Bankruptcy in Chester
Of all the city bankruptcies I’ve covered, Chester, Pennsylvania has captured my attention like no other. This small city outside of Philadelphia filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 and I’ve been following its incredible—and at times shocking—story ever since. This collection page features my ongoing coverage of Chester.
How to steal a water utility
It’s been almost two years since the Philadelphia-area city of Chester, Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy and I figured it was a good time to revisit one of the biggest sticking points in the case: water. As usual with Chester, the backstory is unique and takes some explaining. This newsletter will focus on the city while my next installment later in the week will look at the pros and cons of selling off troubled city assets for cash.
The three-year fight over who's in charge of a bankrupt city
After more than nine months of waiting, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court finally issued its ruling on a key piece of the city’s recovery plan. The court affirmed the city Receiver’s plan, rejecting the challenge brought by now-former Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland and other elected officials. Now, the bankruptcy case in federal court could potentially start moving faster than the glacial pace it has set thus far.
Chester's bankruptcy one year later
It’s been exactly one year since the city of Chester, Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy and while a lot has changed, overall progress has been slow. In fact, the only city bankruptcy case that had made less progress than Chester has after a year is San Bernardino, California—which spent a decade wading through its Chapter 9 bankruptcy case before it finally closed last year.
The cost of becoming a 'waste magnet'
The evolution of Chester’s waterfront from a hub of industry and middle-class jobs to a trash-strewn stretch of land with poor air quality and a high concentration of poverty is a stark one. How Chester got to this point and what the city receiver’s team wants to do about it is illustrative of the challenges other communities face as they try to undo decades of harm caused by racist economic development practices and environmental injustice.
Becoming mayor of a bankrupt city
This week, I’ll look at what mayoral races during bankruptcy can signal, what others have done well and where they’ve gone wrong.
Why some cities die off
Happy Finance Friday, readers. This week, Chester, Pennsylvania's, receiver issued a startling warning: The state’s oldest city is in danger of dissolving completely.
The warning signs of insolvency
Hindsight is always 20-20. But looking back on Chester's unfortunate run up to its bankruptcy, all the red flags were there.
Auctioning off water systems
It used to be just troubled governments that sold off water utilities to pay off debt. Now more places are doing it.
4 things everyone should know about state financial takeovers
When states intervene in local finances, it tends to stir up a lot of old wounds.
The outdated and parochial way to run cities that just won't go away
The commission form of government long ago fell out of favor in most places. It may have contributed to one city's bankruptcy.
Who polices pensions?
An underlying issue here is that there’s really no enforcement mechanism with any teeth when it comes to responsible pension funding. In this companion piece to the Route Fifty series, I’ll get into what that’s about and who really pays.
5 things I’ve learned after a decade of reporting on municipal bankruptcy
Over the last decade or so, I’ve written about more than a half-dozen cases of either municipal bankruptcy or severe fiscal distress and restructuring in instances where a municipality is not allowed to file for Chapter 9.
