BY BRETT MANDEL/ With the Actual Value Initiative pushed back until 2013, we can take our time to make real-estate assessments fair and accurate in a careful and considered manner. Happily, we already have an action plan and we can make it work without taxing Philadelphians out of their homes. After years of debate, there [...]
If you’re a frequent reader of this column, you know that as far as I’m concerned, the 1st Amendment came down from Mount Sinai on a stone tablet. But one thing I have always recognized about the right to speak guaranteed by the 1st Amendment is that you don’t always have to use it. The [...]
BARBRA STREISAND held a private dress rehearsal at Temple University’s Liacouras Center last Friday. Special invitations went out to friends and family of Temple VIPs and Trustees. Streisand has been rehearsing for her American tour at Temple, but needed the energy of a dress rehearsal. The show was more than three hours long and featured [...]
I wonder if Obama expected the debate to be a high-level academic discussion. Romney had to be aggressive, and Obama did look annoyed at the thrusts by Romney which were mostly blarney, and some cheap shots. You cannot be a gentleman to that sort of assault. Obama did look presidential – that works up to [...]
BY STATE SEN. LeANNA WASHINGTON/ One in four US women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, yet this crime remains seemingly invisible and unnoticed by society. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Of the 166 domestic-violence-related fatalities in Pennsylvania last year, nearly 30% (47) took place in the five-county Philadelphia area. Victims of [...]
Before the City figures out its new property-tax rate, it needs to tax all the property it’s supposed to tax. And that includes property owned by nonprofits. Philadelphia is lucky to have a strong and growing base in cutting-edge education and health care. It’s one of the reasons the city isn’t like Detroit today. But [...]
Two judicial crises have kept Pennsylvania politicians in turmoil this election season. One is the legislation mandating voter photo-ID for the Nov. 6 general election and the other is redistricting of General Assembly seats for 2014. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a complex opinion on photo IDs. A bipartisan four-justice majority ordered the lower-court [...]
A gang of mavericks assembled for the annual 56th Ward Picnic at Burholme Park. WARD LEADER JOHN SABATINA has been hosting the event for decades and always draws a great crowd of politicos. This year was no exception as mayoral wannabes COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN and STATE SEN. ANTHONY WILLIAMS competed for having most handshakes with [...]
It’s refreshing to see a leader in this city act as a leader should, making decisions on the spot. That leader is City Council President Darrell Clarke! When he was faced with the fact two of his staff had violated City Council rules and his trust as well, he terminated them. It was the obvious [...]
BY STATE REP. RON WATERS/ The moral outrage and national embarrassment over Pennsylvania’s strictest-in-the-nation voter-identification law are well-deserved. But what’s most disturbing about this law is the fact it’s a blatant abuse of power by the controlling party in Harrisburg – the Republicans – for purely partisan political gain. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is hearing arguments [...]
