July 5, 2023 • 35 mins
Drew Murray & Britt Carpenter discuss the growing complications in the city of Philadelphia. Drew, a Republican running for City Council-At-Large, and Britt, the founder of the nonprofit Philly Unknown Project, find that they agree on most city subjects. They touch on subjects like owning a small business, city taxes, taking pride and building community where you live, and being cat dads.
https://www.murray4phl.com/
http://phillyunknownproject.org/
Visit our website and follow us on social media:
www.usalamedia.com
www.facebook.com/usalamedianetwork
www.instagram.com/usalamedianet
https://www.murray4phl.com/
http://phillyunknownproject.org/
Visit our website and follow us on social media:
www.usalamedia.com
www.facebook.com/usalamedianetwork
www.instagram.com/usalamedianet
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray. Good afternoon, you're
watching USSELA Media and The Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray.
I am here with my good friendBrett Carpenter's been a while since we've
been on a show together. Beena long time. It was I'm back.
(00:27):
I know what it was because weI was running against Brian Simms eighty
second legislative districts. That had tobe probably twenty twenty twenty, I guess,
yeah, it was twenty twenty,so I know we did a zoom
during COVID and oh that's right,we did that actual face to face.
Yeah, it was like talk aboutcrazy train. Here we go. I'm
(00:48):
not gonna say anything about our former, our former state not state representative,
Brian Simms. Brian I actually gotalong. Actually me too, and I
haven't seen him in a long time. But and what's weird. I don't
even live in that district anymore.I was Jerrymander out of the district,
out of the one eighty second.I live in the tenth legislative district.
Now they switched your district that youhaven't moved either, No, no,
(01:11):
so one eighty second used to beCenter City, almost all of Center City
now. Logan Square, where Ilive is the tenth Legislative district, and
Aman Brown is our state rout Ohso talk about I love when people talk
about Republicans Jerrymander in the state.Well, I got Jerrymander right out of
the one eighty second. There yougo. But did you every think you'd
(01:34):
be on a Republicans own show becauseyou are not a Republican? But y,
but but I think you're I don'tmind. I think you're more conservative
than most people than most people think. I would agree with you on that
for sure. Yeah. I thinkpeople think that I'm I'm this extreme liberal
because of who I am and whatI do and the nonprofit that I run.
And you know, I think peopletend to get that misconception that because
(01:57):
you have this role, this iswho you walk and you know, I
yeah, I've got a lot ofconservative asktes to me. I think you're
a small business owner. I thinkI think a lot of small business owners
are are more conservative than people think. And I think a lot of people
who weren't small business owners would becameone they realize, Wow, I'm I'm
becoming more conservative because it's tough toown of business, and it's tough to
(02:23):
own of business in the city ofPhiladelphia. You're taxed every time you turn
around, litter everything, literally bothboth both both just just the wage tax,
so the tax the bi RT whereif you lose body, you get
tax. Still if that b iRT is it was what destroys me each
year. And then you know,if if you're wrong on your projections,
(02:45):
then you own more money. Youknow, And I couldn't. I do
not own a small business. Iwork for a small business, but I
could not imagine how how hard itmust be to do business with the city
of Philadelphia. It is. Ioften considering like just moving out of the
city just because that at least I'mnot getting double tax. Then yeah,
because the own and live is justbasically like giving your whole life over the
(03:06):
city of Philadelphia city Philadelphia just andI'm not quite sure what I get for
that amount of money. Absolutely Igot nothing. And if I'm late with
that, and I have no promise. If I'm late with it, they
threaten to take your license away.Wow, immediately, not even like a
you know, hey, you know, it's like come on, you know
you tend to forget that these arethe people who are employing other, you
know, people in your city.Yeah, absolutely, you know, But
(03:29):
then again, what do you wantwhen you have a mayor who doesn't want
to wake up and be mayor everyday? So, you know, how
can you hold everybody else accountable forthings in the city. It is amazing
And I you know, look,I'm a moderate. I liked Mark Kenny.
When he came in, I thought, okay, this is gonna be
a moderate. He went ultra farleft, which I had Number one.
I don't trust anybody who changes theiropinions on things as an adult. You
(03:50):
might, you might evolve a littlebit, you might change a little bit.
But he went from moderate to superfar left and even worse. Look,
I have friends who are super farleft. I don't pick my friends
based on their party or their beliefs. You know, he just doesn't want
to be mayor. I think that'sthe worst part of everything. He doesn't
want to be mayor. And that'sit. Well, I mean when he
made that comment, you know,I wake up every day not wanting to
(04:10):
be mayor. Like would you hearthat sort of statement? Like, how
do you put any trust to respectin the man, and then you see
him and you're almost like, whata joke, and you want to turn
it off. And it is ajoke. What happened, even even the
most recent And I don't even puttoo much blame on him on how initially
the water crisis was handled. Imean, I don't think they knew what
happened. They probably got the newsthat there was there was contamination, so
(04:31):
they just they sent it out.Maybe they were a little premature, maybe
you should have found a little bitout. But if it came back that
oh they knew there were chemicals intoorder and it was harmful, and they
and they waited even an hour afterthen they would have been vilified for that
as well. But where was heon Sunday? I got the alert and
I looked at my phone and Iwas actually at an event in Port Richmond,
(04:53):
and I had another event later thatnight at Rodolph Saloon, and we're
like, oh, we got haveto go back. We have to go
back and get some water. Becauseyou know, we talked about my cat
socks, my daughters. They weren'tworried about me, They weren't worried about
about about them. They were like, well, the cats we got to
get their water bowls up and andand and switch it out with with bottle
water. So I was like,so we went the giant. By time
(05:14):
we got the giant an hour afterthe alert, they were already out and
we have a huge giant on twentythird and Race. I mean we we
thought, oh, we'll get thereand we're going to do other shopping as
well. We didn't realize how stupidthat was to think that. I mean,
there was like a mad rush onwater. You could there, there
was lines around around the store.Uh, and we couldn't get of water.
And again, I don't fault theinitial reaction. What I fault is
(05:40):
why was he not on He wasn'ton air on Sunday at all? Where
was he Racetree Cafe. I'm notgonna say that, but you asked me
a question. It is possible,no, I you know, And it's
funny you say tree, you know, And I always give that jab about
the Racetory Cafe, and I willThat's how I feel. But when your
(06:00):
city is in a state of crisis, and it's being considered a state of
crisis, the first thing that youshould do when you're in control of that
city, is show face sure andspeak up. There was never an you
didn't go anywhere and if the waterwas safe, and he finally did a
couple of days later, but goand drink the water. I mean Isaiah's
council memorize any damas I credit him. He was the first person on council
(06:24):
said he went to the sink,he filled it up, and he drank
it. Yep. And I thinkthat made people feel feel better. And
I don't I really I'd like toknow where Mayor Kenny was that weekend.
Maybe he was away and guess what, everyone deserves a vacation. If he
was away, then work should havecome out. Okay, Mayor Kenny was
away and the managing director will,well, well we'll step up or state
(06:46):
you know his or someone like Sheilahas even his you know the city?
Everybody there was nobody nobody because Ithink everybody, Sheila asked the managing director.
I think they were all looking like, okay, where is it?
End is he coming out? Andit's because he doesn't want to do this
job anymore. I don't know whyhe ran again in twenty nineteen. In
(07:08):
twenty fifteen, let's be honest.He was. He was pushed into it.
Absolutely. I don't think he wantedit. And I think he said,
you know what, I'll take onefor the team, and he did.
Twenty nineteen, he could have hecould have easily stepped down. He
should have too, He should havestepped down. And and I think a
lot of people running for mayor thiscycle are looking back at twenty nineteen and
thinking, I should I should Ishould have challenged him. Well, and
(07:30):
look at how many people are runningfor mayor this cycle. I have never
seen this many candidates on the ballotfor mayor of Philadelphia. You know,
first of all, you know,I'll take it back. Like I love
Nutter. Michael Nutter is still oneof my favorites. I saw Mayor Nutter
last night in an event. Briefly, uh no, I he was very
moderate, as very very moder businessfriendly. You know, there were some
(07:54):
things that he did. You know, he closed the fire stations, and
I think that that really I didn'tagree with that. Um But from a
business standpoint, Philly flourished. Andguess what the murders were low, crime
was low, its employment was high. Employment was high. Absolutely, and
you know, but you know.You know, it's interesting you say that
(08:16):
as a politician, as an humanbeing, as a as an individual,
you and I shouldn't have to agreeon everything, yeah, you know,
but we should be able to respecteach other and what we do and how
we call the shots on things.But when you have somebody that's in office
and they're not even calling shots,and when they do, there's zero respect,
maybe it's time to just getaway now, step down now. And that's
(08:37):
a good point. I don't thinkthat people who work with him respect them
anymore. I don't see. Andthat's key to a leadership role. And
and and I look at this' evensomeone like Commissioner Outlaw. I don't blame
her for a lot of things thatare going on. I don't. I
didn't blame her for a lot ofthe riots that went on. She had
a plan in the city said no, we know how to handle this,
and they changed her plan. Butthe problem out Law that I see,
(09:01):
I think she's a nice person.I see someone who doesn't have the respect
of the people who work for it. And that's the that's you could be
the best person in the world,but when you lose that respect, you
can't lead anymore, and I thinkthat might be where she is. I'm
not I'm not positive. Never giventhe opportunity to get that respect. I
mean, she was in my mind, and of course this is where I
(09:22):
go back to. She was broughtin, and she was brought in on
several different levels, and you know, it was almost like, hey,
now we're going to bring in afemale to do this, and you know,
because people are pushing female, peoplepushing even for male kind of nowadays
they're pushing. And she was anoutsider. Absolutely, you come in and
we're Philly. Look, yeah,we want to see you know, that's
(09:43):
the first thing. Yes, wheredid you grow up again? From Philadelphia?
You know what high school did yougo to? She was a complete
outsider, and she was never giventhe chance. Though I agree, I
don't think she was ever given andwhether female or not, she could do
the job, let's face it,or she wouldn't have been brought in.
She was never given the chance,and she doesn't have the support from the
(10:05):
higher ups to do it. Plusshe's also battling a da like we have
exactly we have the we have,in my opinion, one of the worst
days in the country. And she'strying to deal with that. So it
was it was a tough job tocome into. She was an outsider.
I don't know if she was evergiven the respect. Then the pandemic hit
(10:26):
very I got what was it wasit within the first her first year,
if not the first few months.I think that the pandemic hit. I
forget when she exactly she started,but nineteen, right, it was.
It was a tough start for her. And look and look every maybe she
does take some of the blame,but I will tell you I've seen her.
She commands a room. She isshe is a good public speaker.
(10:46):
She gets the respect in the room. And if I if I had seen
her speak before kind of some ofwhat I would say are our criticisms of
her, I would have said,Wow, this this she's impressive. If
you watch her speak and the wayshe commands a room, she's impressive.
But I just think she may havelost the support or the respect of the
(11:07):
officers in the city Philadelphia. Andthat's a problem. And it's interesting because
to me, like when I seethe crime that's happening here in our city,
and I see, you know,the crisis situation that occur a former
commissioner Um was out. He wason TV constantly. You saw his voice,
you heard him talking. I don'tsee that without law I don't see
them putting her on TV. Idon't see these press for these these these
(11:30):
pressing. And it's surprising because shedoes speak well, and she does well
in front of the camera. Shedoes well in front of people, so
that that's surprise, and who knowswho makes that decision. Honestly, it's
it's probably her, So maybe she'smaking the decision not to do so.
But uh but ye, I meanwhen you look at the job that she
has to do and the fact thatshe has to do it and work with
our current district attorney and current mayorwho, well, you don't work with
(11:54):
the current mayor because he's not there, you know, you're so he's completely
missing. So absolutely, it's it'sa very it's a very tough job.
And Krashner was in budget hearing yesterdayasking for more money. You know,
he's doing a horrible job, buthe wants seven million dollars in addition to
what they're allocating for him. AndI'm glad City Council grilled him. They
(12:15):
grilled him out, what does hewant more money for No, I didn't
get a chance to hear about it'sjust overall he wants you know, he
just he asked for more money whatthey grilled him on. And I didn't
watch the proceedings, so I don'tI don't know if it had to do
with retail theft. But he broughtup the fact that why retail theft is
high. And you know what hedid when when he blamed you know,
he would blame retail theft on whatbecause the shop owners don't hire enough security.
(12:39):
That's what he said. This wasa quote in the inquiry. I
looked at it him like, youknow, in twenty seventeen year prior to
his taking office, they did notneed security. Why should people have to
hire security for their businesses? Isn'tthat what the services that we're paying for
with our taxes? Yeah, that'swhat nine one. Yeah, and guess
what you and I walk into theApple store on Walnut Street and I see
(13:01):
a police officer there, and Isee stores like like like like Apple they
can afford it and not even blankthey have to small businesses, most of
which like how many you know themajority of the businesses on wand I live
in center city, someone want andjustin these are small businesses, they can't
afford a security guard. No,and what happens and there are still look
(13:24):
and we're rebuilding, and look,the pandemic had a lot to do with
a lot of stores closing. Butif I'm thinking about opening a store on
Chester Street to Walnut Street and I'mwalking around and I'm looking at all these
security guards, I'm saying, I'mnot gonna be able to I'm not gonna
be able to do this. Soit's a barrier to entry to those small
business not just that. Or ifI'm a consumer, why do I want
to shop in places like that?Exactly? You know, because already you're
(13:46):
going in there and you don't feelsafer secure because of what's happening at the
door. And I mean, yes, I understand, there's there's higher price
stores out there where you need thisstuff. You know, there's jeworstoor,
there's certain precautionary measures you need totake at certain stores. But these smaller
mom and stop type of stores,No, yeah, absolutely not. That's
why we pay taxes. And allthe wawas had security because they could afford
(14:07):
it, and they still ended upclosed. Then the one at nineteen hundred
Market Street. That's a close onein my house. I would go there
often. It would be packed withpeople. So it wasn't that they weren't
getting the business. It was thatso much was getting stolen. And even
though WA was a big corporation,their margins are still very low. So
when people go in and walk inand they steal, and they know that
(14:31):
if as long as they steal underfive hundred dollars worth of merchandise, the
worst that they're going to see asa summary offense. And so the police
aren't going to arrest them. There. The security guard it's you know,
yes, it's their job to tryto stop the theft, but you know
they also they're a security guard there. They don't necessarily want to put themselves
in harm's way to the point wherethey for a tasty cake, for a
(14:54):
tasty nobody's gonna I mean, theCBS is the wawas, the right aids,
the wagons, they're they're they're closingbecause you know, and they're two
and actually they're telling their security guards, don't you know, it's it's not
worth it. Don't stop them,don't stop them. And I don't even
have a CBS or a rating Idon't have. I don't have a pharmacy
(15:15):
within Like the reason I live inCenter City. The reason I live in
the city because it's convenience. Right. We basically have to drive to a
drug store now because they've all closedin my neighborhood. I mean it's not
a fIF Yeah, if I walkthree quarters of a mile, and I
know that's not that far, butwhen you live in Center City, that
feels like, oh my god,I gotta go three quarters of the mind.
But if you have to drive thatthree quarters of a mile, you
gotta find a parking spot. Theyou gotta find another parking spot when you
get home, and it's just ahassle. The convenience of living in the
(15:39):
city was to have these types ofstores on almost every corner, to have
this type of convenience. And it'snot there. And you know what people
do now If if I'm in thesuburbs, you know it's I stop and
I pick up. I stop ata drug store out there because it's two
it's it's it's a timing thing.I try to do all my shop in
a field. I'll even it's someoneimpossible. Um, but it's cheaper two
in the suburbs. But it's cheaperwell, and why you know, and
(16:02):
you're you're you're paying less sales tax. If you're buying sodas or sweetened beverages,
you're you're not You're you're probably beingliterally a third less than if you
did in the city. So youknow, it's it's when I listen to
people and they say, oh,we need we need better services, we
need this, so we need toraise taxes. I say, we are
(16:22):
already one of the most tax citiesin the country, probably of the large
cities, of the largest cities,we are if you look at and you
got to look at everything, peopleare like, oh, no, New
York is New York. It's moretaxed in New York, it's more taxed
in San Francisco. You got tolook at everything, because we have a
wage tax, we have the sodatax, we have the br look and
(16:44):
that's resident and on on. Onthe on the business side, we have
a I R. T WO.I always remind people because people forget about
it. When you buy a house, the transfer at tax in the city
of Philadelphia is like four point sixsomething percent. If you live in a
collar County, it's two percent.So people talk about, you know,
affordable housing and Philadelphia. I'm like, well, let's talk about what Philadelphia
(17:07):
can do to make housing more affordablebecause it's a barrier to entry with those
closing costs, because our transfer attax is double what it is in every
other area the state, which withthe exception of Alleghany County, I think
Alleghany County where and been Pittsburgh arehigher. But you know that the taxes
they never end. And and Ilove the temporary taxes. And this wasn't
not her I know, you likenot every he did go from he took
(17:30):
our sales tax from seven to eight. Just because I like something, it
doesn't mean I agree with everything thatthey've done. There was a temporary with
a temporary tax. But you know, y'all know tax there's no such thing
as a temporary tax. Oh now, yeah, yeah, temporary gonna hurt
your pocket until you learn to makemore money to exact those taxes. Like
the costs right now that the ridiculoustax they put on the real estate right
now, property tax? Yeah,crazy, mine went up. So you
(17:56):
know, Drew, let's you know, you peel to the layers back and
you look at you know, theaverage Joe or the average Jane sitting here
in Philadelphia, who, first ofall, you can't live in Philadelphia and
make less than forty five thousand dollars. Forty five thousand dollars is actually almost
like a poverty level in Philadelphia.I'd say, at least that's my opinion.
You know, how do you takethe people like that who are just
(18:18):
you know, trying to make itday by day and survive and add forty
percent and add forty percent. Iwas able to absorb wait, I should
say way, my wife would getupset because we both pay the bills.
But we were able to absorb it. It wasn't necessarily easy because but but
but we're lucky. So we wereable to absorb it. A lot of
people were not able to absorb it. My my salary didn't go a forty
percent. Nobody's went up forty percent. And if you show me who did,
(18:41):
I'm applying for the job. Butso though, so people who there
are plenty of people who could notafford it. And and you know,
Mayor Mayor, I almost said MayorNutter. May Kenny came out said,
oh, we didn't have any newtaxes. I'm like, well, yes
you did, because you raised thevalues. Now, not everybody went up
forty percent, and a few peopledidn't go up at all. But for
the most part, everyone I've spokento, and this is Ncdotles said their
(19:03):
taxes went up. So that meansthey did raise taxes. He said,
they didn't raise taxes meaning the millagerate, meaning they didn't raise the actual
percentage, but they raise taxes.So now that that takes me to where
that liberal side of me comes out, And how do you raise, you
know, a property tax forty percentwhen you have homeowners in places like North
(19:26):
Philly and moving up the line Frankfort. You know those areas where you do
have people that people are always like, well they can move where they going
to move? Yeah, people alwayssay that's the solution, where they can
just move. No, they can't. These are people's homes. So how
do you tax them that when they'rebarely making fifteen dollars an hour some of
the places, well they can't movebecause then they have to pay the transfer
(19:47):
exactly, So you know they're damnthat they do the end that they don't,
and the city isn't doing anything toreally help the people of the city.
They're doing to help the city.And they could have changed the millage
rate. And this isn't on themare. I will give them that.
This would have been legislation. Thecouncil could have passed to change the milage
rate. So that wouldn't that wouldn'treduce it for everybody, but it would
It could have been done in away that the tax did not bring in
(20:11):
more more revenue than than it digs. They brought in a ton of revenue.
They could have changed the milg rate. They don't like to do that
or they didn't want to do itbecause they didn't want businesses to be taxed
to change their millage rate. Andwith a uniformity clause in the state of
Pennsylvania, they have to do.They have to tax it the same rate
from a residential standpoint and a businessstandpoint. But my thought was, let's
(20:33):
get why not give business as abreak. You know, we we the
businesses pay a ton of taxes aswell. Why not change the millage rate
and look raise it the costs ofliving? Fine, yes, if if
if if, if Kohla goes uptwo or three percent, Yeah, the
city Philadelphia is going to need twoto three percent more in revenue just in
order to stay even. But youknow, forty percent at insane. Now
(20:59):
I don't. And this is whatI always say. The Office of Property
Adjustment in Philadelphia is one of theworst departments in the city of Philadelphia.
They use comps to value houses,so places like Fishtown. That was a
great example. Okay, so Ilive in a two hundred thousand dollar house
across the street of nine hundred thousanddollar house goes up. Well, this
person's house, their income didn't goup, but their value of their house
(21:22):
increased dramatically. Why not tie increasesin property values to the cost of living.
Yeah, so if it goes uptwo or three percent, it goes
up two or three percent, andand guarantee that for as long as someone
owns that home, and when thathome is sold, then that new market
value it will be taxed on thatmarket value. Number One, you could
get rid of the OPA, theOffice of Property Adjustment. You could give
(21:45):
people stability in knowing what their theirbills are going to be. I mean
that that's important to know. Okay, my cost is this this year,
what's it going to be next year? People want to know what their budgets
budget is. So if you dothat, then so you keep people number
one in their homes because when itgoes up forty percent, people people absolutely
(22:07):
were not could not stay in theirhomes. They had to sell, they
had to move. They had todo this and guess what else it would
help solve gentrification because that's why peoplesay, why do errs it get gentrified
because people get priced out because theycan't afford the taxes. Now, that's
only going to solve part of theproblem because if you if you rent an
apartment and that rent goes up,then then we'll still have that problem with
(22:32):
gentrification. But if we if wehandle at least part of the problem,
and also, by the way,push for homeownership because that is something that
we should be pushing for, shouldthen you know that that helps solve some
of the problems with gentrification. Doyou remember years ago in the cities to
help people get homes or help peoplebuy their homes, and there would be
(22:52):
funds out there, there were grants, there were different types of you know,
programs they can get involved with.I don't see that anymore, No,
I do not see it, becauseall I see is the city wants
people to buy these five hundred thousanddollars megacondos that are going up, these
studio condos that are hey, we'regonna throw this on the corner of Frankfort
and Lehigh. You're gonna pay fivehundred thousand dollars for it. Good luck.
(23:14):
Yeah, And nowadays they don't care. Years ago, I remember this
happening and it was making people,it was helping them keep their homes.
It was taking more pride of theirownership and their neighborhood in their community.
I think what happens is when youraise these taxes and you're charging people more
money and people can't afford it,that's when the communities start to you know,
become trashed yea, and they're nottaking care of them. There's not
(23:37):
a sense of pride. I mean, Philadelphia was always known for a sense
of pride in their neighborhoods and wherethey're from. I don't see that anymore.
And I think it's because of theway think homeownership is going down and
there's and I'm not disparaging renters,but when you are vested in a community,
when you buy a house there,you're going to be more vested.
I see it in the r CEOneighbored Association world. You know, we
(23:57):
allow board by to be renters.We're homeowners, but most are homeowners because
they're more best in their communities.Right. So that's why if when you're
in my neighborhood, you can tellwhich blocks because a lot of blocks have
these when of them in Center City, some of them have these huge houses,
right some of our single family home, A lot of them are are
(24:18):
on one and have multi family,their multifamily. You can tell the blocks
that our homeowner are our owner occupiedversus one ze are rentals for two reasons.
Number one, I think I thinkthey have the best of interest.
And I will say also because it'sharder to put trash out when you have
when you don't. When you havean apartment, you don't have anywhere to
put it. I put my trashin my garage until it's ready and then
(24:40):
so they don't really have anywhere toput it. So because if you put
it outside your front door, you'regonna get fined by the city. Yeah
yeah, so so and if youhave a little backslab in your back area,
then you got to drag the trashfrom your backslab through your entire living
space, so their front door.So it's very difficult, and there's nowhere
to put the tray. I rememberwhen I am in apart when I was
younger, Um, you don't havea trash can and put it in,
(25:03):
mean an outdoor trash can and putit in. I would I when I
when the trash would full, Iput it on the fire escape and then
what would happen. It would bea squirrel will get into it and be
everywhere. So trash in your inyour house as long as possible. So
I like I but but I thinkthe bigger reason is people are best in
their community. They take the trashout every day. When I come home
(25:23):
on a Monday, I clean upthe trash because the trash, when the
trash is collected inevitably, and it'sa hard job. So I'm not I'm
not saying the sensation workers are doinga bad job. It's a hard job
and I get it. So Ipick up the trash in front of my
house. I don't think that alwayshappens when you're dealing with areas that are
the blocks or pool renters. Yousaid it before. The renters don't have
(25:47):
that sense of pride in their communitydo some people. I've been a renter
since I've been back in Philadelphia forthe past seventeen years, I've rented.
I do not own our rent.I've been in the same place for the
last nine years, and I probablyhave more pride and a lot of what
I do. And I wonder ifyou're an anomaly, So you've been there
in the same place for nine years, Normally you rent a lot of time.
People are moving around, going indifferent neighborhoods. I am an anomaly
(26:11):
in many ways, but yeah,for sure. And you know, but
I like where I'm at. Ilike my community. I like my neighbors.
I like the sense of like I'mable to come home and say hi
to somebody and call them by theirfirst name, not just a head nod
or like, oh hey, whendid you move in? And that's an
interesting point too. Yeah, whenpeople stay there a long time, you
know your neighbors, You're going tobe more vested in the community. You
(26:33):
want to take pride in your homeand what you do. And that's why
you know, and this is uh, you know, we hear a lot
about like street cleaning in Philadelphia.I'm I'm very split on it. Like
number one, if there's illegal dumping, absolutely needs to go in and take
care of it. But like streetssweeping, I'm old school. I think
I should sweep in front of myown house and not and not have to
(26:56):
pay an additional well not necessarily nothave the city paid for these these streets
sweeping. I'd rather that money goto somewhere else. But why is it
certain areas and failures or have thestreets clean and other areas don't that,
you know, I think it's moreof a parking thing. People battle the
parking because my area, like somepeople say, well Center City gets cleaned
(27:18):
up, my my street doesn't getsweet No, because you they tell you
can't park on this street between certainhours. Where are you gonna park?
Yeah you can't. Yeah, You'realready parking a mile away from your house
to begin with. Now it's likeokay, now I'm gonna park on the
other side of Broad you know,to walk, so it's hard. Yeah.
So I think I think the reasonthere's not more sweet street sweeping is
because of the parking situation, becausethey got to pull it up. But
(27:40):
I don't know if we should Iclean in front of your own house.
I mean, I take responsibility.It's not that difficult. It's not that
difficult. Every every Monday, Icleaned up in front of my house.
How big is it? How bigof an area is it, Drew,
Yeah, it's not that big.A sidewalk and a gutter, yeah,
you know. And and once ina while, you know, a few
times a year, I sweep.I literally get out and sweep, and
I get in the street and Isweep the street to take you out out
(28:03):
the build up near the curb.You're anomaly there because you know, not
many people do that, I know. And you remeber where you see that
in the old school neighborhood, Yeah, like deep South Philly and there,
and the grandmothers are out there,yes, and they're sweeping the stoop to
sweeping the street. But also theydo that because that was a chance to
(28:23):
connect with the neighbors too. Thatwas their way of connecting with neighbors and
bringing that sense of you know,community in their neighborhoods. And I love
Center City, but that's one thingI don't. I wish I was in
another kind of more of a communitybecause people don't sit on their stoop in
Center City, and I also havea shared driveway, so I wouldn't be
seeing my neighbors anyway. But rightI think it's so cool when you're driving
(28:45):
around South Philly or Bridesburg or someof these areas where people are just sitting
out on their porch and Bridesburg theythey even have porches. It's even it's
even cool. Yeah, yeah,So that is something I do wish sometimes.
I love Center City, but Ido sometimes which I lived in some
of the surrounding communities because it is, uh, it's more a feeling of
a community. And when I walkaround Center City with you know, my
(29:07):
dog walking company, I the samething. I live in the Wissa hicken
Rocksborough area, and I often everybodysays, well, why don't you live
the city went I don't think Icould picture that because I really enjoy that
sense of, you know, unityin the community that I've got with my
neighbors, and that I when Iwalk them or they look after you.
Yeah, they know you, theyknow your name, they know your number,
They're gonna call you if they seesomething weird. And I really enjoy
(29:27):
that. And when I walk,for example, I have clients over in
Fitler Square. When I walk aroundFhitler Square, I don't feel a neighborhood.
No, you're right, and it'sfunny you mentioned dogs. When I
had a dog, I felt likeI knew my neighbors better. Absolutely,
I knew their dog's name. Ididn't know that. I didn't say you
knew the dogs names. I knewthe dog name. I didn't. I
didn't know. And I do knowa lot of my neighbors, but but
(29:48):
I felt like I knew more ofmy neighbors when I had a dog.
Now I have frigging four cats.I have four cats too, though you
want another one because I have oneof my cats, do not do?
Sure? We had two cats,I'll give it to you as a gift.
That would be fine. That wouldbe four too many. I think
we had two cats and then wegot a COVID cat because we were bored,
and so it was My wife actuallytexted me, Um, she was
(30:10):
at Peco and it was it wasa rescue. Um. She it was
a black cat and she's like,oh, they don't they don't get adopted
as offend. Can I can?I can we bring it home? And
she thought I was gonna say no, and I was like, sure,
I said, I must have beendrinking, but I wasn't. I wasn't.
And then last year is almost ayear ago exactly, she was driving
(30:30):
down the Benom Benjamin Franker Parkway andsaw a little tiny ball in the middle
of the road. She stopped hercar, opened the doors, stopped traffic,
picked up this cat, brought ithome. She handed it to me.
I thought it was it was sosmall. I mean, it was
probably two weeks old. I'd neverseen a cat that small, kitting that
small. I thought it was arat. I'm like, she just picked
up a rat and brought it homeand handed it. He said, the
(30:52):
bottle feed it. We did notbottle feed it. Um it was.
I know it was a Thursday becausewe called Mars Animal Refuge and we were
gonna drop drop the kitten off there. They were closed, closed on Thursdays.
That's why we have a cat.And I could have told you that
was on the board of Wars fornine years. So you said Thursday board,
I think they're closed. Yeah,they're closed on Thursdays. So we're
like anybody who knows that. No, yeah, we'll bring it in tomorrow
(31:15):
and then and I'll be honest withyou. It was me the next day.
Yeah, I'm not getting rid ofthis cat. So you have four
of them? Four? Do youlike all four of them? I do
you do? And I'm I'm moreof a dog person. My my wife's
allergic to two dogs. We hada wheat and terrier, so with with
with with uh since they were hyperologetic, we could we could have the wheat
and terrier. But um, Ido like dogs more. But it's so
(31:38):
hard, you know. I gotit's so hard when you live in the
city and you can't just open theback door. And that's why I live
where I live, because I gotmy little backyard and you can do that,
you know. And I got thecats, you know. And three
of my cats are cool. Onesucks, Yeah, you know, my
black cats are cools. Yeah,one sucks the worst. Oh man,
I can't stand here. My catsare funny. They all got they all
(31:59):
personality. The old it's his dollface. She's like the she's the matriarch.
I call her the og. Sheruns stuff. She kind of she's
she's she's fat, so she's thebiggest. She just kind of walks around.
People mess with her sometimes, butshe doesn't like the mess with the
others. And then our black catis Wednesday. Our one male cat perfect
is uh is Remington. And thenthe new one is Nutmeg. And she's
(32:22):
a menace to society. That's thelittle one that she's just found. Yea,
the one she's a year old.She's a menace society. She,
She and Remington. I call themthe mafia. I mean they're always plotting
something. I think they're gonna killus in the middle of I'm telling you
can show everybody your socks. Yeah, I have my cat socks on.
And they say cat dad is acat dad. Yeah, cat dad,
(32:46):
Look at that. I always wearyou in the morning. I always wear
cat Oh, I does say catdoes? I always wear crazy socks.
But I didn't know it's a catdad. Yes, here you go.
I'll tell you man. You whoknows than me. I went walk around
with those on. I've lost mymasculinity. Yeah, no, it's cool.
That's not the masculinity. I justwould remind me of that one devil
cat I have that I can't standand I wouldn't want them on my But
(33:09):
there are great socks. But uh, you know, animals, they make
your life better. It's that therapeuticaspect to them. They do. Oh
yeah, they make my cats,mate. I thought that was just called
the Republican zone. I don't knowhow we're talking about cats at this because
you know, after talking about Republicans, you gotta go to talk about politicians.
Just like I post stuff on Twitterand sometimes I just make it funny
(33:29):
because I'm like you post on Twitterand look, it is a lot of
it negative. I'm running for politicalofficer, so you do negative things.
I often do on Larry Krafts orour disattorney. It's pretty easy. But
sometimes just put funny stuff up.Is it the truth everything? Is it
true? And it's not negative.It's just a truth. It's it's facts
that it's true. Go anyway.I just want to make you feel better.
Absolutely, so. I think we'rekind of coming up to the end
(33:49):
of our time here. I thinkwe actually stoped. We're supposed to take
a break at fifteen minutes, butit's how can we take a break?
We're talking about cats, talking aboutand were talking about you know, the
cats were the best part of theSuddy because you got somebody, you know,
we talked about Kenny, right,So we so we thought we're gonna
have our other friend on, JamesWhitehead. We're gonna have to we'll have
to talk to him about find himsomewhere being on being on time next time.
But yeah, I think we're gonnawrap this up. We're gonna come
(34:13):
back on. I'll come on yourshow next time. Good? What is
your shows? What's what? What'syour show called again? Now? Be
your voice? Be still, bea voice? Your voice? Okay point
oh, just rebooted it all right, be a voice two point zero,
So I called two point Thank youfor coming on my show. Hey,
thanks for having me. Absolutely andmaybe if James shows up the next minute,
we'll do a quick like ten fifteenminutes with him. But yeah,
(34:35):
we're gonna have to talk to thatyoung man about being on time. Maybe
not, maybe he was involved withsomething important, Maybe there was an emergence
road. Now I'm gonna talk he'salways like, maybe we should just get
him a watch. He is alwayslate. I think it's I think he's
a millennial. He might not evenbe a millennial. He might be younger
than millennial. I don't know whathe is. I don't even know those.
But you know, these young theseyoung men and women that we got
to teach him how to how tohow to come on time and work on
(34:58):
Lombardi time. I work on Lombarditime. Early is on time, on
time is late, and ladies unacceptable. I get anxiety. Man if I'm
late. I was here a quarterquarter, I was here fifteen minutes before.
Yeah, I actually I saw youpull in and I was a little
bad that you got a closer spot. But anyway, thanks so much.
I have a Mini so I wasable to pull into the slash. Yeah,
hold right in, all right,Well, thanks, thank you all
(35:19):
for listening. You're watching USLA Mediaand the Republican Zone have a great day.
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray. Good afternoon, you're
watching USSELA Media and The Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray.
I am here with my good friendBrett Carpenter's been a while since we've
been on a show together. Beena long time. It was I'm back.
(00:27):
I know what it was because weI was running against Brian Simms eighty
second legislative districts. That had tobe probably twenty twenty twenty, I guess,
yeah, it was twenty twenty,so I know we did a zoom
during COVID and oh that's right,we did that actual face to face.
Yeah, it was like talk aboutcrazy train. Here we go. I'm
(00:48):
not gonna say anything about our former, our former state not state representative,
Brian Simms. Brian I actually gotalong. Actually me too, and I
haven't seen him in a long time. But and what's weird. I don't
even live in that district anymore.I was Jerrymander out of the district,
out of the one eighty second.I live in the tenth legislative district.
Now they switched your district that youhaven't moved either, No, no,
(01:11):
so one eighty second used to beCenter City, almost all of Center City
now. Logan Square, where Ilive is the tenth Legislative district, and
Aman Brown is our state rout Ohso talk about I love when people talk
about Republicans Jerrymander in the state.Well, I got Jerrymander right out of
the one eighty second. There yougo. But did you every think you'd
(01:34):
be on a Republicans own show becauseyou are not a Republican? But y,
but but I think you're I don'tmind. I think you're more conservative
than most people than most people think. I would agree with you on that
for sure. Yeah. I thinkpeople think that I'm I'm this extreme liberal
because of who I am and whatI do and the nonprofit that I run.
And you know, I think peopletend to get that misconception that because
(01:57):
you have this role, this iswho you walk and you know, I
yeah, I've got a lot ofconservative asktes to me. I think you're
a small business owner. I thinkI think a lot of small business owners
are are more conservative than people think. And I think a lot of people
who weren't small business owners would becameone they realize, Wow, I'm I'm
becoming more conservative because it's tough toown of business, and it's tough to
(02:23):
own of business in the city ofPhiladelphia. You're taxed every time you turn
around, litter everything, literally bothboth both both just just the wage tax,
so the tax the bi RT whereif you lose body, you get
tax. Still if that b iRT is it was what destroys me each
year. And then you know,if if you're wrong on your projections,
(02:45):
then you own more money. Youknow, And I couldn't. I do
not own a small business. Iwork for a small business, but I
could not imagine how how hard itmust be to do business with the city
of Philadelphia. It is. Ioften considering like just moving out of the
city just because that at least I'mnot getting double tax. Then yeah,
because the own and live is justbasically like giving your whole life over the
(03:06):
city of Philadelphia city Philadelphia just andI'm not quite sure what I get for
that amount of money. Absolutely Igot nothing. And if I'm late with
that, and I have no promise. If I'm late with it, they
threaten to take your license away.Wow, immediately, not even like a
you know, hey, you know, it's like come on, you know
you tend to forget that these arethe people who are employing other, you
know, people in your city.Yeah, absolutely, you know, But
(03:29):
then again, what do you wantwhen you have a mayor who doesn't want
to wake up and be mayor everyday? So, you know, how
can you hold everybody else accountable forthings in the city. It is amazing
And I you know, look,I'm a moderate. I liked Mark Kenny.
When he came in, I thought, okay, this is gonna be
a moderate. He went ultra farleft, which I had Number one.
I don't trust anybody who changes theiropinions on things as an adult. You
(03:50):
might, you might evolve a littlebit, you might change a little bit.
But he went from moderate to superfar left and even worse. Look,
I have friends who are super farleft. I don't pick my friends
based on their party or their beliefs. You know, he just doesn't want
to be mayor. I think that'sthe worst part of everything. He doesn't
want to be mayor. And that'sit. Well, I mean when he
made that comment, you know,I wake up every day not wanting to
(04:10):
be mayor. Like would you hearthat sort of statement? Like, how
do you put any trust to respectin the man, and then you see
him and you're almost like, whata joke, and you want to turn
it off. And it is ajoke. What happened, even even the
most recent And I don't even puttoo much blame on him on how initially
the water crisis was handled. Imean, I don't think they knew what
happened. They probably got the newsthat there was there was contamination, so
(04:31):
they just they sent it out.Maybe they were a little premature, maybe
you should have found a little bitout. But if it came back that
oh they knew there were chemicals intoorder and it was harmful, and they
and they waited even an hour afterthen they would have been vilified for that
as well. But where was heon Sunday? I got the alert and
I looked at my phone and Iwas actually at an event in Port Richmond,
(04:53):
and I had another event later thatnight at Rodolph Saloon, and we're
like, oh, we got haveto go back. We have to go
back and get some water. Becauseyou know, we talked about my cat
socks, my daughters. They weren'tworried about me, They weren't worried about
about about them. They were like, well, the cats we got to
get their water bowls up and andand and switch it out with with bottle
water. So I was like,so we went the giant. By time
(05:14):
we got the giant an hour afterthe alert, they were already out and
we have a huge giant on twentythird and Race. I mean we we
thought, oh, we'll get thereand we're going to do other shopping as
well. We didn't realize how stupidthat was to think that. I mean,
there was like a mad rush onwater. You could there, there
was lines around around the store.Uh, and we couldn't get of water.
And again, I don't fault theinitial reaction. What I fault is
(05:40):
why was he not on He wasn'ton air on Sunday at all? Where
was he Racetree Cafe. I'm notgonna say that, but you asked me
a question. It is possible,no, I you know, And it's
funny you say tree, you know, And I always give that jab about
the Racetory Cafe, and I willThat's how I feel. But when your
(06:00):
city is in a state of crisis, and it's being considered a state of
crisis, the first thing that youshould do when you're in control of that
city, is show face sure andspeak up. There was never an you
didn't go anywhere and if the waterwas safe, and he finally did a
couple of days later, but goand drink the water. I mean Isaiah's
council memorize any damas I credit him. He was the first person on council
(06:24):
said he went to the sink,he filled it up, and he drank
it. Yep. And I thinkthat made people feel feel better. And
I don't I really I'd like toknow where Mayor Kenny was that weekend.
Maybe he was away and guess what, everyone deserves a vacation. If he
was away, then work should havecome out. Okay, Mayor Kenny was
away and the managing director will,well, well we'll step up or state
(06:46):
you know his or someone like Sheilahas even his you know the city?
Everybody there was nobody nobody because Ithink everybody, Sheila asked the managing director.
I think they were all looking like, okay, where is it?
End is he coming out? Andit's because he doesn't want to do this
job anymore. I don't know whyhe ran again in twenty nineteen. In
(07:08):
twenty fifteen, let's be honest.He was. He was pushed into it.
Absolutely. I don't think he wantedit. And I think he said,
you know what, I'll take onefor the team, and he did.
Twenty nineteen, he could have hecould have easily stepped down. He
should have too, He should havestepped down. And and I think a
lot of people running for mayor thiscycle are looking back at twenty nineteen and
thinking, I should I should Ishould have challenged him. Well, and
(07:30):
look at how many people are runningfor mayor this cycle. I have never
seen this many candidates on the ballotfor mayor of Philadelphia. You know,
first of all, you know,I'll take it back. Like I love
Nutter. Michael Nutter is still oneof my favorites. I saw Mayor Nutter
last night in an event. Briefly, uh no, I he was very
moderate, as very very moder businessfriendly. You know, there were some
(07:54):
things that he did. You know, he closed the fire stations, and
I think that that really I didn'tagree with that. Um But from a
business standpoint, Philly flourished. Andguess what the murders were low, crime
was low, its employment was high. Employment was high. Absolutely, and
you know, but you know.You know, it's interesting you say that
(08:16):
as a politician, as an humanbeing, as a as an individual,
you and I shouldn't have to agreeon everything, yeah, you know,
but we should be able to respecteach other and what we do and how
we call the shots on things.But when you have somebody that's in office
and they're not even calling shots,and when they do, there's zero respect,
maybe it's time to just getaway now, step down now. And that's
(08:37):
a good point. I don't thinkthat people who work with him respect them
anymore. I don't see. Andthat's key to a leadership role. And
and and I look at this' evensomeone like Commissioner Outlaw. I don't blame
her for a lot of things thatare going on. I don't. I
didn't blame her for a lot ofthe riots that went on. She had
a plan in the city said no, we know how to handle this,
and they changed her plan. Butthe problem out Law that I see,
(09:01):
I think she's a nice person.I see someone who doesn't have the respect
of the people who work for it. And that's the that's you could be
the best person in the world,but when you lose that respect, you
can't lead anymore, and I thinkthat might be where she is. I'm
not I'm not positive. Never giventhe opportunity to get that respect. I
mean, she was in my mind, and of course this is where I
(09:22):
go back to. She was broughtin, and she was brought in on
several different levels, and you know, it was almost like, hey,
now we're going to bring in afemale to do this, and you know,
because people are pushing female, peoplepushing even for male kind of nowadays
they're pushing. And she was anoutsider. Absolutely, you come in and
we're Philly. Look, yeah,we want to see you know, that's
(09:43):
the first thing. Yes, wheredid you grow up again? From Philadelphia?
You know what high school did yougo to? She was a complete
outsider, and she was never giventhe chance. Though I agree, I
don't think she was ever given andwhether female or not, she could do
the job, let's face it,or she wouldn't have been brought in.
She was never given the chance,and she doesn't have the support from the
(10:05):
higher ups to do it. Plusshe's also battling a da like we have
exactly we have the we have,in my opinion, one of the worst
days in the country. And she'strying to deal with that. So it
was it was a tough job tocome into. She was an outsider.
I don't know if she was evergiven the respect. Then the pandemic hit
(10:26):
very I got what was it wasit within the first her first year,
if not the first few months.I think that the pandemic hit. I
forget when she exactly she started,but nineteen, right, it was.
It was a tough start for her. And look and look every maybe she
does take some of the blame,but I will tell you I've seen her.
She commands a room. She isshe is a good public speaker.
(10:46):
She gets the respect in the room. And if I if I had seen
her speak before kind of some ofwhat I would say are our criticisms of
her, I would have said,Wow, this this she's impressive. If
you watch her speak and the wayshe commands a room, she's impressive.
But I just think she may havelost the support or the respect of the
(11:07):
officers in the city Philadelphia. Andthat's a problem. And it's interesting because
to me, like when I seethe crime that's happening here in our city,
and I see, you know,the crisis situation that occur a former
commissioner Um was out. He wason TV constantly. You saw his voice,
you heard him talking. I don'tsee that without law I don't see
them putting her on TV. Idon't see these press for these these these
(11:30):
pressing. And it's surprising because shedoes speak well, and she does well
in front of the camera. Shedoes well in front of people, so
that that's surprise, and who knowswho makes that decision. Honestly, it's
it's probably her, So maybe she'smaking the decision not to do so.
But uh but ye, I meanwhen you look at the job that she
has to do and the fact thatshe has to do it and work with
our current district attorney and current mayorwho, well, you don't work with
(11:54):
the current mayor because he's not there, you know, you're so he's completely
missing. So absolutely, it's it'sa very it's a very tough job.
And Krashner was in budget hearing yesterdayasking for more money. You know,
he's doing a horrible job, buthe wants seven million dollars in addition to
what they're allocating for him. AndI'm glad City Council grilled him. They
(12:15):
grilled him out, what does hewant more money for No, I didn't
get a chance to hear about it'sjust overall he wants you know, he
just he asked for more money whatthey grilled him on. And I didn't
watch the proceedings, so I don'tI don't know if it had to do
with retail theft. But he broughtup the fact that why retail theft is
high. And you know what hedid when when he blamed you know,
he would blame retail theft on whatbecause the shop owners don't hire enough security.
(12:39):
That's what he said. This wasa quote in the inquiry. I
looked at it him like, youknow, in twenty seventeen year prior to
his taking office, they did notneed security. Why should people have to
hire security for their businesses? Isn'tthat what the services that we're paying for
with our taxes? Yeah, that'swhat nine one. Yeah, and guess
what you and I walk into theApple store on Walnut Street and I see
(13:01):
a police officer there, and Isee stores like like like like Apple they
can afford it and not even blankthey have to small businesses, most of
which like how many you know themajority of the businesses on wand I live
in center city, someone want andjustin these are small businesses, they can't
afford a security guard. No,and what happens and there are still look
(13:24):
and we're rebuilding, and look,the pandemic had a lot to do with
a lot of stores closing. Butif I'm thinking about opening a store on
Chester Street to Walnut Street and I'mwalking around and I'm looking at all these
security guards, I'm saying, I'mnot gonna be able to I'm not gonna
be able to do this. Soit's a barrier to entry to those small
business not just that. Or ifI'm a consumer, why do I want
to shop in places like that?Exactly? You know, because already you're
(13:46):
going in there and you don't feelsafer secure because of what's happening at the
door. And I mean, yes, I understand, there's there's higher price
stores out there where you need thisstuff. You know, there's jeworstoor,
there's certain precautionary measures you need totake at certain stores. But these smaller
mom and stop type of stores,No, yeah, absolutely not. That's
why we pay taxes. And allthe wawas had security because they could afford
(14:07):
it, and they still ended upclosed. Then the one at nineteen hundred
Market Street. That's a close onein my house. I would go there
often. It would be packed withpeople. So it wasn't that they weren't
getting the business. It was thatso much was getting stolen. And even
though WA was a big corporation,their margins are still very low. So
when people go in and walk inand they steal, and they know that
(14:31):
if as long as they steal underfive hundred dollars worth of merchandise, the
worst that they're going to see asa summary offense. And so the police
aren't going to arrest them. There. The security guard it's you know,
yes, it's their job to tryto stop the theft, but you know
they also they're a security guard there. They don't necessarily want to put themselves
in harm's way to the point wherethey for a tasty cake, for a
(14:54):
tasty nobody's gonna I mean, theCBS is the wawas, the right aids,
the wagons, they're they're they're closingbecause you know, and they're two
and actually they're telling their security guards, don't you know, it's it's not
worth it. Don't stop them,don't stop them. And I don't even
have a CBS or a rating Idon't have. I don't have a pharmacy
(15:15):
within Like the reason I live inCenter City. The reason I live in
the city because it's convenience. Right. We basically have to drive to a
drug store now because they've all closedin my neighborhood. I mean it's not
a fIF Yeah, if I walkthree quarters of a mile, and I
know that's not that far, butwhen you live in Center City, that
feels like, oh my god,I gotta go three quarters of the mind.
But if you have to drive thatthree quarters of a mile, you
gotta find a parking spot. Theyou gotta find another parking spot when you
get home, and it's just ahassle. The convenience of living in the
(15:39):
city was to have these types ofstores on almost every corner, to have
this type of convenience. And it'snot there. And you know what people
do now If if I'm in thesuburbs, you know it's I stop and
I pick up. I stop ata drug store out there because it's two
it's it's it's a timing thing.I try to do all my shop in
a field. I'll even it's someoneimpossible. Um, but it's cheaper two
in the suburbs. But it's cheaperwell, and why you know, and
(16:02):
you're you're you're paying less sales tax. If you're buying sodas or sweetened beverages,
you're you're not You're you're probably beingliterally a third less than if you
did in the city. So youknow, it's it's when I listen to
people and they say, oh,we need we need better services, we
need this, so we need toraise taxes. I say, we are
(16:22):
already one of the most tax citiesin the country, probably of the large
cities, of the largest cities,we are if you look at and you
got to look at everything, peopleare like, oh, no, New
York is New York. It's moretaxed in New York, it's more taxed
in San Francisco. You got tolook at everything, because we have a
wage tax, we have the sodatax, we have the br look and
(16:44):
that's resident and on on. Onthe on the business side, we have
a I R. T WO.I always remind people because people forget about
it. When you buy a house, the transfer at tax in the city
of Philadelphia is like four point sixsomething percent. If you live in a
collar County, it's two percent.So people talk about, you know,
affordable housing and Philadelphia. I'm like, well, let's talk about what Philadelphia
(17:07):
can do to make housing more affordablebecause it's a barrier to entry with those
closing costs, because our transfer attax is double what it is in every
other area the state, which withthe exception of Alleghany County, I think
Alleghany County where and been Pittsburgh arehigher. But you know that the taxes
they never end. And and Ilove the temporary taxes. And this wasn't
not her I know, you likenot every he did go from he took
(17:30):
our sales tax from seven to eight. Just because I like something, it
doesn't mean I agree with everything thatthey've done. There was a temporary with
a temporary tax. But you know, y'all know tax there's no such thing
as a temporary tax. Oh now, yeah, yeah, temporary gonna hurt
your pocket until you learn to makemore money to exact those taxes. Like
the costs right now that the ridiculoustax they put on the real estate right
now, property tax? Yeah,crazy, mine went up. So you
(17:56):
know, Drew, let's you know, you peel to the layers back and
you look at you know, theaverage Joe or the average Jane sitting here
in Philadelphia, who, first ofall, you can't live in Philadelphia and
make less than forty five thousand dollars. Forty five thousand dollars is actually almost
like a poverty level in Philadelphia.I'd say, at least that's my opinion.
You know, how do you takethe people like that who are just
(18:18):
you know, trying to make itday by day and survive and add forty
percent and add forty percent. Iwas able to absorb wait, I should
say way, my wife would getupset because we both pay the bills.
But we were able to absorb it. It wasn't necessarily easy because but but
but we're lucky. So we wereable to absorb it. A lot of
people were not able to absorb it. My my salary didn't go a forty
percent. Nobody's went up forty percent. And if you show me who did,
(18:41):
I'm applying for the job. Butso though, so people who there
are plenty of people who could notafford it. And and you know,
Mayor Mayor, I almost said MayorNutter. May Kenny came out said,
oh, we didn't have any newtaxes. I'm like, well, yes
you did, because you raised thevalues. Now, not everybody went up
forty percent, and a few peopledidn't go up at all. But for
the most part, everyone I've spokento, and this is Ncdotles said their
(19:03):
taxes went up. So that meansthey did raise taxes. He said,
they didn't raise taxes meaning the millagerate, meaning they didn't raise the actual
percentage, but they raise taxes.So now that that takes me to where
that liberal side of me comes out, And how do you raise, you
know, a property tax forty percentwhen you have homeowners in places like North
(19:26):
Philly and moving up the line Frankfort. You know those areas where you do
have people that people are always like, well they can move where they going
to move? Yeah, people alwayssay that's the solution, where they can
just move. No, they can't. These are people's homes. So how
do you tax them that when they'rebarely making fifteen dollars an hour some of
the places, well they can't movebecause then they have to pay the transfer
(19:47):
exactly, So you know they're damnthat they do the end that they don't,
and the city isn't doing anything toreally help the people of the city.
They're doing to help the city.And they could have changed the millage
rate. And this isn't on themare. I will give them that.
This would have been legislation. Thecouncil could have passed to change the milage
rate. So that wouldn't that wouldn'treduce it for everybody, but it would
It could have been done in away that the tax did not bring in
(20:11):
more more revenue than than it digs. They brought in a ton of revenue.
They could have changed the milg rate. They don't like to do that
or they didn't want to do itbecause they didn't want businesses to be taxed
to change their millage rate. Andwith a uniformity clause in the state of
Pennsylvania, they have to do.They have to tax it the same rate
from a residential standpoint and a businessstandpoint. But my thought was, let's
(20:33):
get why not give business as abreak. You know, we we the
businesses pay a ton of taxes aswell. Why not change the millage rate
and look raise it the costs ofliving? Fine, yes, if if
if if, if Kohla goes uptwo or three percent, Yeah, the
city Philadelphia is going to need twoto three percent more in revenue just in
order to stay even. But youknow, forty percent at insane. Now
(20:59):
I don't. And this is whatI always say. The Office of Property
Adjustment in Philadelphia is one of theworst departments in the city of Philadelphia.
They use comps to value houses,so places like Fishtown. That was a
great example. Okay, so Ilive in a two hundred thousand dollar house
across the street of nine hundred thousanddollar house goes up. Well, this
person's house, their income didn't goup, but their value of their house
(21:22):
increased dramatically. Why not tie increasesin property values to the cost of living.
Yeah, so if it goes uptwo or three percent, it goes
up two or three percent, andand guarantee that for as long as someone
owns that home, and when thathome is sold, then that new market
value it will be taxed on thatmarket value. Number One, you could
get rid of the OPA, theOffice of Property Adjustment. You could give
(21:45):
people stability in knowing what their theirbills are going to be. I mean
that that's important to know. Okay, my cost is this this year,
what's it going to be next year? People want to know what their budgets
budget is. So if you dothat, then so you keep people number
one in their homes because when itgoes up forty percent, people people absolutely
(22:07):
were not could not stay in theirhomes. They had to sell, they
had to move. They had todo this and guess what else it would
help solve gentrification because that's why peoplesay, why do errs it get gentrified
because people get priced out because theycan't afford the taxes. Now, that's
only going to solve part of theproblem because if you if you rent an
apartment and that rent goes up,then then we'll still have that problem with
(22:32):
gentrification. But if we if wehandle at least part of the problem,
and also, by the way,push for homeownership because that is something that
we should be pushing for, shouldthen you know that that helps solve some
of the problems with gentrification. Doyou remember years ago in the cities to
help people get homes or help peoplebuy their homes, and there would be
(22:52):
funds out there, there were grants, there were different types of you know,
programs they can get involved with.I don't see that anymore, No,
I do not see it, becauseall I see is the city wants
people to buy these five hundred thousanddollars megacondos that are going up, these
studio condos that are hey, we'regonna throw this on the corner of Frankfort
and Lehigh. You're gonna pay fivehundred thousand dollars for it. Good luck.
(23:14):
Yeah, And nowadays they don't care. Years ago, I remember this
happening and it was making people,it was helping them keep their homes.
It was taking more pride of theirownership and their neighborhood in their community.
I think what happens is when youraise these taxes and you're charging people more
money and people can't afford it,that's when the communities start to you know,
become trashed yea, and they're nottaking care of them. There's not
(23:37):
a sense of pride. I mean, Philadelphia was always known for a sense
of pride in their neighborhoods and wherethey're from. I don't see that anymore.
And I think it's because of theway think homeownership is going down and
there's and I'm not disparaging renters,but when you are vested in a community,
when you buy a house there,you're going to be more vested.
I see it in the r CEOneighbored Association world. You know, we
(23:57):
allow board by to be renters.We're homeowners, but most are homeowners because
they're more best in their communities.Right. So that's why if when you're
in my neighborhood, you can tellwhich blocks because a lot of blocks have
these when of them in Center City, some of them have these huge houses,
right some of our single family home, A lot of them are are
(24:18):
on one and have multi family,their multifamily. You can tell the blocks
that our homeowner are our owner occupiedversus one ze are rentals for two reasons.
Number one, I think I thinkthey have the best of interest.
And I will say also because it'sharder to put trash out when you have
when you don't. When you havean apartment, you don't have anywhere to
put it. I put my trashin my garage until it's ready and then
(24:40):
so they don't really have anywhere toput it. So because if you put
it outside your front door, you'regonna get fined by the city. Yeah
yeah, so so and if youhave a little backslab in your back area,
then you got to drag the trashfrom your backslab through your entire living
space, so their front door.So it's very difficult, and there's nowhere
to put the tray. I rememberwhen I am in apart when I was
younger, Um, you don't havea trash can and put it in,
(25:03):
mean an outdoor trash can and putit in. I would I when I
when the trash would full, Iput it on the fire escape and then
what would happen. It would bea squirrel will get into it and be
everywhere. So trash in your inyour house as long as possible. So
I like I but but I thinkthe bigger reason is people are best in
their community. They take the trashout every day. When I come home
(25:23):
on a Monday, I clean upthe trash because the trash, when the
trash is collected inevitably, and it'sa hard job. So I'm not I'm
not saying the sensation workers are doinga bad job. It's a hard job
and I get it. So Ipick up the trash in front of my
house. I don't think that alwayshappens when you're dealing with areas that are
the blocks or pool renters. Yousaid it before. The renters don't have
(25:47):
that sense of pride in their communitydo some people. I've been a renter
since I've been back in Philadelphia forthe past seventeen years, I've rented.
I do not own our rent.I've been in the same place for the
last nine years, and I probablyhave more pride and a lot of what
I do. And I wonder ifyou're an anomaly, So you've been there
in the same place for nine years, Normally you rent a lot of time.
People are moving around, going indifferent neighborhoods. I am an anomaly
(26:11):
in many ways, but yeah,for sure. And you know, but
I like where I'm at. Ilike my community. I like my neighbors.
I like the sense of like I'mable to come home and say hi
to somebody and call them by theirfirst name, not just a head nod
or like, oh hey, whendid you move in? And that's an
interesting point too. Yeah, whenpeople stay there a long time, you
know your neighbors, You're going tobe more vested in the community. You
(26:33):
want to take pride in your homeand what you do. And that's why
you know, and this is uh, you know, we hear a lot
about like street cleaning in Philadelphia.I'm I'm very split on it. Like
number one, if there's illegal dumping, absolutely needs to go in and take
care of it. But like streetssweeping, I'm old school. I think
I should sweep in front of myown house and not and not have to
(26:56):
pay an additional well not necessarily nothave the city paid for these these streets
sweeping. I'd rather that money goto somewhere else. But why is it
certain areas and failures or have thestreets clean and other areas don't that,
you know, I think it's moreof a parking thing. People battle the
parking because my area, like somepeople say, well Center City gets cleaned
(27:18):
up, my my street doesn't getsweet No, because you they tell you
can't park on this street between certainhours. Where are you gonna park?
Yeah you can't. Yeah, You'realready parking a mile away from your house
to begin with. Now it's likeokay, now I'm gonna park on the
other side of Broad you know,to walk, so it's hard. Yeah.
So I think I think the reasonthere's not more sweet street sweeping is
because of the parking situation, becausethey got to pull it up. But
(27:40):
I don't know if we should Iclean in front of your own house.
I mean, I take responsibility.It's not that difficult. It's not that
difficult. Every every Monday, Icleaned up in front of my house.
How big is it? How bigof an area is it, Drew,
Yeah, it's not that big.A sidewalk and a gutter, yeah,
you know. And and once ina while, you know, a few
times a year, I sweep.I literally get out and sweep, and
I get in the street and Isweep the street to take you out out
(28:03):
the build up near the curb.You're anomaly there because you know, not
many people do that, I know. And you remeber where you see that
in the old school neighborhood, Yeah, like deep South Philly and there,
and the grandmothers are out there,yes, and they're sweeping the stoop to
sweeping the street. But also theydo that because that was a chance to
(28:23):
connect with the neighbors too. Thatwas their way of connecting with neighbors and
bringing that sense of you know,community in their neighborhoods. And I love
Center City, but that's one thingI don't. I wish I was in
another kind of more of a communitybecause people don't sit on their stoop in
Center City, and I also havea shared driveway, so I wouldn't be
seeing my neighbors anyway. But rightI think it's so cool when you're driving
(28:45):
around South Philly or Bridesburg or someof these areas where people are just sitting
out on their porch and Bridesburg theythey even have porches. It's even it's
even cool. Yeah, yeah,So that is something I do wish sometimes.
I love Center City, but Ido sometimes which I lived in some
of the surrounding communities because it is, uh, it's more a feeling of
a community. And when I walkaround Center City with you know, my
(29:07):
dog walking company, I the samething. I live in the Wissa hicken
Rocksborough area, and I often everybodysays, well, why don't you live
the city went I don't think Icould picture that because I really enjoy that
sense of, you know, unityin the community that I've got with my
neighbors, and that I when Iwalk them or they look after you.
Yeah, they know you, theyknow your name, they know your number,
They're gonna call you if they seesomething weird. And I really enjoy
(29:27):
that. And when I walk,for example, I have clients over in
Fitler Square. When I walk aroundFhitler Square, I don't feel a neighborhood.
No, you're right, and it'sfunny you mentioned dogs. When I
had a dog, I felt likeI knew my neighbors better. Absolutely,
I knew their dog's name. Ididn't know that. I didn't say you
knew the dogs names. I knewthe dog name. I didn't. I
didn't know. And I do knowa lot of my neighbors, but but
(29:48):
I felt like I knew more ofmy neighbors when I had a dog.
Now I have frigging four cats.I have four cats too, though you
want another one because I have oneof my cats, do not do?
Sure? We had two cats,I'll give it to you as a gift.
That would be fine. That wouldbe four too many. I think
we had two cats and then wegot a COVID cat because we were bored,
and so it was My wife actuallytexted me, Um, she was
(30:10):
at Peco and it was it wasa rescue. Um. She it was
a black cat and she's like,oh, they don't they don't get adopted
as offend. Can I can?I can we bring it home? And
she thought I was gonna say no, and I was like, sure,
I said, I must have beendrinking, but I wasn't. I wasn't.
And then last year is almost ayear ago exactly, she was driving
(30:30):
down the Benom Benjamin Franker Parkway andsaw a little tiny ball in the middle
of the road. She stopped hercar, opened the doors, stopped traffic,
picked up this cat, brought ithome. She handed it to me.
I thought it was it was sosmall. I mean, it was
probably two weeks old. I'd neverseen a cat that small, kitting that
small. I thought it was arat. I'm like, she just picked
up a rat and brought it homeand handed it. He said, the
(30:52):
bottle feed it. We did notbottle feed it. Um it was.
I know it was a Thursday becausewe called Mars Animal Refuge and we were
gonna drop drop the kitten off there. They were closed, closed on Thursdays.
That's why we have a cat.And I could have told you that
was on the board of Wars fornine years. So you said Thursday board,
I think they're closed. Yeah,they're closed on Thursdays. So we're
like anybody who knows that. No, yeah, we'll bring it in tomorrow
(31:15):
and then and I'll be honest withyou. It was me the next day.
Yeah, I'm not getting rid ofthis cat. So you have four
of them? Four? Do youlike all four of them? I do
you do? And I'm I'm moreof a dog person. My my wife's
allergic to two dogs. We hada wheat and terrier, so with with
with with uh since they were hyperologetic, we could we could have the wheat
and terrier. But um, Ido like dogs more. But it's so
(31:38):
hard, you know. I gotit's so hard when you live in the
city and you can't just open theback door. And that's why I live
where I live, because I gotmy little backyard and you can do that,
you know. And I got thecats, you know. And three
of my cats are cool. Onesucks, Yeah, you know, my
black cats are cools. Yeah,one sucks the worst. Oh man,
I can't stand here. My catsare funny. They all got they all
(31:59):
personality. The old it's his dollface. She's like the she's the matriarch.
I call her the og. Sheruns stuff. She kind of she's
she's she's fat, so she's thebiggest. She just kind of walks around.
People mess with her sometimes, butshe doesn't like the mess with the
others. And then our black catis Wednesday. Our one male cat perfect
is uh is Remington. And thenthe new one is Nutmeg. And she's
(32:22):
a menace to society. That's thelittle one that she's just found. Yea,
the one she's a year old.She's a menace society. She,
She and Remington. I call themthe mafia. I mean they're always plotting
something. I think they're gonna killus in the middle of I'm telling you
can show everybody your socks. Yeah, I have my cat socks on.
And they say cat dad is acat dad. Yeah, cat dad,
(32:46):
Look at that. I always wearyou in the morning. I always wear
cat Oh, I does say catdoes? I always wear crazy socks.
But I didn't know it's a catdad. Yes, here you go.
I'll tell you man. You whoknows than me. I went walk around
with those on. I've lost mymasculinity. Yeah, no, it's cool.
That's not the masculinity. I justwould remind me of that one devil
cat I have that I can't standand I wouldn't want them on my But
(33:09):
there are great socks. But uh, you know, animals, they make
your life better. It's that therapeuticaspect to them. They do. Oh
yeah, they make my cats,mate. I thought that was just called
the Republican zone. I don't knowhow we're talking about cats at this because
you know, after talking about Republicans, you gotta go to talk about politicians.
Just like I post stuff on Twitterand sometimes I just make it funny
(33:29):
because I'm like you post on Twitterand look, it is a lot of
it negative. I'm running for politicalofficer, so you do negative things.
I often do on Larry Krafts orour disattorney. It's pretty easy. But
sometimes just put funny stuff up.Is it the truth everything? Is it
true? And it's not negative.It's just a truth. It's it's facts
that it's true. Go anyway.I just want to make you feel better.
Absolutely, so. I think we'rekind of coming up to the end
(33:49):
of our time here. I thinkwe actually stoped. We're supposed to take
a break at fifteen minutes, butit's how can we take a break?
We're talking about cats, talking aboutand were talking about you know, the
cats were the best part of theSuddy because you got somebody, you know,
we talked about Kenny, right,So we so we thought we're gonna
have our other friend on, JamesWhitehead. We're gonna have to we'll have
to talk to him about find himsomewhere being on being on time next time.
But yeah, I think we're gonnawrap this up. We're gonna come
(34:13):
back on. I'll come on yourshow next time. Good? What is
your shows? What's what? What'syour show called again? Now? Be
your voice? Be still, bea voice? Your voice? Okay point
oh, just rebooted it all right, be a voice two point zero,
So I called two point Thank youfor coming on my show. Hey,
thanks for having me. Absolutely andmaybe if James shows up the next minute,
we'll do a quick like ten fifteenminutes with him. But yeah,
(34:35):
we're gonna have to talk to thatyoung man about being on time. Maybe
not, maybe he was involved withsomething important, Maybe there was an emergence
road. Now I'm gonna talk he'salways like, maybe we should just get
him a watch. He is alwayslate. I think it's I think he's
a millennial. He might not evenbe a millennial. He might be younger
than millennial. I don't know whathe is. I don't even know those.
But you know, these young theseyoung men and women that we got
to teach him how to how tohow to come on time and work on
(34:58):
Lombardi time. I work on Lombarditime. Early is on time, on
time is late, and ladies unacceptable. I get anxiety. Man if I'm
late. I was here a quarterquarter, I was here fifteen minutes before.
Yeah, I actually I saw youpull in and I was a little
bad that you got a closer spot. But anyway, thanks so much.
I have a Mini so I wasable to pull into the slash. Yeah,
hold right in, all right,Well, thanks, thank you all
(35:19):
for listening. You're watching USLA Mediaand the Republican Zone have a great day.
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.