THE 8:30 REPORT: This Morning in Philly
We’re going down!: Philadelphia has lost more residents since the year 2000 than any other major American city except New Orleans — and we don’t have a tragic hurricane as an excuse. New Census Bureau estimates put us at 1,449,634 residents — a loss of 68,000 in seven years — but it’s not a new trend: We lost about that many between 1990 and 2000 as well. “That’s pretty consistent,” demographer Greg Harper told the Inquirer. “Philadelphia is one of the fastest-losing cities in the country.” Woo-hoo, our new slogan! [Inquirer]
Money woes affecting SEPTA safety?: The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday released its report on the 2006 R2 train collision that injured dozens, finding that two SEPTA employees who ignored alarms and a missing fail-safe system contributed to the crash. The backup system still hasn’t been installed on a quarter of the Regional Rail network, which a SEPTA spokesman attributes to a lack of funding. [KYW]
More chips stacked against casino locations: Calling the proposed sites “problematic,” Mayor Nutter has signed on for the Dwight Evans/Vince Fumo effort to get the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos to hie themselves off the waterfront. Neither company wants to budge, claiming to have already spent millions on their sites. [Metro]
