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Tag: Cherelle L. Parker

City Council took a rare stand against Mayor Parker by allotting more housing funds to the poorest Philadelphians

Philadelphia City Council on Tuesday amended the initial budget for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s signature housing initiative to direct more money to programs that will help the lowest-income Philadelphians, a move that sparked one of the most notable confrontations between Parker and city lawmakers since she took office almost two years ago.

The amendment, which followed a weekslong standoff between the executive and legislative branches, represents a rare act of defiance for a Council that has otherwise been largely compliant with Parker’s agenda, and it appeared at first to be a major win for Philly progressives.

But Parker is not giving up the fight, and she said Tuesday night that the amendment may have had unintended consequences that could hold up much of the housing initiative for months.

The changes to the legislation, she said, may trigger additional procedural steps that will prevent the city from issuing $400 million in bonds to fund the initiative until March or later. The mayor did not hold back from laying the blame for the delays at Council’s feet.

“The resolution that City Council passed out of the Committee of the Whole today contained language that our bond lawyers have repeatedly advised would prevent the administration from being able to issue the bonds,” Parker said in a statement. “That means homes are not being restored. It means homes are not being built or repaired.”

In an unusually blunt statement late Tuesday night, Council President Kenyatta Johnson pushed back against the administration’s analysis of the situation.

“Council’s responsibility is not to rubber-stamp legislation, but to ensure that any multi-billion-dollar public investment is legally sound and targeted to the Philadelphians who need it most,” Johnson said.

But he also vowed to have Council quickly introduce new legislation that could ameliorate the procedural problem Parker identified, tacitly conceding that additional legislation was needed hours after lawmakers approved the resolution with no mention of that possibility.

Johnson said Council would “resolve remaining legal and policy issues swiftly,” and that a new measure to legalize lawmakers’ most recent changes could be introduced this week.

Council wants “shovels in the ground” and “homes repaired,” he said, but ”refuses to rush into issuing $800 million in debt without iron-clad legal protections and clear guarantees.”

Mayor Parker’s $195 million plan for the first year of her H.O.M.E. initiative is drawing criticism about who will benefit

“Council members repeatedly raised concerns — directly and in good faith — about accountability, neighborhood equity, homeowner protections, and the long-term impact of the H.O.M.E legislation,” he said. “Council’s action today strengthened the H.O.M.E resolution, not sabotaged it.”

The late-night war of words between Parker and Johnson came hours after a celebratory Council committee meeting in which lawmakers took a victory lap for standing up to the administration.

After the vote, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and Councilmember Rue Landau, respectively the chair and vice chair of the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless, said the amended resolution means “working and low-income families will finally be able to get the support they need sooner.”

“With roughly $30 million in federal homelessness funding at risk, it is more important than ever that this multiyear, $800 million investment begins by prioritizing the more than 200,000 Philadelphia households on the brink of losing their homes,” Gauthier and Landau said in a joint statement, referring to a federal policy change proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration that could cost the city millions in funding for anti-homelessness programs.

Council pushes for policy changes

Parker, who has long championed the city’s “middle neighborhoods,” structured her sweeping Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E, initiative to ensure that the myriad programs funded or created by the program would be available to homeowners and renters at a variety of income levels.

But Johnson — in an unexpected break from his usual alignment with Parker — stood with Gauthier and other progressives who fought to ensure the neediest city residents were prioritized in the budget resolution, which sets the first-year spending allocations for H.O.M.E. The distribution of funding must be approved by Council before the administration can issue the first of two planned $400 million tranches of city bonds that will finance much of the initiative.

Council’s Committee of the Whole, which includes all members, approved the amendment and advanced the resolution in a pair of unanimous voice votes Tuesday afternoon following hours of testimony.

City Council delays key vote on Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s H.O.M.E. initiative, setting up tight deadline before city bond sales

The measure would now head to the Council floor for a final passage vote in the next two weeks. Parker’s statement, however, could mean Council has additional work to do before getting the measure over the finish line. Johnson’s office said the vote is still scheduled for Dec. 11.

“The majority of the members of City Council want to focus on the issues of those who are poor here in the city of Philadelphia when it comes to housing and equality,” Johnson told reporters after the vote.

It’s unclear whether the vote represents a serious rupture in the tight relationship between Parker and Johnson, who have worked closely together since both took office in January 2024. Council approved the most important pieces of legislation Parker proposed as part of the H.O.M.E initiative earlier this year, and the changes adopted Tuesday do not alter the fundamentals of the program, which Parker hopes will achieve her goal of creating or preserving 30,000 units of housing in her first four-year term.

Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council President Kenyatta Johnson are trying to bring back the ’90s in City Hall

“We support the H.O.M.E. plan,” Johnson said. “And I think the mayor did a good job in investing close to $1 billion … in supporting the issue of housing inequality here in the city of Philadelphia. This amendment represents the will of the members. … We want to specifically focus on those who are the most least well-off, those who are poor.”

But after reading about Parker’s statement in the evening, Johnson’s attitude toward the administration sharpened. His lengthy statement included the most critical language the Council president has directed at the mayor since they were inaugurated.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker unveils her long-awaited plan to build or preserve 30,000 units of housing during a special session of City Council Monday, Mar. 24, 2025. Council President Kenyatta Johnson is behind her.

Johnson rejected Parker’s claim that the legislative delays could cause the popular Basic Systems Repair Program to temporarily run out of funding, saying that there is plenty of money in the current city budget to cover shortfalls.

“Threatening residents with a shutdown of the Basic Systems Repair Program and assigning blame does not move this process forward,” he said. “Collaboration and working together does.”

The amendment increases the first-year budget for spending the bond proceeds from $194.6 million to $277.2 million. The increased price tag, however, does not represent new money in the housing budget; it merely allows the administration to spend more of the $400 million in bond proceeds in the initiative’s first year.

The changes include increases in funding for housing preservation from $29.6 million to $46.2 million, and housing production from $24.3 million to $29.5 million. Additionally, the amendment boosted funding for homelessness prevention programs from $3.8 million to $8.8 million.

But perhaps more importantly, Council altered the income eligibility levels for several programs.

Parker, for instance, had proposed that the H.O.M.E. funding for the Basic Systems Repair Program, which subsidizes critical home improvements to prevent residents from being displaced by the costs of needed repairs, be open to any homeowner who makes Philadelphia’s area median income, or AMI, which is about $119,400 for a family of four.

Council’s amendment, however, requires 90% of the new funding to go to families making 60% of AMI or less, about $71,640 for a family of four.

The administration initially planned to issue the first $400 million in bonds this fall, and Parker sent Johnson’s office a first draft of the budget resolution in July. Council then delayed the committee vote on the resolution several times as Johnson negotiated with Parker on potential changes.

The amendment adopted Tuesday appears to largely mirror Gauthier’s priorities for the spending plan, rather than a negotiated compromise, the first sign that Johnson had moved forward despite not reaching a deal with Parker.

Funding for Mayor Cherelle Parker’s H.O.M.E. initiative will be delayed until next year

Bond sales potentially delayed again

Parker’s plan to sell the initial round of bonds this fall appeared to be on schedule when Council in June approved the most important pieces of legislation associated with the H.O.M.E. initiative, including an $800 million bond authorization.

