Over the past decade or so, there has been much ink spilled on the idea of ‘New Philadelphians’ vs ‘Old Philadelphians.’ Be it politics or neighborhoods, news articles pose New Philadelphians as the under-35 college-educated residents bent towards bikes and popup beer gardens. Typically living in Center City and surrounding neighborhoods, these Young Philadelphians moved from the suburbs or another city to be here. Continue reading

One of The 5th Square's items in our 2015 Platform is Vision Zero. Sarah Clark Stuart from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia talks about the importance of this initiative. They've also included it in their Better Mobility Platform. It's about saving lives and money. It's critical we stop ignoring traffic violence.

One of our 2015 Platform items we are asking Philly's political leadership to sign on to is the creation of Protected Bike Lane arterial network throughout the city of Philadelphia. Cycling addresses so many important issues for our city including transit choice, safer streets, improved public space, reducing congestion, improving public health and addressing sustainability for current and future generations. Continue reading

The Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia has been pushing for safer streets for years. In the lead up to the 2015 primary, Executive Director Alex Doty sits down with PW to talk the importance of Vision Zero and how an engaged electorate is crucial to ensuring we have a City Council that pays attention to and addresses these issues. Continue reading

As reported in Citified yesterday, before The 5th Square launched we registered the domains of many of our current City Council members.  Our plans for these domains are not trivial. As the election nears, we plan to issue scorecards for candidates and provide analysis of their records on the issues our supporters are concerned with – more transportation choices, safer streets, better public spaces, and higher quality governance. Candidate domain names will direct users to the relevant score cards. In many cases, we will be filling these pages with more substantive information than the candidates themselves might have, had they bothered to register them. Continue reading

This is a quick note of appreciation to everyone who helped us raise our first $5000. We officially launched The 5th Square only two weeks ago. In that time we have been overwhelmed with positive reinforcement from those around us. The donors who helped us reach our first fundraising goal are individuals here in Philadelphia and beyond who believe we can change our city for the better by advocating for policies that matter to all of our daily lives. Continue reading

Tim Wisniewski, Philly's Chief Data Officer, is profiled by Technical.ly Philly on the importance of open data. Just a reminder, it is not guaranteed our next mayor will believe the same thing. That's why we're asking leaders to formally write open data guarantees into our city charter. Read more here.    Continue reading

Most people become involved in politics through a single issue that they care about on a deeply personal level. Absent that human connection, the political advocacy grind can sometimes feel a lot like plain old work. Sometimes others reach out to us with their own personal stories that provide moments of clarity, moments that remind us – at the most fundamental level – why we are doing this. Continue reading

Philadelphia Magazine's Holly Otterbein gives a helpful overview of candidates who have so far declared their run for City Council at large positions. She also looks at incumbents and suggests some vulnerabilities new faces can capitalize upon.

Yesterday on Twitter, our friend Alex Hillman asked us what makes a political action committee (PAC) an effective way to accomplish political goals. Good question. Continue reading