(Philadelphia Ward Map) Once a decade, political districts of many kinds are required to be redrawn to reflect population changes measured in the Census, including Congressional districts at the federal level, state House and Senate districts, and local City Council districts.  Continue reading

(Image: Philadelphia Inquirer) Philadelphia City Council will host their one and only meeting to take public comment on their proposed new City Council District map on Wednesday, January 26th between 10am and 1pm, and residents interested in testifying about it will have to sign up by 3pm today (Tuesday). Continue reading

A few months ago we wrote about how 5th District state Senator John Sabatina was chosen by the city’s Democratic Party for a “magic seat” on the Court of Common Pleas, which then set up a special election scenario for his district. Sabatina had won the primary nomination for a 4-year term just last spring, so the winner of the special election will serve the entire term.  Continue reading

(New housing under construction in Northern Liberties | Photo: Jon Geeting) Philadelphia had a banner year for housing permitting in 2021, with more than 10,000 dwellings approved by the city permitting authorities. That’s about 3 times as much housing permitted as you’d see in a typical year from the recent past, and the reason has to do with both the timing of the full 10-year tax abatement expiring, and also historically-low housing inventory over the last 2 years.  Continue reading

The Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission that’s charged with redrawing the Commonwealth’s state legislative districts voted in favor of two preliminary maps on Thursday, which were presented for public view the same day. Continue reading

(Kalaya's streetery will have to be taken down if Council doesn't act. | Photo: Metro Philly) City Council is about to pass a bill legalizing “streeteries” and critically, it would also codify the much easier pandemic-era process for creating new outdoor dining stalls moving forward, albeit in a very limited set of places. Streeteries are the outdoor eateries that many restaurants and establishments used to move their seating outside during the pandemic, which were enabled by some smart policy changes by the Mayor's office and City Council that temporarily drastically cut the permitting time for both sidewalk cafe seating and dining stalls in the parking lanes. We’ve written in the past about this permitting reform success story, and some lessons going forward.  Continue reading

(Deputy Commissioner Seth Bluestein | Photo: Yong Kim, Philadelphia Inquirer) City Commissioner Al Schmidt announced this week that he will soon resign from his position in order to take the helm as CEO of Committee of Seventy, Philadelphia’s venerable century-old good-government advocacy organization. Continue reading

(Accessible trolley infrastructure on Girard Ave | Image: DVRPC) Congress finally passed an infrastructure bill after months of unsightly sausage-making and the details of the final $1.2 trillion package are still trickling out as everyone digests what the local effects are likely to be for the Philadelphia region. The bill is massive and you can find a good high-level summary of the broad funding areas and what they mean for Philadelphia over at the Inquirer. There are a few things in particular worth calling attention to though that may be especially high-impact for Philly, and that state and local leaders should begin planning around. Continue reading