Philly tax reform is dead, long live Philly tax reform

A bill to turn the city's business-tax structure on its head is dead for now, as its Council sponsors agreed Tuesday to instead work with the Nutter administration in the hope of preserving at least some of their ideas.

A critical Council committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed indefinitely, and Mayor Nutter has scheduled an afternoon news conference instead.

In a letter to City Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones Sánchez Tuesday, Nutter's chief of staff, Clay Armbrister, outlined the areas of agreement that the two camps would collaborate on.

Those include finding a way to exempt the first $100,000 of a company's sales from taxes and close loopholes that allow national corporations and out-of-town companies to avoid paying city business privilege taxes even as they do business in Philadelphia.

via philly.com

I think Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones Sanchez are right to pursue an overhall of the city's business tax system. But since this effort appears to have hit a temporary dead-end, they might want to take aim at the other part of Philadelphia culture that new- and small-businesses find so discouraging: the regulatory thicket.

I think good regulations are good for a community and its businesses, protecting consumers and leveling a playing field so that conscientious merchants aren't at a disadvantage against less-scrupulous rivals. I'm not sure that's what we have in Philadelphia right now. Does anybody talk about L&I in glowing terms? I haven't heard it. But I have seen business startups delayed by months as entrepreneurs navigated the regulatory bureaucracy with often-frustrating results. Some smart council person could probably advance their career -- and do Philadelphia a lot of good -- by advancing the cause of regulatory reform in this town.

Tragic

Instead of helping her prepare for a solo singing performance Saturday, a Chester County couple was grieving the loss of their 11-year-old daughter as police investigated her shooting death.

The West Chester Area School District posted memorial service information on its website Tuesday for Katherine "Katie" Jane Kolinger Urban, a sixth grader at G.A. Stetson Middle School who enjoyed soccer and music. She was the daughter of Paul Barry Urban Jr. and Jane Lantz Urban.

Authorities say she was the victim of an apparent accidental shooting by her 14-year-old brother at the family's Westtown Township home in the 500 block of Coventry Lane at 3:26 p.m. Friday.

via philly.com

Scenes from a City Council hearing on Philly Police corruption

According to city officials, there were 725 civilian complaints against police officers between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30. Last year, there were 697 complaints.

Every witness acknowledged that there are plenty of good officers on the city's 6,500-plus police force, who do hard and dangerous work. But several asked for more transparency in police investigations and their disposition, for an end to stop-and-frisk, and for more officers to be reprimanded, fired, and convicted in cases of misconduct.

Since March 2009, 15 officers have been arrested, including two on murder charges stemming from off-duty shootings. One officer was fired this year after admitting that he fabricated a story about being shot; the officer had shoe himself. In September, three police officers were arrested on federal charges of robbing a drug dealer. And Kenneth Crockett, on the force 26 years, was charged with stealing $825 from a Northeast Philadelphia bar.

The department also has faced a string of tragedies, with five officers killed in the line of duty since 2008.

via philly.com

Let me suggest that the number of civilian complaints against the police is probably something of a significant undercount. There are lots of people who probably don't bother to make the complaint because the investigation process is slow and often unsatisfying, and because maybe it's not worth it to draw additional attention from the department.

Commissioner Ramsey seems to be taking the challenges seriously. And one does have to acknowledge that the vast majority of Philly officers are honest. But it's good that City Council is poking around now. It'll be interesting to see what -- if any -- action develops from the inquiry.

Pew: Suburbanites don't want to live in the city

According to a new Pew Charitable Trusts poll, many residents of the Philadelphia suburbs think the city is a nice place to visit, but they don't want to live there.

Aside from that, the survey of 801 people from seven suburban counties - Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester - found mostly positive views of the nation's sixth-largest city.

via philly.com

I suppose that's why they *live in the suburbs.* If you took a poll of (say) Lancaster Country residents, I bet they'd say the suburbs are nice but they'd rather live in Dutch Country. People -- especially the kind of people who might be inclined to respond to a Pew poll -- tend to live in the kinds of places they want to live.

Yes, I once owned Live's 'Throwing Copper'

And all of you can go to hell for judging me. But seriously: The AV Club's series on '90s music has been pretty great. If you lived through the decade and listened to its music, you should check it out.

Maybe Obama's just not a very good president

As of last week, there were 38 judicial nominees approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and waiting for a floor vote. Twenty-nine of those nominees left Judiciary without opposition, and at least three came with significant bipartisan support. Given the huge number of lower-court vacancies and this level of support, it's ridiculous that Reid is poised to accept a deal that confirms half of the nominees.

Of course, if there's anyone to blame, it's Reid for his inaction and Obama for his unconcern with the judicial nomination process. At any point during the last two years, Reid could have forced a showdown with Republicans over secret holds and their obstruction of judicial confirmations. What's more, Obama could have been much more diligent about making nominations to fill the large and growing number of vacancies on the lower courts.

via prospect.org

Understand, that criticism above is coming from the left. And you've got to wonder *what* the priorities of the Obama White House actually are. Because everybody who pays even a little attention to politics knows that one of the big reasons capturing the White House is so important is because it's a chance to leave a lasting mark on the judiciary -- not just the Supreme Court, where Obama could hardly avoid doing his duty, but the appellate and district courts as well. *Conservative administrations are very eager to fill judicial vacancies.* And well they should be. It was a low-level George W. Bush appointee, after all, who this week put the health care bill into play by declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional. This stuff matters. And certainly, the GOP is being obstructionist. But it doesn't appear that Obama is trying very hard.

I'd love for Obama to bring about a liberal utopia. Short of that, I'd settle -- after the Bush Administration -- for simple, quiet, competent nuts-and-bolts governance. We're apparently not getting either. Where *is* the president's head?

Philly cop convicted on sex charges

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury this afternoon convicted a retired, 23-year Philadelphia police officer guilty of multiple sex charges for carrying on a sexual relationship with a woman that began when she was 12 and continued into adulthood.

The jury returned about 2:30 p.m. after finding Tyrone Wiggins, 51, guilty of four sexual assault charges including corrupting the morals of a minor. The jury, however, acquitted Wiggins of rape.

via philly.com