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Daniel Pearson

@dpearsonphl.bsky.social
2.3K followers 239 following 298 posts

I’m an editorial writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer focused on urban policy-transit, housing, and planning

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Reposted by Daniel Pearson
Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
May I offer the reasonable suggestion that the Preservation Alliance should stop nominating random houses and sweeping historic districts until all of the city's major institutional landmarks are successfully nominated
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
That's really cool.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Local control is the wrong solution for Data Centers, the city has tools to protect low-income homeowners from increased assessments, and Sheriff Bilal needs more the a babysitter, her office must be abolished and she herself should be replaced. www.inquirer.com/opinion/sher...
inquirer.com
The sheriff’s office doesn’t need a babysitter; it needs to be abolished | Shackamaxon
Plus: Jason Kelce adds to the confusion on data centers, and the city’s most recent property valuations set off a firestorm of consternation.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I don't blame him for exploiting the public's lack of attention to detail.
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Brian @brian215.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
This is so Philadelphia it hurts.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 24/08/2026
“After an intense building flurry, Auckland’s housing stock is now 618,849 units, which is 101,000 more than a decade ago…Meanwhile Auckland house prices, with a median value of just over NZ$1mn (US$587,000), have lost a quarter of their value in that timeframe.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Let me be exceptionally clear: the reason why minorities are consistently better served, across the world, by central and anonymous exams is because they are better served by a fair assessment process, and not one in which they are the victim of either witting or unwitting bias.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I don’t post on Reddit but this is a fairly common occurrence when I browse it. The upvote system often elevates this disinfo as well
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Our car is at 173000 miles and rarely needs work.
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Jake Anbinder @jakeanbinder.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Really can't be overstated how southernified mass culture has gotten. If you lived in the northeast 20 years ago, you did not listen to country music, could not buy barbecue in a restaurant, and certainly did not know anyone who attended an SEC school
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This week's column tackles the 5th District, a new SEPTA docuseries, and the political pitfalls of both embracing and fighting data centers. www.inquirer.com/opinion/data...
inquirer.com
Data centers are good business but bad politics. Josh Shapiro tries to thread the needle. | Shackamaxon
Plus: Challengers line up to take on Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr., and SEPTA police officers get ready for their close-up.
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sick public transit, gloria @seung.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
good tough question both the main liberal (DPK) and conservative (PPP) parties are 100x more YIMBY than any two parties in the US or the Anglosphere. that is why there is constant housing supply flow in Greater Seoul region. but how there are small/medium differences that sets them apart 🧵
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
It is probably not good that a lot of people’s quality of life declines when they leave school and get a job.
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Philadelphia Inquirer @inquirer.com · 07/08/2026
Tickets are sent to the owners of vehicles based on evidence gathered by windshield-mounted cameras on 152 buses on 16 routes.
inquirer.com
Under the watchful eye of SEPTA’s AI bus cameras, a decline in parking perpetrators
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I wrote about the time that I helped uncover a former Congressman's hare brained voter fraud scheme...and why the SAVE Act would do absolutely nothing to stop it. www.inquirer.com/opinion/elec...
inquirer.com
I’ve caught real voter fraud. Trump’s claims about New Jersey don’t come close. | Daniel Pearson
Before joining The Inquirer, I worked at the Philadelphia City Commissioners investigating voting irregularities. Mistakes happen — but they’re usually found and fixed, despite the president’s claims.
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Dan Packel @packel.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Minding my business on the Broad-Erie platform recently with daughter (10) on the way to the Phillies, and old head looked me right in the eyes and gave me a half smile while puffing on a dutchie. Thanks @dpearsonphl.bsky.social for calling this shit out. www.inquirer.com/opinion/adam...
inquirer.com
Despite good intentions from the city, Philly’s streets remain deadlier than those in New York and Chicago | Shackamaxon
Plus: The mayor loses two key staffers, smoking on SEPTA is ubiquitous, and the Sixers welcome the King.
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Jake Blumgart @jblumgart.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
"Our traffic fatality rate of 9.04 deaths per 100,000 residents is triple New York’s 2.86 and roughly double Washington’s 4.73. The next closest city, Chicago, came in at 7.15." www.inquirer.com/opinion/adam...
inquirer.com
Despite good intentions from the city, Philly’s streets remain deadlier than those in New York and Chicago | Shackamaxon
Plus: The mayor loses two key staffers, smoking on SEPTA is ubiquitous, and the Sixers welcome the King.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
It is easy to complain about the PPA, but the city's motorists have brought the recent surge in camera-enforcement upon themselves. The city's roads are simply too dangerous to consider reversing course. www.inquirer.com/opinion/adam...
inquirer.com
Despite good intentions from the city, Philly’s streets remain deadlier than those in New York and Chicago | Shackamaxon
Plus: The mayor loses two key staffers, smoking on SEPTA is ubiquitous, and the Sixers welcome the King.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
They are second cousins too. I don’t even know any of my second cousins’ names.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I have pointed out a couple times that she only won by 400 or so votes. Sadly my line about how she pushed chestnut hill into voting for a communist has been cut a few times.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Saval is fantastic but I don’t see anyone of his stature on dock for Squilla’s seat. In general there’s a much stronger progressive agenda for federal and state politics than there is locally. So that’s where the talent goes.
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5th Square Advocacy @5thsqadvocacy.org · 20/07/2026
@iancoss.bsky.social's Highway Teardown Tour came to Philadelphia for an episode on I-95 with @ingasaffron.bsky.social, @dpearsonphl.bsky.social, and Leslie Richards--it's a great listen: www.wgbh.org/podcasts/big...
wgbh.org
Highway Teardown Tour | 9. Philadelphia, PA
Even as cities try to heal the damage of the interstate era, we are also continuing to expand our urban highways, continuing to turn parks and neighborhoods into new lanes and new off-ramps. So why is...
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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I think what most people miss is that transit safety is a function of how well your city handles first-order safety & behavior. The lazy ones will push the problem onto transit property to make it not their problem anymore!
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Mark Squilla is one of the best members of Council!
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
It is good that see challengers to the city's incumbents. But what, exactly, do these folks plan to do with power once they get it? And why are they trying to get rid of Mark Squilla, one of the best members of City Council? www.inquirer.com/opinion/chri...
inquirer.com
Progressive candidates line up to challenge Council incumbents | Shackamaxon
Plus: Self-driving cars come to Philly, and the city shines as a host during America’s 250th birthday year.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Are you familiar with colloquial language usage?
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
He’s got Adams police commissioner, his policing policies, voucher policies, it hasn’t been this massive divergence. I’m well aware of the rent freeze. It remains to be seen if it is good governance.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Okay two policies one that's less than a week old compared to literally everything else (like a police commissioner). I'm sorry but the left has to accept people talking about their politicians as politicians and not comic book heroes.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Exactly.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
The claim isn't that he's governance challenged though. Read the sentence. It says may.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The rent freeze literally just happened how can you possibly judge it already? It is just as fair to say that people on the left literally can't handle even the softest criticism of their heroes
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The rent freeze literally just happened how can you possibly judge it already? It is just as fair to say that people on the left literally can't handle even the softest criticism of their heroes
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
He did say may. It has been one year and mamdani is mostly keeping Adams' policies.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Most of the British Empire was garrisoned and supervised by local people. The quinine in the gin helped.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Here's a New York city councilmember threatening to get a bunch of grad students in trouble with the university administration because he doesn't like the recommendations in their research project. Wildly inappropriate IMO and CUNY should tell him to pound sand.
@philwongNYC on X saying: "I will also be reaching out to CUNY to ask why studies like this are being published without students even talking to the community and while including institutions that are totally opposed and were never consulted."