But lawmakers at that time inserted a provision into the bond legislation that required the administration to get Council approval of its H.O.M.E. budget each year before it can spend the bond proceeds. For the initiative’s first year, that provision means the city cannot take the bonds to market at all without Council signing off on the budget resolution, city Finance Director Rob Dubow has said.

The latest potential delay, which could set Parker’s schedule back months more, stems from the amendment approved in committee Tuesday.

Parker did not elaborate on the procedural issue that could cause the latest delay, but her comments indicated what it may be: Because the resolution, which dictates how the bond proceeds can be spent, now includes significant differences from the bond authorization bill Council approved months ago, the city may not be able to rely on the original bill as its legal basis for taking out debt and selling the bonds.

To make them align, Council may have to approve a new bond authorization bill, or abandon some of its changes to the spending resolution.

In his statement Tuesday night, Johnson indicated Council has chosen the former route.

“City Council is preparing to introduce an amendment to the H.O.M.E bond ordinance as early as this week’s Council session,” he said.

It’s unclear if the resolution could pass by the end of the year. But Johnson’s reference to the potential of the current city budget’s surplus covering shortfalls in housing programs indicates that might not be possible.

Council’s last meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11. Lawmakers can vote to suspend Council rules and fast-track legislation as needed.

This story was updated to include Council President Kenyatta Johnson’s response to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s statement.

December 3, 2025
Good government fix or a demolition derby? Historic preservation bill is provoking debate in Philly.

Historic preservation advocates are sounding the alarm about legislation from Councilmember Mark Squilla, which they argue would weaken existing protections in Philadelphia.

The bill, introduced Nov. 20, would institute changes to the city’s Historical Commission, which regulates properties on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and ensures that they cannot be demolished or their exteriors substantially altered.

“This is the first time the [preservation] ordinance has been proposed for amendment in decades,” said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. “This is a developer-driven proposal that does not reflect any of the priorities of the preservation community.”

Proponents of the bill argue that it is simply meant to give more notice and power to property owners before their buildings are considered by the Historical Commission.

“The bill does nothing to decrease the power of the Historical Commission to protect important historic resources,” said Matthew McClure, who served as co-chair of the regulatory committee of Mayor Jim Kenney’s preservation task force.

“It is a modest good government piece of legislation,” said McClure, a prominent zoning attorney with Ballard Spahr. He emphasized that he was not speaking on behalf of a client.

The bill was introduced too late in this year’s Council session to receive a hearing. Squilla says it will be considered next year.

Currently, the interest group most supportive of the bill is the development industry. But even some preservation opponents are displeased with Squilla’s effort, arguing that it does too little for homeowners.

“Everybody’s talking, and I think they all agree to move forward with continued conversations to maybe tweak the language a little bit so everybody feels comfortable with it,” Squilla said.

At least one more stakeholder meeting will be held in December.

Tensions over preservation

Squilla’s proposal comes in the midst of heightened debate around preservation in Philadelphia, where the majority of buildings were constructed before 1960.

Over the last decade, the number of historically protected properties doubled, although well below 5% of the city’s buildings are covered. Preservationists oppose what they see as a demolition-first approach to development in the United States’ only World Heritage City.

Recently large new historic districts have been created to cover neighborhoods like Powelton Village, parts of Spruce Hill, and 1,441 properties in Washington Square West.

These have provoked backlash among some homeowner groups and pro-development advocacy organizations, which see these regulations as increasing housing costs.

Members of the Philadelphians for Rational Preservation gathered at Seger Park in the Washington Square West neighborhood on July 27 to talk about their opposition to the Washington Square West Historic District.

Some property owners have grievances against the way the local nomination process works.

In Philadelphia, citizens are empowered to nominate buildings to the local register — giving buildings protection from demolition or exterior changes — without input from the property owner until the Historical Commission considers the case.

This practice persistently causes controversy, especially because there are few local incentives for homeowners whose properties get protected.

In some localities, preservation protections are promulgated exclusively by planners. In others, owner consent is required.

“The current historic nomination process is most often dictated by nongovernmental actors who operate without notice to property owners,” McClure said. “The administration’s bill is aimed at increasing transparency and basic fairness during the nomination process.”

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration did not respond to a request for comment.

What’s in the bill

Squilla’s bill is thick with new provisions to the local historic ordinance. A key aspect of the legislation gives property owners at least 30 days before a pending nomination of their building is considered by the commission and protections kick in.

While homeowners probably would not have time to radically alter the exterior of their house — and presumably wouldn’t demolish it — preservationists fear that developers will use the extra time to begin razing historic buildings.

“No one likes the notice provision the way it’s written; that’s freaking people out,” Steinke said. “We made clear why we think that’s a problem, and we were heard. Of course, the development community would love it to be the way it’s currently expressed in the bill.”

A Victorian home in the Spruce Hill historic district. Recently large new historic districts have been created to cover neighborhoods like Powelton Village, parts of Spruce Hill, and 1,441 properties in Washington Square West.

The delayed provision particularly worries preservationists in combination with a proposed requirement that the commission approve permits — including demolition or exterior design work — if “material commitments” were made to plans before the attempt to protect the historic building.

Other provisions include language to make it more difficult to protect land because it may house archaeological remains. It also limits the ability to consider a property for protection due to its relation to a landscape architect (as opposed to, say, a building designer).

Why some preservation critics dislike the bill

One critic of Squilla’s bill is a new group of residents angry at the costs of preservation protections to homeowners following the creation of the Washington Square West historic district.

Despite their animus toward existing preservation rules in the city, groups like 5th Square and Philadelphians for Rational Preservation called the legislation a sop to those who least need help.

“While this bill is a boon to developers, it doesn’t help ordinary Philadelphians,” said Jonathan Hessney of Philadelphians for Rational Preservation.

He argues that Squilla isn’t curbing historic districts that burden homeowners, “while at the same time risks allowing genuinely historic properties to be destroyed in the new 30-day race to demolish or deface it creates.”

A possible reform that some critics of the bill would like to see are flexible, tiered historic districts, where only a select group of buildings would be fully regulated. Demolition protections would still exist for many buildings, but most would not be subjected to oversight for changes like replacing a door or window.

“That was discussed as something that the preservation community would like to see that was mentioned in the original draft and then stripped out,” Steinke said.

Squilla said the pushback surprised him, given that negotiations have been held since June. He’s confident a compromise can be reached.

Beyond the Preservation Alliance — the advocacy group with the most funding and pull in City Hall — the bill has caused alarm among historic activists.

“It was a blindside to the progress that many stakeholders in the preservation community felt they were reaching with him,” said Arielle Harris, an advocate. “Squilla understands the preservation climate in the city — given that he was on the preservation task force — so this is out of left field.”

December 2, 2025
Internal documents shed light on Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s decision to end Philadelphia’s racial diversity goals in contracting

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has said her administration relied on expert advice from a top law firm when it decided to end a Philadelphia policy prioritizing businesses owned by women or people of color in city contracting following recent court rulings that limited affirmative action-style government programs in hiring and contracting.

“I call them my genius attorneys because they all clerked for Supreme Court justices, and they handle the hardest cases throughout the country,” City Solicitor Renee Garcia, the city’s top lawyer, recently said of the New York-based firm Hecker Fink.

“And we went back and forth,” Garcia said. “Can we do this? Can we do this? What about this? What about that?”

