🚨 ACTION ITEMS

34th Street Corridor Redesign Survey

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission is seeking community feedback to make traveling on 34th Street in Grays Ferry safer and more pleasant. If you're a Grays Ferry resident or frequently travel through the area, fill out this survey.

🚲 Parking-Protected Bike Lane Petition

Parking-protected bike lanes are a great way to make our bikes lanes safer and lower stress, but they are illegal in PA! The Bicycle Coalition is fighting for their legalization. Sign their petition to show your support for safer bike lanes!

🚫 Grays Ferry Is Not a Parking Lot

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is proposing a 1,000-vehicle parking garage at 30th and Grays Ferry Avenue. This garage would be over 70 feet tall, reserved for employees, and would require a separate shuttle service. Sign our petition telling CHOP: Don't Treat Grays Ferry as a Parking Lot

🛣️ Stop I-95 Expansion

PennDOT is planning to expand I-95 in Center City and South Philly by adding lanes and new ramps. This will threaten the well-being of our neighborhoods by worsening air quality, increasing noise pollution, harming our access to the waterfront, and destroying sports facilities. To make matters worse, PennDOT has been deceitful about its engagement efforts.

Join us in telling PennDOT that highway expansion has no place in the core of Philadelphia by signing our petition.

EVENTS

Designing, Delivering, and Scaling an Income-Tiered E-bike Rebate Program from Local to Provincial Implementation
September 17th, 3-4 p.m. | 190 N Independence Mall W, Philadelphia Room (to the right when exiting 8th floor elevators)
DVRPC will be hosting guests from British Columbia to discuss their initiative to implement an income-tiered e-bike rebate program based on behaviour change research

TRB Webinar: The Future of Commuter Rail in North America
Sep 22, 2025 2:00PM - 3:30PM | Virtual, pre-register here
This webinar will explore how commuter railroads are navigating the market dynamics, service, and upcoming funding challenges and will feature with a discussion of current trends and examples in CA and PA.

2025 Northwest Schuylkill River Trails Summit
Saturday, September 27th at 9:30AM | Venice Island Performing Arts & Recreation Center, 7 Lock St
The Bicycle Coalition will be hosting an exploration of current and future trail projects in Northwest Philadelphia and Lower Merion Township. Following the presentations, there will be facilitated discussions covering maintenance, programming, and advocacy to increase expansion of the Circuit Trails network.

September 5th Square Meetup
September 30, 2025 at 6:00pm – 8pm | Resurrection Philadelphia, 123 S 17th St
Join us in Center City for our September meetup where we will be welcoming Nick Anderson, Executive Director of the Parkway Council who will share updates on the current plans to redesign the Parkway.

Safer Streets -- A Billy Penn Town Hall
October 2, 5:30-7:00 p.m | Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine St
Billy Penn will be exploring what's been done to make our streets safer for people walking and biking, and what else the city could do to make our streets a safe place for everyone.

Inaugural Montgomery and Bucks Counties Trail Summit
Saturday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 12pm | Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust
The Circuit Trails, Bucks County Planning Commission, East Coast Greenway, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, National Memorial Trail and Montgomery County Planning Commission are hosting the inaugural trail summit including presentations, networking opportunities, and field trips.

Overbuilt: Book Talk and Conversation with Erick Guerra
Monday, November 10 · 12 - 1pm | Meyerson Hall, 210 South 34th Street
Penn Institue for Urban Research will host the author of Overbuilt for a discussion exploring how outdated policies, flawed funding systems, and misguided metrics led to the overbuilding of the U.S. roadway network

WHAT WE'RE READING

🏙️ HOUSING & LAND USE

• The Philadelphia Citizen / Where Does Philly Need More Homes?

• Inquirer.com / St. Joseph’s sells University of the Sciences campus to Belmont charter school run by Michael Karp

• Center for Public Enterprise / States roll out revolving loan funds to accelerate housing production 

• Governing / What Montana Can Teach Us About Housing Reform

🌳 PUBLIC SPACE

• Philadelphia Magazine / The High Cost of Underfunding Philly’s Parks

• Metro Philadelphia / City Council stands by controversial business curfew

• Inquirer.com / The Philadelphia Cycling Classic will return next summer after a 10-year hiatus 

🚌 TRANSIT

• Inquirer.com / Why there was no deal for SEPTA in Harrisburg after all

• NBC10 Philadelphia / SEPTA funding: The Lineup

• CNN / Public transit in America is so underfunded it’s relying on sports gambling companies

🚲 MOBILITY

• usa.streetsblog.org / How Millions For Transit, Walking, and Biking Could Vanish On Sept. 30

• 6abc Philadelphia / Concerned South Philadelphia neighbors call for safety improvements at 'Triangle' in Queen Village

• Inquirer.com / Society Hill civic association wants to pay $25,000 to prevent new bike protections on Pine and Spruce Streets

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Committee of Seventy / Communications Director

Philadelphia Orchard Project / Executive Director

DVRPC

• Capital Program Planner
• Planning Fellowship

City of Philadelphia

• Senior Project and Policy Coordinator, Sidewalk Program
• Senior Project Coordinator, Public Space

Philadelphia Community Access Media / Director of Development and Partnerships

Feet First Philly / Public Space Mini-Grant (Apply by 10/1) | Info session recording

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

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