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HK @hkesvani.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Out on a run and came across a couple having a break up. The woman yelled that the guy cared more about “his YouTube videos” than her. Fully expected it to be some Andrew Tate shit until he sheepishly said “trains mean so much to me but you’ve never understood that”
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Job Itzkowitz @jobforphilly.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
68,000 people at the World Cup match. These are the parking lots. It's magic!
Empty parking lotAnother empty parking lot.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 09/06/2026
I do not agree with this AT ALL! American wages are extremely high. It’s a lot more realistic to bring the price of transportation down from $12,000/year to $5,000/year and rent down from $2,000/mo. to $1,500/mo. than it is to bring a medical assistant’s salary up from $55,000 to $75,000
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PA House Majority Policy Committee @padempolicy.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Public transit funding is a statewide need. In all 67 counties people depend on it to get to work, the doctor and so much more. www.goerie.com/story/news/p...
goerie.com
How does the Pa. budget serve public transit outside big-city hubs?
Most Pennsylvania transit systems aren’t in the state's two biggest cities. This is how the state budget touches them.
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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Graham Platner is an abusive weirdo who knowingly kept a Nazi tattoo for years and has never succeeded at anything in his life. What if that's what voters want right now?
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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Please do not say the sentence "kids don't want to feel the adult behind the book" but also yes they fucking do. One of the best parts of being a kid is reading a book that is just out of your grasp of maturity. Feeling like you're getting an early preview of the world.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 28/05/2026
This should be a warning for the Spanish left: build more housing or the right will rise and shut down immigration for you too www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
However, warnings about long-term economic fallout appear to be struggling to get through to voters who see long lines at apartment viewings, expensive rents and crowded trains that are affecting them right now. The cap appears to offer an easy fix, with a message that there's just no more space for newcomers.It's even got traction among those who work for companies which benefit from foreign talent. In private conversations, executives at international banks say they can see some merit in the idea as a response to strains in areas like housing.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I always saw the Greene Country Towne as an early attempt at zoning, one that was quickly rejected by the early residents.
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Jerome Alexander Horne @jahorne.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
It's funny how we can prop up transit and make quick investments when it involves sports on a world stage... I wish we cared enough about regular people in this country to make transit this good for communities all the time. www.npr.org/2026/05/20/n...
npr.org
To host the World Cup, Kansas City built a whole new transit system
Kansas City, the smallest World Cup host city, is preparing for residents to be outnumbered by visitors this June. Efforts to actually get fans to the stadium outside the city meant existing public tr...
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 22/05/2026
I have an exciting Friday afternoon announcement: @willskud.bsky.social has joined the Center for Building in North America has a policy analyst! Among other things, he'll be staying on top of the reform tracker better than I ever did, and has already added a ton to it centerforbuilding.org/trackers
centerforbuilding.org
Reform Trackers — Center for Building in North America
Track building code reform progress across North America with our interactive map and list views.
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◥◤Kriston Capps 250 @kristoncapps.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
JLG's social housing plan — a mandate for 1/3 extremely low income, 1/3 very low income and 1/3 market-rate, with ground-floor retail going to progressive-aligned options like daycare — would likely mean zero housing being built. My understanding is this couldn't pencil anywhere in the DMV.
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Scott Spratt @scottspratt.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Why can a normal car even reach 137 mph? I'm not a car guy, so maybe there's a mechanical reason I don't understand. But I feel like car speeds should be capped for safety similar to how water heating systems cap temperatures for safety.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
In my rewatch, it was incredible how much Megan was outright gunning for him. Maybe not to get married at first, but the whole "oh I'm just stopping by looking incredible before I go out just in case you needed me to do work first" schtick is like the 10th example of her doing it.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
It seems like it should be faster than that though, with all the eliminated stops. The L is going straight from FTC to Girard.
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Daniel Pearson @dpearsonphl.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Question for transit operations nerds Septa is running 30 minutes headways for their overnight service during the summer. They are also shrinking the footprint. Wouldn't this combination lead to a bunch of wasted time at each terminal?
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