Home

Date:                   Jan. 31, 2007

Location:             St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Catholic Church

Participants: 35

Inquirer observer: Dave Boyer, Editorial Board

Moderators: Carol Lydon, Chris Satullo, Harris Sokoloff and Ilene Wasserman

 

Participants in each group were first asked to describe one hope or one fear as the city enters its election year.

Then, participants were asked to imagine that it's 2015 and that the city has mobilized to fulfill its pontential as The Next Great City. Participants put together a narrative about what it's like to live in Philadelphia, what the city does that it didn't use to do, and what does better than before.

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

 

Moderator's Report:

By Ilene Wasserman

 

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

 

HOPES:

  • City will be an incubator of young people’s ideas.

  • Revitalization of open space.

  • Respect for waterfront.

  • Access to good schools for all.

  • Address needs/visions of all citizens.

  • Help the neediest.

  • Keep Philadelphia a place where people move to and stay to help the city reach its full potential.

  • People will stay engaged after the election.

  • Residents learn to have more pride in our city and what it offers.

FEARS:

  • Hard work of neighborhoods will not represented in government.

  • Casinos will ruin our ability to be the "Next Great City."

  • Disinvestment in transportation infrastructure.

  • Lack of ability to harness the present momentum.

  • Continuation of status quo in local government.

  • Lack of trust in government.

  • Lack of access to the river.

What issues emerged as most important?

1. Education

2. Economy

3. Waterfront

4. Government

5. Transportation

6. Crime and safety  

Let's look at each issue in detail:

 

1. Education 

 

What success looks like in 2015:

 

Schools would include... 

  • Pre-school program that would include parents in enrichment.
  • Nutrition, health and sex education.
  • After-school support/programs (arts, sports, etc.).
  • Business partnerships – trade-school options, school/community enterprise
  • Great neighborhood schools – diverse schools that children can walk to.
  • Buildings available at night.
  • High attendance.
  • Resources are available to support innovative curriculum and programs.

What was done to achieve it?

More resources were made available.

Businesses were enlisted as partners in education.

Parent involvement was an expectation.

Schools became the center of the community.

 

What actors/resources were vital?

Teachers, business leaders and parents worked together.

Paul Vallas

Mayor

City Council

 

2. Economy / Taxes  

 

What success looks like in 2015:

  • Take private money out of city politics.
  • Good businesses with good wages.
  • Invested in schools and neighborhoods to attract middle class.
  • More equitable tax structure.
  • Onerous taxes gone. 

3. Waterfront  

 

What success looks like in 2015:

  • Referendum prevented casinos
  • Mixed uses
  • Easy transportation to and from
  • Goverment accountability

4. Government  

 

What success looks like in 2015:

  • Restored municipal government
  • Truth
  • Justice
  • Compassion
  • Responsibility is shared by elected officials and citizens.
  • Campaign-finance revolution
  • City employees have service attitude.

What was done to achieve it?

Forums like this guide what government does.

Government by the people; It originated in Philadelphia, and we are now a model.

Private money is completely out of politics.

Public financing  

5. Transportation 

 

What success looks like in 2015:

  • Creation of a mass-transit system to tie the city together.
  • Clean (physically and environmentally), affordable and safe.
  • Reaches all neighborhoods and areas.
  • Reliable – frequency, user-friendly, well staffed and signed.
  • New governance structure that is r epresentative of ridership in city and suburbs.
  • Improve streets and bike lanes for mobility.

What was done to achieve it?

Resources provided by Harrisburg.

  

6. The natural environment 

 

What success looks like in 2015:

  • Strong recycling program.
  • Funds support parks.
  • Green City; Environmentally friendly design
  • Greenway: Delaware River is connected with other waterways.
  • Recreation: jogging/walking/biking paths
  • Linkage with other communities.

What was done to achieve it?

Reclaimed the waterfronts

No casinos

No gated communities

Safe, public access  

 

Questions designed for the panel, which told what the city had done between 2006 and 2015 to become great:

 

1. Education:

  • Where did you get the funding?
  • How did you get taxpayers and unions to work together?
  • How did you reduce truancy and drop-outs?
  • How are students engaged to reach higher standards?
  • How did you promote investment by parents and communities?
  • How did you restore schools?
  • What did you do to engage business-community members?
  • How did you get people to believe in the schools?
  • How did you reduce crime in schools
  • Who is governing the schools?
  • What are the incentives for teachers?

2. Economy / Taxes

  • Did you require a living wage for everyone?
  • How did you eliminate onerous taxes to make Philadelphia the most competitive city for business in the United States?
  • How did you increase the tax base?
  • Did growth benefit everyone?
  • Did government engage constructively or "get out of the way"
  • How did Philadelphia become the great incubator for small businesses, especially craftspeople?
  • How did Philadelphia generate an arts community to help build the economy?

3. Waterfront:

  • Where did you get the funding?
  • Where was the leadership?
  • How did you get politicians out of the way and Harrisburg in line?
  • How did you convince SEPTA to go to the waterfront?
  • How did you stop the casinos?
  • How did you get the planning/zoning?
  • How did you deal with traffic on Delaware Avenue?

4. Government:

  • How did you get non-politicians to run?
  • How did you get rid of pay-to-play?
  • How did you engage citizens in all aspects of politics?
  • How did you change the ward structure to allow for more creativity and input from citizens?
  • How did you get it to cost less yet produce more?
  • How did you remove cronyism
  • What changes did you make to include third parties?
  • How did you align citizen/politician priorities?

5. Transportation:

  • How did you produce a city-run/local-run transit system?
  • How did you make it "first choice" rather than "last choice"?
  • How did you make it efficient and clean?
  • How did you secure predictable and adequate funding?
  • How did you reduce the number of cars in the city
  • How did you reduce the demand for parking?
  • How did you create an environmentally clean system?

6. Crime and safety:

  • How did you remove guns from criminals' hands?
  • How did you reduce illegal drug use/sales?
  • What options did you give young people?
  • How did you reduce homicides?
  • How did you get the city to introduce a harm reduction approach to drugs and crime?
  • How did you reduce the "stop snitching" credo?
  • How did you restore respect for others
  • How did you introduce neighborhood policing?
  • How did you improve police training?