Streets Dept Podcast – SN 2, EP 7: Influencing Philly’s Future, A Talk with Urbanist Jon Geeting

Excited to have Jon Geeting on the podcast this week!

Jon is the Director of Engagement for Philadelphia 3.0, a political action committee focused on City Council elections and governance reforms in the city of Philadelphia. Named one of the 100 most influential people in Philly by Philadelphia Magazine in 2017, Jon has been a leader in Philadelphia’s urbanist community, previously serving as Engagement Editor at PlanPhilly, where he covered urban policy and politics, and helped organize Philadelphia’s built environment community both online and offline. He was a co-founder of 5th Square, the urbanist political action committee, and the non-profit Open Streets PHL which advocated for the creation of the Philly Free Streets program. He is also an at-large board member of Fishtown Neighbors Association, and an 18th Ward Democratic committee person as of 2018.

For the last several years, Jon has played a big role in influencing Philly politics. And in a Streets Dept Podcast first, we inadvertently recorded Jon’s interview over two consecutive days (he had to pick his kids up before we finished on day one, and he graciously made time for us to come back the next day!) The result is one of our longest episodes to-date and a perfect one for it because we get in to a lot about local politics and cities; from the lack of media attention on local elections that can work to cause or at least spur low voter turnout and engagement to the not-so-secret secret “Gentlemen’s Agreement” that empowers individual Philadelphia District Council Members ultimately stifling the open, deliberative effects of a democratically elected body. We also talk about the organization and funding of Philadelphia 3.0 itself, which has in the past come under scrutiny. And we look forward to Philadelphia’s quickly approaching May 2019 primary elections.

Check out my conversation with Jon Geeting below, or on any major podcast streaming platform by searching “Streets Dept Podcast”!

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Season 2 of the Streets Dept Podcast is brought to you by our brilliant sponsors at Temple University! Each episode is mixed and edited by our Producer Mike Mehalick and recorded at the legendary Indy Hall coworking space in Old City, Philadelphia.