Empty chamber? Philly lawmakers continue notably slow pace of legislation | City Council roundup
The current Council, is unusually inexperienced, with 12 of 17 members serving less than two terms, and is legislating at the slowest pace in years.
Philadelphia City Council members did not vote on any bills at their meeting Thursday, a once-rare event that has become commonplace in City Hall this year.
Council so far has passed just one bill in its five meetings in 2025. It was a proposal by Councilmember Isaiah Thomas to amend the Home Rule Charter to create a Philadelphia Prison Community Oversight Board that will require voter approval.
» READ MORE: Philly City Council is considering fewer bills than it has in years. Does that matter?
Instead, lawmakers this year have approved numerous resolutions, which are not laws but symbolic statements of Council’s position on various issues. On Thursday, for instance, they approved resolutions condemning President Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and congratulating the Simon Gratz High School football team on winning the Philadelphia Public League championship.
The current Council, which took office in January 2024, is unusually inexperienced, with 12 of 17 members serving less than two terms, and it is legislating at the slowest pace in years, according to a recent Inquirer analysis. Council introduced 275 bills last year, lower than the 10-year average of 317 and far fewer than the 407 bills it considered in 2019.
But Council President Kenyatta Johnson said he isn’t worried.
“We focus on quality and not just quantity,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “If we listen to the press saying we’re not introducing enough bills, then you’ll have people just introducing bills for the sake of introducing bills. You want to have a real impact with the legislation that’s put forward.”
The legislative doldrums won’t last, as Council will have plenty on its plate in the near future.
The Tax Reform Commission convened by Johnson will soon be producing recommendations, and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker will deliver her budget address to lawmakers on March 13, kicking off three months of negotiations over city taxing and spending plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
What was this week’s highlight?
Hamilton Hall: City Council unanimously approved a resolution from Johnson in support of bidders who would keep the arts in former University of the Arts buildings.
After the school went swiftly and catastrophically bust last year, its holdings are being sold off to satisfy its debt holders. The sale is a unique opportunity to obtain prominent properties on South Broad Street and elsewhere in Center City. Culture organizations, other universities, and private housing developers are among the bidders.
Council’s resolution comes as Hamilton Hall — which served as UArts' emblem — is slated to come up for auction in Wilmington.
» READ MORE: UArts owned a string of iconic Center City properties
The bidders are New York-based Dwight City Group, a developer of what it calls “affordable luxury housing,” and Philadelphia-based Scout, which redeveloped the Bok Building in South Philadelphia into a hive of artist studios, small businesses, and restaurants. There are no other bidders.
Dwight City Group told The Inquirer that it would establish an art gallery in Hamilton Hall and “artisan studios” as well, but Scout’s bid has the support of many public officials in Philadelphia, including Johnson.
”I am writing to express my enthusiastic support for Scout, a commercial Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) real estate development company in Philadelphia, as a prospective leader in the redevelopment of the University of the Arts’ real estate assets,” Johnson wrote in a Jan. 30 letter in support of the company’s bid.
Although the resolution did not mention Scout by name, Councilmember Mark Squilla reaffirmed the legislative body’s support for owner Lindsey Scannapieco’s bid for Hamilton and Furness Hall (which she plans to turn into affordable artist apartments).
Scannapieco has said that the arts and culture industry has been dealt a series of blows in recent years, with the winding down of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' college program as well as the collapse of the University of the Arts. She argues that Scout would maintain essential arts infrastructure that is vanishing from Center City.
”We don’t know the other folks who are bidding, but we know the work Scout does,” Squilla said. ”If you saw their proposal, it’s all about the arts and housing for artists. We would hope that the judge would take into consideration how important this is to the city.”
Quotable
Nuisance legislation: Councilmember Cindy Bass, the only lawmaker to introduce a bill Thursday, proposed legislation aimed at cracking down on businesses operating outside state regulations and unloaded on an unnamed store in her Northwest Philly district that Bass says has violated a bevy of rules.
Staff writers Ryan W. Briggs, Anna Orso, and Fallon Roth contributed to this article.