I know we're all nerdy bloggers here, with visions of mag-lev subways and 100 story high rises, but I was thinking of some more-or-less realistic avenues for improvement in Philly:

Reform the Taxes. We know - beyond anything approaching a doubt - that high taxes have done more than anything else to empty out the city of residents and jobs. If people can move five miles down the road cut their taxes by 2/3 or so, they will. Once Philly lowers its taxes, jobs will come back, and residents will follow.

Curb the Unions. I know it's awkward for me, as a white educated middle-classer, to tell union laborers that they don't deserve to earn as much as they do. But Philly has the most powerful and intractable unions in the country, and they really mess things up. Payroll is the biggest expense for both the city and Septa, and the high cost of construction labor makes middle-income housing difficult to finance. Also, I'm frankly rather tired of being told that I owe anything to Johnnie Doc. And tired of seeing the mayor, the governor, and legislators cave to him.

Modernize the Zoning/Building Codes. Philly's zoning code is so big, complex, byzantine, and inverted, that it effectively doesn't exist. Every project needs a zoning variance. And that just increases the opportunities for bribery and corruption. Also, the building code is extremely outdated. It should be overhauled to allow for modern materials and techniques (even if those require less union labor).

Streamline the Red Tape. I interviewed Andrew Cassel at the Inqy a couple of months ago, and he told me how it took five years for the owners of Ritz Theater to set up shops in and old Amtrak building, since somany agencies and departments were involved (and, I assume, payed off). The city has to reduce the blocks to development, or else there won't be any.

Focus High-Density Development Along Transit Corridors. Nuff said, really. There are so many parcels of empty or underused land along the MFL and BSL - it's a total waste (that awful single-story building on 1100 Market St makes me mad...right on a subway stop and across from Market East). The city should offer zoning incentives or tax breaks for projects that meet certain density thresholds. This would create smart developments, reduce potential car traffic, and funnel people onto our underused subways.

Modernize the City Government Structure. Does it seem strange that the city employs more people now than it did 50 years ago, when the population was 1/3 higher? I think that any job that could be done by a computer should be, and any extraneous staff should be released. Also, Saidel's office put out a book (Phila: A New Urban Direction) that explained how costs could be cut if the city agencies (extending out into the School District, the PPA, Septa, etc) collaborated on large purchases, shared services, etc.

(It occurs to me that a lot of these sound very Republican, and that shows the problems in a one-party system, as Phila is. Essentially, one small group does whatever it wants with no competition. And let me say right now that I am NOT a Republican. I have never voted for a Republican. I have no plans to in the near future, either. But maybe having a viable "other side" isn't such a bad idea. I like Chaka Fattah - had no problem voting for him last month - but if I didn't, what could I do? The other choice was Stew Bolno, a corpulent pustule from the right. The Repubs didn't even bother to run a credible candidate, as they knew they had no chance. Maybe getting a viable oppositian will force new ideas into the city...)

Anyway, this message was just a time-killer at work. Obviously, not everything can happen from government action and reforms alone, but I think it's the best place to start.

I disagree with a couple of points you make, but don't have the inclination to debate right now.

Have you seen this website?

www.philadelphiaforward.org

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More on the same subject:

http://phillyblog.com/forum/viewtopi...6&start=15

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

I agree w/ most or all of Thunda points.....BG with which do you disagree?

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SPM

Reform the Taxes. We need to increase taxes outside the city to build a better country. We need better healthcare and education for all people. We cannot ignore the poor people in this city.

Curb the Unions. Does Philly really have the most powerful and intractable unions in the country? (Boston, NYC?) Payroll is the biggest expense for just about every business in the country. That's why they all want to use foreign labor. Middle class housing difficult to finance? I don't know anything about that.

Modernize the Zoning/Building Codes. Philly's zoning codes could be improved but they're not that bad. Some of the people that cry the loudest about our codes live in the suburbs where they wouldn't even think of building some of the crappy projects they want. And I'm happy not to have a glut of big box stores here. Getting a zoning variance is not that big a deal unless you're talking about really big projects. This is a dense historic city. Projects in this city should be reviewed and that may increase the opportunities for corruption. Power and money corrupt. There is no way around it as far as I can see from the White House on down to the row house.

I would like to see changes in the zoning code but, it's not all that bad. I'm not as familiar with the building codes, but from your post, I get the sense you aren't either.

Streamline the Red Tape. Was the Red Tape in the Ritz Theater project due to city, federal, Amtrak, environmental and/or other agencies? There are also issues of pollution, asbestos, tax liens, etc. You can't blame the city for all these problems. It's a shame the cities were allowed to inherit these problems and you can't blame them not being able to fix them all overnight.

Focus High-Density Development Along Transit Corridors. The city and state have plenty of "empowerment" zones that offer incentives for buiding in the old industrial sites. They still have a hard time competing with the offer of virgin greenspace in the suburbs though.

Modernize the City Government Structure. While the city's population has decreased, the city's infrastructure has not. The industries that picked up and left years ago, did not leave the land as they found it. The absentee landlords that profitted from apartments walked away and left neighborhoods in shambles. The rich left for the burbs and took their taxes with them. Many poor people left in the city need help. I don't think it's right for the rest of the country to turn their back on them.

