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Faxes Sent to Thomas W. Blackwell

Letters

From:	DVB
To:	Representative Blackwell, Senator Hughes, Governor Rendell
Date:	Sunday, 05/11/08
Subject:	H.B. 2420 _must_ pass

I am writing today to inform you, in no uncertain terms, that I
expect House Bill 2420 to pass, and to go into effect in time for
the 2010 census and the subsequent statewide redistricting.

Gerrymandering is an extremely serious problem in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that robs voters of fair
representation. The fact that Philadelphia has some of the most
gerrymandered districts in the entire country makes this issue
that much more important to me, and to many people I know.

I imagine you are already familiar with all the facts, and why
the bill should be supported, but I'll provide some documentation
anyway:

http://www.avencia.com/Portals/0/Press/2006_11_02%20Inquirer_Gerrymandering_original.pdf
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/20080510_Chris_Satullo__You_can_help_to_kill_the_evil_gerrymander.html
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/20080503_Chris_Satullo__Stop_the_gerrymander.html

Dear Governor Rendell:
I am writing as one of the 1.5 million constituents of our
courageous City Council led by Councilman Frank DiCicco and our
elected representatives in the General Assembly (Senator Fumo,
and Representatives O’Brien, Keller and Josephs) and of our
newly-elected Mayor Michael Nutter, who are united with PNA in
an effort to re-site the casinos.

Your intemperate and misplaced attack this week is not
appreciated by the residents of Philadelphia, who have worked
for over a year to relocate the two casinos in Philadelphia away
from neighborhoods.

You, and the casino operators, stand alone in the way of moving
these slots parlors to more appropriate locations. Please direct
your efforts, and the considerable goodwill you have as the most
popular politician in Pennsylvania in the last thirty years, to
finding a better location for the casinos and for creating a
waterfront which will be a valued legacy to good planning and
good government.

Respectfully,

Dear Gaming Oversight Committee Member:


I support HB 1477 and want a 1,500 buffer between the
casinos and our neighborhoods.

Thanks.

Nancy Boyd

I just read this article about expanding the convention center:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20070925_Convention_Center_expansion_too_rosy_.html

I love the quote from Governor Rendell where he implies that
there are no better capital projects to spend money on in
Philadelphia. Really? What about a new subway line? Roosevelt
Blvd, Ridge Ave, Passyunk Ave and the riverfront, 22nd St, 5th
St, Girard Ave. I can think of plenty of places where a new
subway line would be useful.

And, hey, what about the city's ancient sewer system? I'm sure
there also other crumbling infrastructure that could be upgrade.

Oh yes, there's also SEPTA's outdated fare collection system. I'd
be happy to just have ticket machines that take credit cards like
NJT does.

This is ridiculous. Elected officials in this state need to wake
up and start doing useful things.

Dear Gaming Oversight Committee Member:


Dear Gaming Oversight Committee Member:

I urge you to vote House Bill 1477 out of committee at the next scheduled meeting
of the Committee.

House Bill 1477 would protect neighborhoods by requiring casinos to locate at least
1500 feet away from any residence, church or school.

I expect my elected officials to look out for the best interests of me and my family.
Most especially, the General Assembly must take steps to protect the children of
Pennsylvania and the neighborhoods in which they live from casinos.

HB 1477 is common sense legislation that deserves your wholehearted support. I
urge you to vote House Bill 1477 out of committee at your next committee meeting.

sean solomon

If I spend my employers money and refuse to tell him how, I'd
probably get fired on the assumption that I used it for personal
expenses. Too bad most voters are too stupid and/or uninformed to
fire people who do the same with their money.

There had better be an Associated Press article very soon
detailing how this money is being allocated.

HB 1130 is an outrageous bill that should never have been
introduced. The authority and effectiveness of the city Board of
Ethics, which passed overwhelmingly in a voter referendum, would
be seriously diminished by it.

Passing sneaky bills at the state level to kill accountability at
the local level is a no-no and I'll be making sure as many people
as possible are aware that it happened.

Dear Senator Fumo:

No Casinos within 1500 feet of neighborhoods. Please propose your bill limiting
casinos in Philadelphia to 1500 feet from homes ,churches, schools. Casinos will not
make philadelphia a world class city. Sean Solomon

Please figure out a way to get adequate transit funding in the
budget. It's tiring having to hear about how SEPTA's underfunded
every year. The funding doesn't even have to come from new taxes.
I'm sure there are some useless items in the budget that can be
cut (including things like per diems).

I moved to Philly partly for the convenience of public transit,
and the fact that the subway system doesn't have adequate
coverage is frustrating. If crime were low and city services
efficient it would be one thing, but nothing in Philly is quite
up to what you would expect to find in an industrialized nation.
Elected officials at both the state and local level need to stop
dragging their feet and pointing fingers and just get things done.

