Biggest thing about being mayor is you can never lose sight of the fact that you are a regular, normal person coming from a rowhouse neighborhood. And if you ever lose sight of that fact and get too big for your head your head gets too big for your body, your friends my friends in south philly would let me know that real quick. And its important that people understand that you understand what they go through every day. Thats why i was a big proponent and took Public Transit a lot took the subway to work for a number of years just so people can see that you go through the same thing they go through. Your security detail doesnt let you take taxis anymore. No, they dont. They frown on the subway, too. Sure. But im still gonna use it from time to time. The Club Valiants, the black fire union, is upset with you because you are replacing Derrick Sawyer. You made him acting commissioner back in december. You want to wait for the announcement as to whos replacing him, but what do you have to say about Club Valiants . Why are you unhappy with Derrick Sawyers leadership . Well, its not Derrick Sawyer directly. Its sometimes in a department, you need a fresh set of eyes from outside. We had that when john timoney came in, we had that when chuck ramsey came in. I didnt feel that the Police Department needed a set of outside eyes this time, so we went with richard ross, and everyone is happy with him. Its not anything about commissioner sawyer or anyone else in that department. Its about a new direction that we need to go in. And i think weve been mired for lots of reasons in less than id like to see this department be, and we decided to go outside and see how it goes. Your sugarydrinks tax, they call it a soda tax, too. Sugarsweetened beverage tax. Thats the official name. Not grocery tax. Why that . I mean, was it about obesity . About revenue that you generate . Was it maybe the easiest one you felt could Pass City Council . Whyd you pick that one . It was solely about revenue, and revenue to provide quality prek opportunities for 10,000 more children in our city that desperately need it. Revenue to provide community schools, which deliver services directly to the school. This takes a lot of the burden off some of the parents who are working hard at lowwage jobs to get their kids the medical issues they need and attention they need. To rebuild our parks, infrastructure, and libraries. Were gonna generate hopefully about 600 million 300 million in city money and 300 million in leverage money to refurbish our parks, Recreation Centers, and libraries. Parks and Recreation Centers and libraries are the place where most of our children receive the most afterschool help, from 3 00 to 7 00, the most vulnerable time for a kid to be out in the street, when mom and dad are working. And our rec centers, some of them are 80 years old and havent seen any kind of real serious help in 40 years. So weve been kind of using my favorite tool, which is duct tape, to ducttape our boiler systems and our rooves and our basketball courts, and we need an overhaul. And weve seen that when you do overhaul libraries, Recreation Centers, and parks, the value in the neighborhood goes up, the housing value goes up, peoples spirits go up. And i think this was the only Revenue Source we had. If you look at realestate taxes, weve raised them four times in the last five or six years. If you look at u o taxes, use and occupancy, thats a bigger killer to Small Business than anything i can think of. Wage tax and business tax, as weve been touting, has been going down, you know, symbolically and actually, so we can bring more business to the city and keep more business in the city. This was a tax that is a choice that people will make to buy a product or not to buy it. Does it have to be 3 . Yeah. I mean, 3 gives us the 96 million we need to fund all the programs adequately. I know you disagree with this. I want to bring this up about stop and frisk. During the campaign you said youre gonna end it. And as mayor, you say it will continue, but youre telling police to be less aggressive. And some people believe youre backing off on one of your promises from your campaign. The use of stop and frisk as a fishing expedition, stopping individuals randomly on the street based on a profile, is over. But i will give you an example of why stop and frisk cant totally go away, or why frisking someone cant go away. If you walk outside here on city avenue after work and someone sticks you up with a gun, take your wallet, take your money, and you call 911 and you give a description of that guy 6 tall, hes wearing black clothing, and he had on a baseball cap, or a flyers hat and three minutes later, police in that district see a person fitting that description. Youve told them that he has a gun. Would you expect them not to check to see if he has a gun . And the way they do that is they have to pat him down. Now, it may be that suspect, it may not be. And if its not the suspect, we have a responsibility to tell that citizen, this is why you were stopped, cause we had a service call of a person with a gun, an armed robbery. You fit the description. Youre obviously not the person. We apologize, and were gonna go look for the bad guy. But if you have a service call to 911 and you tell somebody they have a gun, you should expect the police will keep themselves safe and keep the rest of the Community Safe by trying to get that gun off that person. But the use of it to randomly stop people without a service call, without a constitutional feeling of the constitutionality of it has ended. And i think were doing a better job in training, in discipline, and the like. Has school c. E. O. William hite done Everything Possible to trim down the budget to where you cant have someone go in and say, well, you know, we cant give them any more money because this is not an efficient program, and there can be some cuts here and some changes there . Well, bill hite has a very