Philadelphia 2035 (Pittsburgh, Chester: felons, private school, phones)

[thedirtypirate]

After 12 years as controller, Alan Butkovitz eyes mayor's office

Probably would vote for Butkovitz before Kenney. Kenney let me down on the street cleaning.. IMO Philly's largest QOL issue. The soda tax would be DOA too lol..

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by nimshady123

I like it because from my understanding "affordable" means someone that earns 60% of Philadelphia's AMI. The thing is that includes the whole region so it is roughly $80,000 so 60% would be roughly $50,000. That is still higher than the average Philadelphia (city) average income. In my opinion it should be more stringent than 60% but I think it is a good compromise. Philadelphia is getting more expensive and we won't be able to say that we are affordable compared to other Northeast cities for long. We are really at the cusp where we can do something to keep Philadelphia affordable. I really don't understand the argument that it will actually increase prices because developers will be less interested in coming to Philadelphia. It's clear, people want to be here and the bill allows developers to build higher thus more units and more profit. Seems like a win win for me.

Some good points, however, this particular bill focuses mostly on Center City, and this will inevitably slow development there which will then push out to neighborhoods beyond CC, thus repeating the cycle. A better idea would be implementing zoning or development bonuses/ incentives for including affordable units in large projects. Also, density incentives would have a huge positive impact on the bill, and they seem to be omitted for whatever reason..?

There are also no incentives for repairing existing housing stock (the city is flooded with thousands of abandoned or derelict structures).

I personally think this is an ill-conceived bill that needs a lot of work before it can be taken seriously.

Finally, as I have said before, this does little to nothing to address the horrible 25% poverty rate in the city. Throwing people into affordable housing does nothing to provide jobs, outreach or any kind of opportunity for people living in poverty. Of course Clarke is a sponsor of this bill...

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Some good points, however, this particular bill focuses mostly on Center City, and this will inevitably slow development there which will then push out to neighborhoods beyond CC, thus repeating the cycle. A better idea would be implementing zoning or development bonuses/ incentives for including affordable units in large projects. Also, density incentives would have a huge positive impact on the bill, and they seem to be omitted for whatever reason..?

There are also no incentives for repairing existing housing stock (the city is flooded with thousands of abandoned or derelict structures).

I personally think this is an ill-conceived bill that needs a lot of work before it can be taken seriously.

Finally, as I have said before, this does little to nothing to address the horrible 25% poverty rate in the city. Throwing people into affordable housing does nothing to provide jobs, outreach or any kind of opportunity for people living in poverty. Of course Clarke is a sponsor of this bill...

Yes, I'm not sure why everyone here thinks there's an affordability problem, when in reality, we have a jobs problem. Why are we worried that everyone cannot live in the most desirable 2 square miles, but we can't seem to get traction on making the other 132 square miles of the city better through decreasing poverty and getting things cleaned up and safer? Talk about a lack of vision.

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Yes, I'm not sure why everyone here thinks there's an affordability problem, when in reality, we have a jobs problem. Why are we worried that everyone cannot live in the most desirable 2 square miles, but we can't seem to get traction on making the other 132 square miles of the city better through decreasing poverty and getting things cleaned up and safer? Talk about a lack of vision.

Only self serving non profits think that Philadelphia has an affordability problem instead of a livability problem.

Maria has got to go!

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

After 12 years as controller, Alan Butkovitz eyes mayor's office

Probably would vote for Butkovitz before Kenney. Kenney let me down on the street cleaning.. IMO Philly's largest QOL issue. The soda tax would be DOA too lol..

Same here wrt Butkovitz. But, here we go again with no one younger, and new, running for office. And, gee, another man again. Where is the female leadership? AB is just a bureaucrat. Sigh. Wilson Goode was a bureaucrat... We all know how that turned out.

No, I think the soda tax is here to stay. The wage tax was originally supposed to be temporary. Lol

Re street cleaning. Did you look at the article DirtyPirate posted about Franklin Sq and our skid row? One picture showed a ton of trash at curbs and on the streets....and the rundown buildings. If you look at some old pictures of deep W. Philly from the Depression years, it was dirty then too. Even with brigades of street sweepers, there were dirty streets.

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Same here wrt Butkovitz. But, here we go again with no one younger, and new, running for office. And, gee, another man again. Where is the female leadership? AB is just a bureaucrat. Sigh. Wilson Goode was a bureaucrat... We all know how that turned out.

No, I think the soda tax is here to stay. The wage tax was originally supposed to be temporary. Lol

Re street cleaning. Did you look at the article DirtyPirate posted about Franklin Sq and our skid row? One picture showed a ton of trash at curbs and on the streets....and the rundown buildings. If you look at some old pictures of deep W. Philly from the Depression years, it was dirty then too. Even with brigades of street sweepers, there were dirty streets.

Lol yes I saw what I posted, but I think Alan has had a unique perspective over the past decade as controller.

And I have no doubts that Philly use to be a hell of a dirtier in other eras. Buttt it’s 2017, it’s time to clean up and teach the kids not to litter!

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Yes, I'm not sure why everyone here thinks there's an affordability problem, when in reality, we have a jobs problem. Why are we worried that everyone cannot live in the most desirable 2 square miles, but we can't seem to get traction on making the other 132 square miles of the city better through decreasing poverty and getting things cleaned up and safer? Talk about a lack of vision.

I agree with you in principle, but lots and lots of residents in the NE and NW would take exception about you inferring that they're living in poverty.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by kyb01

I agree with you in principle, but lots and lots of residents in the NE and NW would take exception about you inferring that they're living in poverty.

I'm not suggesting everyone outside of Center City is living in poverty. But we do have poverty issues in nearly every neighborhood. The point being that Center City always seems to be unnecessarily focused on when it comes to these issues especially, when in fact, we should be focusing on making the rest of the city better.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

Lol yes I saw what I posted, but I think Alan has had a unique perspective over the past decade as controller.

And I have no doubts that Philly use to be a hell of a dirtier in other eras. Buttt it’s 2017, it’s time to clean up and teach the kids not to litter!

Lol, I actually thought I was replying to someone else!

[nimshady123]

You guys are right the issue of affordability is truly just a symptom of a job problem. I did not know that the bill only affected center city which isn't really in Sanchez's area. So what are suggestions to improve the jobs situation in the city because really we all want people out of poverty