Economy League presents: City Budget, the home edition

March 23, 2009

Brian Howard, Philadelphia City Paper

We've heard a lot of talk about Mayor Nutter's budget proposal. And rightfully so. It's kind of a big deal. Seriously.

Yes, there are people who are unhappy about it. In fact, I think it's safe to say no one - even those who remain untouched by cuts - can reasonably consider themselves happy about therr city having to close a mammoth municipal budget shortfall.

But before painting that protest sign, writing that angry letter or popping off on a blog (which is not to say CP does not support your right to do these things), did you ever think that maybe you should try to balance the budget yourself? Now you can. With the Economy League's handy-dandy Philadelphia Budget Challenge, an interactive game that pits you against that pesky $170 million/year chasm in a battle of wits and attrition. Granted, its parameters are narrow - for instance it doesn't give you the option to, say, eliminate the library system in its entirety (not that CP is advocating for this!) or hike the wage tax to 50-percent (again! not saying we should!). We bring this up specifically because it forces you to be responsible, and does not give you the option to "go nuclear" as I'm sure hizzonor was tempted to do on more than one occasion. I suppose it could be argued that the thing is set up in such a way that your options are limited to the ones the mayor ended up with. But I guess that's also part of the point: There are a few ways to get to $170 million, but there aren't a LOT of them.

It's kind of like a very depressing game of SimCity, where every action you take spurs a new citizen revolt.

http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2009/03/23/economy-league-presents-…