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The Next Great City initiative is dedicated to creating a positive future for Philadelphia by advocating for common sense, cost effective policies that enhance environmental quality, strengthen neighborhoods and increase our economic competitiveness
Philadelphia is on its way to becoming the country's Next Great City. Philadelphia's downtown has seen the strongest retail, tourism, and residential growth in a half century. Housing markets that were stagnant are now moving again, and for the first time in decades the number of Philadelphia building permits has exceeded that of some of its suburban neighbors. Neighborhood blight, which had advanced unchecked for decades, is on the run. More than 3,000 lots have been cleaned and greened, and 100,000 abandoned cars have been removed. However, Philadelphia cannot become a great city by fighting blight and strengthening its downtown alone. For Philadelphia to become a great city, all of the city's neighborhoods must be clean, safe, and healthy places to live and work and must be served by an effective city government. Building up and improving our neighborhoods must be key priorities of the new mayor and City Council. In the 1990's, the city focused on improving its downtown. Adding good lighting and trees, making transit stops and sidewalks clean and safe, and creating new destinations has successfully transformed Center City into a vibrant, energetic community that people enjoy visiting, working in, and living in. The city's neighborhood focus over the last eight years was blight removal. The city tore down vacant houses, removed dangerous trees, and hauled away abandoned cars that threatened the quality of life in our neighborhoods. These limited but powerful actions, taken together, created new hope and momentum in our neighborhoods. Over the next four years, the mayor and City Council should continue to move the city forward by implementing small but important actions to revitalize our neighborhoods. Ten such steps, which are immediate, doable, and powerful, are outlined on this site. These agenda items have broad community support and will make important improvements to our neighborhoods. At the same time, the new administration must continue to work on the critical issues of the city's high crime rate, inadequate student performance, and low job growth. By fixing what is broken in our neighborhoods and providing predictable and reliable government services to residents and businesses, the new mayor and City Council will make our neighborhoods better for every resident and business and build momentum for future change. |