Brian Rudnick for City Council- and Beyond

Green Party Parties at Greenfest Philly

Shown here are PA State  Green Party Chair Hillary Aisenstein and Philadelphia Green Party Chair Charles Sherrouse. Click here for a little video of 2008 Greenfest Randi Peters from the Berks County Greens helped out too!

Rudnick Supports Committee of Seventy Ethics Agenda and proposes the addition of three more reform items

I wholeheartedly support the 22 items on the Committee of Seventy Ethics Agenda because these proposals work against nepotism, payoffs, and the like and because they advance the Green Party principles of active democracy, governmental transparency, fairness and social justice.

To the agenda I would like to add

1. Introduce legislation for 3 term limit for City Council
2. Introduce legislation to change the minimum age to serve on Council or as Mayor from 25 to 21
3. Introduce legislation for runoff elections whenever the highest vote-getter in any election does not receive a majority of the votes.

I am asking the Committee of Seventy to add these 3 to the 22 in place for a nice round 25 items!  The Committee of Seventy Ethics Agenda follows:

How Will You Vote On Ballot Questions?

The Committee of Seventy has published the Questions that will appear on the Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Ballot. They deal with Casinos, Zoning, the Resign to Run Rule...

Rudnick Helps Write Reform Agenda

From the Philadelphia Forward website:     "     Welcome to the Citizen's R.E.F.O.R.M. Agenda. From now until March 31st, we, the people of Philadelphia, are collectively writing the R.E.F.O.R.M. Agenda — a series of action items to establish a transparent, accountable, and accessible government that works efficiently for all citizens, not just a few.

***FULL TEXT OF REFORM AGENDA HERE Download philly_reform_agenda_040207.doc ***

Rudnick Adds:
ON SCHOOLS: The City shall exercise responsibility and control over local schools by establishing a democratically elected School Board consisting partly of democratically elected representatives from the Home and School Associations. Additionally, the City shall take such steps to ensure increased and sustainable tax based funding for the school system recognizing that an investment in our students is an investment in the future of the city. Furthermore,anyone so serving on the Board, must reside at all times within the City and, if the parent or guardian of a school age child, shall be required to enroll her or his child in the public school system.

ON VOTING: The City will cause to be undertaken an independent study of alternative voting schemata such as proportional representation, request and report on the recommendations of the independent body, with a view to enfranchising the constituencies of minority party candidates, whose voices deserve to represented in any democratically empowered municipal government

ON THE ENVIRONMENT: In recognition that a modern city needs be an environmentally healthy city, a postion of "Secretary of Environment" shall be established in the Mayor's cabinet, the duties of which shall include ensuring cooperation between city departments, the city law department and office of information, in matters relating to the health of our ecoysystem (air, land, water) and who shall serve as a liaison with federal agencies such as the US EPA and the Pennsylvania DEP to ensure that existing problems are expeditiously resolved and that development proceeds in an environmentally sound and sustainable fashion.

Forum about Casinos- Rudnick Addresses Audience

"The Casino Free Philadelphia movement is not anti-casino as much as it is pro- people, pro-Philadelphia. It is very fitting that this forum is being held here at St. Paul's Church where, in cooperation with Our Mother of Consolation Church and the Interfaith Hospitality Network, homeless families are being housed right now-  because casinos abet gambling addictions which can lead to homelessness. We, as neighbors here in Chestnut Hill,  have the right to say "Not in my back yard" when it comes to casinos, to be 'NIMBYs'. Irv Ackelesberg needs to be mentioned because he helped defend the rights of neighbors in East Falls from having a casino plop down in their midst. Perhaps other neighborhoods, or ALL neighborhoods can be 'NIMBYs' too when it comes to casinos"