http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...al/6893204.htm

What are your thoughts on this?

What are some of your other favorite examples of waste by our local and state government employees?

How about those stupid light things that are supposed to control the flow of traffic on the on-ramps of the Blue Route that, after years, still haven't been used?

(snip)
What are some of your other favorite examples of waste by our local and state government employees?
(snip)

The Penn's Landing tram - hands down-

Who came up with the idea to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a tram to move 12 people up in the air and back down.
What's it gonna cost to break even - $5,000 per seat? If not, why not-
I.E. why build something that will never make money? Why sink hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars to duplicate what you already have in the Ben Franklin Bridge, the PATCO line, the riverlink ferry, the ducks -

News flash- you wanna have a great view of the city? Here's how to do it just as well for a fraction of the price, and do it using simple 300 year old technology. There are much better options to provide a great view of the city. Take a cue from the simple, low tech "Zoo Balloon" on how to suspend a gondola. If the dunces at DRPA had their way, they'd have build a full size replica of the Eiffel tower- instead, it's done quickly and cheaply with a simple balloon.

So, scrap the tram, and build a tethered balloon ride, but add two tethers -one in Camden, one at Penn's Landing. Let the balloon up, then crank it down to the other waterfront.

To keep the slack tether from blocking off river traffic suspend the midpoint of the tethers from the two towers of the Ben Franklin Bridge-
you get a tethered balloon that goes up and down in an arc- simple effective and cheap.

Hal

I am still reading about this. Some things are just sad.

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Hal's balloon idea is GREAT---Hal ---did you suggest it to PL Corporation?

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SPM

Why don't you establish a little bit more firmly that this was wasteful?

International conferences have to be held somewhere. Some conferences are important to be represented at. This was a directly relevant conference to what these people do. They are working to bring the conference here. If someone wrote an article about this conference and noted that no Philadelphia-area toll collecting agencies, despite their prominence had bothered to make the trip, I'm sure people here would be jumping at the opportunity to talk about how Philly is being left behind and the people who run these orgs are losing out on opportunities to learn from others and try and bring the conference here., and woe is Philly, the provincial backwater.

Grogan makes lots of insinuations about what they might have done, but offers no hard facts, aside from a few quotes from the attendees in their own defense, which he derides with more baseless accusations.

Where is it written that public service has to be a hateful, thankless job?

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Hal,

You wrote earlier that Dockside was publically funded (6 million I believe). What other major residential projects in Philly have been publically funded and by whom (the State the DRPA). Just curioius about this type of funding and the fact that most taxpayers who have to personally fund the construction of where they live do not know about this.

Thanks...

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Actually, since they are spending our toll dollars and are now planning to raise our tolls, I would say that they should have some justification that will have an immediate positive impact on our region. I see none, unless you can show me how $50,000 spent to attend a conference was more important than trimming fat and saving commuters tolls.

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Well, Dockside exemplifies why it's hard to nail down just what "pubic funding" is.


I believe that dockside got 10% of their buiding funds from DRPA as a direct grant.

I believe they also got a separate 10 year tax break from the city, which lots of people see as another form of "public funding" (in that the rest of the public pays the taxes that you don't)

The program that annoys me the most are "reverse Robin Hood loans" called HUD 108 loans -=> you steal from the poor, and give to the rich.

Essentially, the city takes "Community Development Block Grants" -essentially low income housing money, and uses it to giant business projects that pay minimum wage - like hotels and WalMarts.

It is complex, but basically, about $100 million in federal low income housing money went into building Philadelphia hotels, highrises and

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/commu...adelphiaPa.pdf

"Hotel companies in Philadelphia were granted economic advantages, including major tax credits for those hotels that located in historic buildings, such as the Loews and the Ritz-Carlton; the city’s incremental financing privilege, which forgave certain taxes in advance; and the use of $103 million in low interest loans from the federal government, as part of the HUD 108 program to create jobs for people in depressed areas"

Gee, how to you do the demographics to show that Loews and the Ritz are in depressed areas?

Hal