A week ago, I got astride my bicycle, turned my phone off, and set off for a leisurely five-day ride to Pittsburgh. Amazing how much can happen in a week: I arrived to the news that the state budget had finally passed and that table games (blackjack, poker, etc.) were legalized as part of that budget.

Only they weren’t.

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Yesterday, on the PA House Floor, Representative Mike O’Brien, whose district includes Fishtown (where the SugarHouse casino is expected to open), introduced an amendment to Senate Bill 711  — the gambling “reform” bill that also seeks to introduce table games like Blackjack and Poker — that would require Pennsylvania casinos to pay an additional 1 percent tax on gross table gaming revenues. The revenue would go straight to the county hosting that casino.

The amendment passed.

Whoopee, right? Everybody wins! Except the casinos, but they’ve won so much already they shouldn’t mind.

But wait — there’s more.

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How time flies – just a couple of hours ago, I was writing about the long-standing deadlock over Philadelphia’s fiscal relief bill in Harrisburg - and then, about half an hour ago, the deadlock seems to have ended, with the Senate passing the bill, without amendments, 32-17. (KYW reports that Mayor Nutter made an “emotional” call to his cabinet to order them to “kill Plan C.”

That means – not that we’re even slightly surprised – that Nutter won’t, in fact, shut down every branch of the Free Library, close our courts, and lay off hundreds and hundreds of cops.

Over at Philadelphia Weekly, my colleague Joel Mathis responded to my own assertion that  nearly everybody – Nutter, the media, Harrisburg itself – was enacting a kind of mass bluff, and suggested:

“Well, if it’s a bluff, maybe it worked.”

I don’t know. Maybe it did work. But I wonder if Mayor Nutter didn’t hurt his own credibility – not with Harrisburg, but with us.

If Plan C was a bluff – and I think it was – that means that there was either another plan, that we didn’t know about, or there wasn’t, and Nutter fully expected the passage of this bill.

If the former is the case, shouldn’t Nutter have told us about the real Plan C? Shouldn’t Council have been weighing in on real contingency plans, rather than holding their breath together?

If the latter is the case, it means that our institutions –  library branches, police, etc. – were props in a political theatrical production.

And Philadelphians will remember that the next time that cuts rolls around.

All that being said, some congratulations are in order – to Philly, and to Mayor Nutter. May he go for a nice bike ride or something back home in Philly.

esquire.com

Esquire has been doing these really entertaining “75″ lists to commemorate their 75th anniversary. Today, they blasted out a list of the 75 Best People in the World and they give it up for our very own Ed Rendell, who makes the list along with George Clooney, Britney Spears and Rahm Emmanuel.

About the Guv, they said:

Because he proves that not every macher need be a pig or a prick.

They forgot: If he had his druthers, he’d probably still being sit up at the 700 level.

Now tell him to pass a goddamned budget already and he’ll really deserve that spot.

An hour ago, Mayor Nutter held a press conference to announce that – due to the state Senate’s delay in voting on Philadelphia’s proposed sales tax hike – the city has already lost out on about $20 million dollars that the tax hike should have raised by now.

And so, about $20 has been cut from the budget. In an emailed statement, the Mayor’s Office outlined the following cuts:

The cadet class for the Police Department, scheduled to begin this fall, will be delayed, saving the $3.2 million this fiscal year.

The Mayor’s Office will eliminate six full-time positions, saving $500,000 annually.

Starting August 29th, the 3-1-1 call center will change its hours of operation from 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to 8am-8pm on weekdays, 9am-5pm on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays, saving $230,000 annually.

The Office of Fleet Management will stop purchase on all City vehicles other than replacement police cars.  This ban includes snow removal equipment, sanitation vehicles and road repair equipment, saving $4.8 million in FY10.

The Department of Finance will eliminate six full-time positions and reduce supplies, equipment and contracts, saving $1.3 million annually.

The Commerce Department will eliminate three full-time positions, saving $233,000 annually.

The Planning Commission will eliminate six full-time positions, saving $341,000 annually.

The Law department will reduce contract spending for outside legal counsel, saving $1.3 million annually.

The Department of Public Property will reduce maintenance contracts, saving $2.5 million annually.

The Department of Licenses and Inspections will reduce contracts and supplies, saving $140,000 annually.

The City Representative will eliminate three vacant positions and reduce contracts, saving $287,000 annually.

The Streets Department will reduce garbage disposal contracts, saving $3 million annually, and will curtail street tree trimming and maintenance contracts, saving $1 million annually.

The City will eliminate its final $1.5 million payment to the Housing Trust Fund.

Temple is celebrating its 125th birthday, but the city’s largest university can’t afford a party. In fact, some students are debating whether to go back next semester after a likely 45 percent increase in tuition. State representative and Temple Law alum John Taylor (R-Phila.) warned his alma mater’s Health System not to close its Northeastern Hospital, or else: He would respond by chopping $175 million in state funding for TU, potentially resulting in a $5,000 increase in yearly tuition per student.

