Havent seen in quite some time. People are extremely passionate on both sides of the issue because youre talking about children, but youre also talking about the potential loss of jobs. So were getting that level of debate in the council, in the street. Wherever you go, people want to talk about sugary drink tax. So, i think, at some point, we will come up with a solution, cause we do need to figure out a way to do these very worthy causes. Im not sure how we do them. The actual Implementation Phase is still not clear to me. I have a lot of questions, as the other members do, as it relates to, why do you set up a totally new prek system when there already is a prek system . Why dont you just give the money to the existing prek system . How do we get the diversity that we need to have as it relates to construction on new rec centers and libraries . All of those things need to be discussed. Lets take both ends of that question. Lets start with the money. Everybody that ive called in city hall, nobody thinks 3 cents is happening, and its question of where it comes down the scale. Right. Some people say 2, some people say 1. You put out some things your staff looked at. What if it was a quarter of a cent . What if it was a half of a cent . You, personally, where do you think this ends up . cause you asked questions in the budget meetings about revenue. What is that sweet spot where you raise a decent amount of revenue and you think itll work . Well, we prepared a document that was given to members. Somehow, it got out in the press. Things happen. And the reality is, we laid out the revenue associated with the half a cent, quarter of a cent, three quarters of a cent, a penny. The penny will raise approximately 57 million. Theres some thought that that could actually run all of the programs. Im assuming that the administration doesnt think thats enough. But the reality is, if we can address all of those particular programs, i think thats most important. Will there be the need to do additional dollars . Thats probably not the only way you can get the money, by a sugary drink tax, but thats the purpose of having the debate and sitting down and looking at the revenue side of this, to make sure that we can do something for these young people. Is the idea that maybe you get some from this and Something Else happens . The people have talked about court fees, about finding money in the budget, about container tax. Will any of those things get moving, or its just talk . Well, there are a lot of things that we can do, but you do and i agree with the mayor that you do need to have one level of funding for this program that is going to be sustainable. But then theres some question about that, cause you have one side of the equation with people saying, well, you got to drop down consumption of sugar. But as you drop down consumption of sugar, you drop down the revenue. Whats more Important Health or the ability to fund a program . So that needs to be clear as to what our priorities are on that one. What are you hearing from the mayor about how this actually happens . Where would these seats be . What would the standards be . Could i open up a prek in my kitchen and come up with whatever standards i want . Was something going to be laid out . Have you heard answers to that question . Well, they have a proposal. The prek commission has worked on it for quite some time, and they talked about the star system the 1, 2, 3, 4 star system. 3 and 4 is our quality preks. A number of the 2s and probably 1s, we would like to see them have an opportunity to become 3 and 4s. I am concerned, and ive said it publicly, about the notion that you have a prek system that has no income guidelines. The reality is, every federal, state, and other programs talked about a cap 300 above the poverty level. For whatever reason, this proposal does not have that. So i dont know why, to some degree, we should be subsidizing individuals who can clearly pay with taxpayer dollars. I dont know why we have to set up a system when we currently have existing systems that do a good job, as it relates to administering prek programs. So those are the kind of conversations that well be having over the next two weeks. You keep saying, i dont know why. Are you hearing enough from mayor kenney the answers to those questions, and are you surprised if youre not . Well, im not talking directly to mayor kenney. These are conversations that are had in the budget hearings about these programs. I think thats clearly something that we have to do. I mean, theres no doubt about it. How we do it and when we do it is obviously something that were gonna work on in the next two weeks. I like to have a better perspective on some of the other opportunities that exist, as it relates to funding. I think there is a number of places we can find some money to support this if the sugary tax, in fact, gets implemented. But thats gonna happen relatively soon, so stay tuned. All right. What im hearing is, something will happen, but maybe not 3 cents, but well see what happens. Oh, were gonna do prek. Ill make it clear. Were gonna do prek, figure out the way to support prek, and were gonna figure out a way to support our infrastructure, as it relates to our rec centers and our libraries. Speaking of support, the city commissioners came before you this week to talk about their budget, and theyve been getting beaten up from all ends. Former Council Member marian tasco. Former commissioner says, i dont see why we need this office. Other groups have said, lets get rid of it. Your comments seem to support the idea of keeping the office at least, thats how it was heard and that was a surprise to some. Why so, at this moment, when many people thought they could be pushed off the boards . Right. Well, the real reason that people are