Regions Business Nov 7

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REGION’S BUSINESS

PHILADELPHIA EDITION

A JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS

MAKING MANUFACTURING WORK IN PHILADELPHIA Manufacturing is on the way up, and with a dedicated focus to cultivating the manufacturing industry in the city, who or what exactly will Philadelphia need to see it through?

WHAT’S KEY FOR FILLING MANUFACTURING JOBS? CORBETT’S CAMPAIGN ENDS SPECULATION HILLARY CLINTON COMES TO PHILADELPHIA

7 NOVEMBER 2013

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

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CONTENTS

“Effective people are not problemminded; they’re opportunity-minded.

They feed opportunities and starve problems.”

— stephen covey

3

NOW HIRING Contact: Info@precisionrg.com

21 Making Manufacturing Work

In Philadelphia

18 Corporate Wellness 101: 4 10 24 27

Unique Incentives Needed

Weekly Briefing Political Commentary Fine Estates

25

Southstar Lofts, Fully Framed, Puts Its Face On

Q&A: Julie Murphy, Wal-Mart Senior Vice President of Operations, North Division

Independence Media Corp.

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PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER James D. McDonald PHILADELPHIA EDITOR Rich Coleman BUSINESS EDITOR Michelle Boyles CONTRIBUTORS Brandon Baker, Eric Boehm, Charlie Gerow, Don Lee, Juliana Reyes, Sandy Smith, Scott Staruch, Tim Holwick, Rosella Eleanor LaFevre PROOFREADER Denise Gerstenfield ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Larry Smallacombe

Copyright 2013 Independence Media Corp. All rights reserved. Use of material within without express permission of publisher is prohibited.

Region’s Business is published weekly on Thursdays and online at www.regionsbusiness.com.

The publisher makes no representations or warranties regarding the advertising appearing in its pages or its websites.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

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DEALBOOK

BUSINESS

Philadelphia Packaging Co. Expands Philadelphia-based packaging company Crown Holdings aims to expand its European footprint with the acquisition of Mivisa Encases, a Spanish canning company with sales reported at over $500 million.

Crown will spend $1.64 billion on the purchase (pending regulatory review) that includes Mivisa’s 10 plants in Spain and one in Morocco, making it the largest canner in the region.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as financial advisor to Crown.

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Ben Franklin Technology To Fund Nine New Companies Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/ SEP) approved $2,175,000 in funding for nine local, early-stage technology companies: Cloudnexa, delivering cloud management solutions, migration, deployments and professional services.

Community Energy, Inc. (CEI), clean energy company building solar and wind energy projects.

EyeIC, Inc., healthcare technology firm dedicated to commercializing image analysis technologies.

FLOWatch, LLC, producers of a data management system focusing on the water utility and environmental fields.

Lumigent, LLC, a lighting retrofit company offering energy efficiency products and services for lighting businesses.

OrthogenRx, Inc., late stage product development and marketing organization developing generic Class III medical devices in orthopedics.

RxSport Corporation (Chandler Bats), using wood sources from Western Pennsylvania to manufacture MLB bats that maintain their strength and quality over time, leading to fewer broken bats.

Shenandoah Studio, LLC, Philadelphia game studio focused on turnbased strategy games for the iPad and iPhone.

TuvaLabs, LLC, makers of an online platform that collects significant and interesting international news stories and uses them to create educational, interactive math learning units for students.

CONSTRUCTION

FMC Tower Will Be Sixth Tallest In a joint statement issued last week, Brandywine Realty Trust and FMC Corporation announced the construction of the city’s sixth highest building, scaling 47 stories and spanning 250,000 squarefeet.

The FMC Tower at Cira Center South will consist of office, retail and apartment space, in addition to serving as the specialty chemical company’s corporate headquarters as part of a 16-year lease agreement.

University of Pennsylvania had previously agreed to a 20-year of 100,000 square-feet.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

BUSINESS

Robinson Luggage To Close End of Year

Annual Pennsylvania Women’s Conference Draws Thousands

2013 will mark the last year of business for Robinson Luggage, a Center City retailer since 1927. The company will close its door following liquidation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Once a $22 million organization consisting of seven stores in the area, the company is reportedly closing after struggling with big-box retail store competition, like Wal-Mart and Amazon. com.

Nancy Center, vice president of the company told the Inquirer that she did not know what would happen to the property, which is leased from the University of the Arts.

Her family bought the store in 1981 from the Robinson family. At the time it was on the second-floor at Chestnut and Juniper Street.

“It’s very heartbreaking,” she told the Inquirer last Wednesday.

Women from across the state gathered at the Pennsylvania Convention Center last Friday to celebrate “The Power of Possibilities,” the theme of this year’s Tenth Annual PA Women’s Conference.

The sold-out event featured hundreds of workshops, lectures and breakout sessions for female entrepreneurs with a list of keynote speakers including Madeline Albright, Linda Cliatt-Wayman and Hillary Clinton.

Ms. Clinton spoke about the Clinton Foundation’s ‘No Ceilings’ initiative, a project aimed at helping chart the path forward to accelerate full participation for women and girls in the 21st century.

“The great unfinished business of the 21st century is helping women and girls break through these ceilings and participate fully in every aspect of life once and for all,” she said.

Ms. Wayman was honored for her

work as the Principal of Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion High School, one of the most dangerous in the city. She told a silent crowd she volunteered for the position because she believes that everyone deserves an education.

“This nation must invest in the education in all of its children. Education is not the gateway to life. It is life,” she said, followed by a standing ovation from the crowd.

INNOVATION

Marcum Innovator Awards Keynote: Former Gov. Mark Schweiker Former PA Governor Mark S. Schweiker will keynote the inaugural Marcum Innovator of the Year Awards to be held at the Franklin Institute on November 14. Presented by Marcum LLP and Region’s Business, the awards will honor companies that have impacted the area’s economy with an innovative contribution.

Mr. Schweiker is currently serving as Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Relationship Officer (CRO) at Renmatix, a cellulosic sugar producer for global biochemical and biofuels markets.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

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WEEKLY BRIEFING EXECUTIVE SHOP

WHO TO FOLLOW

@BenjaminsDesk Benjamin’s Desk The coworking space focusing on innovation keeps growing, which means more reasons to keep up with their tweets.

RT @BenjaminsDesk: CoFoundersLab has put together 10 things every tech cofounder should look for in an entrepreneur... http://fb.me/2v6xTkXP0 RT @BenjaminsDesk: Meet the woman known as the “One-Woman Brand” @jengroover at our @StartupGrindPHL event next week. For tickets visit http://ow.ly/qmA2e

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Commonwealth Proper (CMMP) Stand out from the professional crowd with made-to-measure clothing and advice from wardrobe agency, Commonwealth Proper that opened its new flagship store in Philadelphia last month. The Americanmade company designs and produces custom shirts and suits (Americanmade as well) in addition to wardrobe consulting services.

