A high-profile bill to ban Philadelphia from incinerating its trash was put on hold Thursday after intense lobbying by residents, activists, and industry put its future in doubt.
The bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, made a last-minute decision to pull the measure, which wouldprevent the city from shipping its trash to be burned for energy at the Reworld Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility in Chester.
“I made the difficult decision to hold the bill today because my colleagues have asked for more time with it,” Gauthier said, noting she had not given up on the bill.
Gauthier said the bill would prevent “dumping on cities that are more vulnerable than us.”
“This would never happen in a community that wasn’t populated mainly by Black people, and mainly by poor Black people,” she said of Chester. “The people that are lobbying otherwise — they know that they would never accept this where they live.”
The move to hold the bill came after hours of public testimony by people speaking for and against it.
However, almost all of those speaking against the bill either work for Reworld, the Chester waste-to-energy plant, or represent labor unions. Reworld employees could be seen lobbying Council members in the hallways.
Gauthier’s “Stop Trashing Our Air Act” would prohibit the city from contracting with companies that incinerate solid waste or recyclables. Gauthier said that 37% of the city’s trash is incinerated.
The bill, she has said, is designed to combat environmental injustice, contending incineration has been particularly harmful to the Chester area.
Chester Mayor Stefan Roots and local activists expressed support for the legislation on Thursday, citing health and environmental concerns.
“I’m asking you and begging you,” Roots said in asking Council to vote in favor of the bill. “We’re counting on all of you to support it.”
Chester resident Zulene Mayfield, left, Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, right, and Chester Mayor Stefan Roots meet to discuss Gauthier’s “Stop Trashing Our Air Act,” which would ban the city from incinerating waste, during a visit with lawmakers and staff in Chester, Pa., on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025.
Roots said the Reworld plant burns more trash than all of Delaware County produces.
Multiple Chester and Philly residents say the emissions from Reworld either caused or exacerbated asthma and other health conditions.
Andrea Robinson moved to Chester three years ago, she testified to Council. But she was unaware of the Reworld facility when she moved there.
“I walk out my door and smell the stinky odor. I’m embarrassed to invite family and friends over. There are dust and dirt all over the car and windows,” she said.
Fierce lobbying
Gauthier’s bill ran up against a fierce effort to prevent its passage.
Alex Piscitelli, facility manager at Reworld, testified that theplant operates under “the strict requirements of the Clean Air Act.”
He said claims that the facility causes human health issues “are simply not supported by the data” and emissions “operate well below federal limits.”
Multiple representatives of the company spoke, including workers who lived in Chester and Philadelphia.
Ramona Jones, who lives in Chester and works at Reworld, said the job allows her to be close to her children and family. She said the company has given her ”a livable wage, a higher wage.”
Matt Toomey, a business agent for the operating engineers union, told Council that “up to 120 family-sustaining jobs” were at stake, and noted the Reworld plant is heavily regulated and located in an already industrialized area.
Political reality
Aides for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, whose administration opposes the legislation, also worked the room.
Council members hardly ever call for votes on doomed bills. But Gauthier initially appeared to be willing to roll the dice by calling the measure up for a vote despite its uncertain fate.
As the morning progressed, however, it became clear she did not have the nine votes needed for passage and almost certainly did not have the 12 votes that would be needed to overcome a likely veto by Parker.
Insisting on the vote would mean that Gauthier was putting colleagues in the uncomfortable position of choosing between environmental advocates and trade unions, two important constituencies in Democratic primaries.
But Gauthier pledged to push for the bill.
“I am committed to this,” she said. “At the City of Philadelphia, we have to be a model for brotherly love, sisterly affection.”
Joseph R. Syrnick, 79, of Philadelphia, retired chief engineer and surveyor for the Philadelphia Streets Department, president and chief executive officer of the Schuylkill River Development Corp., vice chair of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, former adjunct professor, college baseball star at Drexel University, mentor, and “the ultimate girl dad,” died Saturday, Jan. 17, of cancer at his home in Roxborough.
Reared on Dupont Street in Manayunk and a Roxborough resident for five decades, Mr. Syrnick joined the Streets Department in 1971 after college and spent 34 years, until his retirement in 2005, supervising hundreds of development projects in the city. He became the city’s chief engineer and surveyor in 1986 and oversaw the reconstruction of the Schuylkill Expressway and West River Drive (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) in the 1980s, and the addition of new streetlights and trees on South Broad Street and the upgrade of six city golf courses in the 1990s.
He was an optimist and master negotiator, colleagues said, and he worked well with people and the system. “You have concepts that seem simple,” he told The Inquirer in 1998. “But when you commit them to writing, they raise all kinds of other questions.”
In 2000, as Republicans gathered in Philadelphia for their national convention, Mr. Syrnick juggled transit improvements on Chestnut Street and problems with the flags on JFK Boulevard. He also helped lower speed limits in Fairmount Park and added pedestrian safety features on Kelly Drive.
He beautified Penrose Avenue and built a bikeway in Schuylkill River Park. He even moderated impassioned negotiations about where the Rocky statue should be placed.
Since 2005, as head of the Schuylkill River Development Corp., he deftly partnered with public and private agencies, institutions, and corporations, and oversaw multimillion-dollar projects that built the celebrated Schuylkill River Trail, renovated a dozen bridges, and generally improved the lower eight-mile stretch of the Schuylkill, from the Fairmount Dam to the Delaware River, known as Schuylkill Banks.
In an online tribute, colleagues at the Schuylkill River Development Corp. praised his “perseverance and commitment to revitalizing the tidal Schuylkill.” They noted his “legacy of ingenuity, optimism, and service.” They said: “Joe was more than an extraordinary leader. He was a great Philadelphian.”
Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, said on Facebook: “He exuded confidence, humility, and unwavering commitment.”
Mr. Syrnick reviews plans to extend a riverside trail in 2009.
Mr. Syrnick was a constant presence on riverside trails, other hikers said. He organized regattas and movie nights, hosted riverboat and kayak tours, cleaned up after floods, and repurposed unused piers into prime fishing platforms.
“Great cities have great rivers,” Mr. Syrnick told The Inquirer in 2005. “Here in Philadelphia, we have Schuylkill Banks.”
He was a Fairmount Park commissioner for 18 years, was named to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in 2008, and served as vice chair. He lectured about the Schuylkill often and taught engineering classes and led advisory panels at Drexel. In 2015, he testified before the state Senate in support of a waterfront development tax credit.
