February 13: #DNCJAWN | Ride-hailing bill reintroduced | South Philly’s low bike share station count

Winning the DNC is a big deal for Philly, especially since it looks like we secured it without committing to any major taxpayer giveaways. Cleveland is doling out $68 million for the privilege of hosting the Republicans’ convention.

It’s not all great news though. For instance, SEPTA’s City Hall upgrades will be delayed until after the convention. There is also, of course, a #DNCJAWN hashtag.

Sam Katz switched his voter registration to unaffiliated, signaling a possible general election challenge to whoever emerges from the Democratic primary. Katz plans to release some ideas for improving the city, but Tom Ferrick thinks he probably won’t run. 

The city wants to know what data sets you want released. Technically Philly offers 10 that are on their wishlist.

Senator Wayne Fontana has introduced his ride-hailing legalization bill again for the new legislative session in Harrisburg. At this point, the services are now (temporarily) operating legally everywhere in Pennsylvania except for Philadelphia. 

Taylor Farnsworth notes that South Philly is now getting just 12 bike share stations in the first round, rather than the 18 that were on the preliminary map. South Philly has one of the highest bike commuting rates in the nation. In my Census tract in Bella Vista, where we’re only getting one bike share station, the bicycle commuting rate is 20%.

Some PA lawmakers are looking to tighten up the rules for local government and school district borrowing. Here’s one case for some more state oversight, showing how costly it can be for state DOTs to remedy bad local planning.

Did you know Lisa Nutter is an avid cyclist? She’s speaking at the National Women’s Bicycling Forum this year.