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Save Our Scouts, Part 3

I used Hallwatch.org to send this letter to my councilwoman and the at-large members of the Philadelphia City Council.

To: Councilman Clarke, Councilwoman Blackwell, Councilman Goode, Councilman Greenlee, Councilman Kelly, Councilman Kenney, Councilman Ramos, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, Councilman Rizzo

cc: Mayor Street

The City of Philadelphia is moving to evict the Boy Scouts of America from their headquarters at 22nd and Winter Streets. This is in direct response to the national scouting organizations policy of barring avowed homosexuals from serving as leaders. The Scouts were vindicated in their right to set membership standards by the Supreme Court’s Dale decision. However, the local council has been hamstrung by the national office in their efforts to appease the city. In the end, the people who lose are the children.

Currently two acts, the Support Our Scouts Act and Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, have been enacted that protect the rights of the Boy Scouts. This move by the city to force the Scouts to pay market rates on a building they have held for 80 years is clearly retaliation for standing up for their principals (i.e. viewpoint discrimination).

The city’s insistence on evicting the Scouts at a time of record youth violence is in poor judgment. There is no reason to evict the Scouts except to make a political point. Since the city is clearly violating one or both of the two acts noted above (and risking HUD and Education funds), what are you going to do to help the Scouts?

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Note: The Boy Scout building sits in Councilman Clarke's District:

Councilman Darrell L. Clarke City Council 5th District City Hall, Room 484 Philadelphia, PA 19107-3290	Mayor John F. Street Room 215 City Hall Philadelphia, PA 19107
http://www.phila.gov/citycouncil
Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell City Council 5th District City Hall, Room 484 Philadelphia, PA 19107-3290	Councilman William Greenlee City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 580 Philadelphia, PA 19107
Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 316 Philadelphia, PA 19107	Councilman Jack Kelly City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 594 Philadelphia, PA 19107
Councilman James Kenney City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 330 Philadelphia, PA 19107	Councilman Juan F. Ramos City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 590 Philadelphia, PA 19107
Councilman Blondell Reynolds Brown City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 581 Philadelphia, PA 19107	Councilman Frank Rizzo, Jr. City Council At-Large City Hall, Room 582 Philadelphia, PA 19107

Save Our Scouts, Part 2

I found out that the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education has authority to resolve complaints filed under the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act.

In any case, here is another letter:

Secretary Margaret Spellings
United States Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary Spellings:

The City of Philadelphia is moving to evict the Boy Scouts of America from their headquarters at 22nd and Winter Streets. This is in direct response to the national scouting organizations policy of barring avowed homosexuals from serving as leaders. The Scouts were vindicated in their right to set membership standards by the Supreme Court’s Dale decision.

Currently two acts, the Support Our Scouts Act and Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, have been enacted that protect the rights of the Boy Scouts. This move by the city to force the Scouts to pay market rates on a building they have held for 80 years is clearly retaliation for standing up for their principals (i.e. viewpoint discrimination). Additionally, the local council has been hamstrung by the national office in their efforts to appease the city. In the end, the people who lose are the children.

There is no reason to evict the Scouts except to make a political point. Since the city is clearly violating one or both of the two acts noted above, what are you going to do to enforce the statutes? I hope to see some action by the U.S. Department of Education
in support of Scouting.

Sincerely,



Bruce G. Andersen

cc: Senator Specter
Senator Casey
Mayor Street

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Senator Arlen Specter Philadelphia Office 600 Arch Street, Suite 9400 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Senator Bob Casey Harrisburg Office 555 Walnut Street, First Floor Harrisburg, PA 17101

Mayor John F. Street Room 215 City Hall Philadelphia, PA 19107

Save Our Scouts

Recently, the City of Philadelphia began efforts to evict the local Boy Scout council from their offices. This is a difficult issue. I don't necessarily agree with the Scouts on their position on homosexuals and adult leadership. I don't agree that punishing the local councils for a national policy helps anyone, and that in the end the kids are the losers. I thought I would share the letter I wrote.

Secretary Alphonso Jackson
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20410

Dear Secretary Jackson:

The City of Philadelphia is moving to evict the Boy Scouts of America from their headquarters at 22nd and Winter Streets. This is in direct response to the national scouting organizations policy of barring avowed homosexuals from serving as leaders. The Scouts were vindicated in their right to set membership standards by the Supreme Court’s Dale decision.

Currently two acts, the Support Our Scouts Act and Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, have been enacted that protect the rights of the Boy Scouts. This move by the city to force the Scouts to pay market rates on a building they have held for 80 years is clearly retaliation for standing up for their principals (i.e. viewpoint discrimination). Additionally, the local council has been hamstrung by the national office in their efforts to appease the city. In the end, the people who lose are the children.

