Great Expectations

Stan Shapiro: My problem is all this cutting of taxes for business and developers isn’t seen in terms of equity. The collective wisdom seems to be that we have to put up with the inequity; this causes resentments and tensions which need to be looked at. We have a lot of delinking of taxes from wealth. Cutting the business tax is really a tax shift to the property tax, if you have any intent of preserving services.

Diana Piperata of Northeast Philadelphia; I wouldn’t mind paying triple the taxes if we got more bang for our buck, better services in your neighborhood. When you pay for the product, you would like to get it. If you’re sending your kids out there, and you don’t know if they’re going to be safe, you don’t feel like paying even more.

Al Taubenberger: That’s the feeling that drove the talk of secession in the Northeast a few years back. The Northeast feels it’s underwriting the rest of the city.

Michael Nutter: I voted for the 10-year abatement, and from a pure city standpoint, it has actually had a huge benefit. These people who may not be paying the full property tax still pay the wage tax and they paid a huge real estate transfer tax at the sale. Somebody built their new home, and we got wage tax and business tax from that. And remember, in year 11, somebody starts paying a very high tax on that new expensive condo.

If I’m elected, I would like to tweak the abatement, if we can do that constitutionally.

In some areas, I’d shorten it, in other areas I might lengthen it (coupled with an inclusionary zoning/affordable housing component). We might set the abatement at 90 percent, and take that 10 percent revenue and dedicate that to an affordable housing fund.

Taubenberger - I didn’t have chance to vote for abatement, but happened to benefit from one in buying my own house. Here’s an idea that interests me: Your tax assessment is based on what you paid for the hosue, for as long as you live in that house.

Stan Shapiro: You just can’t be cavalier in assuming you’ll get growth after a tax cut that will preserve revenues. I would like some comment on that in the context of potential loss of ability to fund services just where they are.

Nutter: The fact is, so far, tax cutting has not caused a cut in revenues. …
I was born, bred, raised all my trouble in Philly. I understand the need for services.
Providing services is what we do, it’s the business we’re in. When people call City Hall, they’re not calling to see how we’re feeling. They want us to do something.
One thing we need to do for them is create jobs. One of the ways we are going to create jobs is to get out of the position of being the No. 1 tax burden city in America.

Citizen Freda Egnal: I question the premise that cutting taxes will result in more business
I find it surprising that someone running as a Democrat would take that position.
Democrats have not typically been handmaidens of the Chamber of Commerce.

Nutter: I’m the representative, or have been, of people in Philly who want to work.
For them to do that, there have to be businesses willing to create jobs in Philadelphia. I’ve been clear about something and will continue to try to get it across: Taxes are not the only thing that drives that decision. It’s about public safety, it’s about better schools, it’s about open and ethical government, it’s about arts and culture, it’s about, after 40 years of inanity, finally developing our riverfront as Boston and Balitmore have done theirs. But you can’t ignore the fact that we have the highest tax burden and that’s a big factor.

Taubenberger: I run the Northeast Philadelphia chamber of commerce; a thousand members, most small businesses. And I see every day a large stream of companies out of Philly; their departures don’t always make the paper, because they are smaller. And I try to stop them from leaving. And they tell me this: They pay a lot of taxes, but they do not have the faith that those taxes are well spent

Nutter: It’s not a mystery why we’re not holding on to a high percentage of the kids graduating from all these great colleges. When the graduations are over and the parties are done and mom and dad cut off the credit card, these kids have to go to work. So they are looking for cities where they can find good jobs.

Nutter (on a new topic): A major goal for me is to change the nature of the relationship between Philly and the rest of the suburbs and state. If I was going to passionately put every ounce of my being into chasing dollars for something, it would be for the schools.

Franklin Evans: My wife is a teacher, 35 years in the city schools.
It’s not just a money question; it’s a political question.
What we need, from the mayor’s office, is some change in that.
The union is toothless; SRC is basically a tyrant; we don’t have professionals running the system. How do we get back to having a professionally run school system?
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Kenyatta Johnson: I believe the district needs money, but it’s more. Schools need standards. The bar has to be set high. We need inspirational leadership, like Constance Clayton provided.

Al Brown: I run the Point Breeze Arts Center. We work with a lot of these kids (in Philadelphia schools). We’re not about art for art’s sake; we’re about art for social change. I agree the bar is really low. We want to teach drama but we can’t, because the kids can’t read. We want to teach dancing, but we can’t because, a lot of people don’t know this but it’s true, dancing is about math. And the kids don’t have the math.

Citizen Gwen – It begins with parents. They set the bar low, too, because they’re just 16 or 17 years old themselves and they just don’t know. They’re OK with kids making D.

Nutter: Money’s not everything, but it’s ahead of everything that’s in second place. …
Our teachers are paid less than virtually every district around us; it used to be we were highest.

Taubenberger: If you look around the state, the urban schools are suffering, the rural schools are suffering. Meanwhile our suburban schools are among the best in the country. That’s a recipe for showing just how much inequality there is. And I think it’s a recipe for a grand coalition, with the city schools and the rural schools working together to change this funding system.

Moderator Harris Sokoloff – What’s the role of the mayor in the schools?

Citizen Rose Martin: One part of his contribution should be not to downplay the complexity of the situation.

Nutter: We’re the fifth largest city in America – when the mayor stands up and says something, people will pay attention. Whatever the governance situation with the schools is, the mayor can be a face, a voice for public education, trying to reinvigorate our parents, keep trying to push that rock up that hill. This is not just about passing some bill. It's called moral leadership.
Our ultimate goal should be to get kids tired; give ‘em so much to do by the time they get home all they want to do is do their homework and go to bed.

Kenyatta Johnson: Then why is the district cutting funds for JV sports? We
can’t balance budget on the back of the kids, and then turn around and wonder why we have crime going up.

Taubenberger: Sports are very important not just for keeping kids busy, but for teaching them how to compete, teamwork, giving them confidence. We can’t cut money for JV sports.

Diana Piperata (talking about getting people involved in cleaning up neighborhoods):

I’m the product of immigrant parents. They didn’t wait around to get money to do something. They found a way to do it themselves. You don’t have money, but you can get things done. I want to say to some of these people: Get off your couch, stop watching TV and help clean up our park. It’s our neighborhood, we’ve got to keep it nice. if you don’t like that, there’s another neighborhood down the road.

Franklin Evans – We’re not reinventing the wheel here, the wheel is waiting to be used. This is a city that knows a lot of ways for people to get involved. It doesn’t take that much leadership to tell people, here are the things that you can do,

Nutter (asked to complete the sentence, Yo, Citizen, I really need you to ….):

Clean up your neighborhood. You know, only five things come down from the sky: rain, show, sleet, hail and blessings from the Lord. Not potato chip bags.
Potato chip bags: people put them there, and people can pick them up.
I understand we in government have a responsibility to provide services. But, it may be a little corny, but there’s something to this thing called citizenship.
I’ve been around this city some. This place is a mess; it’s dirty; it says something about how we feel about ourselves. Step up. Try to do something about it. Take some responsibility for cleaning up your block. We’ll meet you halfway.