Friends called him “a visionary,” “a true hero,” and “a Philly jewel.” One friend said: “He should be honored by a street naming or something.”
Mr. Syrnick (fourth from left) and his family pose near a riverboat.
Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said on Facebook: “He left his native Philadelphia a much better place.”
Mr. Syrnick was president of the Philadelphia Board of Surveyors and active with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia, and other organizations. At Drexel, he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1969 and a master’s degree in 1971.
In 2024, Drexel officials awarded him an honorary doctorate for “his visionary leadership in engaging diverse civic partners to revive the promise of a waterfront jewel in Philadelphia.”
He played second base on the Roman Catholic High School baseball team. He was captain of the 1968 Drexel team and later played against other local standouts in the old Pen-Del semipro league.
Mr. Syrnick (center in white shirt) had all kinds of way to publicize fun on the Schuylkill. This photo appeared in The Inquirer in 2007.
Most of all, everyone said, Mr. Syrnick liked building sandcastles on the beach and hosting tea parties with his young daughters and, later, his grandchildren. He grew up with three brothers. Of living with three daughters, his wife, Mary Beth, said: “It was a shock.”
His daughter Megan said: “It was a learning experience. Whether it was sports or tea parties, he became the ultimate girl dad.”
Joseph Richard Syrnick was born Dec. 19, 1946, in Philadelphia. He spent many summer days riding bikes with pals on Dupont Street and playing pickup games at the North Light Community Center.
He knew Mary Beth Stenn from the neighborhood, and their first date came when she was 14 and he was 15. They married in 1970, moved up the hill from Manayunk to Roxborough, and had daughters Genevieve, Amy, and Megan.
Mr. Syrnick received his honorary doctorate from Drexel in 2024.
Mr. Syrnick enjoyed baseball, football, and golf. He was active at St. Mary of the Assumption and Holy Family Churches, and he and his wife traveled together across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
“He was humble,” his daughter Megan said. “He was quiet in leadership. He always said: ‘It’s the team.’”
In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. Syrnick is survived by seven grandchildren, his brother Blaise, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
Visitation with the family is to be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, at Koller Funeral Home, 6835 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19128, and 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Holy Family Church, 234 Hermitage St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19127. A Mass celebrating his life is to follow at 11 a.m.
Philadelphia City Council’s first meeting of 2026 on Thursday comes as tensions rise over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker continues to sidestep that conversation while focusing on advancing her signature housing initiative.
They will also tackle the city’s waste-disposal practices, a long-standing law requiring Council members to resign before campaigning for higher office, and the city budget.
Meanwhile, events largely outside Council’s control, including potential school closings and Philly’s role in the nation’s 250th birthday, are also expected to prompt responses from lawmakers.
Here’s what you need to know about Council’s 2026 agenda.
‘Stop Trashing Our Air’ bill up for vote
The first meeting of a new Council session rarely features high-profile votes, but this year could be different.
Currently, the city government sends about a third of the trash it collects to the Reworld trash incinerator in Chester, with the rest going to landfills. Those waste-disposal contracts expire June 30, and Gauthier is hoping to take incineration off the table when new deals are reached.
The Reworld incinerator in Chester, Pa., on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025.
“Burning Philadelphia’s trash is making Chester, Philadelphia, and other communities around our region sick,” Gauthier has said, pointing to elevated rates of asthma and other ailments and a legacy of “environmental racism” in Chester. The low-income and majority-Black city downriver from Philly has been home to numerous heavy industrial facilities.
Reworld has said its waste-to-energy facility, which produces some electricity from burning trash, is a “more sustainable alternative to landfilling.”
At a hearing last year, Parker administration officials said the city is including language in its request for proposals for the next contracts that will allow the city to consider environmental impacts. But they asked lawmakers not to vote for a blanket ban on incineration to allow the city to study the issue further.
Parker waiting for Council to reapprove $800 million in bonds for her H.O.M.E. plan
The biggest agenda item left hanging last month when lawmakers adjourned for the winter break was a bill to authorize the Parker administration to issue $800 million in city bonds to fund her H.O.M.E. initiative.
Parker had hoped to sell the bonds last fall, and Council in June initially authorized the administration to take out new debt. But lawmakers made significant changes to the initiative’s first-year budget, especially by lowering income thresholds for some programs funded by the H.O.M.E. bonds to prioritize the lowest-income residents.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks to the crowd at The Church of Christian Compassion in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. Parker visited 10 churches in Philadelphia on Sunday to share details about her H.O.M.E. housing plan.
“Council members have always been supportive of the H.O.M.E. initiative,” Johnson said. “H.O.M.E. advances City Council’s goals to expand access to affordable homeownership for Philadelphians … and to ensure that city housing investments deliver long-term benefits for families and neighborhoods alike.”
Currently, Council members and other city employees are required to quit their jobs to run for higher office. Lawmakers have tried several times over the last 20 years to repeal the law, but they have been unsuccessful. Changing the rule requires amending the city’s Home Rule Charter, which a majority of voters would have to approve through a ballot question.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson talks with Councilmember Isaiah Thomas at City Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Philadelphia.
The latest attempt, spearheaded by Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, would not entirely repeal the resign-to-run law, but instead would narrow it to allow elected officials to keep their seats only if they are seeking state or federal office, such as in Congress or the state General Assembly. Council members who want to run for mayor would still have to resign.
Thomas, a Democrat who represents the city at-large and is rumored to have ambitions of running for higher office, plans to make minor amendments to the legislation this spring, a spokesperson said, before calling it up for a final vote. The goal, Thomas has said, is to pass the legislation in time for a question to appear on the May primary election ballot.
The mayor, however, cannot control what other local elected officials say about national politics, and Trump’s immigration crackdown appears to be stirring stronger local reaction heading into his second year in office.
Meanwhile, progressive Councilmembers Rue Landau and Kendra Brooks this year are expected to introduce legislation aimed at constricting ICE operations in Philadelphia.
Demonstrators from No ICE Philly gathered to protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, office at 8th and Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.
It is not yet clear what the lawmakers will propose. But Brooks, who has called on Parker to take a firmer stand against Trump, recently criticized the Philadelphia courts for allowing agents to seize suspects leaving the Criminal Justice Center. She said officials who in her view have failed to stand up to ICE are engaged in “complicity disguised as strategic silence,” and she vowed to force those who “cooperate with ICE in any way” to testify in Council.