Philadelphia is halting the use of some diversity targets in city contracts as national DEI backlash grows

But when it came time to replace the city’s old program with a new policy, the Parker administration didn’t adopt all of the suggestions it received from Hecker Fink, internal administration documents obtained by The Inquirer show.

Hecker Fink attorneys suggested that Philadelphia replace its old contracting system with one that favors “socially and economically disadvantaged” businesses, the documents show. Parker instead created a new policy favoring “small and local” companies.

The differences between Parker’s program and alternatives the city could have adopted are highly technical but hugely important, attorneys and researchers who study government contracting told The Inquirer.

Critics say the new policy indicates Philadelphia took the easy way out in the face of conservative legal attacks, instead of fighting to preserve the spirit of the old program: promoting equity and diversity in city contracting.

Parker, however, is adamant that her “small and local” policy will achieve that goal, given that many small companies in the city are owned by Black and brown Philadelphians who have faced discrimination.

“Our small and local business program is our disadvantage program,” Garcia said in a written statement. “Considering counsel’s advice, the City determined that a small and local business program is the best way to incorporate social and economic disadvantage in a way that is objective, content-neutral, consistent, demonstrable, and could be stood up very quickly.”

The documents, which include confidential legal memos from Hecker and internal administration emails, show how top city officials attempted to navigate a new legal landscape after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 upended decades of jurisprudence on affirmative action and other race-conscious policies.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said her “small and local” contracting policy will boost Philadelphia companies.

In early 2025, the Law Department provided a spreadsheet of line-by-line edits to the city’s Five Year Plan, a long-term budgeting document, to remove language about racial and gender-equity goals submitted by city departments.

When the Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity, for instance, wrote that its mission involved “advancing racial equity,” the Law Department simply wrote, “remove racial,” as it did for several other agencies.

The edits signify a stark contrast to the city’s approach under former Mayor Jim Kenney, who in 2020, operating under very different circumstances, instructed all departments to craft comprehensive racial-equity plans.

There is no indication in the internal documents, which are primarily from 2024 and 2025, that Parker, the city’s first Black female mayor, or administration officials were eager to make those changes. And no city officials appeared in the documents to view the “small and local” policy as less aggressive or safer than the other options at Parker’s disposal when she replaced the city’s race-conscious contracting system.

But for Wendell R. Stemley, president of the National Association of Minority Contractors, the mayor’s choice was revealing.

“The cities that want to cave in on this issue without doing the hard work are just doing small [and] local, race- and gender-neutral,” Stemley said.

‘Disadvantaged’ vs. ‘small and local’

The documents obtained by The Inquirer show that Hecker recommended the city abandon its decades-old contracting system — responsible for allotting more than $370 million each year in city contracts to historically disadvantaged firms — due to the threat of potential legal challenges, as Parker and Garcia have said.

But they also show that the firm proposed replacing that policy with a system “setting mandatory goals for hiring socially and economically disadvantaged businesses or persons,” a race- and gender-neutral standard based on the federal Small Business Administration’s 8(a) business development program.

Mayor Cherelle Parker defends ending racial diversity goals for Philly contracts: ‘Fighting the fight the way I know best’

Like the city’s contracting policies, the federal program previously had a stated policy of aiding business owners who were members of specific historically disadvantaged groups, such as women and Black people. But a 2023 federal court ruling in Washington, D.C., prohibited the SBA from presuming that members of those groups had faced barriers and required 8(a) applicants to demonstrate social and economic disadvantages.

The change allowed the program to pass legal muster by not favoring race or gender groups, while still allowing the agency to consider whether each applicant had faced discrimination on an individual basis.

Hecker, a litigation and public interest firm, suggested that Philadelphia adopt a similar approach.

“Adopting mandatory goals for hiring socially or economically disadvantaged individuals or businesses, defined along the same race-neutral lines as in the SBA’s 8(a) program, would likely be defensible if challenged,” Hecker lawyers wrote in a May 5 memo to the city.

An internal administration memo analyzing the city’s options on May 16 said that Hecker “recommended taking a look at the federal SBA 8(a) Business Development Program as a model.”

“This is a program to recognize small and disadvantaged businesses,” the city’s memo said, adding that the SBA defines socially disadvantaged individuals as “those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities.”

The executive order governing the city’s old minority contracting program, which aimed to award 35% of contracts to historically disadvantaged firms, expired at the end of 2024, and the city quietly ended it at some point earlier this year.

Parker did not announce that the program had been discontinued or that it would be succeeded by her “small and local” policy until an Inquirer story published last month revealed the change.

‘They are different’

The key difference between Parker’s program and the 8(a) model is that the city’s new policy gives no explicit consideration for social disadvantage, prejudice, or cultural bias.

Garcia, the city solicitor, firmly pushed back against the notion that the city had ignored Hecker’s advice on reshaping its contracting landscape and contended that the “small and local” policy will result in equitable outcomes because many of Philadelphia’s small businesses are owned by people of color and have faced discrimination and other barriers to growth.

“The City’s small and local business program … is more aggressive [than an SBA 8(a)-style policy] in that it is broadly applicable to small and local businesses, without creating unnecessary hurdles and confusion over the word ‘disadvantage’ or requiring onerous paperwork” for business owners to demonstrate their disadvantages, she said.

City Solicitor Renee Garcia is the Parker administration’s top lawyer.

Although Parker’s new program is not exclusively available to disadvantaged firms, Garcia said it “has built-in elements of social and economic disadvantaged programs like the SBA 8(a) and [U.S. Department of Transportation] programs, such as utilizing SBA business size standard caps, examining years in business, examining employee count, and personal net worth considerations.”

But Andre M. Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that while the city may be intending to help disadvantaged businesses with its “small and local” approach, specifying that goal in writing is important. The mayor’s executive order does not use the word disadvantage.

“They are different,” said Perry, the author of Black Power Scorecard, an examination of access to property, education, and business success. “The downside of any approach that does not use some criteria for being disadvantaged is that you can ignore them.

“There is a history that suggests that you absolutely need some process to identify groups of people who have been ignored by the city. It’s certainly not a given that you will touch those communities that have been denied opportunities in the past under ‘small and local,’” Perry said.

‘Too early to tell’

Parker’s move to abandon the city’s goal of prioritizing businesses owned by women and Black and brown people has become the latest flashpoint in the debate over the centrist Democrat mayor’s approach to the new political reality under President Donald Trump’s second administration, as critics like progressive City Councilmember Kendra Brooks have accused her of “caving” to Trump.

Mayor Parker’s restraint with Trump is both calculation and gamble as the president escalates against blue cities

Parker, however, said the city had little choice but to end the old system following Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that prohibited affirmative action in college admissions and has had widespread consequences for race-conscious government programs.

“There were people who told us that leadership meant justifying the [old] law,” Parker said at a recent news conference announcing the contracting policy changes. “They said, ‘Forget about the Supreme Court ruling. Philadelphia should just continue functioning and operating its program even if your Law Department and these genius lawyers at [Hecker] who have clerked for Supreme Court justices [recommended abandoning it.]’

“I want to take some advice from somebody to interpret the Supreme Court ruling right for some folks who have worked there.”

The U.S. Supreme Court upended the legal landscape for race-conscious government programs with a 2023 case ending affirmative action in college admissions.