difficult job. Sometimes i think its more difficult than the job i have, especially when youre not getting support, and the constitution requires support from harrisburg. School district lost 1 billion under governor corbett, and were still recovering from that. Class sizes are up, teachers vacancies are up, buildings are not being repaired the way they should be. We had that terrible incident with one of our employees that was blown up in a boiler accident. I mean, so, the commonwealth of pennsylvania, under the state constitution, has the responsibility to provide a thorough and efficient education for our children. Theyre not doing it. And were working with Governor Wolf and reasonable members in the legislature, in the senate and the house, to try to get that done. But it is the states responsibility. The city has put 400 million additional money into the system over the last number of years. Our fiveyear plan calls for an additional 400 million of support for the school district. But we cant carry this burden alone. You endorse Hillary Clinton . Yes. And shes lost six of the last seven state contests. Why cant she close the deal . This is the time when shes supposed to do it. Look, its an election. Bernie sanders has generated a lot of interest, and a lot of interest amongst young people, which i think is awesome. She will be the nominee in the end, and and shell be the next president of the United States. I think shes earned it. She has the wealth of experience and knowledge. I met with her for the first time two days ago, for an hour and a half, at a Reentry Center up in kensington. People coming back from incarceration. And i had never had the opportunity to really talk to her. Shes smart and shes fun and shes funny and shes engaged, shes empathetic. She listens to people, she has good questions. I mean, i was very, very impressed. cause i usually see her on television, youre fending off some attack from someone in washington. This is a time where she really showed me the type of person that she is, and i think shell be a great president. And you will be the host of the Democratic National convention. Im looking forward to it. Thanks, mayor kenney. Well have you again soon. Any time you like. Thanks. Please. Thanks. Well be right back. Inside story is presented by temple university. Remarkable change isnt easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. Explore temples impact. Visit temple. Edu impact. In the last eight years, the fracking industry has spent over 40 Million Dollars on lobbying in pennsylvania. So its no surprise that even though theyve had over 4,000 violations, all theyve ever gotten is just a slap on the wrist its time for that change. Im josh shapiro, and ill hold the oil and Gas Companies criminally liable for poisoning our air and our drinking water. Ill be an attorney general who always works for you. Democrat josh shapiro. Hell stand up for us. There are two democratic visions for regulating wall street. One says its okay to take millions from big banks and then tell them what to do. My plan break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes, and make them pay their fair share. Then we can expand health care to all, and provide universal college education. Will they like me . No. Will they begin to play by the rules if im president . You Better Believe it. Im Bernie Sanders and i approve this message. A little child with big dreams. Dwight evans. First a community activist. A legislator at 25. Always looking out for us. He worked to create a thriving commercial district. And hes brought new Grocery Stores to underserved areas. Dwight evans is committed to revitalizing neighborhoods in all of philadelphia. Hell be a block by block congressman for us. Im dwight evans and im proud to approve this message. Back with inside story. Lets meet our panelists of the week. Ajay raju, attorney. Morning, matt. Ed turzanski, foreignpolicy analyst. Hello, matt. Donna gentile odonnell. No relation, but first time you and i are both on this show, so welcome to inside story. Good to be here. Thanks. Nonprofit executive. Welcome, donna. And val digiorgio, gop state official in chester county. Good morning. Hey, val. All right, so, lets talk about mayor kenney. First time hes ever been on inside story. What were we thinking . But, you know, talk about what he was talking about with the soda tax, and also with the fire commissioner. Lot of things going on in city hall. And he gives a good interview, and hes right to be fixing philadelphia parks, and putting money into those worthy programs he talked about. Its just always disappointing that tax increases are always the first resort instead of the last resort. Theres never any conversation of zerobased budgeting, or ways we can make government more efficient and then funnel that money into these other worthy places. And its always discouraging. I also have to take issue with one thing he said. Whenever i hear the misstatement, it needs to be corrected. Governor corbett did not cut 1 billion out of state spending. That happened when the stimulus money went away. We spent more money under governor corbett than ever on education. So just want to set that record straight. Think the soda tax is gonna happen, ajay, as its stated, with 3 . I think the opposition is pretty strong on this one. I think, if i read the political tea leaves, it will be very difficult for it to happen. But what struck me the most, which always strikes me when you see mayor kenney, hes kenney from the block. There is a j. Ken aspect to him which i think is very likeable. And i think if theres anybody who has the political honeymoon period that we could take advantage of, it would be mayor kenney at this point. But i doubt that this will pass. Donna. Well, he also noted that it had to be 3 . And i think if youre gonna go into a negotiation, and youre saying, this is what i have to have, i think it makes it hard to back it down. I also, the last