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City Life

5 Questions: Now That We Have a Land Bank, How’s It Going to Change the City?

Mayor Nutter’s signing of a new “land bank” bill on Monday was greeted with applause from the development community. Anne Fadullon, president of the Building […]

City Life

Cash Gifts Banned for City Employees

We don’t want to say that Philadelphia has a corruption problem, but isn’t it kind of weird that it’s taken until 2014 for the Philadelphia […]

City

Streets Department Can’t Pick Up Your Trash Because It Is Cold

Does your job let you slack off because it’s cold outside? No? Sucker. You should be working for the Philadelphia Streets Department.

City Life

Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Rate Is Down, But Only Because You’ve Given Up on This Failed Economy

Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in years—9.5 percent—but the Journal doesn’t quite understand why: “The Pew Charitable Trusts reports […]

City

Philadelphia to Philadelphia Streets Department: You Suck at Plowing

The last time we checked, which was mid-2013, Philadelphia Streets Commissioner David Perri was earning a cool $140,000 per year, which is about $118,000 more […]

City Life

Does Mayor Nutter Deserve More Credit for Philly’s Dropping Murder Rate?

Over on Twitter, journalist Patrick Kerkstra asks a really good question: Is it just me, or is plummeting homicide rate not getting the attn it […]

City Life

Cool Photo: The “Billy Penn Signal” Above City Hall

Update: The photo, Larry West says, is real! Quoth: The photo is 100% real. I originally uploaded it using my phone, and wound up just […]

Sunlit Philadelphia City Hall
City Life

Contractors Face New Requirements in the New Year

Plan Philly reports that City Hall is raising standards for building and demolition contractors starting in the new year. “The Department announced the new rules in a […]

City Life

The Paid Sick Leave Bill Exposes Republican Hypocrisy

Pennsylvania’s leaders may have fled the state over the weekend in order to enjoy a little time away from the riff-raff — that is, uh, […]

City Life

Philly’s Land Has Been Set Free!

At long last, the City Council has passed its land bank bill, making it the largest city in the country to have a land bank. […]

City Life

What Philly Should Have Learned From Baltimore About Land Banks

After two years of crafting a land bank bill that would streamline the messy, maddening process of buying land from the city, Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sanchez’s […]

City Life

Meet the Millennial Behind Philly’s LGBT Equality Bill

Last spring when I was covering Jim Kenney’s LGBT Equality Bill, I visited the councilman’s office in City Hall to learn more about it. During our […]

City Life

The Millennial Revolution: We Have the Potential to Change Politics

Fueled by pathetic voter turnout and anecdotally observed apathy, the narrative about young people in Philadelphia—so-called “new Philadelphians,” especially—is that they don’t care about local […]

City Life

Dilworth Plaza Could Re-Open Next Fall

NewsWorks reports: “The area on the West Side of Philadelphia City Hall will remain under construction for at least 10 more months.  Renovations to Dilworth […]

City Life

Hot Stuff: Could Sriracha Plant Come to Philly?

When Philadelphia Councilman Jim Kenney respnded to the problems of a California-based Sriracha-manufacturing plant by sending a letter inviting the makers to move to Philadelphia, […]