June 28: Philly taxes found uncollectable | Second building collapse hearing | Budgets in limbo | Drexel paints the town | Charter performance lags | Dranoff eyes Center City | Ikea car charging stations

Good morning Eyes! Philly is less than an inch away from breaking its June rainfall record. This weekend’s scattered thundershowers will likely raise the bar.

A Pew Charitable Trust study found that 70 percent of the city’s tax delinquent property tax is uncollectable, PlanPhilly’s Jared Brey reported yesterday. If the city were to use all of its legal tools to collect taxes, the study found, it could potentially collect an additional $155 million over several years, but that figure is just thirty percent of the total $515 million the city is owed.  

A special investigating committee held its second hearing on the fatal 22nd and Market streets building collapse. City Council heard from business, construction and union experts. Three hearings remain. 

The “Innovate in PA,” bill, which could raise $157.5 million for technology and economic development, may stall in the state Senate if legislators do not decide on the bill before Senate shuts down for the summer. If approved, the bill will help fund the Benjamin Franklin Technology Development Authority. SEPTA and the School Reform Commission are also waiting to hear the state’s decision on bills that could drastically impact their respective deficits. 

As part of Drexel’s ongoing efforts to change its reputation from one of the ugliest college campuses in the United States, the University is painting its countless orange bricks a calmer, collegiate red, and it is doing so one by one. Drexel has equipped workers with mini-paint rollers and sent them out to paint individual bricks by hand.  

A national study found Pennsylvania charter school students performed worse than peers in reading and math, but according to the study, these findings were brought down by the state’s online charter schools, which enrolled 30 percent of charter students. With 84 charter schools, Philadelphia has more than half of the state’s roughly 100 registered charters. 

Dranoff Properties, Inc. is looking to build a new Center City residential tower. The company is hoping to put the proposed 167-unit, 21-story structure on 25th Street between Locust and Manning streets in Fitler Square, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. 

Ikea will install electric car charging stations at its South Philadelphia and Conshohocken, Pa. stores, the store announced Thursday.   

The Delaware River Sojourn is making its way down the Delaware River by kayak and canoe, all the way from Ten Mile River Access in New York State, through Philadelphia and on to Bull’s Island in New Jersey. The trip exposes participants to the ecological, historical, recreational and economic significance of the river as the groups paddles and camps along the 60-mile route.  

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