From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected]
Subject: Re: Misleading quotes from Al [Was: Re: [UC] Investments in
neighborhoods.....]
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:51:58 EST
In a message dated 1/16/07 12:05:16 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> How is it that the same result occurred in neighborhoods that did not
have
> Penn or UCD, or for that matter, the Center City District? I'm not
aware of
> the other groups demanding a forced tax, yet they are delivering the
same
> result.
>
> Karen Allen
>
Good question, Karen. I googled the groups, and I found that you and I
and
all of the others on this list seem to be paying for the efforts in those
other areas. Mt. Airy USA is using Philadelphia and PA funding, and New
Kensington CDC is using those sources plus federal money - so there is
definitely a
"forced tax" being used after all.
First, you and I and all the others on this list are not being singled out
to pay for Mt Airy USA. Aren't the people in Mt. Airy, as well as the rest
of the City, as well as suburbanites who pay the City Wage and other taxes
also paying for that, as well? People in Erie are paying the State portion
of it, and people in San Francisco are paying the Federal portion.
Second, money coming from local state and federal sources do not involve a
"forced tax". Those are taxes that everyone has to pay in any event. They
are not surcharges. The point is that those taxes are collected by the
Government and then allocated as the Government, in the form of our elected
representatives, see fit. Taxation with representation. (And for that
matter, can't UCD seek the same funding and grant sources that these other
entities have apparantly successfully used?)
The circumstances with the NID is totally different: it is a private entity,
and a tax-exempt one in the case of the University of Pennsylvania,
demanding the right to collect a tax from a subset of the people anticipated
to benefit from it, with no elected representation from the people it seeks
to tax. Yes, I know that Dorothy Berlind represents Cedar Park Neighbors on
the UCD board, but to my knowledge, neither she nor anyone else on the UCD
Board is an elected public official. And as the City now prepares for the
budgeting process for the next fiscal year, we know that that's done by
elected representatives, like Councilwoman Blackwell and the rest of City
Council, who hold hearings and take votes on proposals.
If there were more ambassadors patrolling western University City, maybe
someone would have heard [EMAIL PROTECTED]'s cries for help last
Saturday
night, a block from your house.
I will not reply to that, other than to say that I'm sorry that Jimmi was
victimized.
Karen Allen
----
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the
list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see
<http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
