When it came to Philadelphia’s city budget, the waiting was the hardest part.
By Denise Clay-Murray
After spending the week waiting for Philadelphia City Council and Mayor Cherelle Parker to come to an agreement on the latter’s 2026 FY budget, I now know how it feels to be a frustrated fan of the Philadelphia 76ers.
There was a lot of process. People were asked to trust it. And there was a whole lot of waiting involved.
After a while, you felt kind of bad for Vincent Thompson, Council President Kenyatta Johnson’s director of communications, when he came to the press table to let those of us who remained throughout the process — otherwise known as myself and my Philadelphia Hall Monitor co-host Lawrence McGlynn — know that there was yet another recess. Between running from his office to the Council President’s office to Council chambers, you couldn’t blame him for dragging a little.
(This reminds me that I need to help replenish Thompson’s mini fridge. You have to appreciate a man who understands that media folks like free food and drink.)
The process started back in late March when Philadelphia City Council’s Committee of the Whole started hearing testimony from various city departments regarding the budget.
Chief of Staff Tiffany Thurmond and Director of Finance Rob Dubow led a cast of department heads, cabinet members, businesspeople, heads of non-profits, activists and others as they testified before Council to justify their budgetary requests, ask for more money, ask Council to either consider or deny certain things, or in some cases all three.
The plan was to have everyone reconvene on Wednesday at 9am to vote for the budget and the budget out of the committee so that it can be given a First Reading during Thursday’s regular meeting.
But that’s not what happened. By the time I walked into Council chambers, I was met by a group of reporters that let me know that I didn’t even need to unpack my laptop because we were in recess.
After a while, I got tired of hearing “recess.” I used to love that word. It meant that I could go out and play. But in this case, “recess” meant that Council and the Mayor’s office were still fighting over how much oversight Council would have over the H.O.M.E Initiative. Honestly, if I’m asking someone to borrow $800 million on my behalf, I would be more than a little surprised if they didn’t want to make sure they knew what I was doing with it, but that’s just me.
But the delay meant that reporters and others waiting for a resolution on the budget had to find something else to do. I wound up doing a talk on independent journalism for a consortium of Black media creators in my native New Jersey in Thompson’s office while he and McGlynn went out for sandwiches at the Old Nelson Sandwich Shop nearby.
(If you’re looking for a good sandwich near City Hall, the prosciutto, mozzarella, spinach and red pepper sandwich with garlic aioli is a winner. The bread is soft, the prosciutto is salty, but not too salty, and there is no bad time for roasted red peppers and spinach to combine.)
When Councilmembers started taking selfies in chambers at around 8pm on Wednesday, we all kind of knew that we were going to be here for a while. Eventually, the committee chairs for the Rules, Finance and the Committee of the Whole called and recessed their meetings.
(Granted, it was at around 1 a.m., and some Councilmembers were ticked off because they knew that they had to be back at City Hall bright and early on Thursday, but at least there were pictures.)
The regular Council meeting started late, which if you’ve been following Hanging In The Hall this session, rarely, if ever, happens. But once it did, Council went through its regular business and, instead of adjourning, recessed.
(There goes that word again!)
Reporters tried to find out what was going on with budget negotiations from Council President Johnson following the regular meeting, but he pretty much answered each question with the equivalent of “I’m only here so I won’t get fined…”
(Google “Marshawn Lynch” and “Super Bowl XLIX Media Day” and you’ll see what I mean.)
Around 6pm, everyone, including a few reporters not named “Larry” or “Denise”, gathered back in Council chambers to sit through a rapid succession of meetings of the Finance Committee, Rules Committee and Committee of the Whole — in that order — designed to get the committee reports and the budget attached to them to the final meeting, which was the recessed Council meeting.
Mission accomplished! Everyone — with the exception of Council staffers like Thompson — was able to leave.
But because of the sheer volume of bills connected to the H.O.M.E Initiative and the budget, this Thursday’s Council session promises to be a long one, which means we’re going to be sitting at the press table for a while.
I think I’ll make chocolate chip muffins for the occasion.
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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