Yesterday I wrote about the controversy caused by the Philadelphia Water Department’s proposal to tear up Pine Street to replace old and inadequate stormwater/wastewater lines.  The section of Pine Street under discussion includes Antique Row, the quaint little strip of antique and specialty stores from about 9th Street to 12th Street.
In the course of that [...]

In this clip, Ed Rendell talks about why he never expected to be named to a cabinet position in the new Barack Obama administration and why the economic crisis is even more reason he should stay put.
This interview comes just a week before Pennsylvania Governor Rendell will announce the budget for the next fiscal year, [...]

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter made good on his promise to replace the Penn’s Landing Corporation (PLC) with a new agency that he hopes will be more transparent an effective. At a news conference this morning at the Independence Seaport Museum, the mayor said PLC will be re-invented as the Delaware River Waterfront Corportation with a [...]

By Tom Ferrick
(Part 5 of 5)
The city’s pension fund keeps eating up more and more of the city budget - and it is no surprise why. The city’s system is a defined benefit plan. Pensions are determined by a formula that takes into account years of service, final salary and a multiplier. The multiplier varies [...]

Mayor Michael Nutter has pledged to not permanently shut down any libraries for the time being, even if the state appeals court grants the city authority to do so. The City of Philadelphia is currently appealing a December 2008 Common Pleas Court decision, which halted the permanent closure of 11 libraries and ordered the Mayor to [...]

by Bill Hangley, WHYY News
Mayor Nutter says your trash is safe for now.  But he acknowledged that the city is considering reducing trash pickup as part of its massive cost-cutting effort. At a budget meeting yesterday, city officials floated a number of potentially controversial ideas, including closing homeless shelters and health centers.  Today Nutter asked [...]

Antique store owners on Pine Street from 7th to 11th Streets are worried that a Philadelphia Water Department proposal to replace outdated and undersized sewer lines may leave them high and dry.  According to the Center City Weekly Press, the shop owners are worried that the block-by-block closures to vehicle traffic, as well as the [...]

City of Philadelphia has website dedicated to the budget crisis

The City of Philadelphia is using its management performance meetings known as PhillyStat as a public education tool in the current budget crisis. The first video recorded on Monday (1/26) shows the City’s Managing Director Camille Barnett leading a discussion on the region’s demographics and employment [...]

In case you didn’t hear, Mayor Michael Nutter has commissioned a Private Sector Outreach Board to figure out how to make city government more effective, cost-efficient, and quality-driven. He announced the formation of the seven-member board during his January 15th address on the city’s latest budget woes.
In his speech, Nutter said he assembled the board to “look for [...]

By Tom Ferrick
(part 4 of 5)
There is a simple way for the city to save a lot of money on its health insurance costs, which total about $400 million a year.
Each of the city’s major unions, plus its non-unionized work force, have separate health and welfare funds. If you combined them into one fund and [...]