But Parker also said she felt that the city’s old system was “broken” long before the Harvard decision because it failed to achieve its goal of boosting the number of “Black and brown and women and disabled business owners” in Philadelphia.

Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley added that an administration review found that only 20% of the firms in Philadelphia’s registry of businesses owned by women, people of color, or people with disabilities were getting city contracts.

Parker, who as a lawmaker worked on policies aimed at boosting economic opportunities for minority- and women-owned firms, said she was optimistic that pivoting to a focus on “small and local” firms would produce better results.

Parker has not publicly discussed suggested alternatives to her new policy, including the 8(a)-style approach.

Several government contracting attorneys and researchers interviewed by The Inquirer said that both “small and local” and “socially disadvantaged” programs have downsides and that the success of either would primarily depend on how well it is executed. Details are scant on what the new policy will actually look like, making it difficult to evaluate the potential impact.

But experts said choosing a policy that seeks to favor disadvantaged businesses rather than any small Philadelphia firm would indicate the mayor was fighting to maintain the spirit of the old program, which sought to boost companies owned by women and people of color who have long been underrepresented among business owners and government contractors.

“Adopting an 8(a)-style program with language prioritizing contracts for socially disadvantaged businesses would signal a desire to maintain the pre-2024 understanding that cities can procure goods deliberately, intentionally, in different ways, with preferences from disadvantaged businesses,” said Brett Theodos, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who has written a paper about how governments can use contracting to promote equity, despite recent court decisions. “Having an (8)a-style [program] would signal that the mayor wanted to try something more.”

Parker has defended her policy shift by invoking the bona fides of the Hecker attorneys who worked with the city. She and other city officials have noted that one clerked for liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and now works for the American Civil Liberty Union — “not somebody who would have had a conservative mindset,” as Garrett Harley put it. (Those comments later prompted the ACLU-PA to distance itself from what it described as the city’s “DEI rollback.”)

ACLU slams Mayor Parker for invoking the organization’s name amid ‘DEI rollback’

To be sure, adopting a program in which contractors need to demonstrate social disadvantages, such as past instances of discrimination, has its own drawbacks.

Following the 2023 federal court decision, the SBA now requires 8(a) applicants to submit “social disadvantage narratives,” or essays, increasing administrative burdens and potentially favoring savvier contractors. The U.S. Department of Transportation has a similar essay-based approach.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) business development program is aimed at helping “socially and economically disadvantaged” firms.

“We have heard from our businesses it is already too hard to do business in Philadelphia; these kinds of additional requirements will exacerbate an already difficult and burdensome process,” Garcia said.

And despite being a race- and gender-neutral federal policy, the current 8(a) standard, which was adopted in President Joe Biden’s administration, may still be challenged in court.

The lawyers at Hecker Fink, however, believed that a Philadelphia version of the policy could withstand scrutiny.

“The next wave of conservative litigation in this space may target such programs, arguing that social or economic disadvantage is a proxy for race,” Hecker attorneys wrote in the May 2025 memo. “However, based on our assessment of the current legal landscape, the City would have a strong chance of defeating such challenges.”

Like many diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives cast as discriminatory by the president, the 8(a) program has come under siege since Trump took office in January. On the agency’s website, hyperlinks to guidelines on how companies can demonstrate social disadvantage have gone dead, and the Trump administration has launched an audit of the program in the wake of an alleged bribery scheme.

None of those issues, however, address the question of whether a similar policy crafted for the city would be legally defensible. Despite Trump’s attacks, the current version of the 8(a) program’s focus on “socially disadvantaged” firms has not been overturned in court.

Regina Hairston, president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ, and DE, said the organization will wait and see how Parker’s new policy shakes out.

“It’s too early to tell if the mayor’s policy is the right policy, but from what I’ve seen across the country, other cities are moving to [prioritize] small, medium enterprises,” Hairston said. “We don’t know if that’s the answer, but we will be monitoring it.”

Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.

December 2, 2025
These bills meant to help Philly renters took effect on Tuesday

Philadelphia renters have some more to be thankful for this holiday season.

City Council bills that cap rental application fees and allow renters to pay security deposits in installments take effect Tuesday.

“The goal was to address the unaffordability of moving in for so many tenants in Philadelphia,” said City Councilmember Rue Landau, who introduced the legislation. “Rents have gone up tremendously, and people’s incomes have not.”

Almost half of the city’s residents rent their homes. And the Philadelphia region is one of the least affordable major metros in the country for its apartment renters based on their incomes, according to a January report by the online real estate brokerage Redfin.

FreshStartPHL, a move-in assistance program the city launched earlier this year to cover the equivalent of three months’ rent and moving expenses for eligible renters, had to stop accepting applications because it didn’t have enough funds to meet demand.

The city is considering adding money to the program’s budget under Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s H.O.M.E. initiative to build or preserve 30,000 housing units.

Parker signed the bills capping renter application fees and allowing for security deposit installments in September.

Capped application fees

Starting Tuesday, the city is prohibiting landlords from charging a rental application fee of more than $50 or the cost of running a background and/or credit check, whichever is less, within a 12-month period. Landlords are prohibited from charging application fees unless they are used to cover the cost of these checks.

Landlords can’t perform a “hard pull” credit check that affects a prospective tenant’s credit score and have to provide tenants with a copy of any credit and/or background check performed.

And landlords who have more than one unit available can charge a prospective tenant only one application fee if the tenant applies for multiple units. Landau said some renters had been paying $100 or more per application. That adds up when renters have to apply for multiple homes.

“Historic discrimination of Black and brown, immigrant, LGBTQ, and disabled Philadelphians causes higher barriers for them to overcome in order to secure housing, with increased costs as they pay application fees throughout the city,” Landau said. “As a city, we still need to tackle housing discrimination in a serious way. But in the meantime, this bill will reduce those costs.”

Payment plans for security deposits

Also starting Tuesday, some landlords will have to allow renters to pay a portion of their security deposit in installments if the deposit is more than one month’s rent. According to state law, landlords can charge up to two months’ rent for a security deposit, with the charge of the last month’s rent included in the tally.

Renters can choose to pay the cost beyond one month’s rent in equal installments over three months.

This ordinance does not apply to landlords with one or two units, a concession Landau made after pushback from other Council members and small landlords.

Landau said that when renters have to come up with a security deposit of multiple months’ rent, “it creates a barrier that many people can’t overcome,” which leaves people stuck in shelters, unsafe homes, or squeezed into overcrowded homes with family or friends.

“We’ve seen a national conversation about affordability happening because people are rightly concerned” about the costs of necessities, Landau said. “If they have to move for any reason, the affordability crisis is just exacerbated.”

December 1, 2025
Mayor Cherelle Parker has appointed nonprofit leader Anton Moore as the city’s director of public engagement and neighborhood affairs

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has appointed nonprofit founder and Democratic ward leader Anton K. Moore as the city’s director of public engagement and neighborhood affairs.

Moore, who founded the South Philadelphia-based group Unity in the Community, effectively replaces Hassan Freeman, who was fired from the Parker administration about two months ago following a verbal altercation outside City Hall with City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas that the lawmaker described as “negative and disturbing.”

Freeman, who worked under Chief Deputy Mayor Sinceré Harris, was director of neighborhood and community engagement. Parker said she renamed the role to reflect added responsibilities while appointing Moore, whose work will now fall under Chief of Staff Tiffany W. Thurman’s portfolio.

