Psychotic call from Dominic Pileggi’s Office? (UPDATED)
UPDATED BELOW
Last week, I made a bunch of phone calls to Dominic “Satan” Pileggi’s office, as well as to my own legislators. Like most Philadelphians, I am getting angrier and angrier with the state senate majority leader, who is trying to get Governor Rendell to acquiesce to the GOP’s “no taxes” budget by tying Philadelphia’s sales tax increase to the state’s reconciliation process. As has been discussed elsewhere, we’ve met the July 1 deadline: Pileggi has not met his and is using the safety of our kids and families to accomplish THIS:
Budget Line Item Cuts Under the Republican Budget Proposal
Drug Education and Law Enforcement 100%
Violence Prevention 100%
Police on Patrol 100%
Safe Neighborhoods 100%
Inmate Education 21%
CHIP Program 10,000 Children Cut
Cancer Programs 57%
HIV/AIDS Programs 25%
Regional Cancer Centers 100%
Tourette Syndrome 100%
Hemophilia 100%
Epilepsy 100%
Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia 100%
Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh 100%
Fox Chase Cancer Institute 100%
Burn foundation 100%
Pre K counts 50%
Head Start 50%
Adult Literacy 27%
Class Rooms of the Future 100%
Charter Schools 12%
High School Reform 75%
University of PA 100%
Pa College of Optometry 100%
University of the Arts 100%
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine 100%
Science and Math Education 100%
HEMAP 10%
Customized Job Training 54%
Business Retention and Expansion 100%
Small Business Development Centers 62%
Minority Business Development Agency 100%
Housing & Redevelopment Assistance 100%
Grants To The Arts 100%
Long Term Care 100%
Services to Persons with Disabilities 100%SOURCE: 2009-10 Senate appropriations State General Fund Budget Chart
Is THAT the kind of Pennsylvania YOU want to live in? One that zeroes out funding for disabled people, business expansion, housing assistance? One that provides no state funding for the arts? one that cuts all state funding for science and math education?
Look, if Dominic Pileggi wants to go back to the stone age, he is more than welcome to build himself a time machine. But if that’s his goal, in no sense should Philadelphians build HIM a soccer stadium. so I’ve been calling his offices and telling them I don’t support either his proposal or his tactic of throwing Philadelphia to the wolves. And today i got a phone call from someone named Simon, who I suspect (but i am not 100% sure) works for Mr. Pileggi.
Simon was pretty agitated when he called and immediately asked me why I don’t like all the revenue the stadium will generate. I responded that that revenue’s not for Philadelphia, but for Chester.
Simon began talking over me a mile a minute, emphasizing very loudly that Miley Cyrus is scheduled to play the stadium. “Don’t you see?? It’s MILEY CYRUS, she’s going to play! Don’t you like MILEY CYRUS??”
“I’m a 40 year old man,” I tried to say over the ongoing stream of words. “Why do i care about a child pop star? I’m not a pervert..”
“But it’s MILEY CYRUS and we need this stadium, it will bring in revenue…”
“Look man,” i said between the sputtering. “I sympathize with you. And I sympathize with Chester too, you guys are in bad shape. But Pileggi’s budget means my city loses 700 cops, shuts libraries, and rec centers. And since threats are the only thing he seems to understand, then I am quite happy to see the governor put the kibosh on your stadium. you republicans are always talking about people having to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, so why is the state footing the bill for your stadium?
“Pileggi wants to kick Philly around, fine. You go fund your own stadium with your own money.”
This brought on another round of sputtering and screaming about Miley Cyrus. So I hung up.
I’m trying to find out who Simon is and who he works for: i’ve called all three of Pileggi’s local offices and no one recognizes the name. But one thing’s for sure: the threat to cut funding for Chester’s stadium has put enough of a scare into certain people that they’re calling me and yelling.
I have nothing against Chester, PA. It’s a very poor city that deserves a lot better than it gets. but that stadium is the one point of leverage against Pileggi, who is a very bad person that wants to cut services to the elderly, to children, and even to the mentally retarded. Talk about beating up the defenseless!
And he wants to use Philadelphia’s safety as a pawn in his nasty little game (there is also speculation that he hopes to undermine the Democrats in Philly in the hopes of a GOP win in the next mayoral election, but that’s another topic). Talk about sleazy!
So since beating up the on the defenseless is the name of the game, I say turnabout is fair play: if the Devil Pileggi wants to hold our city hostage, I say hold his stadium hostage too,
call Devil Pileggi and tell him to stop fucking with Philly’s future:
District Offices
100 Evergreen Drive
Suite 113
Glen Mills, PA 19342
Office: 610-358-5183
Fax: 610-358-5184
Map631 W. Baltimore Pike
West Grove, PA 19390
Office: 610-345-1084
Fax: 610-345-1087
Map415 Avenue of the States
Chester, PA 19013
Office: 610-447-5845
Fax: 610-447-5848
MapHarrisburg Office
350 Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Office: 717-787-4712
Fax: 717-783-7490Toll Free
888-984-3478
TTY
800-364-1581
call the governor and tell him to freeze the state’s funding for the stadium in Chester (which, by the way, is of dubious economic benefit for anyone
And call your state senator or state rep (kudos to hannah Miller for the link) and tell them to freeze funding for Pileggi’s pet project.
Soccer in Delaware County or safety in the region’s largest economic engine? Which is more important to Philadelphia and to Pennsylvania?
updated: it wasn’t a Pileggi staffer, and I HATE cell phones. the buttons are so damn small that you end up dialing “210″ when you meant “610″.
Simon, whoever the hell you are, you got me good.
August 11th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
but, Brendan….MILEY CYRUS!!!
It’d be hysterical if it weren’t so tragic. And yet, I may just shout “MILEY CYRUS” to every ridiculous piece of social-services-cutting pork I see for years to come…
August 11th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
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