The brand’s aesthetic is a fresh interpretation of old standards for the modern Philadelphia man. Commonwealth Proper, 1839 Chestnut St., Philadelphia PA 19103. (267)-319-1741 http:// www.commonwealthproper.com.

SEPTA iPhone App The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is moving into the digital age with it’s new app, bringing some of the most popular features of the septa.org website to iPhone customers.

Travelers can plan a trip, look-up fare prices, find the closest stop or station, check the schedule and status of their bus, train or trolley, receive detour/delay alerts and connect with the organization via social media.

RESTAURANT ROUNDUP

Another Top Chef Opens Restaurant in Philadelphia Foobooz reports Chef Nick Elmi, a contestant on Bravo TV’s Top Chef this season, opened his own restaurant, November 5th at 1617 E Passyunk Avenue. Laurel is a 24-seat BYOB that will serve seasonal dishes with a French and American flair.

Elmi had served as the chef at Rittenhouse Tavern and Le Bec Fin previously. But this will be his first solo operation.

The space is the original home to Fond, which moved around the corner last December.

Laurel is named for the Pennsylvania state flower and is reportedly one of Elmi’s favorite ingredients.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

City, Firefighter Interactions Continue To Be Tense

Timothy Holwick is a freelance writer covering Philadelphia government.

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

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

Over the last week, two issues between the City of Philadelphia and its fire fighters union, Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, were raised once again in the chambers of Philadelphia City Council. The first issue involves the recent promotion and immediate demotion of fourteen Philadelphia fire fighters. The second issue concerns the legislative manifestation of Mayor Michael Nutter’s four-year-long battle against an arbitration award.

On October 30, 2013, Councilman James Kenney, as Chairman of the Committee on Labor and Civil Service, presided over a hearing concerning the promotion and demotion of fourteen fire fighters.

Last spring, the dispute was born when the city declined to fill fourteen lieutenant and captain vacancies. The strategy at the time was to wait for the current promotion list of those who had taken the required exams to expire. That way, the vacancies could be filled with candidates from a new list of top scorers. The union took the issue to court and successfully argued that this strategy circumvented fire fighters who were properly in line for promotion.

The fire fighters from the old list were promoted, but the union lost the case at appeal. Therefore, those fire fighters were demoted, and the vacancies were filled from the new list.

The mayor’s office confirmed that the

THE HEARING... STIRRED A FIRE MAYOR NUTTER WAS LIKELY HOPING TO CONSIDER RESOLVED.’ promotions were filled weeks ago, and that the hearing before council would have no effect on those decisions. Councilman Kenney simply stated that the fire fighters who were promoted and then demoted had a right to demand a rationale from their city. That was ostensibly the purpose of the hearing, despite no intention of changing the situation.

The following day on October 31, 2013, at its weekly meeting, City Council introduced legislation to provide for the budgetary appropriations needed to satisfy

an arbitration award won by Local 22 in 2010. The appropriation amounts to $49 million.

The award was originally won in 2010, but remained mired in appeals by Mayor Nutter until this past September, when he announced he would no longer pursue his appeal. The justification offered by the mayor was that the city’s financial situation had changed.

Philadelphia’s most recent budget was criticized for not accounting for the arbitration award, which loomed as a possible expense for the city at the time the budget was discussed. The $49 million headed into the budget revised by Thursday’s legislation represents $28 million in back pay owed under the award, as well as some of the upcoming increase in city contributions to Local 22’s retirement funds.

Labor disputes have been well-covered potholes during Mayor Nutter’s time in office. In the last week, one issue with the fire fighters reached a conclusion that was long-coming in the payment of the arbitration award. However, the hearing regarding the promotions stirred a fire Mayor Nutter was likely hoping to consider resolved.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

11

Corbett Kicks Off Campaign, Ends Exit Speculation

Eric Boehm is a reporter for Watchdog.org and can be reached at EBoehm@ Watchdog.org. Follow @PAIndependent on Twitter for more.

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

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

Gov. Tom Corbett officially launched his reelection campaign on Wednesday afternoon with a kick-off event in Pittsburgh.

That gives the unpopular governor exactly one year to convince the people of Pennsylvania that he deserves a second term in office.

It should also put an end to those rumors that just won’t seem to die; that Republican financiers are secretly planning to have Corbett step aside in favor of a new face who might have a better chance at victory in 2014.

For the better part of the past year, the hushed conversations in Republican circles has been whether Corbett has any chance to win or whether he should find a way to “exit stage left” in favor of Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey or some other prominent Pennsylvania Republican.

It never seemed very likely. Corbett’s exit would be seen as nothing but a sign of weakness from the state party and its figurative leader, and whoever was chosen to replace him on the top of the GOP ticket would have to overcome that — while also facing down the Democratic challenger.

Now that Corbett officially has tossed his

hat into the ring, there is some certainty to the Republican effort for 2014.

Corbett may be unpopular, with an approval rating that has slipped below 30 percent recently, but an outright primary challenger is unlikely. If he was going to step aside, it would have been orchestrated by now — the last thing the Republicans need is an open fight in the primary.

The certainty created by Corbett’s campaign kick-off gives the GOP one of their few advantages over the Democrats heading into the election year.

Corbett may be unpopular, but he won’t have to slog through an expensive and lengthy primary battle to win the nomination.

Meanwhile, the bloody primary that Democrats have feared looks more certain than ever.

In the past two weeks, major labor unions have begun announcing their favored candidates for next year’s race – and they are hardly all on the same team.

Frontrunner U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., picked up a big endorsement from the Philadelphia Democratic Committee, the largest such committee in the state. That means she

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will have the high ground in the city during the primary election, and winning there is a big step towards winning statewide.

But Treasurer Rob McCord countered with the endorsement from American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 13, the state’s largest public-sector union. That means he’ll have even more cash, and plenty of campaigning help, flowing his direction.

The Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters also is backing McCord, as is the United Food and Commercial Workers International Local 1776, the main union involved in the liquor privatization battle.

Schwartz and Kathleen McGinty, a former Department of Environmental Protection secretary, have scored smaller union endorsements and won support from other liberal-leaning electioneering groups.

What it all adds up to is an increasingly fractured field on the Democratic side. Any of those challengers are capable of unseating Corbett, but the governor is finally solidifying his spot on next fall’s ballot.

None of the Democrats can say the same.

Give this round to Corbett.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Key To Filling Manufacturing Jobs: Immigration Reform

Rick Grimaldi and Lori Armstrong Halber are partners in the law firm of Fisher & Phillips LLP. Follow them on twitter @LoriRickHRLaw. CONTRIBUTE Send comments, letters and essays to feedback@ regionsbusiness.com.

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

Comprehensive reform of the broken immigration system will have the single greatest impact on the resurgence of manufacturing in the United States.

