Thank you, Council President. I want to express my disappointment in the 2026 budget and explain why I'm voting no today. I voted no on the tax bills today because this plan And in the first month of this Trump Admini -
Member Brooks, one second. Could we keep it down because I don't think members can hear the member's remarks. Chair recognizes Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Thank you. In the first six months of this Trump Administration, we have already seen cuts that have directly caused Philadelphians to lose their livelihood. In the coming year, we expect devastating cuts to SNAP. Medicaid and other federally-funded programs that working families rely on. The budget that we are voting on today is largely proposal. City services are flatfunded or cut, at a time when we need them the most. Across the country and included in Harrisburg, legislators worry about Trump's cuts or increasing state and local funding for services and identifying new revenue sources, not this budget. However, this budget reflects a significant shift in the City's Council power to advocate for the resources of our constituents. Numerous nonprofits my office has helped fund in the past have been left in the dark on both process and funding. City Council took a major step forward in last year's budget with the first ever direct funding for Planned Parenthood and continued funding for Abortion Now, at the same time Congressional Republicans are set to slash funding for Planned Parenthood nationwide. The city funding for our local chapter of Planned Parenthood has disappeared. We also know that our young people are at risk. The School District is projecting a large budget shortfall and school closures. Multiple Councilmembers and parents across Black and Brown neighborhoods advocated for these increases in millage rate in order to boost public school funding. Instead this budget sets up our schools for major cuts in the coming years. For this reason, I cannot support this budget. I made a promise to protect Philadelphians this budget cycle. And I'm sorry to say that this budget doesn't do it for me. Thank (Applause.)
Thank you, Member Brooks. Speeches on behalf of the Majority. Chair recognizes Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you, Council President. And I want to thank you very much for your leadership throughout the spring session and for all the hard work and the late nights. We appreciate you and all that you do for us throughout the budget process so that we can get to this space in place. I also wanted to wish you, Council President, and all of the fathers on City Council a Happy That is specifically for Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr. Each year we will be celebrating and uplifting each of you because we appreciate all that you do for our children. It's not just the moms getting the job done. It's the dads too. So Happy Father's Day in advance.
Thank you for that. Chair recognizes Councilmember Curtis Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. But thank you, Kathy Gilmore Richardson. Fathers understand what I'm about to say. It's your mother, it's your mother, it's your mother, and then maybe it's your father. And we get it because they are our backbone. I want to shift and kind just said about your leadership, sir. I don't say things I don't mean. You know me. You piloted this budget process masterfully. I know my good friend and colleague, she knows how I feel about her professionally, but I'm a push back gently. Sometimes you got to look at the glass half full, not just half empty. I listened to the advocates that came. I heard cheers. I heard jeers. Some things you like in the budget, some things you don't. Some things you fight about, some things you win, some things you lose. But the process of making this budget is not easy and it is not perfect, but the imperfect shouldn't be the enemy of the good. I've been here a minute, only second to Old Man River O'Neill, but I have never heard a Mayor put this much emphasis on affordable housing. And I know that this is a historic commitment to that process. Is it perfect? No. I red-circled some of the things that I had question about. But the good should not be the enemy of the imperfect. I said that differently, but you know what I mean. I watched my colleagues struggle with this budget. I've seen colleagues, who will go unnamed, come in here at 1:00 in the morning, flailing their hands in frustration because we should have probably been let go earlier, but the process of making that sausage was difficult. I watched one of my colleagues come in here, throw his -- did I say his -- throw his hands up and say, I give up on this, I've been fighting this all by myself, right, but here we are, sir. And I am saying to you that some of the things that you got to think about on the cuts to business taxes -- Brother Troy ain't here from WURD, got laid off. Businesses, small businesses are a part of the infrastructure of our economy too. And the issues and pushback I get often doesn't come from the mighty Chambers of Commerce. They come from the mom-and-pop business owners that have been catching hell since the pandemic. There are commercial corridors that you and I represent that took an L during those downturns, during the civil unrest that ain't never came back, and may never come back. And if we a break too, there'll be more Troys that we lay off. So I say this to you, that all of you look a little tired, a little wore out. But that's all right, you earned this title. And for the benefit of the people, I thank you, Mr. President, I thank my Mayor for going through this and I thank this body for voting out a budget and closing. The uncertainty at the federal government means that we can't be against -- like you may not have messed with this person, that person before, but we're all in the Philadelphia foxhole together right now. And we got to kind of pull ourselves together and say, I'm going to hold my nose on this vote and I'm going to go with it for the benefit of the whole of you, Mr. President, I thank our Mayor, and I thank this Council for doing their level best to protect the citizens of Philadelphia. Thank y'all and have a great, great break.
