To be informed, A councilperson should be required to read the local paper
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Bill,
When I read in the GCN that Councilperson Kaye proclaimed at the latest council meeting that she did not read the City News, I presumed that she had been misunderstood or misquoted. However, I just finished watching Ch. 19 for the broadcast of that meeting and, indeed, 
that is what she said.
In fact, the body language of a few other elected officials at that meeting indicated that they also don't read the City News, or at least hadn't read that particular issue.
Can you imagine being on Philadelphia's City Council and not reading the Inquirer and/or the Daily News--at least in hope of keeping an ear to the ground and making some effort to be informed so that you could make intelligent decisions?
I'm scared.
Do you know how many of our elected officials regularly read your excellent website?
Do you see a correlation between the city's ads going to the Inquirer and her not even reading the local paper?
Most professions require homework, and, I believe, being a councilperson means part of your homework is to read the local paper. Am I wrong?
William Waters
Dear Bill, I know for sure that Mayor James, and Council members Marchese, Hagan and Brophy read "The Notebook". As for the others they do not speak to me for whatever reason so I am not sure of their reading habits. I agree with you. To be informed about what is happening in the community you represent you need to read the local news. No doubt one of the reasons the previous administration lost control of Council is because they were not in touch with the people they were elected to serve. I have no answer to why the City and the Camden County Freeholder Board is placing Legal Notice (s) in a Philadelphia newspaper.
Those in local government not reading the City News or this web site should take heed to the message from former President Harry Truman who said, "You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgments about what is going on."