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Faxes Sent to Rosita C. Youngblood

Letters

From:	JA
To:	Representative Youngblood
Date:	Thursday, 09/25/08
Subject:	PAWS

Why should they have to die?

I am outraged and appalled that the Philadelphia Department of
Public Health is signing a death sentence for thousands of
animals. The lifesaving achievements of the last three years
are to celebrated and furthered, not abandoned. We will not go
back to a time when most homeless animals are killed.
Classifying them simply as objects to be collected and disposed
of like garbage is unacceptable. We demand that the Health
Department rescind its current request for proposal for animal
control services and rewrite it to require lifesaving. The
agency that holds this contract must achieve progressive save
rates – with a starting place of 60%, the current level – so
Philadelphia continues moving closer to the goal of
guaranteeing a home for every healthy and treatable pet. We
will not allow this city to turn its back on Philadelphia's
animals.

Dear Governor Rendell:

Through strong community resistance we defeated the siting of a
casino in the Northwest. The residents of the river areas
deserve no less!

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,

B Soltis

I recently spoke to your staff member Wallie who encouraged me
to write the details of my inquiry. In 1985 I went to a
stationary store for a kit to establish a corporation thinking
it would be good to have a home based business in addition to my
job. Because I was daunted by the paperwork, I didn't do any
business through the resulting corporation Human Interests, Inc.
I did manage to send in the quarterly tax cards indicating $0 on
all the spaces. In 2004, I was able to generate a contract to
provide diversity training and was pleased to learn that Human
Interests Inc was 'available to use'. I got an accountant and
began to submit income tax returns with tax payments (which are
up to date from that period to the present). Later in 2006, I
was notified that I owed back returns. I completed the returns
(with zeros) from 1985 through 2003. Later I received bills for
annual 'taxes' which I had totally been unaware of (PA Tax
account number 0630-831: $75 through 1990; $300 1991-1998; $200
in 1999; $0 2000 - 2003). I sent in a check to cover the total
with an apology for my ignorance of these back due amounts. I do
not recall ever getting any notices that I owed fees or taxes
during all the years that the corporation was dormant. I have
been made aware by the Department of Revenue that I now owe
$4,034 in penalties. Since the corporation makes very little
profit, this is a huge amount for me - the only office and
employee (I do have 1099 consultants that I pay for their work.)
This diversity work is a sideline passion that I do in addition
to my job. I would be most grateful to the Commonwealth of PA if
I could receive a waiver for these penalties and appreciate your
submitting this request on my behalf.
Sincerely,
Cheri Black

Dear Gaming Oversight Committee Member:

I urge you to vote House Bill 1477 out of committee before the
end of the year.

The two Philadelphia casinos have refused to consider moving to
other more suitable sites. 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.

Dear Mayor Street:

I am extremely pleased that we do not have to suffer the
presence of a casino here in NW Phila.

But I also do not wish that misery on my fellow citizens in
other neigborhoods.

I am concerned about the Commerce Dept.'s decision to hold a
public hearing Nov. 15 on SugarHouse Casino's application to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands. SugarHouse
has invoked an obscure state law in the hopes of obtaining from
the City that which it has thus been thus far been unable to
obtain from the Commonwealth.

I'd appreciate it if you could get back to me with answers to
the following questions before the hearing:


Why not postpone the hearing until after Mayor Nutter takes
office in January since he is the one who will have to deal
with the casino issue for the next 4 years, at least?
What are the terms under which members of the public may
address the hearing?

Which officials will make the decision about whether to grant
SugarHouse permission to build on state riparian lands?
When do you expect a decision on the license to be made?

Is SugarHouse Casino expected to testify at the hearing?
Does the Commerce Dept. consider impacted residents to be
interested parties for the purposes of this hearing?

Will the hearing be videotaped and, if so, when will such
videotape be available to the public?

Does the Sunshine Act apply to this hearing?

Do the procedures found at 2 Pa.C.S.A. Section 551, et seq.,
apply to this hearing?

Thank you for considering this request that you clarify certain
aspects of your hearing. I look forward to hearing from you.

Dear Governor Rendell:

Nowhere else in this country have casinos been permitted to
locate next to residential neighborhoods--only in Pennsylvania.

