Weekly Newsletter, Issue 203 🚸 SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL School is in session, and WalkWorks has a webinar to educate everyone about the Safe Routes to School program that encourages kids to bike or walk to school.  Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 202 🍻 MEETUP NEXT THURSDAY Our October meetup is at the Mural City Cellars Wine Garden in Fishtown. Next Thursday 10/13 @ 6:00pm Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 201 🍻 MORE MEETUPS! We have lots of things going on these days, like launching a blog, working on marketing, and keeping track of SEPTA changes. The City Council candidates are coming in each week as we gear up for election season. It's a great time to get together and talk shop with your fellow urbanists. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 200 🎉 A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT Since this is our 200th newsletter, we want to let you in on an exciting new project. 5th Square believes there is a lot more going on in city land use, housing, and transportation news than is being reported in the news media currently. Many of the publications that once covered city meetings on these topics more regularly no longer have the capacity to do it, or are no longer publishing. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 199 🍻 SEPTEMBER MEETUP Join 5th Square organizers and volunteers for an informal, in-person meet-up over at Pennsport Beer Boutique! This is an outdoor, family-friendly event where we will provide updates on our recent campaigns. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 198 🚻 WE WANT RESTROOMS The Center City Public Restroom survey results are out and 89% of participants were in favor of public restrooms! Many of the participants disliked the existing portable toilets and only 47% have used them. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 197 🚲 SHARING THE ROAD As reported by PhilyVoice and Philadelphia Inquirer, charges were dropped against the garbage truck driver that struck Emily Fredricks in 2017. When the case is cut and dry, like an impared driver, it makes sense that the driver should face consequences for their actions. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 196 🍻🚇 MEETUP AT PENNSPORT This Thursday, come to Pennsport Beer Boutique for our meetup at 7pm. Walk, take the 57 or 64 bus, or bike down Washington to Moyamensing, then get a beer and vent with us about the state of multimodal transportation! Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 195 🍻🚇 AUGUST MEETUPS GALORE! We're having our next meetup on August 25th at Pennsport Beer Boutique in South Philly. We have lots of new faces online and it's time to connect offline with a beer in hand. This is a great opportunity to chat with like-minded people about urbanist issues as a professional or a volunteer. We can talk shop and hatch some plans, or just relax in good company. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 194 🚇 BUILD THE ROOSEVELT BLVD SUBWAY! If the idea of a subway going down Roosevelt Boulevard has caught your interest, you're in good company. We at 5th Square have just launched a petition to get the region's transit planners and politicians together to start working on the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 193 🚆 ROOSEVELT BLVD SUBWAY TOWN HALL Rail on Roosevelt Boulevard has been continuously proposed and discarded for the past 100 years, and 5th Square member Jay Arzu is on a mission to bring it back. Considering that Roosevelt Blvd is on the Vision Zero High Injury Network and also a major thoroughfare, getting better public transit on the street makes sense. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 192 🚲 REMOVE HB140 AMENDMENT The Inquirer has an article about the changes to HB140, the parking protected bike lane bill, and how it went from a straightforward bill to one that would hamper efforts for bike infrastructure and had an unrelated directive for a SEPTA transit crime prosecutor. In response, the Bicycle Coalition is asking for people to email their state senators for the removal of this amendment. Continue reading

We stand with the tenants of UC Townhomes and demand a halt to eviction from the residents’ home of many decades. This is merely the latest incident in a long history of displacement of Black families from the Black Bottom community. It is imperative that Altman make every effort to preserve this community that has thrived for four decades in the current property. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 191 🚧 COBBS CREEK PARKWAY UPDATE PennDOT will be having a meeting this Thursday to review and provide feedback for the 63rd Street/Cobbs Creek Parkway Safety Improvement Project. This covers 63rd St and Cobbs Creek Parkway from City Ave to Woodland Ave. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 190 🏖 BEACH TRIP POSTPONED Due to forecasted rain, the beach trip was moved to July 30th. If you had to miss the trip, now's your chance to get in on the fun! We'll be meeting at 30th Street Station at 8:05am to ride the train to Atlantic City and catch some rays. Tickets are $60 for Adults 12+, $30 for children 5-11, kids 4 and under are free. Continue reading

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFriday, July 8, 2022 PHILADELPHIA — In today’s announcement for the next phase of the Washington Avenue Repaving Project, the City has shifted from the previously-compromised mixed-lane layout to retaining the existing dangerous roadway layout west of 11th Street – the section within the 2nd Council District. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 189 🏖 BEACH TRIP SPOTS AVAILABLE! Join us on July 9th at 8:05am for a family-friendly day down the shore this summer with your favorite group of Urbanist advocates. We're headed to Atlantic City and have a fun day planned of hoagie-eating, jitney-riding, beach-laying, and of course, margarita-drinking. Let's meet at 30th Street Station and, of course, take a ride aboard the Atlantic City Rail Line. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 188 🚍 FUTURE TRANSIT FUNDING With ridership still down since the start of the pandemic, public transit agencies around the country will be grappling with a fiscal cliff for operation. SEPTA will be able to support operations with CARES Act funding until 2024, but without service increases and with ongoing bus driver shortages, it may not be enough. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 186 📚 BOOK TALK WITH NOLAN GRAY 5th Square is pleased to welcome author M. Nolan Gray to Philadelphia for a book talk about his newly-published book about U.S. housing policy titled "Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It." The event will take place on Friday, June 24th at 7:30pm at Resurrection Philadelphia near 42nd and Baltimore Ave. Light refreshments (pizza, beer, and seltzer) will be served. Continue reading

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 186 📧 EMAIL KENNEY RE: WASHINGTON AVE Councilmember Mark Squilla has passed through the Streets & Services Committee the legislation needed for his part of Washington Ave east of 11th. However, Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, will not be amending the bill to include his section of Washington Ave from 11th St to Grays Ferry Ave. Continue reading