I'm going to move on. I want to get as many voices on for public comment as possible. So please, the next person, if you can be brief --
One question, if I may. Are you looking for a particular developer from New Jersey or Philadelphia?
I'm so sorry. He already responded to that and says it goes through the city's RFP process --
Could you please state your name for the record, whoever's next, and please proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. My name is Siobhan Neitzel. I'm here today because I'm a constituent of Councilmember Young's and I'm a supporter of libraries throughout Philadelphia. I'm a library patron and a member of the Brewerytown Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition. I'm speaking here regarding Resolution 8 251083 and I fully urge you to fund all libraries. I'm specifically here to speak on the Cecil B. Moore Library. The Cecil B. Moore Library has stood for decades as an anchor of learning, safety and connection, and serves six neighborhoods in North Philadelphia. While the renovations that Councilmember Young has planned are needed for the library to be safe and ADA-accessible, they do not go far enough and do not reflect the wants of the community. On January 14, 2026 when speaking with City Cast Philly, Councilmember Young stated, I think that the community wasn't given the option to imagine what could be there, to imagine what a future could be for our community. Well, community members have dreamed and stated what the library renovation should be. However, when the renovations that Councilmember Young has planned, community members will not get what they have imagined and dreamed about. Additionally, with this plan the community stands to have an improved ADA-accessible library with new HVAC by next summer, but be left without an expanded space for programming for an unknown amount of time as the Councilmember moves the library and moves it closer to Temple University and right outside the Temple patrol zone, which ends at 18th and Cecil B. Moore. And the library is proposed to be at 19th and Cecil B. Moore. Councilmember Young also stated on January 14, 2026 when speaking about the plans for the library, it could still benefit North Philadelphia, still benefit our communities. However, that's not true if the library is moved. Councilmember Young stated on January 22, 2026 in this very room 13 that our children deserve stability. If this plan goes through and the Cecil B. Moore Library is moved, then our children will have to travel an average of 29% further to get to this library. The Cecil B. Moore -- at least one elementary will no longer have the Cecil B. Moore Library as their closest library. And this doesn't just impact children. This impacts our whole community, as there'll be fewer bus routes near the proposed new location, and that means fewer bus stops. Our community disturbs stability and this isn't stability to me. The plan to move the library is based on a professional opinion, and the community has not been able to weigh in on all the options and it will negatively impact the community while serving Temple University. In order to show what can be included in a renovation, a feasibility study of the Cecil B. Moore Library should be completed around the possibility of building above and in front of the library. The results of this study must be shared with the community so that all options can be weighed when providing feedback. Councilmember Young, you also stated on December 4, 2025 right in this room, that leadership requires engagement, not avoidance, and that's something that I always do in our district. And more recently on January 22, 2026 you also stated, I'm not opposed to change, I'm opposed to change without transparency, change without a community voice. Therefore, I urge you, Councilmember Young, to change your mind, listen to what community members have stated, release the funds that have been raised, renovate the library and commit to keeping the library at its current location of 2320 Cecil B. Moore Ave and do the feasibility study now.
Thank you so much. There are three people left for public comment. And I believe we can actually, if we're very brief, get everybody on the record. Thank you.
Hi. My name is Cierra Freeman. I'm a member of the Brewerytown Sharswood neighborhood. I am a mother of a student that currently attends Philadelphia public school, and I am the Co-lead of Culture and Strategy for Brewerytown Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition. Before I say anything else today, I want to say, Happy May Day and I'm so glad to be here with D.C. 47 and in full support of D.C. 47 and D.C. 33 workers that have had to work in these atrocious environments for far too long, and I'm so excited about the funding that they have in them securing additional funding so that they can get the HVAC repaired across the City of Philadelphia and in the 5th District. I also want to say thank you, Councilman, for the work that you've done thus far to advance the HVAC repair, the electricity and getting an ADA-accessibility elevator in the bathrooms upcoming for the Cecil B. Moore Library. That is very important and those things are very needed. I'm here today to share and I have written testimony, but I am not reading my testimony right now. One of the quotes that I've read that has been so profound to me that I make it a part of my everyday life is from an organization called the WildSeed Society. It's a social justice organization in the United States of Philadelphia. One of those quotes is, Accountability is the gift that we give to each other that allows us to stay in line with our intentions and with our values. I am here today, Councilman, to offer you that gift, along with the other community members, along with members of BSNC to offer and ask for the full release of the $9.9 million that is available to renovate the Cecil B. Moore Library. We know that there are so many things that are going on with the libraries across the city. We heard a lot of testimony today. Definitely hold space for those things and advocate alongside those folks to get what they need. And right here in our backyard, we have worked since 2022 with community members, had a town hall of over nearly not over 400 people that are community members, block captains, committee people, leaders of resident-led organizations, parents, patrons of the library saying that they want this library renovated. We acknowledge and also continue to thank you that when you came into office, you went to the Mayor, you requested additional monies and you were granted an additional $5 million that brings us up to the total of $9.9 million and we cannot lose the stick-to- itiveness of the community and their work to raise the funding as well. In a neighborhood like North Philadelphia, where so often our voices, our thoughts, our ideas are pushed to the side, BSNC is doing trauma-informed community building to reinvigorate neighbors, for neighbors to believe in their own ability, to talk to their elected officials, to talk to leaders of their community, to get the things that they want. Again, giving you the gift to stay accountable to that $9.9 million to give neighbors what they ask for, what they fought for, what they know that they can have because the funding is there. Extend the renovation to include the youth spaces, the adult spaces, update the kitchen. And lastly but not least, Councilman, I have to ask you: If we have the option to figure out how we can get a feasibility study done so that we can build above and out for this library to have the 21st century library that you've said and that we also believe as a community that we deserve, would you be open to considering that option for us?