A Philly lawmaker said Parker admin staffers accosted him outside City Hall in a ‘disturbing interaction’

The Office of Public Engagement and Neighborhood Affairs will manage the city’s 10 Neighborhood Community Action Centers, which are meant to be “neighborhood City Halls” where residents can access services closer to home. The centers are a major part of Parker’s efforts to follow through on her campaign promise to create a city government “residents can see, touch, and feel,” and there is one in each Council district.

Moore, the Democratic leader of the 48th Ward in South Philadelphia, has strong political connections, and his nonprofit work has been praised by numerous elected officials.

“This is the piece of the puzzle that we needed,” Parker said Monday at a City Hall news conference, before addressing Moore: “You now have an opportunity to do what you did in South Philly but you’ve got to do it all over the city.”

Moore’s salary is $195,000, according to the mayor’s office.

“We’re going to work, we’re going to have fun, and we’re going to deliver the services that the city of Philadelphia deserves,” Moore said.

Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel said he has worked with Moore, 39, on youth employment and engagement efforts and leaned on him as an “adviser of my process to help me understand what is going on in the streets.”

“There is nobody better connected to our community. There is nobody better trained to take on this task,” said Bethel, who later added he would “go through a wall for this kid.”

Founded in 2008, Unity in the Community provides a variety of services, including connecting residents with housing aid and students with scholarships, and its parent organization is Soul Food CDC. The group has partnered with 76ers player Joel Embiid to give residents Giant gift certificates and former teammate Ben Simmons, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, to provide Christmas gifts to children.

The group also received $417,900 from a city anti-violence grant program founded during the surge in shootings and homicides that followed the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a report about poor oversight of that program, The Inquirer in 2023 reported that Unity in the Community received about 60% more in funds than the $258,000 the group had applied for. The paper also found that a staffer for the Urban Affairs Coalition, which administered the grant program, raised questions about management of Unity in the Community’s project, expanding a youth carpentry training program in South Philadelphia.

The staffer wrote in a 2022 email he was “very concerned” about accounting issues, including $75,000 in funding for which the organization had not submitted invoices. Moore said in 2023 he would work to fix the paperwork errors and defended the group’s work.

Philly poured $22M into an anti-violence grant program. It picked some groups unable to deliver on their proposals.

His application for the anti-violence grant was supported by Thomas and State Sen. Anthony Williams (D., Philadelphia), an indication of Moore’s support among Philadelphia’s political class.

Council recently named a block in South Philly in his honor. He was appointed by former Gov. Tom Wolf to the Pennsylvania Commission on African American Affairs. At Monday’s news conference, Ryan Boyer, a Parker ally who leads the politically powerful Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, heaped praise on Moore and joked that he “will be a great director of whatever the mayor called it.”

Parker’s chief of staff, Tiffany W. Thurman, praised Moore as “someone whose heart beats with the rhythm of our streets in every neighborhood.”

“Your mandate from the mayor is very clear: You are now the direct link between our administration and our neighborhoods,” Thurman said at the news conference.

Freeman’s dismissal followed a September incident in which he allegedly confronted Thomas at the lawmaker’s parking spot. In an email Thomas sent administration officials that was obtained by The Inquirer, Thomas wrote Freeman “spoke to me in a disrespectful manner, a hostile tone, and addressing me outside my name and title.”

Freeman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Parker declined to comment on the ordeal, except to say “some personnel adjustments were made.”

“I’m not looking back on anything associated with yesterday,” Parker said in an interview. “I’m thinking about how we are going to keep moving Philadelphia forward.”

Staff writer Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.

November 24, 2025
Trump is changing the way aid goes to cities. Philly stands to lose tens of millions of dollars for housing.

Philadelphia stands to lose tens of millions of dollars in federal funds intended to fight homelessness under a plan issued by the Trump administration that advocates say could significantly disrupt permanent housing programs and return formerly homeless people to the streets.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released the plan earlier this month, saying it would “restore accountability” and promote “self-sufficiency” in people by addressing the “root causes of homelessness, including illicit drugs and mental illness.”

Nationwide, advocates say, the HUD plan could displace 170,000 people by cutting two-thirds of the aid designated for permanent housing.

The number of individuals in Philadelphia at risk of losing stable housing hasn’t been tallied because the city’s Office of Homeless Services (OHS) is still reviewing the plan’s impact, said Cheryl Hill, the agency’s executive director.

Overall, there are 2,330 units of permanent housing, many of them financed by $47 million the city received from HUD last year, according to city officials.

The new strategy comes as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker attempts to move ahead with an ambitious plan to increase the supply of affordable housing in the city. Parker declined to comment on the Trump administration’s policy shift.

A preliminary analysis by HopePHL, a local anti-homelessness nonprofit, estimates around 1,200 housing units with households of various sizes would lose federal aid and no longer be accessible to current residents, all of whom are eligible for the aid because they live with a physical or mental disability.

HUD plans to funnel most of the funding for permanent housing into short-term housing programs with requirements for work and addiction treatment. The agency also said that it’s increasing overall homelessness funding throughout the United States, from $3.6 billion in 2024 to $3.9 billion.

“This new plan is disastrous for homelessness in Philadelphia,” said Eric Tars, the senior policy director of the National Homelessness Law Center, who lives and works in Philadelphia. “The biggest immediate harm would be that those who were once homeless but are now successfully living in apartments will be forced out of their homes.”

Other critics say the policy is based on a failed model that strips away civil liberties and doesn’t address what scholars and people who run anti-homelessness agencies say is the main reason Americans are homeless: the dearth of affordable housing.

“We have broad concerns about what we’re seeing,” said Candice Player, vice president of Advocacy, Public Policy and Street Outreach for Project HOME, the leading anti-homelessness nonprofit in Philadelphia. “We are all in a very difficult position here.”

Amal Bass, executive director of the Homeless Advocacy Project, which provides legal services to those experiencing homelessness, agreed, saying the city is “bracing for homelessness to increase in Philadelphia as a result of these policy choices.”

The need to house thousands of people suddenly made homeless would force cities, counties, and states to spend money they may not have, according to a statement from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Asked for comment, a HUD spokesperson sent a statement saying the agency seeks to reform “failed policies,” and refutes claims that the changes will result in increased homelessness.

HUD hopes that current permanent housing shift to transitional housing will include “robust wraparound support services for mental health and addiction to promote self-sufficiency.”

The agency added that it wants to encourage the “12,000 religious organizations in Pennsylvania to apply for funding to help those experiencing homelessness.”

New restrictions on ‘gender ideology extremism’

The federal government funds local governments to address homelessness through so-called Continuums of Care (CoC), local planning bodies that coordinate housing and other services. In Philadelphia, the CoC is staffed by the city’s Office of Homeless Services, and governed by an 18-member board, including homeless and housing service providers, and physical and behavioral health entities.

In its plan, HUD will require the local planning bodies to compete for funding, and will attach ideological preconditions that could affect how much money a community like Philadelphia receives.

For example, the new HUD plan “cracks down on DEI,” essentially penalizing a local board for following diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines. HUD would also limit funding to organizations that support “gender ideology extremism“ — programs that “use a definition of sex other than as binary in humans.” And HUD will consider whether the local jurisdiction“prohibits public camping or loitering,” an anti-encampment mandate that advocates such as the Legal Defense Fund say criminalizes homelessness.

