COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA JOINT COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, June 15, 2006 7:10 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO, CHAIR COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO RESOLUTION 051155 - Resolution authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding the findings and recommendations of the "Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia," and further authorizing the Committees to seek advice and recommendations on how Philadelphia can reduce and eliminate crime affecting the City's youth. - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good evening, everyone. We'd like for people in the back to come down to the front. Come join us down here. We'd like for you to come closer. My name is Marian Tasco. I'm a member of City Council. I represent the Ninth Councilmanic District, which is in the Northwest, Northeast, Lower Northeast, East Oak Lane, West Oak Lane area of the City of Philadelphia. I chair the Public Health and Human Services Committee of City Council, and Donna Reed Miller from the Eighth Councilmanic District is serving as the Public Safety Chair of the Public Safety Committee. When Faheem Childs was killed in North Philadelphia, there was an outcry about the violence in our cities. Our State Representative Dwight Evans came together with a host of people to formulate a Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. The City Council Joint 3 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Committees on Health and Safety had hearings in City Council about the Blueprint. We'll let Dwight talk about the Blueprint to tell you what it's all about. The violence has escalated in this City. We have violence. Children are being shot, just recently. Every day there is a crime, aggravated assault crime, guns in the City, and there's an outcry that something has to be done. We don't have any quick-fix answers to how to handle it. The Blueprint is a ten-year plan to address it, but tonight we're here to share with you what the Blueprint is all about and to hear from you ideas that you may have to help us implement the Blueprint, broaden the Blueprint, talk about how you can get involved with helping us alleviate the violence in the City of Philadelphia. It's like the wild, wild west. Everybody has a gun. Everybody feels 4 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 they can solve their problems by shooting someone. This is not a movie. People have to understand once you shoot somebody, they don't come back in the next scene or the next story. They're gone. Someone's family member is gone, brother, sister, mother, father. But we have to find a way. And it's just not any one group's responsibility. It is all of our responsibility. It is government and it is community. We have to come together to decide how we're going to handle it. There's so many things in this City -- and we have the Captain here from this district, Captain Bethel, who is trying to now find witnesses to the shootings that have gone on down here in this community. This is a part of ending the violence also, helping him and other Captains and the Police Department catch those people who are perpetuating these crimes. So I am glad that you've taken 5 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 time out of your busy schedule to come here tonight to listen to the Blueprint, to share with us your ideas about how you think we can make it work, and hopefully at some point in time, the violence will end in Philadelphia. Tonight, we're in Councilman DiCicco's district. Councilman DiCicco is at the end of the table. I'll introduce everyone and then I'll ask him to give opening remarks. He is a member of the Public Safety Committee. Councilman Frank Rizzo is with us tonight. He is on the Public Health and Human Services and Safety Committee. We have Ms. Linda Callan, who is representing Councilwoman Anna Verna, President of City Council. Of course, State Representative Dwight Evans. You will hear from him, and Mr. Ivan Juzang, who is the President of MEE Productions, and he will talk about what they're doing to gain and gather and garner the attention of the young people in this 6 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 City around the issue of violence. Councilman Frank DiCicco, would you like to say a few words? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman, and good evening. Thank you, Councilwoman Tasco, for introducing the resolution and putting these meetings together. I think these are very long overdue.
As a District Councilperson, you're familiar with any time there's a problem in your neighborhood, people then begin to react. Meetings are put together quite quickly, and then people will come in and air their concerns, and basically it becomes pretty much of a gripe session. This, I think, is a very productive session. I didn't hear the other three meetings in the other parts of the City, but I think this is an opportunity for all of us. We know that there's violence in the streets. We know that that means that families are affected, as the 7 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Councilwoman said, but we really need to start coming together as neighbors and friends with the elected officials to try to figure out a way in which we can all engage government and the communities, along with the support from the Police Department, to address these problems. So I'm just happy to be here. I'm happy you chose to be in my district. I'm here to listen to some of the concerns, and hopefully over the next few years -- I don't know if I'm going to be in Council for ten years, but hopefully over the next five years, because I hope to get reelected next year, I'll be part of that process. And, again, thank you for putting these meetings together.
Thank you very much. As the Councilman noted, we have had -- this is the fourth meeting. We had our first meeting in Germantown, one at Olney High School, one at Gratz. We're here, and in the fall, we plan to 8 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 go to West Philadelphia. We want to travel throughout the City so that the community, people in the neighborhoods, can have an opportunity to have input into what we're trying to do. Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Councilwoman Tasco. Councilman DiCicco, thanks for having us in your district, and thank you for coming out. It's great to see so many young people here also this evening. I lend my support as Councilman-at-large representing the entire City of Philadelphia to work with my District Council colleagues. I've been to all four now of these meetings, and I think the community appreciates it, and I learned a lot, and hopefully we'll make Philadelphia a safer place for all of us. Thank you.
Thank you very much. 9 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Linda.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am happy to be here tonight to represent your Council President and mine, Council President Verna. I would like to say that Council President has attended all the meetings with the elected officials in the past and will continue, and working together hopefully we can be productive and make this a better, safer place for Philadelphia. Thank you.
Now I'm going to introduce State Representative Dwight Evans, who stepped up to the plate after the shooting of Faheem Childs and the massive march we had in North Philadelphia to call attention to the violence in the City. He went back to Harrisburg and obtained $16 million to flow into the City to provide money for programmatic activity for young people so that we can get them off the street and 10 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 find something productive for them to do. He also brought in Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, who is a medical doctor but is a professor at Harvard, and she said when she was medical doctor, all she did was patch up the young people who came into the hospital where she was working. She worked in the emergency room. And she said there's got to be a better way. So she has become the convener, quite the convener. She is sort of like the moderator for the Blueprint, and they spent about three or four months putting together the plan of action, and on occasion, she comes back to Philadelphia. We hope to have her again in Philadelphia. But she cares a lot about what is happening, has worked with State Representative Dwight Evans to make sure that we take some action, and not just have talking, but there is some action. So there are dollars that have been given to -- Dwight will tell you, 11 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 there's the Public/Private Ventures organization that oversees the program, and he'll tell you how you might be able to access some of those dollars. Let me introduce State Representative Dwight Evans. He represents the West Oak Lane area. He is also the Chair of the Appropriations Committee in Harrisburg. That's a very powerful committee, because that committee controls the what? THE AUDIENCE: The money.
