During the last City Council meeting before the summer recess, Councilman Mark Squilla introduced legislation Thursday aimed at incentivizing preservation of historic buildings — something developers often claim can be too difficult and too expensive.
The three bills introduced by Squilla, which came at Mayor Jim Kenney’s request, were introduced roughly two months after Kenney announced a slate of historic preservation priorities. Those ambitions, spurred by recommendations from the task force he formed to study the issue in 2017, range from ideas such as creating an inventory of all Philadelphia’s historic buildings, to procedural steps, such as streamlining the historic nomination and designation process.
Philadelphia parks are improving, thanks to Mayor Kenney’s Rebuild initiative. But need still abounds.