“Cities across the country are stepping up and looking at every available option they have to get ICE out,” Brooks said at a news conference earlier this month. “In the coming days, you will hear about what my office is doing about city policy. These demands must be met or face the consequences in Council.”
Landau added Philly cannot allow “some masked, unnamed hooligans from out of town [to] come in here and attack Philadelphians.”
“We are saying, ‘ICE out of Philadelphia,’” she said.
Parker has said her administration has made no changes to the city’s immigrant-friendly policies, but she continues to be tight-lipped about the issue.
The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records last week ruled in favor of an Inquirer appeal seeking to force Parker’s administration to disclose a September letter it sent the U.S. Department of Justice regarding local policies related to immigration.
The administration still has not released the document. It has three more weeks to respond or appeal the decision in court.
South Philly arena proposal still in the works
After the 76ers abandoned their plan to build a new arena in Center City a year ago, the team announced it would partner with Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Flyers, to build a new home for both teams in the South Philadelphia stadium complex.
The teams announced last fall they have selected an architect for the new arena, which is scheduled to replace the Spectacor-owned Xfinity Mobile Arena, formerly the Wells Fargo Center, in 2031.
If the teams are still planning to open the new arena on their previously announced timeline, legislation to green-light the project could surface as soon as this spring. But so far, there has been no sign of movement on that front.
“There is currently no timeline for introducing legislation to build a new Sixers arena in South Philadelphia,” said Johnson, whose 2nd District includes the stadium complex. “At the appropriate time, my legislative team and I will actively collaborate with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration on drafting any legislation related to the Sixers arena before it is introduced in City Council.”
School closings and 2026 celebrations also on the horizon
In addition to its legislative agenda, Council this year will likely be drawn into discussions over school closings and the high-profile gatherings expected to bring international attention to Philly this summer.
Johnson said his agenda includes “making sure Philadelphia has a very successful celebration of America’s 250th Birthday that results in short and long-term benefits for Philadelphia.”
Staff writers Jake Blumgart, Jeff Gammage, and Kristen A. Graham contributed to this article.
A coalition of building trades unions will lend the Philadelphia Housing Authority $50 million out of its pension fund to help finance the redevelopment of Brith Sholom House, a dilapidated senior apartment complex in West Philadelphia.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and her longtime political ally Ryan N. Boyer, the business manager of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, announced the arrangement Tuesday and framed it as a first-of-its-kind approach to expanding the city’s affordable housing stock.
Under the terms of the deal, PHA will repay the building trades over 15 years at a 4.5% interest rate. PHA President and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah called it a good deal for taxpayers as banks and traditional financing institutions are lending at higher rates.
The city is guaranteeing the loan.Parker said the outcome will be 336 units of affordable housing for seniors on fixed incomes. Members of the building trades unions will perform the work at the site.
“This isn’t an investment for the building trades,” Boyer said. “It’s a down payment on our city’s future.”
Boyer, one of the most powerful nonelected political figures in the state, has been a longtime ally to Parker and much of City Council. The trades unions poured millions into Parker’s run for mayor in 2023 and have remained largely in lockstep with her. Boyer led the mayor’s transition team and has been a key voice on her signature housing plan, which stands to generate thousands of construction jobs.
The trades’ $50 million investment comes in addition to the $99.6 million that the housing authority is spending on a gut rehabilitation of the Wynnefield apartment complex, bringing the total cost of the project to $150 million.
A protestor carries a sign to protest the living conditions at Brith Sholom House apartments, in Philadelphia, on Friday, April 12, 2024.
Jeremiah said he has been “shocked and dismayed” by the conditions at Brith Sholom, which was so neglected under its previous owners that tenants were forced to move out.
Work will begin late this year and is expected to take about 20 months to complete, Jeremiah said, meaning tenants may not be able to move back in until 2028. He had previously estimated a timeline that would have allowed residents to return this year.
Brith Sholom fell into disrepair under its previous owners, the New Jersey-based Puretz family. A 2024 Inquirer investigation found that members of the family became one of the nation’s largest affordable housing purveyors by buying up old buildings, saddling them with debt, and then defaulting on loans.
At Brith Sholom, the Puretz family profited while defaulting on a $36 million mortgage and amassing dozens of code violations. Residents — who organized to save their homes — complained of deteriorating infrastructure, threats of utility shutoffs, squatters, and severe pest infestations.
In a bid to preserve the building and reuse it in part as subsidized housing, PHA acquired Brith Sholom House in August 2024 for $24 million.
In addition to the price of the acquisition, Jeremiah estimated in 2024 that the cost of rehabilitating the building would be an additional $30 million to $40 million. PHA said then that the remaining 111 elderly residents in the 360-unit building would be able to remain in place.
Three months later, Jeremiah informed the tenants that Brith Sholom was in such ragged shape that they would have to be moved out to repair the building. Some units were so badly damaged that PHA could not fix them.
Following the acquisition of Brith Sholom, PHA has embarked on an ambitious $6.3 billion, 10-year plan that includes the purchase of 4,000 other privately held apartments. In the face of a glut of market-rate multifamily properties, many developers have struggled to charge the rents they need to pay back their loans — and the housing authority has been able to purchase buildings from such companies across the city.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson speaks during a news conference about the plan to redevelop Brith Sholom. At right is Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.
Parker also said the investment at Brith Sholom is part of her signature housing initiative, called Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E. The mayor — who has promised to build, redevelop, and preserve more than 30,000 units of housing — is in the midst of continued negotiations with City Council over H.O.M.E.’s first-year budget.
Council in December gave initial approval to changes to legislation related to Parker’s housing initiative, which set income eligibility thresholds for two housing programs funded by H.O.M.E.’s bond proceeds. Parker wanted a higher threshold so middle-class residents could access the programs, while Council’s version aims to prioritize poorer Philadelphians.
Council could take a final vote on the related legislation as early as Thursday, when lawmakers return to session following their winter break.
Throughout the contentious process, Parker has said her administration is committed to affordable housing for lower-income Philadelphians. The collaboration with PHA to remake Brith Sholom, she said, is part of that effort.
“It’s not just for one particular constituency,” Parker said Tuesday about her overarching housing plan. “I’m personally on a mission to save Philly rowhomes. We’re trying to address our housing crisis and doing it for Philadelphians from all walks of life.”