Thank you, Member Jones, those kind remarks. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. As we close out this spring session, I'd like to thank our incredible interns for all their hard work. I think my interns might not still be here, but if Jasmine, Ali and Andrea are still here -- oh, right there. Please stand if you're here. (Applause.)
They've all been instrumental in planning policies, helping constituents and serving the city. Thank you guys so much. It's been so wonderful to have you guys. I'd also like to recognize the final passage of my Move-In Affordability Plan today. Having worked as a housing lawyer for decades, I know that the upfront cost of moving can be the difference between staying put and giving yourself a fresh start, whether they be aging seniors, low-income families trying to improve their living situations or people leaving unsafe housing or a young person looking to move to Philly. I'm incredibly proud of this legislation that move-in costs a burden, and I appreciate all of the conversations I've had with colleagues and advocates to get this done. It's Pride Month. It's still Pride Month. And today I want to say I'm thankful for all my colleagues here for supporting two resolutions today, recognizing local and national LGBTQ+ leaders. First, my dear friend Harvey Hurdle, who's retiring from his position as Executive Director of the Bar Association but who has worked deeply within larger institutions promoting LGBTQ rights. Harvey has been a mentor of mine and has been very helpful for me to understand how the larger institutions support our work. Because we didn't have speeches last week, I want to give Bartlett who I recognized last week. Chris has been super supportive and helpful for me as a mentor, in teaching me so much at an early age about speaking truth to power, being an activist, fighting the fight, from screaming in a megaphone to back in the early '90s caring for our siblings who were dying of AIDS. Chris literally taught me how to hug people in the hospital and kiss them lightly on the head as we said goodbye. I gave a resolution today recognizing the 10-year anniversary of the landmark Obergefell case, which celebrates 10 years of same sex marriage in this country. My wife Carrie and I became the first couple in Pennsylvania to get a same sex marriage license. (Applause.)
And earlier this month I had the absolute joy and pleasure of finally meeting Jim Obergefell in Washington, D.C. He's a wonderful man. As lovely and wonderful as these things are, we have to recognize how Pride this year feels different. There's a dark cloud hanging over it, a rising tide of hatred that is not just alarming, but deadly. Verbal assaults, physical violence and political attacks against LGBTQ+ people are escalating across the country and at every level of government. Donald Trump's GOP is fueling it, dismantling rights, inciting fear and targeting our very existence. Incidents have already been on the rise in Philadelphia as witnessing this disturbing trend. According to GLAD since May of last year, there have been 932 violent anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in the United States, an average of 2.5 every single day. Over half of them have specifically targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people with a disproportionate impact on people of color. This violence doesn't happen in a vacuum. It grows in the shadow of hate speech, of state-sanctioned discrimination, of leaders who use platforms to dehumanize us. And when the most powerful man in the world demonizes LGBTQ+ people, this is a result: broken families, stolen futures, empty seats at the table. As we close out the spring session, I ask that my colleagues in City Council and think about this: Honor the LGBTQ lives that are lost to violence and hatred and let us recommit not just to celebrating Pride, but to defending our community with every tool that we have. Thank you, Council President. Everybody have a great break. (Applause.)
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Mike Driscoll.
