Take vacant land to the bank in Philly

PennFuture was one of several groups to spearhead the creation of the Philly Land Bank Alliance -- a diverse group of stakeholders all working together to advocate for a land bank in Philadelphia. In March 2013, Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez introduced legislation to create a Philadelphia land bank. 

Members of the alliance represent a broad spectrum of stakeholders, from neighborhood advocates, community development corporations, market rate developers, advocates for small businesses, green space and food access. 

Uniting these disparate interests is a belief that a predictable, efficient, transparent, accountable, and equitable land bank is an essential part of the significant reforms necessary to place our vacant properties into productive reuse. These values have resonated with Philadelphians and now hundreds of individuals, nonprofits, and small businesses from across our City have signed on in support of a land bank.

Now, after months of hard work, a national conference, and significant media attention, City Council has scheduled a hearing on the Philadelphia land bank bill. We’ve seen that together we can make an impact – that we can create meaningful change to improve our neighborhoods, find sustainable reuses for vacant properties and begin to eradicate blight in every corner of the city. 

But we can’t do it without you

We need you to save the date: Monday, October 28, 2013 at 10 a.m. in City Hall, Room 400. We need you to turn out with your friends and colleagues to show City Council that reforming our broken vacant property system is important to you and critical to the long-term sustainability of our city.

In the meantime, we’re looking for your vacant property nightmares.

Tell us your stories about the challenges you faced in trying to acquire publicly or privately held vacant land. Tell us about a vacant property that hasn’t been kept up, that has attracted crime and trash, or has brought down the block. Tell us about a vacant property that has harmed you and your community.

Click here to tell your story, so that we can share your experience with City Council members and let them know that this is urgent. We need a #LandBankNOW.

VICTORY: Philly as America's Next Great City

This post is one in a month-long series speaking to 15 of PennFuture's significant victories. It was 15 years ago this September that we began our work to protect the environment and champion a clean energy economy.

For the past eight years, nearly 130 organizations – representing civic associations, labor unions, businesses, public health advocates, environmental nonprofits, the faith community, and social service groups – have worked together through PennFuture's Next Great City coalition to create a positive, sustainable future for Philadelphia.

When we came together in the Fall of 2005, Philadelphia had just been named America’s Next Great City by National Geographic Magazine. With support from the William Penn Foundation, our coalition set out to find what makes a city great, and then develop an agenda with the next mayoral election on the horizon.

First, we found areas on which we could all agree. A great city should be clean. It should have effective city services. It should be a healthy, safe place where every neighborhood is a good place to live and work.

Through months of  research, coalition building, and discussion with hundreds of residents, businesses, and community leaders across the city, Next Great City was able to agree on 10 actions to recommend to the next mayor.

Next Great City released its ten point agenda in January 2006 and, a month later, we held a mayoral forum which all the Democratic mayoral candidates attended. Then-candidate Michael Nutter fully embraced the Next Great City agenda and pledged to make Philly the greenest city in America. Many point to that forum as the turning point in his nascent campaign.

With the strong leadership of Mayor Nutter and the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, nine out of ten of Next Great City's recommendations were largely met, from creating public waterfronts and watershed access, to increasing the use of clean energy, to implementing an innovative green storm water management system.

In 2011, Next Great City released a 5-point agenda for City Council. Since then, Philadelphia has burnished its reputation as a city at the vanguard of urban sustainability. Philly was the sixth city in the U.S. to enact energy benchmarking legislation, passed a bike-friendly complete streets law, and has a recycling rate that has quadrupled. This fall, City Council will hold hearings on a bill that would create a land bank to put properties back to productive reuse.

PennFuture is proud to have played a leading role in Philadelphia's sustainability transformation through our work with the Next Great City coalition. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mayor Michael Nutter, the William Penn Foundation, and our Next Great City coalition partners. And yet, much work remains. We will continue to advocate for common-sense policies that enhance environmental quality, strengthen neighborhoods and increase our economic competitiveness -- in every corner of Pennsylvania.