>> the mayor has put his soda tax on the table, and there's been some interesting movement in the array of forces for and against him. let's get the inside story. ♪ good morning, and welcome to "inside story." i'm tamala edwards. let's introduce you to our panel. we'll start with journalist larry platt. >> good morning. >> good morning. foreign-policy expert ed turzanski. >> morning. >> we've got a new friend to play with this morning. that's donna gentile o'donnell. she's a nonprofit executive who's had roles going back with governor rendell, senator casey, knows a lot about politics. glad to have you here. >> delighted to be here. thanks. >> and we have a short intro for you, sam -- documentarian sam katz. >> here. [ chuckles ] >> all right. you know, of course the mayor came out, and his budget proposal has a lot of things, the crown jewel being universal pre-k. everything -- every proposal, everything he will give to city council -- tied to whether or not he can get through what they call the soda tax.

it's really on all kinds of sweetened beverages -- fruit juice, iced tea, energy drinks, you name it. if it's got sugar in it, 3-cents-an-ounce tax. so, we're starting to see some of the pushback against it, the teamsters having an op-ed today, saying, "it's a regressive tax. here's why we're against it." yet last weekend, we saw the mayor have a sit-down with people in the beverage industry, powerful forces, and a person that is known well in union circles, john dougherty, was part of that meeting and seeming to be on the mayor's side. how do we read this when we're told unions could be against it but then you have john dougherty? how do all of these pieces come in to play? what does it mean for the prospects of what the mayor's trying to do? >> well, there's a difference between john dougherty and the teamsters, right? the teamsters made the wrong bet. this is politics 101, right? the teamsters were on the wrong side of the convention center, as jim kenney would see it, and they were on the wrong side of the election. they were with tony williams. so, that's really what the politics are behind it, and, in

fact, there are some really smart politics involved, because by taking on "big soda," kenney's able to sort of placate the progressive wing of his coalition at the same time that he is keeping the -- doing the labor bidding of dougherty and the building trades. >> you know, larry's right to point out dougherty, different role than the teamsters, who really have more of a hand in the beverage industry. but does it help the mayor in this community as a whole to have such a powerful, respected voice saying, "i'm in his corner on this"? >> yeah, it certainly helps him, but i think the really important thing of the last week with the budget address is not just the revenue side but the expression of priorities. you don't necessarily have to like everything that the mayor has proposed, but you're not unclear about where he wants to go. and, in many ways, when the transition from rendell to street, from center city to neighborhoods, this may be

something similar, where the mayor is talking about fixing recreation centers and parks. you don't need to drive by a lot of them to see the dilapidated and really unsafe condition and lack of staffing. he wants to invest in community schools. that's a little unclear to me what that really means, but we'll try it and see. he wants to invest in pre-k, and pre-k was the major policy initiative of his campaign. so, give him credit for rolling out what it is that he wants to do. he needs labor, but i would not underestimate the soda tax as a big problem. at the end of this process, the compromises that may get made may enable him to do many of the things he's talking about without relying on a single tax, which i think is gonna turn out to be a bad idea. >> well, you know, what was interesting is i made calls to city council, to people in the beverage industry. everybody, even people who supported the mayor, all came back to one argument that seems to be where this will play out. it's a regressive tax. if you are poor, the prospect of

paying 50 cents more for a bottle of soda, quite a bit more for a box of soda for a backyard barbecue -- how does he get around that argument with people? >> i think the way you get around that argument is twofold. number one, there are really serious health issues in populations in the city that are very meaningful. and soda is a big factor, sugar consumption. i would have gone further. i actually would have gone further than the mayor did on his proposal. i would be taxing french fries. i would tax -- >> you cannot take my french fries. >> i know. i would tax deep-fried foods. i mean, i think that if you're going to do sin taxes -- which we do. we do cigarettes. we do liquor by the drink. sin taxes are very much part of revenue generation. so, i would have thought a little bit bigger so that you're not singling out one industry and you're actually getting into some of the core issues of chronic health phenomena in populations that need to rethink how they pursue how they enjoy themselves.

