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SYNDICATE CONTENTChris Satullo
Only you can slay the gerrymander
May 31, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
It's slipping away.
Don't let it.
A bill to curb gerrymandering is in trouble in the Pennsylvania legislature. Gerrymandering is the dark art of drawing electoral districts to stack the deck in favor of incumbents and the party in power. Pennsylvania is the second-most-gerrymandered state in the land.
House Bill 2420 "is a key pillar of fundamental, transformational reform," says Barry Kauffman of Pennsylvania Common Cause.
Summing it up in just six words
May 24, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Here's a challenge to crisp prose: Write your memoir in six words. Recapitulate life in a half-dozen strokes.
A new book uses that premise: Not Quite What I Was Planning.
It offers mini-bios from many people. Some are famous; most are not. An online magazine, Smith, selected them.
There's this from singer Aimee Mann: "Couldn't cope, so I wrote songs."
Look clearly at charter schools
May 17, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
These are dark days for a once-bright idea in Philadelphia.
Charter schools have been a core element of Philadelphia public school reform. Charter schools get taxpayer money, but operate outside the traditional system's rules.
Fixing what ails City Hall
April 26, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Philadelphia City Hall. Outstanding customer service.
Those two phrases aren't typically paired in a sentence - unless it's said with a sarcastic laugh.
The Nutter administration would like to see that odd linkage become commonplace, instead of an oxymoron.
Winners and losers in political Phila.
April 19, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
This week, Pennsylvania became the much-analyzed Land of the Cling-ons - and Philadelphia the temporary capital of Colbert Nation.
There were spectacles aplenty and gaffes galore. I made my way Tuesday to Penn's Zellerbach Theatre for a raucous taping of The Colbert Report, then on to the National Constitution Center for Wednesday's trivia contest . . . er, presidential debate, staged by an inept outfit claiming to be ABC News.
Wanted: The next generation of leaders
April 5, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
It's a simple thought, really.
If you want to see more of a behavior, praise it.
For years, the common view was that Philadelphia lacked leadership. Liz Dow didn't buy that.
Don't give up on Wireless Philadelphia
March 29, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Whither Wireless Philadelphia?
Let's pray its fate is not: Wither, Wireless Philadelphia.
The nonprofit grew out of a fetching vision: Take a city with a huge digital divide, half its households strangers to the Internet. Use a partnership with a visionary company to propel it to the front of the connected pack.
A coda of caring for the Kimmel
March 22, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
The first movement came from the leaders of the Kimmel Center, who were hearing ominous chords from the community. They decided to take soundings: Just how deep was the dissatisfaction with the public spaces at the region's performing arts center? Why had the Kimmel never become the vibrant "indoor square" it had been hyped to be?
Council's good feelings spilling out to the city
March 18, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
It's the era of good feeling at Philadelphia City Hall.
Members of City Council, sour and surly for much of John Street's second term, seem almost giddy in the honeymoon glow of Mayor Nutter's first 100 days.
Strange days, happily so, for the body once dubbed by Mayor Bill Green (more on that name in a moment) "the worst legislative body in the Western Hemisphere."
The difference between Spitzer, Fumo
March 15, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Some people may have been surprised about Eliot Spitzer, but Dr. Freud wouldn't have been.
Hearing of the moral crusader with the secret taste for high-priced hookers, Sigmund would have plucked the cigar from his mouth and said, "Ja, a classic case of projection and reaction formation."
Projection and reaction formation: Those two linked psychological mechanisms drive the modern politics of self-righteousness.
Steel, concrete and input make a city rise
March 11, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Some topics are just divisive.
Gun control.
Mac vs. PC.
Eagles vs. Cowboys.
The Cira Centre lights.
A week or so ago, I offered my capsule reviews on a roster of the major building projects around our region in this decade, and sought readers' opinions on them.
That list was headed by the Cira Centre, and its ever-changing nighttime displays of colored lights.
A newcomer's guide to Pennsylvania
March 8, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Armageddon has been scheduled.
April 22. Pennsylvania. Hillary vs. Barack.
Set your sights high and then sound off
March 1, 2007
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Over the last month, I've sifted through mounds of public comments about the Kimmel Center, solicited as part of an effort to fix problems with the arts venue on South Broad.
This civic-feedback project taught me something: People have a lot of pent-up views about buildings that rise to alter the penthouse view.
Is there something about the Kimmel that triggers uniquely energetic responses? Or do you hold equally simmering opinions about other high-profile projects?
Citizens' voices finding an ear
Feb. 26, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Seems like this civic-dialogue stuff is catching on.
For a long time, Philadelphia was a place where the role of the citizen got reduced to shouting "No!" - after the inside players emerged from their confabs and decreed what would be.
Too close an encounter with the beast in the closet
Feb. 23, 2008
Chris Satullo
Inquirer columnist
Served me right.
Last week, I scribbled a column that noted how, having watched my father die at 53, I've never counted on living long enough to burden Social Security.
My writing done, I headed to the gym for my weekly hoops game: two hours of slow-motion hustle, hoisted bricks, and joyful jabber by a crew of balding heads.
