“Doomsday” has been averted in Philadelphia. Cheers erupted among his key aides as Mayor Michael Nutter announced that the dreaded “Plan C”
was “terminated.”

Here’s my question: Is there one person out there who thought Plan C was ever going to be put into place?

I don’t know how much money the city spent printing up those 3,000 layoff notices, but they should have saved it and put it toward the daunting deficit they are looking at.

Bottom line here is that it was never going to happen. That is just the way things get done in Harrisburg. It’s a waltz, not a rumba. Or maybe it’s just a rumble. For weeks now Nutter has been doing his best “Chicken Little” act, telling everyone who will listen (which apparently does not include many people in Harrisburg) that the sky was falling.
Most people ignored him. And for good reason. Everyone knew that what happened yesterday was eventually going to happen. It was just a matter of when.

The mayor geared up his Doomsday Machine. He said the city would have to lay off 3,000 workers, including a big chunk of police and firefighters.

If it sounded dire, it’s because it was. But it was never going to happen.

Yesterday, the cavalry arrived, right on time, which of course means a few months late.

The state Senate passed a measure that will allow the city to step back from the abyss. It now goes to Gov. Rendell, who is likely to sign it today.

Cheers went up as Nutter informed his staff that Doomsday was off.

It’s a good thing. No one wants to see anybody lose his or her job.
Nobody wants to see services cut. Nobody wants to see libraries or parks close their doors.

Here’s another thing nobody wants: Higher taxes. But that’s what they’re going to get.

The deal allows the city to hike the sales tax from 7 to 8 percent over the next five years. That will make it 2 percent higher than most of the rest of the state. Hey, maybe city residents will suddenly start pouring into Delco to make their purposes.

And here’s something unions certainly don’t want: The city also gets the green light to defer payments into their pension plan for the next two years.

Nutter now faces negotiations with city unions who aren’t quite as thrilled by this deal as the mayor’s staff is.

Doomsday has been averted. That’s today’s headline. I could have written it months ago.