When Harrisburg lawmakers voted the other day to scrap a key right enjoyed by Philadelphia citizens, they did so in virtual secrecy - amid the usual, confused flurry of end-of-session lawmaking.
How fitting was that? After all, the legislature's action could assure that the city's Byzantine way of reaching development decisions remains mostly hidden from public view.
Without notice or debate, lawmakers from both political parties voted to toss out a long-standing tradition of citizen involvement in land-use decisions affecting neighborhoods and the city as whole. The tradition had provided leverage, for example, to community groups opposed to unsightly billboards.
Adding a few words to an unrelated measure on increasing city dumping fines, House and Senate majorities changed this "home rule" city's rules on who may protest land-use decisions. Under the bill, you'd have to live within shouting distance of a property to have a say - even if the development in question might affect your neighborhood or your city in major ways.
This same change was approved by City Council three years ago, but properly was vetoed by Mayor Street.
Too bad Gov. Rendell didn't take the same stand yesterday. Rather than use his veto, Rendell signed the bill, stating that the merits of fighting illegal dumping outweighed the flawed provision on land-use appeals. Wrong.
Proponents said they were trying to stop "meddling by outsiders." That's an interesting term for citizens concerned about the future of their city and aware that its urban planning apparatus is politicized and dysfunctional.
It's true that the rest of the state operates under these tighter limits on zoning protests. It's also true that citizen groups sometimes indulge in narrow-minded, not-in-my-backyard advocacy. But for decades, Philadelphia has been well served by the wider public input allowed by its City Charter on matters of citywide interest, such as historic preservation, outdoor advertising, nuisance businesses (think nightclubs), and Fairmount Park development.
In a city where planning too often takes a backseat to insider wheeling and dealing, there are too few avenues for citizen input as it is. It seems obvious that the legislature's immediate targets were the advocates who hound billboard companies over ugly, illegal signs.
Now, there won't be much left to do for the crusading Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB) formed by Overbrook activist Mary Tracy. Yet SCRUB's battles to enforce the city's 1991 beautification law have helped rein in visual blight.
Even with Rendell's signature, there's a chance the land-use change could be overturned through a court challenge - since it was tacked on to an unrelated bill. That's likely a violation of the state constitution, so the Street administration should sue to uphold citizen advocacy.