SEPTA is a STATE AGENCY!!!!!

I think the avenues for improving Philly and other cities have to come from the entire country. We are allowing the state and federal governement to screw the cities and walk away from the problems they created. Now the white house is doing that to the rest of the world.

Philly's not perfect. We need reform and improvements. But let's not forget there are much bigger forces at work here.

The comments on curbing the unions ... but I've argued that elsewhere.

The comments on the taxes. Tax reform needs to be taken on at a state level.

Also, I believe that there should be a state officer who manages development and growth ...

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Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. - Robert Orben

Well ideally, many of these issues should be approached on a national level. But the City of Philadelphia can't change Bush's tax policy, energy policy, housing policy, drug policy, social welfare policy, etc. The local government can only control local policy. So a discussion on local issues that simply says "it's a state/federal deal" is ducking the real problem. Of course it would be wonderful if the federal government would discover that mass transit was beneficial, or that densely populated areas are more energy- and resource-efficient, and that better funded schools produce better students. But in absense of that, we can only produce action locally.

Taxes: Philadelphia does have the power to reduce taxes, and it doesn't have to come from some state directive. It would just take one more council vote (or a better mayor) and some work on city budgeting.

Unions: I can't imagine anyone arguing that many city (and Septa) union workers aren't extremely well-compensated with very generous health benefits in light of the work they do. Limited (!) privatization and competitive bidding for contracts could save the city hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years.

Also, BG, if you're against tax reductions, then why did you post the message from Philadelphia Forward? All that Brett Mandel does is lobby for local tax cuts.

The problem is that, on a national level, more and more costs are being pushed downward to the states and localities.

Education - NCLB put huge mandates on local districts, but did not pick up the costs.

Homeland security. More costs from the feds without the dollars to fund them. And places like Idaho get far more than Philadelphia on a per capita basis. Terrorist threats certainly must be growing in Boise.

Healthcare - the mother of them all. Major diseases like AIDS tend to be intensified in urban areas. Cities have to pick up much of the cost.

Now Bush is talking about cutting $60 billion out of medicare. Does that mean we will have fewer sick people, fewer older Americans who get nursing care after their own savings run out. Nope. But localities will have to pay more.

Unions: In the building trades, contractors always claim they pay the same in the suburbs as they do in the city. So, how is there an additional cost - remember that TRW contractor, folks.

Septa employees pay a good portion of their healthcare costs for the first five years of employment. They don't get lower healthcare until they have been on the job for a while. And they traded healthcare benefits for other items in negotiations. Whose fault is that.

City employees get paid less than most commercial employees . . . but get more days off, etc. It's a wash.

The problem is that there are few good solutions. Tax cuts are wonderful - we all want them - but who is going to pay for fire departments, street cleaners, garbage pickup, libraries, recreation, parks, etc. I'm sure we can squeeze a bit out here and there through efficiencies - with better management, rather than fewer unions, perhaps. And getting rid of corruption will make the place fairer, but probably not a whole lot cheaper.

And don't forget, Philadelphia gets shafted by the state all the time. Look at education where the courts have held that the state owes us back monies which have never been paid, look at the court system which is usually picked up by the county, look at prisons which are also normally picked up by counties (and, by the way, are filled with state prisoners for whom we are not being reimbursed fairly) and look at police protection - we can't even get the state police to patrol city portions of the interstates - which is standard procedure in the rest of the Commonwealth.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

chris, I believe I've heard that union rates for work outside the city are 1/3 less than in city rates. regardles, there is very little valid argument for supporting the labor monopoly they hold. as for tax cuts, the point you are missing is that there is money to be saved by running a more efficient government. katz rightly saw the $1.2 billion professional services contracts that are not subjected to competitive bidding as a good place to start.
SEPTA employees pay some of their healthcare for five years but so waht? most people probably work for SEPTA long after that. why shouldn;t they chip in for healthcare? more to the point, there needs to be a major shift in workforce. cutbacks in clerks and sales employees can be achieved through technology. hire more janitors, it's obvious they are needed. the union needs to be more flexible with work rules. unions are infamous for opposing progress.
I read in the inky a couple years ago that city workers get paid at a 4% premium. they shoudl get paid less cuz they do less. $278k a year to run PGW?
Lastly, not lwoering taxes is a losing proposition. if you allow your tax base to erode, eventually you will not be able to afford your firefighters anyways.
bruce, what reasonable argument can you have in support of philly's trades unions?
yunk-unions, we aren;t talking about payroll. we're talking about cost of building in philly. ever wonder why you can;t build middle class houses in philly? the unions are a large part of that. they do pretty shoddy work too, despite their claims to the contrary. and then they usually stick it to you when you complain...or threaten you.
on a national level there is no need for additional taxes just a reorg of priorities. there is more money wasted at the national level than any of us can comprehend.

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El - I'm only going by what the contractors say. Remember the guy at Real World - he said that he paid non-union workers the same as he paid union workers. Lots of them make that claim.

I've read the same cost numbers and would imagine that some of it has to do with union work rules, etc. Salaries are probably less important. Funny thing is that all those contractors and developers who said they couldn't build in the city because of "union rules" are falling all over themselves these days. Something doesn't quite ring true.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs