Submit an email to PennDOT asking for a greater commitment for transit, walking and biking in these plans.

Include your name & address.

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We have also joined with other orgs in issuing a letter to ensure that Pennsylvania moves towards significantly reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, to enhance bike and pedestrian safety and public transit over the next 24 years.

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👍 VOTE 'YES' ON BALLOT QUESTION 4

Should Philly mandate an annual cash infusion to the Housing Trust Fund?

Vote YES on ballot question 4 to guarantee funding for affordable housing. If this was in already in effect, an additional $25 million in taxpayer dollars would have gone to affordable housing this year.

Emma Lee / WHYY

Read more about this measure in Billy Penn.

Find the full Billy Penn procrastinator’s guide to the November 2021 election here.

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🍂 HELP US REACH 300 MEMBERS!

Become a member starting at $5-a-month and get membership perks -- LIKE DISCOUNTED MERCH. Also, help us build our voice for state and local elections in 2022!

Stay WARM -- Support cycling, transit, & housing with your very own 5th Square Sweatshirt.

ORDER TODAY

{{recipient.first_name}} -- {% if recipient.most_recent_membership_status == "active" %} THANK YOU for being a member!

👉 Visit our member's only merch page for discounted items

{% endif %} {% if recipient.most_recent_membership_status != "active" %} Become a 5th Square member TODAY & get 50% off this sweatshirt among other member perks.

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5TH SQUARE IN THE NEWS
🏢 PARKING vs. AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN WEST PHILLY

Inga Saffron writes about how an affordable housing proposal in West Philly transformed into a much worse project after neighbors complained about density and parking. The project's changes resulted in 74 less homes for families, 100 parking spaces, and losing street-fronted buildings.

JOSE F. MORENO / Inquirer Staff Photographer

5th Square member, Will Tung, attended the meetings as a near-neighbor and voiced his concerns about parking and the pedestrian-hostile design.

In rapidly-gentrifying neighborhoods with great transit access like this one, we need more housing for families, not parking. The 70 units lost at this site ironically mirrors the 70 units threatened for displacement at 40th & Market... but with little uproar or publicity.

Help us advocate for more housing, especially affordable housing, by signing up as a volunteer for our Housing committee to get notification of important local zoning meetings. Also, let us know about meetings in your neighborhood where housing is threatened by parking.

Volunteer to Advocate for Housing

5TH SQUARE IN THE NEWS
🛣️ THE CONGESTION PRICING SOLUTION

As NBC10 reports, a decade-old method of using Pennsylvania Turnpike toll revenue to pay nearly half a $1 billion annually to Philadelphia's mass transit system is set to expire next summer. One idea that would provide a dedicate stream of revenue for SEPTA is "congestion pricing," which New York City has been considering for a few years.

5th Square supports congestion pricing for Philadelphia as a way to fight traffic congestion, grow our bus ridership, and improve our air quality, while simultaneously providing a new source of funding for public transportation.

NBC10 interviewed 5th Square Member, Ben She, for its piece:

"Congestion pricing in Philly would aim to solve two of the most pressing problems in transportation," Benjamin She of 5th Square said. "There is the cost associated with traffic congestion, especially on the Schuylkill (Expressway) and (Interstate) 95 coming into the city."

"The second thing is that it’s really one of the best ways to fund SEPTA and the rest of our transit systems in Philly," She said. "PennDOT and the state of Pennsylvania is set to sunset their dedicated funding provision, $450 Million. It’s all going away after 2022. Philly and all the counties, really, need to find a local funding to supplement that lost state money. Congestion pricing could be a really good way to do that."

EVENTS

Tuesday, October 19, 2021, 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Join FPC for a Virtual Open House to learn about the Parkside Pedestrian Improvement projects coming later this year and in 2022

PlanPhilly / Trash Talk: Working toward a clean Philadelphia

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 - 5:30 p.m.

Join PlanPhilly for a virtual panel discussion featuring experts, advocates, residents and more about the root causes of Philadelphia’s trash issues and ways that communities are working together to create a better and cleaner city.

Penn Design / An Evening of Q&A with Diana Lind, ‘Brave New Home’

Thursday, October 21, 2021 6:00pm

Diana Lind is a writer and urban policy specialist. Her book, BRAVE NEW HOME: OUR FUTURE IN SMARTER, SIMPLER, HAPPIER HOUSING (Bold Type Books), was published in October 2020. She has has worked at Architectural Record magazine, Next City, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently the executive director for the Arts + Business Council for Greater Philadelphia and the housing fellow at the global nonprofit, NewCities. She lives in Philadelphia

Thomas Jefferson University / 2nd Annual International Neurodiversity & The Built Environment Symposium: Immersive Experiences

Friday, October 22, 2021, 9:00 AM — 3:45 PM

Building upon last year's symposium, Neurodiversity: Building Community and Rethinking the Built Environment, this year’s dialogue focuses on immersive experiences, responsive environments, spatial interactions, and experimental evaluative and physiological measuring tools and criteria.

Feet First Philly / Mindfulness Walk in Fairmount Park with Susan Barr-Toman

Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 10:00 AM EDT

Join Feet First Philly for a mindfulness walk in East Fairmount Park. Mindfulness brings meditation techniques to our everyday experiences; allowing us to be more fully present in the moment, in touch with our thoughts, emotions, and bodies.

State Rep. Donna Bullock / Pedal for Peace Event

Sunday, October 31, 2021, 10 AM

Twice a year Rep. Bullock partners with amazing business, cycling clubs and community groups to host the Pedal for Peace Community Bike Ride. This year's ride is set for 10/31 and the theme is exploring healing through art. The usual meet up is 33rd and Diamond. The site of a mural titled: Stay Golden.

SURVEYS

SEPTA Survey: Reimagining Regional Rail / SEPTA wants to know how we can make regional rail more useful to riders, increasing access and creating a more equitable transportation network that will benefit the entire region.

Transit Forward Philadelphia Bus Rider Survey / Transit Forward Philadelphia needs your help with a short (less than 5 minutes) survey. Survey responses will help make changes to SEPTA’s bus network. At the end of the survey, participants will be entered into a raffle to receive a $50 VISA gift card. Responses are very important to us and will be anonymous. The results of the survey will be shared with the public and SEPTA staff.

SEPTA Forward: Bus Revolution - Tradeoff Activity / Transit agencies like SEPTA have limited resources and they must use them as effectively as possible. This means we must be thoughtful about how we trade-off – or prioritize - different aspects of the current bus system. Below are some questions to help us understand your values so we can use those to drive the Bus Revolution forward.

SEPTA Wayfinding Metro Map / SEPTA is redesigning the wayfinding system for its rail transit network. Meet SEPTA Metro.

WHAT WE'RE READING

🌳 PUBLIC SPACE