Past Campaigns
January 27, 2005
MEDIA ADVISORY
Cohen calls for boost in minimum wage
To speak about legislation at Philadelphia City Council Chambers
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 27— State Rep. Mark Cohen will be joined by members of the House Philadelphia delegation and community leaders to bring attention to his new legislation calling for an increase to Pennsylvania’s minimum wage.
The news conference will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, Jan. 28 in City Council Chambers, Room 400 Philadelphia City Hall.
If enacted, the legislation will increase the state’s minimum wage to $6, 60 days following passage, to $6.75 on Jan. 1, 2006, and to $7.15 on Jan. 1, 2007. Pennsylvania would join 14 other states, plus the District of Columbia, that have wage minimums above the federal standard, currently $5.15.
Similar legislation recently passed the Labor Committee in the New Jersey Senate.
“This legislation will help hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians make ends meet,” Cohen said. “We have to realize what our neighboring states have realized: people can’t survive on a minimum wage that pays a sub-poverty income.”
Media coverage is invited.
CONTACT: Mike Michael E. Cassidy, Executive Director Office of the Democratic Caucus Chairman Pennsylvania House of Representatives Room 417 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg PA 17120-2020 Ph. (717) 787-3085
Meeting between Homeowners, Pennsylvania Banking Secretary William Schenck and PHFA Director Bryan Hudson. Hudson has pressed his staff to increase HEMAP approvals and will have a senior loan officer review every denial. Schenck has offered to strategize with advocates on how to increase funding for HEMAP.
Feb 3, 2004
The largest Sheriff's sale in Philadelphia History. Homes had been listed for sale due to foreclosure. Members of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project's Foreclosure Crisis committee, made up of homeowners who have faced and are facing foreclosure, called for a protest rally to demand more help for Philadelphians who are faced with losing their homes.
We called for:
- More approvals for the Pennsylvania Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP)
- Reduced attorney's fees for foreclosure actions
- Help from HUD for homeowners with FHA mortgages
- A temporary moratorium on Sheriff Sale's until action has been taken to reduce foreclosures.
Such a moratorium was granted for 15 months during the 1983 recession. We called on Sheriff John Green to hold off on the next sale and join us in approaching the courts for a moratorium as Sheriff Joe Sullivan did in 1983 when 310 properties were scheduled for sale.
April 2004
Sales were Postponed Longer for 160 families. PUP and Sheriff Green won a stay in court for homeowners who came forward to get help following the postponement of the March Sheriff Sale. They are now working to get assistance from HEMAP and the FHA Loss Mitigation Program and the judge will continue to oversee their efforts as part of the postponement.
May 2004
PUP members organize a major Harrisburg Lobby day. Homeowner
sat with governor Rendell for an hour urging him to fund HEMAP
and protect others from loosing their homes throughout the commonwealth
Clip: metro 4/29/04 "Low Income Home Owners Don't Last"
June 2004
The Foreclosure Crisis Committee meets directly with two of the largest foreclosure lawyers in Philadelphia. When challenged on why the lawyer's fees are so high, both lawyers dropped their fees substantially. Read about the Foreclosure Crisis Committee Members meeting with Larry Phelan, Philadelphia's largest foreclosure law firm; they win major reductions in legal fees for foreclosures.
2nd and 3rd Major
law firms reduce fees Goldbeck, McKafferty and McKeever down
to $969
Clip: PUP Report "Goldbeck firm waives fees for family and reduces
fees in general"
July 2004
Sheriff Green meets with PUP members to discuss the excessive cost of sheriff sale advertisement.