Thank you. You may proceed. I see you have already shared your screen.
Thank you. In the interest of time, I'll try to be as succinct as possible, but cover all the necessary bases.
This is an application essentially for a special exception for 1818 North 54th Street, which is in the Winfield section of Philadelphia.
Enclosed with the comprehensive plan is the application, a copy of the deed, a copy of the advocate.
you're not you your screen's not moving you're still on this special exception
yes that's my computer it's okay it's okay um the the deed the tax clearance certificate is
also attached i'm trying to go directly to the document so that i don't have to uh belabor you
with the unnecessarily scrolling but for some reason okay here we go what we're looking at is
the deed i don't know why okay at any rate um the tax clearance certificate we notified um
the area residents i believe there was a uh total of 102 affected and impacted neighbors
who had been notified by mailing copies and proof of those mailings have also been attached.
Separate and apart from the items that had been previously produced, we had also submitted
interior photos. And I'm going to go directly to the actual unit. Perhaps if I refresh.
I'm just going to stop the share and then go back and hope that it all
Okay, sure.
You're on the photos, right?
You're on the photos, right?
Correct.
Correct.
Let's just manually go through.
What you see here are the notices that went out.
We have the neighbors.
We have the notice and the referral and essentially the photograph.
This is a three-story residential structure.
There's no contemplated construction that would go on on the structure.
What's happening, Your Honor, is a proposal to use the premises essentially to aid and assist teenage and young mothers expecting to be who need specialized medical attention in helping bring their children into the world in a safe, healthy, healthy and stable environment.
The nonprofit essentially is geared to having nurses, doulas, and other professionals actually on the premises 24 hours a day.
There was some resistance with regard to the RCO because I believe there was a lack of proper communication.
and I'll accept responsibility for the misguidance in terms of information
that should have probably been communicated a little more clearer.
I believe they were left with the impression that they would have to monitor the residents.
That's not the case.
This is a scenario where you have sometimes teenage girls, 17 years old,
who get pregnant and then essentially are not welcomed back into their household once
they are discharged from the hospital but have nowhere to really go with their infant
babies.
And so this is a solution to that problem.
And it is an extensive problem to such extent that local council member Kathleen Gilmore
actually funded a similar project with the support of the city of Philadelphia.
because there's such a need for the stopgap.
What you have, Your Honor, is a scenario where you have children who have children.
We did provide nine letters of support.
And the nine letters of support, I'm going to go a little bit out of order,
kind of takes into consideration Dr. Hawthorne of Lankanaw Heart Group,
who is a cardiologist who spoke to the utility and benefit this program would provide.
and more important. Could you move the letters over? Sure. So we can see it. You might have to
go through the screen, right? Yes, I think so. Yeah. Okay. Yep.
So this is a letter from Dr. Hawthorne from the Lankanell Heart Group, who is excited to work
with Ms. Marson concerning this project.
How this project came to be was Ms. Marson herself
had been hospitalized with myocardial infraction
during the course of her pregnancy.
She needed specialized medical care
and it was her experience in going through this
and wanting to essentially dedicate herself
to helping young women who also have those kinds of issues.
She has been a nurse, a registered nurse
with the Children's Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, and also with the School District
of Philadelphia. One of the doctors who provided a letter of support from the School District of
Philadelphia is a Dr. Brewer, who in her letter talked of her mother and that experience where
She, as a teen, was pregnant with Dr. Brewer, and it was because of a home similar to this, a safe space that enabled for her to essentially be born, raised, and help her mother learn the tools that she needed to provide the care that was needed to her infant child.
And so this is the service that Ms. Marsden intends to provide to other youths within that risk area where they're actually an adult, but don't have the skills or ability to be able to fend for themselves.
And what we don't want is for them to just wander out on the streets.
And so, as I said, city council just funded a similar program because of the beneficial nature of this program.
And I don't think that the RCO members got the gist of the actual program itself.
It is a program that's monitored by the state of Pennsylvania.
There is 24-hour care on site, so there will be either a nurse or a doula.
care on site. So there will be either a nurse or a doula on site. We did provide interior
photographs of the premises. It's located on a commercial corridor. This is looking directly
across the street from the residence. This is the frontal view of the residence.
This will be looking to the left of the residence and a photograph depicting the view from the right of the residence.
There is an auto repair shop and another medical facility across the street from the home.
As I said, there's no construction or modification in terms of renovations that's contemplated because it's a three-bedroom home.
and here we have the site plans that show three bedrooms where we would basically service up to
three women. Each of them will occupy their own bedroom with their child. There's a common living
space in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and also a parlor area. The medical personnel
that's on site would essentially be on premises. There is contemplated for there to be three shifts
at eight hours a day, and so there will be no time where there isn't a medical professional
on site. The property is also situated in such a way where there's a basement and a garage
also attached as part of the structure, and so there's no additional trash that would impact
any of the other neighbors. There's no expectation that the mothers, once they give birth, would be
up and down the street. They are going to be in a medically sensitive kind of situation. Some of
them bedridden. The person who is the principal, Ms. Marson herself, was able to bring her baby
into this world, as I said, eight years ago, experiencing cardiac issues during the course
of her pregnancy, also a young mother, but still having the support of the community to be able to
help her. And that's the service that she wants to provide. This is Ms. Marcin together with her
young child that she was able to bring into this world with the help of Dr. Parkland,
who submitted one of the supporting letters for Seed Growth Nonprofit. As I said, there were nine
letters of support, but there was some misguidance in terms of the actual purpose of the nonprofit
and the people that it would serve.
