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That School Reform Commission sure is sneaky. They want to make it easier for parents who want to transfer their kids from public school into parochial or charter schools. Right now, there are multiple confusing forms to fill out, so their proposal is to simplify the process — use just one form to accomplish the transfer. Call it “open enrollment.”
But here comes self-described agitator Helen Gym to the rescue. See, Helen realized simplification was just another way to “chase” children out of the public school system. Kids aren’t fleeing Philly public schools; they’re being “chased” out of them by simplifying the enrollment process. The solution is simple according to Gym, just make the public schools better, and we can eliminate the transfer forms altogether. We make public schools better by closing off the escape routes. …
Philadelphia Magazine’s website is on top of the news. Sometimes it’s even ahead of the news. Less than two weeks into January, it had a screaming headline about how the city’s 2014 murder rate is “skyrocketing.” It seems like only yesterday, actually it was nearly yesterday, when the City was congratulating itself on the fact that the murder rate had dipped to its lowest since the mid-1990s. Some of you cynics might feel that it’s a little early to be projecting a “skyrocketing” murder rate less than two weeks into the new year, but Philly Mag knows a trend when it sees one. It also has an ability to see skyrockets where others might see a caution light. …
The last couple of months have been a bonanza for the various folks who forecast the weather on TV in Philadelphia. Is it my imagination or do the local stations have more folks predicting the weather these days than we have troops in Afghanistan? It used to be that we could depend on a water main break or a fire in an empty warehouse to headline the evening news, but now more often than not, the big story is weather related. One would think that it’s enough that we have already suffered multiple snow “events.” The use of the word “event” rather than “storm” is instructional. In a snow “event,” the weather people are covered, even if only a few flakes fall.
Call it a storm and if wrong, you could wind up like John Bolaris. Lacking bad weather in our viewing area, the local news will often lead with a storm somewhere else in the country. On a quiet weather night recently, TV 3’s Kathy Orr mentioned there were blizzard conditions “not that far from us.” Turned out the storm was in Buffalo where it’s only a story when it doesn’t snow. The other night, NBC 10’s Sheena Parveen warned that although there was no snow in the forecast it was going to be “windy” on Sunday — “really windy.” I confess that I kind of like to watch Action News just to see what color scarf Adam Joseph is wearing.
I also favor CBS 3 to watch which personality gets stuck riding around town in its mobile weather van (rumor has it Carol Erickson and Kate Bilo draw straws, with the shorter one getting the back seat of the van). I’ve yet to figure out the purpose of the mobile weather van, which has so many controls it resembles the Starship Enterprise. One night Bilo explained it for me. She peeked out the window and said see, you can see it is snowing out there. …
At this writing, Chris Christie and Bridgegate is the big January story, one some say, may impact the 2016 election. Bridgegate is only a big story if you never heard of the political axiom, “reward your friends and punish your enemies.” Of course there is another political axiom, closing down traffic lanes may be crossing the line just a wee bit. I predict this will turn out to be a big plus for the victims, Fort Lee and its mayor. Never again will Gov. Christie ever be in a position where he doesn’t grant a request to the mayor of Fort Lee. Christie may actually be considering keeping three lanes open at rush hour exclusively for Fort Lee residents. Let’s be fair, Christie has denied any knowledge of causing the traffic jam. And it is not true that initially the idea was for him to feign a heart attack and lay down across the bridge and block traffic, perhaps even more effectively.
Of course the good government folks in their typical fashion have overreacted. One group wanted Washington to get the Russians to accept Christie in a swap for Edward Snowden. A well-known Jersey reformer suggested the Bridgegate investigation focus on whether Christie actually has a fitness trainer.
I, for one, think the main story here is that yet another scandal has the word “gate” appended to it. People, we have to get more creative.We called the Nixon scandal Watergate because the break-in occurred in the Watergate Hotel. Is that really a reason for the media since then to use the word “gate” to label every scandal forevermore?
I can’t see the Christie scandal lasting in the public mind until the ’16 election. The public mind has advanced Alzheimer’s and has trouble remembering we once invaded Iraq by mistake.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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