Parker was joined at the news conference Tuesday by Council President Kenyatta Johnson, despite the two being at odds over the H.O.M.E. legislation in recent months. Johnson praised the mayor’s leadership and said the financing arrangement for Brith Sholom is remedying a “miscarriage of justice.”
“This is the type of work that helps those most in need,” Johnson said, “which is our seniors, who deserve to live out the twilight of their lives in dignity.”
When State Sen. Sharif Tahir Street converted to Islam 30 years ago, he already had a Muslim name.
His father, John F. Street, who would go on to become Philadelphia’s mayor, gave his son a Muslim name when he was born in 1974 despite raising him in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an evangelical Christian sect in which members of the Street family hold leadership roles to this day.
As the senator tells it, his father initially considered adopting the name Sharif himself — not because he was considering converting to Islam but because he wanted to embrace the movement of Black Americans reclaiming pre-slavery identities.
Instead, the elder Street, who had already built a reputation as a rabble-rousing activist, kept his name and dubbed his son Sharif, which in Arabic means noble or exalted one.
The story would be surprising if it weren’t from the idiosyncratic Street family, which has played a unique outsider-turned-insider role in Philly politics for decades. The late State Sen. Milton Street was the senator’s uncle, and Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas Street is his ex-wife.
This year, with Sharif Street a frontrunner in the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, the family could make more history: If elected, Sharif Street would become the first Muslim member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
A Street win would mark another milestone in political representation for Philadelphia’s large Muslim community, an influential constituency that already includes numerous elected officials and power players.
But in characteristic Street fashion, that potential comes with a twist. Street has relatively moderate views on the conflict in Gaza and would likely stand out from Muslim colleagues in Congress like U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D. Mich.), progressives who regularly denounce Israeli aggression.
To be sure, Sharif Street, 51,is highly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war in Gaza. But he is also quick to defend Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, favors the two-state solution, and counts many prominent Philadelphia-area Jews among his friends and political supporters.
“Guess what? Benjamin Netanyahu is not the only leader of a major country in the world that’s committed war crimes, because Donald Trump has done the same thing,” Street said last week at a Muslim League of Voters event. ”But none of us would talk about getting rid of the United States of America as a country.”
For Muslim voters who view the Middle East crisis as a top political concern, this year’s 3rd Congressional District race sets up a choice between one of their own and a candidate whose politics may more closely align with their views on Gaza: State Rep. Chris Rabb, a progressive who has been endorsed to succeed Evans by the national Muslims United PAC.
“F— AIPAC,” Rabb said at a recent forum, referring to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, which has spent large sums and wielded aggressive tactics to unseat lawmakers it views as antagonistic to Israel. “They are destroying candidates’ lives because they don’t like that we’re standing up to them, that we are actively and consistently acknowledging that there is a genocide in Gaza.”
Rabb, who is not religious and said he respects all faiths, is hoping that Muslim voters will embrace his stance on the issues.
“Making history is not the same as being on the right side of history,” Rabb said in a statement.
‘Embrace all of the texts’
Street said his Adventist upbringing immersed him in an Old Testament-rooted Christianity that led to a growing curiosity about all the Abrahamic faiths. As he got older and read more, he realized that he didn’t view Judaism, Christianity, and Islam “as separately as other people do.”
“I do believe that the Abrahamic religions were all correct. In no way were they all supposed to be separate religions,” he said. “Islam allowed me to embrace all of the texts, which I had already decided to do.”
Before converting, Street said he was embraced by the Muslim community in Atlanta when he was a student at Morehouse College. He officially converted after returning to Philly to earn his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
Street’s Shahada, the creed Muslims take when joining the faith, was administered by Imam Shamsud-din Ali, his father’s friend. (Years later, Ali was one the elder Street’s associates being targeted by federal investigators when an FBI listening device was discovered in the mayor’s office in 2003. The episode created a firestorm around John Street’s ultimately successful reelection campaign that year, and Ali was later convicted on fraud and racketeering charges.)
For many Muslim converts, the religion’s dietary strictures, such as abstaining from pork and eating Halal food, take some getting used to, Sharif Street said. That wasn’t a problem for him.
“Islam has a lot of rules — unless you were Seventh-day Adventist,” he said, referring to the denomination discouraging followers from eating pork, shellfish, and numerous other foods.
Street said his faith has guided him as an individual and public servant.
“Islam, for me, focuses on my personal responsibility,” he said, and “the idea that man’s relationship with God is and always was.”
His views on the unity of the Abrahamic religions also guide his perspective on the Middle East, he said.
“I recognize that there won’t be peace for the state of Israel without peace for the Palestinian people, but there won’t be peace for the Palestinian people unless there’s peace for the state of Israel at some point,” he said.
Sharif Street participates in Friday prayer at Masjidullah mosque recently.
Like elected officials of other religions, Street’s politics do not perfectly align with the teachers of Muslim leaders.
On a recent Friday, Street attended Jumu’ah, the weekly afternoon prayer service, at Masjidullah in Northwest Philadelphia. A sign at the entrance reminded Muslims that abortion and homosexuality are against Islam’s teachings.
“Almost every one of Philadelphia’s Muslim political leaders … are all pro-civil rights, including LGBTQ [rights] and pro-choice,” he said. The sign, he said, represented “some members of the faith leadership who are reminding us … that is not the stance of the official religious community.”
For Street, that type of dissidence hits close to home.
His father, he said, became Baptist after being “kicked out” of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for officiating a same-sex marriage in 2007 between Micah Mahjoubian, a staffer for Sharif Street, and his husband, Ryan Bunch.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North Philadelphia did not respond to a request for comment.
’One of the most Muslim urban spaces’
Ryan Boyer, who heads the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council and is Muslim, likes to say he’s proud that members of his faith are so integrated into local politics that their religious identities are often overlooked.
“We’re a part of the fabric,” said Boyer, whose politically powerful coalition of unions has endorsed Street. ”To me, it’s not that big of a deal. We’re here.”
For Boyer, that means Muslim candidates like Street are judged based on their merits, not their identities.
“He’s Muslim,” Boyer said of Street. “Well, is he smart? Does he present the requisite skills and abilities to do the job? … The answer is yes.”
Other Muslim leaders in the city include: Sheriff Rochelle Bilal; City Councilmembers Curtis Jones Jr. and Nina Ahmad; former Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson; and City Commissioner Omar Sabir, who is Boyer’s brother.
Philly has also sent several Muslim lawmakers to Harrisburg, including current State Reps. Keith Harris, Jason Dawkins, and Tarik Khan.
