Business curfews could be coming to much of North Philly and Kensington | City Council roundup

Philadelphia lawmakers will consider expanding existing curfews on businesses to cover a large swath of North Philadelphia and Kensington as part of a broader effort to crack down on so-called nuisance establishments.

The bill, introduced by City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada during Council’s weekly session on Thursday, would require businesses in the covered areas — except those with restaurant liquor licenses — to close their doors between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Also Thursday, a Council member walked back a controversial zoning bill that was facing a potential veto by the mayor, and others weighed in on national politics — again. Here’s what happened during Thursday’s meeting.

Expanding curfews across parts of North Philly: Council last year passed a series of bills aimed at cracking down on late-night businesses by implementing mandatory closing times — and now some lawmakers want to make the area those rules apply in significantly larger.

Under the bill Lozada introduced Thursday, all businesses in her 7th district, and the 8th Councilmanic district represented by Councilmember Cindy Bass, would be required to close at 11 p.m. That covers an area that stretches from Germantown to Kensington and includes neighborhoods like Ogontz, Fairhill, Hunting Park, and Nicetown.

Restaurants with liquor licenses are exempt. The bill would also increase the fine for businesses that operate in violation of the curfew from $500 to $1,000.

There are existing curfews along specific business corridors in several districts across the city, including along Kensington Avenue in Lozada’s district, where lawmakers are attempting to curb the longstanding open-air drug market.

Lozada said the new bill will help the city address public safety concerns in other areas of the city that face disproportionately high rates of crime.

“I represent three of the five neighborhoods with the highest crime across the city of Philadelphia,” she said. “The goal is to reduce crime and to work in partnership with the police department through legislation.”

Recalling a zoning bill that faced a potential veto: Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. was facing what could have been Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first veto since she took office last year.

But instead of risking the mayor from his own party rejecting his controversial zoning bill, Young on Thursday recalled the legislation, which Council passed last month despite strong opposition.

The bill would have changed an arcane section of the city’s zoning code governing “nonconforming uses,” or properties that predate existing land-use laws that are allowed to operate as their current or similar uses.

Critics, including Parker administration officials, said the legislation would sow confusion and be burdensome for both the city and for property owners.

Exempting some housing from inclusionary zoning: Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, a West Philadelphia Democrat, introduced legislation to exempt Turn the Key projects — a lower-income home ownership program — from affordable housing requirements in her district.

Gauthier’s Mixed Income Neighborhoods (MIN) law is an example of “inclusionary zoning,” which requires developers who build 10 or more housing units set 20% of their projects aside for lower-income residents. MIN covers swaths of Gauthier’s district, along with other areas across parts of North and West Philadelphia.

The city’s residential real estate industry has heavily criticized MIN, arguing it suppresses development. Gauthier’s office says any development slowdown in the area covered by the law coincides with the larger decline in housing construction across the city due to heightened interest rates and other factors.

According to Gauthier’s office, five affordable units and 23 market-rate units have been built in the area covered by MIN since its creation. Hundreds more have been approved, though it is unclear if they’ll be built given the current development environment.

Gauthier’s legislation comes as Parker is promising a large housing policy package that leans heavily on Turn The Key, a program created to make it feasible for developers to build homes that are affordable to working-class residents.

The new bill exempts Turn the Key projects targeted to those making 60 to 100% of area median income, or $68,820 to $114,700 a year.

Weighing in on national politics: Council continued its almost-routine pushback against President Donald Trump Thursday, with members introducing four pieces of legislation condemning the administration’s continued cuts to federal grants and jobs, as well as the slashing of some union protections.

One of the resolutions, authored by Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, of the progressive Working Families Party, condemned “the Trump administration’s continued pursuit of anti-labor and anti-worker policies.”

In addition, Democratic Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson and Council President Kenyatta Johnson introduced two resolutions addressing the collateral damage of the Department of Government Efficiency, the quasi-governmental agency led by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk.

One called on the Trump administration to restore environmental funding to the city, including a terminated $2.12 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assist Eastwick, one of the city’s most flood-prone neighborhoods, which Johnson represents. The other urged Trump and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to maintain funding and support for Head Start, a federally funded childhood education program.

And Councilmember Nina Ahmad, also a Democrat, introduced legislation imploring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reinstate funding for food banks in Pennsylvania. State officials have said cuts to the federal Local Food Purchase Assistance program amount to a loss of $13 million across the commonwealth, and have left local organizations, including Philabundance, the region’s largest food bank, struggling to provide for those in need.

» READ MORE: Pa. food banks are facing millions in federal funding cuts as they fear increased need

Johnson said Thursday that the Trump administration’s cuts could be “devastating.”

“We have to make sure our resolve is stronger and continue to keep fighting against these cuts,” he said.

All four resolutions will be voted on during a future Council meeting.

In addition to the anti-Trump measures, Council passed a resolution honoring U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) for his record-breaking, marathon speech on the Senate floor this week in protest of the Trump administration.

That was O’Rourke, who announced his plans to introduce legislation creating a “transit access fund,” which would provide a financial source for SEPTA’s Zero Fare program — which Parker wants to cut — and other future transit initiatives meant to benefit low-income Philadelphians.