TO: Mayor Cherelle Parker & Members of Philadelphia City Council SUBJECT: Policy Priorities for the FY2027 Budget: Building a More Livable Philadelphia We urge the Mayor and City Council to fund proven solutions that make Philadelphia more accessible, sustainable, and equitable. PUBLIC TRANSIT Working in coalition with Transit Forward Philadelphia, we echo the requests to restore funding to the Zero Fare Program, SEPTA Key Advantage for City Employees. In addition, we seek the expansion of student transit passes, and investment in bus shelters and a permanent intercity bus terminal. $30M — Restore the Zero Fare Program Free SEPTA access for 25,000 low-income Philadelphians — recorded over 4.3 million trips in its first year. The program was launched with one-time federal ARPA dollars that have now run out. Without a dedicated City General Fund appropriation, the program dies. $30M makes it permanent, helps build ridership, and provides transit access to struggling Philadelphians. $9M — Preserve SEPTA Key Advantage for City Employees SEPTA passes for roughly 15,000 City workers — supporting recruitment, retention, and transit ridership. FY26 maintained the program through a one-time accounting workaround that can't be repeated. $9M restores it as a permanent dedicated appropriation. $4.5M — Expand Student Transit Passes 63,000 eligible 7th–12th graders receive Student SEPTA Passes — but they only work between 5:30am and 8pm, on school days. In New York City, student passes work 24/7 year-round. The State pays $34M for this program and this estimated budget line item would expand the passes to work 24/7. This estimate is based on the approximate 13% increase to expand student pass hours in NYC. $5M — Expand Bus Shelters at High-Need Stops SEPTA operates roughly 6,000 bus stops within Philadelphia, but fewer than 500 have a shelter. A City Capital fund would let the City install narrow, ad-free shelters at high-ridership stops that the current ad-funded program doesn't reach. $1M — Planning for a Permanent Intercity Bus Terminal Philadelphia has no permanent intercity bus facility since the Greyhound terminal closed. A DVRPC feasibility study is underway near 30th Street Station, but no City capital is committed. $1M advances the project to site selection and preliminary design — the prerequisite for competing for federal construction funds. VISION ZERO Alongside our partner Philly Bike Action, we seek a $26 million FY27 investment towards vision zero to stem the tide of roadway deaths in Philadelphia. The administration's Vision Zero Action Plan 2030 details multiple goals that lack funding, including Neighborhood Slow Zones, Neighborhood Bikeways, protected bike lanes, and expanded capacity for traffic calming requests. $8M — Fund 5 Neighborhood Slow Zones An extremely popular program to slow neighborhood traffic — often around schools — by lowering speed limits to 20 mph and installing curb extensions and speed cushions. Over 30 neighborhoods apply each round, but in 7 years only 5 out of 7 approved Slow Zones have been built — less than one per year. Even the City’s unambitious 2030 target of one zone per year remains unfunded. Neighborhood Slow Zones cost up to $1.5 million each; the City could fully fund this program without any external grants. $5M — Build 2 Neighborhood Bikeways Neighborhood Bikeways create safer, slower, more walkable neighborhood streets that fill gaps in the bike network without specifically adding new bike lanes. Over the last two years, community-supported projects have finished concepts and engagement in Germantown and Fishtown, but lack funding to build. Neighborhood Bikeways cost $1.5–2 million each; the City could fully fund this program without any external grants. $10M — Protect 10 Miles of Existing Bike Lanes with Concrete Only 8.4% of Philly’s bike lanes are “separated” = safe. This figure includes flex posts, which offer minimal protection compared to concrete curbs that slow cars on impact. Concrete curb separation is the gold standard of safety common in other cities. Per City figures, 4 miles of concrete pills and planters would cost $4.8 million; $10 million protects 10 miles of existing bike lanes. $2.5M — Begin Universal Daylighting, Citywide “Daylighting” prevents illegal parking near crossings, significantly increasing visibility for pedestrians and drivers. $2.5 million is enough to implement daylighting at 1,500 high-crash intersections with the vision to expand citywide. HOUSING & SAFE HEALTHY HOMES We support efforts by the Administration to build or preserve 30,000 homes, and see the funding of a revolving loan as key to achieving that goal. Additionally, we strongly support budget line items in line with the Safe Healthy Homes Act to protect our most vulnerable renters . Capitalize a $100M Revolving Loan Fund for Housing Production Over 20,000 permitted housing units are approved to build but sitting idle — developers can’t get affordable construction financing in today’s high-interest-rate environment. This fund, already authorized by Council through the HOME bond program, provides low-cost city loans to fill that gap, building mixed-income housing with roughly 30% affordable units and no federal