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stadiumstompers-blog · 7 years

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Meet Temple’s Board of Trustees

Patrick J. O'Connor, Chair

'13 Honorary Degree

Cozen O'Connor

- Chairman of the Temple Board of Trustees since 2009

- Vice chairman at law firm Cozen O’Connor, which provides union-busting and tax-evasion consulting for corporations and developers

- Defended Bill Cosby against allegations of sexual assault of a Temple University employee (Patrick O’Connor did not think this was a conflict of interest)

- Stated that Cosby, “admitted to nothing more than being one of the many people who introduced Quaaludes into their consensual sex life in the 1970’s”

- Chairman of the Board of BNY Mellon Funds Trusts, an investment bank that owns 2.46 million shares (worth over $63 million) in the Corrections Corporation of America (the largest for-profit prison company in the US)

- Recently the University spent 3.5 million to rename Founder’s Garden (where Russell Conwell’s grave is located) after O’Connor

- The O’Connor Plaza project went $700,000 over budget without Board authorization

Christopher W McNichol

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

- Managing Director and Regional Head of Mid-Atlantic Public Finance at Citigroup

- Citigroup Bank played a major role in the 2008 financial crisis, putting forward policies that led to massive foreclosures and debt, especially among people of color and the elderly

- When their stock price dropped below a dollar, Citigroup was bailed out, but working class people lost their homes and livelihoods

- Citigroup invested $521,808,456 into Dakota Access Company (the DAPL pipeline)

- As the manager of Temple’s endowment and retirement plans, McNichol moved them from RS Investments to Van Eck, who has 73% of their holdings in energy sector investments (primarily fossil fuels, which are a leading cause of the environmental crisis)

- Donated $9,500 to republican political campaigns in 2012

J William Mills III

Retired

-PNC Bank’s president of the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey region 2001-2014

-During the 2008 financial crisis, PNC’s policies disproportionately affected the elderly and people of color causing them to lose their homes

-A PNC bank employee was the only person found criminally liable and sentenced to 30 months in jail; the judge said it was only “a small piece of an overall evil climate within the bank”

-PNC invested $270,000,000 in Sunoco Logistics, Energy Transfer Partners, Energy Transfer Equity, all companies responsible for the DAPL pipeline

-PNC funded mountaintop removal coal-mining until 2015, which has destroyed or damaged more than one million acres of forest and almost 2,000 miles of streams in Appalachia (despite long standing pressure from activists, including a 2011 sit-in at the Temple campus branch of PNC which resulted in the arrest of three Temple students)

-PNC has lent an estimated $210.5 million in 2013 and $687.5 million in 2012 to companies that do mountaintop removal coal-mining

Joseph F. Coradino

'74 College of Liberal Arts

PREIT Services, LLC

-Chairman of the Board and CEO of PREIT Services, a big mall developer

-PREIT owns and operates over 22.5 million square feet of retail space

-When criticized over its purchase of famous foreign estates, Coradino said that risky overseas investments by a public entity with public funds are “not unreasonable”

-PREIT bought The Gallery at Market East in 2003/2004 and is now redeveloping it

-In 2015 the School Reform Commission (SRC) and City Council approved a “tax-increment financing (TIF) district” (freezing the Gallery’s liability for property and other taxes in the area surrounded by 8th, 11th, Market and Filbert streets until 2036) that would save the mall’s owners (PREIT and Macerich) $55 million in property taxes over a period of 20 years

-Because Philly schools are funded with property taxes, this is a loss of tens of millions of dollars for the school district over the next 20 years

Richard “Dick” J. Fox

'93 Honorary Degree

The Fox Companies

- Fox School of Business

- Co-founded Fox Companies, a property construction, development and management firm in Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey

- Pennsylvania State Chairman for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980