Please let me know what you are doing to right this wrong by
relocating the casinos away from my neighborhood. I know from
your letter of October 9 that you wrote the casinos and
suggested that they move. What else did you do?

According to this Inquirer story from August 3 you promised
neighborhood leaders that you would:

1. support resiting both casinos more than 1,500 feet away from
neighborhoods if viable sites were identified

2. urge the casinos developers to consider such sites

3. make state resources available to enable the process

Please provide me with specific answers about what you did to
keep each part of your promise to neighborhood leaders by
October 22, 2007.

Casinos and neighborhoods do not mix. Councilman Frank DiCicco
provided you on August 9 with other locations that would allow
the casinos to make money, but also protect neighborhoods.

As a responsible and respected public official, I expect you to
protect me and my family by requiring casinos to locate at
least 1500 ft from all neighborhoods. Rep. Babette Joseph's
House Bill 1477 would turn this common sense requirement into
law. Since you say you have no power to force the casinos to
move, I respectfully suggest that you take steps to obtain this
power by making the passage of House Bill 1477 your number one
goal in the legislature.

Thank you for your past support of Philadelphia's neighborhoods
and for people--especially children--who live in them.

Sincerely,
B Soltis

Dear Governor Rendell:

As a resident of Philadelphia, you should be very concerned
about what casinos will do to the city and responsive to our
desire to have them as far away from homes and schools as
possible.

Dear Gaming Oversight Committee Member:

Please recognize that that in making the moral compromise of allowing casinos, we
must still protect the neighborhoods from disruption. Passage of this bill would
provide a reasonable buffer to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods from noise
and other negative consequences of casino gaming.

Joe Zalewski

Good afternoon your Honor, my name is Nahja J. Simmmons I am a
young professional in the 12th ward, 24th division. I have
followed your successes in regards to policies that improve the
lives of Philadelphia residents. I am a member of the Civil
Service Commission and recently applied for the positions of
Income Maintenance Case Worker and a Parole Agent 1. Please
investigate my current standing for each position. As a youth,
my passion to seerve families has prepared me for the
positions. My employment history and education has been
focused in this area. I am a 25 year, single parent with a
young child. We have a very good family support network that
will assist me with childcare.

I am disgusted by this Bill and its attempt to thwart our efforts
on behalf of honest government. This echoes the midnight pay
raise in its contempt for the people of the Commonwealth. ANd
you voted for it, and we have long memories.

Dear Representative Youngblood:

I respectfully request that you oppose HB 1130, which would deal
a serious blow to election ethics in Philadelphia.

THank you.

Dear Senator Fumo:

I want my neighborhood protected from a casino by a buffer of
at least 1500 ft. Please introduce your buffer bill before you
and your fellow Senators leave for the summer. Do not exempt
SugarHouse Casino from your bill. All neighborhoods deserve
equal protection from casinos. As Philadelphia's most
experienced, effective and influential legislator, I am
counting on you to provide my family with this minimum level of
protection.

Dear Senator Fumo:

I hate casinos. I think it is a terrible idea to allow them
into our state in any way, shape, or form. Everyone knows why,
and yet there are publicly elected officials who pretend that
casinos are legitimate businesses that will somehow bring more
good than bad to the people of Pennsylvania. Please be aware
that we, the voters, know better.

As a sad minimum restriction, no casion should be anywhere near
residential neighborhoods. A buffer of 1500 feet would be a
step in the right direction. This, at least, should be
guaranteed before anyone leaves Harrisburg for summer vacation,
as a token nod to the power we voters have to exercise control
over our city and state.

I care deeply about this and will be watching who votes and how.

Thanks in advance for supporting this measure.

Sincerely,

John Keogh

Dear Senator Fumo:

Live up to your promise. Submit the buffer bill. Don't drag
down the quality of life in Phila. anymore than it already has
been by corruption and negligence on the part of our elected
officials. Our young are already allowed to kill each other
and attend terrible schools and no one really cares who is in a
position to do anything about it. Don't add this outrage to
all of that.