strings attached. Unlike a grant, the money comes back: loans repay in 3–5 years when projects convert to permanent financing, and the capital revolves into the next round. The city’s upfront commitment is the capitalization; the long-term cost is the spread between the 1–5% loan rate and what the city pays to borrow. $10M — Fund Proactive Rental Inspections at L&I Fewer than 1 in 10 Philadelphia rentals gets inspected in a given year — and inspections only happen after a tenant files a complaint, which many avoid out of fear of retaliation. When Rochester, NY implemented proactive inspections in 2005, childhood lead poisoning dropped 85% by 2012. $10M funds the staff and resources for L&I to run a pilot proactive inspection program so problems get caught before someone gets sick. $10M — Restore and Expand Built to Last Built to Last provides free home repairs to low-income homeowners — fixing roofs, heating systems, and other serious hazards. The Parker administration called the program’s current $5M a “one-time” expense with no new funding in FY27. This ask doubles that funding and puts it on stable footing. Fund the Anti-Displacement Fund Council passed a law authorizing a fund to cover moving costs for renters forced out when the city condemns a property as uninhabitable — but it remains unfunded. This ask is for the Parker Administration to propose a dollar amount in the FY27 budget so the law Council already passed can actually go into effect. PARKS, RECREATION & FREE LIBRARY The following requests are for additional funding for the staffing and maintenance for parks, rec centers and libraries to bring us in line with the investment seen in peer cities. This is in line with previous years’ requests from the Parks & Rec Heroes Fund. $8.8M Increase — Staff to Keep Rec Centers Open The FY26 city budget allocated just $53 per resident in the operating budget to Parks & Rec — leaving hundreds of positions vacant and centers routinely closing when only one staffer shows up. $8.8M is targeted entirely at staffing: enough to keep centers open on consistent schedules, expand after-school programming, and eventually adding the social workers and security staff that the union DC33 has long pushed for. $4.4M Increase — Basic Parks & Recreation Maintenance This funds the unglamorous work that prevents small problems from becoming expensive ones: tree removal, field repairs, bathroom maintenance, and facility cleaning — so the parks and community centers Rebuild renovated don’t quietly deteriorate once the construction crews leave. $3.25M Increase — Open Every Library Six Days a Week The Free Library’s FY26 budget was essentially flat — less than $45,000 in new money — leaving the system unable to guarantee six-day service at all 54 branches. Library leadership has estimated that adding a sixth day costs roughly $3.25M, covering the staff needed so branches stop closing unexpectedly. At a moment when federal library funding faces new threats while demands on library services continue to grow, Philadelphia should be working to expand access to its public libraries, not leave it up to chance.
Executive Director (Part-Time), 5th Square Advocacy
We at 5th Square Advocacy applaud the passing of this resolution and further ask, since we must spend hundreds of millions either way, that DVRPC and PennDOT make our community safer, cleaner, and greener by removing or burying I-95 rather than re-enforcing the status quo that harms our neighbors for the convenience of
Philadelphia, PA — 5th Square Advocacy strongly condemns the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s (PPA) decision to contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide indoor parking garage space for ICE vehicles . 5th Square Advocacy is dedicated to making Philadelphia and Pennsylvania safe, accessible, equitable, and welcoming for all residents and visitors, regardless of race, nationality, immigration status, or identity. The use of publicly controlled infrastructure to support ICE undermines those goals and is inconsistent with the responsibilities of public infrastructure. Recent events underscore the serious harm caused by ICE enforcement operations in urban environments. In Minneapolis and other cities, the deployment of federal immigration enforcement has led to violent confrontations, chaotic scenes, displacement of families, and even death. These incidents illustrate how such operations erode public safety, fracture community trust, and inflict lasting harm on urban communities. “Public infrastructure should serve the public good,” said Alex Milone, co-chair of the Transit Committee of 5th Square Advocacy. “Providing city-controlled facilities to support enforcement activities that generate fear, trauma, and loss of life runs counter to the values of safety, equity, dignity, and civil liberties that Philadelphia should uphold.” 5th Square Advocacy urges PPA to publicly promise not to sign additional contracts with ICE, and to adopt a formal policy requiring that future contracts and partnerships be evaluated not only on financial considerations, but also on their impacts on public safety, equity, civil liberties, and the well-being of all Philadelphia communities.
