I sometimes find myself wondering whether any elected official in the city of Philadelphia is still in full posession of their mental faculties, as their actions are virtually indistinguishable from those of certifiable crazy persons.
Take, for instance, two recent occurrences, the first of which was a minor spat between Mayor John Street and District Attorney Lynn Abraham. Abraham wants a fully-funded witness protection program in order to assist in “disremembering” avoidance in her future prosecutions. Gov. Rendell’s budget failed to account for Abraham’s $1 million request, so Abraham requested that the money come from the city instead, a request which Street initially turned down. His solution? Use public housing to hide witnesses. Public housing. For the witness protection program. Mull that one over for a bit.
Next up, the Comcast Tower plumbing fiasco. Comcast is building a large skyscraper in downtown Philly and, in a bid to become the sole posessors of the tallest “Green” building in America, spec’d all the men’s rooms in the building to be equipped with “flushless” urinals. One thing stood between Comcast and this ostensibly noble goal: the Philadelphia Local 680 plumbers’ union. The plumbers were ticked that the flushless urinals would require half as many pipes and thus half as many plumbers, in addition to far lower longterm maintenance costs. They threatened to go on strike, thus jeopardizing all manner of deadlines for Comcast Tower and local residents, Comcast executives and Philadelphia media all 1) denounced the plumbers as selfish and 2) demanded a quick resolution to the situation. Street’s administration worked out a solution: the plumbers would install piping appropriate for regular urinals and simply not connect them. For “backup purposes,” in case the flushless models break or simply don’t work out.
Now that’s bold city government. Sheesh.
“Solving” Problems, Philadelphia-Style
