The dysfunction at Somerset Station reflects problems visible across the SEPTA system — and the city. The closure speaks to a surging crisis of drugs, violence, and homelessness that has burdened residents of Kensington for years and is now unavoidable for the transit agency depended on by the community. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
The next phase of Philadelphia’s rental assistance program is on track to launch by the end of March. City officials expect the tenant aid program to kick up right as Philadelphia courts lift a hold on evictions for nonpayment that has been in effect since the pandemic began last year. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
One important policy for ensuring housing stability is the maintenance of revenue streams that were established to capture the value of new development in desirable neighborhoods, a policy highlighted in the Mayor’s Housing Action Plan. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
He is one of the 30 businesses that had to shutter its doors on the corridor out of roughly 180. Like many on the commercial corridor northwest of University City, Smith hopes that he will rebound — and he is relying on his neighbors after other systems have failed him. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
Station users and SEPTA workers have become increasingly vocal about safety concerns at the station, citing drug use happening there and the growing community of people who are experiencing homelessness and using it as a sheltering place.
But those issues are not isolated to Somerset, and the station’s users shouldn’t have to bear the cost, Kensington residents protesting the closure said. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
SEPTA officials are working out a contract with a firm to bring 60 security guards to the Market Frankford Line.
The unarmed guards would be stationed between 15th Street Station and Frankford Transportation Center and would be a temporary measure to supplement the 186 SEPTA police officers tasked with covering the sprawling city transit system. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
You don’t have to spend your hard-earned dough on an overpriced tax-prep service. Instead, follow these tips to file on the cheap. | From: The Citizen (Read more.)
CARE
Massachusetts legislators are working to make their state the first to provide free, high-quality care for children. In Pennsylvania, doing so would bring more women to the workplace—and could add $6 billion to the economy | From: The Citizen (Read more.)
The latest conflict flared over an amendment to a zoning bill authored by Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson that passed on Thursday. The amendment in question excludes the 19146 zip code from an affordable housing incentive known as the mixed-income housing bonus.
In the rest of the city, developers are allowed to build taller, denser buildings in exchange for including affordable units in the project or paying into the city’s Housing Trust Fund. The amendment exempts developers in the 19146 zip from the option to pay in, mandating they include affordable units on-site if they get the bonus. | From: PlanPhilly (Read more.)
Instead of simply reducing the tax burden, the credit will be dispensed in periodic payments to people who qualify, functioning sort of like a version of temporary universal basic income for families with kids. | From: WHYY (Read more.)
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