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Philadelphia Managing Director Steps Down

PHILADELPHIA AP - Philip R. Goldsmith said he has no regrets about his two years as the city government's managing director.

"You get enormous amounts of clout," said Goldsmith, who announced his resignation last week. "You can get things done. I can drive down the street and see a pothole, and get it fixed."

Goldsmith said he was especially proud of reducing the number of city-owned cars assigned to employees by more than 300, though he said that was a particularly difficult accomplishment, saying it was "probably the only time I lost it" in dealing with cabinet members.

SEPTA to dip into highway funds
11th hour plan unveiled to save Philadelphia public transit

Gov. Ed Rendell (D) traveled to the 69th Street Terminal yesterday to announce a temporary solution to SEPTA's funding problems.

"Everybody's certainly aware mass transit in Pennsylvania is facing a crisis situation," Rendell said, as he outlined his two-pronged approach.

Rendell proposes pumping $18.8 million into mass transit, staving off several proposed cuts by SEPTA until March.

"Five and a half million dollars will come from money in the existing PennDOT budget and $13.3 million will be flexed from highway and bridge funds into mass transit," he said. Of that total, $13 million will go to SEPTA.

His action came in the wake of a Thursday decision by the SEPTA board to approve a contingency plan. Despite a room packed with protestors and pleas from several public officials, the SEPTA board approved a two-step fare increase, a reduction in weekday service by 20 percent and reducing, but not eliminating, weekend service. The changes would be effective Jan. 23.

The SEPTA board must still approve Rendell's plan.

Rendell also said he will call a special session of the General Legislature to convene the week of Jan. 17 to deal with a long-term solution.

The Best Tips in are in Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Dec. 20, 2004 — Philadelphia, land of cheesesteaks and Tastykakes, gets top marks for at least one culinary habit.

Not dishing up good food but tipping the people who serve it. A new Zagat Survey ranks Philadelphians as the nation's best tippers, leaving an average of 19-point-two percent.

Atlanta is a fraction behind at 19-point-one percent, while the national average is 18-point-six percent. Restaurant workers offer several theories for the big tips.

A Melrose Diner manager says working-class Philadelphians like to show their appreciation, while Le Bec-Fin's Georges Perrier points to Quaker generosity.

Zagat's Theresa Mullen has another guess as to why Philadelphia won the honor for the second straight year -- "Brotherly Love."

Judge Rules the Barnes Can Move to Philadelphia

In a case that has riveted art lovers and trust-and-estate lawyers, a Pennsylvania judge ruled yesterday that the financially strapped Barnes Foundation could move its fabled art collection from a Philadelphia suburb to a museum quarter downtown, where more people could see it.

Judge Stanley R. Ott of the Montgomery County Orphans' Court said the proposed move, backed by pledges of $150 million in financial support primarily from three Philadelphia-area foundations, seemed the only realistic way to save the Barnes from bankruptcy and salvage its prized legacy.


The ruling circumvents the charter and bylaws drawn up the Barnes's mercurial founder, Albert C. Barnes, a patent-medicine millionaire who famously stipulated that no picture in his collection could be lent, sold or even moved on the walls of the neo-Classical galleries that he had built for it in the mid-1920's in Merion, Pa.

Barnes also restricted access to the collection's legendary riches - 170 Renoirs, 55 Cézannes, 20 Picassos - by limiting visitors to 1,200 a week, a rule that seemed almost to heighten the collection's cult appeal for museumgoers longing to glimpse masterpieces like Cézanne's "Card Players" or van Gogh's "Postman" in a quirkily intimate setting.

Judge Ott said in his decision yesterday that he could see "no viable alternative" to a move.

Transit advisory group formed for SEPTA talks

In an effort to deal with SEPTA’s and mass transit’s financial crisis, with the state Legislature adjourned until next year, House Majority Leader Samuel Smith, R-Jefferson, has formed a Public Transit Advisory Group that will meet next week with SEPTA officials.

Also, top federal transportation officials have agreed to meet with state officials at the request of Gov. Rendell, but no date has been scheduled. State officials are considering the legality of diverting federal highway funds to transit operations to prevent drastic fare increases and service cuts.


"Just two weeks ago the Legislature adjourned with 10 days left on their calendar and chose to take no action to help mass transit," said Kate Philips, the governor’s press secretary.

"The governor is now faced with finding a solution that couldultimately come at the cost of road and bridge projects across the state," Philips said.

State Rep. Tom Killion, R-168, of Middletown, a former SEPTA board member representing Delaware County, is among four legislators named to the advisory group Wednesday.

Smith said the group will meet with SEPTA officials either Tuesday or Wednesday about its current $62 million budget deficit. Subsequent visits will also include meetings with SEPTA workers and system tours to learn how the agency works.

Similar visits are planned for the Port Authority of Allegheny County and other transit agencies.

The SEPTA board will meet a second time Dec. 16 to vote on a contingency proposal that would raise cash fares from $2 to $2.50 and tokens from $1.30 to $1.70 starting Jan. 23. On March 1, the cash fare would rise again to $3 -- the highest in the nation -- and $2 for tokens.

The sixth of nine alternatives considered by the board also calls for a 20-percent reduction in weekday service and Sunday-service levels on Saturdays starting Jan. 23.

The proposal was approved Dec. 2 by 13 board members, but vetoed by Philadelphia’s two members, who said the action would have the greatest impact on their residents who comprise about 80 percent of the riders. Their vetoes are expected to be overridden.

Thank You

Just a note of thanks to anyone who has enjoyed and listened to my program these past years. I've appreciated all the letters both positive and negative and always like to be reminded that people are actually listening. I guess I'm feeling sentimental tonight as I approach my 4th year at WWDB. Please keep writing to let me know you are out there.

Your friend,
Paul
paul@paulkircher.com

P.S. Is Google talking to me subliminally? Go to Google and type "Weapons of Mass Destruction" Don't press Enter, press I'm Feeling Lucky and look closely at the results....