expressing their concerns about the Commissioners Office is because the chairman of the commission allegedly did not come to work. I mean, lets be clear the issue was around i dont think theres an allegedly. Thats been documented. Well, i have to say that. Im not sure my lawyers will represent me appropriately. But the reality is, allegedly, this person did not come to work. Thats why theres this brouhaha, and thats a problem, if, in fact, thats true. But the reality is, is that the commissioners have functioned for a long, long time. As you referenced, commissioner tasco. She was a commissioner. My issue has to do with the fact that you had, basically, a year of press on individuals an individual and somehow, he managed to get more votes than anybody else in the commissioners race. He actually im told he got more votes than the person that did not win the mayors race. So, if theres something wrong with our election process, where a person who is criticized roundly goes out and gets the number of votes that they got, that needs to be changed. Do you want to keep this office, or do you think we should get rid of it . I think its an office that functions properly. Lets target the issue, and the issue is and i brought it up in the hearing the other day. It was the elephant in the room, and they need to reform that. Very quickly, we saw the end of the case between ori feibush and councilman kenyatta johnson. The larger issue, many people have wondered, will this call into question councilmanic privilege or, prerogative . Are you concerned that this could end up being an issue in your district and other districts, or was this a oneoff just between the two of them . Well, first, i dont know what that is, councilmanic prerogative. I know what the charter says is authorization of disposition of land as required by the charter. The idea that councilpeople have a hand in what comes before for land distribution, land sale. Im doing my chartermandated responsibility. This issue with feibush and councilman johnson will work its way through the courts. I understand theres gonna be an appeal to the decision that was made. At the end of the day, were required to pass legislation that disposes of publicly owned land in the city of philadelphia. It doesnt scare you that you could start to see lawsuits when something doesnt go somebodys way . Oh, no, we have good lawyers. All right. City Council President , thank you for joining us this morning. Youre welcome. And well take a short break and come back to our inside story panel. 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. Ans age 50 to 85 whats your reason for getting Life Insurance . Im in my 60s and i work parttime with no benefits. 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Dont wait, call today. soft music Colonial Penn jingle welcome back to inside story. Im tamala edwards. Time now to bring in the panel. Lets introduce you to everybody. Well start with pollster terry madonna. Good morning. Morning, tam. Radio talkshow host dom giordano. Morning, tam. Journalist larry platt. Good morning. And Communications Executive jeff jubelirer. Morning. Good morning. We just had Darrell Clarke here talking about the sugary tax. Its all they seem to be talking about downtown. This is what i heard. Somethings passing, its not 3, im thinking 1. Thats me reading between the lines. Oh, okay that is my reading between the lines. What did you guys hear . I dont see i think big soda, the villains, cant allow that, because with them, its not about the amount of money and lower sales. Theyre being made a pariah. Berkeley already did it. If another city does it, across the country, youre gonna see a bunch of people do it. Really . Two cities . Can that be enough to start a trend . Oh, yeah, because its also a precedent. Its also a precedent. Lets say its one. Then it becomes two, then it becomes three. Will they go for more . Thats the starting point. And if people like prek, maybe theyll start to say. But so far, weve only seen three Council Members come out and say theyre not doing it, and i didnt hear him suggest that people are absolutely against it. The more i talk to people, the more it sounds like this could pass. It wont unanimous, but this could get through. And the fact of the matter is, councilman clarke, the fact that he broached it he didnt put it off the table. He said, how about a halfcent tax . How about a quartercent . Means i think somethings going to happen. 80 of the voters in philadelphia, i think, the last ti when mayor kenney ran in the primary voted for this prek commission to study. There is nothing more important i think, around this table, we would agree than prek, to get people out of poverty, into schools, into jobs. It all starts there. Something is going to happen. Larry, there are a lot of questions that are being raised that i thought were interesting on his part. Who gets to do the work on the parks . How many kids get seats . Where do those seats belong . What are they gonna be taught . Like, these are a lot of questions as you get down a couple of weeks out from voting. Well, there already is prek in the School District. There are about 9,000 students, i believe. Why are we not going through the School Districts . Its actually a lack of its a lack of a vote of confidence in the School District to be able to pull this off. But i do think that, just getting back to i think doms right. There the industry is going to pull out all the stops to try and stop anything from passing. If something i think your instinct is right something will pass. Something modest will pass. I suspect the Beverage Industry will then sue, based yes. Theyre expecting a suit. Thats right. And based on this idea that its really a backdoor sales tax, which you need the legislature for. Yeah, its