A good old-fashioned town-gown showdown is in the works. Between 1949 and 1974, a University of Pennsylvania med school professor performed dermatological experiments on inmates at Holmesburg Prison. Earlier this year, Philadelphia City Council tried to hold hearings on the matter, but Penn has refused to show up. Now the two parties are scheduled to settle it in a courtroom on Nov. 20.

When Council decided to hold hearings, Law and Government Committee staff first politely asked the university and its employee, Emeritus Professor Dr. Albert Kligman, who conducted the experiments, to testify. When they refused to show up, they were subpoenaed. That was when the university hired Ballard Spahr attorney Arthur Makadon to represent it, arguing before a judge that City Council does not have the power to subpoena witnesses for its hearings.

Makadon did not return repeated calls for comment, but Penn spokesperson Rebecca Harmon explained the university's legal argument. "Council subpoena powers are limited to issues germane to Council's legislative function," she said. "Council doesn't have the authority to legislate on these matters," Harmon said, since the federal government has already passed legislation in this area. In the National Research Act of 1974, Congress outlawed the practice of conducting medical experiments on prisoners.

Robert Jaffee, an attorney for Councilman David Cohen, the chair of the Law and Government Committee, contends that "City Council has a right to get facts before they legislate." In fact, he says, the resolution authorizing the Law and Government Committee to hold hearings reads, "the Committee is going to look into Œappropriate remedies.'" And if the facts warrant it, Jaffee explains, that "could be a remedy of legislation."

At its core, Jaffee says, in challenging Council's subpoena power, the university administrators "basically thumbed their nose at City Council."

Councilman Cohen himself likened Penn to "big corporations [that] believe they have no responsibilities to the public."

"We try to be as cooperative as possible but this has been an impossible case because the university just holds itself above the law," Cohen says.

Council's elder statesman noted that he is a member of the University of Pennsylvania class of '34. "I want to be proud of the University of Pennsylvania," he says.

Jaffee says he is confident the law is on City Council's side, but notes that the university has hired Arthur Makadon, whom Jaffee calls "the biggest lawyer in the state."

The question, according to Jaffee, is, "Does University of Pennsylvania have the power and the influence, given their connection to the state and others, to affect the outcome?"

Fightinâ Frankie

Apparently for Councilman Frank DiCicco, there’s no success like failure. At the Nov. 14 Council session, he attempted to bring up his property tax bill that had been tabled over his objections a week earlier. Yet again, his colleagues turned against him. By a vote of 10 to 7, the measure was defeated.

DiCicco's bill would freeze property tax assessments at last year's level, giving Council time to reform the city's property tax system.

But DiCicco claims he never expected his bill to go anywhere. His motion to consider the bill was part of a strategy, he says, to shame his colleagues into passing some form of property tax reform.

DiCicco vowed to continue in his attempt to "embarrass" his colleagues. "I'm going to keep doing it until one of the other bills comes up that makes sense. If we don't bring up any bills to vote on, I'm going to keep bringing up 490," he said, referring to his proposal by its official bill number.

DiCicco compares the current stalemate to the drawn-out debate last spring over whether to continue cutting the city wage tax. At first, it looked as if Council members loyal to the mayor would keep the measure from passing. "Then the public started e-mailing, the public started calling the offices, and a few weeks later look what happened," DiCicco says, referring to the press conference where the mayor signed the bill and publicly endorsed the measure he had long opposed.

One thing DiCicco has on his side is the elections looming for City Council. "The voters will let them know between now and May 20 of 2003 how they feel."

Next Council session, DiCicco says, he will again try to move his legislation, though he doesn't expect it to pass just yet. "I know what the numbers are," he says. "If you don't put a gun to people's heads, sometimes they don't do anything. And the gun is this bill."