WALKING THE BEAT: Waters Wins At State Committee

DEMOCRAT STATE COMMITTEE met last weekend in Hershey, Pa. By a vote of 199-52, Judge Joe WATERS was endorsed in his run for State Superior Court. Waters once served as a police officer, and his run could signal a wave of police-turned-jurists seeking higher office in the courts (?). Justice McCAFFERY was first. Waters is a good choice!… Congressman Robert BRADY testified before City Council for the casino site to be located on Packer Avenue at 3^rd Street. This site has perhaps the largest building footprint, so as to ensure revenues of scale to help the City stay SOLVENT. City Controller Allan BUTKOVITZ attended the casino hearing to ensure the best decision for Philly.

How about all the publicity over Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds BROWN and that McDaniel fellow? It is as though SOMEONE does not want the Councilwoman to run for Mayor (?) Then there was an editorial which looked at the McDaniel job at the Airport. It seemed to refer to a bottomless patronage pit there: Why do we need volunteer question-answerers and a director for them in the airport? But there are approximately 100 administration jobs that pay over $100,000 a year (Up to $265,000). That’s near to TWENTY MILLION. And the media and City fretted over $23,000/year “political” jobs in the old Board of Revision of Taxes. Now, I hear six exempt jobs will be appointed there – at $100,000 each (?). Will AVI help pay these wages? Take the Parking Ticket hearing chief at around $130,000. Five thousand $26 Parking Tickets would have to be written to equal that amount! So is “REFORM” replacing ONE FORM OF POLITICS WITH ANOTHER? And is reform expensive?. It makes all the malarkey over TRAFFIC COURT seem SMALL POTATOES.

GRAND JURY indictments in Traffic Court: REMEMBER a grand jury is a PROSECUTOR’S TOOL. No defense lawyer is allowed in – probably the only MISTAKE the Founding Fathers made…. A federal appeals panel recommended to Judge Buckwalter that State Sen. VINCE FUMO pay an additional $800k in restitution. I think that they were quoted saying they wished he could pay $1.6 million. I thought they wanted Fumo to pay 800k? Too much back and forth. FUMO has always had heart problems, and is allegedly resting over a recent spate of heart pain. I never really heard what the Fumo prosecution cost. Some say $24 million was spent to prosecute a $4 million crime (?). Did we borrow that money from CHINA? Since my grandkids will help pay down the debt, I need to tell them soon if this is so.

HAPPY NEWS: Congrats to JOHN DAVID of The Public Record for “doggedly” on Facebook pushing a petition drive to end animal abuse. Thank you!!…. BIRTHDAYS: SHERIFF BARBARA DEELEY, a sterling civic leader; and my old Army buddy Paul EARTHQUAKE Moore, whose MLK Day clean up of Woodland Avenue was welcome! And a birthday for SELF-HELP Drug Program Director Robert DELLAVELLA, ESQ.; the 55^th Ward Leader beats the energizer bunny in civic efforts!

ALAS, three lovely ladies passed on to On High: Katherine R. FENERTY provided a mom’s good guidance for a successful family…. Blanche A. DURKIN helped rear a large family and made it possible for her hubby to rise to police Chief Inspector and as a Colonel in the Air Force. No easy task…. EILEEN OSINSKI passed after a long illness. Her support made it possible for her hubby Chet to complete many Army missions. THREE ANGELS ON EARTH, and now above.

It was also sad to hear of the passing of Edward LEONARD, ESQ., a Bishop Neumann grad, credit-union lawyer, and brother of former City Controller Tommy Leonard…. TRACY BRANDEIS-ROMAN may throw her hat into the Common Pleas Judge ring. Her dynamic persona easily WINS awe in a courtroom…. CITY CONTROLLER Alan Butkovitz kicked off his reelection campaign in the Race Street Sheraton last Monday. That evening, JOHN DOUGHERTY hosted a grand fundraiser for Alan in the IBEW Hall! An article on one of Alan’s opponents in the Daily Pennsylvanian actually was very helpful to Butkovitz. The “DP” is a University of Pennsylvania publication.

