The Iron Ring

Although it has nothing at all to do with science, I feel compelled to comment today on the mayoral race in Philadelphia. Even more distressing than the news that Milton Street has declared himself in the race is the fact that he was locked up yesterday on traffic warrants.

This got me reading about other candidates to see just how bad the race is going to be.

Apparently Fattah thinks it might be a good idea to tax cars to drive in Center City during peak hours, mimicking the plan that has been implemented in London. This reminded me of a particularly frustrating commute I had just three days ago. I got on a bus on Broad and Walnut heading west and we got stuck in bad traffic an inched our way for so long that my fiancé and I got off the bus and walked. We were DYING to see what the hold up was, an accident? A car that broke down? No, it turns out that for some maintenance the city had opened a hole in the sidewalk between 21^st and 22^nd, and in order to block off the sidewalk to pedestrians, they had parked a police car in the street and strung ‘do not cross police’ tape from the car to a lamppost. No joke. This was holding up traffic for ten blocks. And completely unnecessary!

Attention Fattah- the best way to fix traffic is to minimize the number of times the city digs up the street. We call it ‘searching for treasure’.

But truly, Milton Street takes the cake for absurd suggestions for the city. He has a plan to ‘deputize’ men in Philadelphia, give them power of arrest and ‘walkie talkies’. He believes this plan will solve our crime problem. Really. I’m not kidding. He has told many reporters about this plan, I swear. You can see it in this link from Fox News. Keep an ear out for when he claims his opponents are ‘wimpetzied’.

And all while battling an indictment on tax fraud.

Add a few casinos to our city, and an airport where nothing leaves on time and luggage never arrives and I think we indeed have our next great American city.

# posted by Sarah : 3:57 PM