The money. And when you control the money, you have a lot of power. Before we begin, let me have my assistant, Derek Green, read the resolution, because this is a formal Council meeting and we do have a stenographer. Thank you.
Resolution No. 23 051155, authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold 12 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 hearings regarding the findings and recommendations of the "Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia," and further authorizing the Committees to seek advice and recommendations on how Philadelphia can reduce and eliminate crime affecting the City's youth.
Thank you very much. Before we move on, let me recognize Captain Bethel. Thank you so much for coming in, Captain. Stand up and receive your applause. (Applause.)
And his Inspector. Inspector, stand up, please. Thank you. (Applause.)
We thank them for coming out. We have a fine Police Department. People can complain, but when you need somebody, who do you 13 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 call? 9-1-1. So they do a great job. They're very responsive. And I want to say, we thank you for the hard work that you do and we appreciate it. Now let me introduce you to State Representative Dwight Evans. While he comes forth, let me recognize Councilman Juan Ramos. ) REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: I'd like to say good evening to all of you. It is a pleasure. I'd like to particularly thank Councilwoman Marian Tasco and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. I'd like to thank them first for their leadership in bringing together the Public Health Committee, as well as the criminal justice side of the Committee in Council. This is a first in bringing these Committees together to have this broad-based discussion. I'd like to also thank my colleagues, Councilman Frank DiCicco here in his legislative district, as well as 14 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Councilman Frank Rizzo, as well as Councilman Juan Ramos. I'd like to thank them also as Councilpeople. I'd like to put this in perspective relating to what we are attempting to do with what we call a Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia, and the reason I want to put it in perspective, this really started, as Councilwoman Marian Tasco expressed, in Donna Reed Miller's district in February of 2004. Faheem Thomas-Childs was on his way to school and, unfortunately, he was in the right place. I want to be very clear. He was in the right place. He was going to school. He was minding his own business. He was not minding anybody else's business, and, unfortunately, some individuals, who were caught and convicted, shot I think as many as 90 rounds and he was shot and killed. Jerry Mondesire from NAACP and Jewell Williams led a march where there was 12,000 people, and when they led this 15 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 march, they basically led the march on the basis of an awful lot of frustration that was out there, and the feeling was that there needed to be something done that was different. As a result of them leading that march, as Councilwoman Marian Tasco indicated to you, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Stith from Harvard. She is a medical doctor and she has an Associate in public health, and she is the one who said to me -- she wrote a book called Murder is Preventable. Murder is Preventable. So the first thing I want to say to you, if you believe in terms of attacking this problem, you have to believe that, one, this problem is beatable, that you can reverse this problem. And what I'm going to describe to you, there are two examples of two major cities where there have been reductions in the levels of homicides, as well as in the levels of shootings, and 16 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the two cities is New York and is in Boston. There's no question you may have saw in the newspaper the other day, you may have saw what you call trends, and the thing you have to look at is, you have to look at the trends. I'm going to give you an interesting statistic. In the City of Philadelphia, in 1999, there were 299 homicides in 1999. Last year, there was 381 homicides last year. So, remember, I said you got to look at the trends. You got to look at what took place in 1999 and you look at what took place today. So fundamentally what we are attempting to do with this effort is to reverse the trends. Historically, when we have approached this problem, I believe we have started and we have stopped. We haven't had a long-term sustainable effort. This problem, as Councilwoman Marian Tasco said, you're not going to pass a piece of legislation 17 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 in City Council, in Harrisburg or Washington and then all the sudden have an instant answer. Are there certain things we could do to put certain policies in place that would effectuate the environment? The answer is yes.
There is no question there are certain things we can do. And that's what I want to talk about in terms of the Blueprint and our approach to the Blueprint. This is what we decided to do. We hired Deborah Stith. She came in and she started looking at all of the data and the research regarding the City. For example, we know specifically what zip codes, what police districts, what blocks, what neighborhoods where the vast majority of incidents occur. We know all the information. We're a lot more smarter today in terms of -- so the first thing is, we know the information. The second part, as a result of us knowing the information, the question is, how do we do interventions in those 18 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 particular areas to reverse the problem. How do we do that? What we basically have come to and the point of view, that violence is a learned behavior. Violence is a learned behavior. So the fundamental question is, how do we reverse that learned behavior? That is what the Blueprint is like. We hired the MEE Production Company, which will come in and talk about the approach. What Dr. Stith did, she talked about the concept between public health and criminal justice. Historically -- I'm going to give you an interesting statistic. When I was elected in the legislature in 1980, we had 8,000 people in the State system, 8,000 people in the State system. Today in the State system we have 43,000 people in the State system. We have 43,000. We have over 200,000 people in what you call parole or probation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That is at the State level. That is not county, and Marian 19 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Tasco can talk about the county level, but the fact of the matter is, that is what we have in the State. So the fact is, over the last years -- in 1994, we had a special 7 session on crime, and what we did is, we 8 changed the laws. We basically added 9 more mandatory sentencing. We basically 10 adjusted certain sentencing around youth 11 and all those other kinds of things. 12 That's what we did in 1994. 13 Where are we today? What we're 14 basically attempting to do is, we put 15 this initiative together. I'm going to 16 just read off some things to you. 17 First we started with something 18 called the Safer Neighborhoods in Cities 19 of the First Class, is what we started 20 with. We invested -- "we," I'm talking 21 about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 22 all of the legislators, democrats and 23 republicans. I want you to understand, 24 from Harold James, who is here in South 25 Philly, to Bill Keller, to John Perzel, 20 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 to Denny O'Brien. Everybody supports this, from Senator Fumo to Shirley Kitchen. Everybody supported it. 7 million in what you call Safer Neighborhoods in Cities of First Class, which Ivan will talk about that. The second part we did is something called the Illegal Gun Task Force. We gave the City of Philadelphia, under the leadership of Senate Fumo and Senator Anthony Hardy Williams, $800,000 to set up what you call a Gun Task Force for the implementation of the recommendation of the Gun Commission. The third thing we did, which you hear a lot about and the police talk a great deal about this, is the concern about people not willing to step up and testify. The federal government had put a million dollars up for witness relocation. They removed the million dollars. We last year put up a million dollars. We put up another million 21 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 dollars this year for witness relocation. The third thing we did -- the fourth thing, I should say, we did with Paul Vallas, we started something called the Parent Involvement Program, where what we did is, literally in every school in the City of Philadelphia there's what you call a parent desk, and the purpose of the parent desk is to organize the parents in the school, to educate the parents, to begin to talk to the parents. And we did that with Paul Vallas.