Even in times of high unemployment, manufacturers struggle to fill jobs: according to a survey by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, some 600,000 manufacturing jobs are open because employers cannot find workers with the right skills. The survey found five percent of current manufacturing jobs are unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates, 67 percent of manufacturers have a moderate to severe shortage of qualified workers, and 56 percent expect the shortage to increase in the next three to five years. Nearly two in three manufacturing executives say workforce shortages or skills deficiencies have a significant impact on their ability to expand operations or improve productivity.

The Senate successfully advanced legislation in June and the House returned in September to continue deliberations on a path forward.

The country is closer to comprehensive reform than it has been in decades. But what should that reform look like?

Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (“NAM”) support immigration reform. The Chamber sees comprehensive immigration reform as “an opportunity to improve our global competitiveness, attract and retain the world’s best talent and the workers we need, secure our borders, and keep faith with America’s legacy as an open and welcoming society.” According to the Chamber, comprehensive immigration reform must address the following four key components: 1. Secure borders — Ensure that people and commerce flow smoothly, efficiently, and lawfully through our nation’s ports and across our borders.

2. Work visa programs — revise our laws to welcome needed labor and talent into our economy in both low-skilled and high-skilled jobs.

3. A workable, reliable national employee verification system.

4. Legalization — provide a path out of the shadows for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the U.S. today, with

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strict conditions The NAM agrees that reform of U.S. immigration law regarding legal immigrants is essential to the nation’s competitiveness. The NAM emphasizes the need for fundamental changes in the method of determining the number of employment-based visas, creating a system with an emphasis on market demands.

Reforms would improve the employmentbased green card system to keep talent within the United States, streamline and simplify the procedures for the temporary or non-immigrant visa, allow for temporary workers and immigrants to meet the needs of employers without displacing American workers and create other changes to enhance flexibility in responding to demands for the skills necessary to grow America’s economy.

Immigration reform is a competitiveness issue. We need a lawful, rational, and workable immigration system that secures our borders, provides the workers we need at all skill levels, and protects the rights of citizens, businesses, the undocumented, and those legally pursuing citizenship. It needs to get done.

7 NOVEMBER 2013

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

13

Transportation Vote Coming In Next Few Weeks

BY SCOTT STARUCH

Transportation

Transportation funding continues to receive bipartisan support, as evidenced this week in a joint editorial by former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mark Singel and Allegheny County Republican Chairman James C. Roddey. Singel and Roddy write, “the goals of our parties and our party members are the same when it comes to creating a prosperous commonwealth with a high quality of life. That’s why we have come together to ask legislators from both parties to put aside political strategy for a moment in favor of public service. Pennsylvania needs a transportation bill and needs it now.”

The latest indications from Harrisburg suggest there will be a vote on transportation funding legislation either next week or the week following.

Health Care

Last Friday the governor was joined by First Lady Susan Corbett, Sen. Bob Mensch, Rep. Karen Boback and Pat Halpin-Murphy of the Pennsylvania Breast

Cancer Coalition to sign into law SB 358. This bill requires notification of breast density to patients who receive a mammogram.

Taxes

Also last Friday, Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser reported that Pennsylvania collected $2.1 billion in General Fund revenue in October, which was $29 million, or 1.4 percent, more than anticipated.

New Website

Although the General Assembly is not in session this week, it did make news on Tuesday with the launch of a new General Assembly website. “This is a total overhaul,” said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi.

“Transparency builds confidence in government, and we rebuilt the website from the ground up so that it’s easier than ever for the public to follow and comment on the work of the General Assembly.”

Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa added, “There is nothing more important than open government. By redesigning the website, we further our commitment to

provide information in the easiest and most accessible way for all Pennsylvanians.”

Campaign 2014

Governor Corbett kicked-off his reelection campaign with a weeklong statewide campaign tour starting in Pittsburgh and coming to the southeast on Thursday and Friday.

The lineup of announced Democratic challengers include: Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski; U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Jenkintown; state Treasurer Rob McCord; former state Auditor General Jack Wagner; former state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty; former DEP Secretary John Hanger; York County businessman Tom Wolf; Cumberland County pastor Max Myers; and Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz.

Finally, this week we remember former Congressman William J. Coyne who passed away Sunday morning.

Rep. Coyne served with distinction in Congress for more than 20 years.

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7 NOVEMBER 2013

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

Heavy Taxes On Energy Producers Is Not The Answer

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.

Last week President Obama issued an executive order which created a “climate change” task force.

Its ostensible purpose is to prepare for, among other things, extreme weather events like droughts, floods and severe storms.

It wasn’t the first time this President has used executive orders to accomplish his will. Critics were quick to pounce on the move, correctly pointing out that — with the stroke of a pen — the president set in motion sweeping changes to the nation’s land use and resource policies.

Whatever your position on global warming may be (a discussion for another day), the Obama executive order is certainly in character with an administration that places high priority on moving America to a “green economy”.

But there’s one critical element of this White House’s “green” agenda that it has so far been unable to put into effect — raising billions in new taxes on U.S. oil and natural gas producers.

We should all be thankful that Congress has thus far declined to go along with this job-killing plan which would arrive just when the economy is starting to revive and when we have a real shot at long-term energy security and independence.

We’re certain to hear a lot more about domestic energy taxes as we get closer to mid-January, when the current budget “patch” expires. The president and his supporters in Congress will once again demand an end to “subsidies” and “loopholes” for energy producers.

If we’re going to have a serious conversation

about energy policy and taxation, we need to accurately describe the tax provisions at issue. First of all, let’s dismiss the notion about domestic energy producers receiving government subsidies. There are none. A subsidy is a direct payment from the government to a company in order to prop it up or boost its prospects for success. The White House does this for solar and other green energy darlings, but not for what it disparagingly refers to as “Big Oil.” The only “loophole” at issue is what most people would call a simple deduction.

Indeed, what’s at issue are tax provisions put in place to allow U.S. businesses to recover costs and pay tax only on its real income. This allows all businesses to write off legitimate expenses and calculate their tax liability on a fair basis. The same holds true for individuals and small businesses.

But this administration wants to selectively target and punish U.S. oil and gas producers with tax increases. The president’s most recent budget proposal would have raised $44 billion in new energy taxes over 10 years. No other industry is being singled out this way.

Yet, the White House and its supporters in Congress never mention that U.S. energy producers are already paying more taxes at a higher rate than other industries. An analysis published in May, by the New York Times and S&P Capital IQ showed that the S&P 500 paid an average effective tax rate of 29.1 percent during the last five years. By comparison, the energy sector showed an effec-

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tive rate of 37 percent. The report added: “Three big energy firms paid the most taxes: Exxon $146 billion; Chevron $85 billion; and ConocoPhillips $58 billion.”

So let’s dismiss the notion that U.S. energy producers aren’t paying their “fair share.” Let’s also understand that piling on billions in new taxes on the oil and gas sector would have far reaching, negative consequences for our economic prosperity. Energy is the lifeblood of our economy and a tax on energy is a tax on all of us.

