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Date:                   Feb. 28, 2007

Location:             3901 Market St.  

Participants:       16

Moderators:       Harris Sokoloff and Jose Morales  

 

Participants were first asked to describe one hope or one fear as the city enters its election year.  Then, participants were asked to imagine they were giving a good friend’s family advice on whether to move to Philadelphia.

  • What would be the pros and cons of that move?
  • What forces and factors underlie those pros and cons?
  • What steps could the city and region take to strengthen those pros or weaken those cons?

For a full description of the exercise, see http://go.philly.com/friendsdilemma

Moderator's Report:  

 

What were the group's most striking hopes/fears?

 

HOPES:

  • Clean up community drug issues
  • City becomes once again a "city of brotherly love"
  • Parent accountability for child behavior
  • Re-structuring of the public educational system (K-College) to better service students
  • Escalators to make public transportation more accessible to seniors and the disabled
  • Best candidate becomes mayor
  • Increase in community involvement
  • Unemployment issues addressed  

FEARS:

  • Number of rapes
  • Increase in number of robberies
  • Fear of senior safety
  • Gentrification and loss of civil liberties
  • Violence

What "pros" emerged as most important?

1. Education  

2. Culture 

3. Transportation  

 

What "cons" emerged as most important?

1. Gentrification   

2. Violence and Crime   

3. Corruption of the homeless and elder-care systems

 

1. Pro: Education    

Why is this pro important?

  • Philadelphia has a large selection of high quality private, charter and magnet schools; "Do we know what difference alternate schools are making?"
  • System attempting to make schools safer: metal detectors and increased security measures.
  • Con: Public schools are unsafe, overcrowded and lack discipline. They have inexperienced teachers and high levels of truancy.  

What action steps could strengthen it? What actors should do them? 

  • Increased funding for teacher development; on the job teacher training
  • Increased police presence in schools
  • Reduced class sizes
  • Better lighting inside of schools
  • Increased truant officers
  • Bring prayer back to schools
  • Increased parental involvement and accountability: fine parents of troubled students; offer parenting educational and mentoring services offered by seniors; provide tutoring services for parents; have birth-control education and prevention assistance; and require parents to participate or state will garnish public-assistance checks. 

2. Pro: Transportation     

Why is this pro important?

  • It's accessible; you can get anywhere.
  • Philadelphia is in a "prime spot," the hub of the east coast.
  • Rush hour schedules are usually good.
  • Con: Not handicapped-accessible enough, employees are rude, it's expensive, schedules are inconsistent, and the system is unresponsive to urban needs because of lack of competition.

3. Pro: Culture     

Why is this pro important?

  • Lots of cultural resources: Academy of Music; the Kimmel Center; African American Museum; the Zoo; the Franklin Institute; Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Keeps senior’s minds active and are an educational resource.

Now, the cons ...

1. Con: Gentrification       

Why is this con important?

  • "The systematic displacement of the poorer by the wealthier."
  • Escalating taxes
  • Unfair taxation

What forces or factors underlie it?

  • Individuals need to: stay informed with community goings-on; increase community involvement / strength in numbers -- "Thirty people working together are more powerful than 150 just talking"; have consistent, concerted action.

  • Council representatives need to: meet with neighborhoods; be accountable for goings-on; provide community with relevant information; offer transparency of decision-making process; come to community meetings and LISTEN; and educate people about alternatives and issues. 

2. Con: Violence and crime       

Why is this con important?

  • High drug rates
  • High crime rates
  • Police brutality
  • Lack of accountability
  • Lack of follow-up for youth in the system: weak DHS system; children fall though the cracks; lack of internal communication.
  • Violence starts at home: lack of quality parenting time, lack of education, envy and materialism, poverty and related stressors, peer pressure, lack of employment, and lack of money for services.

What action steps could weaken it? What actors should do them?

  • Legislation: force parenting and teen classes.
  • Use senior-citizen base as mentors for teen parents and children.
  • Use senior citizen base as "homework helpers."
  • Increase police force and presence.
  • Increase police community involvement; bring back the neighborhood beat.
  • Support Town Watch