Residents got some good news about street sweeping funding in Mayor Kenney’s budget proposal last week, but as has been the case with prior announcements about this topic, the classic next step is always for the Mayor to come out with some novel way of stalling or making concessions in the direction of parochialism. Continue reading

Mayor Kenney released his annual budget proposal Thursday, with a much more optimistic outlook for city services this year thanks to a major infusion of $1.4 billion in funding from the American Rescue Plan. Continue reading

Pennsylvania continues to underwhelm on vaccinations, ranking 27th out of the 50 states in the percentage of our population that’s been vaccinated. In response to some recent dust-ups between the state and local officials about the roll-out, Governor Tom Wolf told the Inquirer that “you kinda have to scratch your head” to see where things might be going wrong.  But those of us who follow local government policy in Pennsylvania are not scratching our heads. We know at least one of the reasons why things aren’t going better: the near-total lack of government capacity below the level of state government. Continue reading

Now that the American Rescue Plan has been passed, the Biden administration is intent on pivoting to a big infrastructure package to the tune of $2 trillion. On Wednesday, Biden lifted the embargo on the American Jobs Plan, which laid out some very ambitious goals for infrastructure that, if adopted, could have some major positive impacts for Philadelphia’s economy, its built environment, and even the local politics of transportation and housing. Continue reading

Everybody is still settling into the rhythms of Pennsylvania’s new election calendar, which was changed significantly because of the new vote-by-mail option, and one thing not everyone may have been expecting just yet is that it's already almost time for early voting! The vote-by-mail change came with a 50-day early voting window for mail voting that technically begins this coming Monday, March 29th. In practice, the ballots aren’t going to be ready to go by then because there are still some ballot challenges to resolve, and the Commissioners can’t arrange or print the ballots until all that’s settled.  Continue reading

(Image: Controller's Office) Philadelphia’s budget deficit was substantially resolved by the American Rescue Plan’s provisions for state and local aid, but what is likely to happen to local revenues next year and the year after as that funding starts to dissipate? Continue reading

(Image: Rendering of 2300 Market | Tantillo Architecture) The Housing Trust Fund is set to receive its second-largest single payment, of nearly $1 million, thanks to a 222-unit over-build development in the works at 23rd and Market St. To be able to build at a greater density than would otherwise be allowed, the builder is utilizing the city’s Mixed-Income Housing density bonus program, and will make a payment of $948,330 into the Housing Trust Fund.  Continue reading