How about Geraldo RIVERA wanting to run for US Senator in N.J.? He hails from Rumson, one of the least-known (they want it that way) and wealthiest towns in N.J. The joke goes that on trash day there, cars are driving the town to look for discarded goodies – old caviar perhaps and used cabin cruisers…. And Congressman Paul RYAN as a GOP unifier? I thought he was in opposite mode in the campaign.

Dan McCAFFERY — will he run for office? Which one? The rumor mill is buzzing!… A few years back, there was an idea to ASSIMILATE your AVI Real Estate tax increase over four years instead of all at once. WHAT HAPPENED to that plan? Why GRAB all at once?

VETERANS and all citizens help a good cause: On Friday, Mar. 1, 8 p.m., 102.9 WMGK and John DeBella presents comedian Jim Breuer at Xfinity Live (Jim Breuer is hilarious, by the way). Our friends at WMGK put this comedy show on to raise funds for The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center. We have the opportunity to raise $25,000 if 1,000 tickets are sold. To do this we need your help! Please post event info on social media (Facebook/Twitter, etc.) and email all of your friends and family. We are looking forward to seeing everyone there! http://www.wmgk.com/news/story.aspx?id=1877884. For the link for ticket sales: www.missiontix.com/events/product/16614.

CONCERN in the daily press that schools to be closed are cited as being in poor repair – yet the schools where students will be transferred are ALSO IN SAD SHAPE. But what happens when kids from one turf are transferred to schools in another gang’s turf? When this happened some 30 years ago, violence occurred…. One editorial talks of unleashing the city watchdog – the Inspector General. In another edition, that watchdog said the prison medical-care contract renewal was “not (her) job….” Why would the City Solicitor NOT look into complaints by Councilman Jim KENNEY on prison medical care?? You can understand why KENNEY is upset. In earlier years there was MORE RESPECT by city departments for City Council. Does Council NOT APPROVE FUNDS for operating her department?

The casino developer for the 8^th & Market site says a casino there will enhance and improve all around it – including the Constitution Center. Maybe, but it is hard to see young tourists or tourist parents with kids going from the Constitution Center to the casino…. That committee looking at the County Board of Elections is headed by the Managing Director, Richard NEGRIN. One paper says that he will “Challenge the infrastructure” of that agency (?). Huh? What does Negrin mean? Where do you get “challenge” when constituted as FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE by the Mayor? Remember my wager on the committee report?

Did you read the headline where Corbett rejected expansion of Medicaid? Did you EXPECT OTHERWISE?… And the $6 million bill Yuengling Beer got from the City is an estimate only. There are quotes from Councilman Green, but not the Mayor. It almost reads as if GREEN is the Mayor (?). If there were an “election” between Yuengling, Green and/or Nutter – Yuengling wins!

They are STILL ATTEMPTING to reconfigure the state Electoral College by legislation instead of a fair fight at the polls. One proposal is by State Sen. Dominic PILEGGI, and another is by State Reps. Robert Godshall (Montgomery), and Seth Grove (York). These Republicans do not speak for Philly. While they are at it, they should think about a bill to convert their district justices to HEARING OFFICERS. Maybe we can trade bills…. Under a plan to create hearing officers in Traffic Court, judges in office, duly elected by the PEOPLE, and those who run in the primary (and later win), would take office. They should also be able to run for retention at the end of their term.

SCOOP USA did a great story for Black History Month on “BLACK WALL STREET” in Tulsa, Okla. where 3,000 died in racial violence in a LITTLE-KNOWN event. Bravo!… Your A.V.I. TAX INCREASE: I cannot understand a bill introduced by Councilmen GREEN and KENNEY to eliminate the Homestead exemption and replace it with means testing. Means-testing limits are always so meager, as to exclude many. A future Mayor would want the City to be in good fiscal shape before taking office. But neither of these men HAS DECLARED AS CANDIDATES for mayor. I cannot understand what Green said, that the Homestead exemption really doesn’t protect people from spikes in tax bills.” ??? Almost certainly it provides some protection and should be expanded. It seems that AVI coverage is slipping to the back pages in the media. This vital news is NOT a LOW-KEY issue. How 40% of properties will get no increase or go down is curious given their past valuations and sale prices (?). CAN WE SEE THE BOOKS?

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