The next thing we did, and you will hear someone talk about the Department of Health, with three hospitals, it's called the Pennsylvania Injury Reporting Intervention System. What we did is, with three hospitals in the City of Philadelphia, Jefferson, HUP and Einstein, what we did with those -- Temple. What we're doing with those hospitals is, we are documenting what takes place with shooting victims. So we are able to track what takes place and be 22 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 on top of what is taking place in hospitals. And someone will talk about that. In addition to that, with the State Police, we invested $550,000 towards trigger locks. And the last thing we did, we set up with the court something called Gun Court. We set up something called the Gun Court. So we have invested money in the Attorney General, the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the Pennsylvania State Police, the court. We have invested money in all those particular areas. You heard Councilwoman Marian Tasco said the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has invested $16 million since February of 2004 targeted specifically towards the City of Philadelphia. Right now we're in budget negotiations this year. We will renew that 16 million, and I think what you're going to hear -- and I don't want to 23 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 preempt myself -- with working with Speaker Perzel, Senator Fumo, Senator Anthony Hardy Williams, there are some more things that we're going to do around the issue of guns and enforcement. We're hoping to work some more things on gun enforcement. Now, do we need to do something on gun policy? The answer is yes. John Myers and LeAnna Washington have both introduced legislation, which is in the Judiciary Committee, which deals with the one gun a month. In addition, I have introduced legislation based on Darrell Clarke and Donna Reed Miller which will give the City of Philadelphia back its power. Now, the reality of it is, we know that we are in a difficult state about a fundamental debate around the question of to what degree should there be this issue about gun policy. Well, what I'm letting you know, that there is some legislation that is moving to be 24 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 even more aggressive on law enforcement in terms of straw purchasing and others. The other side -- I'll describe it as the other side, not necessarily saying that in a negative way, but the other side is recognizing that there has to be done something about gun policy. There are a number of bills that have come out of the Judiciary Committee that are dealing on that. So I gave you a global view of what has happened before I introduce Ivan in terms of MEE. This is the other thing I want to say: I want to explain to you what I think the difference is about this initiative than other initiatives in the past and what I have observed in terms of New York and Boston. I want to first talk about New York. When Dave Dinkins was Mayor of New York, one of the first things he did was hire more police officers. One of the things Council has done, they have begun -- I think in their 25 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 budget have recommended 100 additional police officers, and I think that is an issue that the Council has addressed. So the first thing Dave Dinkins did was, he hired more police officers. As a matter of fact, New York increased their numbers to 10,000 to 14,000, based on their size, police officers. The second thing is, when Giuliani became Mayor, what he did is, he used some of the techniques that when Timoney was around and others was around at that particular point, they started using technology. They used that Comstat particular approach and they used something which was -- a gentleman who wrote a book by the name of George Kelling called The Broken Windows Theory, where they became very aggressive on the quality of life issues, that is something they focused on.
The current Mayor of New York, Bloomberg, is concentrating, which our Mayor has joined with him, about the 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 illegal gun sales. So basically over a 20-year period, New York did a very sustainable effort. Their homicide rate is what it was in 1963. 1 million people, and the homicide rate is five. In addition, yes, they do have a better straw control. In the case of Boston, what did Boston do? Boston took the approach of what we have here in terms of the public health approach. Boston went 14 months -- Boston went 30 months without a 15 16-year-old being killed in the City of 16 Boston. And what Boston did is, Boston basically did a grassroot approach where they basically used the clergy, they used the Police Department, and they basically went from neighborhood to neighborhood and they identified the individuals who were on parole or probation and they targeted those particular areas. So New York used the combination of the criminal justice 27 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 approach and Boston used the public health approach. So what we have tried to do is, we have looked at New York and Boston, and what we have tried to do with the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia is, we have tried to take a combination. This discussion started out with Lynne Abraham, Sylvester Johnson and Pat Meehan. They are part of the group. They started out with the discussion. We have brought together the criminal justice side and the public health side, but the key to this, in my view -- and I understand each day when you read about a statistic or you read about an individual, I understand if one person gets killed, that's too many, and I understand when I see signs and people say enough is enough, I don't disagree with that, but the thing that I'm trying to express is what Councilwoman Marian Tasco said. This is going to take, in my view, a long-term struggle to reverse the behavior, and it's not just going to be 28 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 done by City Hall. It's not going to be just done by Harrisburg. It's not going to be just done by Washington. It's going to be what Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and Marian Tasco are doing here. And part of doing these discussions about going neighborhood to neighborhood is to try to build from the bottom up, not from the top down, is what we are attempting to do. We are attempting to organize, look at this as an organized effort. This is the fourth event. It's not an accident that all these hearings are taking place in a school. It's not an accident that all these hearings are taking place in a high school. So what we are attempting to do -- we was at Gratz, we was at Olney, we was at Germantown, and now we're here at South Philly. We are fundamentally attempting to go neighborhood by neighborhood, outline the Blueprint, lay out the plan and give you a little sense of the plan, and then get you brought 29 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 into the plan as we begin. Because the key to it is if we change the environment, we change the behavior. If we change the environment, we change the behavior. That is a long-term effort. That is a collective effort. So we have set this up what we call primary, secondary and tertiary. We are focusing on what you call primary and secondary. Tertiary is the Police Department and others. But just what was told to me at Gratz is, the Police Department can be used primarily from the primary part, too. Like, for example, the DARE Program. When the Police Department does those things on the front end, they also can be a part of the strategic strategy that reverses the behavior. But the key element to all of this is, we can't just start and stop. This can't be tied to politics. This can't be tied to short election periods. This has to be something that we are at 30 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 it every single day, every single week, and we can reverse and reduce the trend. Remember what I said to you.