Here in Pennsylvania, where we see an economic boom from the Marcellus Shale, we should push back hard against punitive new taxes. More broadly, the United States is going through a transformational time in energy, where oil and natural gas produced in shale formations promise to vastly enhance our long-term energy security and quality of life. The Marcellus now produces more natural gas than Saudi Arabia. Many experts predict the United States will soon become a net exporter of energy.

If we’re going to get real tax reform in Washington, and bring about a system that is simplified, broad-based and growth-oriented, selectively raising billions in new taxes on U.S. energy producers is not the way to go. It’s counterproductive. Demagogically demonizing “Big Oil” and punitively taxing its producers is the antithesis of smart policy.

If you tax something, you get less of it. What America needs is MORE energy production, more energy security, more energy independence.

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to the platform in any number of ways, including an email or text message with a short link, and As a result of the Affordable Care Act, health- assess their care in any or all of three ways: provide care is experiencing a major consumerization with written comment, rate their care on a number scale patient outcomes and satisfaction playing a key and answer a brief poll.

“You can give feedback at any time role in how healthcare organizaand we’ll deliver those results to the tions are paid and reimbursed. people responsible for your care,” Mr. Hospitals, for instance, will be Rasansky said. paid based on patient outcomes The platform is HIPPA-compliant, reported in surveys sent to their easy to use and cost effective. It takes homes 30 days past their visit. a streamlined approach to “Feedback When feedback is given that long as a Service” that has earned the comafter the care is given, it’s harder for pany a business relationship with the those institutions to fix the problem.

University of Pennsylvania Health Yorn is a real-time mobile patient System. feedback platform that allows This comes after the successful patients in hospital systems to completion of Yorn’s three-month immediately voice the concerns they pilot program at Penn Medicine Cenhave about the care they’re receivter for Healthcare Innovation and ing. The institutions that use Yorn the Clinical Effectiveness and Quality can see that feedback as it pours in Improvement Department, which ran from users’ phones and use it to corfrom November 2012 through January rect problems as they arise.

The platform isn’t a survey platform, said Rick 2013.

Yorn focuses on collecting feedback in hospital, Rasansky, CEO and founder of Yorn. “Surveys, if they’re designed well, are designed to measure outpatient, pharma and medical education settings against a standard of service. The problem is it but its technology could have applications across doesn’t give the consumer the chance to really a wide range of industries and businesses. “Yorn voice what’s on their minds,” Mr. Rasansky said. is horizontally relevant in a lot of industries. As a “Yorn is not a survey tool at all. We capture data startup, we can’t be overly broad,” Mr. Rasansky in the moment that is incredibly relevant to the said.

“We looked for a vertical where we could be a patient’s experience.”

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2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

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DIARY OF A STARTUP

Corporate Wellness 101: Unique Incentives Necessary In his latest “Diary” entry, LifeVest CEO Jon Cooper serves up Corporate Wellness 101 crash course, explaining how the market has changed in these transitional times in health care — and why you should care.

In his words: The corporate wellness market today represents a triumph of faith over reason.

Large companies have tried just about everything in hopes of stemming their growing healthcare liability. While done with the best intentions, the industry has been challenged to demonstrate an “R” on their “I” — or, in other words, a positive return.

So, what went wrong?

Why should I care?

Sadly, in an era of growing insurance premiums, deductibles and co-insurance, mistrust is at an all-time high. Rather than embracing wellness, workers perceive it as an attempt to obfuscate cuts to employee benefits while exercising control over employees’ lives.

With that as the starting point, how do you create engagement?

We’re all unique, so why aren’t our incentives?

Corporate wellness companies all claim to offer “personalized incentives,” but what they truly mean is that they will customize incentives for the employer.

While important, this is a far cry from “personalized incentives,” tailored to the individual employee. Anyone who’s taken an economics class, or just spent a few minutes thinking, knows that different people are motivated by different things.

If this is the case, then why do corporate wellness programs offer the same incentive to everyone?

Who says that a $50 rebate is the right incentive for you to see a health coach?

A one-size-fits-all incentive program is kind of like a one-sizefits all T-shirt. Everyone fits in it, but no one looks good in it.

Why are we measuring steps?

Unfortunately, “steps walked” is not a currency. Health plans don’t underwrite based on “steps walked” and hospitals don’t accept “steps walked” as payment, so why are companies spending oodles of money rewarding people for logging a few extra steps on their pedometer, especially when they could be walking to KFC to double down on a Double Down (indeed, a breakfast sandwich with fried chickens in place of a buns)?

So what’s next?

Don’t be discouraged. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

Wellness is an area of rapid innovation today, and your friends down the street at LifeVest are shaking things up.

In our next post, we’ll tell you about what LifeVest is doing to solve these problems.

TriZen Fixing Shortcomings Found In Business Leadership

BY BRANDON BAKER Greg El met his business partner, Tomeka Lee, through a financial development program in 2006, having a meeting-of-minds moment one day that unearthed shared — but largely unspoken — thoughts about the deficiencies they saw in organizational dynamics.

Compelled to address these shortcomings in business leadership, they left their jobs to launch TriZen, LLC — a Center City- and Glenside, Pa.based consulting, leadership and enterprise development firm.

Their shtick, Mr. El said, is “programmatic leadership.”

“For example, organizations that may want to train a certain supervisor or manager and put Greg El, co-founder of TriZen, LLC them through a program that may not have an in-house development group, we’ll go into those emerging organizations or growing businesses and put together a program for their leaders and employees,” he said. “It’s not just a one-off, either — we’ll come back and revisit the work they’ve done through those programs, and make sure participants and employees are getting a return and that the information has stuck with them.”

On paper, what they do does sound eerily ambiguous: They help businesses “assess, identify and implement necessary strategies to manage growth, improve performance and maximize profit.” But sure enough, it’s not just successful in practice, but lucratively so: Current clients include GlaxoSmithKline, PRWT Services, the School District of Philadelphia and the YMCA. The team hires six to eight consultants per project, who facilitate and, in some cases, train business professionals on how to manage certain jobs.

Case in point: “There’s a project we’re working [with Ashlin Management Group] on that involves healthcare reform, and this company is based out of Washington, D.C., and is working with the CDC on a program to help train 600 or so employers to establish, expand and improve workplace health programs,” Mr. El said. “What our role is, is we’re senior trainers, so we’re helping to train people who will go out to these employers [and train them on] how to put in place workplace health programs.”

“We’re training trainers,” he added.

Moving forward, TriZen aims to continue to both build upon its involvement with the Urban League of Philadelphia and build out its corporate leadership portfolio — eventually, Mr. El said, culminating in a a partially “productized” business platform.

Transfer Station Launches In Temporary Space

BY JULIANA REYES

Street.

“Everyone was so excited to get started that The Transfer Station, the Manayunk we’ve opted to open a ‘temporary’ facility,” creative space for coworking, education Simon Rogers said in an email. He says “temand retail, is now open for business in a porary” because he hopes to eventually use temporary space on Main Street. that building, what they’re calling “Transfer Adam and Simon Rogers, the pair of East,” as the retail arm of the Transfer Station. brothers running the show, are still eyeThe Transfer Station is holding a grand ing a building at 114 Green Lane off Main opening on Thursday at 7 p.m.