There is no reason to evict the Scouts except to make a political point. Since the city is clearly violating one or both of the two acts noted above, what are you going to do to enforce the statutes? I hope to see some action by HUD in support of Scouting.

Sincerely,



Bruce G. Andersen

cc: Senator Specter
Senator Casey
Mayor Street

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Senator Arlen Specter Philadelphia Office 600 Arch Street, Suite 9400 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Senator Bob Casey Harrisburg Office 555 Walnut Street, First Floor Harrisburg, PA 17101

Mayor John F. Street Room 215 City Hall Philadelphia, PA 19107

Wal-Mart and its treatment of Pennsylvania workers on trial in Philadelphia.

Today, in a completely random situation, I heard that there is a class action suit against Wal-Mart going on here in Pennsylvania claiming that the company failed to pay hourly wages for all time worked. The case, Michelle Braun & Delores Hummel v. Wal-Mart Stores, went to trial at the beginning of the month in the Court of Common Pleas. There appears to be more than 70 similar lawsuits filed nation-wide in both federal and state courts.

In California, employees won, a $172 million verdict last December, and in New Jersey the employees lost and the case is on appeal. The Bloomberg news service reports that the next trial is in Massachusetts in October.

There has been no local press about this! According to a Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. boosted profit at the expense of employees by pressuring store managers to cut payroll costs, a lawyer for two former workers said at the start of a trial in Philadelphia.

Hourly workers at Wal-Mart’s Pennsylvania stores were forced to skip more than 33 million breaks and 2 million meal periods between 1998 and 2001 because of the focus on cost cuts, attorney Michael Donovan said Friday in state court. His clients are suing Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, on behalf of about 186,000 current and former employees in Pennsylvania.

The missed breaks and meals, mandated by Pennsylvania labor laws, added up to about 9 million hours of employee time, he said.

Michelle Braun and Dolores Hummel are seeking $ 300 million in damages in the lawsuit, one of more than 70 filed in federal and state courts that claim Wal-Mart failed to pay hourly wages for all time worked.

Why aren’t we hearing about this in Philadelphia?

Blog Day 2006

Blog Day 2006 also check out http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2006

Here are my five:

Lawmummy- tales of modern motherhood

• http://www.lawmummy.com

Jeffster83- snarky, yet hopeful

• http://tabulas.com/~jeffster83

Jim Weyrauch - tales from the labor front

• http://ncfll644.blogspot.com
  

Scoats - Publican * Writer * Artist

• http://scoats.com

Mari Margil - Blue Oregon

• http://www.blueoregon.com/mari_margil
  

Honorable Mention

Blinq - The 'official' blogger of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

• http://blogs.philly.com/blinq
  
  

Vote for me!

My Candidate Statement


So, today I took a leap and submitted my name for the board of directors of the WikiMedia Foundation. Yikes! Sounds like a challenge, but one I'm up to.

This is a summary of the candidate statement I submitted ...

I am continually amazed by the things I see at wikipedia and its sister projects. My first experience with computers was programming simple games using punch tape, and the on an Apple_II_Plus. I got my first email account in 1986 and started poking around on newsgroups, MUDs and the Internet shortly after. I see the wikis as a great example of the possibilities of the Internet to disseminate knowledge and to build civil society.

As a board member, the issues I would focus on issues in three broad areas:

1. Building community

• Peer review is what makes wikipedia great. Petty infighting is aggravating and drives people away. I would work on ways to prevent conflicts
• Admins and sysops are a great group of people. We need to promote their work by improving the ways they are selected
• Promote communities of individuals with interest and expertise in specific topics. This in turn will improve article quality.

2. Promoting articles that expand knowledge, are accurate and fair

• Promoting interlanguage coordination – reducing the difference between articles in different languages and strengthening the projects with a smaller number of articles by making translations easier.
• Building partnerships with verified resources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.) to improve the accuracy of articles and improving the reliability the information
• Promoting groups of technical experts in key areas (like copyright issues). Improving the brain trust involved in key issues will help with reducing conflicts between contributors.

3. Building a strong financial base for the foundation

• Increase the financial stability by expanding the donor base of the foundation. This includes promotion of an endowment.
• Work to recruit volunteers and donors to the foundation and acknowledgement of those donors.
• Explore ways that we can use technology to improve how information is delivered.
• Build our technical infrastructure

I have the experience in non-profit management and the technical knowledge to contribute to the wikimedia foundation.

Vote early, vote often and let your friends know!