" So you got to look at the trends of what took place from 1999, the 308, and where we are today. The question is, we got to be able to measure where we are today and evaluate today six months from now, a year from now, and we got to keep doing that, and then we got to look at every section and we got to do it section by section. That's what we have to do. I would say we have never done this this way in this City. We have basically figured the Police Department by itself can solve it. You could have five more thousand police officers on the police force and they will not by themselves be able to solve this problem. This problem is much more deeper than the Police Department by themselves. The 31 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Police Department is a part of it. The courts are a part of it. The DA is a part of it. Everybody is a part of it. That's the only way we're going to reverse it long term. The police can be good in the respect that they can obviously go to locations, move people along. But they move some other place. The fact of the matter is, it has to be long term. So I have outlined to you that we're working in partners with City Council and with the Mayor, from Harrisburg to Philadelphia delegation. We're doing everything we can. So we want you to be clear. This is in partnership with them. It's not us versus them. Harrisburg, we do care. So what I'd like to do is have Ivan who could describe to you specifically the social marketing aspect. Ivan.
Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Councilpersons 32 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Tasco, Miller, Rizzo, DiCicco, Ramos and other elected officials. I'd really like to thank you also, Dwight, for getting us involved and convening these meetings. My name is Ivan Juzang. I'm the Founder and President of a company here in Philadelphia based here in Philadelphia called MEE Production, which stands for Motivational Educational Entertainment, and we're one of the partners that's involved in the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia, and I'm here to describe our role and really to describe the social marketing campaign. I want to start off by saying that we're just one of the many components that represent what Dwight talked about, the public health intervention side of the campaign. So he talked about the criminal justice side, then there's the public health side. We're one of the components of the public health side. We're actually one of the 33 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 grantees from Public/Private Ventures, which is really the oversight group that's managing all of the grantees that are doing the public health intervention side. So there's P/PV, there's MEE Productions, there's seven or eight other grantees who are doing more on the ground youth violence intervention programs, and then there's the Choice Hotline that you'll hear about, which is the hotline service that is referring folks who call to it to different programs and services around the City. So we were brought into the campaign about a year ago through Dr. Stith, who knew about our work nationally and asked to meet with Dwight Evans, and one of the things that we were asked to do was to figure out how we could develop a social marketing campaign, which is really just a term used for an advertising campaign to put the Blueprint out into the public and to create awareness about the Blueprint for 34 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 a Safer Philadelphia. So we're using a public health approach to try to talk about youth violence here in the City of Philadelphia. So I want to take you quickly through what the process has been for us doing this for the last year and then talk about how we're moving forward. First of all, it's multi-faceted. There's a variety of programs, entities, organizations involved. It's community driven. Everything we do is a buy-in for the community. It's inclusive and evolving. So that means that we've involved the community at this point and we will continue to evolve and to continue to involve whoever wants to be involved in the campaign. So that's an invitation to be involved. It has a significant parenting component. We've identified over a thousand potential partners for the campaign who are going to help us get the 35 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 word out about it. There's a significant youth development component. I mentioned the hotline. And for our folks who are familiar with public health issues, it's going to be evaluated, which is very important in terms of public health terms. One of the things I want you to understand, the first thing we did when we got involved was did extensive focus groups with young people and parents and service providers around the City. And I think in the first hearing we actually played the DVD, the documentary, so that you can kind of see what the community was saying. We're not going to do that today, but if anyone wants a copy of the DVD in terms of what the research said, we can provide that to you. But I just want to take you quickly through the main points that were said by the community. The first thing was that, particularly young people, they experience violence on a daily basis. 36 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 It's a way of life for them. They're exposed to it daily, either someone who witnesses, they're a victim or in many cases they're a perpetrator. The access to guns was significant.