This article was originally published in Street as their primary headquarters but for now, they’re leasing the former Resto- Technically Philly at Technical.ly/Philly. ration Hardware building at 4120 Main

2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR

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ApprenNet Takes Teaching To A Higher Level Business: ApprenNet Founder: Karl Okamoto, Emily Foote, Paul Tzen Contact: contact@apprennet.com

BY BRANDON BAKER For then-Drexel-law-student Emily Foote, the problem was hardly that she wasn’t learning anything in her other classes, it was that she didn’t feel she was learning the right things.

“I was a student of [ApprenNet founder Karl Okamoto], and found he taught his class in a really unique way,” said Emily Foote, co-founder of ApprenNet. “So before he became a law professor he was a practicing corporate attorney for 20 or so years, and came back to academia realizing [law schools] weren’t teaching skills — a fairly known problem in law — and he came to help teach better in his courses.”

This “unique” way of teaching involved pairing students together and presenting them with real-world scenarios, ultimately sending them to practicing lawyers to understand how an active attorney would handle the same case. Over time, Mr. Okamoto realized this idea was scalable, and earned a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation in June

ApprenNet co-founder Emily Foote

2011. It’s since earned a total of $530,000 in additional government funding, in addition to a $75,000 friends and family round.

The ApprenNet pitch is fairly simple: Take the concept of apprenticeship, turn it on its head and sell it as a subscription to higher-ed institutions — with the

help of the Internet.

Students are provided a question to answer via video, and respond to that question by uploading a video of their own.

They then see exactly how the “experts” respond to the same question. In principle, the idea is to teach by practice rather than versing students solely in legal mumbo-jumbo that may score them an “A,” but not a job.

It’s also sprouted legs to cross into other industries.

“We built it always knowing the platform would be agnostic … so the platform can be used in multiple ways,” Ms. Foote said.

“Business schools are using it, graduate schools of education, corporate clients and [restau-

rants are using it].”

The team of five, located at Drexel’s Science Center at 34th and Market streets, has joined Penn’s newly formed incubator EDSi, and will soon launch efficacy tests with the School District of Philadelphia and Teach for America, among others.

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MAKING MANUFACTURING WORK IN PHILADELPHIA Manufacturing is on its way up in Philadelphia, after hitting bottom during the recession.

Now, there is a dedicated focus to cultivating the manufacturing industry in the city, but who or what exactly will Philadelphia need to see it through?

STORY BY ROSELLA ELEANOR LAFEVRE ILLUSTRATION BY DON LEE “In terms of the recession, manufacturing hit bottom a while ago and is on the upswing.” Such is Joe Houldin’s view of the manufacturing industry in Philadelphia. Mr. Houldin is CEO of Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, a consulting firm that serves small- and midsized manufacturers in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia has a “very large, diverse manufacturing economy,” and that’s good for business because “no one industry determines the fate of manufacturing in the region,” he said.

Manufacturing is once again in vogue and garnering support of legislators and policy makers. New federal opportunities, such as the Obama administration’s promise to invest $1 billion into a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation to be comprised of regional

manufacturing hubs, have arisen because of the role manufacturing plays in spurring our economies. (Consider the fact that each job in manufacturing leads to the creation of five to seven jobs in other industries.)

Generating more than $1.3 billion in total wages, manufacturing represents a major sector of the Philadelphian economy and is “crucial to the future economic vitality of the City of Philadelphia,” according to Executive Order No. 1-13, which established the Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force when it was signed earlier this year.

Philadelphia is a prime location for manufacturing for a number of reasons. Some of the reasons outlined

by Executive Order No. 1-13: the area’s existing manufacturing base, an abundance of available industrial

land, a trainable workforce and a wealth of educational and research institutions. Daniel Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force, pointed out other qualities that make Philadelphia attractive to manufacturers, pointing out that there is an abundance of low-cost domestic energy sources and Philadelphia has access to a major maritime port and is serviced by two Class I railroads.

“Logistically you can move product out of Philly well,” he said. And a big portion of the American population lives close to Philadelphia; 40 percent of the U.S. population lives within a six hour drive.

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MANUFACTURERS, POLICY MAKERS AND PARENTS MUST BE PARTNERS IN EDUCATING OUR KIDS THAT MANUFACTURING CAREERS ARE VIABLE, WELL-PAYING OPTIONS.’ —CITY COUNCILMAN BOBBY HENON

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The Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force

In the course of the last year, Philadelphia has invested in its manufacturing sector with the establishment of the Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force to research policies that should be established and other steps the city’s legislators can take to bolster the region’s manufacturing industry.

By signing Executive Order No. 1-13 on January 15, 2013, Mayor Nutter established the Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force within the Department of Commerce.

This forum is comprised of as many as 25 members appointed by the mayor with input from City Council and manufacturing industry leaders who would “evaluate the current state of manufacturing and recommend specific ways to more effectively promote their growth and replicate their success,” according to Executive Order No. 1-13.

The Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force took the most comprehensive approach it could to understanding the workings of Philadelphia’s manufacturing sector and the policy needed to encourage its continued growth, said City Councilman Bobby Henon, who helped establish the task force and serves as co-chair. Members of the task force have met numerous times to investigate, review and debate the biggest issues facing manufacturers and they’ve learned through site visits to local manufacturers more about those businesses and how manufacturing could be better supported.

Creating and Filling Jobs

One of the primary goals of the Mayor’s Manufacturing Task Force is to create jobs in the Greater Philadelphia Area, said Mr. Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of

Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. “I believe that manufacturing offers great opportunity to create jobs,” he said. “We have some unique capabilities. I think by having a focused effort on this we can highlight and rally the needed parties to drive this forward, whether it’s our elected officials, our chambers of commerce or our universities, so that we can have a high-quality 21st century workforce which ultimately moves our region forward.”

Manufacturing jobs have come a long way from the grisly images of industrial-era sweatshops where workers lost limbs. The work environments are cleaner and safer than they used to be. Workers earn higher wages, placing them solidly in the middle class, and their quality of life is much improved. (In fact, the average manufacturing job pays 30 percent more than average wage in Philadelphia.) Yet, of the 23,100 direct manufacturing jobs in the City of Philadelphia, thousands of those positions are currently unfilled, said Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Solutions for the skills gap problem is a common theme among manufacturers.

One solution is educating youth about the opportunities at manufacturing firms. “Manufacturers, policy makers and parents must be partners in educating our kids that manufacturing careers are viable, well-paying options. In that light, we need to shed the traditional image of manufacturing as gritty, smog-filled work,” said City Councilman Bobby Henon.

HPT Pharma participated in the Philadelphia Works initiative and brought in high school students over the summer. The structure of the program allowed the students to participate in the company in a meaningful way, Mr. Hasson said. “Young people are in a good

position because the technology used today is changing rapidly and ties in closely to the technology they’re using in school and out of school,” he said.

