I'm quite happy with Sanchez, Domb, Green, Gym, and Parker.

Clarke, Blackwell, Greenlee, Jones, and Henon need to go. I can't even think of a single thing Greenlee has done other than collect a paycheck in his time on Council.

The others are in a sort of middle ground or I don't know enough about them to make a statement. All of the unmentioned could be worse. But obviously could be better. The need to go's are obstructionists who actively oppose progress.

The Republicans (all of them) are a major disappointment. They vote whatever way Clarke asks them to.

Greenlee's only accomplishment is killing all new bike lanes because he was going to lose parking on his block. I'm personally not a fan of Gym, she's very one note on the teachers union and then attaches to the occasional social justice issue du jour as a change of pace. She doesn't seem to be good at working on real solutions.

I may be in the minority here, but I think that Clarke may be one of the easiest people to oust. Although he has a commanding stronghold on the 5th District, his support mostly comes from older Philadelphians who have been continuously voting him in. What many people don't realize is that the 5th District is growing younger. His district includes parts of Center City, all neighborhoods between Vine and Girard, Fishtown, South Kensington, Brewerytown, Templetown/Cecil B. Moore, and others. If there was a campaign that included a coordinated effort to excite this younger base of voters, then Clarke could easily lose to a new candidate. Whoever runs should also try reaching out to Temple students and getting them registered to vote in Philadelphia, as having the backing of tens of thousands of students would certainly sway the results of an election.

Personally, I'd like to run against him (I already have the backing of some important people connected to city politics); however, I'm below the age limit. Until then, I would love to see some new blood in this district. The Lower North has the greatest potential for future growth, imo.

Too bad any candidate in the history of politics on any level that relied on the youth vote coming out has failed. Donald Duck might change all that (and Bernie showed some shifts may come after all) but historically, the young vote disappoints.

I don't doubt he could be beat- but I don't know when he was ever contested. Not in the last 2-3 elections to my knowledge, if ever. He took over after Street became mayor and I don't think he's ever had a real battle. One reason he was scared to run for mayor.

I can see this building popping out now.

https://i.imgur.com/Z7v5Qal.png

I think it's the 2108 Walnut redevelopment

http://www.ocfrealty.com/wp-content/...nut%20rear.png

http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phill...-walnut-street

^ You must have the wrong thread. This is about entrenched politicians.

Ah yes, true. My mistake. Sorry for the interruption :P

Sanchez is leading the charge to force low-income housing in every project in town, she is not good.

Regardless of my feelings on individual council members, I've always felt like we have too many.

http://phlcouncil.com/council-members/

Like... in a city of 1.5m people, do we really need so many council members that we have a Council President, a Majority Leader, a Majority Whip, a Deputy Majority Whip, and a Minority Leader? And have you seen how many committees each of them are on?! Lol...

Target Opens Its Doors Near the Parkway

http://www.ocfrealty.com/wp-content/...0/IMG_2633.jpg

http://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phill...s-near-parkway

Would have liked to have seen this site redeveloped.

not her proposal at all and I think that's a bit simplistic. She is clearly not beholden to unions and is more progressive than most in council.

They leased it practically as soon as Whole Foods announced they would vacate. I'd've preferred redevelopment too, but that'll probably have to late until Target decides the space is undersized or something.

Soda tax free at this location for a brief time (Target hasn't updated their system to pass on the soda tax, so they are taking the hit for now).

https://billypenn.com/2017/10/18/you...arget-for-now/

Regardless, normal folks can't spend several hundred thousand dollars on a campaign - the one who did still lost by a decent chunk Therefore they need machinery and backing. That machinery and backing starts at the ward level and is almost exclusively union financed. So you get union and ward suits - propped up from behind and the status quo is forever preserved.

If all running took to have a legitimate shot was passion, gumption, and wherewithal there would be a line around the block to do it. Barriers to entry are too great for talented people who are otherwise gainfully employed and enterprising in whatever field they're in.

that target looks like it used to be a pawn shop/

the ward leader stuff is less important than ever. The loss of Bukovitz is a sign that the "machine" is more hype than product at this stage. Basically it's only good for electing judges since no one cares about that anyway. You do need money, especially with campaign finance rules in place. The irony is the rules created to stop pay to play have actually made it HARDER to challenge an incumbent. Now you need hundreds or thousands of donors to mount a real challenge unless you are self funded.

You don't need to quit your job to run for council unless you already work for the government. Sure, it is nearly impossible if you dont have a good job or high wealth, but that's the case in general for US politics. That isn't a philly issue- it's universal.

Gym and Domb are outsiders. To a large degree Green was as well. Goode wasn't an outsider but he wasn't beholden to the unions or other such groups. Nutter wasn't an outsider but he largely acted like one.

In gentrifying areas some of these people can be beat. Feibush was wrong one to try be be a trailblazer on this front with his history down there. He tried to play the inside game with winning over ward leaders, etc and forgot that a lot of regular people down there really don't like him.

If you asked me to guess where that building is located, I would have guessed any boring American suburb. That was a waste of space.

It is a waste of space but just making sure you realize that this is the old Wholefoods building that was built years ago - nothing new.