Dear Senator Fumo:
I am writing to ask you to write and introduce into the Senate
a bill which will provide a 1500' barrier for casinos. This
bill should match that of Babette Josephs--which, as you stated,
on June 19, you would do.
I do not live in the area currently under siege by the casinos
owners but I am extremely concerned about unilateral
land/resident use decisions which are being imposed from above.
The next decision could be for any use and in my neighborhood.
Please let me know when the bill is written and introduced.
Thank you, Helen Seitz

Dear Senator Fumo: I have heard that you have promised to
introduce a bill to have a buffer zone limiting where casinos
could be in a neighborhood. I am writing to urge you to
introduce that legislation. The impace of large enterprises on
neighborhoods is well known-if nuiscance bars can adversely
affect neighborhoods, what would the effect of a business
drawing thousands of people to one area? Remember when South
Street had a problem with noise, crowds, and improper behavior?
Casinos would promise to be much, much worse. Please introduce
the legislation. The residents of Philadelphia were not
listened to in the process that awarded casino licenses; let's
not let their wishes be ignored yet again.

Dear Senator Fumo:

I understand you had offered to introduce buffer legislation
keeping casinos separate from working neighborhoods and schools
and churches. I'm told you are considering going back on this
offer. I urge you to go forward with providing protection of
living neighborhoods from casino development. The sites chosen by
the gaming board are ill-suited for the future of the city's
valuable Delaware waterfront. Traffic on I-95 alone from TWO
facilities on Delaware Avenue would be off the hook. The Navy
Yard would be a more suitable venue for a casino and keep it away
from thriving riverfront neighborhoods that would be damaged by
casino development on their doorstep.

Yes to a buffer around casino development in the city!
No to trampling on neighborhood 'little people' or taking
advantage of 'little people' who have given up hope and think
they can't get a better deal than a Sugarhouse casino. They can
get better and they deserve better and you are in a position to
help this come true.

Dear Governor Rendell:

No public input should mean no deal.

For months the PA Gaming Control Board excluded the public from
"public" hearings and limited us in how long we could talk or
submit our written comments. We had more to say, but they were
done listening to us. Based on a recent study 98% of our written
comments to the board said "no to casinos."

Yet the PA Gaming Control Board stayed the course, ignoring
public concern and Philadelphia City Council's resolution asking
for more public input. We asked for them to make public the
updated casino's traffic plans, architectural renderings, and
other documents about the impact in our neighborhoods.

They kept the documents secret, claiming confidentiality, then
security concerns, and then finally that they did not have the
time. The documents they have begun releasing, only at the 11th
hour, are over two months old.

The inadequate traffic study showed more than adoubling of
traffic on the Roosevelt extension which runs through our
neighborhood. SInce the extra traffic will be exitin g onto our
streets, it is fair to say that we will be inundated with
traffic, pollution, dui drivers and more.

We will also suffer from the inevitable crime which accompanies
casinos. We don't want it. We don't need it.

Today, December 11th, citizens from around the state have moved
from asking the PA Gaming Control Board to do the right thing, to
helping them do the right thing. Through a Citizen's Document
Search they are attempting to liberate the secret documents. We
are writing to show our support for them.

This direct action is just the beginning. Licensing is just Round
1 of a long struggle if this botched process moves forward. We
are committed to protect our city and our neighborhoods and stand
with those in Harrisburg who are right now standing up for
democracy and true transparency.

The time of talk is over.

We urgently call on you to move to stop the December 20th
licensing of the Philadelphia casinos. The process has been
illegitimate from the beginning. Please halt all licensing until
there is meaningful public input where we -- the public, not some
unelected officials in Harrisburg -- decide how we want our
neighborhoods to look and if we want casinos as part of them.

Urgently yours,

Marjorie E. Greenfield, East Falls

Dear Governor Rendell:

No taxation without representation! That was the mantra that
helped lead to our separation from England. Just as
representation was a moving force during the Revolution, so
shall it be when casinos are forced upon the citizens.

I write to you to remind you to act as an elected
representative of the citizens of Philadelphia & Pennsylvania
and include our input.

-Anita

Dear Governor Rendell:
NO CASINO IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD
I have enjoyed living in my Germantown neighborhood since I
moved here 24 years ago. Please don't drive me and my middle-
class income from what is now a lovely part of the city. A
casino in the area would do irreparable harm to my family and
our diverse community. The problems inherent in a casino
plunked into a neighborhood far outweigh any specious benefits.
If you sincerely wish to encourage a revival of Philadelphia as
a desirable place to live you will consider the opinions of the
residents.

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