<p>For closing a hospital and ticking off local officials who control their budget.</p>
<p>Temple</a> has a $175M 'mess on their hands' | Philadelphia Daily News | 08/05/2009</p>
<p>Confusing situation, but there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Temple will be denied its appropriation for this.</p>
<p>A little background: Northeastern Hospital, was a small, old, inefficient neighborhood hospital in what is one of the most over-hospitaled communities in the country, and it is just about two miles away from Temple’s spiffy, much newer flagship hospital. The scandal is that it took so long to close it. </p>
<p>As with many things in America, this is really about race. Northeastern served a largely white, working-class community, and the main Temple hospital is in the middle of an African-American ghetto. The politicians in the article are all white politicians who come out of the white communities Northeastern served. </p>
<p>What is confusing is that the two state reps are both Republicans (i.e., not in the majority in the state House), and the two state senators are both Democrats (i.e., not in the majority in the state Senate). So there had to be some serious horse-trading going on for them to be able to derail the Temple appropriation even termporarily. That said, Temple is infinitely more important to the state, the city, and their constituents than Reps. Taylor and O’Brien and Sens. Farnese and Stack put together. Except for the grandstanding, nothing is going to come of this.</p>
<p>Two miles can be a big deal if people don’t own cars. We live a few hundred yards from a clinic which is where we mainly go for health care (not that we use it very often) and it’s nice to be able to walk there in a few minutes. Our healthcare facilities we in the next city over when our kids were younger so I’d have to take time off work and drive them over for appointments. It’s nice if they can just walk over themselves or with my wife.</p>
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<p>Yes, but this is a major city. There are buses, trolleys, subway and regional rail lines that all go to Temple. There is also a children’s hospital close to Northeastern.</p>
<p>JHS, thanks for the explanation. Interesting stuff.</p>
<p>Indeed, if the new hospital is located in the ghetto as opposed to the middle-class community, then this eases transportation problems significantly, although public transport in Philadelphia is excellent.</p>
<p>JHS - thanks.</p>
<p>It seems that every couple of years there is some big “funding” crisis with either Penn State, Temple or Pitt. The State Legislature gets annoyed that they are only “state-supported” and not “state owned”. By not being “state-owned” they don’t have control. In the end, after the grandstanding and all - somehow it gets resolved. This will too, I’m sure.
These schools bring so much value to the Commonwealth but they are continually treated like red-headed step children.</p>
<p>TU seems to be taking it very seriously–while I also doubt they will lose the whole thing a “punishment” cut seems likely</p>
<p>[Temple</a> University needs your help right away](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2009_2010/08/announcements/state_funds.htm]Temple”>http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2009_2010/08/announcements/state_funds.htm)</p>
<p>Also the state control issue is real and cost TU a bundle in the budget issued by the Governor.</p>
<p>[Rendell</a> Proposes $21 million cut in Temple support](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2008_2009/06/announcements/RendellProposes21millioncutinTemplesupport.htm]Rendell”>http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2008_2009/06/announcements/RendellProposes21millioncutinTemplesupport.htm)</p>
<p>TU has to take it seriously. They, of course, need the money.</p>
<p>from your article - this frosts me:
</p>
<p>Well, Pennsylvania is in the middle of a terrible budget crisis (like everyone else, but at this point only a handful of states have failed to resolve their crises for the moment). Everyone is getting cut. The current Governor’s big, high-profile higher-education proposal has involved the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education – i.e., the state colleges (West Chester, IUPa, Bloomsburg, Millersville, etc.), not Penn State, Temple, or Pitt, and in general he has focused a lot more on early childhood and high school than on higher education. So Temple, Penn State, etc., were always going to be in the line of fire for cuts. But not anything like what that first article proposed.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m a Temple student and all of my classmates are freaking out right now. Tuition could rise $5K+ a year, and not too many of us can afford that. We have a rally planned later today.</p>
<p>Update–not so sure they will get that $$$$</p>
<p>[Temple</a> students fear loss of $175M: State aid faces uncertain fate in Legislature | Philadelphia Daily News | 08/06/2009](<a href=“http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20090806_Temple_students_fear_loss_of__175M__State_aid_faces_uncertain_fate_in_Legislature.html]Temple”>Temple students fear loss of $175M: State aid faces uncertain fate in Legislature)</p>
<p>We will. They’re screwing with us tremendously. The school would basically have to shut down if we didn’t get the funding.</p>
<p>From media reports it sounds like TU screwed with the bulldog and got bit back. Some college admins can be very arrogant–politicians HATE that. They have the checkbook.</p>
<p>We shall survive.</p>
<p>The Pennsylvania legislature these days is like a freakshow. Everything is being held hostage to the bitter budget standoff between Governor Rendell and the Republicans who control the state Senate. Anything remotely having to do with Philadelphia, especially, which of course includes Temple funding.</p>
<p>Temple may well have been arrogant at times here, but (a) the hospital it closed should have been closed 20 years ago, there was no rational argument for keeping it open as a full-service hospital, (b) ordinarily, a backbench state House member from the minority party has about as much political clout as I do. If Temple was screwing with Taylor, that wasn’t screwing with the bulldog, it was screwing with the lhasa apso. I am pretty certain that Taylor is going to learn that Temple University means more to his constituents than Northeastern Hospital did. This could easily get him voted out of office. This could get him lynched. Except that, when the dust finally clears from the budget impasse, this issue is going to vanish.</p>
<p>You have to wonder about the intelligence of a politician who boasts about threatening to cause a massive tuition hike at the most important public university for his district in order to keep a money-losing, under-equipped, and under-utilized local emergency room open.</p>
<p>The worst thing about this is Taylor got his JD at Beasley :/</p>
<p>Just wanted to update this. Temple’s funding is still hostage to the general Pennsylvania budget crisis, but the special hold has been taken off, so it’s back in the same pot with the rest of the higher education institutions. Having made the point that they are big deals, the politicians responsible have predictably backed off in the face of overwhelming criticism from their constituents and others.</p>