The New York Times is running a story tonight on its website headlined “Philadelphia Mayor Plans Rise in Taxes.” Reporter Jon Hurdle quotes Mayor Michael Nutter from today’s interview on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane saying “We can’t just cut our way out of this situation.” The story also quotes from the final report on the budget [...]

Click here to listen to the mp3 of Mayor Nutter on WHYY (how to save an mp3)
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter speaking this morning on WHYY’s Radio Times said he was surprised by the widespread support in the citizen budget workshops for boosting the city’s wage tax. Citizens opted for the tax increase in hopes of [...]

It¹s Our City is grateful to the WHYY interns who helped out during the budget workshops. They included Monica Sellecchia from Temple University, Claire Gunner from Swarthmore College, and Jason Kleinman from Rutgers University. Because of his training and background, I wondered what Jason’s take would be on the workshops. He¹s working on his master’s [...]

By Albert Yee
More than 500 Philadelphians gathered at Mastery Charter School in Germantown to talk about the city’s ever-growing budget crisis. The crowd was 200 more than event organizers had expected, but there was more than enough room in the gigantic gym for all. Getting everyone’s concerns addressed was another issue altogether.

To say Philadelphians are [...]

By Marisa McClellan
Driving up to the Mastery Charter School last Wednesday night, I was taken aback by how brightly lit and open the building seemed. So often, school buildings at night are spooky, forlorn places. Not Mastery Charter though, it was blazing, ready for the influx of Philadelphia citizens who were coming to participate [...]