South Philly Review

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Of the 10 largest U.S. cities, Philadelphia is ranked as the poorest. It also has the highest rate of obesity among the nation’s largest cities, according to the city’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity and Health Commissioner Don Schwartz.

But with the addition of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax — that, if approved would levy a two-cent-per-ounce tax based on retailers’ annual sales of the beverages and would go into effect next April — the city hopes to reduce the intake of the drinks and use $20 million of the projected $77.2 million generated to offer healthy choices to all neighborhoods while using the remainder to close yet another budget gap.

Last week, residents of the South of South neighborhood were able to hear about the sugar-sweetened beverage tax, as well as the proposed trash fee, and direct questions directly to the health commissioner and Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson.

The Mayor’s Office has orchestrated more than 20 intimate community meetings on the budget across the city since March, Lauren Vidas, coordinator of external affairs and public engagement in the Mayor’s Office of Legislative Affairs, said. Vidas, who also lives in the community, approached Andrew Dalzell, South of South Neighborhood Association’s program coordinator, about setting up a meeting. He immediately agreed.

“It’s not that often you can have the health commissioner, streets commissioner and someone from the revenue department right here to answer questions,” he said.

Even with a turnout of about 15 at the May 4 meeting held at the St. Charles Senior Community Center, 1941 Christian St., city officials addressed their concerns.

One resident asked why only beverages were being targeted and not unhealthy foods such as ice cream and candy.

“If someone drinks a 20-ounce bottle of water or a 20-ounce carton of milk or a 20-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage, none of them will fill them up more or less,” Schwartz said.

“In fact, if they drink 12 ounces or 8 ounces, they wont get any fuller, but solid food will [fill them up].”

Also due to the vast variety, taxing junk food is more complex, he added, although they city is willing to consider the possibility as states like Washington are taxing sugar-sweetened beverages and candy.

Phil Marchesani, senior manager of route sales for The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co., was worried about his employees and the mom-and-pop stores that he distributes to in Center City and South Philly.

“They’re really nervous and worried about this income,” the native of 23rd Street and Snyder Avenue, who now resides in Delaware County, told Schwartz. “You just can’t start selling apples and oranges overnight.”

But the soda industries also make bottled water and fruit juices, which many may switch to if the tax goes into effect, Schwartz said.

“My hope is that what will happen both for small businesses and the bottlers and the people who work there is that people will continue to drink, but they’ll drink less,” he said.

While storeowners are still frantic, they have been relying on Marchesani to keep them in the loop on the latest with the proposed tax.

“The crazy thing about it is we don’t talk about family and sports,” he said after the meeting. “The first thing they ask is ‘what did you hear?’”

The deficit is nothing new to the city as it has been cutting and trimming its budget since November 2008 when the first $108 billion shortfall was discovered. In January ’09, Mayor Michael Nutter announced $1 billion deficit over the course of the five-year plan. To combat it, he proposed a temporary real estate and a sales tax hike. City Council did not approve the former, and the latter dragged through the General Assembly for passage as the state dealt with its own budget crisis. Plan C, which consisted of 3,000 layoffs including cuts to police and fire departments, was halted on Sept. 17, ’09 when the Senate approved the bill to allow the city to increase its sales tax by 1 percent and defer pension payments.

For the five-year plan for fiscal years ’11 to ’15, Nutter decided against cutting services — many of which are still hurting from cuts from the previous two years, Schwartz said. Even if the city closed recreation centers, libraries and health centers in addition to halting park maintenance, it would not be enough to close this year’s deficit of $130 to $150 million.

“The mayor looked at that and said, ‘if we’re going to have to future as a city, we need to have a different strategy. We have to figure this is a short-term problem. During this period of time, rather than cutting all the things like street services and other things that have been cut already, we need to find a way to have everyone pitch in and increase revenue,’” Schwartz said.