- On the Board of Trustees since 1967

- Chairman of BOT from 1982-1999

- Founder of Republican Jewish Coalition

- Funded Freedom's Watch, a Washington D.C. based lobbying organization that was supportive of the Bush administration's positions in the War on Terror and of Republican Congressional candidates

Lon R. Greenberg

Retired

-UGI Corporation CEO from 1995-2015

-UGI Corporation is responsible for the Penneast pipeline: a proposed pipeline that would transport natural gas, fracked from the shalefields of northern PA, to NJ and is currently being fought by residents along the route because pipeline projects can poison water, endanger the ecosystem, and often seize land through eminent domain

-Twenty-four townships in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have passed resolutions opposing the PennEast Pipeline

-The 115 mile long pipeline would transport fracking shale natural gas from PA into NJ and cross through 88 waterways

-Greenberg is also on the Board of Directors of Aqua America, a company that provides water to fracking operations

-In 2008 he made $5.7 million as CEO of UGI Corporation (18th highest paid CEO within the Utilities sector)

-Aqua America is also responsible for the eviction of low income residents to make way for their water lines to service fracking installations

-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Temple University Health System

Bret Perkins

‘91 Fox School of Business

Comcast Corporation

-Governmental Affairs Representative at Comcast since 2001

-Writes the policies that enable Comcast to avoid paying taxes to the city and the state

-Comcast spent $108,000 to fight the law requiring paid sick days

-Comcast also advocated for the 2013 Philly public school closures including William Penn High School, which Temple bought at a discounted rate and turned into a sports field

Dennis Alter

'66 College of Education, '99 Honorary Degree

Tourist

-Made $4,189,342 as CEO of Advanta Bank in 2006 and spent an estimated $80 million to build and furnish his 40,000-square-foot house in Fort Washington

-Worked at Advanta between 2008 and 2009 & hiked up interest rates on credit cards from 7.99% APR to 37% APR during the Recession

- sued by FDIC for $219 million, and settled for 23.5 million for hiding Advanta failures from investors

-As a part of this settlement the FDIC closed Advanta and had their assets sold off

-Donated $15 million to Temple for Alter Hall

Michael J. Stack, III

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania

-Member of PA State Senate 2001-2015

-His wife allegedly flipped off and threw soda on State Rep Kevin Boyle

-Accused of verbally abusing his staff and telling state troopers in his security detail to use lights and sirens to get him through traffic faster

-Stack billed $20,000 for travel reimbursements to the state including thousands in Philadelphia hotel stays despite the fact that he owned a home there at the time

-He also unsuccessfully attempted to write off tickets to an IndyCar race in the Poconos as a travel expense

Leonard Barrack

'65 Fox School of Business, '68 Beasley School of Law

Barrack, Rodos & Bacine

Joseph “Chip” W. Marshall, III

'75 College of Liberal Arts, '79 Beasley School of Law

Stevens & Lee/Griffin Holdings Group

Mitchell L. Morgan

'76 Fox School of Business, '80 Beasley School of Law

Morgan Properties

-Morgan Properties is a real estate investment company with 38,162 apartments

Stephen “Steve” G. Charles

'80 School of Media & Communication

Retired

Paul G. Curcillo, II

'84 College of Science & Technology

Fox Chase Cancer Center

Theodore Z. Davis

'58 Fox School of Business, '63 Beasley School of Law

Retired

Nelson A. Diaz

'72 Beasley School of Law, '90 Honorary Degree

Dilworth Paxson LLP

Ronald R. Donatucci

'70 College of Liberal Arts

-Ward leader in the 26th ward (South Philly)

-“In his capacity as counsel to the firm, Mr. Donatucci provides special advice and counsel regarding estate planning and administration, administrative procedure, government relations, and real estate transactions, including zoning and land use planning.”-Mattioni Law

-Super-Delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention representing PA

Loretta C. Duckworth

'62 College of Liberal Arts, '65 College of Liberal Arts, '92 Tyler School of Arts

Retired

Judith A. Felgoise

'87 College of Education

The Abramson Family Foundation

Lewis F. Gould, Jr.

