May 9: Is AVI less accurate than current system? | South Philly casino opposition | Foreign highway investment | How students organized protest | State transportation funding update

Good morning Eyes on the Street. Here’s what the city is buzzing about:

A report released by City Controller Alan Butkovitz says the new citywide property reassessment numbers are less accurate than the current numbers, the Inquirer reported yesterday. Newsworks has more on how the numbers got so distorted and what options the City might have. 

At Wednesday’s casino hearing in South Philly, area residents spoke out against plans to put another large, loud entertainment complex in their neighborhood, a neighborhood that they say is already hassled by the sports complex. 

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will borrow $200 million from foreign investors in exchange for green cards that the investors and their families will then be eligible for. Expected to come primarily from investors in China, the $200 million will help fund construction of a connection between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. 

By now you’ve likely heard that an estimated 250 students protested the Philadelphia School District’s “doomsday budget” in front of the District’s headquarters Tuesday, but do you know how those students joined forces? Axis Philly has a breakdown of how the students connected and organized online. 

For SEPTA there is some good news – the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee approved funding beyond what Governor Corbett requested – and some less positive news – State Representative Daryl Metcalfe accused SEPTA and other public transit with subsidizing a minority of the population’s bus fare, a practice he says provides more welfare. As for the former news item, which City Paper reported Wednesday, Metcalfe’s comments were in reaction to the recent Econsult report. 

The Buzz is Eyes on the Street’s morning news digest. Have a tip? Send it along.