Young people said they have access to guns the same way we would have access to candy. They could get it any time. Any time they need it, they know who to call to get access to guns. But I want to also not just talk about what young people said were the issues around violence, but some of the other things that I think were insightful and that we're using to inform the campaign. The first thing that young people said was that they wanted adults to be involved in their lives, and they were saying one of the main reasons why there's a lot of youth violence is because adults are not involved. They wanted to understand the consequences around youth violence, but 37 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 they didn't want to just understand the negative side. They also wanted to understand if you're doing positive things, what are some of the positive consequences that can come out of that, too. They said there weren't enough programs for them, enough programs in their community. There weren't enough after-school programs. There weren't enough employment opportunities and opportunities to get paid. Young people talked about that extensively. The parents talked about how they needed help, that they weren't getting any support. Parents need help too was a major thing that came out of it. And then I think the part that was very important to us was the fact that young people talked about the importance of education. And sometimes we don't connect education and violence, but we do know that if you don't have any choices and if you're not focused on your 38 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 education, then violence becomes one of the few options that you have available. So we got all of this information through the research that we conducted, and one of the main things that came out of it is that young people told us clearly that they needed things to do. They needed replacement behavior. If you don't want us to do this, then what do you want us to do, and give us some positive things to do in our community. And so that was very clear. And, again, if you'd like a copy of that research, we have it available. Well, anyway, we took that information and we started developing a campaign. And so the campaign, I'm sure a lot of you all have seen it and heard it. It's called the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. You've probably heard our radio ads. We have about five or six radio ads that are just targeting parents and adults at this point. We haven't done anything targeting young 39 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 people. So our whole focus first was just to get adults to be aware that this is an issue, that young people are talking to us and they want us to get involved. So the first two months -- and it's only been going really for two and a half months here -- we've been talking to parents. You may have heard the ads that we put out with Mothers in Charge. One ad is called Parents Need Support Too. So we have a variety of ads out there. You may have seen the transit ads, Take Control, Take a Role. So the whole focus initially is just to focus on parents and adults. And now this summer, because as you know, violence usually goes up in the summer, we're going to have a series of ads that are directly targeting the young people. So you'll start hearing those towards the end of this month and early July. I think you'll like them. We're very excited about them. And then over the summer, we're 40 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 also going to be doing direct outreach in nine zip codes here in the City to parents to let them know that there is support for them with their young people. So we're going to be focusing on that as well. One of the things that Dwight mentioned which is key is that if you want to change behavior, you have to change environment. Well, part of changing the environment is that we have to start changing people's attitudes. We have to start changing the community norms.
We have to start getting people involved and we have to get people to understand that if we want young people to feel safe, we have to take control and make young people feel safe in the communities that we live in. So that's the focuses, that we're going to try to create awareness, change attitudes and impact community norms. The way that we're going to 41 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 measure our success is the calls to the hotline. We've had over 400 calls to the hotline already. Ironically, the calls to the hotline have really been -- as I mentioned earlier, the ads were focused on adults, but already over half of the calls to the hotline have been by young people and under. So they're hearing 10 these ads targeting adults and realizing 11 that they need help now, and so we're 12 focusing on that. 13 The other way we're going to 14 measure success is how many adults that 15 we get involved with. We've gotten over 16 a thousand adults involved in the 17 campaign. And ultimately the goal is to 18 generate community ownership. Until communities take control of their specific neighborhood block by block, we will not see a change in youth violence. So I just wanted to kind of give you that brief overview, let you know that if you're interested in the campaign or more information, you should 42 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 contact P/PV. They provide oversight for all of the grantees. They're mapping the nine zip codes that Dwight mentioned that have the highest youth homicide rates in West Philadelphia, Southwest Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, and then you can always call the hotline if you want more information as well. And I think that's all I wanted to discuss. Thank you very much. ) REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: The hotline number is 1-888-570-BLUE. 1-888-570-BLUE. It is also a website. We have a website, we have a hotline number. And one piggyback to this concept, in 1964, there was an issue that came out about smoking. That is the same concept, if you think about what took place with smoking and the change of behavior over the period of time. There was a report done, the Surgeon General report. It is the same way we have approached this same approach of what 43 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 we're attempting to do. The hotline number is a measuring stick for us to give us a reading of where the calls are coming from, the sections they're coming from, and then it allows us to figure out what are the strategies of how we intervene.
Thank you. Let me recognize your State Representative Bill Keller. Would you like to say something, Representative? REPRESENTATIVE KELLER: I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. This is a great showing and this is for a very important issue. And, Councilwoman, I'd like to thank you and Dwight and the rest of the panel for having this and making me part of it. Thank you.
Thank you. Councilman Ramos, would you like to say something -- we had other Councilmembers -- as a member of this 44 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Committee? This is a formal public Council hearing. So at our hearings, we do have panels and then we ask other people to come forth and testify. So you will have an opportunity to say something, so don't think that you won't. Yes.
Thank you for inviting me to South Philly High, where I tried to learn how to speak Portuguese. Spanish I had under control and English, but I couldn't get the Portuguese down pat. This is very important. I've been all over the City as part of this series of meetings, also the series of meetings that the Street Administration has had throughout the City, two rounds, and I've been to many of those as well. There's just countless meetings in churches and community centers, and I am very glad that people are getting involved all over the City. It takes the 45 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 involvement of the people that live in this City for us to make a big difference in this crime wave that we're seeing. I just want to just throw in a couple more things into this mix. State Representative Dwight Evans, an extraordinary leader in our State and our City for so many years, touched on this, that those cities that have had success have tackled what is referred to as the quality of life. I remember watching City Council many years before I came to City Council where Councilman DiCicco and Jim Kenney were talking about quality of life, and people were saying, What the hell are they talking about? And then it all started to make sense, because other cities were talking improving the quality of life of people. Last weekend, there was a movement by some evangelicals in the City. I believe they brought it down South Philly. It was called Convoy for Hope. Dwight Evans and I were -- it's 46 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Convoy -- REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Convoy of Hope, that's it.