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you leadership team. Thank you colleagues for all your hard work these last several months. These budgets aren't easy, but I think we did a good job collectively today. And just want things, Mr. President. I was proud to introduce and champion the legislation that gives the City Controller's office fiscal oversight of the Mayor's $800 million H.O.M.E. Plan. This plan represents a historic investment in affordable housing, and with that comes a responsibility to ensure that every dollar is spent wisely, fairly and transparently. Oversight isn't about slowing down progress. It's about building public trust, protecting taxpayer resources and ensuring that the housing crisis is addressed with both urgency and integrity. I want to thank the Controller's office for stepping up to serve as an independent watchdog in safeguarding this oncein-a-generation investment. This legislation is about accountability and about delivering real results in every neighborhood, including my home, Northeast Philadelphia. And secondly, Mr. President, I want to thank you for introducing the Philadelphia Retirement Savings Program, an important step towards economic dignity for working people in our city. This bill creates an automatic savings program for employees who don't have access to retirement plans through their jobs, particularly small businesses or part-time positions. With this program, Philadelphia is filling a gap, offering a pathway to long-term financial security for workers who left behind. And I'm proud to support a measure that empowers people to build wealth over time, reduces reliance on public assistance in the future and strengthens our city's economic foundation. This is a smart, compassionate policy, and I thank you, President Johnson. Whether we're talking about affordable housing, public safety or retirement security for working people, we're making longterm investments to strengthen the fabric of our city. I'm grateful to have played a role in advancing those priorities, and I look forward to continuing the work ahead. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'm very grateful for your resolution honoring Traci Powell. She was a friend of mine, supporter of mine, a colleague of mine. Every word that was mentioned about her today was absolutely true. From the moment I met her years ago when I first started working in this space, until our last conversation, It's always been the same. She's always been that same person. So thank you for honoring her. Thank you for honoring Miskeen. That took me back to when I was a young boy here in the city. That's what we wore. That's what we, you know, that was the style. unique. It was so Philly. And so, thank you for that. We need that. We need stuff that make us Philadelphians stand out as Philadelphia. Also, I want to kind of echo some of the sentiments of my colleague Councilman Curtis Jones. E. plan, you know, you look at it, you circle some things. But at the end of the day when you look at what this bill will do for our city, there are more positives that come out of this bill. And with the help of Councilmember Driscoll introducing legislation to provide the oversight to make sure there's transparency, I do think that as a Council we'll be able to work with the Administration on ensuring that these goals can implement it to the of the city of Philadelphia. And lastly today, Mr. President, there were some folks in the chambers who mentioned some statements about a library in our District, the Cecil B. Moore Library. And I want to be very clear with the listening public to really understand what is happening here. So we all know that there are issues with libraries throughout our entire city. Deferred maintenance has been -- I wouldn't even call it deferred. It's been 20, 30 years since some of our libraries had any type of maintenance done to it. And so, one of the very first things I did when I came up on this body is advocate for more funding for our Cecil B. Moore support of this body, we achieved that. There was only about $5 million allocated to Cecil B. Moore Library. We fought to get an additional $5 million allocated for the Cecil B. Moore Library, and we're going to continue to keep fighting to get more money for the Cecil B. Moore Library. But, yes, I have big dreams. I have big dreams for my District. And why would I be serving if I didn't, right. Why are we serving if you do not have big dreams for your constituents. We have a youth gun violence issue in this city. There is a surge in gun violence in terms of perpetrators and victims amongst the youth in our city. So if you're upset that I'm fighting for more money for our library because a true 21st century library that has the space, that has the physical space that our teens could use in order to help prevent some of these tragedies that happen with gun violence, a teen can get a gun just as easy as they can take out a book in the city. That is true. A study found that for 14-year-old Black males, there is a 1 in 8 chance that you will be shot and/or killed by a firearm by the time you're 25 years old. Compare that same age range for non-Hispanic White males, there's a 1% chance, 1 out of 100 chance you'll be shot and/or killed by a firearm by the age of 25. And so, you look in the area they were talking about, the 19121 zip code, the area that I was raised in, right, those are the more likely than not to be shot in or killed by gun violence. So why aren't we creating spaces that's going to put positive things into the hands of our young people. Let's talk about space.