Although the community is less well-known nationally than those in Michigan or Minnesota, Philadelphia has one of the nation’s oldest and largest Muslim populations, with about 250,000 faithful in a city of 1.6 million, according to Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Philadelphia branch.
By some estimates, Philly’s Muslim community has the highest percentage of U.S.-born followers of any major American city, thanks to the conversion of thousands of Black Philadelphians in recent decades. While many came to the faith through the Nation of Islam movement, a vast majority of Black Muslims in Philadelphia now practice mainstream Sunni Islam, Tekelioglu said.
Add in thriving immigrant communities from West Africa and the Middle East, and Philadelphia is “one of the most Muslim urban spaces” in the country, he said.
“Within a few minutes of walking in the city, you come across a visibly Muslim individual,” said Tekelioglu, whose nonprofit group does not make political endorsements. “Halal cheesesteak, ‘the Philly beard,’ and such — these also have overlap with the Muslim community and [the city’s] popular culture.”
The Middle East and the 3rd Congressional District
As a lawmaker, Street has been instrumental in forcing the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to allow Muslim girls competing in sports to wear hijabs and in leading the School District of Philadelphia to recognize Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr as official holidays.
That record is part of why he bristles at the Muslims United PAC’s endorsement of Rabb.
“We cannot allow other people to hijack our community and hijack our issue because it’s Black people, it’s Muslims dying in Philadelphia right now, and some of these candidates don’t have anything to say about that,” Street said at the Muslim League of Voters event. “Some of them even got some fugazi Muslim organizations to endorse them.”
State Sen. Sharif Street appearing at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee in December.
At another recent forum, the 3rd District Democratic candidates were asked whether they support legislation stopping U.S. weapons shipments to Israel after more than two years of conflict that has seen an estimated 70,000 Palestinians die in Gaza.
Street, who traveled to Israel and Palestine in 2017, said the one-minute response time wasn’t enough to unpack the complicated issues, and none of the other candidates gave straightforward answers — except Rabb, who said he supported the proposal.
“There are no two sides in this when we see the devastation,” Rabb said.
In an interview, Street said his comparatively moderate views on the crisis and his relationships with Jewish supporters will allow him to “play a really constructive role” in Congress.
“We need more people who can talk to both the Jewish and Muslim communities,” he said. “We need people who can have a nuanced conversation and do it with some real credibility.”
Tekelioglu said he has observed Muslim voters moving away from “identity politics” and toward “accountability-based political stance.” That evolution has accelerated during Israel’s war in Gaza following the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, he said.
“Oct. 7 and everything that’s going on has made everything a bit more clear,” he said. “This doesn’t make it such that the Palestine issue is the main dealbreaker, but overall I see a trend of moving away from the identity politics.”
The real question, he said, is, “Are they going to represent our interests?”
In the most-watched race for Congress in Philadelphia in more than a decade, State Rep. Chris Rabb has cast himself as the unabashed anti-establishment leftist. He’s refusing donations from corporations, calls the war in Gaza a genocide, and wants to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But despite announcing his campaign more than six months ago, he had yet to amass support from much of the city’s progressive flank, leading observers to wonder if he would be able to tap into the movement’s network of donors and volunteers.
It appears they’re coming around.
Rabb this week has won an endorsement from One PA, a progressive political group that’s aligned with labor and most of the city’s left-leaning elected officials. That comes after the environmental justice group Sunrise Movement said it, too, would back Rabb.
“This is a moment when democracy is at stake,” said Steve Paul, One PA’s executive director. “If there was any moment for the style of leadership that Chris [Rabb] brings to the table, it’s this moment.”
Rabb said he’s “energized” by the endorsement and what it means for the campaign.
“Our movement is growing every single day,” he said.
The questions now are whether some of the city’s most prominent progressive elected officials will lend their endorsements to Rabb, and if deep-pocketed national organizations will spend money to back him.
For example, Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee, said it’s “very closely looking at this district.” And the Working Families Party, the labor-aligned third party that supports progressives across the nation, has endorsed candidates in four other congressional races with competitive primaries — but not yet in Philadelphia’s. The group previously spent millions to boost candidates in the region.
The primary election — the marquee race in deep-blue Philadelphia — isn’t until May. But some on the left say the movement should have already coalesced around Rabb.
“We will probably regret it in the end, because this is a seat we should win,” said one leader of a progressive organization in the city who requested anonymity to speak freely about the political dynamic.
Rabb is seen as something of a lone operator with his own political apparatus. He didn’t come up through the newer progressive organizations that have run their own candidates for office in the city. Rather, he won a seat in the state House for the first time a decade ago when he toppled an establishment-backed Democrat.
State Rep. Chris Rabb at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee on Dec. 4, 2025. He is a Democratic candidate running to represent Philadelphia’s Third Congressional District.
Some of the city’s progressive leaders say they expect to back Rabb but that they were waiting to see how the field shaped up.
Last year, there were efforts to recruit other left-leaning candidates to run, including City Councilmember Kendra Brooks of the Working Families Party, and State Rep. Rick Krajewski, according to three sources with knowledge of the efforts who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve relationships. Both decided against running.
Brooks — who emerged as a face of the Working Families Party six years ago after she became the first third-party candidate to win a seat on Council in 100 years — is likely to back whomever the organization endorses. The group is still in the midst of its endorsement process.
“We’re confident that we will land on a progressive who will fight for working people, not billionaire donors, big corporations, or special interests,” WFP spokesperson Nick Gavio said.
Krajewski, who represents parts of West Philadelphia, has also not endorsed a candidate but he said he will. Rabb, according to Krajewski, has the qualities necessary to be a member of Congress during “a pivotal moment for our country.”
“The question is: Do we allow the fascists and the ruling class to double down on this insanity that they’re pushing? Or do we use this opportunity to agitate and say a different world is possible?” Krajewski said. “That’s what I want from my member of Congress. Chris [Rabb] has demonstrated that he’s clear about that.”
Pennsylvania State Rep. Rick Krajewski making statements at a news conference and rally by University of Pennsylvania graduate students. Grad students held the event to call for a strike vote against the university at corner of South 34th and Walnut Streets on Nov. 3, 2025.
Meanwhile, other candidates in the wide-open Democratic primary have tried to pick off progressive support.
State Sen. Sharif Street, the former chair of the state Democratic Party, is seen as the establishment’s pick for the seat. But he also has alliances with some of the city’s most progressive leaders.
