CITY HALL

Philadelphia City Council to Adopt FY24 Budget

Philadelphia City Council is expected to adopt the final $6.2 billion FY24 budget. This budget funds additional cameras outside of recreational centers and playgrounds, cleaning vacant lots and business corridors, and upgrades to recreational centers throughout the city. 

Philadelphia City Councilmembers Want to Restrict Conversion of Marijuana Dispensaries 

City Council is voting on legislation that would limit medical marijuana distributors from becoming recreational sellers in the future. Councilmembers Jones and O’Neill are the champions of this legislation, and it would cover their districts in Northeast, West, and Northwest Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia Buys $1 Million in Liens to Protect Community Gardens from Sheriff's Sale

This week, the city of Philadelphia announced that it is purchasing $1 million in liens from US Bank for 91 parcels of community gardens. Community garden stewards have long advocated for the city to step in and purchase these lots to prevent private development taking over the spaces. 

AROUND TOWN

SEPTA and Some Philadelphia State Representatives Want to Let Counties Levy Taxes for Public Transit 

A bill was introduced in the Pennsylvania House that would allow counties to levy taxes to fund public transit. Although there are billions of federal dollars available to transit agencies across the country, they cannot be tapped into without local agencies having a local funding match for the competitive grants. 

Temporary I-95 Lanes Will Open This Weekend According to Governor Shapiro 

On Tuesday, Governor Shapiro announced that he expected the six lanes of temporary pavement to open and be ready for cars sometime this weekend. The timeline for the permanent new bridge has not been determined yet.