By conducting a study comparing Philadelphia City Council to those in 14 other big American cities, Pew Charitable Trusts gave supporters and critics alike some hard numbers to make their cases.
City Council fans can now say less is spent from the budget here than in five other cities, and that there is a good councilperson-to-resident ratio.
Council haters can quickly respond that our 17 elected officials have sat in their seats longer on average (until, of course, four long-tenured council members retire at year’s end) and take more weeks off during the year.
Take a seat
Philadelphia has 17 City Council seats — compared to 51 in NYC and 8 in San Diego, the highest and lowest respectively.
