The Brief: Philly’s Maternal Mortality Rate Is Worse Than Libya’s

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1. A new report digs into Philadelphia’s extremely high maternal mortality rate.

The gist: The city’s maternal mortality rate is 27.4 per 100,000 births, according to a new study by the Department of Public Health. “The surprising findings for many people was that so many of these tragic deaths were related to social-economic status,” perinatologist Jason Baxter told NewsWorks. Other causes include domestic violence, drug addiction, mental health issues and chronic disease.

Why it matters: To put this into context, Philadelphia’s maternal mortality rate lags behind those in such countries as Libya (27 per 100,000 births, according to a 2014 report) and Iran (13.5 per 100,000 births). It’s also much worse than the United States’ maternal mortality rate (18.5 per 100,000 births), which is already extremely high for a developed nation. (Comparatively, Canada’s maternal mortality rate is 8.2 per 100,000 births.) What’s really scary to think about is what Philly’s maternal mortality rate might look like if the city wasn’t home to some of the best medical professionals in the country, who are surely helping to keep the number lower than it would be otherwise.

2. Could Philly’s plan to sell tax liens cripple its new land bank?

The gist: Community development advocates are starting to ask questions about the city’s plan, championed by Council President Darrell Clarke, to sell tax liens on commercial properties to raise money for the cash-strapped schools. PlanPhilly reports that the Public Interest Law Center, Habitat for Humanity and other groups wrote to Council and Mayor Michael Nutter last week about their concerns, saying that the money might not be collectible and that lien sales might harm the city’s land bank.

Why it matters: The land bank, you’ll recall, is that new-ish city organization, which supporters said would be able to fight blight by serving as a clearinghouse for publicly-owned land in addition to being able acquire and reassemble private properties. If the lien sales are a flop, the land bank could suffer. That’s because it may have to pay to clear liens in future years in order to obtain properties. Community development advocates aren’t the only people worried about the lien sales. Although Clarke says they could increase education funding by as much as $30 million, school district officials aren’t so sure. The district had already been expecting to receive $83 million from the city’s delinquent tax collections, and a spokesman told Citified that could mean “there’s going to be no actual gain in revenues for the school district” from lien sales.

3. While trekking throughout the city, a canvasser for the mayoral election hears what residents in different neighborhoods think are their biggest problems.

The gist: Canvasser Neilay Shah wrote a great essay on NewsWorks about what he heard from people while knocking on doors for the last few months, asking if they were going to vote in the May 19th primary. There’s the man in South Philly who is concerned that black people are being pushed out of his neighborhood, the woman in Northeast Philly who complains that the “rest of the city [is getting] so expensive that it’s starting to push its trash out here,” and the lady in Southwest Philly who talks about immigrants “coming in here taking all the jobs.”

Why it matters: You should just read it. It’s a fascinating look at some of the tensions within Philly’s neighborhoods.