Comfort with using technology is just one part of the skill set that Mr. Hasson said his company looks for. Ideal manufacturing workers are strong in science, math and computers. Engineering students are needed.

HPT Pharma has machining assembly roles to be filled, and ideal candidates for those positions would be familiar with computers, programming software and have the ability to write code. Mr. Hasson also emphasized workers’ knowledge of lean manufacturing; those who know how to do a job efficiently are valuable. Finally, “people open to learning are really what we’re after,” Mr. Hasson said.

Based on this list of needs his company has for workers, there’s one demographic group that seems to fit the bill more than others. “What we’re seeing is the skill sets we draw from are common among middle-aged workers,” said Mr. Hasson.

Support of Manufacturing

“When you talk to the actual manufacturers, [you see that] they’re here because they’re committed to the region and understand there’s great potential to grow their business here,” said Mr. Fitzpatrick. How do we further that potential? A report of the task force’s findings is expected to be released at the end of this month or in early December. Though the report is still being finalized, Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Henon outlined some of the recommendations the task force might make.

A tax policy restructuring: “There are opportunities within our tax policy to be more manufacturing

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friendly,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

Simplifying regulations: Manufacturers have a lot to contend with; there are regulations imposed at the county or city level piled on top of federal and state regulations.

“Let’s decide on what is good, healthy regulation and conform to that,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

Focus on supporting smaller firms: “It’s not just large manufacturers, but we need to encourage and support small firms (the Yards Breweries, the Spikes Trophies); the small guys that can grow and employ more and more people from our neighborhoods,” Mr. Henon said. “Philadelphia has been called the original start-up city. We need to encourage that, nurture that and promote making it, building it, selling it in Philadelphia.”

Investment in better transportation: “We need a transportation infrastructure that can both support manufacturers moving goods and services and that can allow employees to get to and from their jobs,” Mr. Henon said.

Build new natural gas pipelines: “There’s quite a bit of optimism about the growth that may come from Marcellus Shale,” said Mr. Houldin, who is not a member of the task force. Greater infrastructure is needed to bring that natural gas from northeast and southwest Pennsylvania to the southeast corner of the state.

Rebrand manufacturing jobs so that they appeal to a younger generation: We must make “sure our schools offer a curriculum that prepares those kids to take on the higher-tech jobs with advanced manufacturing,” Mr. Henon said.

Partnering with manufacturers on all levels of government: City, state and federal government must work with manufacturers on policy, funding and other crucial support measures. “A central office of manufacturing policy would go a long way in getting us there,” Mr. Henon said.

Mr. Henon urges readers, fellow legislators and manufacturing leaders to view the forthcoming report as “more than just a top-down report card on how we got here,” he said. “It needs to be a catalyst, a road map really, for where we’re going, and how we can be a major manufacturing center again. Working in partnership with manufacturers, parents, local communities — everyone, really — on implementing the findings of the Task Force report, must be our central focus.”

AT A GLANCE

Manufacturing: By The Numbers

12%

Gross State Product accounted for by manufacturing, the largest of any sector in Pennsylvania and the 6th largest in the nation

$71,000,000,000,000 Pennsylvania’s total manufacturing output in 2012

$27,000,000,000,000 Philadelphia’s total manufacturing output in 2012

5,700

Manufacturing companies that call Greater Philadelphia home

Finding New Ways To Train And Recruit There is growing demand for middle-skill workers, those with more than a high school education and less than a college degree. Jobs in this sector — including jobs in the manufacturing, facilities management and construction industries — will account for 45 percent of new openings over the next decade, according to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and only 25 percent of the 2012 workforce had the necessary skills to fill these positions. With no evidence-based employment decision-making tools on the market, employers have a 50 percent success rate at hiring qualified middle-skill workers.

Poised to change this is Viridis, a human capital technology platform that offers industry-approved training to individuals looking to enter or grow within the middle-skill workforce. On ViridisLearning.com, anyone with a high school diploma or GED can sign up for one of five $250 training courses (with a sixth coming soon) that takes between 18 and 32 hours to complete. Users are required to pass 3-10 quizzes depending on the course with an average of more than 76 percent or 80 percent, also depending on the course. Once users have completed their coursework, Viridus uses an algorithm that accounts for the candidate’s goals, personality, skill set and certificates to match them with employers by geo-sector, geo-location and skill set.

The founder of Viridis, Felix W. Ortiz, III answered our questions about the skills gap manufacturers face, what employers can do to make their jobs more attractive to candidates and how manufacturers might partner with Viridis on the creation of a training program.

Can you talk about the gap in supply and demand of middle-skill workers and the problems that employers, such as manufacturing companies, face in recruiting?

Today talent preparation within the middle-skill sector is most pressing to employers. To have jobs available and not be able to fill them due to lack of skill and competency is not only impacting employers, but our global economy.

How can manufacturers and other employers of middle-skill workers spread the message about their jobs (which are generally well-paying) and make their jobs sexy to potential employees?

There are many ways that employers such as manufacturers can spread the message, such as through Twitter. The larger issue is that these companies are not attracting the pipeline of the new generation because the generation does not find it sexy enough. We can make it sexy by showing them the cool facts of what is happening within these industries. For example, a mechanic is actually a STEM-related job.

How might manufacturers work with Viridis to create a training course on your platform?

We can work with trade associations and employers to port content on our platform which would then provide a certification/credential to the user and, through our proprietary algorithms, we can then match the manufacturer to the proper talent pipeline.

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FINE ESTATES

$2.5M Stone Farmhouse On 4 Acres In Blue Bell Come see a part of the past with modern conveniences with this four bed, three bath stone farmhouse.

With a beautiful cedar roof, this home and its lovely grounds are ready for hosting a garden party. There are six fireplaces, a grand living and grand dining room where guests can overflow onto spacious slate patios surrounded by fine art works and breathtaking landscape.

The kitchen is truly a chef ’s kitchen delight. This kitchen has produced “Best of Philly” cheesecake for Morton’s of Chicago for two years. There are two Gaggenau ovens, six cook top Gaggenau burners, Traulsen refrigerators and freezer where all these delights are stored. Also, ample counter space, a pastry area and a fireplace to keep the atmosphere relaxed.

An in ground pool with spring house is great for outdoor entertaining. Set on 4.2 acres and close to the heart of Blue Bell, what more could one ask for?

For more information, please contact Patricia Gernerd at (267) 250-2362

7 NOVEMBER 2013

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REAL ESTATE

25

Southstar Lofts, Fully Framed, Puts Its Face On

BY SANDY SMITH We had a chance late last week to catch up with progress on Southstar Lofts, Carl Dranoff ’s newest mixed-use project on the Avenue of the Arts at Broad and South streets.

When last we checked in on this project, in July, we wrote that progress had been somewhat slow since the March groundbreaking, with steel framing only up as far as the first floor.