Funding for programs that keep people in permanent housing could be cut off as early as January, according to HUD documents.

Philly an early adopter of Housing First

The new HUD policy dovetails with the views of President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in July that sought to make it easier to confine unhoused people in mental institutions against their will.

Trump has also said he wants municipalities to make urban camping illegal, helping to clear homeless encampments from streets and parks. He’s expressed a preference for moving people who are homeless from municipalities to “tent cities.”

Planners in Utah are working toward creating such a facility known as an “accountability center” that would confine people who are experiencing homelessness and force them to be treated for drug addiction or behavioral health issues.

HUD’s new direction is a repudiation of Housing First, which gives people permanent housing and offers services without making them stay in shelter and mandating treatment for drug abuse or behavioral health issues. Philadelphia was an early adopter and was the first U.S. city to use it specifically for people with opioid disorders, according to Project HOME, which was cofounded by Sister Mary Scullion, an early proponent of Housing First.

Time and again it’s been proven that “offering, rather than requiring, services to help those who are homeless, has greater effect,” said Michele Mangan, director of Compliance and Evaluation at Bethesda Project, which provides shelter, housing, and case management services to individuals experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia.

The administration’s move toward transitional housing and required treatment hasn’t worked before, according to Dennis Culhane, a social policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania who’s an expert in homelessness and assisted housing.

The people most in need of help couldn’t comply with clean and sober requirements and were evicted, he said.

“It’s a misguided approach that blames the victim and fails to address the lack of affordable housing,” Culhane said. On the other hand, Housing First has had an 85% success rate in helping to lead people out of homelessness, Culhane said.

He added that he “distrusts the administration’s motivation. It just wants people out of sight and moved into fantastical facilities with tents and alleged care because they’re seen as a nuisance.”

Ultimately, said Gwen Bailey, HopePHL’s vice president of programs, it’s not clear whether the Trump administration “thinks it’s doing the right thing. I don’t know their data.

“But in Philadelphia right now, today, I see all kinds of people facing frightening situations.”

Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.

November 24, 2025
Free SEPTA fares for low-income riders could end next year. Advocates are pushing to save it.

SEPTA’s 21.5% increase in transit fares and service cuts fell hardest on disadvantaged Philadelphians this year, showing an urgent need to make the city’s Zero Fare program permanent, City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke argues.

He touted his proposal to dedicate 0.5% of the city budget each year to pay for the initiative that provides free SEPTA passes to people living in poverty.

O’Rourke’s proposed Transit Access Fund would be written into the City Charter “so it can’t be yanked away at a moment’s notice when somebody wants to shift something around in the budget,” he told about 150 people in a town hall at the Friends Center on Cherry Street.

O’Rourke, Democratic State Sen. Nikil Saval, and the advocacy group Transit Forward Philadelphia called the meeting to push for affordable public transportation and ways to sustainably fund SEPTA after Harrisburg’s failure to provide new state money for mass transit agencies.

Their affordability agenda is in keeping with the message in Democratic wins for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York.

A broad coalition and patience are needed in Pennsylvania, Saval said. ” Every major political win comes from months, years, sometimes decades, of work,” he said.

Earlier this year, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s budget would have eliminated funding for Zero Fare, a two-year pilot program launched in 2023. Money was restored after backlash.

“We pushed back hard,” said O’Rourke, a member of the Working Families Party. “People with the least income are paying a larger share of their money just to get around. That’s upside down.”

Funding is not guaranteed after June 30, when the current budget expires, however.

If enacted, a Transit Access Fund would generate an estimated $34 million in the 2026-2027 fiscal year, O’Rourke’s office calculates.

That would generate enough money — between $20 million to $25 million, according to managers of the Zero Fare program — to give free SEPTA passes to 60,000 Philadelphians at or below the federal poverty standard.

O’Rourke and his staff also are considering using the remaining $10 million to $14 million for matching grants to help businesses, landlords and housing developments to join the SEPTA Key Advantage program, which provides subsidized transit passes.

People living at or below the federal poverty standard are eligible for the Zero Fare SEPTA passes. For 2025, that is $15,650 for an individual and $32,150 for a family of four.

Philadelphia’s poverty rate was 19.7% in 2024, the latest figure available, according to the U.S. Census.

To win sustainable state funding for SEPTA, activists need to break through the narrative that urban and rural areas of Pennsylvania are hopelessly divided on transit.

This year, the Transit for All PA coalition campaigned for more state dollars for transit systems in every county of the state. About 45,000 people representing every legislative district participated.

“When we’re made to feel like we’re on opposite sides of the fight, our numbers become smaller and we focus on the wrong targets,” said Saval.

“It’s not the person in Schuylkill County frustrated about potholes and road conditions that’s to blame for lack of transit funding” he said. “That person deserves to get safely where they need to go, too.”

November 21, 2025
Immigration advocates say Philly courthouse has become a ‘hunting ground’ for ICE. They want agents barred from the building.

Activists rallied outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center on Thursday to press their assertion that ICE has been allowed to turn the courthouse into “a hunting ground” for immigrants.

The noon demonstration crystalized months of contention between activists and lawyers who say the courthouse must be a place to seek and render justice ― not to target immigrants ― and federal authorities who insist that making arrests there is legal, safe, and sane.

No ICE Philly, the rally organizer, says agents have been enabled to essentially hang out at the Center City courthouse, waiting in the lobby or scouring the hallways, then making arrests on the sidewalks outside, a pattern they say has been repeated dozens of times since President Donald Trump took office in January.

“ICE is kidnapping immigrants who are obeying the law and coming to court,” said Ashen Harper, a college student who helped lead the demonstration, which targeted Sheriff Rochelle Bilal. “She is capitulating and cooperating with ICE.”

Many people who go to the courthouse, the group noted, are not criminal defendants ― they are witnesses, crime victims, family members, people dealing with alleged offenses like shoplifting or trespassing, and others who are already in diversionary programs.

No ICE Philly, whose last demonstration saw four people arrested, says immigration agents must be barred from the property.

Organizers said ICE has arrested about 90 people outside the courthouse since January, a dramatic increase over the previous year. And they pledged to return on Dec. 4 ― lugging a podium for Bilal so that, organizers said, she can explain changes she intends to make, including barring ICE.

The sheriff did not immediately reply to a request for comment Thursday.

Members of No ICE Philly rally outside the Criminal Justice Center on Thursday, calling on the sheriff to cut off Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to the building.

“We want to put the sheriff on notice that we’re watching,” said Aniqa Raihan, a No ICE Philly organizer. “We want to raise awareness of the fact … that ICE is using the courthouse as a hunting ground.”

As word of plans for the demonstration spread, Bilal issued a statement aimed at “addressing public concerns” around ICE activity.

“Let me be very clear: the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office does not partner with ICE,” the sheriff said. “Our deputies do not assist ICE, share information, or participate in immigration enforcement.”

Deputies verify the credentials of ICE agents entering the courthouse ― and those agents are not permitted to make arrests in courtrooms or anywhere else inside, she said.

Raihan and other advocates say that is no protection. ICE agents linger in the lobby, they said, then follow their target outside and quickly make the arrest.

