In social justice circles, say the word “gentrification” and you get sneers.

Rising values often mean higher taxes which drive lower income neighbors out. And the idea of latte-drinking, Volvo-driving yuppies taking over a community sends shudders down our collective spine.

But there are other view points.

Some think that new grocery stores, restaurants and shops will only ever open with the push that higher-income neighbors can provide. And as a neighborhood’s demand rises, some long-time homeowners are able to sell their house for 2 or 3 times what they paid for it.

And then there are the towns and neighborhoods that have emptied out. A lack of good schools, crime or the allure of somewhere else has made it so that anyone who could afford to has moved out. It’s hard to imagine anyone even wanting to gentrify many of these places.

Gentrification, disinvestment and reinvestment are complicated issues to consider.

That’s why Bread & Roses Community Fund is hosting a town hall meeting next week. Can you join in or, if you are already planning to attend, help get more people there? Click here to sign-up to attend:

“No neighbor left behind” town hall
Tuesday, February 2nd
5:30-8:00 PM
Bright Hope Baptist Church
12th and Cecil B. Moore

Philadelphia, PA 19122

At the town hall, you’ll hear from the experienced leaders of four organizations–working in the city and the suburbs–who have used grassroots organizing tactics to build communities that are liveable, workable, shopable and affordable for all.

Hope to see you there!

-Ray Murphy
director of communications

NewsLanc takes no position on whether Jay O’Shea Woomer  administered the morphine to  11-year old Brent Weaver  that resulted in his death.    But we do disagree with the anonymous juror interviewed by a reporter from the Intelligencer New Era who made the following assertion:

“There were many tears, but that’s what we believed happened.  It was very, very painful to follow the law.  We were doing our duty and following the rules of the law.”

The jury right to say “not guilty” is an essential safeguard against injustice and special circumstances.   Jury nullification dates back to English common law and the founding of the United States.

Jurors in early 19^th-century America routinely refused to enforce the Alien and Sedition Act.

Jurors in mid-19th-century America widely rejected the Fugitive Slave Act.

Jurors in the early 20th-century America refused to enforce Alcohol Prohibition.

District attorneys and judges despise the notion and never mention the option to jurors or allow the defense to bring it up but, under our rule of law, deciding on guilt and innocence is strictly the province of the jury.   Their decision is beyond question.

Perhaps the judge will find a way to do some “nullification” on his own concerning sentencing.

AOL.COM – The economy grew faster than expected at the end of last year, though the engine of that growth — companies replenishing stockpiles — is likely to weaken as consumers keep a lid on spending.

The 5.7 percent annual growth rate in the fourth quarter was the fastest pace since 2003. The Commerce Department report Friday is the strongest evidence to date that the worst recession since the 1930s ended last year, though an academic panel that dates recessions has yet to declare an end to it…

Still, economists expect growth to slow this year as companies finish restocking inventories and as government stimulus efforts fade.

Revenue should not be the concern.  Even in the face of ever falling occupancy, the supply of newer rooms within the marketplace will continue to deliver revenue consistently and probably with a very slight average annual increase over time.  This was never the concern.

The problem that neither Mr. Molloy nor his or this project’s backers will tackle is the potential for cost increases in line with the vast majority of these centers nationwide.  The hotel tax revenue to the center will not go down by 20+% BUT his expenses could explode by 50, 100 or even 200%.

That should be the fear that everyone is this County needs to consider and understand.

The expense side of the equation was NEVER discussed.  We simply were told to accept those who said it will lose $600K to $1.2 million per year as gospel.  What if the loss is $2, $3 or $4 million?  Then what?

The great myth of Gib Armstrong…”the hotel tax is stable therefore my project is stable”.  Trust me, it is a myth and anything but stable…

The dithering Chicago school [of economics] has proved wrong time and time again. They have no alternatives  or excuses for the boom/bust cycles they categorize as inevitable.

The Volcker scenario worked well during the Reagan years, but we live in a different financial world now, and there is no going back to that other time.  A return to a tight money policy at this moment would be disastrous, and  at least in the short come, a job killer.

While they may have taken some measures that stink, but we live in a Bernake/Summers/Geithner world. These men understand our dilemmas and have the best chance for fixing them.

Concern over the deficit is understandable, and interest rates cannot and will not remain at the current low level, we will only grow our way out of the current problem by putting more people to work, i.e., investing.

As for fears over our currency, have you noticed every time there’s a rumble anywhere in the world, the flight is to dollars? While the time when the dollar falls out of favor may come, that time is not now.  Nor is it in the best interests of the Chinese to do damage to their most important trading partner.  Again, the time may come when that is not the case, but that time is not now.

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:

“President Obama yesterday revealed his plans to spend $8 billion on high-speed rail projects heralded as the start of a new era in American transportation, but Pennsylvania’s share will be only a tiny fraction of that amount.

“Pennsylvania’s $25.6 million – or 0.3 percent of the total – will go to improving the Philadelphia-Harrisburg “Keystone Corridor,” which carries 14 Amtrak round trips a day, and $750,000 to studying expansion of passenger service “

The money did not include funding that SEPTA and Amtrak had hoped for – for track, signal, and power improvements and the addition of a third express track between Atglen and Paoli in Chester County – that would allow trains in the Keystone Corridor to reach 125 m.p.h., up from 110…”

At the January 28 meeting of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA), NewsLanc asked what the impact will be from recent and future declines in hotel room tax revenue. Executive Director Kevin Molly, however, was reluctant to make any definite projections: “We really don’t have any idea, but if we have to provide our best information, we see a slight increase for next year,” Molly asserted, “The impact of that—too early to tell.”