time we talked about this im looking for the frenchfry tax. I think its a mistake to only single out one food thats unhealthy. And, you know, Heart Disease is a big deal in this town, and if you really want to make a dent in it, it cant just be sugar. There was another way to do this. So, why stop at french fries . I mean, this is the classic definition of slippery slope. Sure. So now governments going to get into taxing all sorts of foods. And, by the way, the mayor said it was not about health. Thats right. It was about revenues, and trying to accomplish all those things that val, i think, correctly identified as being very good goals. The sort of thing no one can be against the things that hed like to do with the money. One of the things to watch, and he very briefly referenced it, will this be known as a sugarydrink tax or a grocery tax . Mmhmm. If you hear sugary drink more and more, chances are that itll have a better prospect to pass. The more you hear the word grocery, the less likely it is to pass, because then peoples imaginations start to become very expansive, and they say, what will be next . Whats the next thing that theyll go after . French fries. [ laughs ] and keep in mind, theres some question of whether you need state authorization for this tax. And its not 3 , its 3 cents per ounce. Thats 36 cents a can. Thats 2. 10 for a twoliter bottle. And its just the question comes up again and again, when is enough enough . When is enough of our money enough . They want to tax everything they can get their hands on, the left. Really need to talk about how to find efficiencies in government, and then funnel the money to these worthy programs that way. He didnt want to mention who was going to be the next fire commissioner, but we know its going to be adam thiel. He comes from virginia. Whenever you bring an outsider into a Big Department like that, you get some flack from the rank and file. You think thats gonna happen in this situation . Not necessarily. If you need a fresh perspective, if you need a new restart, as the mayor pointed out, if that was a sincere attempt to sort of jumpstart and exfoliate the old practices, and to, you know, bring like agenda to the old organization, then its fine. And this appointee has a very, very substantial resume that i think is gonna be helpful in the dnc. I mean, hes got a Homeland Security background, hes done a lot of work not only in Emergency Management and fire. So hes got a varied background. I think hes a good pick, and i think the sooner they can get him here, get his feet on the ground, and get him working toward addressing the complex logistics that will come with the dnc, i think thats meaningful. And theyre cultural changes that were talking about that we should be talking about, and were not. And i think thats what the mayor was referencing. He wanted somebody from the outside to do a deepdive, 360 review, see what is happening, and to see if there are not some shared lessons coming from the Homeland Security venue, and also other places that can be brought to bear. But just keeping in mind, cultural change is difficult, especially in a town like philadelphia. It does tend to be somewhat insulary, especially in situations where you have Union Contracts that are gonna have to be challenged to perhaps change how things are done. We mentioned the schools during our interview, and mayor kenney firmly believes that the states not doing its end of the duty. Isnt the schools the one big issue that could really turn out to be a land mine and blow up in his face in a couple months . cause theres so much uncertainty with wolf and the legislature and the budget. Well, thats another question. How much is enough . Lets start with, what do you need to educate a child in the city of philadelphia . Lets try to work toward that number, and justify it. Why do you need that . And we never get that. Its always, we need more, we need more, we need more. And you never get better results. So, its now 18,000 a child to educate. Thats what were paying, state and federal and local money, to educate a child in the city of philadelphia. That should be more than enough. Now, there are some bakedin costs with pensions. Were trying to get pension reform in harrisburg so we can alleviate some of those costs. Well, but 18,000 is probably more than enough for my kid, who has two parents, not going to school hungry, doesnt have, probably, bullets flying through, between his commute from home to. But 18,000 in terms of Overall Services the public schools, especially urban schools, are not just providing education. Theyre providing a lot more than that health services, mental services, et cetera. So i think its a combination of both. Its what you do with the money, whether the moneys being efficiently used. But also, i think we have to recognize that the funding system is inherently unfair to the urban schools and people who live in poor neighborhoods. But can we also have a more broad base conception as to who is part of the educational environment . Youve got the Catholic School system of this community that has done an extraordinary job, and is frozen out of getting any kind of money. Right. Put some of that into the Catholic School system. Thats a different issue. Well, no. No, no. It is the issue. Right. Its the issue. Because you keep on funneling the money in one direction. If this is a public need, its a public good were talking about, consider the Catholic School system a partner. Let them have some access to this. Im not convinced that were using the money efficiently. I definitely dont think that were using the money efficiently. And to your very good point, ed, and the mayor mentioned this, the commonwealth does have a constitutional obligation. It does not, however, specify how that constitutional obligation is to be met. Right. So that, i think, is a place that bears further examination. You know, what do you do with that . Youve got tremendously experien