Also this issue:

End Game
As the 2002 gubernatorial race lurches to a merciful end, here’s a look at where candidates stand on the issues.
-Daryl Gale

The 8-Ball
Playing the Section 8 card in the Hoeffel/Brown race.
-Daniel Brook

Cruz Control
Despite past legal troubles, State Rep. Angel Cruz poses a formidable challenge to his two opponents.
-Daniel Brook

Sweet on Sweet
-Mary F. Patel

"Rat" Infestation
-Deborah Bolling

Data Interrupted
The man who fought The New York Times over freelancers’ rights talks about archives, money and history.
-Deborah BollingBy Deborah Bolling

The Bell Curve
City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

October 31-November 6, 2002

hall monitor

Freeze Play

by Daniel Brook

City Council President Anna Verna’s office released a study of the fiscal impact of various property tax reduction bills before Council. According to the study, freezing assessments at last year’s rates would cost the city over $10 million and the school district nearly $15 million.

Armed with the new data, Councilman David Cohen said Councilman Frank DiCicco's proposed freeze would cut taxes on the rich to the detriment of Philadelphia's public school kids.

While DiCicco doesn't dispute Verna's numbers, he still believes that "a freeze is in order" until the property tax system can be reformed.

Since tax bills don't get sent out until early 2003, DiCicco argues, "We still have four months to work on something."

As for Cohen's charge that DiCicco would save his wealthy constituents money at the expense of Philadelphia's public school kids, DiCicco says, "I have some of the more affluent neighborhoods [in my district .] I also have rowhouse people who are on fixed incomes who have lived in those houses for decades. [The tax increase] is across the board."

Citing the recent $300 million bond issue for the school district, DiCicco claims that "nobody's going to come out crying that the kids don't have any books."

Except Councilman Cohen.

Going Ballistic

At the Oct. 24 Council session, just a few hours after police detained two suspects in the Beltway Sniper case, Councilman Darrell Clarke called for hearings on "ballistic fingerprinting." Ballistic fingerprinting allows law enforcement to match crime scene bullets to the gun they were fired from. Only two states -- Maryland and New York -- currently have such programs in place. Clarke wants Pennsylvania to follow suit and says he saw the sniper shootings as "an opportunity to get this issue back on the front burner."

While ballistic fingerprinting should be popular in City Council, all Council members can do is urge the state legislature to take action. Considering the Republican-controlled statehouse's record on gun control, should Philadelphians hold their breath? In the past, the statehouse has struck down local Philadelphia gun control ordinances, including one written by Councilman Clarke himself.

But Clarke doesn't think it's so farfetched to get a ballistic fingerprinting bill out of Harrisburg. Nothing will pass "in this current administration," Clarke admits, "but I think there will be some serious dialogue about gun issues in the next administration."

Clarke says he is basing this on his assumption that Ed Rendell will be the next governor of Pennsylvania.

The Criminalizer

In the caucus room, before the Oct. 24 City Council session, Councilman James Kenney complained that his panhandling proposals had been mislabeled in City Paper's "Hall Monitor" column. Kenney objected to the use of the word "criminalize" to describe his position.

Kenney has floated the idea of giving brief jail terms to aggressive panhandlers as a last resort.

When this reporter stuck to his guns, Kenney admitted that his proposal calls for "technically Œcriminalizing' [panhandling], but that's not the intention."