But the hospital lost more than $6 million last fiscal year and could lose more than double that figure this coming year — the reason why the university decided to terminate the hospital, despite political threats. (Taylor feels as though the university has a social responsibility to provide hospital services to the surrounding community.)

“Now their day of reckoning has arrived. If they want to act like an arrogant private institution, then they’re going to be treated by this Commonwealth like an arrogant private institution,” Taylor told KYW Newsradio. As a result, students might now face this tuition spike, and many maintain that Taylor has no right to punish them, as they had no influence on the decision to close Northeastern.

To spread awareness, student advocates created a Twitter, a blog and a Facebook group to promote a rally protesting the tuition increase at Temple’s Student Center at 2 p.m. yesterday. Although the group gained more than 300 members by the time of the rally, only a few students showed up. Still, the media arrived on the scene:

I’m the guy with the schoolbag in the beginning. This clip didn’t include many of the points I made, including my opinion that Taylor’s decision to block much-needed funding from Temple punishes the wrong people: the students. After four years of school, an extra $5,000 per year amounts to $20,000 — much more than the current yearly tuition (a rough average of $12,000 for in-state students). That means that compared to last year’s graduating seniors, incoming freshmen will pay for five years’ worth of education, but only receive four.

Just as the students demanded at the protest, I believe Temple and Rep. Taylor should cooperate with each other to hash out this clash, raising their respective voices — and not our debt.

You’ve got to love Governor Ed Rendell’s knack for accidentally saying exactly what’s on his mind.

Like on Tuesday, when, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Rendell dropped this little bomb:

“If the Legislature sent me a video poker bill, I would sign it even if (the revenue) is not for higher education,” Rendell said.

It’s an interesting position to take — especially since the entire justification for legalizing video poker was that the proceeds would offset tuition at state schools.

The current proposal would allow every bar in the Commonwealth to apply for up to five machines. It is, as I’ve editorialized aplenty, a scary proposition: It would make slot machine gambling – well-known as one of the most addictive/harmful forms of legal gambling — accessible on a level unprecedented in the state, especially in Philadelphia, which has thousands of bars.

Until that statement, Rendell could defend his support for the measure by saying he it was pro-education. But that, apparently, was a secondary excuse: Increasingly, Rendell seems to be plain ol’ pro-gambling.

Lucky for him, the gambling industry happens to be pro-Rendell: According to a report by the Common Cause Pennsylvania, the governor received more than $1 million in campaign donations from the gambling industry between 2001 and 2008.

Skip ahead to 3:30. He also calls out DelCo, his home, as the best county in the Commonwealth.

In Philadelphia, the Weights and Measures unit of the Deparment of Licenses and Inspections stood in the way of both dubious business practices and common error. It checked scales and scanners for most things we buy, from gas to groceries, and investigated when consumers claimed foul play.

But in February, in response to the city’s massive budget deficit, L&I disbanded the 11-person Weights and Measures unit. The state has tried to fill the vacuum, but will replace fewer than half of the inspectors.

At the end of last year, the city asked L&I to make cuts. “We looked at what are the core services and ranked them,� says Fran Burns, Commissioner of L&I, by way of explanation. Weights and Measures, she says, came in at the bottom of the list. So, for a savings of over $400,000 annually, L&I laid off or transferred all the unit’s members.

Since February, state inspectors from southwestern Pennsylvania have conducted inspections in Philadelphia on an interim basis, responding primarily to consumer complaints. In a few weeks, the state plans to hire five full-time, Philly-based inspectors. They will be solely responsible for inspections in the city.

The state authorities have expressed confidence in their ability to handle the increased workload. “I would anticipate that we’ll be able to do the job in a timely fashion,� says John Dillabaugh, Director of the State Bureau of Ride and Measurement Standards, “and as well as the city of Philadelphia did.�

According to Gerald Buckley, President of the Pennsylvania Association of Weights and Measures (a trade organization), there should be one inspector for every 100,000 residents in the area. Right now, there’s one inspector for every 675,000 residents. When the new state inspectors start work, that number will go down. But there will still be just one inspector for every 289,000 Philadelphians.

By any measure, the state inspectors will have a lot on their plates. According to a 2008 report from the State Department of Agriculture, Philadelphia County accounted for one out of every ten inspections in the state. That work will now be done by half as many inspectors.

So what does this mean for Philadelphians? Some say the reduction in inspectors will allow business owners to exploit consumers.

“[Businesses owners] are picking everybody’s pocket,� says Lincoln Felder, a housing inspector with L&I. He believes businesses will alter their scales to increase revenue. “They won’t be killing [consumers] for $10 or $15. They’ll be hitting us for five or 10 cents a piece, nickel and diming us to death.�

Based on state records however, explicit exploitation is less common than simple error. According to the Bureau of Agriculture, the state levied just 37 fines statewide (not including Philly) in 2008 for intentional or repeated weights and measures violations.

But while it imposes few fines, the state routinely finds faulty devices. In 2008, state inspectors rejected almost 1 out of every 10 monitoring devices. With the halving of inspector positions in Philadelphia, the number of undetected faulty machines is likely to increase. Mistakes may go uncorrected. And consumers, mostly unaware of Weights in Measures, will remain in the dark.