The project appears to be moving along more smartly now; as of the end of October, framing and subfloors are complete and exterior walls are being applied.

The 85-unit, environmentally conscious residential/commercial project now appears on track for completion in the spring of 2014. This development will combine the rental apartments with 10,045 square feet of street-level commercial space, and garage parking for 30 cars and 25 bikes. It will also feature an imaginative public art component called “Light Play” that will be featured on the facade of the building along Broad Street Meanwhile, the rumor mill is abuzz with talk that Dranoff may be considering his next move on Broad Street even as he pursues the One Riverside apartment tower on the Schuylkill’s east bank.

This article was originally published on the Philadelphia Real Estate blog at Blog.PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com.

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JULIE MURPHY:

PROMOTING FROM WITHIN Last week, a handful of employees at the Wal-Mart in South Philadelphia received a big surprise from the company’s North Division Senior Vice President of Operations, Julie Murphy. Those employees were not just getting a morale boosting speech from a manager — they were receiving promotions. As a way to increase awareness of Wal-Mart’s promoting-from-within policies, Ms. Murphy and others across the country visited Wal-Mart stores to surprise employees who had applied for promotions with good news. Ms. Murphy was able to speak with Region’s Business about her personal experience with the company and Wal-Mart’s history with promoting from within.

How was the event at the Wal-Mart in South Philadelphia?

It was a great day for us, not only in South Philadelphia, but across the U.S. business. We had the opportunity to celebrate and recognize our associates. This is part of our committment to our associates — as our CEO, Bill Simon, announced in the beginning of the year— our commitment focused on continued career growth and opportunity for the associates, as well as working hand in hand with the associates about transparency to hours and visibility to offers within the organization. So, [Tuesday, Oct. 29] we were able to celebrate our associates for their hard work in focusing on the customer but also promotions. We promoted six associates with very different roles and responsibilities to higher paying positions with more responsibility within our South Philadelphia store. They knew I was going to come and share some news with them. A lot of associates knew they’d be with me when I made an annoucement, but didn’t know specifically about their individual promotions, so it was a surprise for the associates.

Is your experience with Wal-Mart similar?

I have been with the company just a little over 28 years. I started as an hourly assistant manager trainee and moved through different positions within the organization — assistant manager, store manager, market manager, regional, into the position I hold today. I think my story shows the opportunity to move through the ranks. But I have a story very similar to others in the organization.

Why was it important for the South Philadelphia Wal-Mart to get this announcement in person?

South Philadelphia is a great store for us. We’ve had a presence there for quite some time and in the last year and a half to two years, we’ve been able to convert it into a Wal-Mart SuperCenter which provides more opportunities. So we felt like that was a great location to come in and highlight those associates and what they’ve done, and what they’re about do for us going into the holiday season.

careers.WalMart.com

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OPINION

The Issues That Led To Political Dysfunction

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.

Our federal government is not working.

In truth, it has not been working for some time. In the voguish jargon of the ubiquitous pundit, it has become “dysfunctional.” More bluntly it’s a train wreck.

The most obvious manifestation of its dysfunction is, of course, the recent 17-day shutdown. But that particular outrage was only one of 18 shutdowns we have endured since 1976. These repeated fiascoes inflict enormous damage to the health and welfare of the nation. No terrorist has harmed us more economically than we have harmed ourselves.

Bad as they are, however, the hated shutdowns comprise only one symptom of a broader problem: our political system has gradually ceased to function.

Each new poll reveals deepening levels of public disgust and contempt for our politicians and the government they lead. The average American’s respect for the federal government almost weekly plumbs to new lows. Congress now has an approval rating of 11 percent. Almost three in four voters believe most members of Congress should be replaced in the next election. Confidence in government likewise has sunk to an all-time low.

Clearly, we are undergoing a national crisis as serious as any our Republic has confronted during peace time. But knowing we have a problem is not knowing what to do about it. And before we can know that, we have to understand exactly what the problem is.

Some believe we suffer from “divided government” run amok: the national government is split between Republicans and Democrats.

But America has experienced repeated bouts of divided government throughout the 20th century -- and the country, by and large, thrived through most of that period. Actually, some scholars and plenty of voters believe government works best when power is split among the parties.

In fact, the problem confronting American politics today is not divided government but divisive government.

Our politicians have become fractious, peevish, querulous, combatants more committed to destroying each other than solving the nation’s problems. Some — and far too many as evidenced by the most recent government shutdown — are willing to allow perhaps irreparable harm to the nation rather than seek consensus or compromise on the issues that divide them.

How exactly did we get to this desperate state of affairs?

Arguably, there have been two fundamental shifts in national politics over the past odd 35 years that largely explains our present malaise.

One was a gradual shift back to the 1970’s — first of political elites and then of the electorate itself toward an ideological style of politics. This growing ideological orientation inevitably eviscerated a once large, centrist political establishment.

Simultaneously, it enlarged the proportion of the electorate that saw moderation and compromise as political evils to be erased from American politics.

The problem with the growing ideological orientation in our politics is important to understand. Ideological politics fits well in a parliamentary type government such as the United Kingdom, where power is unified and always held by a single party or coalition.

But ideological polities is a fish out of water in a federal structure like ours with checks and balances and divided powers.

Federal governments only work well when compromise and consensus can be reached, but ideological politics militates against compromise.

In effect, we have transformed much of our politics into a parliamentary style while maintaining the underlying federal structure created by the Constitution.

Not surprisingly, this has introduced an almost schizoid frenzy into our politics that manifests itself in confrontations such as the recent government shutdown.

But growing ideological politics is only part of the problem, and not the main malignancy now threatening our political system. That distinction belongs to an arcane process known as “redistricting,” which allows state legislatures to “redraw” the geographical configurations of congressional districts every 10 years to conform to shifting populations among the states.

The ultimate contact sport in American politics, reapportionment has been used irresponsibly by both parties going back to the 1960’s. They “gerrymander” new congressional districts into bizarre geographic configuration designed to make congressional seats “safe.” The practice was accomplished mostly by shoving so many Democrat or Republican voters into a given district that the district is no longer competitive. It’s “safe” for one party or the other.

This gradual accumulation of safe seats

over many decennial censuses has all but destroyed political competition for many congressional races while contributing to the growing polarization of American politics.

Most recently, national Republicans have had the best of it. They have won control of enough state legislatures to allow them to gerrymander 30 to 40 districts so thoroughly that their incumbents are now accountable only to a small clique of extremists --a clique more than willing to take the country off the cliff for the sake of their ideology.

The problem then is so portentous for the nation: a growing ideological split in national politics, exacerbated by a decades old effort by both parties to use the decennial census to gerrymander competition out of congressional elections.

But what is the solution?

The ideological tilt to our politics is clearly a problem, but one we must learn to live with or live through.

That is something the nation can do, indeed has done, during other periods of ideological turmoil dating back to the founding of the Republic. As long as we maintain competitive elections and democratic processes, the most rigid ideology will eventually yield to consensus and compromise.

