Philly Power Research

@researchphilly

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

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Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Jun 11

In a year when Philly's hospitality sector is surely going to see great profits from World Cup, Semiquincentennial, etc., City Council chose to axe $20 million for homeless services that Parker proposed funding through increased taxes on hotels & short-term rentals. www.inquirer.com/politics/phi...

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."

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Apr 22

Latest filing by 314 Action Fund, the Super PAC supporting Ala Stanford, shows a $500k contribution from a mysterious "Kimbark Foundation" on 3/9/26. The "foundation" just filed its incorporation on 12/19/25. Seems highly sus as possible AIPAC pass-through. 1/ docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/form...

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

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Apr 2

We demand a city free from Trump’s deportations, fear & violence. ICE Out bills put our values into law & prioritize immigrant communities' safety. Show up Mon. 4/13 for Council hearing & 1st vote to demand no city $, personnel, data or space be used to help ICE! RSVP www.mobilize.us/ndwa-c3/even...

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"

Imagen con texto: "Philly dice fuera ICE! Audiencia en la alcaldía y primer voto: lunes 13 de abril, 10am-5pm, Alcaldía, cuarto 400. Habrá almuerzo. Día de cabildeo: jueves 9 de abril, nos reunimos: 8:30. Alcaldía, cuarto 400."

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Jan 20

Any expressions of concern about ICE from the @mayorparker.bsky.social administration are meaningless if they're allowing Philly police to actively assist ICE.

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."

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Jan 11

Philly never really defunded its police dept, but the public disdain toward policing in the 2020 uprising era contributed to years of police under-staffing. (Under-reported sidenote that historic lows in murders last yr happened at same time that police staffing was lower than it had been in yrs)

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.

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Nov 21

A little too on the nose that this cyber charter school CEO complaining about the new cyber charter accountability measures in the PA state budget is converting a 219-year-old public library into his private home.

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 Esperanza Cyber Charter School website:
"Dr. Jon Marsh is married to Dr. Rose Marsh, a biology teacher, and they have two adult children and three grandchildren. In their spare time, Jon and Rose are converting a 219-year-old public library into their home."

https://www.esperanza.us/dr-jon-marsh/

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Aug 26

Philly has large contracts with Axon for police body cameras. Axon is developing an AI tool for generation of police reports based on body camera audio. They say we don't have to be worried about AI hallucination because they "turned off" the model's "creativity." www.axon.com/resources/dr...

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."

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Jul 3

Wild for Parker admin to be saying they can't give workers the raises they are demanding due to Trump funding threats when the mayor and City Council JUST LAST MONTH passed a huge 13-year business and wage tax cut plan. Those tax cuts alone could pay for the raises that DC33 is asking for.

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

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Jul 1

Meanwhile, @cmthomasphl.bsky.social was pushing for even bigger tax cuts than Mayor Parker this year. These are a lot of empty words from him.

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"

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Jun 29

Come out to support city workers, who may be going on strike Tuesday! Rally Monday 5pm, northeast corner of City Hall

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!"

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Apr 11

Almost the entire SEPTA structural deficit could be filled by the Working Families Party Councilmembers' proposed wealth tax on holdings of stocks and bonds.

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

Screenshot from Inquirer article: "Brooks first introduced a wealth tax in Council’s last term, but it went nowhere. The new version includes tweaks that address criticisms of her initial try, such as excluding retirement accounts and college savings funds. The tax would generate $200 million per year, with 70% coming from the top 5% of earners, according to a Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center analysis cited in the memo." https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/working-families-party-wealth-tax-plan-city-council-20250326.html

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Apr 10

Families Over Billionaires Tax Day Rally Tuesday 4/15 at noon at Philly City Hall!

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."

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Mar 24

Mayor Parker's budget proposal would have the city preemptively cave to the demands of big business, creating major new financial and tax filing burdens for Philly small businesses.

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.

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Feb 23

Lawyers Bochetto, Lentz, and Heim, who worked on Trump's legal defense team during his second impeachment trial, gave a combined $8,400 to Pat Dugan's campaign for District Attorney in December. Dugan is challenging Larry Krasner in the Democratic primary.

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.

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Feb 10

And if the rumors about Isaiah Thomas being interested in running against Parker for mayor in a couple years are true, he shouldn't expect support from the left if this is how he's approaching the current crisis.

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.”"

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Dec 11

In addition to his job running Philly building trades council, Ryan Boyer is receiving $150k/yr in comp from FS CREIT and owns over $233k worth of stock in the company as of 11/1. He is joined on the FS board by political allies Michael Forman & 76ers owner David Adelman. www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

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.

Screenshot of FS Credit Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. Schedule 14A filing filed 4/5/24 showing Ryan Boyer receiving $60,000 in cash and $90,000 in stock awards as annual fees for serving as an independent director of the company.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1690536/000119312524088432/d399090ddef14a.htm

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Nov 20

Mayor Parker is about to learn how hard it is to implement "safe, clean, and green" if you don't treat city workers with dignity and respect. (pic from Francis Ryan's "AFSCME's Philadelphia Story" during the 1938 sanitation strike)

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

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Oct 8

After decades of telling us that businesses will leave the city/state if we don't cut taxes, the Chamber of Commerce is now telling us that businesses will leave the city if we don't fund SEPTA. Wondering where they think SEPTA funding comes from... billypenn.com/2024/10/03/s...

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/

Philly Power Research@researchphilly· Sep 26

If Mark Squilla supports the arena and gets a serious anti-arena challenger from the left next election, seems like he would likely lose. Parker got just 10% of the vote in his district last year. Progressive org-backed candidates swept Council At-Large primary in his district.