That includes a decades-long relationship with Councilmember Rue Landau, who often votes with Council’s progressive bloc and is the first openly LGBTQ person ever elected to Council. Two sources familiar with Landau’s thinking said she is strongly considering endorsing Street.
Street has also worked closely on criminal justice reform matters with District Attorney Larry Krasner, perhaps the city’s most prominent elected progressive. He inherited some of Krasner’s political staff to manage his campaign.
However, several other candidates in the congressional race could be in the running for backing from Krasner, who recently won his third term in office in landslide fashion. Rabb, Street, and State Rep. Morgan Cephas previously endorsed Krasner for reelection.
State Rep. Chris Rabb (left), Helen Gym (center), and District Attorney Larry Krasner attend the election results watch party for Working Families Party candidates Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke in North Philadelphia on Nov. 5, 2019.
The crowded field may also mean that some elected officials choose not to get involved.
State Rep. Tarik Khan, a Democrat and nurse practitioner who has been backed by progressive organizations, said he has relationships with several leading candidates. That includes his colleagues in Harrisburg, as well as Ala Stanford, a surgeon. She and Khan were both prominent vaccine advocates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s a lot of good choices in this race,” Khan said. “I’m probably just going to let the process play out.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro questioned whether he was being unfairly scrutinized asthe only Jewish person being considered as a finalistto be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate — and briefly entertained his own run for the presidency — according to a copy of his upcoming book obtained by The Inquirer.
Shapiro, a popular Democratic governor long rumored to have future presidential ambitions, even briefly entertained a run shortly after then-President Joe Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race in July 2024, according to his book. The Abington Township resident is now seen as a top contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination as he seeks reelection in Pennsylvania this year.
But before Shapiro ended up in the veepstakes for Harris’ running mate, he wrote in his book that there was a moment right after Biden dropped out of the race where he considered whether he should run for president.
“Well, now what?” Shapiro wrote. “Maybe there would be a process the party would engage in to replace him? Did I want to be part of that?”
He called his wife, Lori, who at the time was out of the country with their two younger kids. “I don’t think we are ready to do this,” Shapiro recalled his wife saying from a Walmart in Vancouver. “It’s not the right time for our family. And it’s not on our terms.”
After that call, Shapiro wrote that he quickly decided he didn’t want to run and would back Harris, as Biden also endorsed her for the top of the ticket.
Once the field cleared for Harris, Shapiro recalled seeing his face on TV as her potential running mate, before he was asked by her campaign manager to be formally vetted.
In the days that followed,Shapiro contended with increasing national scrutiny as he emerged as a front-runner. Some pro-Palestinian protesters began calling Shapiro “Genocide Josh” online, he wrote. And top Democrats questioned whether a Jewish running mate would deter voters from supporting Harris, as Shapiro had been outspoken against some pro-Palestinian campus protests that year.
What was unknown: Whether those same questions — and some even more extreme — were circulating within Harris’ camp, Shapiro wrote in his most detailed retelling of his experience vying for the vice presidency to date.
Gov. Josh Shapiro at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris at Wissahickon High School in Ambler on July 29, 2024.
Just before he went to meet with Harris at the vice president’s residence in the summer of 2024, Shapiro received a call from Dana Remus, former White House counsel for Biden who was coleading the vetting process for Harris.
“Have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government?” Remus asked, according to Shapiro’s memoir.
“Had I been a double agent for Israel? Was she kidding?” Shapiro wrote in his 257-page book. “I told her how offensive the question was.”
According to the memoir, Remus then asked if Shapiro had ever communicated with an undercover Israeli agent, which he shot back: “If they were undercover… how the hell would I know?”
“Remus was just doing her job. I get it. But the fact that she asked, or was told to ask that question by someone else, said a lot about some of the people around the VP,” Shapiro wrote.
In high school, Shapiro completed a program in Israel that included service projects on a farm, and at a fishery in a kibbutz, as well as at an Israeli army base, which he once described in his college student newspaper as “a past volunteer in the Israeli army.”
Harris’ office could not be reached for comment Sunday evening. Remus also could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.
Shapiro, more broadly, recalled getting the feeling from Harris’ vetting team that she should pick Shapiro — a popular Democratic governor in a critical swing state — but that they had reservations about whether Shapiro’s views would mesh with Harris’.
In one vetting session with U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.), former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, former associate Attorney General Tony West, and former senior Biden adviser Cedric Richmond, Shapiro wrote that he had been questioned “a lot” about Israel, including why he had been outspoken against the protests at Penn.
“I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” he wrote. (Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is Jewish, was also vetted to be Harris’ running mate. Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is also Jewish.)
In his book, Shapiro recalled the whirlwind two weeks as an awe-inspiring window into an opportunity — but ultimately it was one he knew he didn’t want.
When Shapiro finally sat down with Harris in the dining room at the Naval Observatory, he said it became clear that she had a different vision for the vice presidency than what he wanted. He would work primarily with her staff and couldn’t say whether he would have access to her. In her own experience as vice president, she saw the job as mostly to make sure that you aren’t making any problems for the president, he wrote.
Shapiro noted his own relationship with his No. 2, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis. The role in itself has few powers, but Shapiro views Davis as a governing partner and is one of few people who can walk into his office unannounced at any time, he wrote. He wanted the same relationship with Harris, he said, noting that he knew he would not be the decision-maker.
“If we had door A and door B as options, and she was for door A and I was for door B, I just wanted to makes sure that I could make the case for door B,” Shapiro wrote.
But Harris was “crystal clear” that that wasn’t the kind of president-vice president dynamic she envisioned, he said.
In her own book released last year, 107 Days, Harris recalled the meeting differently. There, she wrote that Shapiro had “peppered” her with questions and “mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision.”His ambitions, she said, didn’t align with her view that a vice president should be a No. 2 and not a “copresident.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Dawn Staley (left), while promoting her new book “107 Days,” at the Met on Sept. 25 in Philadelphia. The event was held in partnership with Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.
As Shapiro tells it, the friction with Harris’ team didn’t stop there.
Shortly after meeting with Harris, Shapiro in his book recalled another unpleasant conversation with Remus, in which he wrote that she said she “could sense that I didn’t want to do this.”
According to the book, Remus said it would be hard for Shapiro to move to Washington, it would be a strain financially for his family who “didn’t have a lot of money” by D.C. standards, and that Lori would need to get a whole new wardrobe and pay people to do her hair and makeup.
