Unfortunately, we live in a town where people judge a politicians effectiveness by whether they did them a favor or not.

That's one way of looking at it. The other is whether or not the politicians serve the needs of their constituents. If you call them because you need something, nad they take care of it, that's their job.

If our Councilman has been able to help you out, it's not a favor, it's what they are supposed to do. DiCicco's office has also helped me get a lazy assed City Department off its butt to fix a street that had been needlessly torn up for months. It's really the Mayor's office that is responsible for making the City workers responsive (or unresponsive in many cases) to citizen's requests. Our Councilman's office can cut thru the crap and get them to do their jobs.

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If you can't serve as a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning.

I have called DiCicco's office twice. I am not impressed with the response.

In one instance, I called to object to valets at a Center City restaurant physically standing in public parking spots to save them for other valets. (I was denied a public parking spot on a rainy night because a guy was doing this.) This was a few years ago so I don't remember the exact conversation, but the sense I had from talking to DiCicco's guy was, that's just the way it is.

I called recently after the fatal shooting on 5th and Christian to discuss my concerns about crime in the neighborhood. I spoke with a nice woman who said she didn't handle that part of the district but would pass my name and number to the guy who does, for him to call me the next day. No call yet!

The heart of a boss-patronage political machine is to let city government be basically non-funcitoning till you call the "boss" (for example a district councilperson) who magically fixes it. That way getting anything done makes you necessarily indebted as citizen to the boss and if you are a developer or business man you are more likely to show your gratitude to the "boss" in terms of campaign contributions.

My point is a general one. I'm not saying anything specific good or bad about DiCicco but I will say that in my district Jannie Blackwell is absoultely insane about this. I actually heard her chief of staff once say the exact words "You should never even think about starting a business till you talk to the district council person first."

That's idiotic and a huge art of why businesses leave Philadelphia. There should fair rules that make sense, are easy to follow and are uniformly applied across the board - instead of making it impossible to get basic city services or pull a permit or to go through zoning without cozying up to the local despot - err district council person.

Again I am speaking about a general system of politcal patronage that various politicians engage in to a greater or lesser extent in Philly. I'm not saying anything specificly good or bad about DiCicco but that in general the system is both unfair and contributes hugely to businesses and jobs leaving the City of Philadelphia. The Chamber of Commerce did a survey about why businesses would or would not choose to locate in Philly and the number one reason they said they would not locate here was not taxes - it was the perception that you "need to know someone" in order to get anything done in Philly. Its a crucial point to understanding why this city has many of its worst problems.

I'll reveal a deep, dark and important secret. You don't always have to cozy up to the district councilman/woman to get a city agency to do its job. You often only have to get across to the agency that that is where you are headed. Doors magically open, permits appear, etc.

Still a stupid, byzantine and corrupt system, but if you need something to happen, keep this secret strategy in mind. It may save you some time and trouble.

Good point all around. It is a strategy that works better on a personal level than on the level of larger groups, like say neighborhood civic associations, but a good one to remember. Another good one is to CC everybody and make sure that XYZ City Agency knows that the mayor, the councilperson and about 6 other agencies are getting notice of them not doing their job. That sometimes works even when the district councilperson is actively trying to run interference.