what do you drink? what do you eat? it's all part of what we do every day. >> there's also something else in the offing this week for the mayor to start thinking about. it was a very violent week in philadelphia. most of us said, "80-degree days -- this is great," but in some neighborhoods, we saw the kind of shooting that we usually associate with the summer. is this just a bad week, or is it symbolic of a growing problem? and, in fact, i want to show you something that police chief richard ross had to say, talking about that. >> it's just a bunch of ridiculous gun violence. there's no other way to put it. it speaks volumes of the problems with guns in this city and across this commonwealth and why we need to do something about it. >> do we have -- do we have cause to be worried about what the summer's gonna look like? >> i think all big-city dwellers do, and i don't think this is confined to philadelphia in any way. and to go back to the mayor's proposals for a moment, where he's talking about recreation centers and schools, in effect,

being safe harbors, and i think that he's trying to approach a number of problems through his budget, including violence, by saying that you've got to get down to a very granular level and start rebuilding communities in meaningful ways because there are just too many kids who are being swept up into cycles that lead to violence. and that's why i think he's taking -- to sam's point, there is clarity in terms of the mayor's approach to this, and there is connectivity. what he's talking about with rec centers as places where you have kids to have safe harbors well beyond the point that they currently do -- that's really talking about trying to deal with the crime problem, but there's an immediacy to it that isn't going to be solved by getting that granular. >> i think that's a great point,

and i'd like to see mayor kenney make it explicitly. he hasn't made it as explicit as you just made it. i think back to the success of the midnight basketball program in the '90s, which had a demonstrated a result in terms of lowering the crime rate, giving positive, proactive things for inner-city kids to do and to get involved in, especially sports. provides a lot of structure, and i think that's an important argument for the mayor. >> and, by the way, we're really dealing with the breakdown of the family and joblessness and lack of education and its effects, which are pronounced over time. we're dealing with the problem at the end, where it's horribly expensive and difficult. and the mayor's saying, "start at the front, where you have better prospects over a lifetime." >> you know, sam, you've watched a lot of people come and go through city hall. as i look at -- >> i only missed one of them. [ laughter ] >> as i look overall at mayor kenney, you know, there are people who've started to

come out against what he's saying, but it's been very muted when you think about how hard people came out against mayor nutter -- demonstrations in city hall, all kinds of things going on. it's been oddly quiet, almost. is this telling us something about -- giving us a look at kenney going forward that he could end up being an incredibly successful mayor? it's not pretty bad out the gate. >> i think it demonstrates what we saw in the campaign and, in some ways, a departure from some of the public imagery that existed around councilman kenney of a guy who is very measured, very thoughtful. the outreach to people, the recognition in his budget speech of each member of council's priorities and those priorities being reflected in his budget -- he's demonstrating that the 20 years plus of political experience plus his prior work are coming home to positive ways to reinforce his leadership, and he's not a big talker and he's not a big visionary, but i think he is a very solid, on-the-ground guy, and this first couple of months in this job have been tremendously

successful and portend good things for the future. but the problems that are coming -- the next couple of months with the school district could undo everything in the budget if the state doesn't pass a budget that gives the school district anything approximating what they're expecting. >> as they ask for a nurse and a counselor in every school. >> i also want to give him credit, as a former chair of pica. he put $200 million in the 5-year plan to pay for labor costs. no mayor since ed rendell, back in 1992, with the first 5-year plan, ever made any assumption about funding labor over the 5-year period, because they always said it would be showing their hand. and kenney putting that in there, to me, was very responsible. >> all right. let's talk -- >> i'm sorry, but there is one crisis that he has ignored, which is the pension crisis. >> yes. yes. >> and by only putting $25 million towards a $6 billion shortfall is -- really portends some problems down the road. >> possibly more can-kicking. >> more can-kicking. >> let's talk a little bit about something that city council