It was then that he decided to leave the apartment where he had been asked to wait until Harris could come and talk to him again, he recalled.
“These comments were unkind to me. They were nasty to Lori,” Shapiro wrote. “I hold no grudge against Remus, who I know was doing the job she had to do, but I needed to leave.”
Shapiro went home, he said, and went over the day’s events with Lori at the edge of their bed.
“On one hand, I was still tugged by the prestige of it all. It’s an honor. It’s a big title. But that’s never been enough for me,” he wrote. Still, he struggled with what it would mean to withdraw, concerned about not playing his part in a high-stakes election and letting his supporters down. Ultimately, he decided that it was not his race to win or lose, he wrote.
“People were going to cast their votes for her, or they weren’t,” he added.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic nominee for president, and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, address a rally to kick off their campaign at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
He decided that day he did not want the job, and toyed with the idea about publicly releasing a statement withdrawing himself from the running. He said he also tried to tell Harris he did not think it would be a good fit, but wasn’t able to reach her.
“I was wrung out. I just wanted to be home with my family, to take a walk with Lori, and just be,” he wrote.
Gov. Josh Shapiro takes the stage ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz at a rally in Philadelphia’s Liacouras Center on August 6, 2024.
But when it was time for him to take the stage ahead of Walz and Harris, he was long-applauded by his home city and gave a speech “from my heart” about how he took pride in his faith and his support for Walz and Harris.
Shapiro’s memoir will be released Jan. 27 and is a reflection on his decades as an elected official, including as Pennsylvania attorney general, as well as the firebombing of his home last year. He will tout the book in Philadelphia on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Parkway Central Library. He will also discuss the book at upcoming book tour stops in New York and Washington.
A Pennsylvania Republican state senator doubled down Thursday on remarks denigrating Philadelphia, despite backlash from prominent Philly Democrats.
“Philadelphia wouldn’t be such a shithole” if District Attorney Larry Krasner prosecuted more crimes, StateSen. Jarrett Coleman, a Republican from Allentown, told Fox News on Wednesday.
Asked to elaborate Thursday, Coleman cited Philadelphia’s crime rates, which are higher than the national average.
“My statement stands. The people of Philadelphia deserve better,” Coleman said in a written statement.
“Now just imagine the outcry if I, a Democrat from an urban area, said exactly the same thing about a rural area?” U.S. Rep. BrendanBoyle, a Philadelphia Democrat, posted to X Thursday morning. “But I wouldn’t because I believe all in our society are of equal worth and deserve our respect.”
Coleman’s comments came in a broader piece in which he threatened to use a Senate committee he chairs to push back against Krasner and Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal if they interfered with President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration enforcement.
Coleman criticized the Philadelphia officials Wednesday, narrowing in on Krasner, a progressivewho has been a frequent target of Republican ire since he was first elected in 2017.
State Sen. Tony Williams, a Democrat from Philadelphia, echoed Boyle’s criticism and demanded an apology from Coleman, arguing the senator’s comments had degraded not just Philly but the country.
“He should unfortunately be ashamed of the manner in which he described Philadelphia,” Williams said.
“I have that part in me as well, I just don’t think it’s productive in these times to add fuel to the fire of stupidity,” he added.
State Sen. Nikil Saval, a Philadelphia Democrat, said he would be happy to give Coleman a tour of Philly, which he described as “safe, connected, vibrant.”
“The biggest threat to the safety of Philadelphians is the chronic underfunding perpetuated by Pennsylvania Senate Republicans,” he said.
Several groups at the University of Pennsylvania representing Jewish students, faculty, and staff are seeking to protect their names and personal information from beingturned over to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is suing Penn for the data.
The EEOC filed suit in November after the Ivy League university refused to comply with a subpoena seekinginformation for an investigation it began in 2023 over the school’s treatment of Jewish faculty and other employees regarding antisemitism complaints.
In its quest to find people potentially affected, the commission demanded a list of employees in Penn’s Jewish Studies Program, a list of all clubs, groups, organizations, and recreation groups related to the Jewish religion — including points of contact and a roster of members — and names of employees who lodged antisemitism complaints.
In a legal filing in federal court this week, several groups argued that their personal information should be kept private.
“In effect, these requests would require Penn to create and turn over a centralized registry of Jewish students, faculty, and staff — a profoundly invasive and dangerous demand that intrudes deeply into the freedoms of association, religion, speech, and privacy enshrined in the First Amendment,“ the groups charged in the filing.
The motion was filed on behalf of the American Academy of Jewish Research — the oldest organization of Jewish studies scholars in North America — Penn Carey Law School’s Jewish Law Students Association, the national and Penn chaptersof the American Association of University Professors, and the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty. All the groups include Jewish students, faculty, and staff whose information could be affected, according to lawyers involved in filing the motion.
No matter the EEOC’s motives, “creating a list of Jews in an era where data security is questionable, against the backdrop of rising antisemitism … and white supremacy, is terrifying,“ Amanda Shanor, a Penn associate professor of legal studies and business ethics and one of the lawyers who filed the motion, said in an interview.
The groups argued that providing the personal information to the commission could harm future membership.
“The prospect that the subpoena or a similar future subpoena could be enforced will chill the Jewish community members’ willingness to join and participate in these organizations for years to come,” the filing said.
And while Penn has resisted compliance, the groups worry that could change if President Donald Trump’s administrationapplies financial or other pressure, according to the filing.
Penn last summer entered into an agreement with the Trump administration over transgender athletes after $175 million in federal funding was paused. Penn agreed to apologize to members of its women’s swim team who were “disadvantaged” by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ participation on the team in the 2021-22 season and remove Thomas’ records, giving them instead to swimmers who held the next-best times. The school also agreed to abide by Title IX — the civil rights law that prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination — “as interpreted by the Department of Education” in regard to athletics and state that all its practices, policies, and procedures in women’s athletics will comply with it.
Lawyers for the groups in the EEOC case pointed to that settlement in their filing.
“The proposed intervenors cannot leave their rights to chance and must be permitted to protect their rights,” lawyers for the groups said in their filing this week.
Shanor said while Penn “has been very firm on this in a way that I am very struck by and impressed with,” it is important for the faculty and students to “assert those interests directly and explain to the court from the people who actually would be harmed by this why this is unconstitutional.”
