Quick round-up of other stuff

• Politicians
  
  
  
  • Weldon and Sestak also had a debate yesterday, which was also more heated than previously.
    
    
  • Jim Gerlach has decided to attack the Barnes Foundation's plans to move downtown. Where was he when they were selling off masterpieces to stay afloat?
    
    
  • Gov. Rendell continues a boycott of the Delaware River Port Authority as part of a spat with NJ over dredging of the river (see prev. notes here, here, and here). That means that the DRPA has been unable to initiate new business or even pass a budget, and toll hikes are threatened (and money being squandered over a halt to some financial moves). Rendell stands firm on the need for deepening the river; we'll have to see if his tone changes after Election Day...
    
    
  • Gar Josephs gives a belated overview of Bob Brady's meeting with city progressives, in a piece that also mentions Nutter's bad week, Fattah's warchest, and the absurdity of negative ads.
  
  
• Riverfront plans
  
  
  
  • Yesterday Street signed an executing order calling for a master development plan for the property along the Delaware River, rather than each project's being handled in a piecemeal manner. Great idea, but color me sceptical that a 45-member advisory group can come up with any kind of brilliance. Of course, the recent stripping of city rights over zoning issues surrounding casinos may make it difficult to come up with a workable unified plan.
    
    
  • The Daily News opinion page welcomes this plan and applauds some of the people to be involved.
    
    
  • In related news, Inga Saffron applauds the newly appointed head city planner, although noting that it's tough to get much done in the final year of a mayoral administration.
  
  
• Other news
  
  
  
  • A Philadelphia jury has found against Wal-Mart in a major wages suit that could result in nearly 200,000 workers receiving substantial back pay for time they were forced to work off-clock and during breaks.
    
    
  • Marc Stier looks at how frustrating Harrisburg can be for progressive activists, and suggests that this is the year to turn the state legislature blue.
    
    
  • The Inquirer offers an interactive map of Philadelphia homicides -- you can view the distribution by age, race, time of day, etc. and see the locations down to street level. Useful, if grim.
    (via PhillyFuture)