“We’re watching it keenly,” Molloy noted, “Because, not only do we not want it to decrease any more, but there’s also a school of thought that, last summer—as you know we’re a Memorial Day to Labor Day environment—we had eight weekends that had rain. I don’t know the weather forecast for next summer, but if we have clearer days than we had, we should see some increase.”

When asked for the likelihood of the hotel room sales tax rate being raised, Molloy was doubtful. “I don’t think we’re in a position where we’ll have to look at [a tax] increase,” Molloy said.

The executive director explained that, under Ordinance No. 45, which establishes the tax, 20% of revenues are allocated to the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau (PDCVB). But if the Convention Center Authority’s 80% becomes insufficient to keep up with debt service, the trustee could request that the PDCVB’s portion be diverted to the LCCCA.

Molloy added that, should the full proceeds of hotel room tax revenue remain insufficient, the County would be then responsible for convention center’s debt service. “And how the County would deal with it is their issue,” Molloy said.

Molloy stressed that he was simply detailing the “mechanisms in place,” and not at all suggesting the likelihood of such events occurring. “I don’t think we have a climate with the hoteliers or other folks in our community that we’d even want to go that route. So I don’t think that’s one of the things we’ll be looking at to do,” Molloy said.

“The Senate on Thursday confirmed Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve by a strong majority just three days before his current tenure expired, ending a surprisingly tenacious confirmation process that underscored widespread anger at the government’s response to the financial crisis.

“The 70-30 tally followed a tense procedural vote whose outcome had been in doubt amid a recent surge of opposition to Bernanke’s renomination by President Barack Obama.”

WATCHDOG: While on a three hour drive, the dog listened on C-SPAN radio to the Senate debate over the re-nomination. By the time both Democrat and Republican senators had respectfully explained their opposition to the re-appointment, the dog was won over.

Those opposing all agreed that Bernanke had done a terrific job over the past year in taking decisive expansionary actions to ward off a depression. But his contribution toward the causes that brought about the ‘bubble’ over prior years gave them reason to question whether he was the right person to lead the Federal Reserve in the future.

It was gratifying to hear bipartisan arguments for his retention and retirement.

“Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday assailed last week’s Supreme Court’s decision removing limits on corporate campaign spending, calling it ‘dead wrong.’

“And he defended President Barack Obama’s criticism of the decision in his State of the Union address Wednesday night with robe-clad Supreme Court justices seated in on the floor of the House before him. Justice Samuel Alito, who voted with the majority in the 5-4 ruling, openly winced at Obama’s remarks.

“’The president didn’t question the integrity of the court. He questioned the judgment of it,’ Biden said in an interview on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’

“’A lot of these multinational corporations are owned as much by foreign interests as they are by domestic interests.’“

WATCHDOG: Say it again Joe!  A wag of the tail.

Rick Kastner, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Drug and Alcohol Commission, knows that funding for addiction treatment is about more than just comfy government budgets: These dollars—and the lack thereof—bear a distinct human impact in Lancaster County. For example, this week Kastner had to decline funding for halfway house services to a county resident who had run out of options.

The man had recently lost his job, could not afford treatment, and did not even qualify for government medical assistance due to his unemployment checks. But Kastner’s office simply could not afford to help him. “Here we are denying somebody who is ready for treatment, ready for recovery, ready for a clean and sober life,” Kastner said, “We simply had to say ‘no.’”

The commission has historically provided financial assistance for those ‘working poor’ individuals trapped in the no-man’s-land of an income too low for health insurance and too high for Medicaid. Before December 2008, the commission would support residential addiction treatment (rehab, halfway house) for about 400 such individuals each year.

Since that time, however, the commission has provided zero assistance for residential treatment—the result of annually shrinking state allocations.

Understand: This is not simply a matter of passing so many hand-outs to area ‘junkies.’ The services promoted by the commission and its partnering providers exist to help conscientious individuals clean up their lives and, in turn, clean up our communities. And, as a result, these services thanklessly draw down expenses that the public would have ultimately paid through prison funding and hospital bills.

“As we see the drug and alcohol funding decrease,” Kastner said, “We see a dramatic increase in the number of inmates in state and county prisons.” He continued, “The hospitals know [this funding is crucial] because they see the ERs and beds being filled with people suffering from…addictive behavior.”

Some of the most tragic victims of inadequate drug and alcohol funding, apart from the addicts themselves, are their families and friends. Kastner articulated the agony of watching a loved one succumb to addiction: “It tears out your heart, because the person is essentially destroying themselves, and you’re just sitting there hopelessly trying to help them and at times can’t find that help.”

However, equally tragic are those victims who will contract HIV/AIDS and other diseases from addicts who might otherwise have been assisted into recovery. These non-addicts will equally pay the price for the underfunding of addiction care. And none of us can be certain that these victims will not be loved ones of our own.

There are doubtless many others like the unemployed man denied support this week. And, sadly, those turned away represent individuals who have painfully mustered what precious little determination they have left to humbly ask for help in turning their lives around. Each of these lives is ‘shovel-ready’ project for social revitalization—just waiting for an adequate investment.

(To learn about the role that the Drug and Alcohol Commission plays in Lancaster’s ‘social safety net,’ read NewsLanc’s 2009 series spotlighting the organization.)