(Mid-rise housing construction on North Broad | Photo: Jon Geeting) Mayor Kenney struck a deal with City Council on affordable housing funding Thursday, with a counter-proposal to Council's construction tax bill which narrowly passed the full chamber with a narrow vote of 9-8 back in June. Kenney's alternative proposal would increase general funding to the Housing Trust Fund by $53 million over 5 years, with an additional $18 million projected to come in from in-lieu payments from Mixed Income Housing bonuses.  Continue reading

Sheriff Jewell Williams is up for reelection next year in 2019, and is expected to be highly vulnerable to a primary challenge due to confirmed allegations that he sexually harassed one of his employees. Williams has actually been accused of harassment by four women, and so far an investigation has confirmed one of those accounts. Continue reading

(Single-family zoning in South Philly, all along one of our two subway lines) The Kenney administration debuted a draft version of their Housing Action Plan overview this week, and while the plan isn't yet complete, so far it's looking pretty underwhelming. Continue reading

(Lauren Vidas | Photo: Celeste Sloman) The 2019 City Council campaign are getting an early start this year, with City & State PA's Ryan Briggs reporting that Graduate Hospital-based lawyer and activist Lauren Vidas has filed paperwork this week to run in the 2nd Council District against two-term incumbent Councilman Kenyatta Johnson.  Continue reading

(Some wards) How far will Party machines go to keep out newer activists? Andy Newman and Tyler Pager at the New York Times talked to some of the candidates running for Democratic County Committee seats in Queens who had no idea they were even running, because someone else had filed on their behalf. Continue reading

(Image: Philly Ward Leaders) This year's ward elections doubled the number of Open Wards, writes Tom Beck at South Philly Review, which is the largest burst of progress for intra-Democratic Party democracy since the 60's and 70's. Continue reading

(Photo: Timothy Rezendes via Creative Commons) Jen Devor and Anton Moore reported a striking finding in their op-ed this week urging more Philadelphians to step up and become Election Day workers: nearly half of these positions are currently occupied. Just 51% of the seats are filled, and 49% are vacant. Continue reading

The saga of the old Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co. building at 4601 Market continues, as Jacob Adelman reports the city has found a tenant who's proposing a new public health campus on the property. Continue reading

Renters now make up about 48% of Philadelphia households, according to a new study from Zillow—a break from the city's traditionally higher-than-average homeownership rate that brings us closer in line with other big cities. Continue reading

(More than half of banned blocks haven't had a shooting | Image: Jared Whalen / Philadelphia Inquirer) Following up on the controversy over the City's new block party rules, Julia Terruso reports that the City has banned 922 blocks from hosting block parties, and only about 400 of those blocks were banned as a result of nearby shootings in the past three years. What accounts for the rest? Continue reading