president darrell clarke is proposing -- he wrote an op-ed about it -- and that's getting rid of credit checks when you go in to apply for a job. he says it happens in 47% of instances. he says the information on there is often wrong. it's hard to correct. it doesn't tell the whole story. "i had a medical mishap. something happened." and then he says it's discriminatory. the people who are most likely to have a lower score tend to be the people who are poorer and really need these jobs. when i was, 20 years ago, looking for a job, nobody ran my credit score. they just looked at my qualifications. you get the job or not. do we really need to have this looking at credit checks, or would it hurt business to not have it? >> i think it's a good idea. i think that there may be some exceptions to that rule, when you've got someone that's operating in a sensitive financial area. maybe you still want to have that option, so maybe some fine-tuning is in order, but i agree. i think that, you know, if you do have problems in your financial life, and a lot of people do, how are you ever gonna dig yourself out unless you can get a job? i mean, it's a fair question.

and i think the council president is paying attention to that. >> i think he's right. you know, that's -- the reason why we couldn't do that back when you got your first job was because we didn't have the web. >> yeah. >> you get on the web, and you can find out things about people which are wholly untrue because somebody else put them there. and the credit-score process has been long flawed and widely publicized as being flawed and hugely unfair to all people because who knows how they acquire and analyze that data? >> this week septa started holding some meetings. it wants to extend a high-speed rail line out to king of prussia, which, if you love to shop, sounds like a good idea, but there are some people who say they would walk out their back door and look up and, 10 feet away, watch this train whiz by. it's only a handful of people, though -- about 30 homes. is this for the greater good, or should they look for somewhere else to put this train? >> this is an example of the right use of eminent domain. i mean, i do feel very badly for anybody who's subject to this, but this project is desperately

needed. it's really reverse commuting, because a lot of people in philadelphia could take jobs in the suburbs if they could get there. i know people who suffer with this difficulty, and it would be incredibly meaningful. >> i think that's right, and i think there was a study by the economy league about the economic benefits overall of this, and i think that's where you have to -- there's always going to be a contingent of nimbyness, right? "not in my backyard." but in terms of policy, i think you've got to go where the economic benefit is. >> well, it's economic, but it's also environmental, because you can either move people through mass transit, or else you're going to have to engage in building even more roads, and, as we know, the problem we have with the growth of the suburbs and the exburbs -- the road capacity just has not kept pace, and that's really expensive to try to fix that. >> this is the first new rail start in the history of this region, because the region's

transportation system largely was defined by the 19th century and railroads and commuter-rail lines, which we now call commuter-rail lines. but will we be able to play off the -- will we be able to live with the trade-off of infusing a lot of federal dollars into this project in the region versus the project of extending the broad street subway to the navy yard? 'cause it's gonna be very difficult, in the competitive world of mass-transit start funding, to get both. >> it'll be interesting, 'cause what's been talked about a lot is that would also really build that neighborhood up and get it going. let's jump across the river a bit into new jersey. atlantic city continuing to have troubles. don guardian and others went up to trenton. the bill made it out of the legislature, out of a committee, that would essentially give the state a takeover, financially, of the city, and they're saying, "we just feel as though we have no say in our future." is this the right move on the part of that committee? should they continue to pass this on to the government and have new jersey take over that city? >> the history of atlantic city and the state of new jersey is a

disgrace. this is the ultimate in northern jersey versus southern new jersey and the tilt to north jersey. and this is a city that's bank-- it's bankrupt. it should file for bankruptcy. it should get into a bankruptcy court and start to try to resolve issues with its creditors, because the only way atlantic city can pivot to the future is if it can somehow levelize all these obligations that it no longer has the capacity, in the face of the declining casino industry, to pay. >> and something interesting came in to the debate, where somebody pointed out the minority population of atlantic city and said, "you're taking the minority voice." does that change the debate about what they do here? >> well, i think it should change the debate, but i think it's also important to remember that they've gotten a lot of opposition from the governor, from leadership in the legislature, on the subject of bankruptcy. i think new jersey is similar to pennsylvania in that you have to actually have permission to file for bankruptcy, and i don't see that permission forthcoming

