Last updated 9 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council on Thursday started its fall session with a flurry of legislation, including a bill to prohibit vehicles from stopping in bike lanes.
It’s a common problem for cyclists — getting around cars and trucks whose drivers ignore the “no parking” signs next to bike lanes.
The bill, sponsored by Council President Kenyatta Johnson, drew applause from a sizable contingent of bike safety advocates who also testified at the meeting. Johnson says drivers may not realize the jeopardy they put bikers in when they pull over into a bike lane.
“When you park in a lane, it causes the bicyclist to pull out into traffic — their lives, the vulnerability of a person actually getting hit,” he said.
Johnson’s bill would raise fines for even a brief stop in a bike lane.
“This is our effort in making sure that we address bicycle violence in Philadelphia. We’ll continue working with stakeholders who want to make sure that we have a safer city for pedestrians (and) bicycles.”
More than a dozen bicycle safety advocates, including Brian Shuffler, testified that stronger, more immediate measures are needed.
“We need concrete barriers now,” he said. “Design guides behavior. We need to guide behavior today and protect people.”
Councilmembers Rue Landau and Isaiah Thomas are sponsoring a resolution to hold hearings on bicycle and pedestrian safety .
Council passed most of the legislation it had worked on in the first half of the year, before summer recess, so the calendar for Thursday was thin, but members introduced a fair number of new measures for consideration this fall.
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada introduced two bills that would force mobile harm-reduction service providers — such as Narcan distributors — to operate away from residential streets and public spaces used by children and to remove all litter from where they park.
“We need to figure out how we get them to provide services in a more coordinated way, which is really where we’re heading,” she said.
Council also got bills to update electric vehicle charger rules and to preventively protect libraries from censorship. It also approved nearly a dozen hearings on issues including prison conditions, preparedness for the 2026 semiquincentennial celebration, the quality of school lunches and new water department meters.
Councilmember Nic O’Rourke wants hearings on improving conditions in Philadelphia’s prisons after a federal court recently found the city in contempt and ordered it to hire more staff and expand health care and other services for inmates.
Councilman Curtis Jones proposed hearings on food waste in public schools, endorsed by his colleague, Jeffrey Young.
“Some high school students mentioned to me their food is trash — that’s why it’s in the trash. So, we have to talk about why we’re feeding our children food that they deem inedible.”
Some observers thought Council might get its first veto from Mayor Cherelle Parker , but it did not happen. She opposes a bill, passed in June, that would abolish no-bid contracts , even for social service departments contracting with nonprofits.
In the end, Parker chose not to veto — but her administration says she plans to work with City Council to mitigate the bill’s unintended consequences before it takes effect next year.
Local News