Convoy of Hope. And Dwight and I were up in North Philly at this thing. And they had one problem up there, and although it rained for more than half the day, over 2,000 people showed up. People heard it. All kind of people heard it, right? They had one problem there, and the organizers came up to me and told me, You know what the problem we've had here today? I said, What was that? The language of the children. The language of the children. The children was F this, F that. And little children, little children, you know. We have to make an effort, because wherever you see that type of language, you will see a tendency towards wanting to do some wrong things, wrong things to your neighbor, to your 47 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 community, to yourself. And all the sudden all the pastors there were saying, We need a program to re-teach our kids how to talk. So that's quality of life as well. There are so many things that have brought about this problem of violence. We definitely have to get more police on the street. In City Council, we're doing our part, and the Administration is now okay with that, but we need to have more community involvement and see how you tackle it from your end. If it's children that they're using foul language all the time, we know that that language, if they keep it up, might lead some of them to a gun. And those kids walking around with guns -- I tell folks, If you see a kid walking around with a gun, unless they're a cop, they shouldn't be carrying that gun. You need to tell on them. It doesn't matter if it's your grandson, your son, your brother. He's carrying an illegal gun and will end up 48 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 doing time for carrying that gun. So there's a lot to be done. I am just so glad so many of you came out here tonight and want to continue to be involved and be part of the solution to this problem. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Councilman. We have Mr. Archye Leacock here from Don't Fall Down in the Hood. He's going to speak to us briefly about his program and his thoughts on the whole issue of the Blueprint and what they're doing to address the issue.
Thanks very much for having me once again, City Council, Councilpersons, to come out to the event tonight to talk to the folks in South Philadelphia. Recently, I've been hearing quite a few incidents, homicides and police action in South Philadelphia, and although I just heard the State 49 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Representative said it's good to see the crowd out here, I mean, I know I'm blind, but I think we should have three or four more times the people out here, because if you're having the kind of action down here with people getting killed and murdered and police activity, I think all the audience is kind of quiet. We need much more activity out here. So I really want to as a citizen, not as an elected official, and sort of supervising a program for adjudicated young people across the City, I feel very strongly like Dwight Evans said, that this business of violence is really learned. However we have learned it, we have to unlearn it, whether or not it's the media, whether or not it's the movies, whether or not it's the rap song. Whatever the reason is, we as citizens got to get the movement together so we can begin to say no. 24 Last week, I was very, very fortunate to be invited to a very small 50 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 meeting of us from around internationally to meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in New York at a very exclusive restaurant. I didn't know food could taste so good, and I'm telling you, I'm planning to go back up there if I could only afford it for another meal, but the food was really, really good. I like my McDonald's and KFC, but I'm truly telling you, the food was exquisite. And Desmond Tutu, Archbishop, sat with us and he was talking about violence all around the world and how there are more good people doing things than bad people and we were really just hearing about the bad people. You're just hearing about the bad people in the media, and not to give up and just inspiring citizens to really stay involved. And although I am in the trenches every day working with young men arrested for using or carrying a gun here in Philadelphia, it was good for me to get the pep talk, because sometimes I get 51 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 tired, you know. I go home at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning or come to these kind of events. I'm out late at night, and I wonder, when is this going to turn around? When are the citizens like us going to lead the movement and not necessarily have all public officials always getting up and calling press conferences and having events like this? I mean, I want to encourage all of us in the audience as citizens to really understand firmly that this is our responsibility. If there's violence in our neighborhood, it is because we are allowing this to happen. We are accepting this to happen in our neighborhood. (Applause.)
The neighborhoods where it's not happening is because they ain't putting up with it. Regardless of race, regardless of income, regardless of whatever it is, they're not putting up with it. But we are putting up with it, 52 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 so we get what we deserve. We get our public officials who are trying to help us with this, but we need to support them in this initiative. We need to be behind them and just not quietly listening to speeches about what needs to happen. Folks, listen, we got to get up and do something about this. We got to get up and do something about this situation. (Applause.)
Together with staff, we run a program called Don't Fall Down in the Hood here in Philadelphia for young men who have been arrested for using and carrying a gun, trafficking, narcotics, aggravated assault, theft. And a study just came out in March about 400 of those young people we worked with. There were 600 in total that we have served over the last ten years, but they looked at 400 of them who were adjudicated and sent by Family Court, and out of that 400, only three percent, 53 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 which is only 13, recommitted another crime. Three percent. And I just heard a study out of the University of Chicago that said 60, 70 percent of people who commit crime recommit the same crime, the same crime, 60, 70 percent. So we have a program that we know here in Philadelphia that is working and that is working with our public officials and that that is working, funded by the Department of Human Services. And we need many, many more of these programs. It doesn't matter if we at ID, the Institute for the Development of African-American Youth, spearhead this initiative, but that there needs to be more programs like Don't Fall Down in the Hood across the City. Just not at Temple campus, we need it across the board in every rec center so we can get young people positive and not picking up guns and not feeling that the only way they're going to protect themselves is to pick up a gun. 54 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 It is learned behavior, but even more so than learned behavior, people and my citizens, I'm truly telling you, even more than learned behavior, it is a denial of opportunities that we're not getting. And I was at a State conference this past weekend in York, Pennsylvania, and everyone was talking about no jobs. And when I got up and said to them that only 30 percent of young people are going to be having jobs in Philadelphia and involved in programs for the summer, people were stunned. They thought there was many, many more people. Five years ago, Philadelphia Youth Network had 20,000 jobs. You know how many jobs they're offering young people this year? Five thousand. From 20,000 to 5,000, where's the crime? Where are all of these people going to be? All other young people on the street, doing nothing. Where are they going to be? 55 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 (Applause.)
