, members decided to put off the job of setting a reasonable student borrowing rate until this year. Supposedly to ensure that they would act, interest rates were set to double if nothing was done.

Well, nothing was done - except more harm to students already struggling with a collective $1.1 trillion in debt. That figure includes not just subsidized Stafford loans, but also private and unsubsidized federal loans carrying higher interest rates. The debt burden forces college graduates and dropouts alike to put off

Corbett, GOP Fail PA If you strike out two of every three times at bat, you’re a Hall of Famer. One out of four gives you a long career. But go 0-for-the-season, and your contract won’t be renewed.

On that last point, welcome to the lives of Gov. Tom Corbett and the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Legislature.

Once again, the pols have recessed for the summer with zero success passing any major initiatives, keeping Pennsylvania stuck in the dark ages. So where does that leave us? Do we carry the torch of hope that lights the way to a better tomorrow? Do we still possess the faith that each successive generation will fare better than the one before it?

Nope.

And because Corbett, who had a 10-point victory in 2010, and the Republican Legislature, which enjoys historic majorities in both houses, lack the courage to fix our oncegreat Commonwealth, Pennsylvania further plummets into the oblivion of mediocrity.

CHRIS FRIEND FOR DELCOTIMES.COM,

It’s a great day to stop by our #DoAC pop-up at the Taste of Philly! Come on out! http://www. doatlanticcity.com #LivefromAC @BMFMEDIA

marriage, children, and home purchases. And it forces many to settle for jobs that don’t match their skills just to keep up with loan payments.

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER EDITORIAL 9 JULY 2013

@Geekadelphia

“These are the geeks in the city that we’re trying to show off” http://ow.ly/ mKtQZ We talk the awards with @ newsworkswhyy.

Last week, interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

Congress refused to take action on legislation

@RickSantorum just tweeted he will become CEO of @EchoLightStudio — a film production company. Seems like no 2016 pres bid 22 JUNE 2013

these loans before it went on vacation.

@pat_croce

Members from both parties agree that 6.8

Hump day goal - be curious and courageous instead of comfortable and complacent.

percent is too high, but — surprise — they can’t agree on how to fix it.

26 JUNE 2013

Unless they can agree on something soon after their return and ensure that it applies retroactively, borrowers who can least afford

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@whitehouse

GRETCHEN BARRETT ON PHILLYBURBS.COM,

“Bill Gray was a trailblazer.” —Obama on the passing of the former Congressman & 1st African American Majority Whip

9 JULY 2013

2 JULY 2013

it will end up deeper in debt.

A JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS

8 JULY 2013

@FirstRound

@terrymadonna

that would have determined the rate for

REGION’S BUSINESS

Congrats to #NovaNation’s own Scott O’Neill on being named @Sixers CEO! @ VillanovaU @NovaAthletics

8 JULY 2013

Quick Student Loan Compromise Needed

9 JULY 2013

@CSNmoquilter

EDITORIAL BOARD CEO and President James D. McDonald Managing Editor Terrence J. Casey Associate Editor Rich Coleman

Very proud of @WarbyParker: as of this summer, they’ve distributed 500,000 pairs of glasses to people in need 9 JULY 2013

@RichNegrin

Gr8 meeting w/ @YearUp looking forward to their work in #Philly. Helping youth find opportunity.

8 JULY 2013

@PPDEricGripp

It’s a beautiful day down on the Parkway! Come on down and enjoy the sights and sounds! #welcomeamerica 4 JULY 2013

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE To contribute, send comments, letters and essays to feedback@regionsbusiness.com. Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflect those of Region’s Business. We reserve the right to edit all submissions for content, style and length.

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11 JULY 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

BY THE NUMBERS

10,000

Expected attendees for the weeklong PONY National Softball Championships July 21-27 in Lower Bucks County

1,000

3,250

Hotel rooms expected to be occupied by attendees of the PONY National Softball Championships

Expected attendees for the PONY National Softball Championships

5,000

11%

Percentage of 348 youth athletes that have been offered a reward or gift for to hurt another player on an opposing team, according to a survey from I9 Sports.

Nights spent at Lower Bucks hotels during the championships

250

Softball teams from the US and Canada participating in the championships

41

Baseball fields in Lower Bucks that will be utilized for the championships

750

Softball players participating in the ROCK Young Guns Futures Softball Tournament on July 13-14 in Bucks County

2,250

Expected attendees during the twoday softball tournament

FLICKR.COM/ADWRITER

43%

The percentage of support for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in a recent Harper Poll of best Hershey’s candy

16%

Percentage of supporters for Hershey’s chocolate bars

12%

Percentage of supporters for Hershey’s Kisses

42%

17%

Percentage of supporters for York Peppermint Patties

12%

Respondents who identified as Republican

45%

Respondents who identified as Democrat

Percentage of supporters for Kit-Kat bars FLICKR.COM/MICHAELKN

3.4% Margin of error

FLICKR.COM/[BMW]

30%

Percentage of youth athletes who said they were secretly glad when a player on the other team was hurt

16% Percentage of youth athletes who said they had tried to hurt a player on the opposing team

50%

Percentage of youth athletes who have hidden an injury to continue playing

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