Ballot
questions

A printable PDF version of this list of ballot questions is available from the Committee of Seventy's web site.
With the exception of City Bond Question #8, which does not involve a Charter amendment, each question is accompanied by a Plain English Statement prepared by the City of Philadelphia that explains its meaning and implications.

Please note that there will be a sticker covering what was originally printed as Charter
Change Question 1 because it has recently been removed from the ballot by Court
order. This will not change the order of the other ballot questions. Therefore, the first
question you will be able to cast your vote on is Charter Change Question 2.

Charter Change Question 1

(Removed by Court order)

Charter Change Question 2

Bill #060617

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended so that, effective January 1, 2008, City elected officials may become candidates for nomination or election to any public office without first resigning from their City office?

Plain English Statement: Currently, the Home Rule Charter prohibits all City officers and employees from running for election to public office while serving as a City officer or employee. The Charter currently provides one exception to this “resign to run” rule: Elected City officials can run for re-election to the office they already hold, without first resigning. This proposed amendment would expand that exception by allowing elected City officials to run for any public office, without first resigning from the office they already hold.
The amendment would not apply to the Mayor. The Mayor is prohibited by a separate Charter provision from running for any other public office without first resigning as Mayor. That provision relating to the Mayor is not being amended.

Charter Change Question 3

Bill #060581

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create a Youth Commission, with members between the ages of 12 and 23 years of age, to be responsible for advising the City Council and the Mayor regarding issues affecting children and youth in order to ensure that children and youth have a voice regarding policies and decisions affecting them?

Plain English Statement: The primary responsibility of this new Commission would be to provide to the Mayor, Council and other City agencies advice and comment on policies and proposed legislation which are of concern to the children and youth of the City. Council also would be authorized to give the Commission additional duties.
The Commission would be composed of 21 City residents, four appointed by the Mayor and one by each member of Council. Members would be between the ages of 12 and 23, and would be chosen from among individuals who have an understanding of the needs of young people in the City or who have experience working with youth and youth-related activities. The members shall represent the racial, gender, ethnic and cultural diversity of the City.

Charter Change Question 4

Bill #060682

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide that the six appointed members of the City Planning Commission shall include an architect, an urban planner, a traffic engineer, an attorney experienced in land use issues, and two representatives of Philadelphia community groups that participate in land use issues?

Plain English Statement: Currently, the City Planning Commission is composed of the Managing Director, the Director of Finance, the City Representative and six additional members appointed by the Mayor. The Home Rule Charter imposes no particular qualifications on the six appointed members, other than that at least five not be public officials. This proposed amendment would impose additional qualifications on the six appointees, requiring that the appointees include an architect, an urban planner, a traffic engineer, an attorney experienced in land use issues, and two representatives of community groups that participate in land use issues.

Charter Change Question 5

Bill #060684

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide that the City Planning Commission may extend for up to 45 days the time period within which it must provide a recommendation to Council on pending legislation affecting zoning, the City’s physical development plan, land subdivision, or authorizing the purchase or sale of real estate?

Plain English Statement: Currently, the Home Rule Charter requires that Council wait at least 45 days before passing any bill that affects any plans of streets or land subdivision plans, and at least 30 days before passing any bill that affects any zoning ordinance or the Physical Development Plan of the City, or which would authorize the acquisition or sale of City real estate. These waiting periods are designed to give the City Planning Commission an opportunity to provide a recommendation on the proposed bill prior to final passage by Council. This proposed amendment to the Charter would allow the City Planning Commission to extend its review period for both types of bills by an additional 45 days.

Charter Change Question 6

Bill #060699

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for the creation, appointment, powers and duties of an independent Zoning Code Commission which would recommend amendments to the Philadelphia Zoning Code to make the Code consistent and easy to understand, and to enhance and improve Philadelphia’s city planning process while encouraging development and protecting the character of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods?

Plain English Statement: This amendment to the Home Rule Charter, if approved, would create a new City commission called the Zoning Code Commission.
The primary responsibility of this new Commission would be to perform a comprehensive review of the Philadelphia Zoning Code. The Commission would make specific recommendations for changes to the Zoning Code, and would propose a plan for performing a comprehensive revision of the City’s zoning maps. In making its recommendations, the Commission would be directed to consider the need: to make the Zoning Code consistent and easy to understand; to enhance and improve the City’s development approval process; to encourage positive development; to protect the character of the City’s neighborhoods; and for neighborhood controls and community input in zoning decisions.
The Commission’s recommendations would not be binding upon City Council. Rather, the proposed amendment would establish a schedule by which City Council and the City Planning Commission must consider and vote on the new Commission’s recommendations.
The Commission would be composed of 31 members: three City officials with responsibility for zoning matters; three members of City Council; five representatives of various Chambers of Commerce; ten persons with experience in land use matters, five appointed by the Mayor and five by the Council President; and ten community leaders, one appointed by each district councilmember.

Charter Change Question 7

Bill #060849

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to state the citizens’ views regarding the mission served by U.S. troops in Iraq and that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the United States to make year 2007 the time to redeploy U.S. troops out of harm’s way in Iraq?

Plain English Statement: This amendment to the Home Rule Charter, if approved, would state that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the United States government to redeploy American troops out of harm’s way in Iraq, in 2007. The amendment also would state that the citizens believe our troops have performed their mission successfully and with honor; and that redeployment will strengthen Iraqi determination to establish a coalition government and to rebuild their nation.

City Bond Question 8

Bill #070021

Should the city of Philadelphia borrow $129,695,000 for and toward: Transit, Streets and Sanitation; Municipal Buildings; Parks; Recreation and Museums and; Economic and Community Development?

Plain English Statement:None

Charter ChangE Question 9

Bill #060576-A

Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to add a provision stating that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the stopping of real estate tax assessment increases which would result from the Philadelphia Board of Revision of Taxes’ use of a new method of figuring tax
assessments called “Full Valuation”?

Plain English Statement: This amendment to the Home Rule Charter, if approved, would state that the citizens of Philadelphia urge the Board of Revision of Taxes to stop the increase in real estate tax assessments that, according to the proposed amendment, would result from the Board’s use of a “new method of figuring tax assessments called ‘Full Valuation.’” The proposed amendment to the Charter would not be binding upon the Board.

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