March 8: Equitable transportation funding | The original Divine Hotel | Combatting hunger outside of school

Many Philadelphians are still without power after yesterday’s fire at a PECO substation in North Philly. 6abc reports that 5,400 homes and businesses in the area, as well as two schools, are still in the dark this morning. PECO offers updates on its outage map.

We all know the long-vacant, being-reborn Divine Lorraine on North Broad, but did you know that the original, smaller Divine Hotel is still active and just down the street on South Broad? Hidden City walks us through the Prettyman Building at Broad and Catharine Streets, which is still holds the Peace Mission Movement’s Library today. Mother Divine, the Mission’s leader, passed earlier this week.

The book of worst-case scenarios for Sanctuary Cities has a new chapter, and it comes with a clickable map. The Center for American Progress, in partnership with the National Immigrant Law Center and the American Immigrant Lawyers Association, uses an interactive map to show the millions that each state could lose based on five federal grants. Pennsylvania makes the top five of states with the most to lose, with a potential loss of more than $65 million in federal funds.

In the rigged game of current transportation funding, which model disproportionately hurts the poor more? A direct funding mechanism (congestion pricing) or an indirect mechanism (tax systems)?  Strong Towns looks into the market forces in our transportation system and makes the argument for an equitable funding approach based on rational, market-based land use patterns.

City, county, school, and community leaders need to plan for afterschool and summer nutrition programs to ensure that children have access to healthy meals outside of the school cafeteria. The National League of Cities (NLC) and Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) held two summits in California to share best practices and collaborative efforts among local and county governments, schools, food banks, law enforcement agencies, and community-based organizations. CitiesSpeak, NLC’s blog, shares the four key takeaways from the summits.