Hoeffel won 9th Ward

In this week's Local, we published a brief item about the Ward 9 primary election results. In that story, we mention the fact that Dan Onorato, who won the state-wide Democratic nomination, fared worse than the city-wide winner, Sen. Anthony Williams.

We failed to mention, however, that Joe Hoeffel, the 9th Ward Democratic Committee endorsee won the ward with 46 percent (45.91 to be exact) of the vote. Hoeffel received 1,699 votes to Williams' 905 votes. See table below.

Hoeffel came in a distant third in the state, earning about 10 percent of the vote.

(Photo: 9th Ward Democratic Leader John O'Connell greeted gubernatorial candidate and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel at the Company 37 fire station on primary election day, May 18).

RESULTS FOR 9TH WARD

Candidate Name	Party	Votes	% of Total Votes
ONORATO, DAN	DEMOCRATIC	777	20.99 %
WAGNER, JACK	DEMOCRATIC	320	8.65 %
WILLIAMS, ANTHONY HARDY	DEMOCRATIC	905	24.45 %
*HOEFFEL, JOSEPH M	DEMOCRATIC	1699	45.91 %

What is poor in Philadelphia?

A front-page story in this week's Philadelphia Inquirer by Alfred Lubrano references a study by University of Washington that establishes a benchmark income level needed for a family of four to survive. According to the study, Philadelphia families beed $59,501 to scrape by. And of course, according to Lubrano, nearly 62 percent of Philadelphia households take in less than $50,000.

In Montco, the minimum is $71,393.

One interesting omission from the study's findings is that student loan costs are not factored in. I'm sure student loan payments might add another $10,000 a year (ballpark) if you assume college educations are necessary for a household to earn at least $60,000.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100520_Study__To_survive__family_of_four_needs_nearly__60_000.html#axzz0oTe7e7xt