Philadelphia’s AVI Goes Hollywood!

With so many city employees paid to surf the net, is it surprising that google maps street view is the basis for the city’s Actual Value Initiative?  Okay, that seems a little farfetched, but nakedphilly has some evidence.  And they’re not the only one’s questioning the accuracy of the calculations, even Councilman Squilla thinks the process may be flawed.

Paying more in a city with poor services can certainly be taxing, but you’d hope the process would at least be based on solid real estate data…

 

“City says Yuengling owes $6.6 million in taxes”

Are we supposed to believe the city just now found Yuengling’s bill in a pile on somebody’s desk?  The timing of this is curious, nobody downtown is saying much, and trying to determine what’s really going on is complicated…

Local 830 of the Teamsters Union was the bargaining unit at the brewery, but they were decertified back in 2006.  (It should be noted that this is the same Philly-based union that fiercely opposed Mayor Nutter’s “destructive” soda tax back in 2011.) There are claims that Dick Yuengling threatened to shut down the Pottsville  plant and ship the jobs elsewhere if the workforce didn’t dump the union.  However, there are some who think this is simply not true.  But just last fall there were reports that Dick was in fact considering a move.  Plenty of PA folks don’t want to lose this iconic brand so cutting the owner a business break might be something state legislators would do.  Is Yuengling strong-arming the state for some public money?

Meanwhile, the Teamsters are not happy with Yuengling. The local’s PAC has supported Larry Farnese, Patrick Murphy and Mike O’Brien, so they probably have broad political support in this union town.  Has pressure been exerted on city hall to support the Teamsters?  Is it possible Yuengling really is fleeing the state, so we’re gonna give them a kick in the ass before they go? Is this Philly’s way of saying f**k you, we don’t need your crappy beer (and with Yards, Dock Street, and Flying Fish we’re probably right)?

This being Philly and union business, I suspect there’s more to come and it ain’t gonna be pretty…

Hey, Dick. What’s worse than finding A horse’s head in your bed…?

From Dipsomania to Academia: Corbett Offers $1 Billion Windfall to Schools from Sale of State Stores

It’s curious that this news coincides with the Constitution Center’s  exhibit on Prohibition…

Our cosmopolitan governor is once again trying to sell off the state’s liquor stores (maybe after he went to France he adopted a more laissez faire attitude toward demon rum).  This attempt at privatization has been unsuccessfully proposed many times…

Our laws were crafted back in Prohibition days so it’s way past time to modernize them.  Why has it taken so long?  Well, for starters there are going to be plenty of well-connected losers if the old system is dismantled:  beer distributors, some douchebags on the PLCB, and possibly the store owners just over the borders of Delaware and NJ.  But us consumers might just be a little better off in local stores where the employees know SOMETHING about the products they sell.

 

The Forum Theater: R.I.Porn (or Fleshing Out Improvements on Market Street West)

The Internet has finally succeeded in killing off the last of the porno palaces.  No more sitting in the dark with a bunch of other pervs with your feet sticking to the floor.  Everybody now just gets their smut online – alone in their homes without the tender touch of fellow film goers.  Alas, another shared social activity destroyed by the digital revolution.  There are, surprisingly,  a couple of melancholic reviews of the theater online.

The Forum theater opened in the swinging 70s and amazingly, given it’s piece of real estate, survived into the 21^st century.  Philly mag has a “research” piece on The Forum which is fascinating…

So how will this seedy block improve now that the adult establishments have been exxxpunged?   The current owner has a few suggestions, including a yarn store.  Hmmm, that conjures up a whole new image when you hear yarn bombing…

The problem with modern day porn films is that they lack a good yarn…

 

Links: boobytrap, cozy, pillowboobs, beanis

 

“Santorum Dreaming of a Red White and Blue Christmas”

Rick Santorum, along with his Patriot Voices, is challenging Americans to BUY AMERICAN this Christmas.  You got that right, CHRISTMAS, not HOLIDAY.  It’s a great patriotic idea and, for you naysayers, as easy as mincemeat pie.  There are even websites devoted to “Made in the USA” products, and what a great selection there is!  Every Tom, Rick, and Harry has a Nintendo or X-Box or tablet computer.  Imagine how excited any family member might be to see a peristaltic pump in their stocking!  Or the delight on a child’s face when he unwraps a wooden train whistle (you don’t get any more analog than that)!  And the whole, 2-parent, non-gay family will create lasting memories when they gather ’round to play the “Our America” trivia game.

