The big question coming out of the 2017 municipal primaries is whether the results, which were a total black eye for the traditional Democratic Party machine, should be seen as a one-time fluke, or whether they're part of an ongoing trend that spells trouble for other incumbents in the 2018 and 2019 election cycles. Continue reading

Philadelphia has been experiencing a spate of sustained growth in home prices in the post-recession period, leaving some observers to wonder where the ceiling is. The latest entry in this genre is a blog post from Jonathan Tannen at Econsult, which poses the question of whether our recent housing market trends are sustainable, or whether we're watching a bubble developing.  Continue reading

(DCC Chairman Bob Brady is a very traditional guy. Photo: Rep. Bob Brady) In the course explaining away the Democratic City Committee's ultra-weak performance in the municipal primaries this Tuesday, chairman Bob Brady told Dave Davies of WHYY that the "traditional wards" were simply out-hustled by "liberal wards." Continue reading

  Last week, Philadelphia 3.0 announced our 2017 Municipal Elections Pool, inviting our audience of political junkies to test their prediction skills, and guess the outcome of the Democratic District Attorney and Controller primaries.  Continue reading

(What a rout looks like. | Map: Jonathan Tannen, Econsult Solutions) As the news media and political observers have started parsing this week's electoral surprises, particularly in the Democratic Controller primary, an unfortunate narrative has begun to emerge in some quarters--originating with comments from Controller Alan Butkovitz on WHYY--that Rebecca Rhynhart was swept to victory on the coattails of D.A. primary winner Larry Krasner. It's worth putting this idea to bed quickly, as it's not only sexist, but totally wrong.  Continue reading

Think you've got your finger on the pulse of Philly politics? Put your prediction skills to the test in our 2017 Municipal Elections Pool! The person who comes closest to guessing the results of the May 16th election will win a $25 gift card to Reading Terminal Market. Continue reading

In which Darrell Clarke and Mark Squilla schedule a hearing about parking based on some questionable assumptions; Jannie Blackwell introduces what appears to be her first neighborhood-wide zoning remapping bill for Mantua, and approves a buffered bike lane for 11 blocks of Chestnut Street in University City. Continue reading

(Spagnolo Group Architecture) With Center City, University City, and the Navy Yard expected to continue their moderately strong recent growth, there's increasing interest among local elected officials in pivoting the City's attention toward stoking job growth outside of these places. Continue reading

(Council President Darrell Clarke) This Tuesday, Philadelphians awoke to scenes of arson and vandalism. After weeks of a campaign warning of impending “direct action” against “gentri scum”, the outside agitators acted. Dressed in all black, wielding weapons, and attacking indiscriminately, they burned homes in Point Breeze, broke windows in South Kensington, and continued their pattern of vandalism across the city. Continue reading

  ("Better off as a vacant lot than a triplex" - Darrell Clarke, probably | Photo: Flickr/Jukie Bot) We've got a cool event coming up on May 11th that we're partnering on with Urban Land Institute, where we'll be talking with some local experts about what happened in the 5 years since Philly passed zoning reform. The discussion will be focused on neighborhood commercial corridors in particular, since corridor retail has emerged as a major priority area for Mayor Kenney, at least rhetorically. Continue reading