SUN publisher and activist J. Wyatt Mondesire got his moment in the sun during Thursday’s City Council session.
By Denise Clay
During Thursday’s City Council meeting, Council voted to name a section of Germantown Avenue for late Philadelphia Sunday Sun founder and publisher J. Whyatt Mondesire.
Thanks to a resolution introduced by Councilwoman Cindy Bass and Blondell Reynolds Brown and passed unanimously by the body, the 6600 block of Germantown Avenue will be named in honor of Mondesire, the former president of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania NAACP chapters, a founder of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, host of the radio program “Vision Quest” on WDAS-FM and a regular panelist on 6ABC’s “Inside Story”.
Mondesire took a stand on many of the city’s issues, some of which Philadelphia is still grappling with. By naming a street in his honor, the city recognizes the work that the late civil rights activist did here.
“He wasn’t just the owner of a business, but also a renegade who fought for people,” said Sheriff-elect Rochelle Bilal, who served on the Philadelphia NAACP board with Mondesire. “He fought to get felons the right to vote after they got out of jail. He fought against gun violence. You may not have liked him, or loved him as much as we did, but he did the work of the people and he should be remembered for that sacrifice.”
Following the vote, the current publishers of the SUN, Mondesire’s son Joseph, and fiancée Catherine Hicks, expressed gratitude for the honor.
“The entire Mondesire family is humbled and grateful by the unanimous vote today,” Joseph Mondesire said.
“The 6600 block of Germantown Ave holds a special place in our hearts and we especially thank councilwomen Cindy Bass and Blondell Reynolds Brown for their efforts.”
During Thursday’s session, Council also introduced two bills that might have made Mondesire, who was an also an advocate for equitable school funding and curbing the gentrification that has forced some out of their neighborhoods, applaud the body.
Two bills were introduced that would gradually phase out the 10-year-tax abatement and increase the Homestead Exemption for homeowners if passed.
Under these bills, the tax abatement would be gradually phased out beginning in 2020 and homeowners would be able to exempt $50,000 from their taxes, a $5,000 increase from the current $45,000 amount.
While the tax abatement bill was read into the record with passage possible for next week, it has changed from when it came out of Committee following a public hearing on Tuesday thanks to a threatened “pocket” veto from Mayor Jim Kenney.
When the bill came out of committee after a public hearing on Tuesday, the Tax Abatement phaseout, which would only apply to new residential construction, was expected to begin in mid-2020. A full abatement would only be received the first year, followed by a 90% abatement and so on. In the tenth year, only 10% of the property’s value would be under the abatement.
But because Kenney believed it would be bad for current construction projects, he sent a letter to Council saying that he wouldn’t sign it if it came to him in that form. Under the rules of Council, all bills passed within two weeks of a new council being sworn in must be signed into law by the Mayor, or the process of passing them has to begin anew.
Although Council President Darrell Clarke said on Tuesday that no changes would be made to the bill, and he still had room to call another Council session after next week to get the bill passed before the new council is seated, he felt making a compromise was better.
“The mayor moved his timeline back six months, and we moved ours back six months,” Clarke said. “In the end, we have to do something to get support for residents struggling from the taxes in neighborhoods with abated properties and we have to get money for schools. It’s a compromise. And compromise is good.”
But not all councilmembers agreed with that. In a series of Tweets she composed before the Council session, Councilwoman Helen Gym chastised Mayor Kenney for not making his feelings known about the Tax Abatement during meetings held on the topic. She voted no on the amendment.
Both bills are expected to be voted on during Council’s last session for the year next week.
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