Philadelphia City Council Gets Back To Work After Summer Recess
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia City Council gets back to business Thursday after a summer recess.
Council managed to wrap up a lot of this year's work before the break, including legislation for the half-billion dollar rebuild of city facilities, but it has more to do on a couple of bills introduced just before the recess. Councilman Derek Green proposed a charter change that would allow for public financing of elections.
"If you look at the trend in voter participation, [it] has gone down," Green said. "If you look at the impact of citizens united, this provides an opportunity, one, for more people to run for office, get involved in the process. It also allows for individuals to focus on more small dollar donations."
It could get expensive for taxpayers, though, who'd become campaign funders.
Council will also be considering an affordable housing bill that would require that ten percent of the units in every major new development be priced for the working poor.
"If there is a housing boom and there's all this private sector capacity," said Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, "how do they become part of the solution in helping us create these units?"
Some members are also coming armed with new bills to introduce, including one aimed at ensuring environmental justice in the city.