Neighbors, Because of the silly attempts to confuse the issues around the "Community Court Program" and silence opinions critical of UCD, you may wish to look at this from UCD's web site. You won't find an easy path to this, of course, but you can type in the search, "community court" from their page.
http://www.ucityphila.org/ucd_programs/public_safety/community_court Friends, the news story about the Penn students forced to work the Knox rally simply brought to our attention yet another serious but unaccountable UCD program. This illegal action, a tort not criminal violation, which has not been disputed after wide coverage brought to our attention the abuses in this probation program that has been operating for 5 years. Non UCD cronies may believe that this breaking news would now warrant a complete and open accounting of the entire program by UCD. It also warrants an independent investigation of the entire 5 years so that the truth of this program or incompetence of UCD might be known to the community. Even if UCD had not shown its devotion to spin instead of honesty so many times before, a reasonable person might conclude that such an investigation was warranted after this breaking news. UCD has tremendous power over our community and we can't vote to get rid of them. It's like when someone is arrested for breaking car windows and there have been others in the area. Law enforcement might believe it's reasonable to investigate to see if the person was involved in each of the other incidents. Please review the following quote from the UC Review: "According to Walker, UCD employees also helped set up the rally." Again this breaking news suggests that UCD's "special favor" policy, in general, is also very relevant and must be investigated. I believe many of us have understood that the "special favor" policy of UCD is nothing more than cronyism. If you support UCD power, you will be eligible for "special favors" including steering committee seats, enhanced street services, advance information, promotion, etc. If you are on the wrong block or if you are a dissenter, you will receive trash tickets, L and I inspections, and quality of life laws. Listserv subscribers might remember Melani's happy praise of the UCD crew that made an emergency leaf pick-up after Melani missed the city pick-up. The whole picture of cronyism might start making more sense when you consider that Penn is demanding more governmental power for UCD all the time. Friends, I want to hesitate before insulting the listserv gang. Misinformation, red herring and other fallacious arguments, quoting out of context which has no other purpose than to mislead or distract; aren't actually worth the response to the writer. It makes it very difficult to have a public discussion about these serious issues and an honest exchange of information I will refrain from going back to insult pmuyhers, Sanderson, Cassidy, Siano. I'm trying my best to treat the gang with the politically correct civility demanded of myself and other dissenters. Glenn
