This is a follow-up story to our  coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

If any assumption was ever made about the Northeast, by any Philadelphian, it would be its position as a younger brother to Center City Philadelphia, not unlike Philadelphia in comparison with New York. However, Mayfair Civic Association President Joe DeFelice said that was an image his neighborhood aimed to defy.

One year ago, after and extreme fundraising effort, DeFelice met with NEast Philly to discuss the renovation and reopening of the Mayfair Memorial Playground. At the time, Mayfair was struggling with the recent political changes caused by the indictment of Pennsylvania House 172nd District’s Rep. John Perzel. The indictment, coupled with a downturned economy, forced the district into a difficult era.

State grants, which were freely given in previous years, dried up. Pennsylvania voted in a Republican governor and a Republican majority who created serious budgetary constraints. In the 172nd District freshman Rep. Kevin Boyle was elected in 2010. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

The self-professed architect of a Pennsylvania House Republican scheme to pay for political campaign computer software with taxpayer dollars is headed for jail.

The former state House Speaker, John Perzel, has been sentenced to up to five years in prison. He also was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution, as well as thousands in fines. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoodsfunded by J-Lab.

With Perzel and three co-defendants having already pled guilty to their roles in a corruption scandal, Perzel’s former campaign aide Don McClintock testified in court Tuesday that state-paid technology staffers, computer software, and equipment were routinely used to fuel Perzel’s reelection campaigns over a decade.

In what’s expected to be a weeks-long trial, McClintock solidified his guilty plea in court when he explained how the “Computergate” scandal worked to use taxpayer money to further Perzel’s GOP campaign for his seat in the 172nd District, now occupied by Rep. Kevin Boyle.

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoodsfunded by J-Lab.

John Perzel, former Pennsylvania House Speaker and 172nd Legislative District rep, pleaded guilty today as expected to eight of 82 counts of corruption, conspiracy, theft and conflict of interest.

Both Perzel and Rep. Kevin Boyle, who defeated Perzel in last fall’s election, have released statements about the plea:

“I have decided today that my fight has come to an end,” Perzel said in court. “The truth is that as the legislative leader of my caucus, I oversaw the spending of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, and I bear the responsibility for the improprieties that occurred in the spending of those dollars.” continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoodsfunded by J-Lab.

John Perzel, former 17nd District representative and former House Speaker, is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to charges of public corruption. He was set to go to trial this fall. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

UPDATE: Stokes and McClintock have pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal conspiracy Wednesday, and Stokes also pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest. Friday, Towhey pleaded guilty to one count of criminal conspiracy and one count of conflict of interest.

Three men linked to and charged in connection with the John Perzel corruption trial are expected to plead guilty this week. The former state representative’s brother-in-law, Samuel “Buzz” Stokes, former campaign aide Don McClintock and former chief-of-staff Paul Towhey are set to enters pleas between today and Friday. continue reading »

Earlier this year, we announced NEast Philly would take on an investigative project through a J-Lab Enterprise Reporting Fund grant and our partnership with Philadelphia Neighborhoods.

We’ve been publishing pieces of that project throughout the year, and yesterday’s article about community building post in Mayfair capped our series. With more than 10 articles, several videos and a handful of interactive pieces under our belt, NEast Philly marks the unofficial end of the grant assignment. continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

Joe DeFelice has put a lot of effort into that little playground. And a few hundred residents and supporters have all helped in small ways.

In fall 2009, DeFelice, the Mayfair Civic Association president and now a new Mayfair CDC board member, kicked off a $50,000 fundraising campaign to renovate and reopen the Mayfair Memorial Playground at Rowland Avenue and Vista Street. More than a year and a half later, the Mayfair Civic Association has $20,000 and is seeking the opening on a smaller scale.

That fundraising was done dollar by dollar and almost exclusively by volunteers, like himself.

If fundraising for the playground, which closed in April 2008 after a young girl was injured on out-of-date equipment, was kicked off while powerful state Rep. John Perzel was still at the height of his influence, in the middle of this decade, DeFelice says the process would have been quite different.

Instead, in October 2009, Perzel was a month away from an 82-count indictment of corruption and a year away from losing his three-decade grip on a statehouse seat to a freshman Democrat who had never held public office before.

“When Perzel was in power, the CDC was buying houses, [a] movie theater, building [a] rec center, etc., so I’m sure that a little playground wouldn’t have been that difficult to come by,” DeFelice said. “So in the old days, a check may have been written, but now you have a large amount of neighbors who didn’t previously know each other coming together for a common good and coming up with new, innovative ways to raise funds.”

So what’s the biggest impact from Perzel’s indictment, the historic state budget deficit and a shake up of community leaders in a tight knit neighborhood like Mayfair? Perhaps nothing short of a change in how residents improve their blocks forever.

continue reading »

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab. During the election against his 30-year, incumbent challenger, Kevin Boyle says he changed the focus of his campaign. After hearing residents in a variety of the neighborhoods in the 172nd Legislative District he hoped to represent talk about poorly maintained nuisance properties owned by people not living in the community, Boyle made absentee landlords his signature issue. In fact, it’s that pivot to absentee landlords that Boyle credits with being a major reason behind his beating the legendary John Perzel, who, though facing corruption charges, had overwhelming name recognition. The topic was the first he publicly addressed after being sworn in as a freshman state House Democrat, alongside his brother, in January. It’s a topic he says that has not fallen from being a top priority. continue reading »

Pennsylvania legislative district 172, as it stands today. Click to visit Redistricting the Nation.

This is part of ongoing coverage in “District 172: The Politics of Change after State Rep. John Perzel,” a collaborative effort with Philadelphia Neighborhoods funded by J-Lab.

Shaping legislative districts is by no means illegal. It’s a part of the democratic process.

After each U.S. Census informs leaders about population and demographic shifts throughout the country, each state, county and municipality is meant to see subtle movement in its boundaries to better reflect the realities there, from balancing population totals and community divides. For example, in the post-1990-census redistricting, Philadelphia lost two House seats to its western suburbs due to population growth there.

Where redistricting has earned the more negatively connoted term of ‘gerrymandering’ — coined in 1812 after a partisan Massachusetts governor — has been when political, not population, shifts seem to motivate legislative rewiring.

Now again, Pennsylvania is revisiting its boundaries, like the rest of the country, following the 2010 census. In April, a former Superior Court president was named the independent chair of the state’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission, which by October is due to send to the state Supreme Court its reapportionment draft of state legislative districts.

One district that will be watched by some insiders is the Pennsylvania 172nd State House Legislative district, formerly the precinct of John Perzel.

continue reading »