May 19, 2010

It's Our Money is asking advocates and citizens to weigh in on the budget deal Council is set to vote on tomorrow. This installment comes from Adam Lang, a citizen activist who fights for open, ethical and efficient government in Philadelphia.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/our-money/Balance_the_Budget_Adam_Lan...

On December 2, 2009, Adam Lang was a guest contributor to The Philadelphia Daily News online column "It's Our Money".

The topic was:
It's Our Money is asking various experts and advocates to share some suggestions for how the city should deal with the $31 million deficit it has projected for this fiscal year (and remember, because it's the middle of a fiscal year, the city can't raise taxes).

Adam Lang's response, as well as others', can be seen here: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/our-money/You_Close_the_Deficit_Adam_...

The fault of the current budget crisis facing Philadelphia is not fully on the shoulders of the national economy, but on the shoulders of Mayors John Street and Michael Nutter.

This is good news because it means that Philadelphia can control its own destiny by implementing fiscally responsible budgets that are resilient to fluctuating national economies.

To start, we need to understand why this is a budgetary problem and not a national economic problem and then we can look at how to fix it for the future.