Noted in the Northwest

A brief look at news in Chestnut Hill and surrounding neighborhoods

Delay in pay raise sought

Neighborhood Networks, a grassroots political organization co-founded by Mt. Airy resident Marc Stier, is organizing a petition drive to delay the recently-passed 16 percent legislative pay raise until after the 2006 election. The group is asking that state legislators address the minimum wage issue first and plans to push for rules requiring public hearings for all state legislation and amendments before enactment.

Stier, a committee chairman for Neighborhood Networks, told the Local that they are not opposing the pay raise per se, but feel that the enactment was done the wrong way and at the wrong time.

Stier said that the group collected 400 names for the petition in two hours outside City Hall. He hopes to get 10,000 or more names to submit to lawmakers before the legislature reconvenes in September.

The idea, according to Stier, is to “bring as much pressure to bear on them as possible,” in order to push the legislature to address minimum wages before their own pay raises.

The pay raise, passed last month, makes Pennsylvania lawmakers the second highest paid state legislature in the country.

— Amy Brisson