ABOVE PHOTO: MSNBC host Ali Velshi and John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” talked about the intersection of comedy and news at the Philadelphia Citizen’s “Ideas We Should Steal” Festival at the Comcast Technology Center. The Festival focuses on good ideas being used around the country that might work in Philadelphia if we tried them.
The Ideas We Should Steal Festival featured more than a few concepts that the City should seriously consider.
By Denise Clay
For most of the day, Taylor Paul sat and watched as the “Ideas We Should Steal” Festival showcased ideas from a variety of people, places and organizations.
But when he finally took the stage at the Comcast Technology Center to share his idea last week, it was one that every Philadelphian who’s tired of newscasts leading with an incident of gun violence would be amenable to. Paul, the co-founder of the Sanity Project and the RVA League for Safer Streets, came to share the idea of creating a basketball league that was more than just about giving young people a place to play.
It also gives them a means to learn how to adjust to the world around them without hurting themselves or someone else, which is something that Paul and the men who work with him know all too well.
All of these men are formerly incarcerated citizens. Paul did 23 years for killing someone. “Our motto is, no workshop, no jump shot,” Paul said. “Basketball is just the means to get them inside. The Richmond Police Department is our biggest sponsor and they have a team in the league. They recognized our shared values, and shared values equal better communities.” This was just one of the many great ideas that were shared during the second annual festival, which is named for a column in the Philadelphia Citizen that spotlights the things that people in other cities do that Philadelphians should try.
Gun violence is a problem that Philadelphia could really use some new ideas to handle. But connecting a city that is the textbook definition of “provincial” to ideas that didn’t come from within can be a challenge, admits Larry Platt, co-executive director of the Citizen.
But while “That’s the way we’ve always done it!” should be imprinted somewhere on the City’s coat of arms, Platt thinks that it’s worth it to try and change that somewhat.
“I think that one of the reasons we started the Citizen is because it always feels like “Groundhog Day” in Philadelphia,” he said. “The problem with the poverty rate isn’t new. The problems with the murder rate aren’t new. The abysmal rate of job growth isn’t new. And we act like things aren’t the result of policy choices. Other cities innovate. Why can’t Philadelphia be one of them?” Toward that end, Platt brought a group of men and women armed with tons of totally steal-able ideas to this year’s festival. From giving citizens the power of the city’s purse to demanding term limits from politicians to empowering public officials to be problem solvers and enforce the rule of law when our federal government can’t, there were a lot of things Philly might be able to use if it wants to.
MSNBC host —- and Philly guy —- Ali Velshi was the moderator for sessions on a variety of topics.
One of those topics was misinformation via the panel “News In The Age of Alternative Facts.”
Stephen Brill, founder and co-CEO of the news watchdog site NewsGuard and Tiffany Cross, co-founder and managing editor of The BeatDC discussed the responsibilities of news consumers and responsibilities when it comes to sharing stories on social media and how we should all do more research when posting stories. Comedian John Oliver was also on hand to share how he comes up with the stories he tells on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” how the reporting comes before the jokes because the jokes are easier, and how he doesn’t force stories when he doesn’t have all of the data he needs to be able to make an iron clad point.
The Ideas We Should Steal Festival was sponsored by Spring Point, FS Investments, Comcast NBC Universal, Dilworth Paxton, Brandywine Realty Trust, Independence Blue Cross, the Kopelman Foundation, Kynetic, the Green Family Foundation, Firsttrust Bank, the Philadelphia Foundation, Nouveau Capital, Keating Mara and Associates, LLC, Shift Capital, KPMG, Clarke and Cohen, Stradley Rononb, WSFS Bank, the Connelly Foundation, the Economy League Of Greater Philadelphia, Interfaith Philadelphia, Philanthropitch, Venture for America, WURD Radio, POD, Temple University’s School of Public Policy, the Committee of Seventy, Head House Books, Wells Fargo, Young Involved Philadelphia, Philadelphia 3.0, Drexel University’s Norwalk Metro Finance Lab, PACDC, NLC and Impact Philadelphia.
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