'62 School of Pharmacy

Duane Morris, LLP

Tamron Hall

'92 School of Media & Communication

Sandra Harmon-Weiss

'71 College of Liberal Arts, '74 Lewis Katz School of Medicine

Retired

-Former executive at Aetna

Drew A. Katz

Interstate Outdoor Advertising

Patrick V. Larkin

'74 Fox School of Business, '82 Beasley School of Law

AJG Risk Management Services

H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest

'02 Honorary Degree

The Lenfest Group

-Formed Lenfest Communications in 1974 and sold it to AT&T in 1999, who then sold it to Comcast in 2000 for $6.7 billion

-Owns the Philadelphia Inquirer

Solomon C. Luo

Progressive Vision & Surgical Institute

Anthony “Tony” J. McIntyre

'80 Fox School of Business

AJG Risk Management Services

Leon “Lonnie” O. Moulder, Jr.

'80 School of Pharmacy

TESARO, Inc.

-In 2016 he made $5,655,848 as CEO of TESARO Inc, a Pharmaceutical Company

Daniel H. Polett

'98 Honorary Degree

Lexus of Chester Springs, Wilkie Lexus

Michael H. Reed

'69 College of Liberal Arts

Pepper Hamilton, LLP

Phillip C. Richards

'62 Fox School of Business, '16 Honorary Degree

North Star Resource Group

Jane Scaccetti

'77 Fox School of Business

Drucker & Scaccetti

Samuel H. Smith

Retired

-Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 66th District from 1987-2015

-Appointed himself to the Board of Trustees in 2014, forcing Pat Eiding, Philadelphia AFL-CIO (largest federation of labor unions in the US) President to step down

Sources:

O’Connor

https://www.cozen.com/

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2012/04/11/Protesters-shareholders-vent-grievances-at-BNY-Mellon-annual-meeting/stories/201204110257

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/jul/31/who-owns-private-prison-stock/

https://www.temple.edu/secretary/sites/secretary/files/documents/committee-meetings/board-of-trustees/FY-2017/03142017_PS_BOT_MINUTES..pdf

McNichol:

https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/who%27s-banking-dakota-access-pipeline

http://temple-news.com/news/trustees-vote-investment-firm/

https://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/christopher-mcnichol.asp?cycle=12

https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/who%27s-banking-dakota-access-pipeline

Mills III:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/magazine/only-one-top-banker-jail-financial-crisis.html

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/the-latest/30653-three-temple-students-arrested-during-pnc-bank-sit-in

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150303_PNC_Bank_to_cut_financing_of_MTR_coal_companies.html

http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/201604_cfpb_Fair_Lending_Report_Final.pdf

Hinnant-Bernard, T., & Crull, S. R. (2004). Subprime Lending and Reverse Redlining. Housing and Society, 31(2), 169-186. doi:10.1080/08882746.2004.11430506

Coradino:

http://planphilly.com/articles/2015/04/16/src-approves-55-million-tax-incentive-for-gallery-mall-redevelopment

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/06/18/phila-city-council-finalizes-legislation-to-allow-gallery-makeover/

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20120531001342

Fox:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson-and-james-boyce/watching-freedoms-watch-t_1_b_86274.html

https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/board/richard-fox.php

Greenberg:

https://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/12/best-boss-09_Lon-R-Greenberg_ZH3I.html

https://www.stoppenneast.org/

http://ir.aquaamerica.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=175596

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20160501_An_artifact_of_Marcellus_drilling_s_disruptive_glory_days.html

Perkins:

https://www.metro.us/local/advocates-comcast-is-trying-to-block-philly-s-paid-sick-leave-law/tmWmcl---90UfUZFeM3K2

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Thats-funny-I-dont-remember-voting-for-David-L-Cohen-for-education-czar.html

