Staff Blog
On the scene: Nutter-led rally
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| Photo | Matt Petrillo |
| Controller candidate Al Schmidt objects to Nutter's position, and came out to tell people so. |
Mayor Nutter led a rally in the City Hall courtyard calling on state legislators to approve two measures — allowing the city to raise its sales tax temporarily by one percent, and allowing it to reform its pension payments — that would enable Philadelphia to meet its budget goals without draconian cuts.
Dozens of city workers, protesters and (not that many) other supporters gathered before the 2 p.m. meeting, to which Nutter arrived a fashionable 20 minutes late. "Philadelphia is about to get in a lot of trouble," commented one woman as he approached the mic. The entire audience then began to chant, "No more budget cuts! No more budget cuts ... " to which the mayor replied, "I agree with you!"
He began his speech by noting the social, political and economic significance of Philadelphia: "This is the birth place of freedom, liberty and democracy!" He then got down to business, saying that he is not asking for a penny from the state, but instead, for it to approve the two provisions to his budget plan. "We cannot run a government solely on hope," he said. "We need money!"
Al Schmidt, a candidate for city controller, disagrees with Nutter and believes that the mayor has betrayed the public's trust. "Philadelphia has the highest taxes and the highest debt [of] any other city in the nation. [Nutter] is borrowing more and more money, and still saying we don't have enough. It's bologna," Schmidt said, while supporters at his side held signs for his campaign.
Nutter said that without his plan, the city will face dire consequences, including reducing trash pick-up from once a week to twice a month (eliminating 350 street worker positions); a reduction of 972 police officers; the closing of fire stations (eliminating nearly 200 positions), two Health Centers (resulting in a loss of 112 positions); all branch and regional libraries (eliminating 490 positions); recreation centers, parks and numerous department agencies. This would have an accumulated total of approximately 3,000 eliminated positions.
"This doesn't have to happen," he reassured the public. "I'm not asking for a handout. I'm asking for a hand."
The audience clapped for the mayor after he finished his speech, but people seemed baffled by the situation. "We need the schools! We need to help our children! What is going on with this city?" a woman declared after the applause.
"Believe it or not," a man replied, "it's really up to the governor."
[...] ON THE SCENE: NUTTER-LED RALLY Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 9:10 am posted by Matt Petrillo categories News, State Politicians Screwing Philly, State Politics, The Budget,The End of Days, The Mayor, the budget crisis [...]