I'm writing to express my support for Gov Rendell's proposed
reforms to the state's right-to-know laws that would bring us to
the same level of openness most other states are already at.
Please support this legislation.

Just a reminder tha Pennsylvania constituents are still waiting
for reform from the State House, as promised when Rep. O'Brien
was elected speaker.

I appreciate the good-faith gesture of creating the Speaker's
Reform Commission. However, I question the need for debate on
such reforms as banning votes when most constituents are in bed,
public debate periods on proposed legislation, limits on
discretionary spending, more financial disclosure, and other
no-brainer reforms, many of which have already been proposed
and/or adopted by the Senate.

You're welcome to debate other issues such as term limits and
reducing the size of state legislature, but rest assure that I
stronly support these reforms, as do many of your other constituents.

The cynic in me is tempted to think that this "Speaker's
Comission" is merely a rouse designed to let voter anger "blow
over" while not getting any reforms in place. Please don't keep
us waiting.

I support reform to make state government more open and ethical.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16388298.htm
John Baer | Who'll win the '07 Race to Reform? Maybe you.
(Inquirer, Jan 5, 2007)

"Is there a path to regain public trust in an institution often
run like the Politburo? To find out I propose the 2007 Race to
Reform.

Let's pit the House against the Senate and see which does more good."

I support merit selection of judges

Dear Governor Rendell:

I am writing to ask you to postpone the licensing of any gaming
applications for atleast one year. We need time to allow for
public input and an opportunity to truly study the impact on our
communities and quality of life in Philadelphia.

One of my concerns is that I do not believe that the money
generated by casinos filters down to those who are in most need
of it. This is too important an issue to not allow time for
public input. GO EAGLES!!!

I'm writing because I think Pennsylvania should remove the
buttons on voting machines that allow people to vote for all
candidates in a certain party. People need to be encouraged to
become more informed and forcing them to actually push each
button while reading the name of the person they're voting for
would be a very small step in the right direction.

I know Gov Rendell's campaign was out distributing flyers telling
people to got vote and "send a message to George Bush" (I found
two on my porch last Tues), so the likelyhood of him doing
something like this is pretty small, but I'm going to write you
anyway.

BTW, how about some term limits, too?

I'm writing to express my support for Gov Rendell's proposal to
find dedicated funding for public transporation in Pennsylvania
and, specifically, SEPTA in the SE region. This is long overdue.

I am also writing to requiest that reforms be put in place that
increase SEPTA's efficiency and accountability to its riders.
SEPTA's a transit agency and should be run by people with the
qualifications to run such an agency rather than political
appointees. I am also in favor of the reforms highlighted my
Michael Nutter in his testimony to the transportation funding
commission:

http://www.thenextmayor.com/documents/MichaelNutterTestimony.pdf

I would especially like to highlight the recommendation of better
integration with other regional systems (namely PATCO and NJ
Transit).

SEPTA has at its disposal one of the most comprehensive transit
systems in the entire country and it should be improving and
expanding rather than languishing. There are many people in the
city and suburbs who would ride SEPTA if only its efficiency and
convinience improved, and it's your responsibility to give SEPTA
(the agency/system, not the people running it) the resources it
needs to attract them.

Please put somebody competent in charge of SEPTA. I thought I had
it bad when the trolleys and subways were 30-40 min late while
the little information screens continued to say "All trains
running at or close to schedule," but this takes the cake:

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?t=26382

.

Senator Vincent J. Fumo
545 Capitol Building
Senate Box 203001
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3001

Re: Request to be included in the legislative process

Dear Senator Fumo:

If I understand your web site correctly, a new Senate amendment
will restore my rights and those of the City I live in to
regulate casino zoning and safety. While I assume you sincerely
believe the amendment will benefit those of us who live here, I
need to make up my own mind.

As a resident of the first district, I respectfully request that
you keep me and the other residents fully informed about the
changes you and your colleagues in the Senate plan to make to the
Gaming Act on Monday. Please post a copy of the new Senate
amendment to Senate Bill 862 on your web site by 5 pm today.

As a man with many successful investments in real estate, my
guess is that you do not buy property solely based on the claims
of the seller. You read the fine print in the contract. You
inspect the property. You have tests done.

Please show your residents the same respect you yourself would
demand. Don’t ask us to support an amendment we have not yet seen.

The Senate’s practice of not making complicated amendments public
until minutes before their passage makes it impossible for
residents to make our wishes known until after you have voted.
Please make this new Senate amendment to SB 862 public now.

To my elected officials:


Vote NO on SB 862!

To my elected officials:

I'm very disappointed in the results of the casino bill vote, as
well as the exemptions for "pre-existing" eminant domain
procedures (I.e. violations) in Philadelphia passed earlier this
year. I am putting extra careful consideration into who I vote
for, and so is anyone who has spoken to me about politics lately.

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