Prior to Philadelphia’s City Council meeting on Thursday, the City Hall apron showcased some of the issues that will come up during this term.
By Denise Clay-Murray
Right now, parents are taking pictures of their children as they send them off for their first day of school.
Smiling children dressed in fresh new outfits and sporting fresh hairstyles holding signs that showcase what grade they’re starting have been all over the internet over the last few days.
Some members of City Council got in on the fun. While most just posted videos of themselves entering Council chambers on social media, Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson posted a photo of herself and members of her staff holding certificates for their first day of council.
(We generally don’t use the word “cute” in politics, but that was cute.)
Thursday was Council’s first day back from the body’s summer break. Council chambers were packed with everyone from lobbyists to people awaiting their moment in the public comment sun.
But even before they stepped into City Hall’s Room 400, they were met by citizens with something to say about the issues that the body will be taking on this session.
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier was part of a rally connected to a resolution she’d later introduce. She called on the Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and the Homeless to hold hearings on how determining affordable housing program income limits by Average Median Income (AMI) fails to help those most in need of housing assistance. Because AMI is based on a combination of county incomes, of which Philadelphia County is the lowest, it causes the median to be too high for those most in need of affordable housing. The resolution calls for Philadelphia’s AMI to become more localized.
Meanwhile, a nearby group was protesting the possible inclusion of turf fields in the renovations to South Philadelphia’s FDR Park. The group Save The Meadows has been in court for most of the summer regarding the $250 million renovations, which include the soccer fields that teams will practice on when the World Cup comes to Philadelphia in 2026. The group’s concern is about the turf fields proposed for the project and the cancer-causing chemicals they may contain. They want the city to use grass for the fields instead, which might add millions to the project’s cost.
But the most prominent group making its voice heard was, you guessed it, people on both sides of the 76 Place debate. Last week, the impact studies on the project were released and both sides have been translating them since then. On Wednesday, the Save Chinatown Coalition released a poll showing that opposition to the new stadium is citywide, and that if there is a new stadium, it should be built in the South Philadelphia stadium complex.
On the other side of the debate were members of the Philadelphia Building Trades, accompanied by a truck playing the Sixers theme song as it goes around City Hall.
(For those who don’t know what the Sixers’ theme song is, go to YouTube and type in “1,2,3,4,5 Sixers…”)
While in last week’s column, I wished that the proposal for a Sixers stadium downtown wouldn’t suck all of the air out of the Council session, it appears as though it will. Now that former Temple basketball star and current Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen has joined Gov. Phil Murphy in offering the Sixers all sorts of tax breaks and incentives to bring the team there, Mayor Cherelle Parker and her staff have been working really hard to keep the team in Philly.
(Personally, I don’t think that Mayor Carstarphen speaks for the citizens of Camden when it comes to the stadium. The people in charge of the New Jersey State Aquarium, M&T Bank Stadium, and the Sixers practice facility have stretched the definition of “Camden resident” to the point that it doesn’t include actual Camden residents. I don’t see residents allowing that to happen again.)
Now, it’s kind of odd that the mayor’s office is handling this legislation instead of the district councilmember — in this case, Mark Squilla — who is going to have to deal with the stadium, but the longer I hang out in City Hall, the more I learn.
In any case, the fall session for Philadelphia City Council has begun and it promises to be lively.
Let’s hope that it’s also productive for Philadelphia’s citizens.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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