interesting that, literally speaking, its not a tax on the people drinking the soda and the sugary beverage. Its a tax on the distributors. And not everywhere have they passed on the full tax to the end user. They will here, though, without a doubt. Can i ask you a question about that . If you pass the whole thing on and you make my soda so expensive that i dont buy it, how do you not cut off your nose to spite your face . Pass on a little bit so im mad about it, but i buy your soda. Well, i think its Something Else, though. A column in the daily news recently, stu bykofsky made the point sodas already down. Healthconscious people are not drinking soda. I dont remember the last soda that i had, literally. And the dietsoda thing hasnt helped. So theyre afraid theyre gonna be made ultimately into a villain. Thats the part that i resent most. But they can do what they do with alcohol. Right. You dont have to buy it in the city. You can go somewhere else and buy it. Buy it bulk, you know. Yeah, but, you know, theres a lot of with cigarettes, they still made a lot of money on people. Not everybody lives on a border. Over the course of time, they forget about it, and theyll pay. Other taxes you have to pay. Heres a tax you dont have to pay. Dont drink the soda. Sorry. Its easier said than done. You dont have to. But there is and i think one of the things that president clarke is hearing, especially from africanamerican members of council, that there is a regressive nature to this tax. Bernie sanders said it. Bernie sanders said it, and clarke even said it in an earlier announcement, when there was discussions about the 3 cents, right . He made that point. But what i also heard is, they might do the sugary tax, but Something Else, because he was flatout, we support the idea of prek. So you got to pay for it somewhere else. Wheres somewhere else . Yeah. Well, first of all, i keep going back to the issue of, why are we taxing with a 4 billion budget, why are we taxing anything . Why cant we make elect leaders who make the hard political choices about what to actually fund . We didnt have this we just had a mayors race, and we didnt have the discussion about how youre gonna pay kenney talked about prek, but if you remember, his answer to how youre gonna pay for it was, im gonna do zerobased budgeting. Yeah. And that fell by the wayside, which was supposed to lead to all these savings. Well, the funny thing is, thats exactly what councilwoman sanchez is also saying go find it in the budget. And shes a very progressive member of council, right up there with the most progressive. And you cant say, go to harrisburg, cause thats not gonna happen. Not at the rate things are going. What you could say is that if Hillary Clinton wins, shes pro soda tax, pro prek. Maybe the feds how do you do a National Soda tax . [ laughter ] they do a grant program, a Block Grant Program for cities. Thats true. Lets talk a little bit about the national election, and well start locally, looking at senator toomey, who did some interesting things. This poor man, hes trying to go left and right at the same time, writing an editorial in which he did not endorse donald trump but said, here are the things you could do to come back in my direction. And at the same time, he seems to be very open not finally confirmed but open to not going to the convention this summer. Is he doing the right things to split the difference, or is he gonna get burned on both ends . I think hes doing the right thing so far, but i thought that inquirer editorial was a step forward. When he was on with me, he went through, i endorse rubio, then cruz, then trump, and all that. He didnt put in all that language he had. That was a step further. If he doesnt go to the convention, i think thats a mistake, because hes gonna be linked with all these others that are nationally going after trump. Terry, you do polling, and quinnipiac polling came out with something that said he had lost 8 points in the last month, that he had had a 9point lead over mcginty. Now its down to 1. Do you believe that poll is about right . Yeah. I mean, i think the race is closer. You know, the problem right now is deciding whos going to vote. Were going to ha we could have a very different kind of electorate this fall than weve had in modern american history. We dont know yet. But i want to make a point. Heres the problem the biggest problem that senator toomey faces. In the 80s, one out of every two voters split their ticket, meaning they voted for a president of one party and a senator or a member of congr over. Toomeys biggest fear and im not saying this will happen is a wave that, if Hillary Clinton this is a hypothetical. If she were to carry the state, 8 or 10 points, down ballot, toomey is in real trouble. I think thats his biggest concern, that he loses this notion of being an independent. You know, hes a republican so maybe he doesnt go to the convention because hes really busy. [ laughter ] the other thing is that, its just to his the piece he wrote in his public commentary on this is way too tortured and nuanced. We all soak this stuff up, but most people are looking at this, you know, in the headline mode, and he seems like he doesnt have a core conviction. Thats the problem. Well, to me, the opportunity is, if he can get back from, again, moving to the middle on this guncontrol issue, where he showed bipartisan nature working with the senator from west virginia, manchin, and hes got to. Is that a big enough issue . I wouldnt do that again. But doms gonna say hes gonna lose his base. Its a seesaw. Right. But, no, hes doing exactly the right thing, i think, at this point. Hes got to localize it. But, look he also wouldnt allow the government to shut down. You know, he supported the budget deal, no shutdown. He also, on social