My View: The DROP Vote

Fox 29 General manager Patrick Paolini voices his opinion on the DROP debate & City Council's Vote.

Here is the text of Paolini's editorial:

Mayor Nutter has been on the right side of the drop debate by calling for the program to be abolished.

This Thursday, City Council is expected to vote to keep the program with some adjustments.

Mayor Nutter should veto city council's bill amending drop to send a clear message that the program is too costly and needs to end.

It's what the mayor and the public have been demanding for some time.

But don't look for Nutter to veto the bill because, as is often the case with this mayor, he likes to have it both ways.

Nutter is unlikely to veto the drop measure because he doesn't want to face the slap of having council override his veto.

Instead, he is likely to let the bill become law without his signature.

That way he can continue to claim that he wanted to end drop - and he won't rankle the city unions.

But the mayor should stop trying to straddle the fence on every issue and start leading.

Public opinion is on the mayor's side when it comes to ending drop.

In fact, residents should let Nutter know that they want him to veto council's drop bill by calling the mayor's office at 215-686-2181.