Contact information

Contact person: Stan Shapiro
   Ward: 9
Phone: 215-247-9169 (Home)
 

Why we're involved

Like cities all over the country, Philadelphia has been hit hard by the current economic downturn, and hit in two ways: the tax revenues needed to pay for services have gone down, while the demand for those services is going up--more health centers, more homeless shelters, more public transportation. NN has helped start a citywide network of organizations, the Coalition to Save Essential Services, making sure that the budget process in City Council starts from the need to maintain services and does not pit groups representing different constituencies against each other (libraries vs. firehouses, trash pickup vs. health centers) to try to justify cuts.

 

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The Facts

• Mayor Nutter's initial response to the budget crisis, arrived at in closed-door meetings with his department heads, concentrated entirely on what services could be cut, and not on where the revenue to maintain those services could be found.
• Most infamously, the mayor ordered the permanent closing of eleven of the city's 54 Free Library branches. As of this writing, the plan to close library branches has been blocked by a court order based on a city ordinance, although layoffs undertaken last year have made it difficult to keep all branches open for their regular hours.
• The public discussion of the city's budget, in newspapers and in the town hall meetings organized by the mayor, now starts with finding new revenue options for the city, thanks to intensive organizing and publicity by groups like NN, the Coalition to Save the Libraries, and AFSCME District Council 47.

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