Nutter Has Gone Insane: How I Would Help Fix the Budget Problem

I'm not going to state that this idea of mine is perfect, but honestly, it's better than Nutter's ideas of either charging residents $5 a week for basic sanitation services, forcing us to buy "special trash bags", or paying to have to go to jail.

1. Have officers start punishing for minor crimes!

During the election, I preached that the Broken Windows policy would help Philadelphia by deterring people from committing crimes. Broken Windows states that by ticketing and targeting minor offenses, it deters them from committing larger crimes. At the same time, this policy would make the city money. A LOT of money. Ticketing and fines for littering, jaywalking, and not recycling would be a boon for Philadelphia. That said, I think we need to crack down and start ticketing heavily for the following:

• Littering
• Vandalism
• Jaywalking
• Selling goods on the street without a permit
• Not recycling

That's a short list, and there are laws in place banning these activities and fines in place for offenders. One thing that was discussed during the election was raising the cost for dumping/littering in Philadelphia. More needs to be done to actually enforce it and collect the fines from it. At the same time, there are laws in place already concerning even trash cans and recycling, but they're not being enforced!

2. Tax Evaders!

In 2007, the City of Philadelphia was owed, get this, $700 MILLION DOLLARS IN TAXES! The City of Philadelphia has not done enough to crack down on this problem and, in turn, we are facing a over $1 Billion Dollar Deficit. Why isn't more being done to correct this?! Treat these guys as the criminals they are! Remember in 2002 when John Street launched his "Safe Streets" program and randomly raided houses where they were selling drugs? Do that again NOW, but with Tax Evaders! Well, the big ones; the smaller ones, send letters, take them to court... etc.

3. Raise Taxes, but Not all of them!

Someone pointed out that raising the City Wage tax by .5% would equate to only $20 a year per $25k a person made a year. That isn't bad, it isn't bad at all. I'm fine with that. But raising the City's Sales Tax?! NO! 7% is already high, raising it to something like 8% would just be insane. It drives away commerce, and makes residents cranky and poorer, and no one is really going to benefit in the end since it most likely would never go back down.

4. Close 1 Library

Yes, yes, people complained non-stop about closing the libraries. Closing 1, I think, isn't that bad and it's fair. Pick the one that isn't going to be missed that much and cut it, at least for now.

5. Institute a Bike License

OK, this last one may seem as bad as what I was complaining about, but it can actually be a boon. A Bicycle License system is already in effect in a town in California, and for $5, you get a lifetime license. In turn, if your bike is ever stolen, its treated like a stolen car since its serial number is tagged with the city and everything. That actually isn't that bad an idea, although, personally, I'd charge $25 a year to bike couriers... but that's me.

In the end, this is going to raise a lot of money for the City of Philadelphia and help the standard of living here.