because they don't want to cope with the debt-service crisis that will emerge from that. >> that's true of every state in the country. you can't file for bankruptcy without approval. >> right. right. so, they're between a rock and a hard place, and i'm really glad that governor christie is actually back in the state to do the job that he was elected -- >> he's not. >> he's not? >> he's still on the presidential trail. >> is he still on the presidential plane? >> looking like a hostage behind -- behind donald trump. >> i hope he, you know, moves his attention back to this. it's pretty important. >> all right. we'll move our attention towards taking a short break. we've got a lot more coming up when "inside story" comes right back. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge.

lemme get a mcpick 2. check out the fresh new look on mcdonald's mcpick 2 menu! ♪ lemme get a mcpick 2 now, choose any 2 delicious mcdonald's classics for just $5 bucks. ♪ mix n match ♪ share n savor ♪ 2 for $5 name your flavor ♪ pick any 2 iconic tastes- a big mac made with 100% beef, flaky filet-o-fish, seared on the grill quarter pounder with cheese or crispy 10-piece chicken mcnuggets for just $5 bucks. grab a friend today and pick your faves! ♪ lemme get a mcpick 2 ♪ bada ba ba ba

>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm tamala edwards. let's talk a little bit about the senate race going on here in pennsylvania. katie mcginty, joe sestak both with ads this week. harper has a new poll out, and it's interesting. it shows sestak would do the best against toomey -- that the race is close, that it's not as much of a sure thing for toomey as it was, but sestak is the one who would do better in the matchup, with the party saying they want mcginty -- a lot of the insiders. how is this gonna play out by

late april? >> i don't understand why the party didn't get behind sestak from the beginning -- a guy who only lost by a couple percentage points last time. it was because he's not a likable guy. they didn't like him. and i think in politics, like, winning is winning. and mcginty has not been a good candidate. >> well, let me just take issue with that a little bit. i think that, first of all, mcginty is a really good candidate. that hasn't come through so far in this election, but -- >> why isn't she catching fire? >> i think it's because there's no tv. that's a very big part of it, and that's gonna change. but the other thing is we don't have a single woman representing our commonwealth in washington -- not in the house, not in the senate. enough. i think that's a big part of why. >> i don't think that story is going to play out if kathleen herself, katie, isn't really more of a projecting and persuadable candidate, which she was not in the governor's race. >> right. >> i thought she probably made some smart political moves in

the governor's race. >> she did. she did, indeed. >> but she's also -- i don't think she's a natural, and i think sestak's county-by-county walk -- by the way, if bernie does well in pennsylvania, sestak is gonna claim the benefit of that, for sure, because he'll be bringing out a lot of millennials who will find the sestak message, the anti-establishment message, more appealing. i think sestak is gonna win this election. i think being the candidate of the democratic party, being the candidate of the republican party, meaningless. nobody cares anymore about those kinds of things. >> well, even the people running almost behind the scenes here, people say this race has been deadly. it's been boring to run in. it's been boring to watch. and you just sort of wonder why it wasn't more interesting. a senate race is a big deal, and it just feels as though people are largely tuned out on this thing. >> well, there is some overload, but i think sam makes a really important point that needs to be developed more. there is a hidden danger in the party establishment pushing mcginty if there's real juice

for sestak, because then it looks like clinton and sanders, where bernie sanders wins in new hampshire, but hillary clinton comes out with more delegates. and you say, "how did that happen?" this democracy deficit -- that's what really fuels anger. >> let's talk about something else, larry -- and you can take the first shot at this -- which is let's say trump is at the top of the republican ticket. does that hurt toomey in that people who don't like trump may come out and vote down the ticket against republicans? >> of course. i mean, trump has high positives but really high negatives, and he inflames passions both ways. and i think sam's exactly right. anger, right? so, joe sestak is kind of an angry guy, and that's -- and that can play well in this moment in the zeitgeist. >> that's true. let's talk about this real quickly, 'cause we just have a couple minutes.