Alter:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/dennis-alters-modern-mansion-in-suburban-philadelphia/244627/

http://temple-news.com/news/alter-appointed-to-bot-after-case-with-fdic/

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/dennis-alter-and-the-tragedy-of-advanta/?all=1

http://temple-news.com/news/alter-trusteeship-safe-pending-fdic-lawsuit/

https://www.law360.com/consumerprotection/articles/566179/fdic-nears-accord-in-219m-suit-against-ex-advanta-execs

Morgan:

http://morgan-properties.com/who_we_are.asp

Donatucci:

http://www.mattioni.com/R_Donatucci.aspx

Moulder:

http://www1.salary.com/Leon-O-Moulder-Jr-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-TESARO-INC.html

Smith:

http://temple-news.com/news/state-rep-sam-smith-appoints-board-trustees/

Stack:

https://billypenn.com/2017/04/25/mike-stacks-terrible-horrible-april-all-the-bad-headlines-plaguing-the-lt-gov-of-pa/

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/State_lawmaker_Pa_Lt_Gov_Mike_Stacks_wife_flipped_me_off_and_threw_soda_on_me.html

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2017/04/12/Mike-Stack-pa-lt-governor-apologizes/stories/201704120199

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2017/04/15/Pennsylvania-Lt-Governor-Mike-Stack-wife-complaints/stories/201704150109

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/Mike-Stack-Wolf-feud-politics-Couloumbis.html

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stadiumstompers-blog · 7 years

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We Are Not Alone: Atlanta Residents Fight For CBA with Georgia State over Football Stadium Development

By Kevin Rossi

If you drive some 800 miles and 12 hours south of North Broad along I-95 to Atlanta, you will find a remarkably familiar community resistance to an overreaching university.

Georgia State University, located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, is working to redevelop the 68-acre site of Turner Field as well as its parking lots, previously home to Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, into a mixed use area including offices, retail, student housing, apartments and a baseball field. Turner Field itself will be renovated into the new home for Georgia State’s football team. The residents of the surrounding primarily black, middle and working class neighborhoods of Summerhill, Peoplestown, Mechanicsville, Pittsburgh and Grant Park – are worried about the skyrocketing real estate prices and taxes, displacement and gentrification that seem to always follow such a development.

Turner Field was originally built as the primary facility for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Following the conclusion of the Olympics, Turner Field was converted into the 49,000-seatbaseball facility that was home to the Braves for 20 years.

After their National Football League counterparts, the Falcons, received more than $200 million in subsidies from the city in 2013 to build a new stadium, the Braves decided they wanted a new home of their own – and, of course, a generous contribution from the city to fund it. Mayor Kasim Reed balked at the idea. Too much money was tied up in the Falcons’ deal, and Turner Field was not even 20 years old. No deal.

However, the Braves would get their sweetheart deal instead from Cobb County, located just north of the city. The Braves opened their new home in Cobb County – SunTrust Park – in April 2017.

With the Braves moving out, Turner Field would be left empty. Enter Georgia State, which in 2016, along with development partners Oakwood Development and Carter, officially purchased the stadium and parking lots for $30 million. The plan: $300 million in redevelopment, extending Georgia State’s campus to the south with a mixed sports, retail and housing district. The surrounding communities did not just passively watch these plans unfold, turning out to development meetings to voice their opposition before the sale of Turner Field to Georgia State was even finalized. Instead of taking a hard stance against any development, many of the community members, led publicly by the Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition, turned their attention to a community benefits agreements (CBA). A CBA with Georgia State would enter the school into a binding agreement with the surrounding communities to provide specific benefits and safeguards with regards to any development.

In early October 2016, a group of about 50 students and community members marched before staging a sit-in in Centennial Hall, home to Georgia State’s administrative offices, demanding school president Mark Becker negotiate a CBA. In early April, a group of residents camped outside of Turner Field. Their signs read “Community Not Commodity,” stating they would not leave until the school negotiated. About a week later in April, members of the school’s chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops were arrested following an after-hours sit-in, again in Centennial Hall, stating they were staying until they got a meeting with President Becker to negotiate.

