Town Hall Meeting

JACKSON, N.J. - A jam-packed crowd of senior citizens laughed and gasped Tuesday as Gov. Christie delivered a 40-minute, point-by-point condemnation of the Democratic-controlled "do-nothing Legislature" that may have served as a preview of election season. Christie began his morning town hall meeting in the clubhouse of a 55-and-older development by counting the number of times per month the Assembly and Senate have held voting sessions. (Usually there have been one or two.) He unveiled timelines that contrasted his initiatives over recent months to those of legislators.

A national Islamic group yesterday launched a campaign to educate Americans about Muhammad that locally will include open houses at mosques, screenings of a documentary, and panel discussions. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is spearheading the initiative to counter backlash from the recent publication of caricatures of Muhammad in Danish newspapers. The political cartoons have sparked protests in Muslim communities around the world. After The Inquirer reprinted one of the caricatures as part of news coverage of the global protests, hundreds of Muslims chanted and carried banners and signs Saturday outside the Inquirer-Daily News Building.

Concerns about snow and trash collection, blight, and education highlighted the discussion as Mayor Street brought his "town hall meeting" tour to the lower Northeast last night. Speaking before an audience of several hundred at St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church at Oxford Circle, Street reiterated familiar themes and lines. He repeated his pledge to stay in touch with the neighborhoods. "We can't be a world-class city as long as there is blight in the neighborhoods," the mayor said.

Camden's redevelopment and relocation efforts must be informative, community-driven, and respectful of the city's ethnic diversity, residents told officials at a forum last night. The town hall meeting was titled "Responsible Relocation," a topic of much debate amid Camden's redevelopment boom. The city's biggest project, in Cramer Hill, could displace about 1,200 families. It has led to allegations that Camden's revitalization effort is intended to push out residents and enrich developers.

Responding to a citizen's inquiry, Mayor Street yesterday promised to put money in the capital budget for neighborhood libraries. Beth Ann Johnson, a library supporter, asked the mayor at a town-hall meeting at Lea Elementary School in West Philadelphia if he would restore funding in the capital budget for neighborhood libraries. "It's done," said Street, who has been under pressure from City Council to insert the funds in his budget. Street, who has been holding community meetings in each of Council's districts, also used yesterday's session to back off from a pledge he made last month at a Germantown town-hall meeting.

Today in Albuquerque, President Clinton will host a town hall meeting focused on whether to partially privatize Social Security. Simply daring to hold such a meeting is a symbol of dramatic political change. In 1964, presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was ridiculed for suggesting that Social Security become voluntary. Even in the Reagan and Bush years, lawmakers of both parties agreed that Social Security was the "third rail of politics" - touch it with any proposed change and you die. Why would Clinton, generally considered an astute and cautious politician, dare to consider privatizing Social Security, the most successful and popular federal program in history?

Problems with Section 8 public housing and drugs were highlighted last night at a town-hall meeting that Mayor Street held in South Philadelphia. Philadelphia Housing Authority Executive Director Carl Greene was booed by some members of the audience when Street introduced him during a discussion of the problems the Section 8 program has created in the Grays Ferry area. "See, Carl, you have a way of engendering enthusiasm," the mayor said with a smile as the boos rose at the meeting, held at J&A Caterers in City Council President Anna Cibotti Verna's Second Council District.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Roger Altman (left), deputy secretary of the treasury, discussed the proposed U.S. health plan during a town hall meeting at Meadowood Retirement Community in Worcester Friday. They talk with visitor David Kanes.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to make a campaign stop Monday at Mustang Expediting in Aston. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), who is thought to be among Romney's possible running mates, is expected to join Romney at the 12:30 p.m. town-hall meeting. - Miriam Hill

Let us see how the creative arts can be a tool in responding to the violence against children in our community. That is the principle underlying the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program's "All Join Hands: The Visions of Peace" project, sponsored by the School District of Philadelphia and the city's Department of Human Services. The project will feature discussions about the effects of violence against children, workshops on mural techniques, and the creation of an anti-violence mural on a wall of Benjamin Franklin High School.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to make a campaign stop Monday at Mustang Expediting in Aston. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), who is thought to be among Romney's possible running mates, is expected to join Romney at the 12:30 p.m. town-hall meeting. - Miriam Hill

SANFORD, Fla. - An unarmed black teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain told his girlfriend moments before he was killed that he was being followed, a lawyer said Tuesday as federal and state prosecutors announced they would investigate. " 'Oh he's right behind me, he's right behind me again,' " Trayvon Martin, 17, told his girlfriend on his cellphone, the Martin family's attorney said. The girl later heard Martin say, " 'Why are you following me?' " Another man asked, " 'What are you doing around here?