In April, The Inquirer reported that a Philadelphia police officer escorted a Dominican national out of the courthouse and into the custody of federal authorities, shortly after a judge dismissed all criminal charges against the man.

A police department spokesperson said at the time that the Spanish-speaking officer offered to walk with the man to help translate, but did not detain him. The Defender Association of Philadelphia and others questioned how the incident squared with the city’s sanctuary policies.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Philadelphia did not reply to a request for comment.

On Thursday, about 40 demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse, chanting and singing under the watchful eye of city police officers and sheriff’s deputies. No ICE agents were visible. Protesters carried signs to indicate that they, too, were watching, raising colorful cardboard eyeballs, eyeglasses, and magnifiers.

Lenore Ramos, the community defense organizer with the Juntos advocacy group, called on the sheriff and city government officials to protect immigrants at the courthouse. Proclaiming Philadelphia a welcoming city, she said, is not just a slogan ― it’s a promise, one that local government must fulfill.

“The city is not standing behind our immigrant communities,” Ramos said. “It is walking all over them.”

In an interview earlier this week, Whitney Viets, an immigration counsel at the Defender Association, said ICE agents are at the courthouse almost every day, and arrests occur there almost daily.

The government does not publicly release data detailing where most immigration arrests occur, but Viets estimated that dozens of arrests have taken place at the courthouse since the start of the year. Masked plainclothes agents are seen outside the building, in the lobby, in courtrooms, and in hallways, she said.

“Agents are effectively doing enforcement in the courthouse, through identification,” she said.

She explained that agents may identify a person they are seeking in or near a courtroom, then either follow them outside or alert other agents who are already waiting on the sidewalk.

It is unclear where ICE is obtaining information on who will be at the courthouse on any particular day, although some details about ongoing criminal cases are available in public records. One result of ICE enforcement, she said, is people are afraid to come to court.

“This is about whether our justice system operates effectively,” Viets said. “The actions of ICE have gotten brazen. … What we need at this time is public engagement against this activity.”

No ICE Philly decried “kidnappings” by the agency and demanded the sheriff “protect everyone inside and outside the courthouse,” including “immigrants targeted by ICE as well as citizens observing and documenting ICE arrests.”

The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office is in charge of courthouse security. However, Bilal said in her statement, her office has no authority to intervene in lawful activities that are conducted off the property.

“Inside the courthouse, everyone’s rights and safety are protected equally under the law,” she said. “We are law enforcement professionals who follow the law.”

Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal stands to be recognized at City Hall in March.

In Philadelphia and places around the country, courthouses have become disputed locales as the Trump administration pursues ever-more-aggressive arrest and deportation policies.

Under President Joe Biden, limits were set on what ICE could do at courthouses. Agents were permitted to take action at or near a courthouse only if it involved a threat to national security, an imminent risk of death or violence, the pursuit of someone who threatened the public safety, or a risk of destruction of evidence.

Even then, advocacy groups accused ICE of violating the policy by arresting people who were only short distances from courthouses.

The Biden restrictions on ICE vanished the day after Trump took office.

The new guidance said agents could conduct enforcement actions in or near courthouses ― period. The only conditions were that agents must have credible information that their target would be present at a specific location and that the local jurisdiction had not passed laws barring such enforcement.

The guidance said that, to the extent practicable, ICE action should take place in nonpublic areas of the courthouse and be done in collaboration with court security staff. Officers should generally avoid making arrests in or near family or small-claims courts.

The Department of Homeland Security said that the Biden administration had “thwarted law enforcement” from doing its job, that arresting immigrants in courthouses is safer for agents and the public because those being sought have passed through metal detectors and security checkpoints.

“The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said earlier this year. “It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be.”

The issue cuts deep in Philadelphia, which has stood as a strong sanctuary city and welcomed immigrants who were sent here by the busload by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022 and early 2023.

Philadelphia city officials have said repeatedly that they do not cooperate with ICE, and that the sanctuary city policies created under former Mayor Jim Kenney remain in place under Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

Protesters Elias Siegelman, right, with No Ice Philly, who also works with the groups Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Progressive Victory, outside the ICE office, in Philadelphia on Oct. 30.

Nationally, 10 months into the Trump administration, some Democratic jurisdictions are acting to tighten ICE access at courthouses.

In Connecticut this month, state lawmakers passed a bill to bar most civil immigration arrests at courthouses, unless federal authorities have obtained a signed judicial warrant in advance.

The Senate bill, already approved by the House, also bans law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings in court, Connecticut Public Radio reported. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to sign the measure.

Last month in Chicago, which has faced weeks of controversial immigration enforcement, the top Cook County judge barred ICE from arresting people at courthouses. That came as federal agents stationed themselves outside courthouses, drawing crowds of protesters, CBS News reported.

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a Trump administration challenge to a New York law that barred the immigration arrests of people going into and out of courthouses. New York passed the Protect Our Courts Act in 2020, during Trump’s first term, a law the administration said had imposed unconstitutional restrictions on enforcement, the Hill reported.

The Thursday rally marked the third recent protest by No ICE Philly, which seeks to stop agency activity in the city. The organization’s Halloween Eve demonstration outside the ICE office erupted into physical confrontations with police, with several people pushed to the ground and four arrested.

The arrests came after some demonstrators attempted to stop ICE vehicles from leaving the facility at Eighth and Cherry Streets.

No ICE Philly organizers said Thursday that they will continue to scrutinize ICE activity at the courthouse.

“There are people watching. We have eyes on this,” Raihan said, adding that ICE is “allowed to hang in the lobby, sometimes in the courtrooms.”

“Somehow they seem to know when somebody vulnerable is in the courthouse. … We’re concerned with how they’re finding out that information.”

November 20, 2025
People who are self-employed could become exempt from paying a Philly business tax | City Council roundup
Philadelphia-based independent contractors and others who are self-employed could soon become exempt from paying certain business taxes as part of a measure aimed at easing tax burdens on small businesses.

City Councilmember Mike Driscoll, a Democrat who represents parts of Northeast Philadelphia, introduced legislation Thursday to carve out entrepreneurs, sole proprietorships, and businesses that have only one employee from having to pay the city’s business income and receipts tax, commonly known as BIRT.

Also on Thursday, members floated legislation to address the rising cost of water bills and introduced a bill to make it easier for restaurants to secure outdoor dining permits.

What was the meeting’s highlight?

Relief for the small(est) businesses: The bill is likely to find support in Council, where lawmakers have been searching for ways to provide relief to small businesses after earlier this year eliminating a popular tax break that allowed companies to exclude their first $100,000 in income from business taxes in Philadelphia.

That exemption effectively meant that thousands of small businesses did not have to pay the tax. However, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration in June successfully moved to eliminate the exemption, saying the city was likely to lose a court battle over the matter.

The change came after a medical device manufacturer sued the city, saying the exemption violated state law, which includes a “uniformity” clause that prohibits municipalities from creating different classes of taxpayers.

What small business owners need to know about the major changes coming to Philly’s tax code

Now, thousands of businesses newly have to pay the BIRT beginning with 2025 tax bills that are due in April. If Driscoll’s measure is adopted, it would begin in the 2026 tax year, meaning that eligible business owners would see the exemption when paying taxes due in April 2027.

He said the legislation addresses concerns from small businesses that the impending tax bills will be financially unsustainable for them.

