Re-Cap: Lunch with the City’s Leaders featuring Paul Levy, Center City District
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On Wednesday, February 16, 2022, we held our most recent “Lunch with the City’s Leaders” event, featuring the President and CEO of Center City District, Paul R. Levy, to discuss the ongoing challenges Philadelphia faces and how local businesses can help. After check-in, Center City Business Association President, Suzette Munley, and President of the Community College of Philadelphia, Dr. Donald Guy Generals, introduced speaker Paul Levy. A New Jersey native, Paul, visited Philly in 1976 and, upon falling in love with its historic preservation edits, moved to Philadelphia. With experience as a Doctor of History, teaching in Brooklyn and Bronx public schools, lecturing at the University of Pennsylvania, and position within the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation and Institute for the Study of Civic Values, Levy created Center City District to make the downtown clean, safe and attractive for people to work, live and enjoy.
Setting the Future for Philadelphia
In his talk, Levy discussed a variety of issues that have plagued Philadelphia in recent years while also providing insights to how the city is approaching these problems. He moved from remote work, to working with homeless populations, and the roots of community policing, along with a plethora of other actions to improve public safety and lower crime rates. His talk also touched on the importance of the arts and culture for children, along with more help to female-owned and black-owned businesses, and increased presence in certain parts of the city.
One of Paul’s main concerns focused on the jobs lost by a move to remote-work and how we can move individuals back into the office. He explained that during the pandemic, most businesses operated at 35-40% in office, usually meaning about three days a week, and smaller firms had higher levels of occupancy. Before Omicron, people were returning to the office at a steady rate, but this has declined in recent months due to growing Omicron cases. He pointed out that working from home eliminates jobs for those that cannot work from home, such as architects, nurses, construction workers and more.
To combat these issues and bring more people back to the city, Center City District has begun plans to create more attractive rail lines, provide improvements to jeweler’s road, improvements to city hall lighting, cleanliness, safety and a competitive business structure. He also noted that 62% of development is occurring in 17% of the city. Some of the projects leading the way include Parkway’s 2222 Market Street development for Morgan Lewis & Bockius, and a new mixed-use lounge and apartment building project by Brandywine Realty Trust.
Thank You Members and Sponsors!
Thank you to those who could attend our “Lunch with the City’s Leaders'' event, and thank you to our community, for all that you do to make Philadelphia's Center City the best place to do business. Additionally, we thank the sponsors of our “Lunch with the City’s Leaders'' event featuring Paul Levy, including Citizens Bank, Community College of Philadelphia, Friedman LLP, KYW, LevLane, PECO, Post Brothers, and Visit Philadelphia.
Don’t forget about our upcoming event, “Women Changing the City,” on March 16, 2022 at the Museum of the American Revolution, where local female leaders Crystal Ashby, EVP and Chief People Officer of Independence Blue Cross, Amy Needle, President and CEO of Historic Philadelphia and Isabelle Kent, Executive Director of Philly Start Up Leaders will tell stories of how they overcame challenges that shaped their future, along with tips on leadership.
You can register for this event or any of our other events here.