Chris Stigall: Jim Kenney Admits Philadelphia Is A Dump
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Chris Stigall believes Jim Kenney has his priorities mixed up after Philadelphia's Mayor promised to make a series of improvements around the city for the Democratic National Convention at the signing of a bill that will implement a 1.5 cent-an-ounce tax on sugary beverages.
Stigall, on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, said the Mayor's promises reveal the Philadelphia is not currently in the condition it should be in.
"Still don't know we get there but Jim Kenney pledges that now that sugary beverages will be taxed in Philadelphia, beginning January 1 of 2017, this will be the end of poverty as you and I know it. No one will be poor or needy or homeless ever again in Philadelphia now that the sugary beverage tax has passed. On the same day he signs this anti-poverty legislation through soda tax into law, he then begs everybody living in the city to stick around because he's really going to make this a place you'll want to see when the Democrats get here. I kid you not. The Mayor of Philadelphia is out there begging Philadelphians, please stay. I've got a bunch of projects in mind and I'm going to beautify the city and I'm going to make this something really special and neat that you're going to want to see, so when the Democrats come to town, you just wait to see the show we're going to put on. You're going to want to see this. Don't leave town now. Don't leave. Do you catch the irony of a guy basically confessing, as he signs this tax on sugary beverages, that we live in a dump? I don't know how else to say it folks. I wish I didn't have to be so blunt."
He stated making the city functional and livable should be his priority, regardless of whether a political convention is coming to town.
"Is it me or is just off putting to hear the Mayor of a major city say, boy, we're really going to spruce up this dump, you just wait and see, stick around, for the convention of course, that's it. What are you acknowledging then? You're acknowledging there is so much about this city that desperately needs real attention and real solutions, that you could be actively doing something about all the time, but we're going to dress it up for the week of the Democrat convention. Ooooh, how fortunate we are to live in a city where the Mayor is going to dump all this time and resources and energy in this dressing up the place to put on a show for a week. How lucky. Like we won the lottery. How about make that your constant commitment?"