“A $50,000 business should not face a $3,200 tax hike,” Driscoll said. “That is not policy. That is displacement.”

Driscoll said that the city’s law department approved his legislation and that he is confident it does not violate the uniformity clause.

What else happened this week?

Making water more affordable: Council will consider a package of legislation to address rising water bills. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier of West Philadelphia introduced three measures:
- A bill that expands eligibility for payment assistance programs to people who earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level. (This year, the FPL is $32,150 for a family of four.) There is currently a tiered assistance structure for people who earn up to 250%.
- A bill requiring that the city reduce a resident’s water bill if it rose because of a water meter failure that lasted more than a year.
- A resolution to hold hearings on whether lawmakers can expand assistance programs to renters. The Philadelphia Water Department does not allow bills to be in renters’ names.
A spokesperson for Gauthier said the package of legislation has 10 cosponsors — a majority of Council — making it likely to pass.

Parker opposes incineration ban: A Council committee on Monday advanced a bill to ban the city from incinerating trash, over the objections of Parker’s administration.

Currently, the city sends about two-thirds of the trash it collects to landfills and one-third to a waste-to-energy incinerator in Chester operated by Reworld, formerly known as Covanta.

Both of those contracts expire June 30, and Gauthier wants to prohibit the Parker administration from signing a new deal.

Philly sends a third of its trash to a Chester incinerator. Council members took a ‘Toxic Tour’ to get a closer look.

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.

On Monday, Chester officials pleaded with Philly to end its relationship with the facility, saying it contributes to high rates of illness.

Reworld defended its record, saying it exceeds government regulations.

Carlton Williams, who leads the Philadelphia Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, asked lawmakers to hold off approving a ban on incineration to allow the city time to study the issue.

But the committee approved the measure, sending it to the full Council for a vote as early as Dec. 4.

Dining out: Council is taking another crack at streamlining the city’s drawn-out permitting process for outdoor dining.

The outdoor dining area at Booker’s Restaurant and Bar at 5021 Baltimore Ave. in 2021.

Councilmember Rue Landau, who represents the city at-large, said it can take more than a year and a half for restaurants to get licensed if they are not in areas around Center City and a handful of commercial corridors in other neighbors.

It can take two years for a restaurant to get approved for outdoor dining. One Philly Council member is trying to make it easier

Beyond those locations, restaurants must get their district Council person to sponsor zoning legislation, which can take months.

Landau introduced legislation Thursday to expand the “by-right” areas where sidewalk cafes can exist without special zoning. Where the areas are expanded to will be up to district Council members.

Quote of the week

Danny Garcia trains for an upcoming fight in August 2024.

All in the family: Council members on Thursday honored boxer Danny Garcia, a North Philly native and an illustrious fighter who is retiring from the sport. He appeared in Council chambers to thank members and tell the city how much he loves it back.

Staff writers Jake Blumgart and Beatrice Forman contributed to this article.
November 20, 2025
ACLU slams Mayor Parker for invoking the organization’s name amid ‘DEI rollback’

The ACLU’s Pennsylvania chapter slammed Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration for invoking the organization’s name during a news conference this week, saying the group was not involved in what its leaders described as the mayor’s “DEI rollback.”

In a blistering statement issued late Wednesday, the ACLU-PA said Parker’s use of the organization’s name during a news conference announcing controversial changes to the city’s contracting policies created “the impression that the city’s decisions were vetted by our constitutional experts and aligned with our values.”

That was not the case, the group said.

“ACLU-PA was not consulted nor involved,” the statement said. “We welcome genuine collaboration with city leadership on policies that advance justice, liberty, and equity, especially for historically marginalized communities. Until such a partnership occurs, we ask that the administration refrain from using our name as a buzzword seal of approval.”

The Parker administration pushed back, with City Solicitor Renee Garcia saying Thursday that officials “were clear” that the administration consulted with an attorney who worked for the city’s outside counsel and who later went to work for the ACLU.

“We didn’t give ‘impressions,’” Garcia said, “we just gave the facts.”

Mayor Cherelle Parker defends ending racial diversity goals for Philly contracts: ‘Fighting the fight the way I know best’

Still, the civil rights group’s distancing from Parker was the latest criticism the mayor faced over her decision to eliminate a decades-old program that aimed to direct a significant portion of the city’s contracting dollars to firms owned by people of color, women, and people with disabilities.

Parker and her administration said the decision was made to align city policies with shifting legal precedent that has threatened affirmative action-style government programs. But critics have said the city preemptively conceded to the conservative legal movement that has sought to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the country.

Parker has said the city’s new system, which will incentivize contracting with businesses considered “small and local,” will ultimately be a more effective and equitable program.

In announcing her decision to make the city’s procurement policies race- and gender-neutral, Parker did not say that her administration worked directly with the ACLU in crafting its policy shift, nor did she mention the organization’s Pennsylvania chapter.

But Parker and members of her administration invoked the group’s name during the Tuesday news conference as they described the timeline of events that led up to the city’s decision to quietly change its policies this fall before announcing them publicly.

Philadelphia is halting the use of some diversity targets in city contracts as national DEI backlash grows

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker with city solicitor Renee Garcia (right) at City Hall Feb. 5, 2024.

Garcia said that the administration consulted in June with constitutional law experts, including Carmen Iguina González, who was at the time a Washington-based attorney at Hecker Fink, a law firm. Iguina González is a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, considered one of the most liberal jurists on the high court.

About three months after the meeting with city officials, Iguina González became the deputy director for immigration detention at the ACLU’s National Prison Project.

She could not be reached for comment.

Philly Council president says Mayor Parker was ‘strategic’ in dropping diversity contracting goals

During Tuesday’s news conference, Vanessa Garrett Harley, a deputy mayor and a top aide to Parker, cited the meeting with Iguina González in response to critics who have called the administration’s policy shift “conservative.”

She said Iguina González counseled the city to strike race- and gender-based diversity goals from its contracting policies.

“People [are] saying, ‘Oh, it was a conservative move. It was a conservative way of looking at the law,’” Garrett Harley said. “She had clerked for Justice Sotomayor. She’s currently at the ACLU. So this was not somebody who would have had a conservative mindset.”

Garrett Harley continued: “If we’ve got people on all sides… saying, ‘You have no other choice,’ then we’ve got to pivot and do what we have to do to protect the fiscal responsibility of the City of Philadelphia.”

Vanessa Garrett Harley, a deputy mayor, speaks during a press conference in June.

Later in the news conference, Parker also mentioned the ACLU, saying she was glad the city sought outside an outside opinion from Iguina González.

“I remember that meeting clearly,” Parker said. “And again — although she’s not with the firm, she made the transition and she’s now with the ACLU — I believe in her.”

This week was not the first time the ACLU has been at odds with Parker, a centrist Democrat who ran for mayor in 2023 on a tough-on-crime platform.

The group’s state chapter was critical of her while she campaigned and embraced the use of stop-and-frisk as a valuable policing tactic. The ACLU, which has long contended the practice is racially biased and ineffective, monitored the city’s use of stop-and-frisk for more than a decade.

And once Parker took office last year, Pennsylvania ACLU leaders expressed opposition to parts of her plan to address the open-air drug market in Kensington, including the so-called wellness court, a fast-track court for people accused of minor drug-related offenses.

November 20, 2025