Petition to Abolish Philly City Commissioners is Having an Effect
Local Patriotism In Action
Our change.org petition to abolish the embarrassing City Commissioners office is having an event
Mar. 11, 2016
A few weeks ago, bummed by recurring headlines documenting the no-prove, non-voting tendencies of Metropolis Commissioner Anthony Clark, an overseer of elections who doesn't even bother to vote (not even for himself!), nosotros decided to attach some action to our handwringing. When Clark's fellow commissioner Al Schmidt opined that nobody really cared almost Clark'south shenanigans, we wanted to test the proposition and launched a petition on alter.org asking Metropolis Council to cancel the elected Commissioners office.
Well, we've answered Schmidt. To engagement, 1,179 citizens have let their voices be heard; all 17 Council members received an automated e-mail from each signatory, and the messages added by some of these everyday Philadelphians were truly inspiring:
"I am a taxpayer," wrote Francine Gelo. "I work in the schoolhouse district. I buy all the nursing supplies for my 900 kids, that I encounter in my unheated office. We could employ the money wasted on Clark, et al."
From Pittsburgh, Gaetan Sgro weighed in: "I am a proud native Philadelphian and this episode is an embarrassment to our off-white city."
"I am signing because I dearest Philadelphia and am truly offended past someone sponging off the urban center," wrote Robin Morris.
"Politicians will never vote to eliminate their own jobs, fifty-fifty when the are clearly unnecessary," added Kevin O'Shea. "Citizens have to speak up to exist heard."
Amen, brother. Reading through the petition's comments is a kind of reality bank check, a visceral reminder that the insular earth of Philly politics—where seemingly every deal is transactional, often at the expense of the common good—is actually the outlier and not the mode things ought to be.
Time is of the essence. We host the Democratic National Convention this summer. All eyes will be on Philadelphia—including Donald Trump'south. Tin't you just imagine how he will seize on our dysfunction to paint Philly and our one-political party rule equally a symbol of backwardness and corruption?
We launched the petition in a Risky Business-similar WTF moment; it's only now, in retrospect, that we recognize it as zero less than an exercise in local patriotism. That'due south non a new phrase. In fact, though he's recently fallen out of favor, Woodrow Wilson divers information technology in December of 1897, when he said that "patriotism begins at home." Covering Wilson's speech to the New York History Club, The New York Times reported: "A customs which is careless near the character of its local and domestic authorities is non entitled to exist called a patriotic customs, no matter how profusely it may wrap itself in the American flag."
I couldn't help but retrieve of the Wilsonian notion of local patriotism as I read the comments of those who signed the petition. Countless spoke of their love for our metropolis. Only imagine how earth class nosotros'd be if all our elected officials loved them back.
To be clear, this issue goes beyond Clark's transgressions, offensive every bit they are. (Like his filing for a nearly $500,000 DROP windfall, the early retirement plan never intended for elected officials, or his comment that he ran for office considering he wanted to "work smart, not hard.") As many commenters noted, Philadelphia spends more than whatever comparable city on its elections oversight trunk, in a system wrought with patronage and abuse. It's time for reform.
Commission of Seventy CEO David Thornburgh, whose full-throated call for reform motivated us to get off the sidelines, says the petition is a step forward. "It represents the greatest number of supporters for an online skillful government petition in our history," he says. "It answers the call that Al Schmidt put out there. Philadelphians exercise intendance."
Okay, thanks for the shoutout, but let's continue it real: There are a whole lotta caveats to Thornburgh's praise, similar the fact that in that location haven't actually been whatever other online skillful government petitions. Just, still: Nigh ane,200 people speaking up about a backside-the-scenes administrative row office is a lot. When's the last time ane,200 people showed upwardly en masse to let Council know how they felt well-nigh an issue?
"Politicians will never vote to eliminate their own jobs, fifty-fifty when the are clearly unnecessary," added Kevin O'Shea. "Citizens have to speak up to be heard."
At that place's some evidence that your phonation is having an result. While City Quango President Darrell Clarke was dismissive of the idea that Quango might introduce an ordinance paving the fashion for the abolishment of the elected part, Mayor Kenney said through a spokesperson that he "supports Urban center Council because such a motion." Even Commissioner Al Schmidt, whose vote made Clark the torso's chairman, isn't opposed: "I am in favor of efficient and constructive government and fair and honest elections," he told Newsworks, "and I'm interested in anything that furthers that. But without a plan, I tin can't comment if it's better or worse."
There are rumblings among insiders that City Council might actually take upwardly the issue. Reformers are property out hope that some combination of Council members Derek Green, Bobby Henon and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez will sponsor an ordinance that volition so require Kenney's signature in club to put to the voters the question of whether the Commissioners office ought to be an appointed office, as in so many other cities. To ship emails of encouragement directly to these three would-be change agents, click here.
Fourth dimension is of the essence. We host the Democratic National Convention this summer. All eyes will be on Philadelphia—including Donald Trump'due south. Can't you just imagine how he will seize on our dysfunction to paint Philly and our one-party rule every bit a symbol of backwardness and corruption? Permit's not let that happen past proactively dealing with our shit.
Header Photo: Flickr/Jim Kelly
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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/petition-abolish-philly-city-commissioners/
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