Philadelphia politics has a reputation for being corrupt, but it's difficult to always pinpoint exactly what that means in practice. Bob Warner has a great story in today's Daily News that breaks down how a government agency, in this case the Philadelphia Parking Authority, can use it's power to benefit a select few with political influence.
Three years ago, the Parking Authority installed a number of cameras to catch motorists running red lights. A sensor detects if a car does not stop, a picture is taken, and the offending driver gets a ticket in the mail. According to the article, this program has been beneficial to a company with close ties to local Republicans.
The bulk of the $6 million that the Parking Authority has spent on the program so far has gone to a single company: American Traffic Solutions, the Scottsdale, Ariz., firm that owns the 52 red-light cameras installed at 10 Philadelphia intersections.
The Daily News has identified two ATS employees with ties to the local Republican Party, though neither ATS nor the Parking Authority would provide official records.
Mark Poserina, in charge of the local ATS office, is the son of a former Republican ward leader - Philadelphia Senior Judge John J. Poserina Jr., who gave up the GOP leadership of the 31st ward when he was elected judge in 1983. Poserina's successor as ward leader was Vincent J. Fenerty Jr. - now the Parking Authority's executive director.
Another ATS employee, Matthew Slonaker, is Republican leader of the 33rd ward and an unsuccessful GOP legislative candidate in 2004. Slonaker used to work for the Parking Authority, writing parking tickets.
How did Republicans takeover the Parking Authority? Rep. John Perzel, a Republican from Northeast Philadelphia, engineered a state takeover in 2001. It has become a patronage mill in recent years and attracted a lot of negative attention for failing to contribute sufficient funds to local public schools.
The real question is, how long will the Parking Authority remain under control of the state? Last year, the agency collected more than $31 million in revenue. That's a lot of money that should be controlled by the city. Is there any reason for state control to continue?
Comments (95)
I thought it always was a patronage mill, first for the local Dems and now for the local Reps.
Posted by HIG | March 18, 2008 12:49 PM
I wish the DN did this good a job at documenting the patronage that benefits the Democratic party. This is a great article but, given all the trouble the seem to have gone to in trying to figure out the parking authority, you'd think they could be dedicating as much time and effort to some of the non-profits that are patronage mills for certain city council members.
Posted by Goofy | March 18, 2008 1:58 PM
The Streets and Police departments are efficiently run?
Posted by Goofy | March 18, 2008 8:55 PM
Doomed !
this city is in a state of who can get more ...It is a tradition...I think criminal or should be ...but that is this city and many more like it....Federal intervention , no way that also smacks of corruption and politics so grin and bare it
Sorry
Posted by Anonymous | March 19, 2008 9:57 AM
Doomed !
this city is in a state of who can get more ...It is a tradition...I think criminal or should be ...but that is this city and many more like it....Federal intervention , no way that also smacks of corruption and politics so grin and bare it
Sorry
Posted by Anonymous | March 19, 2008 9:57 AM
Goofy,
They may not be efficiently run but at least the patronage piece would be removed. How many stories do you hear of ward leaders or committee people getting $80G/year high-level city jobs?
Posted by Dan | March 19, 2008 1:28 PM
Isn't that sort of how Chicago's government works? Lots of corruption, but things actually get done?
Ideally, I want clean, efficient government. However, if I have to choose between one and the other, I'd rather have things work the way they're supposed to.
Posted by Goofy | March 19, 2008 4:13 PM
What about contracting the PPA's work out to a private company? I've heard the same suggested for the sanitation dept.
Posted by Goofy | March 19, 2008 9:52 PM
... although there's always the danger the contract could end up going to NOTLIM.
How about we just get some more honest politicians?
Posted by Goofy | March 19, 2008 9:53 PM
I don't think contracting to a private company would necessarily take away the patronage problem especially if that company had few restrictions on how it could generate revenue etc.
The contract would just end up going to some connected person who would promise to hire the same ward leaders and committee people and family and friends of same.
I'm also not a big fan of giving policing powers to a private entity. Smells a little like Blackwater in Iraq to me - though obviously on a much less "serious" scale. They are, after all, enforcing laws and regulations and it should be a direct arm of the government and under control of elected officials who we can hire and fire by voting for or against them.
Posted by Dan | March 20, 2008 11:25 AM
Those are all very good points, Dan. I pretty much agree.
The next thing I'd suggest is making the PPA a city agency without all the union rules that make city agencies inefficient, but that'll never happen... just listen to me, I'm sounding like a Philadelphia native now.
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