Philly Power Research

@researchphilly.bsky.social

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PPR is a group of volunteer researchers investigating our city's most powerful people, corporations, and organizations.

Screenshot from linked Inquirer article: "Council members also rejected Parker's plan to increase funding for pothole repairs by imposing a 25-cent-per-order tax on retail delivery services like GoPuff and Amazon, and they killed her plan to increase the city hotel tax and a tax on short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo to fund homeless prevention services."

Screenshot of Bizapedia page from Kimbark Foundation with text:

"Company Overview: Kimbark Foundation is a Domestic Corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware. The business was filed on December 19, 2025 and is currently listed as Active with the Delaware Secretary of State. The official file number for this entity is 10446337.

The Registered Agent on file is Cogency Global Inc., located at 850 New Burton Road Suite 201 Dover, DE 19904."

https://www.bizapedia.com/de/kimbark-foundation.html

Image with text: "Philly says ICE out! City Council hearing + first vote: Monday April 13, 10am-5pm, City Hall, Room 400. Lunch provided. Caucus lobby: Thursday April 9, meet at 8:30am, City Hall, Room 400"

Screenshot from Inquirer article with headline "ICE vehicle able to exit garage, helped by Philly police", a picture of police officers standing between a white vehicle and protesters, and text "Just before 9:30 a.m., a white sedan – which had initially been blocked by protesters – was able to exit the ICE headquarters parking bay with the help of Philadelphia Police. No one was arrested."

Line chart showing budgeted vs. filled uniform police positions in the Philadelphia Police Department. The budgeted line stays fairly flat, decreasing from 6575 in 2019 to 6380 from 2020 onward. The filled line increases slightly from 6115 in 2016 to 6486 in 2019 and then decreases substantially and fairly consistently each year to a low of 5310 in 2025.

Screenshot from Chalkbeat article:
"Cyber charter operators said in a joint statement Wednesday the reforms would amount to a significant budget cut and could force up to seven cyber charter schools to close within two years. And they estimate the budget deal would lead to layoffs of 2,000 cyber charter teachers and staff.

Jon Marsh, CEO of Esperanza Cyber Charter School based in North Philly, said in a Wednesday statement that the budget represented “an attack on some of the most chronically disenfranchised and disadvantaged students in our Commonwealth.”"

https://www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia/2025/11/12/pennsylvania-budget-deal-means-193-million-increase-for-philly-schools/

Screenshot from a post on Axon website: "With Draft One, the large language model’s creativity is turned off and report narratives are drafted strictly from information found in body-worn camera video transcripts.

The underlying model used for Draft One transcription is Open AI’s GPT-4 Turbo. We calibrated the model to prevent speculation or embellishments like those often found in consumer-grade AI output. Draft One report narratives stick to the facts and require officers to review and approve each narrative draft for accuracy

I was concerned that it was going to start making assumptions to fill in the blanks. But the way Axon has worked on this model and turned the creativity down, there are no assumptions, no unusual statements — just the facts, which I really like."

Screenshot of Inquirer article: "Just as importantly, the city's finances, while still precarious, have improved dramatically since the 1990s, and union leaders know the city is in a better position to afford demands to increase pay. (In contract negotiations this year, the mayor's administration has stressed that President Donald Trump's threats to cut federal funding could devastate the city budget. Boulware was unmoved.)"

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/afscme-strike-history-mayor-ed-rendell-20250703.html

Quoted text from Philly Inquirer: "DC 33 members 'keep our city moving,' Councilmember Isaiah Thomas says

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas said he stands with DC 33 and their quest for a “fair contract with full benefits and adequate pay.”

“DC 33 workers keep our city moving day in and day out. During the pandemic we called them essential,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “They were the boots on the ground keeping the City of Philadelphia going.”

Thomas, who grew up in a union family, said “DC 33 workers deserve a contract that treats them as essential, a contract with fair pay and benefits that scales with the skyrocketing cost of living.”

— Fallon Roth"

Flyer for District Council 33 pop-up solidarity rally, northeast corner of City Hall, Monday June 30 @ 5:00pm. Text includes "We are taking the fight to the people! The power of the people is greater than the people in power!"

Screenshot from Inquirer article: "SEPTA says that it has no choice but to be prepared, and that the eye-popping reductions are not a political threat but a realistic assessment of the bad choices available as it faces a $213 million annual structural deficit." https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/septa-budget-announcement-bus-subway-cuts-20250410.html

Graphic with money image background, and text "Families Over Billionaires Tax Day Rally, April 15th 2025, North Apron City Hall (Philadelphia) 12pm. Be a part of the movement to stop the billionaire bailouts. Pennsylvanians Together."

Infographic showing changes in BIRT tax liability for different sizes of businesses under Mayor Parker's budget proposal. For a very small business ($100k gross revenue), BIRT tax liability would increase from $0 in FY25 to $705 in FY26. For a small business ($500k gross revenue), BIRT tax liability would increase from $2,848 in FY25 to $3,523 in FY26. For a large business ($100 million gross revenue), BIRT tax liability would decrease from $711,288 in FY25 to $704,500 in FY26. All of these examples are using 10% of gross revenue as net income.

Screenshot of campaign finance filing by Judge Dugan for DA showing contributions of $3,700 each on 12/23/2024 from G Alexander Bochetto and Gavin Lentz. Not shown, there is also a $1,000 contribution on 12/23/2024 from David Heim.

Screenshot from Inquirer article:
"Thomas, who represents the city at-large, said that Trump’s efforts aren’t necessarily fatal to the effort to lower Philly taxes.

“The Trump threat is real, but it’s nothing tangible now,” Thomas said. “I’m committed [to tax cuts] until the numbers say we can’t do it. ... Losing federal funding doesn’t necessarily mean that we cant move forward.”"

Screenshot of SEC Form 4 showing Ryan Boyer owning 9,668.556 shares of stock in FS Credit Real Estate Income Trust, Inc., priced at $24.1693/share, as of 11/01/2024.

Photo of overturned horse-drawn trash wagon during the Garbage Riots, West Philadelphia, October 1938, pg. 57 from "AFSCME'S Philadelphia Story" book

Screenshot from article: "Some Chamber of Commerce members are concerned about a doomsday scenario in which SEPTA cuts off-peak service, as it did during the pandemic, which would make it difficult for many workers to get to their jobs, Sauter said.

“If it goes there, and that’s certainly an assumption that a lot of employers are taking, that may affect how they make their investments in Pennsylvania, that may affect their ability to access talent, and it may actually require that they make decisions about their business locations,” he said."
https://billypenn.com/2024/10/03/septa-funding-gambling-pennsylvania-senate/

Bar graphs showing 2023 election results for Council At-Large and Mayor races including just precincts in City Council District 1.
Council At-Large:
1) Landau 16,678
2) Thomas 15.177
3) Gilmore Richardson 14,602
4) McIllmurray 10.937
5) Almiron 9,205
6) Santamoor 7,872
7) Ahmad 6,729
8) Itzkowitz 6,135
9) Harrity 5,354
Mayor:
1) Rhynhart 12,347
2) Gym 11,476
3) Domb 3,848
4) Parker 3,217
5) Jeff Brown 1,196