Currently, Philadelphia City Council is considering a bill to ban all homes on the site of the vacant Hahnemann Hospital.
Sign here to ask Councilmember Young to withdraw this bill and support mixed-use development for this site.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – In a span of just 72 hours, hit-and-run drivers killed three people in Cobbs Creek, Carroll Park, and Juniata Park. These tragedies follow two additional November fatalities in University City, including a University of Pennsylvania employee walking to work. "These deaths are not isolated incidents but systemic violence," says Annie O’Brien, co-chair of 5th Square’s Vision Zero Committee. "Reckless driving and our built environment endanger Philadelphians every day. Two of these recent fatalities occurred on the High-Injury Network, roads the City already knows are deadly." While the City’s Vision Zero Action Plan 2030 recognizes these deaths as preventable, 5th Square maintains that leadership has failed to deliver results. Speeding and reckless behavior continue unchecked because of a car-centric culture and a lack of political courage to prioritize safety over vehicle throughput. "When the City fails to implement proven safety measures, the result is predictable: more devastated families," O’Brien added. "We call on City leadership to move beyond planning and respond with permanent infrastructure changes. Lives depend on it." About 5th Square Advocacy: 5th Square Advocacy is a nonprofit organization of urbanist grassroots advocates working toward a more accessible, sustainable, and equitable Philadelphia.
West Philly Trolleys riders are getting stuck in University City traffic while diverting to 40th and Market. Sign this petition to tell the City & SEPTA to Give Priority to Trolley Riders
5th Square Advocacy is excited to see what a focus on housing investment and policy change can bring to Philly. In the ongoing debate around the HOME Plan, we are most eager to see the results of these key investments and changes that were debated over the past few weeks in City Council: Streamlining the Philadelphia Land Bank disposition process to ensure that city-owned parcels are approved and put back into productive use as low- and moderate-income housing as quickly as possible. Increasing investment in existing programs such as BSR, AMP, etc. that prioritize liveability and displacement protections. Targeting public funds for affordable housing, so that the majority of direct housing production and preservation funding from HOME Bonds goes towards improving and building deeply affordable units We also want to bring attention to the changes to City procedure that we believe must move forward alongside investment. Philadelphia’s fiscal commitment to affordable housing must be paired with reforms that remove barriers to all kinds of housing development. Philly cannot fully subsidize its way to the City’s housing production goals – additionally, catalyzing more private investment and reducing burdensome development delays through zoning and procedural reform will enable economic investment that will be necessary to pay debt on the HOME Plan’s financing to provide needed deeply affordable units. The cost-free policy changes that can increase the HOME Plan impact that 5th Square Advocacy hopes to see include: A “Fast-track” for affordable housing permits so that every neighborhood in Philadelphia can quickly build affordable housing units, and the city can remove as many barriers as possible to creating the types of housing that are most needed. NYC recently approved changes to their city charter that would allow their zoning board to award variances to affordable housing projects without lengthy public engagement processes and also created an Affordable Housing Board of Appeals that could reverse council decisions that blocked new affordable housing projects. 