Newsletter: 🔊 Better Buses Survey / 🛣️ Last Day for Walnut & Chestnut / 🔽 Girard Petition Reaches 800

Weekly Newsletter, Issue 153

🔊 YOUR VOICE FOR BETTER BUSES

Take Transit Forward Philadelphia's 5-minute bus network survey and you will be entered into a raffle to receive a $50 VISA gift card!

This survey is part of their Better Access Better Service Better Buses campaign. It will inform advocacy efforts to improve SEPTA’s bus network and pressure SEPTA for faster, more frequent, and more reliable buses.


👑 BECOME A MEMBER

We need less than 10 more sign-ups in order to reach 300 members. Help us reach this milestone this summer and build for important advocacy and election campaigns coming up!

YOUR MEMBERSHIP STATUS

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Support a more livable and sustainable city by becoming a 5th Square member TODAY!

Annual Subscriber, $60 per yearMonthly Subscriber, $5 per monthOne Year of Membership, Starting at $60


🛣️ PROTECTED BIKE LANES FOR WALNUT & CHESTNUT STS

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY - Take the survey for the City's complete street project for Chestnut/Walnut!

  • Choose Parking-Protected Bike Lanes, the safest option, for both Chestnut and Walnut Streets.

Read the Bicycle Coalition's post for more info or view the the project on the City's website.

Image: Thom Carroll

🔽 VETO THE DOWNZONING OF GIRARD AVE

We've picked up over 800 petition signers who are all are urging Mayor Kenney to veto Council President Clarke's bill that downzones much of Girard Avenue east of Broad St.

Our petition has gotten some recent coverage in the press, most notably in Inga Saffron's opinion piece about the history of the Yorktown neighborhood and reasons why the Girard Ave corridor should not be downzoned.

By making it harder to build on Girard Avenue, Clarke’s zoning bill could end up pushing developers into Yorktown proper. Just as water finds its level, so does development.

Unlike most city streets, which are sized for modest rowhouses, Girard has the heft to accommodate taller buildings. Indeed, smaller structures tend to look puny and forlorn in relation to the vast expanse of asphalt. Taller buildings are also better able to accommodate retail on the ground floor.

Help us to try and shoot down this bill which will doom Girard Ave to remain a car-centered section of low-rise strip malls and box stores. Sign our petition and email Mayor Kenney today!


EVENTS

Saturday, July 27, 11 AM - 12:30 PM
Rally to Save the Carousel House

Philadelphians are rallying to save the Carousel House, which has shut down. Carousel house is a facility for the exclusively for the handicapped - wheelchair basketball, a pool w/ an adjustable floor, & much more

Saturday, July 24
TransportationCamp PHL 2021 Summer Gathering

The gathering will be an opportunity for TransportationCamp participants to interact with one another in an in-person setting, accounting for the improved global pandemic conditions.


SURVEYS

Transit Forward Philadelphia's Bus Network Survey - This survey takes 5 minutes and you will be entered into a raffle to receive a $50 VISA gift card! It will inform advocacy efforts to improve SEPTA’s bus network and pressure SEPTA for faster, more frequent, and more reliable buses.

Lower Poquessing Creek Trail Feasibility Study - "The Philadelphia City Planning Commission wants your help planning a 4.3 mile section of the Lower Poquessing Creek Trail. Please provide comments to https://wikimapping.com/LPC.html on where you would like connections to the trail, how you would use a new trail, and more. Having input from residents, local businesses, and community groups will help us identify challenges and determine the best trail alignments and access points. Please contact Keith Davis at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or suggestions.


WHAT WE'RE READING

🌳 PUBLIC SPACE

The Philadelphia Inquirer / Congressional plan would reconnect neighborhoods like Philly’s Chinatown, fractured by highways

The Philadelphia Inquirer / Between trash pickup and library closures, Philly government is far from reopened

🚴 MOBILITY

🏙️ HOUSING & LAND USE

University City Review / How to create equity for more people without chasing away housing development

Common Ground OR-WA / Incentivizing Local Zoning Reforms with Land Value Taxation

The Philadelphia Inquirer / Do cities devote too much space to parking? Some are changing the rules.

Sightline Institute / A Duplex, a Triplex and a Fourplex Can Cut a Block’s Carbon Impact 20%

Volunteer with 5th Square


GRANT, PROJECT, & EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Committee of Seventy - Are you passionate about Philadelphia? Do you want to know more about how to positively affect change in our city? Are you a young professional interested in serving on a respected nonprofit board? Apply to be a 2021-2022 Buchholz Fellow here!

Call for volunteers to help with the East Coast Greenway Alliance's first ever NYC-to-Philly Ride, August 28-29! For more information, volunteer roles, and registration, see greenway.org/ridevols -- Join the 2-day crew or help out just for a day -- we especially need volunteers for the closing ceremony in Philadelphia on August 29th. Please reach out to Daniel Paschall with any questions at [email protected]

Garden Court Civic Association - Zoning Committee Our neighborhood (boundaries are 52nd Street, Cedar Avenue, 45th Street, and Locust Street) has over nine thousand residents living in a variety of building types, household formations, and socioeconomic conditions, in addition to civic institutions and several mixed-use commercial areas. Interested or know somebody who would be a good fit? (Due 7/31)


JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Community Legal Services, Inc. / Major Gifts Officer

PennFuture / Campaign Coordinator

Ground Reconsidered / entry-level Landscape Designer

DVRPC / Sustainability Program Analyst

Azavea / Marketing Lead

The Tyler School of Art and Architecture / Director of Temple Contemporary

The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia / Manager, City & County Affairs

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) / Member Programs and Development Associate,

The Office of City Councilmember Helen Gym / communications director

Next City / Housing Beat Reporter (Remote, Freelance, Contract)

ImpactPHL / Director of Community and Content

Chestnut Hill Business Improvement District / Retail Advocate

Resolve Philly / Chief Operating Officer

Rebuild / Community Engagement Manager

AccessMatters / Deputy Director, Quality Management

Michael Baker International / GIS Associate

The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) / Senior Geographic Information Systems Planner

Amtrak / Senior Engineer (Structures)

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia / Membership Associate, Bilingual Bike Share Community Liaison, Bicycle Education Coordinator

Pennsylvania Downtown Center / Healthy Communities Program Manager

Philadelphia Energy Authority / Director of Development and Workforce Initiatives

Bartram’s Garden / Development Coordinator

The Pennsylvania CDFI Network / Executive Director

Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. / Director, Neighborhood Preservation Initiative, Philadelphia


5th Square is Philadelphia's urbanist political action committee.

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