This evening, I headed over to the rally at the Fishtown Library, organized by AJ Thomson. It was a pretty incredible scene for something that happened on about 24 hours notice, through word of mouth, emails, flyers, etc. I am not good at crowd estimates, but lets just say that on a chilly November night, there were hundreds of people, demanding that Mayor Nutter spare their library.

(And, by the way, if you are from Fishtown, you are losing a fire engine, a library, and a pool? Nice.)

The anger and disappointment in the crowd was self-evident. Kids from neighborhood schools prepared letters to the Mayor, asking him not to close down their library. The more I stood out there, watching as people were forced to desperately scramble just to keep a damn library open, the more the whole thing seemed so damn ridiculous and sad. It is a really great message that we are sending to our kids...

The City I believe in does not give residents a tax cut while closing libraries, de-funding Fairmount Park, cutting back police and fire coverage, and shutting down public schools. Don't you think the people of Fishtown would rather their taxes be kept the same, rather than cut by 0.2%, if it meant their services kept open?

I will say it a million times between now and December: Keep our taxes the same. Save the City.

Sugarhouse, the proposed riverfront casino on the Fishtown/Northern Liberties border, needs to build on some submerged land owned by the state. The Street administration issued them a license to build on that land, which provoked lawsuits from state lawmakers and Philadelphia City Council, who claimed that the city had no right to issue that license.

Well, Michael Nutter just either made that lawsuit moot or upped the ante by revoking the license awarded by the city.

From the Inquirer:

At a City Hall news conference, he used harsh language to criticize the city action that preceded him, saying the license was "issued in error" by the city Commerce Department and was "unnecessarily rushed."

SugarHouse will have 30 days to appeal to the city to issue the license again, but only after a more extensive review process, Nutter said. He did not say how long that process would take - "it will be reasonable' - if SugarHouse chose to appeal...

The mayor reiterated that he is not a fan of the site for the SugarHouse or the Foxwoods casinos. In the case of SugarHouse, he said, concerns about traffic, parking, congestion and more were "brushed to the side" by the Street administration in a process that he characterized as improper. "It was an abuse of a discretion," Nutter said.

September 21, 2007 - Today, City Council canceled its scheduled public hearing on bills relating to SugarHouse's commercial entertainment district zoning and other slots gambling bills. According to political insiders, SugarHouse requested the delay after they unsuccessfully tried to force Fishtown Neighbors Association to the negotiation table.

Fishtown Neighbors Association (FNA) refused to sit down at the first negotiation on Monday claiming SugarHouse did not do its part to establish a fair table. FNA has agreed to negotiations with resiting as the first priority, and with the stipulation that any agreement would require the support 75% of the community. Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association, the civic association representing the neighborhood in which half of SugarHouse is located, has refused to enter into negotiations.