ACT 130 of 2011 Dec 22 2011 SB 1054

Capital Budget Act of 2011

TIER 3 AGAINST LIBERTY- A yea vote will subtract 50 points to grade and a nay vote will add 50 points from the grade. The Vote by Member of House and Senate 22 December 2011 (Liberty Index) ACT 130 of 2011 Capital Budget Act of 2011 (RACP)

This bill borrows $1.6 billion dollars for projects, many of which have very questionable justifications. Even with regard to those that do, there is a question of whether the taxpayers can afford them and what the impact of additional government borrowing has on job creation.

Who Will Stop Dominic Pileggi? Comcast-$30 Million Dollars; Janney-$10 Million Dollars A $1.6 billion dollar borrowing and a statewide capital project, politicized corporate welfare, bill was rushed through the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Governor Signed on December 19th (ACT 130 Dec 22 SB 1054 Capital Budget Act of 2011-2012) ; $460 million of that will go to 197 projects in Philadelphia. In that group about a dozen are recognizable as local to Democratically controlled Northwest Philadelphia. See entire list of pork below. It is all a matter of record.

Real Life Pirates arent as entertaining to the Forgotten Taxpayer who is forced to pay for political pork.

Disgracefully, the Senate voted UNANIMOUSLY for Debt for Pork ACT 130 !! Dominic Pileggi is the Majority Leader responsible for engineering this.

This dramatic graph demonstrates where we are headed as more and more of Pennsylvanias Taxpayers are forced by government to pay Debt Service without seeing more jobs or seeing that they are better off. Commonwealth Foundations Nate Benefield, the premier policy analyst in Pennsylvania, explains the Act 130 Capital Budget of 2011, including RACP, Redevelopment Assistance Capital Projects Time to End Borrowing for Corporate Welfare 19 December 2011 Nathan Benefield

Tweedledee Tweedledum Republicans Finance Democrats with Taxpayer Funds.

Democratic Mega Donor Patrick Burns, president and CEO of Fresh Grocer, Sells First Lady Michelle Obama with his multi-million forgotten taxpayer financed vision approved of and enacted with connivance of Republican State Senate, Republican State House and Republican Penna. Governor. Millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars later, is anyone other than Pat Burns and Michelle Obama any better off?

Republican State Senate Leadership 2011-2012 the Conniving RINOs undercutting Republican Limited Government principles and The Forgotten Taxpayer

Jim Fosters Germantown Newspapers highlighted some of the obvious political projects in Democratically controlled Northwest Philadelphia and one has to ask why Republican controlled House, a Republican controlled Senate and a Republican Governor fund Democratic Pork Projects which are used to buy Democratic votes? Is this what we can expect from the

Republican Leadership?

$2.5 Million Dollars in Funding for Mt. Airy Transit (photos of vacant lots dramatizes the cynical political appropriation.) Chelten Plaza Update September 1; Appeal Chelten Plaza Zoning (Yvonne Haskins, Esq. 15 September 2011); Chelten Plaza Protesters Take to the Street (21 July 2011); Mt. Airys Yvonne Haskins ( 21 July 2011) Pat Burns and His Circle of Friends 21 September 2012); Donna Miller Sells Out Germantown Again (10 October 2011); Mr. ATM ( 7 April 2011); Germantown Shortchanged in Rail Station Restoration Work(21 July 2011).

RACPLIST PDF

Philadelphia List (Germantown Newspapers link) Obama Funder multimillion OnePerCenter Pat Burns Chelten Obama Funder Brian Roberts Comcast Towers, part of total of Chaka Fattah affiliated House of Imoja

Bill #0906-00 $3,000,000 and Pulaski Revitalization Bill #0363-00 $2,197,598 $30,000,000 appropriation. Bill #0247-00 $850,000

Bill #1041-00

$ 2,500,000

Mt. Airy Transit Village (a vacant lot)

Links to Original Sources RACP Grants Re-Released By Governor Corbett Full List State Web Site Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program Governors Budget Office Official Web Site Philadelphia List RCAP (Germantown Newspapers Link) Millions for Billionaires what crony capitalism looks like in Pennsylvania. Why? Because the Billionaires need it more than the Taxpayers. Millions of dollars taken by the government from productive Taxpayers are sent to Billions Dollar private, very profitable Billion Dollar corporations. What is the sense of that kind of Redistribution of the Wealth make? Or are these politicized economic and investment decisions masks for crony capitalist vote buying?

Franklin Mint Expansion Exton, Penna.