But yet we are putting a hundred million dollars to hire a hundred more police officers. I think that's a bad combination. Young people doing nothing on the corners. The houses are too hot because they only have fans, no air conditioning. There are no 10 mandates to air condition every house in our City like there's heat in the winter. And more police officers. What do you think is going to happen? Aggressive police officers is going to arrest more of our people. So I am really thinking that while it sounds like a good strategy to have more police officers protect us, I really think it's an illusion. We need to figure out how to protect ourselves. We need to build town watches, more junior town watches. Virtually nobody in town watches are involved in doing anything in our neighborhood. So I am really saying -- and I 56 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 know I say this all the time, and I'm going to say it until I get my sight back, which is never, I'm truly going to keep saying it, that we have to as citizens do something about the situation. If it's going to stop, it's going to stop. When I heard Dwight Evans earlier when I was walking in talking about in Boston, they had the Boston miracle. Guess what? I heard on NPR last near that the Boston miracle ain't a miracle no more. They are having just as many murders than they were having before. You know, Eugene Rivers, who was going around flying all over the country talking about we brought this down and no 19 more murders and it came down from hundreds to 58. Now he's saying everybody is getting apathetic. We're back up to murders. We're trying to double the effect again on a problem that was once solved. How could there be a miracle? 57 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 If Jesus Christ makes a blind man see, you think I'm going to lose my sight again? Come on. I think that's a true miracle. And there are no more murders in Boston? Come on, that ain't no 7 miracle. It was temporary because people just finally got casual and laid back and the problem came back. And not only did the problem come back, there were other aspects of the problem as young people not having jobs, not enough industry, housing, ball schools, that young kids are not developing problem-solving skills, problem-solving skills, conflict resolution skills that they can really say, Hey, I can step back. Just because someone steps at me means I got to step to them and engage in some kind of violence? A lot of this stuff is about young people having opportunities, mentors, people that care about them and to love them. And I really want to say here tonight -- because I know some of 58 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 you might have heard me say this over and over, and I'm going to keep saying it, because it is the truth. The Police Department is only responding to a symptom in our community. They are not the solution. I guarantee you, they're not the solution. And I know people don't like when I say that because they think I'm anti-police. I am not anti-police. I need the police to protect me, too. I don't want no one mugging me, and if they do, I want the police officers to be able to come and protect me. But they're not the solution to our problem. And our elected officials need to hear that. We need to put dollars where policies and legislation is really going to count, young people. In conclusion -- (Applause.)
-- pick up the phone and call the elected officials. Pick up the phone and call them every 59 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 single day until they do what you want them to do. This is the only kind of public servant who does what they want to do, right? If I was a servant in my house, he or she is going to do what I want them to do. So let's call our public officials and let them act as true servants of the people. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Leacock. I won't comment, but I will tell you it's not an either or. It's both. We do need additional police officers, because we're going to always have somebody who does not know how to behave, and we also need the funding for the young people so that they can have after-school programs, and also we've got to bring the jobs back into the City, because when we had 20,000, when we had businesses in the City, we had 20,000 jobs. But the jobs that are coming in are technological jobs, and our young 60 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 people have to be ready to take those jobs. They're not the kind of jobs that they used to have. So our young people have to understand, they have to understand the world of technology, because the world is changing, and so now you have to know how to use a computer. I thought one time I could always get a job typing, but Lord knows, the typewriter went out of existence. Okay? So I can't type no more. I had to learn to use the computer if I'm going to survive. So I don't dispute what Mr. Leacock says. He is right. We need more money for young people. We need to encourage businesses to come in, but we also have to prepare the young people to be prepared for those jobs that are there. Let me just say we have now three people who are going to come to the mike. Mr. Michael Harris, who is Director of Operations of Philadelphia 61 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence. Mr. Reed, Charlie Reed, are you coming up for PAAN? Come on up. And we have Mr. Thomas Tinsley. Mr. Tinsley, would you come up and be prepared to speak after him? Then we have Ms. Tiphanie D. White. Ms. White, would you come up and be prepared to speak. And Mr. Kenyatta Bey also from PAAN. Would the PAAN people come. Then we'll have Mr. Tinsley, Ms. White and Mr. Bey. And then next we'll have Mr. Elisha -- I told Elisha I was going to have him next, Elisha Morris. These are his people. Elisha is going to speak.
I just want to say good evening. Good evening to all the elected officials and everybody that's here. Again, my name is Mike Harris. I'm the Director of Operations for the Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network. And I just want to continue to 62 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 echo some of the things that Archye had just left off saying, especially as it pertains to our young people. We all know about the 380 homicides that happened here in the City last year, but when you triple that number of young people that have been injured or seriously injured because of gunshot wounds or serious injuries, that is another astronomical number that we need to pay close attention to. We have to pay close attention to the fact that a lot of the crimes that are now being committed, especially in my neighborhood -- I am a life-long resident here of South Philadelphia. Two blocks from our house is where the four-year-old young lady was then shot the other night. I'm really disappointed not only in my community but also in my family here in South Philadelphia that we have a four-year-old that is lying up in the hospital basically trying to get her life back together and we still have the 63 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 perpetrators running the streets. And we have people -- (Applause.)
-- that are still sitting idly by silent about the problems that are going on in our community. A lot of times that we ask for help, help does come, but we cannot control the form that help comes in, and so we have to accept help when help does come. And so basically I'm just saying that here tonight that, again, as a community, we need to stand up. We need to speak up. We need to speak out about the problems. Our agency is not the panacea. We're not the cure-all, but yet we're going to try to do our part. We have just been awarded the AVRP project here for South Philadelphia and so -- (Applause.)
-- we will be partnering with our partners, Diversified 64 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Community Services and United Communities, so that we can be able to put some youth workers out on the streets to try to work with young people. And also, in closing, we are also a very critical part of the Blueprint, as we have the PIRIS piece that we're working with PHMC and we have case workers that go out on the streets. And PIRIS basically deals with the young people who are victims of gunshot injuries, and what we try to do is that we try to provide additional supports and services to those young people and to those families. And so, again, we have to just not talk about the problem, we have to be about the solution. A lot of us talk a good game, but a lot of us are not around when the real battle takes place. And so basically we have to get out there. And so I thank you again, Councilwoman. I thank you again, distinguished elected officials that are 65 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 here. Good to see Ivan again. And so thank you very much. (Applause.)
First I'd like to give honor to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without him, I would not be here today. (Applause.)
