Voting for a Better City (From the Philadelphia Daily News)

Reprinted Courtesy of Philly.com

Letters VOTING FOR A BETTER CITY
WITH THE 2005 municipal races right around the corner and very important elections coming up in 2006, it is time to make a clean sweep through the offices of City Hall and the cubicles at Delaware and Spring Garden. It is here that all the corruption and mismanagement begins.
Elections in this city are very old-fashioned. It is nearly impossible to receive all the poll watchers certificates for which you applied. It's nearly impossible to find a polling place that meets even early 20th century standards, such as running water, handicap accessibility and the right not to vote in bars and Democratic headquarters. It is nearly impossible get accurate, up-to-date data from the City Commissioners office.
Now is the time to make a concerted bi-/tri-partisan effort to search and identify sufficient polling places within an election division and if none is available, to look beyond that division so that citizens can cast their ballots in clean, voter friendly environments. Now is the time to establish a computer program that will expedite the processing of watcher certificates, while at the same time turning a blind eye to partisan politics. Now is the time to temporarily shut down the City Commissioners office, so that they can take the time to load all pertinent information onto a computer database so that regular people can have the kind of access to public records that now only the politicians and their friends enjoy.
We are calling on all city commissioners to reform their offices for the betterment of the populace. We are calling on the Committee of Seventy to begin this new era by breathing fresh air into this stale political environment. We are calling on the leaders of both parties to reach out to their members to make them aware that their priorities are aligned with the nation, as a whole, to incorporate the Help America Vote Act into mainstream election referendums. It is time for Philadelphia to leave the past behind and chart a new path to future.
Joseph J. DeFelice, Esq.
Mayfair