So I'll say the Parks -- not Parks & Rec, the Library system, you were on that call, the experts in the system said that the way the building is currently designed with the infrastructure that's in place, we cannot build above that library. That's the libraries -- I mean, that's the Capital Projects assessment of it. We need more space. All the space you're talking about for youth space and adult programming, it isn't there. It isn't there. The current teen space is 400 square feet. How many teens can fit in that space to really, really utilize what the library can really be? We've heard testimony about what the library could really be. That current footprint doesn't allow any of that space. We can't even have a community meeting there without disrupting the library, patrons, right. That's what a library space should be for. And so, when we're asking to imagine, think boldly, right, what our future really need, what our kids really need, what our communities really need, more space is needed in order to accommodate programs like Beyond Literacy, so they can come in and teach their program without disrupting regular library patrons, everyday library patrons. That can't happen at the Cecil B. Moore Library right now. So that's what we're asking for. That's what we're fighting for. We're fighting for more for our community.
If I can, Councilman, I was on the call. And what was said is that no 13 feasibility study was done. That's what was said. And so, the question still remains can we have a feasibility study so that we can see if the library can be built up or out to get that additional space?
Thank you so much. We've got to get the staff out of here. I'm sorry. Please state your name for the record.
My name is Spanish Alexander. I'll be really quick. Thank you so much for letting me speak. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Spanish Alexander. I'm just a public citizen here to state how important the library is to me. I used to live on 24th and Cecil B. Moore. And when I lived there, I used to go to the library and get a bunch of different books on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and information about the Black women fighting for equal rights, and I used to go in my room and read it all the time so that library is important to me. I also decided to run for office in that ward. And so, I actually saw my name on a ballot posted outside that library. That was my posting place, you know. So that was my first taste of democracy there. And I fell in love with taking care of people and loving people. And so, this comes right back to something that I think that I need to fight for, because I used to walk to that library every day. This library is important because we need to conserve the traditions and the culture, not only in Philadelphia, but of the Black people in Philadelphia, and this library holds a lot of history of African Americans. And so, I think the way I learned from this library that other young people in the community now, especially youth with everything going on. It's important for them to be able to go there and receive that same type of information or receive that same type of experience. And it's very nice to meet you, Councilman and all of you. Thank you so much for letting me speak. I just want to say thank you so much for what you've done. I'm not sure about how the funds are allocated, but I'm definitely very happy to know that the library is still going to be there.
Thank you. I studied for the bar exam in that library, so it's a place that's important to me as well.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bonita Cummings and I am the Director of Strawberry Mansion Community Concern. And environmentally, we've cleaned along that corridor of Cecil B. Moore Avenue for the library for the children. I just wanted to say that there's a separation between the resolution overall library needs and conditions and the advocacy around the Cecil B. Moore Library. The advocacy and activism made me revisit what those words' intended definition is. So I looked at three prominent leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Honorable Dr. Leon Sullivan. Their advocacy expanded -- their advocacy was what we would define as against injustice. They expanded equality for all. This advocacy from the groups, and people keep referring to the community in these meetings where really it wasn't community, this advocacy is an injustice masked as justice. And I think that's very important for the citizens of the City of Philadelphia to be clear about. We have a librarian in the Cecil B. Moore Library who has said to the children, the African American children of that community that they don't deserve to expand, they don't deserve to have the opportunity to have a library that brings them into the 21st century. We've had information here today defining the illiteracy of the children of that community. We've had groups here today that talk about their need to be in the libraries, so what their need is can't be met at the Cecil B. Moore Library because it's already been deemed not really suitable for the expansion that we're looking for. So I just wanted to talk about that because I think the activism has been a grave injustice activism to the citizens of this city. It's been violent and it has made our children and given our children the ability to witness and demonstrate how to be disregarding and disrespectful even to our leadership. So I just wanted to express that. Thank you.
I think everybody here today wants to do the best that we all possibly can for the Cecil B. Moore Library. So might have different paths to get there, but I believe everybody wants the same thing. Any closing remarks?
Yes. I just want to thank everyone for coming down today, for listening, for testifying. This information will be taken back and we're going to do something about our library system. We spend the least amount of money of any big city and that is a crime. And so, Councilmember Rue Landau and I, we're in our first terms. Things take time, but I can promise you we're going to keep fighting for our library system.
Fully agree. Can't wait to help you. Can't wait to start this working group. Thank you all so much for your testimony. This concludes the business before the Committees on Legislative Oversight and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. Thank you very much for your attendance and we will be in touch soon. (Joint Committees on Legislative Oversight & Parks and Recreation concluded at 1:48 p.m.) 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. ______________________________ TANEHA CARROLL