🚨 ACTION ITEMS

🚲 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

Belmont Speedway Family Picnic
[Rescheduled] October 19 @ 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Belmont Ave between Montgomery Drive and Avenue of the Republic
PBA will be calling attention to unsafe roadway conditions in Fairmount Park while having a family-friendly good time.

Rail Park Tour
October 19, at 3:00pm – 5pm | 27th and Pennsylvania
Join us on a guided walking tour of the Rail Park delivered by our Transit Committee Co-Chair, Morgan Allgrove-Hodges. The Three Mile Vision Tour explores the past, present, and future of the Rail Park, highlighting the potential for this project to connect thousands of Philadelphia residents and visitors to green space and each other. Attendance capped at 25.

October Meetup
October 19, 2025 at 5:00pm – 7pm | Love City Brewing, 1023 Hamilton St
Join 5th Square organizers and volunteers for an informal, in-person meet-up over at Love City Brewing! There will be food and beverage available for purchase at this event.

Penn Square Bike Lane Public Open House
Wednesday, October 22, 6:00pm-7:30pm | 1401 JFK Blvd
OTIS is holding an open house on the proposed City Hall bike lane. Attend to learn more about the design proposal and show your support for safer streets.

Book Review and Discussion: THE COLOR OF LAW
October 25 · 2:30 - 4:30pm | Resilience Resource Center, 2337 Philmont Ave #108 Lower Moreland Township
A book review and discussion led by Linda Simonetti Odhner with Strong Towns Bucks-Mont PA.

Cranksgiving
November 8th, 10am registration, 11am start | Penn Treaty Park
Cranksgiving is a bicycle-powered food drive where participants scour the city to purchase food from various “checkpoints” listed on a manifest. Folks can race to compete for prizes, take a leisurely ride towards the finish line, or just bring some donations to drop off at the end! All collected food will be donated to local hunger relief organizations.

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

• buildphillynow.substack.com / The H.O.M.E. Bond Should Fund a New Revolving Construction Loan Fund

• Inquirer.com / Five grants. $47,000 saved. And ‘the Titanic’ of paperwork needed to purchase a West Philly rowhouse. | How I Bought My House

• Inquirer.com / Philly lawmaker proposes Zohran Mamdani-inspired affordability package | City Council roundup

🌳 PUBLIC SPACE

• The New York Times / The Ultimate Pilgrimage for the Middle-Aged Skateboarder

🚌 TRANSIT

• Inquirer.com / SEPTA riders say Regional Rail trains catching fire ‘is what decades of disinvestment looks like’

• PhillyVoice / At 30th Street Station, deep cleaning is the 'true artisan work' of a $550 million renovation

🚲 MOBILITY

• WHYY / The challenge of navigating Philadelphia’s neighborhoods in a wheelchair

• Bloomberg.com / ‘Car Brain’ Is Making the US Unhealthy and Dangerous. EVs Won’t Fix It.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

South Street Headhouse District / Operations Coordinator

City of Philadelphia / Design And Construction Project Manager (Landscape)

Keystone Bicycle Co. / Full-Time Team Member

Clean Air Council / Trail Outreach Coordinator

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation / Policy Analyst

Old City District / Policy & Outreach Coordinator

SEPTA / Planning Project Manager

Committee of Seventy / Communications Director

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

We're an all-volunteer grassroots organization advocating for safe and affordable transportation, abundant housing, and more and better public spaces. You’re receiving this email if you signed up via our website, attended one of our events, or supported one of our advocacy campaigns. 

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