Friday round-up

Still a lot of post-election rumblings in the news, as well as in the City Election Commission offices. The Payton-Vazquez outcome will be a while in getting sorted out, between write-ins to be verified, provisional ballots to be sorted through, and the inevitable legal challenges from both sides. Meantime, in the rest of Philadelphia and its surrounding areas...

• News:
  
  
  
  1. Yesterday's rumors of budget negotiations between Mayor Street and Philadelphia's City Council appear to be substantiated by stories today of compromise and near-closure. Happily, the city will get 100 new police officers, in addition to Street's suggestion of using more overtime.
     
     
  2. The press continues excited over the story that newcomers are shouldering their way in to the political system in Philadelphia, despite the fact that even 64 new faces are mere foam on the sea of 3000 committeepeople across the city. I'm very excited about the infusion of new energy, but really the story only *starts* here; it's more about the hard work that will be needed over the next few years, both for high-profile elections like the races this fall and for the smaller battles at every level by which incremental change will occur. Let's get moving!
     
     
  3. Councilwoman Brown is suggesting a curfew for kids 13 and under that would be earlier than the one already in place for all minors. I guess this is a response to shocking recent crimes by younger offenders. I don't envy the officer charged with guessing the age of some slouching teen...
  
  
• Opinion:
  
  
  
  1. DN columnist Elmer Smith defends Philly voters from the charge that they don't care about how their politicians behave, citing the high approval for the new Ethics Board as a counterbalance to the low ousting of local politicians. It's good to think we have a range of ways to voice our opinions.
     
     
  2. Another Dicker supporter gives a view of the election in the 175th from a personal perspective, both in how one polling place operated all day and in how he feels about the undertaking overall.
     
     
  3. Above Average Jane notes two candidates who acknowledged their (past or future) rivals in a classy way: Patrick Murphy (US House 08) and Mike Paston (State House 152). Yay to keeping things respectful.
     
     
  4. Speaking of letting bygones be bygones, Marc Stier is first out of the gate at acknowledging that he wasn't that excited about Casey in the primary, but calling on progressives and liberals to rally around the Democratic candidate now and work to defeat Santorum in November. Those who worked hard for another candidate in the last few months should probably take a few more days to recover and mourn before worrying about trying to find the energy for the next fight. But I think that this is a critical election, and Stier does an excellent job of laying out the case for Casey as a candidate now, from both strategic and moral bases. Worth coming back to when you've caught your breath -- but make it this summer; don't wait until fall.