Steven Weitzman, a professor of religious studies at Penn, said he got involved in part because the EEOC was seeking the names of faculty and staff who participated in confidential listening sessions as part of Penn’s task force on antisemitism.
“We promised the participants it would be confidential,” said Weitzman, who, as a member of the task force, helped set up the listening sessions.
Penn provided notes from the sessions, but not participants’ identities, he said.
As part of the Jewish studies program, his information also would have been vulnerable to the EEOC’s demand. He said even though Penn did not provide the information, the commission somehow got his personal cell number and called last week. He does not intend to call back, he said.
Asking the university to compile a list of Jewish faculty and staff is wrong, he said.
“Even if their motives are perfectly benign, they can’t guarantee they will always control that information, and it’s setting a dangerous precedent,” he said.
Penn declined to comment on the groups’ filing, but in a statement in November, the school said it had cooperated extensively with the EEOC, including providing more than 100 documents and over 900 pages.
But the private university refused to disclose the personal information.
“Violating their privacy and trust is antithetical to ensuring Penn’s Jewish community feels protected and safe,” Penn said.
Penn provided information on employees who complained and agreed to be contacted, the school said, and offered to reach out to employees and make them aware of the EEOC’s request to speak with them.
The original complaint was launched by EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas, now chair of the body, on Dec. 8, 2023, two months after Hamas’ attack on Israel that led to unrest on college campuses, including Penn, and charges of antisemitism. It was also just three days after Penn’s then-president, Liz Magill, had testified before a Republican-led congressional committee on the school’s handling of antisemitism complaints; the testimony drew a bipartisan backlash and led to Magill’s resignation days later.
Lucas, whom Trump appointed chair last year, also brought similar antisemitism charges against Columbia University that resulted in the school paying $21 million for “a class settlement fund.”
EEOC complaints typically come from those who allege they were aggrieved. Lucas, according to the complaint, made the charge in Penn’s case because of the “probable reluctance of Jewish faculty and staff to complain of harassing environment due to fear of hostility and potential violence directed against them.“
The EEOC’s investigation ensued after Lucas’ complaint to the commission’s Philadelphia office that alleged Penn was subjecting Jewish faculty, staff, and other employees, including students, “to an unlawful hostile work environment based on national origin, religion, and/or race.”
The allegation, the complaint said, is based on news reports, public statements made by the university and its leadership, letters from university donors, board members, alumni, and others. It also cited complaints filed against Penn in federal court and with the U.S. Department of Education over antisemitism allegations and testimony before a congressional committee.
“Penn has worked diligently to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish life on campus,” Penn said in its November statement about the EEOC lawsuit.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Thursday announced the launch of the Philadelphia Free Business Tax Preparation program, which will cost the city $7.5 million per year and is expected to last at least five years.
The new service is aimed at helping the estimated 50,000 firms this year that will need to start paying Philadelphia’s business income and receipts tax, or BIRT, following the elimination of a popular exemption that primarily benefited small companies.
How does the Philadelphia Free Business Tax Preparation program work?
Under the new program, the city will connect eligible business owners with private tax professionals who will be reimbursed by the city for each client they assist.
There will be no cost to the businesses. Only firms based in Philadelphia that made less than $250,000 in 2024 are eligible.
The tax professionals will help firms file city, state, and federal tax returns — not just BIRT.
“We want you to be ready,” acting Commerce Director Karen Fegley said Thursday. “Let’s be ready for growth.”
The city so far has contracted with 19 tax preparation companies to participate in the program, and more may join, Fegley said. Together, they offer services in 13 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and French.
Why did the BIRT exemption end?
For about a decade, firms with less than $100,000 in revenue from transactions in Philadelphia were exempt from paying the BIRT.
That policy, championed by former City Councilmembers Maria Quiñones Sánchez and William J. Green IV, effectively allowed the tens of thousands of companies making less than that amount to forgo paying the tax at all. During the COVID-19 pandemic, former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration waived the requirement for those firms to file local business tax returns, providing administrative relief for business owners.
But Parker last year convinced Council to eliminate the tax break after a Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer that does business in Philly sued the city, saying the policy violated the Pennsylvania Constitution’s uniformity clause.
The policy change will place a significant burden on Philadelphia’s smallest businesses, both financially and administratively, given the complexity of BIRT. The tax includes two levies: Firms must pay 5.71% of their net income, or profits, made in Philadelphia, as well as 0.141% of their gross receipts, or total income, in the city.
Council last year approved a Parker plan to gradually lower the tax rates over 13 years and eventually eliminate the gross receipts levy, but the most significant cuts are years away.
Parker reiterated Thursday that she supported the $100,000 exemption. But she said her administration settled the lawsuit after determining the city would likely lose in court, potentially risking a ruling that City Solicitor Renee Garcia has said could require the city to repay past tax revenue.
Critics of the mayor’s decision to settle the case last year questioned why she didn’t fight harder to preserve the tax break. Parker said Thursday that would have been irresponsible.
“I said, ‘That’s why I’m the mayor and you’re not,’ because we can’t just do that and put the fiscal stability of the city at risk,” Parker said Thursday at a City Hall news conference.
To help ease the transition, Parker last year proposed using the money the city expected to gain as a result of more firms paying the BIRT — about $30 million — to fund business assistance programs. Council increased that total to about $47 million before approving the city budget in June.
Most of the money will go to existing programs that provide direct grants for businesses, such as the Philadelphia Catalyst Fund, Fegley said. But Parker is also using the funds to launch the tax preparation service.
“Small businesses are the backbone of Philadelphia, I don’t care what neighborhood you live in,” Parker said.
What else is being done to help small businesses?
In response to the elimination of the $100,000 BIRT exemption, Councilmember Mike Driscoll last year introduced a bill to exclude certain types of businesses — entrepreneurs, sole proprietorships, and businesses with one employee — from the tax.
Many of Philadelphia’s smallest companies are one-person operations, and Driscoll said he aimed to relieve them of the cost and burden of filing a BIRT return.
Parker on Thursday said her administration is still evaluating the proposal, noting that it would cost the city revenue and could potentially run up against the same legal hurdle as the $100,000 BIRT exemption: the uniformity clause, which requires Pennsylvania businesses, property owners, and individuals of the same “class” to be taxed at the same rate.
“We will work through that with his team, and do the cost analysis,” Parker said, adding that, “more importantly,” the city’s law department will work “to make sure we are not in violation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s uniformity clause.”
Council is expected to consider the measure in a committee hearing in the first half of the year.
