Thursday II: other news

• The casino petition/plan got its hearing yesterday, along with DiCicco's hail-Mary bills. The main Inquirer article notes that folks elsewhere in the state may not appreciate Philadelphia's holding up the arrival of tax relief for all, and that Council will vote on the ballot idea next month. The Daily News seems to think that Verna might allow a vote as early as today, but also notes:

  Yesterday's action starts a seven-day period for anyone opposed to the ballot measure to challenge it in Common Pleas Court. The charter requires such a challenge to include the support of 100 registered voters in the city.

  Gaetano was on hand to testify on the DiCicco bills, which he favors, providing a heap of grim statistics and impressions of the effect of casinos on local neighborhoods. Also, all of these stories raise the spectre of the state's choosing to overrule any local measure... (On a lighter note, PhilaWillDo adds some snark about the DiCicco bills and arguments.)
  
  
• Faculty and staff at the Community College of Philadelphia may be about to go on strike. The issues will sound familiar from many other labor negotiations. How's that single-payer health plan coming, Harrisburg?
  
  
• The CityPaper takes a look at the upcoming mayoral primary and is disturbed by the small totals (with no semblance of a real majority) that could win the race. Some other ideas are considered, but I don't see any wind behind changes to the system of elections right now.
  
  
• Another CP story profiles the Back Home Cafe, which helps the homeless rediscover their way to self-sufficiency.
  
  
• Dan at YPP argues that the NJ civil unions law puts Pennsylvania at a competitive disadvantage in attracting and retaining residents (perhaps particularly the skilled and therefore mobile workforce).
  
  
• Speaking of YPP, the gleanings of their discussions of the Ward system are now out in the latest CityPaper. Some good ideas there.
  
  
• Inga Saffron notes a New York Observer profile of a local landscape architect and also draws our attention to how large projects are discussed in other cities.