The larger problem is the gerrymandering. It threatens to destroy the very compromise and consensus that makes national government work. Decades of gerrymandering has insulated a significant proportion of Congress from accountability to the general electorate of their district.

Consequently, only if the unwise gerrymandering of past decades is rolled back will truly competitive and representative districts come about. And only competitive and representative districts will assure more accountable politicians, and less extreme partisanship.

Fixing this problem will be neither easy nor swift. Under the Constitution, restoring functional apportionment of congressional seats cannot begin until the next decennial census in 2020 — some seven years into the future. And even then it will not happen if the American people and media do not demand it be done.

We do have a choice: We can continue to watch national government slide into utter dysfunction — or we can fix it.

It doesn’t seem to be a hard choice.

7 NOVEMBER 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

OPINION COMMENTARY AROUND THE WEB

TWITTER REACTS

Pa. State Schools Face An Identity Crisis

on turning students into unthinking and uncritical cogs for the economic machine.

These are strange times for those in the business of higher education.

And it would be even more unfortunate if the 14 schools in the State System of Higher Education, which has long provided an affordable and quality education to students of modest means, became merely Pennsylvania’s contribution to that assembly line.

After years of being looked to as the sole avenue to the American Dream and gateways to knowledge, colleges and universities find themselves answering fundamental questions: from employers about the value of the degrees they bestow; from students and parents on the affordability of the education they provide; and, in the case of public institutions, of how to provide first-class programs at a time of declining taxpayer support.

The current identity crisis may be no more pronounced than at Pennsylvania’s 14 stateowned universities, where officials are shuttering academic programs and laying off faculty to close debts and to meet increased operating costs. State funding was cut by 18 percent three years ago and has remained flat ever since. And 294 permanent jobs have been lost since 2010.

The cuts and belt-tightening at the 14 stateowned schools are reflective of an ages-old debate: Do we send our sons and daughters to college to become well-rounded and well-educated in the traditional liberal arts sense? Or do we send them to college solely to give them the practical skills they’ll need to compete in the job market?

Controlling tuition inflation is crucially important and university officials should always focus on making sure that access to a college education does not become the sole province of a wealthy elite. And there should be value to the piece of paper students are handed at the end of their four years.

But it would be unfortunate if universities, which were so long the places our young people went to find themselves and to learn about the intangibles — art, music, philosophy, literature — that make life immeasurably richer, focused solely

29

PENNLIVE.COM EDITORIAL 4 NOVEMBER 2013

What The GOP Can Learn From Chris Christie 1. Don’t show up in minority communities only at election time. For four years Christie has been going to minority communities, focusing on improving inner-city schools, strengthening neighborhood safety and building alliances. Republicans have to show up and represent minority communities even when those voters don’t support them.

2. Make the emotional connection with voters. Hurricane Sandy was a once-in-alifetime event, even for New Jersey, the way 9/11 was for New York. Like Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Christie literally embraces voters.

City Councilman Wants Condiment Maker In Philly Foodies in Philadelphia and around the country clamored this week after rumors that Huy Fong Foods, makers of the spicy condiment, Sriracha, may be forced to close its California plant after residents filed suit against the company.

Their complaint is that the smell of the sauce in production is offensive.

Social media outlets were awash in fears of an impending sriracha shortage.

Later in the week, Philadelphia Councilman at-Large Jim Kenney sent a letter to David Tran, the CEO of Huy Fong Foods, Inc., stating that if the Californians no longer wanted them in their town that Philadelphia would welcome the company with open arms. “… The mere rumors of a Sriracha shortage are causing record lines at stores citywide,” Kenney stated in his letter. “Ever since we learned the global supply of your ambrosial Sriracha was in jeopardy due to a lawsuit filed by the

City of Irwindale, Calif. ordering you to halt production at your plant located there, we have been holding our collective breath.”

Councilman Kenney goes on to provide a “top-ten” list of reasons the company should relocate its production to Philadelphia.

Among the ten reasons that Kenney tells Huy Fong Foods to come to town include its “inexpensive commercial real estate located far away from residential areas” and the natural pairing of Philly Cheesesteaks and Sriracha sauce.

ABC reported that Councilman Kenney said it was important for the city of Philadelphia to help bring jobs, whether in biotech or manufacturing, so residents can raise their families.

In addressing Tran, who is of both Chinese and Vietnamese American descent, Kenney also hoped to boast of the city’s immigrant population.

3. Don’t be a phony. Christie’s favorite phrase, “I am who I am,” should be every candidate’s mantra.

4. Do something. Christie has an actual record to which he can point. He knows they want elected leaders to do things for them, whether it is cut taxes or get the beach cleaned up.

5. Take the jargon and the process-talk out of campaigning.

6. Don’t talk political philosophy. If you have to tell voters how conservative you are, you are in trouble.

REGION’S BUSINESS A JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS © COPYRIGHT 2013 INDEPENDENCE MEDIA 350 SENTRY PARKWAY, BLDG. 630, SUITE 100C BLUE BELL, PA 19422 (610) 572-7112 | WWW.REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

TJENNIFER RUBIN, WASHINGTON POST 4 NOVEMBER 2013

@GabiChepurny I love Sriracha, but I don’t want east coast air filled with chili powder. We’ve already got enough to worry about 4 NOVEMBER 2013

@sheepsqueezers

@phillymag It’s Time to Hoard Your #Sriracha Sauce — A shortage is coming! We’re all doomed to bland food!

31 OCTOBER 2013

Ketchup is the Philadelphia sriracha.

4 NOVEMBER 2013

@ChefJustinThyme Noooooooooo! global #sriracha shortage?! say it isn’t so, Sriracha Rooster Sauce 5 NOVEMBER 2013

CONTENT PARTNERS

@MezzacoronaWine RT if you’re a Sriracha fan -- and if you’re wringing your hands about the potential chile plant shutdown. #sriracha #spicy 5 NOVEMBER 2013

30

7 NOVEMBER 2013

REGIONSBUSINESS.COM

BY THE NUMBERS

2,100

Square miles of service provided be PECO

1,600,000

Number of electric customers in the state

497,000

Number of natural gas customers

2,400

147,000

Number of children in PA lacking health insurance, according to a study released by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, citing U.S. and American Communities Survey Census data and information from the state

109,000

Number of children covered under CHIP, the state’s low-income insurance assistance program

Number of people employed

23,000

Miles of distribution and transmission lines

6,700

Miles of undeground gas stations FLICKR.COM/ lmrlib

1,430,000

Kilowatt hours saved through PECO Smart Ideas suite of programs

7,600,000

CFL and LED light bulbs sold at discounted prices

328,000

Number of older refrigerators and room air-conditioners recycled

$286,000,000

Amount customers have saved in energy costs and rebate programs

FLICKER.COM/STEVE SNODGRASS

1 in 5

Children are not receiving timely vaccinations against serious life-threatening illnesses

274,000 Number of uninsured parents in the state of Pennsylvania

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