A City Council committee just dealt the city's building trades a serious punch, essentially declaring the $700 million Convention Center expansion an open shop construction site. The move, which appears to have the full blessing and encouragement of mayor-elect Michael Nutter, was prompted by the building trades less-than-strong record of hiring minorities and its leaders' repeated refusals to disclose the racial makeup of their memberships. The open-shop declaration - an amendment to the convention center's operating agreement - still has to be approved by Gov. Rendell and by the rest of council. There was no word from Rendell yesterday. It'll be fascinating to see what Rendell's views are, and to see how the politically potent building trades respond.
In other news, campaign finance reports show that Nutter raised a total of $7.9 million during his mayoral campaign. The Daily News points out that it was far and away the cheapest (finanically speaking, of course) mayoral campaign by a victorious candidate in decades. Finally, Clout takes a look at the crowded cast of characters manuevering to replace State Sen. Vince Fumo.
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