I couldn't really find anything hero-worthy this week. I was going to list the American Idol charity show, but the final tally for how much they raised isn't online anywhere. So, I leave you with this picture:Feel free to suggest a hero for this week in the comments!

My hack this week is Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, for trying to overstep his authority on gun legislation:

Mayor Nutter likened himself and City Council members yesterday to the band of rebels who formed this country as he signed five new gun-control laws that defy the state legislature and legal precedent.

"Almost 232 years ago, a group of concerned Americans took matters in their own hands and did what they needed to do by declaring that the time had come for a change," Nutter said as he signed the bills in front of a table of confiscated weapons outside the police evidence room in City Hall.

"We are going to make ourselves independent of the violence that's been taking place in this city for far too long," he said.

The five laws - called everything from unconstitutional to criminal by critics - do the following:

Limit handgun purchases to one a month.

Require lost or stolen firearms to be reported to police within 24 hours.

Prohibit individuals under protection-from-abuse orders from possessing guns if ordered by the court.

Allow removal of firearms from "persons posing a risk of imminent personal injury" to themselves or others.

Outlaw the possession and sale of certain assault weapons.

Nutter said he would begin to enforce the laws immediately, with the exception of the one-gun-a-month requirement, which takes effect in six months.

He and Council are in for a fight, however. The city has tried and failed for three decades to buck the 1974 state law that reserves gun regulation to the state legislature. The state's preeminence appeared to be cemented in a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that allowed the legislature to prevent Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from enacting local gun laws.

What's ironic is those 'rebels' were tried and true gun-owners. And since when to violent criminals buy legal guns?

Labels: Gun Rights, Hero/Hack, Philadelphia

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:26 AM | Permalink | |

The Pew Charitable Trusts says my hometown is getting better:

However, it also pointed out successes in the new millennium: more optimism and activism by movers and shakers, an expansion of the tax-abatement program that has fueled a building boom, efforts by universities to improve their surrounding neighborhoods, and economic growth spurred by tourism, an improved airport and the business district at the former Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Or is that because once you hit rock bottom there's no place else to go? Things are still pretty bad:

Philadelphia lost 55,000 residents and 37,000 jobs from 2002 to 2005; a quarter of the population lives in poverty; only one-fifth of residents 25 and older have college degrees; and 56 percent of all households with children have only one parent present, according to the report.

''And while the surge in housing construction and rehabilitation is substantial, many neighborhoods can only be termed urban wastelands,'' the authors wrote.

Labels: Philadelphia

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:08 AM | Permalink | |

Mayor Street of my hometown, Philadelphia, has just signed a new ordinance expanding the city's curfew. Since apparently parents don't carte about their kids, it is up to the mayor to be there for them:

''Young people do not belong on the street at 11 and 12 o'clock at night,'' Mayor Street said in a statement released following a bill signing ceremony. ''No good things can happen to young people at that hour.''

Part of the reasoning is to reduce youth violence, and part is for anti-truancy:

''If we keep them off the street and get them back in school, we will be a safer community,'' he said.

Now that seems like a dumb thing to say given the state of Philadelphia schools. There are schools in Philadelphia that are about as unsafe as the streets. There is no discipline, and therefore the "problem" kids are just ushered through. Maybe if parents were encouraged to take responsibility for their kids, we wouldn't need government paternalism.

Labels: Education, Philadelphia

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:53 AM | Permalink | |

The Second Amendment Foundation is my hero this week for taking the City of New Orleans and Mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin to court:

“At first,” Gottlieb recalled, “Nagin, Riley and the city claimed they had not seized anyone’s firearms. Then, faced with the threat of a contempt motion, they ‘discovered’ that guns had been taken and were being held at a central location. After that, the city promised to begin returning firearms, but put roadblocks in the way for citizens to retrieve their guns.

“The city’s behavior in this matter, and particularly that of Mayor Nagin and Chief Riley, has been deplorable, and it is time for them to behave like adults,” Gottlieb said. “Since the day the city began seizing firearms, Nagin and Riley have acted as though they are above the law. It is time they learned otherwise.”

My hack this week is Philadelphia Mayor John Street, who blames the city's astronomical murder rate and out of control gun crime...on President Bush and Iraq:

"I believe the fact that we are a country at war has something to do with the attitude of people in the streets. Let me tell you, it's not just this city. I have seen it everywhere and I've talked to people a lot about it," Street said.

"We are a country that is becoming less and less civil. We are a place where people will pull out a gun and shoot it at the drop of a hat," he said.

Hat tip for hack goes to Hube at Colossus of Rhodey.

Labels: Blame it on Bush, Gun Rights, Hero/Hack, Philadelphia

Posted by Ryan S. at 5:15 PM | Permalink | |