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“Making Space” is Taking Space Away From Philadelphians

Kingsessing Recreation Center full of life during a community event in May 2022 October 28, 2022 By Kimmy Cook Last month, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR) leadership announced a new program called “Making Space: Reimagining Recreation.” The program’s stated goal is to support the next generation of entrepreneurs by offering them physical space and up to $75,000 in seed money to start their businesses. In exchange, these businesses are required

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Tax the Rich PHL Campaign Responds to City Council’s FY2023 Budget

This budget cycle, our organizing and the work of our movement partners across the city resulted in a number of significant wins for working people. Increasing the homestead exemption to $80,000 is an enormous win for working class Black and brown homeowners who have seen seismic increases in their property assessments due to inequitable development and rapid gentrification. Similarly, increases to the libraries and parks and recreation budgets represent important

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Turning the Tide of Tax Cuts: We Need Fully Funded Public Services

For decades, the City of Philadelphia has repeatedly cut taxes for corporations, real estate developers, and the rich. As a result, vital public services are starved of resources. Libraries are closed on weekends, trash pick-up schedules are delayed, sidewalks and streets are crumbling and full of potholes, many of our schools and rec centers have fallen into disrepair, and programs that could improve community safety, like mobile crisis teams, are

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The Tale of Two Recoveries 

  The ultra-rich profit from the pandemic while our communities continue to suffer from disinvestment. We must recognize that normal was never good enough and explore progressive revenue solutions that provide a more equitable path forward than the one we are on.     Pandemic Profiteers   In our city and around the country, bankers, landlords, politicians and other key figures hold the most power in defining what “growth” means. Historically,

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Normal Wasn’t Good Enough

Philadelphia City Hall, looking towards a bright future? With the mask mandate coming back and another wave of Covid possible, the possibility of moving on from the pandemic is dimmer than it seemed a few weeks ago. Still, we all would like a future of never hearing about variants again – but what does that really mean to move into a post-pandemic future? The Pew Charitable Trusts’s Philadelphia Research and

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