“If you get bit by a dog, you know it,� says Buckley. “But if you buy a pound of hamburg, you don’t really know if it’s a pound of hamburg.�

–

Consumer complaints regarding weights and measures should be directed to the State Bureau of Agriculture at: 1 (877) TEST 007.

Evan M. Lopez

Over at It’s Our Money, Ben Waxman identifies a question/comment a lot of people have about Mayor Nutter’s doomsday budget, and answers it. The concern:

I have seen a number of comments on this blog and others accusing the mayor of resorting to scare tactics. Here is the rationale: Mayor Nutter is intentionally laying off cops and firefighters to get people upset and put pressure on the state legislature. He could easily cut other areas– health centers, libraries, and recreation programs– to make up the budget deficit.

The response:

There is just one problem with that logic: it’s completely wrong. Spending on public safety– police, fire, and prisons– dwarfs every other part of city government. About 29% of the city’s $4 billion budget goes to these costs. If the city is forced to cut $700 million from the budget, most of it will have to come from the areas where the money is.

That’s definitely right. The only thing I’d add is this: When I hear people talking about how wasteful the city is, they tend to talk about that waste very abstractly. They have this vision of a lazy city worker sitting somewhere, collecting a paycheck and waiting on a pension, but they have no idea what that worker actually does. The reality is most city workers are doing things society values. Working at rec centers, making the bureacracy function at L&I etc.

Are there lazy workers within those departments? Probably, just like there are lazy workers everywhere. But they’re not so easy for Mayor Nutter to just find and fire.

Now, there are a few items that get identified specifically as wasteful in these conversations. DROP, numerous council aides, the Mayor’s Office of Community Services. And they may be. But, as Ben says, with the size of deficit Philly’s facing, cutting these things is a drop in the bucket — and in some cases, for the Mayor, more procedural trouble than they’re worth.

UPDATE: This, however, from Ray Murphy at YPP, is a good point:

If there is any reason to be critical though it’d be the fact that the revenue agreement the Mayor and Council reached in the first place was predicated upon state action. It’s not like we didn’t know things would be tough in Harrisburg. The alternatives–raising property or wage taxes–came with other political risks that most members of Council and the Mayor weren’t willing to take.

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.”

At 2:00 in the City Hall courtyard, Mayor Nutter will be leading a rally to call on Harrisburg to not screw us totally. He’ll also be releasing some of his most detailed plans for what he’ll do if they do screw us totally (800 cops laid off? God damn).

This is interesting not only because you rarely see someone in a position of authority, like the mayor, leading a protest rally like this, but also because, as Ray Murphy points out,

the Mayor also invited some of the folks who have been organizing against cuts to come as well to help bolster his message. Of course, that could be a bit awkward as some of those same groups opposed the Mayor’s sales tax proposals and many are also standing in solidarity with city workers. Who, you may remember, are working without a contract and still negotiating with the Mayor regarding their contracts.

Strange bedfellows, I guess. We’ll have an on-the-scene report afterward.

Rep. Mike O’Brien

It’s been a bit hard to tell what Mayor Nutter expects to happen in Harrisburg with regards to the two budget measures the city is asking the state to take — allowing Philadelphia to raise our sales tax and delay some pension payments. Does the mayor believe, in his heart of hearts, that the state is gonna come through, and let Philly keep the (tough, but bearable) budget the mayor and council agreed on? Or is he just delaying the inevitable draconian cuts that will come when the state doesn’t lend its approval, waiting until he can say “I tried,” and point the finger elsewhere?

It’s hard to tell because Nutter has been careful not characterize his impressions of state legislators’ positions, and some of those legislators have taken a wait-and-see approach.

But this, this morning, is bad news for Nutter, and possibly for all of us. From Philly Clout:

State Rep. Mike O’Brien just left the closed door meeting, saying he wasn’t going to be “lecturedâ€� on the city’s finances. O’Brien said he has asked the city’s lobbyists and the administration why they won’t consider diverting the $87 million the city’s expected to receive in state gaming taxes towards the budget problems. So far, O’Brien said, he’s gotten no answers.

I don’t know anything about whether O’Brien’s gotten answers or even whether the question he’s asking is reasonable, but for the mayor and his plan, the fact that he’s this upset at this deep stage of the game poses a problem. Ready for once-a-month trash pickup?

UPDATE: Nutter came out of the meeting and said the Philadelphia delegation is behind the plan, though it’s not clear what came of the O’Brien spat.

It is worth bearing in mind as you read this that the publisher and editor of the Public Record is former Councilman Jim Tayoun, who served time for corruption:

Though Fumo will spend a total of 55 months in prison, there is no doubt he will return to Philadelphia a folk hero, much like some of the other political leaders in the past who served their time, but came back with their constituencies relatively well intact. In fact, if it were not for a Pennsylvania law prohibiting felons from holding office, many of them would have easily been reelected to the offices they had held.

Here’s the actual honest-to-god clipping: