Philadelphia plans 311 app for iPhone

Philadelphia is planning to release a free 311 application for Apple's iPhone that would let users log requests for city services and track them from their phones, Division of Technology chief Allan Frank said.

"Anything you can do with 311 when you call, you'll be able to do on your iPhone, and then some. OK, you can take a picture of, say, the illegal dump with the iPhone, and you can geo-locate it for us with the iPhone. All that fancy stuff," Frank said.

Philadelphia would not be the first city to release such an application, but Frank said Philadelphia's would be among the most sophisticated once it was fully developed.

"The first phase is mostly logging requests and tracking them. The next-generation release is where we do the rocket-science stuff. We want it so you can ask the app a question about the city and it comes back with an answer," Frank said.

He hopes the first edition will be ready next month.

- Patrick Kerkstra

Could Philadelphia have reached ethics overload? City Council is grappling with the Nutter administration and various ethical entities (the Board of Ethics, the inspector general, the Committee of Seventy) over whether city government has become an unconstitutionally hostile workplace for the politically active. At least on the question of political activity for lower-level employees and volunteers on advisory boards, it would seem the constraints could stand some loosening.

Last month, for instance, Deputy Mayor Donald F. Schwarz felt compelled to request a Board of Ethics opinion about whether unpaid members of a new Animal Advisory Committee could participate in any political activity, including wearing a campaign button for their favorite candidate.

The answer was yes. As unpaid members of a purely advisory board, they are not subject to political restraints, according to the six-page opinion. But they would have to complete financial-disclosure forms and attend annual ethics training. Is that too much to ask from a bunch of dog lovers and cat fanciers?

It all should come to a head by June. That's the deadline set by Council leaders to pass legislation asking voters to change the City Charter in a November referendum. That would allow Council to legislate new rules on political activity by city employees (and volunteers) rather than seek charter changes, which require voter approval. Stay tuned.

- Jeff Shields

Last year, Mayor Nutter proposed a budget built on a big, temporary increase in the property tax.

Council rejected it utterly. Was Nutter kidding? Property taxes?

This year, Nutter proposed a $300 trash fee and a tax on sugary drinks.

Council's response: No, thanks. Perhaps we should raise the property tax instead.

That has led some City Hall observers to wonder if Nutter wanted a property-tax hike all along. Has he been crazy like a fox? Did he anticipate Council would reject whatever he proposed and fall back on property taxes?

Not at all, city Finance Director Rob Dubow said.

"We're not that manipulative. We proposed what we really thought made the most sense," he said. "We understand these are really challenging times, and we're all considering things that we may not have wanted to before. Our choices are all painful."

- Patrick Kerkstra