philadelphia lost the 30 under 30 festival. it is now going to boston. they say forbes will have it there long-term. they claim they couldn't get the city to move off the dime on the paperwork. the city's saying, "you weren't transparent enough in wanting $2 million from us." what really went on here? what's the behind-the-scenes word? >> i think what really went on is that this was seen as a michael nutter joint, a michael nutter production, and the kenney administration didn't have as much interest in perpetuating it, which is a shame, because look at the boston narrative, right? the boston narrative is a city on the move. they get ge to relocate their corporate plant there. they now have the millennial summit. our narrative in this case is we're a poor city. we can't afford it. and it's only $2 million. you can raise $2 million. >> somebody in city council said to me, "let's take a look at this. you're giving $2 million in a poor city for an event that the average person here -- it's invite only -- they would not be invited to. bad optics as you're talking about taxing soda." >> the average person won't get to the democratic national convention, either, and we're gonna spend $85 million to bring that to

town. this was a mistake. whatever the personality or political reasons, philadelphia is on the move as a place for young millennials, for people who are entrepreneurial, to come. the housing prices are cheaper than brooklyn and manhattan. there's great universities here. a lot more of the kids are staying. the housing choices are terrific. and to lose something of prestige -- i always think it's a mistake. >> if you're going to be a convention and destination center, the argument that we have poor people and we shouldn't spend money will always get in your way. you have to take the long view that sam's talking about. >> right. we have 15 seconds. it goes to you, donna. >> i think this is -- we should be aspirational about what we do next, and i think we need to look at what's going on in austin, texas, right now. bring that to philadelphia -- not south by southwest, north by northeast. >> perfect! >> we got a name for it. we'll take a short break and come back to our inside stories of the week.

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge. >> welcome back to "inside story." time for our insiders' inside stories of the week. larry, we'll start with you. >> tam, we at the philadelphia citizen have been frustrated by the embarrassing headlines of the city commissioner's office with anthony clark, so we launched a petition at change.org, asking people to sign up and let city council know that we want to make that position appointed, not elected anymore, and 1,200 people to date have signed up. and to sign up, you can go to thephiladelphiacitizen.org. >> all right. ed? >> tam, driverless cars are very near. here's the sign to tell you. this week, saint joseph's university's haub school of business and the institute for insurance

and risk management had a reinsurance conference that looked at all of the things that have to be ensured. very prominent was the discussion of how to insure the manufacturers, operators, and people who are gonna be taken around in driverless cars. when they talk about insuring it, the theory is awfully close to being a reality. >> all right. donna? >> so, a couple weeks ago, a really important piece of legislation was announced -- house bill 1871. it's being introduced by john taylor, from the northeast, and representative bill keller from south philly. this is gonna be a really critical piece of legislation because it will give the opportunity to change the structure of taxation between residential and commercial businesses. there are constitutional issues that have to be addressed. the uniformity clause has to be contended with. but if they are successful, it will be very meaningful for this administration and what they hope to do from a revenue standpoint. >> okay. we'll end with you, sam. >> and on a similar subject,

this week new city councilman allan domb introduced a bill that would extend property-tax abatements that are now 10 years everywhere in the city to 20 years in distressed neighborhoods. and i'm personally opposed to tax abatements. i think center city real estate does not need them. but neighborhoods that have fallen apart and are subject to transformation could well benefit from an investment in i'm nydia han along with gray hall. >> coming up next, celebration turns to tragedy in rittenhouse square where a man is stabbed to death in a random attack. we're live with the latest on the investigation. plus, police are searching for suspects after a teenage girl is struck by a stray bullet and killed. those stories and more nek

on "action news."

good afternoon, it is sunday, march 13. here's some of the stories we're following for you right now on "action news." developing, a man is stabbed to death in a random attack in rittenhouse squire we're live. the mayor of chester has a message for the community after a deadly police-involved shooting. police