Yes, there are proposed renovations for the Cecil B. Moore Library. But the staff room in the basement is proposed to be about 306 square feet. There's a work room, that's proposed to be about 445 square feet. And the teen space is only 400 square feet. How many teenagers can fit in 400 square feet of space in one of the most violent and dangerous districts in the city of Philadelphia? How many? We need more space. We need a new library, a brand new library that can host things like e-gaming, right. already, Councilman Thomas, they prefer to be in libraries, right, to host these types of things. That's what we mean when we say 21st century library. Where's the space for social media for these kids, right. There's no space there. You cannot do that in 400 square feet. You cannot. It's impossible. So all these folks who were here advocating talking about I'm this, that and the other with developers and all that, come see me. Because, listen, I'm always going to be fighting for our kids, always. We have to think about the next generation. Stop thinking about ourselves. Think about these kids. Over 1500 juvenile gun arrests in the past three years, President, right. What are we doing? So I will continue to advocate and fight for the youth of my Council District, our Council District, the 5th Council District, North Philadelphia, because those are the youth that always end up as a statistic. We're trying to change that image. We can't change it with these outdated infrastructure. It's impossible. It's impossible. Those who know may not know at some point in time there was the Free Library Foundation and then a Free Library Philadelphia. The Free Library Foundation used to fund a lot of stuff in our libraries. That's no more. That money don't exist. It's not there anymore. It's not the same. We have to figure this out. So I'm going to continue to for our libraries to continue to make sure that we have new facilities for our kids. That library was built in 1961, '62, so that means a 70-yearold today used to use that library. Why should a 7-year-old today use the same library that a 70-year-old used to use? Technology moves so fast. Everything is so much different now. This is a whole different world. We need new spaces. And I'm going to continue to fight for new spaces for our babies, because that's what they are. These teenagers are our babies and they need space to be teenagers so they can stop being out here acting like adults. They need spaces to be kids. And we have to keep fighting for spaces for them to be kids. And if you disagree, you going to be out here fighting to make sure that our kids have spaces to be kids, because I can't take 1500 kids getting arrested with guns. The surge of kids getting arrested, the surge of kids getting killed, I mean, I've already talked about going to a Janazah this year alone. Last year I went to a couple of them for teenagers. This is a problem and we should not normalize this. And if you're upset that I'm trying to get more for our kids, that tells me something about you. Who are you in it for? Are you in it for our kids because I don't think so. I'm going to continue to leave my District with integrity, Mr. President, and my constituents know how to hold me accountable. Thank you so much.
You're welcome, Member Young, and keep fighting the good fight for your constituents. As there are no more speeches, first, I want to say Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers. And most importantly, I want to thank each and every last one of you for your hard work and your dedication as it relates to moving the City of Philadelphia forward. And leadership is not new to me. I recognize in this process that as we work toward moving the City of Philadelphia forward, we're always not going to agree. But I always know that we have a common mission, each and every last single one of you, including myself, on how we move the City of Philadelphia forward. importantly, I believe that every last member who I am working with I know for a fact is working sincerely in the best interest of the citizens and the residents here in the city of Philadelphia. For some, that may look one way; for others, that may look another way, but their common mission is improve the quality of life of all residents here in the city of Philadelphia. And so, I'm truly proud and honored on the wrap-up this Council session. But also, I'd like to just note always in terms of the hard work that we have been doing from January to now, we passed a total of 58 bills and 20 resolutions. And so, I just want to just put that out there for the record -- no, I'm sorry. Today we passed a total of 58 bills. Today, today, a total of 58 bills and 20 resolutions. I just say that for the record in terms of the work we are doing, right, because often times -(Applause.)
I think sometimes some folks think we're just coming down here having fun picking up paychecks, right. And that doesn't include the countless number of community events that we attend, the countless number of community events that we host in our neighborhoods that's not even on the record. But most importantly first and foremost, we are legislators and we are here to legislate. So with that being said, the Chair recognizes our Majority for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Council President. I also just want to add Happy Father's Day as well too. And thank you to all of the tech staff, support staff, Council staff -
Let's give them a round of applause. (Applause.)
Sergeant-at-Arms, the entire team who made this budget session even possible. So with that being said, thank you, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until September 11, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. Have a great summer, everyone. ) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. m. C. E. A. C. L. m.