by Tom MacDonald, WHYY News

Municipal union leaders and some neighborhood groups cast aspersions on citizen budget workshops

Some union and civic groups are not pleased with the format for a series of forums on the Philadelphia budget deficit.   WHYY’s Tom MacDonald reports that these groups are calling for a new perspective to the exercise on civil engagement while event organizers defend the openness of the workshops.

The labor and civic groups are afraid that the “Tight Times Tough Choices” forums, which begin this week, will be nothing more than an exercise in futility because they believe Mayor Nutter only wants to cut services to balance the budget.  Eric Braxton of the Coalition To Save Libraries says taxing those who can afford to pay would balance the budget.

Braxton: “There’s no way that the large corporations of this city, the Walmarts the Sunoco’s can’t afford to help us out in these times and that’s the solution to that problem.”

Harris Sokoloff of Penn’s Project for Civic Engagement says all options will be explored.

Sokoloff: “They will look at possible cuts and possible tax and revenue increases and they can come up with ideas of their own. Everything including budget cuts as well as tax and revenue increases will be on the table during the forums and for citizens to discuss and weigh pros and cons and figure out what they are and aren’t willing to support.”

The city came to Penn after the first round of town hall meetings didn’t go so well.  WHYY is also involved in the planning of the forums.

More information

Dates, times and locations for the “Tight Times Tough Choices” workshops can be found in the left-hand column. (Look left!)  More information about how these workshops will be conducted can be found here.

Your feedback

We’ll be releasing information about the choices that citizens will be ask to make at these forums as we get it.  For now, let us know what kind of sacrifices you think the city, the region and citizens should be prepared to make in order to get through this crisis.