RACP Grants Re-Released By Governor Corbett Full List Governors Budget Office Excerpts: 2 103800 Janney Montgomery Scott Headquarters Philadelphia $ 10,000,000 02/14/11 105000 Teva Pharmaceuticals Philadelphia $ 2,500,000 02/14/11 $ 500,000 07/26/11

138 088201 Shop Rite Montgomery 173 37750002 Franklin Mint Delaware County

$ 5, 000,000 08/03/11

Controversy Comcast Bldg Wikipedia Liberty Property Trust hoped to get the One Pennsylvania Plaza site designated a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone (KOZ). A KOZ was designed to encourage development in poor, blighted areas by exempting the tenants of the building from all state and local taxes. Designating One Pennsylvania Plaza a KOZ was supported by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who said it was important to keep corporations within the city. At the time, many of Philadelphia's big employers' leases, including Comcast's, were set to expire, and the employers were considering the possibility of moving out of the city and state. Rendell also said allowing Comcast to enlarge its headquarters by moving into One Pennsylvania Plaza could attract other corporate headquarters to the city. However, other Center City building owners, including Comcast's landlord at Centre Square, HRPT Properties Trust, were opposed to the plan. They said giving the tower the KOZ designation would give it an unfair advantage because Liberty Property Trust could charge above market rents since the tax breaks would offset the cost for tenants. The group believed tenants attracted to One Pennsylvania Plaza because of the tax breaks would cause more vacancies in other Center City skyscrapers. In early 2004, Center City had a vacancy rate of 12.8 percent.[13][14] Both sides of the issue hired law firms, lobbyists, and business associates to promote their positions to city and state officials. A report by the Center City District said if both One Pennsylvania Plaza and the Cira Centre, another skyscraper in the KOZ controversy, were filled by corporations moving from other Center City office towers, the city could lose US$153 million by 2018.[13][15] A report released by the group of building owners opposed to KOZ says the two buildings could cost the city almost US$91 million a year.[16] In contrast, a report issued by a consulting company hired by Liberty Property Trust said that a KOZ designation for the skyscraper could generate US$27 million for the city. Critics of the KOZ designation also accused that close relationships between Liberty Property Trust and Comcast and the Rendell administration were inappropriately influencing the governor's position on the issue. When Rendell was mayor of Philadelphia, David L. Cohen, a Comcast executive vice president, was Rendell's chief of staff, and William P. Hankowsky, Liberty Property Trust's chief executive, was director of Philadelphia's development agency. Rendell dismissed the claims saying "Every building owner in town was a contributor to me."[13] Chances the bill would be passed ended in November 2004 when House Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly decided not to bring the bill to a vote. Later that year, Governor Rendell released US$30 million from the Redevelopment Assistance Budget to Liberty Property Trust. Through the state's Department of Economic and Community Development, Comcast received US$12.75 million that included a US$4 million opportunity grant, US$6.75 million in job creation tax credits, and US$2 million in job training assistance. Despite the failure of receiving KOZ status, the project received US$42.75 million in financial incentives from the state.[17]

see CIRA Building Wikipedia for a discussion of comparable downtown building that had been granted KOZ status. Construction of the skyscraper was controversial because of its location in a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone (KOZ). A KOZ is designed to encourage development in poor and blighted areas by exempting the tenants of the building from almost all state and local taxes. The Cira Centre was accused of cannibalizing Philadelphia's other office skyscrapers, by attracting businesses already in the city such as Dechert LLP. However, not all tenants came from within Philadelphia. One of these tenants included Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) which moved to the city and made the Cira Centre its North American headquarters. The Cira Centre was completed in 2005. The site of the Cira Centre sits within a Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone (KOZ). A KOZ was designed to encourage development in poor and blighted areas by exempting the tenants of the building from almost all state and local taxes. In 2002 the Center City office vacancy rate was 12.5 percent and numerous businesses leases were set to expire in 2005 and 2006. Owners of other buildings were critical of having the KOZ for the Cira Centre and the proposed KOZ designation for the Comcast Center, another office high-rise being planned. The landlords were afraid that the tax breaks for the new skyscrapers would attract their existing tenants to the new buildings.[6][7] On December 24, 2003 Brandywine Realty Trust announced the first tenants to lease room in the Cira Centre. Brandywine Realty Trust signed leases with Dechert LLP, Woodcock Washburn LLP, and Attalus Capital.[8] Dechert LLP and Woodcock Washburn LLP were moving from other city skyscrapers, the Bell Atlantic Tower and One Liberty Place respectively. Attalus Capital was moving its offices from Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Dechert and Woodcock Washburn moving to the Cira Centre fueled the KOZ controversy because Dechert and Woodcock Washburn were wealthy law firms and would no longer have to pay taxes for numerous years. By 2006, about 60 percent of Cira Centre's tenants came from within Philadelphia.[9][10][11] ^^^^^*****^^^^^ Representative Rosita Youngblood has introduced bill HB 2030 in an effort to bring accountability and some timely information as to the costs and benefits of the projects.