By Corey Abramson

The City of Philadelphia (much like the nation as a whole) is in the midst of a financial crisis. Currently, we are looking at another $1 billion dollar deficit over the next five years.
The way the Philadelphia fiscal plan works is helpful in some regards, and a bit overcomplicated in others. Years back, [...]

by Patrick Cobbs
Hundreds of Philadelphia residents crowded the St. Dominic School Auditorium in Northeast Philadelphia Thursday night for the first of four Tight Times, Tough Choices city budget workshops - Steven Pyser was a kid in a candy store.
He helped facilitate one of 12 work groups tasked with delivering plausible scenarios for cutting the city [...]

By David McAllister
Even with the unseasonably warm weather today, the long, hot, hazy days of summer seem miles away. The kids are in school and ready for Christmas vacation, summer break but a distant dream. What a politically astute time to shutter swimming pools.
This is why, in part, the announcement of the closure [...]

By Ben Bradlow
I attended my first of the Mayor Michael Nutter’s town hall meetings about his planned budget cuts last night. There’s been a lot of discussion about the evolving stagecraft of the town hall meetings. It was a welcome innovation to have the relevant department heads speak in addition to the mayor, and Nutter [...]