The campaign began in response to several local political scandals, the most recent being City Council members' participation in DROP, a Deferred Retirement Option Plan originally intended for civil service.
[7] In the sixty years since the 1951 Home Rule Charter adoption, Philadelphia has continued to be rocked by multiple political scandals and is in such financial straits as to be under the state version of municipal bankruptcy, its finances governed by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority.
DROP, short for Deferred Retirement Option Plan, was introduced by then Mayor Edward G. Rendell (later Pennsylvania's governor) to facilitate orderly transition from seasoned civil service employees to their successors.
[13] The Mayor is also refusing to collect a penalty tax levied against slumlords and other abandoned property owners as required by the Philadelphia City Code,[14] losing up to $94.6 million a year.
Organizers, which formed the We the People of Philadelphia Committee, are seeking to obtain 30,000 signatures to be filed with election officials on Tuesday, August 9, 2011.