Blessed with an innate resilience, Philadelphia's brick rowhouses risk disrepair and redevelopment. Local nonprofits are looking for ways to keep this resource equitable.

Last year, Philadelphia's city council "approved the strategic plan of a new land bank to target the redevelopment of thousands of vacant buildings, lots and other tax-delinquent properties."
But the appearance of dilapidation can be deceptive: the city's rowhouses have good bones. "'Our brick rowhomes are those houses that the wolf couldn't blow down in the three little pigs story,' says Karen Black, a former civil rights lawyer and current CEO of May 8 Consulting."
The Healthy Rowhouse Project challenges oncoming gentrification, arguing that existing stock will always be more affordable than new units, "'because it costs more than $300,000 to build a single unit of affordable housing,' says Black. 'At the same time, we can repair an existing home that people are already living in for $10,000 or less.'"
Meanwhile, others want to make it harder for speculators to displace longtime residents. The Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities (PCAC) has proposed a so-called "flip tax" that "would tack on a 1.5 percent fee to the city's 4 percent realty transfer tax for properties that sell more than once in 24 months."
FULL STORY: How Philly Could Fight Gentrification With Rowhouse Fix-Ups

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
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