As I said, it's going to be monitored by the state of Pennsylvania.
There would be requirements.
All the nurses are state board certified.
Those certifications would have to be maintained on the premises as well.
With that, I would like to present Ms. Morrison to adopt the testimony that has been provided today.
Ms. Morrison?
They've been allowed to speak.
Hi, Ms. Morrison, could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, yes.
My name is Zakiya Morrison, the Z as in zebra, A-K-I-Y-Y-A-H, last name Morrison, M-O-R-R-I-S-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Ms. Morrison, did you hear the testimony that has been provided on your behalf today?
Yes, I did.
Do they accurately reflect what it is that you are contemplating with the Seed Growth
Nonprofit?
Yes, it does.
Do you adopt the statements that have been made as if you had made it to yourself?
Yes, I have.
And it is my understanding that you are a trained nurse?
I've been a registered nurse for going on 23 years in May.
I have no further questions, Your Honor.
I'd submit for your consideration.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair, I have a Crystal Morris with my hand raised.
I've allowed them to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my first name is Crystal, C-R-Y-S-T-A-L.
last name Morris
M-O-R-R-I-S
You swear or affirm to tell the truth
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Yes I do
Are you a neighbor?
I am the RCO lead.
Please proceed.
Yes, just as a point of correction, we did understand exactly what was presented.
And what was presented today is what was presented to us during our RCO meeting.
And that is the thing that we voted against because the neighbors decided that that was not something that they were interested in having.
There are commercial things on the block.
There is an auto repair place, and there is a senior center, also housing directly across
the street.
But the near neighbors, there aren't a lot of houses on the street, but each of those
neighbors expressed that they did not want this in their community.
Now, we understand that Ms. Morrison is trying to do a wonderful thing.
And there were no arguments about the thing that she's trying to do to help the moms.
But the challenge was we have many people in our community who work in the social services field.
And hearing the presentation, they were concerned that she's not ready for an endeavor like this, especially since it's something where she would be trying to manage it off-site while she's continuing to work her full-time job.
which means the neighbors would be engaging with caregivers, albeit 24 hours. Those people would
be hired staff. There's no guarantee that folks come in when they're supposed to or behave the
way they're supposed to. And this is essentially a commercial operation that's being put in the
middle of a residential block. And I may say a modest three bedroom row. These are not, it's not
a large home. It's a modest row home. And so with the information that we were presented and the
questions that we asked, especially surrounding state licensing, state oversight, there were a
lot of things that just weren't clear and that the neighbors did not feel comfortable and felt like
ultimately issues would spill over and become neighbor responsibilities. And what we have found
in our communities is that people mean well when they come in and they rent this or they try to
run that. But at the end of the day, it is the community members who end up bearing the burden
when things don't go as planned. And so these near neighbors, I think some of them are also
on the line with me as well have voted that this is not something that they want on their block
and we strongly believe that the tax-paying neighbors who live adjacent to this property
their voice should be the one that's the loudest heard not the not the letters of recommendation
from folks who don't even live in Winfield so I understand that uh they are in support of
of her endeavor but we don't think that those letters should supersede the desires of the
neighbors who live on the block with miss morrison's endeavor um thank you very much
for your call we appreciate it uh is there anyone else in the virtual audience
yes mr chair uh gloria lawrence i would like to speak hi could you state your name and spell
please for the court stenographer hello yes my name is gloria lawrence g-l-o-r-i-a lawrence
l-a-w-r-e-n is nancy c do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? I am not. Okay, please proceed. Yes, thank you. I'm the
executive director of Essie's House of Hope. So Seed Growth has been working with us for the past
year to duplicate the programming that we're currently offering here in Baltimore, Maryland
for our young mothers. And we are very excited to see the impact that it will make on the community.
Our home is also, and I do want to note that we had the same concerns when we first opened up,
Of course, our home is on a very quiet block and we actually it's much quieter than that one.
And we have many retired homeowners.
So, of course, there was the concerns of having a younger audience come into the home and not quite sure what the support was going to look like.
But we have had the ability to make an amazing impact on the community.
So, of course, the girls are busy.
So, of course, the girls are busy. They're working, they're attending school, and they're participating in personal development workshops, so they don't have a ton of socialization time.
They're working, they're attending school and they're participating.
But amidst their busy schedules, they actually did have time to connect with the neighbors, and they were able to foster relationships.
They've been able to have porch chats, playful interactions with the children, which the neighbors have actually appreciated, just like they were their own grandchildren.
So we were able to create a tapestry of support, which was actually beneficial for the community.
And it brought some light and light to the community.
I do urge everyone to remember that if we do desire change, it does have to start somewhere.
And I believe that we should all be working together to dismantle the barriers for women with children, fostering an environment where we can reduce adverse childhood experiences and then foster seeds for leadership.
So I just wanted to say thank you, Kia, for being a liaison to the change in the community that you are located in and you so deeply.
And we all both know that these young women do deserve.
Thank you for your call and taking the time. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Jason?
Yes, sir. I have Sandra Franks with her hand raised.
I have allowed them to speak at this time.
How many more hands do you have, Jason?
Just that one.
Okay, thank you very much.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Sandra Franks, please unmute.
Sandra Franks?