Philly DSA is a local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest and fastest growing socialist organization in the United States. We are a member-funded, member-run, and democratic organization that fights for a political agenda that puts working people at the center.
Our old pal Joel Freedman is back in the news this week as the city of Philadelphia struggles to cope with the novel coronavirus and attendant public health crisis. Freedman, you’ll recall, is the vulture capitalist who, just last summer, shut down 500-bed Hahnemann University Hospital, seemingly in hope of capitalizing on several blocks of valuable Center City real estate. Now, with the hospital sitting vacant (and a huge tax break coming from the Senate’s COVID relief bill), Freedman is demanding upwards of $1 million a month in rent for the city to use Hahnemann as a crisis center. “I think he is looking at this as a business transaction,” Philadelphia managing director Brian Abernathy told the Inquirer on Monday as negotiations over the hospital came to a halt, “rather than providing an imminent and important need to the city and our residents.”
Day four of the Philly COVID-19 quarantine, and everything has gone topsy-turvy. The courts are closed, as are the state liquor stores, and the Department of Elections may well be next. “Obviously, we want to keep people safe,” Governor Tom Wolf said in a press conference on Monday, “so to the extent that the state needs to move the April 28 date to another date, other states have already done this, Pennsylvania is certainly taking that into consideration.” As soon as we know what’s going on, you’ll know what’s going on; in the meantime, apply for a mail-in ballot, just in case. It takes less time than reading this email, and when election day comes (if it ever comes), you’ll be able to vote for Bernie from the comfort of your own home.
Isn’t it time to do something? Get involved with the Local.