5th Square would like to see a similar process as part of the HOME plan. Loosened restrictions around SROs, ADUs, and smaller infill projects which are one of the easiest ways to both create more housing units and also target affordable housing towards vulnerable populations such as the elderly and low-income residents. Given Philadelphia’s small lot size minimums and availability of vacant office space and land, smaller projects such as SRO or ADU conversions could create flexible housing options through “gentle density” and a more affordable class of housing throughout all of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods without the associated needs for zoning variances, permitting, and lengthy reviews that come with larger developments. Encouraging transit-oriented communities through zoning reform: At a time when the city’s transit system is grappling with a financial crisis, one way the city could help stabilize SEPTA and also increase housing production is to reform and expand the use of the transit-oriented development overlay to allow the creation of more housing units in the areas surrounding subway, trolley, and regional rail stops as well as high-ridership bus routes. Not only would this help create a new source of customers and revenue for SEPTA, it would also encourage housing production in areas of the city that are already widely accessible to all. Creating a stronger right for tenants to pursue fair rents and housing improvements, by implementing a method of appeal for unreasonable rent increases and allowing renter applications for certain adaptive reuse or home improvement programs in case of landlord neglect. Philadelphia has a robust number of programs to encourage homeownership and homebuying, but comparatively little in the way of programs to aid tenants in substandard housing or at risk of large rent increases. Though Mayor Parker’s HOME plan strengthens existing programs for tenants, 5th Square believes it should also include a way to challenge sudden, unreasonable rent increases (10% or more annually) through the Fair Housing Commission, a proactive rental inspection program, and allow renters to apply for funds through programs such as RIP, BSR or Weatherization loans in cases of proven landlord neglect, with an associated fine for the offending landlord to help fund repairs. Provide housing opportunities in all neighborhoods of the city. The City Council’s deference to local councilmember preference, which elevates the concerns of outspoken, well-connected neighbors while neglecting the needs of other residents, potential new neighbors, and our city’s overall need to grow our housing supply. More uniform zoning and housing development processes will allow more people to live in areas of opportunity in Philadelphia and reduce costs by eliminating red-tape and long, uncertain development timelines. It will also help the city put blighted properties and the large number of vacant lots in the city back into productive use.
Call or email your Councilmember about pending legislation, issues in your neighborhood, or anything else that matters to you. Find your Councilmember (detailed map link) . District: District 1 ( map ) - Mark Squilla: mark.squilla@phila.gov, (215) 686-3458, (215) 686-3459 District 2 ( map ) - Kenyatta Johnson (Council President): kenyatta.johnson@phila.gov, (215) 686-3412, (215) 686-3413 District 3 ( map ) - Jamie Gauthier: jamie.gauthier@phila.gov, (215) 686-0459, (215) 686-0460 District 4 ( map ) - Curtis Jones, Jr.: curtis.jones@phila.gov, (215) 686-3416, (215) 686-3417 District 5 ( map ) - Jeffery Young, Jr.: jeffery.young@phila.gov, (215) 686-3442, (215) 686-3443 District 6 ( map ) - Michael Driscoll: mike.driscoll@phila.gov, (215) 686-3444, (215) 686-3445 District 7 ( map ) - Quetcy Lozada: quetcy.lozada@phila.gov, (215) 686-3448, (215) 686-3449 District 8 ( map ) - Cindy Bass: cindy.bass@phila.gov, (215) 686-3424, (215) 686-3425 District 9 ( map ) - Anthony Phillips: anthony.phillips@phila.gov, (215) 686-3455 District 10 ( map ) - Brian O'Neill: brian.oneill@phila.gov, (215) 686-3422, (215) 686-3423 At-Large: Nina Ahmad: nina.ahmad@phila.gov, (215) 686-3450 Kendra Brooks: kendra.brooks@phila.gov, (215) 686-3438, (215) 686-3439 Katherine Gilmore Richardson: katherine.gilmore.richardson@phila.gov, (215) 686-0454, (215) 686-0455 Jim Harrity: jim.harrity@phila.gov, (215) 686-8295, (215) 686-8296 Rue Landau: rue.landau@phila.gov, (215) 686-3420, (215) 686-3421 Nicolas O'Rourke: nicolas.orourke@phila.gov, (215) 686-3452 Isaiah Thomas: isaiah.thomas@phila.gov, (215) 686-3446, (215) 686-3447 Still not sure who your District Councilmember is? Use this map or Look up here using your home address
