Changing Skyline: With soda tax done, let's move on to retooling the property abatement

No one, least of all those battle-hardened skeptics known as Philadelphians, believed City Council had the stomach to pass Mayor Kenney's tax on sugary drinks. America's powerful soda lobby has knocked the fizz out of 45 similar proposals since 2008. Yet Council showed its mettle Thursday by approving the nation's second, and highest, levy on sweetened drinks.