Governor deserves respect I must heartily disagree with the perspective of the writer of "Governor's behavior shameful" (Tuesday). I wonder if the letter writer heard the exchange between Gov. Christie and William Brown? Brown gave an editorial of his own before asking a question, and when the governor attempted to answer, Brown repeatedly interrupted Christie. Brown was not interested in an answer to his question. He was there to further an agenda and try to shout over any reasonable explanation the governor had to offer.

Christie vs. Brown on Rutgers The Inquirer did a very fair presentation of the yelling match between Gov. Christie and William Brown at a town-hall meeting ("Rutgers-Rowan flare-up," Friday). The Inquirer pointed out that Brown was a former SEAL and an Iraq veteran, a Rutgers Law School student, and a former Democratic candidate for Assembly. However, this is not a Democrat-vs.-Republican issue. Christie feels compelled to call anyone against his proposal an "idiot. " In this case, it is easy to see where that label applies.

DENVILLE, N.J. - The crowd was familiar and friendly, and Gov. Christie seemed to soak up the energy. Speaking in a charter school's packed gymnasium, the governor bragged that he had Democrats fighting with him not over spending money, but over cutting spending. "To have Democrats arguing with me about which taxes to cut, I feel like I have died and gone to heaven," the governor said at his town hall at Morris County School of Technology in his home county. He noted that despite cutting education money, test scores in the state remained high overall.

THERE WAS NO unruly throng flowing through the wide parking lots of King of Prussia last night, just an orderly single-file line of well-dressed Penn State alums filing into a carpeted hotel meeting room with a stage decked out in soothing flowers and tall potted plants. Despite an air of hostility toward a news media that one questioner accused of "McCarthyism," there was never a thought of flipping over any of the news vans lined up on the outskirts of the Radisson Hotel Valley Forge.

JIM THORPE, Pa. - They had to leave the protest signs outside. As about 250 people settled into their chairs for a town hall meeting last week with Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), a staffer laid down the law: No cursing. No noisemakers. No chanting. Please respect others' rights. For good measure, five uniformed state troopers patrolled the edges of the oak-floored auditorium at Penn's Peak resort. As controlled as the situation was, at least Toomey was putting himself in position to take guff.

JACKSON, N.J. - A jam-packed crowd of senior citizens laughed and gasped Tuesday as Gov. Christie delivered a 40-minute, point-by-point condemnation of the Democratic-controlled "do-nothing Legislature" that may have served as a preview of election season. Christie began his morning town hall meeting in the clubhouse of a 55-and-older development by counting the number of times per month the Assembly and Senate have held voting sessions. (Usually there have been one or two.) He unveiled timelines that contrasted his initiatives over recent months to those of legislators.

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. - Personal and political worlds collided at Gov. Christie's town hall meeting Tuesday when a microphone was handed to former Gov. Jim McGreevey's father. Referring to a comment last week at a similar meeting in which a female supporter called Christie "hot and sexy," Jack McGreevey asked: "What was [your wife] Mary Pat's reaction when you were called 'hot and sexy?' " Then he flashed Christie a thumbs-up. Christie and the crowd of several hundred broke into laughter.

At first glance, the YouTube video of a man berating a smaller man looks like a TV talk-show confrontation. But this video is of Gov. Christie, known for his blunt but calculated outbursts and big personality, speaking to a citizen who asked a question at a public meeting. The moment has raised questions about the governor's demeanor. What is not shown is that the man, Keith Chaudruc, of Madison, N.J., passionately asked how Christie could sunset a surtax on millionaires while allowing NJ Transit fares to go up, making life harder for the working class.