Finally, the people were heard. In late April, the communities entered into two separate CBAs: one with Georgia State and another with its development partner Carter. Under the agreements, Georgia State and its developers will provide jobs and education programs, set aside at least 10 percent of housing for low-income residents and repurpose an entertainment center into a community center. Still, though, concerns remain about how the agreements will be enforced and how displacement can be avoided.

The struggle of the longstanding communities around Georgia State is not a perfect mirror to the ongoing struggle with Temple, but it certainly has its parallels. It is an example of how community and student partnerships can work toward a common goal, and how clearly communicating unified demands through both words and actions can lead to a successful campaign. It exemplifies the power of the people to imagine and implement a future that includes everyone.

And, if nothing else, it shows that we are not alone in this struggle.

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stadiumstompers-blog · 7 years

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Sign our Petition!

Sign the Petition! Let the Temple Board of Trustees know that we don’t want a stadium in North Philly!

For over a year, Stadium Stompers has led community actions and interventions against the proposed stadium and has garnered national media coverage of the issue. Incredibly, despite evidence that the stadium will harm the community and that on-campus sports stadiums often do not generate intended revenues for universities, Temple’s Board of Trustees continues to push for the creation of a new stadium in North Philly. We need your help to demonstrate broad disapproval of this development.

Sign the petition here:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-new-stadium-in-north-philly?source=direct_link&

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stadiumstompers-blog · 7 years

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Check out the Facebook Event!

#gentrification #North Philly #temple university #Temple Stadium #temple football stadium #stadium stompers #college football

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stadiumstompers-blog · 8 years

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Temple brands itself as a great institution of knowledge that is “on the rise” with its ever-expanding campus. Temple is a great university, that is true. It is also an institution of great wealth and influence. Temple has a program called the “Good Neighbor Initiative’. I went to their page and they had not updated it in two months. There were no events scheduled either. This leads me to believe that Temple does not actually have much to do with the community. They brand themselves as a community-based institution but they are not even affordable to the surrounding community. The median incomes in the neighborhoods surrounding Temple are less than $20,000 a year (governing.com n.p.). Some make even less than $10,000 a year (governing.com n.p.). Temple University charges $15,188 per year for tuition alone (collegedata.com n.p.). The average Temple student graduates with nearly $36,000 in debt (collegedata.com n.p.). There is no doubt that tuition will rise during a student’s time at the university. Temple University used to have a summer bridge program for students that needed academic help to get into the university. This was a free program. The summer of 2015 was the last year this program ran. Now there is no gateway for students who just missed the mark of admittance and there is no plan to create another program. Additionally, Temple used to have a Pan- African Studies course available to whoever wanted to attend. This program has also been removed. Financial aid is attainable, but in city schools that don’t produce excellent SAT scores, scholarships and grants are not so easy to obtain. The average work study student only earns $1,130 a year and only 25% of students that receive financial aid have their needs fully met (collegedata.com n.p.). The people of poverty-stricken North Philadelphia can often not afford to feed themselves, much less go to college. Gentrification can even affect education at an elementary level (Stillman 1). Wealthy white families moving into poor neighborhoods “offers the potential to improve” urban schools (Stillman 1). The problem is, “the gentry must resist what their relative privilege affords them and choose to send their children to the local, non-white, high poverty, segregated school” (Stillman 1). This is highly unlikely and even if one family were to elect this option, one privileged child in a poor school would not make a difference (Stillman 1). When high-class or middle-class families elect to send their children to private schools, the division between rich and poor only grows wider and wider. When you place an institution of higher-learning in a neighborhood where nobody can afford to attend it, that division grows even more.

