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Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) October 21, 2001 The city speaks and a bill dies Author: Tom Ferrick Jr. Edition: CITY-D Section: CITY & REGION Page: B01
Index Terms: OPINION
Estimated printed pages: 3
Article Text: It's always the darkest before the dawn, kids. A week ago, it looked like we were sunk when it came to Council Bill 629, that pug-ugly proposal to restrict citizens' rights in zoning cases. Philadelphia City Council had passed it by a vote of 9-8. The Street administration had already indicated it favored the bill. I could almost hear Councilman Frank DiCicco, the father of Bill 629, cackling his Snidely Whiplash cackle: Neh, neh, neh! Victory is mine! When who should come fluttering down to the rescue but . . . Mayor Street himself. A regular deus ex machina. On Thursday, Street vetoed Bill 629, with a long missive to Council that neatly dissected the bill's weaknesses. First, some background: In Philadelphia, any taxpayer has legal standing to challenge a zoning proposal. Mary Tracy and her anti-billboard group, SCRUB, has used that right to challenge billboards approved by the city Zoning Board of Adjustment that violated the city's 1991 billboard law. SCRUB has won again and again in the courts. That infuriated the billboard industry, which decided it wanted Tracy out of the way. So DiCicco, Councilwoman Joan Krajewski and Councilman Jim Kenney introduced Bill 629. The bill eliminated the phrase that gave "any taxpayer" standing and replaced it with "aggrieved taxpayer." Sounds harmless, but the law is a subtle thing, is it not? Are you aggrieved? In the courts, the term "aggrieved taxpayer" has come to mean only someone who lives very close to a project, usually within 500 feet. With a stroke, Bill 629 denied standing to everyone except neighbors next to a project and the local neighborhood organization. Street's objections were the same as those of the numerous civic groups that came out against Bill 629: It was overly broad and denied due-process rights to legitimate protesters. "The bill allows the neighborhood organization automatic standing but not the citizen taxpayers," the mayor wrote. "Why should the rights of the taxpayer be less than the rights of the group?" Good question. Some say Street vetoed the bill because of his simmering feud with Council, but I doubt that was the main factor. His veto message is too carefully crafted and reasoned. No, this was a fish of a bill - the longer it sat around, the worse it smelled. And Street knew it. I credit the lobbying job done by Tracy and Judith Eden of the Center City Residents Association. I also credit Ed Goppelt and his Web page (www.hallwatch.org.), which set up an easy way for citizens and civic groups to fax or e-mail the mayor and Council about the bill. The Vox Populi Channel. Two visions In the end, more than 70 civic and neighborhood groups came out against Bill 629. The din of opposition was loud. The mayor wisely listened. It would be a mistake to see this as a fight over billboards or even zoning. Lurking behind the rhetoric over Bill 629 were two starkly different visions of the future of Philadelphia. People always describe Philly as a city of neighborhoods. But, lest we forget, it is still a city. It must be greater than the sum of its parts. It cannot become merely a collection of racial and ethnic enclaves ruled over by the modern political equivalent of tribal chieftains. What happens in Port Richmond should matter to South Philly. What happens in South Philly should matter to Fox Chase. I don't mean in every gritty particular. But we do have to sweat the big items together. We live on one block, we are residents of one neighborhood, but we are citizens of a city. Bill 629 sought to deny that aspect of civic life, to declare as unwanted outsiders other Philadelphians - as if they were alien forces, not fellow citizens. This is a corrosive notion. If it spread, it could eat at the essence of what makes us a city. These are hard and challenging times for this ancient town. It is not preordained that it will survive. Surely it won't if the strategy is to hunker down within the walls of our neighborhoods. The way to survive as a city is to live as a city. Tom Ferrick's e-mail address is tferrick@phillynews.com.
Copyright (c) 2001 The Philadelphia Inquirer Record Number: 7003245931 |