 Yes, there are going to be at least 2,580 lucky recipients on Christmas day – that’s how many neocon-sumers have taken the Challenge!  Learn more about it straight from the source – Rick Santorum at his new blog site.

 Now, if only there was the perfect holiday mix tape as background while you’re shopping the American way…

Don’t Shoot Me, I’m just the GIS Programmer!!!

In an attempt to, perhaps, make their web site more fun, Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections department has created online interactive maps.  But it seems their GIS programmers may have gotten a little carried away with some of the online data.  Gun owners did not like their names and addresses popping up next to a gun icon on a map and may sue the city.  (Though there is some evidence these are not exactly the folks we want exercising their 2nd Amendment rights in the neighborhood…)

Putting all that extra info on their maps is really quite industrious for a department that some city officials think is not even doing what they’re supposed to.  And a searchable map with pertinent data does provide a service to citizens.  Let’s just hope they’ve cleaned up any other  inappropriate or embarrassing data points…

 

 

Bart Blatstein’s Schlepcot Centers!

Not content to sit on his laurels, Bart Blatstein is already conceptualizing his next development opportunity in Philadelphia. The brilliant cosmopolitan developer who gave us the Piazza, and soon The Provence (no, NOT Le Provence, that would just be pretentious) is eyeing up other world cultures to which he can pay homage with a dazzling world class urban resort.

Sure, Bart already has LOTS OF MONEY, but he cares about Philly and about making it a world capital by increasing his capital.  Tweaking world cultures and adding a little glam will turn Philadelphia into a real live Epcot Center, only better –  it’ll have GAMBLING!  Here’s a little global taste of what Bart has in store for us:

GdansKasino. With an underlying nod to the importance of General Kozckiusko as a Revolutionary war ally, and taking over the decaying USS United States, it will be a Polish-shipping-port themed hotel, casino and Polka dance club!  Look for an upscale branch of Syrenka as the resort’s premiere dining destination!

He’ll revitalize the Holmesburg section of Philly by creating the Great Wall Resort and Pachinko Parlor behind the great walls of the former Holmesburg prison.  A partnership with one of America’s finest Asian restaurants, P.F. Changs, will transport gamers to the Far (north) East!

A partnership with Caesars Entertainment and Little Caesars Pizza is in the works for the Navy Yard to create the ultimate South Philly destination!  And you thought the Piazza was the quintessential Italian experience?  This resort truly will be molto bene!

So who needs to schlep all over the world when the world is right here in Philadelphia?  Especially when places like Rome and Paris and Barcelona DON’T HAVE GAMBLING right in the middle of their downtowns.  Gaming makes the difference between an okay city and a great city.

Financial Planning for Philly’s 99%! Thanks, Mayor Nutter!

We’ve had Reaganomics and, now, Obamanomics, but closer to home we may be seeing a new mayoral riff on “the dismal science.”  This being the Greenest City in America, we’d like to call this brand of financial finagling: EcoNutmix.

The principals of EcoNutmix seem to include starving the union beast, raising property taxes during an economic downturn, and spending lavishly on a fancy concert for you celeb friends.

Philly’s unionized workforce (folks forced to reside in the city; aka taxpayers) has not seen any sort of raise, step increase, or cost of living allowance in over 3 years, but HAVE seen increases in health insurance premiums and union dues (Thanks, DC47!).  And our mayor has refused to make a good faith effort to negotiate these economic (and other) issues with union leadership, so his recent invitation seems a bit Romney-esque.  (Rumor has it that Nutter is headed to DC if the Dems are reelected, but maybe he’s playing both sides of the political coin in order to insure he can get outta Dodge?)  The mayor has invited all city employees to meet with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional (yes that’s a trademarked term).

Though it probably really is the people living paycheck to paycheck who are in greatest need of financial advice…