One might even venture to say that Temple encourages and enforces this division to make Temple seem greater than it actually is. Temple police patrol the surrounding neighborhoods 24/7 but what are they actually doing? Nothing, is my observation. They watch drunk students stumble home and intervene when they jump on somebody’s car. The drunken students terrorize the locals. Who knows when the Temple Police actually prevent a crime. Most of my interaction with them has been when they block protesters from entering public buildings, such as the food court in Morgan Hall and Sullivan Hall, where Board of Trustees meetings take place. This enforces the division between Temple and the locals not only educationally, but also physically and “lawfully”. I say “lawfully” because due to racial tensions between police and people of color boiling over in recent years, the legality and compassion of police forces can be questionable. Being a public university is the perfect cover for gentrification because universities rarely draw opposition from the public. Schools are beacons of hope for many impoverished places worldwide, even if they aren’t accessible.

Sources:

Screenshot taken 3/28/16 by Becky Cave

“Philadelphia Gentrification”. governing.com. 2015. Web. 28 March 2016.

“Good Neighbor Initiative”. goodneighbor.temple.edu. Temple University, 2015. Web. 16 November 2015.

Stillman, Jennifer Burns. Gentrification and Schools : The Process of Integration When Whites Reverse Flight. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 18 November 2015

“Temple University”. collegedata.com. College Data, 2014. Web. 16 November 2015.

#gentrification #north philly #temple university #temple stadium #temple football #philadelphia #north philadelphia #poverty #education #college #college football

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stadiumstompers-blog · 8 years

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TU Alerts and the Stadium

Temple University pretends that it has done lots of work to benefit the community but barely even communicates with the residents of North Philadelphia. The infamous TU Alerts do not keep students safe, instead they pit the students and the community against each other. A TU Alert is only issued when there is local-on-student crime or local against local. If an incident involves students only or is on campus, an alert is not issued. A friend of mine had her apartment broken into by Temple frat boys on hallucinogens and the police told her that there would be no TU Alert. Students have reported that there was gunfire outside one of the dorms and no TU Alert was issued.

The pitting of Temple against North Philadelphia is a strategic move to disguise gentrification. The locals are “savages”, as one student Tweeted, and therefore Temple students are happy when the campus expands, going deeper into “the hood”. When I told my family and friends that I was going to Temple the first thing they would tell me is “That’s a bad area. Be careful. Don’t leave the campus”. If the community of North Philadelphia is dangerous and savage then of course people will support covering it with the Temple “Cherry and White”. Because, of course, nothing dangerous ever happens on Temple’s campus.

Worst of all, Temple is riding on the wave of one successful football season and now they want to build a 126 million dollar stadium and a recreation center in North Philadelphia. A Philadelphia Inquirer article on the proposed stadium highlighted the concerns of some of the community. The residents were fearful that the stadium would cause traffic and disorder, only amplifying the drunken carnage that students cause weekly (Gelb, n.p.). They fear the stadium will overtake the recreation center and pool that keeps kids out of trouble during the summer (Gelb n.p.). The stadium will only make North Philadelphia more dangerous. The local kids will have nowhere to spend their recreation time during the summer and find other less productive ways to spend their time, possibly graffiti or crime. On top of that, the drunken and rowdy football fans will be stumbling through the neighborhoods of North Philadelphia disturbing the residents and becoming an easy target for mugging. As one resident stated, “You’re going to put that money into a stadium, but you have homeless people here” (Gelb n.p.). One man was hopeful that the university would let the community use the stadium when it is not in use (Gelb n.p.). As if. Temple University, as with other universities “ [is] at best, involve[d] with adjacent communities intermittent[ly] and inconsistent[ly]” (Rodin 3).

Gelb, Matt. “Neighbors Wary of Temple’s Stadium Plan”. Philadelphia Inquirer. 2 November 2015. N.e. Web.

Rodin, Judith. The University and Urban Revival. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. Print.

#gentrification #temple university #temple stadium #tu alerts

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