And it's an honor and a privilege to stand in front of my community, my family and friends, because we're all related, and in front of the Council today. My name is Thomas Tinsley and I just want to testify a little bit what happened in my life that changed my life. Last year, July the 23rd -- I bear my son's picture on my chest. He was killed July the 23rd. He was 20 years old. He wasn't quite 21. He was 20 years old. I got a phone call about 2 66 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 o'clock in the morning and said my son got shot seven times. He was shot down in South Philly, which I'm originally from, on Sheridan Street. From Marshall Street, he got shot on Marshall Street, then they stood over him on Sheridan Street and finished shooting him in his head seven times. The person that did the crime, they seem to know who it is. I've been dealing with the officers, but they say they don't have enough evidence to prosecute. This young man has killed before. He's beat this homicide before. So the Lieutenants and Detectives tell me they want to get a sound case before they take him, don't want him to walk from this. But that don't ease my pain. My son was killed, 20 years old. A young man done it before, got away with it. And if he get away with this, he probably going to do it again. But my thing is not only that, when somebody kills 67 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 somebody or somebody get killed like that, it affects a whole family. I have a younger daughter five years old, and every night we pray. We used to call my son -- his name is Akeem. We call him Wooker. Daddy, pray for Wooker, my uncle Herman. I let her know that they're in a better place, but she don't really understand, but I give it to her what it is. Not only I'm affected, my son left two little daughters, one years old. So I step in to try to be like a father figure to them, yet a grandfather. July the 23rd, my son was killed. October the 9th, my brother-in-law was shot down in South Philly, shot five times. Haven't got the person who did that. People have seen it, and that happened 11 o'clock at night. People were out. People are afraid to talk. So death has hit my door. It's my wife's only brother. So I've been 68 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 going through it, but I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that's been pulling me. He keeps me every day. (Applause.)
July the 23rd, my son got killed. The 24th I was in my church. I had to see God's face. They killed my boy. They killed my boy, my first human action. Where that dude at? But then the Lord spoke to me, said, My God, I never would leave you or forsake you. Greater he that's in me than he that's in the world. So I cried. I'm not over this. I'll constantly think about my son, trying to go on a little bit. Then like I said, October my brother-in-law get killed. Now, I'm not even finished dealing with the grief of my son, I got to console my wife, her only brother. My wife is not Akeem's biological mother, but they love one another. She was in his life. So she's bearing two burdens. Now, some of the problems I 69 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 see, if you ask me, drugs is one of the problems. Drugs has affected a whole community, a whole family. Some children are out there because they're being the parents of their own household. They don't have no other choice, because either their mother is hooked on drugs, their father in jail or he is doing drugs. So the kids got to stand up. They don't know how to be kids today, and it's hard for a child to be a child today. It's not like when I came up. They're being influenced by so many different things. Well, society is telling them one thing. People don't know how to be parents today. We don't have the fear of the Lord no more. People get high right on the church step. (Applause.)
We need to stop worrying about what he's about and we need to unify, clergy, Islamic, Christians, Jews, whatever. We need to 70 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 come together, because these are our babies. This is not happening in Iraq. This is in our community. (Applause.)
Now, this is our sons, our daughters, our nieces and nephews, our grandkids. But we got to love them, and it's hard to love somebody that just killed my son. But I had to take it to the Master Lord, help me to love this person anyhow. Yes. Do I want him to stand accountable? Yes. Would I be at court? Every day and camp out if necessary, yes.
Mr. Tinsley, we appreciate your testimony. We have a lot of people waiting. We thank you and we share your pain. Thank you. (Applause.)
We ask you to keep your comments to about three minutes, please. We have a long line.
Good evening, 71 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Council, Representatives, neighbors, friends, relatives. My name is Tiphanie White. First I'd like to thank God for allowing me to stand here today. At the age of 16, I was a victim of violence myself. I was shot with a 45 in my back. And my grandmother, Mrs. Dorothy D. Allen, she's the head of a community center for over 28 years. I've been dealing with a lot of issues in my life. My children's father was killed. He was part of the 380 last year. I lost my job. But God is still good, because he got me standing here today. And I come forth to you to say that the Barrett Educational Center -- I'm representing the Barrett Educational Center. My grandmother is retiring and I'm taking over now. Since I've been a victim of violence, I want to try to stop the violence in our neighborhoods. The young man right across the street from the community center at 24th 72 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and Wharton Square was killed. I have a "Stop the Violence in the Hood - Let's Start Living Good" essay contest that I'm trying to promote for the kids to do. I also am asking for funding for our summer day camp. Our drill team, we started a drill team. I went out walking the beat myself. I passed out flyers. I have 49 girls and ten boys that joined our drill team. I'm asking the Lord to make a way for us to get our drums. I'm trying my best. I have my family members helping me. I'm trying my best to stop this violence. I can't do it myself, but I need the people in the neighborhood to help. I even had neighborhood meetings inside my grandmother's community center so we can get together and stop. On May 29th, I had a big "Stop the Violence" essay block party for all the kids. I gave out free hamburgers and hot dogs. I went out and got donations. I'm just asking the Council if 73 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 they can help me help the kids. I can get connections to the kids in the neighborhood. The kids follow me around like I'm a Pied Piper. They always follow me around, Ms. Tiphanie, Ms. Tiphanie, can we do this, can we do that. I'm trying my best, and I can't do it by myself. The center is at 24th and Wharton. I'm asking if you could come down, come look at the Barrett Educational Center, help me out, help me get to the kids to help them. And that's all I have to say. (Applause.)
Would you see Ms. Callan. Yes. Three minutes, Mr. Reed.
Plenty of time. Good evening, everybody. My name is Charles Reed, community specialist for 74 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Town Watch in the City of Philadelphia. I'm also an ex-community activist in Grays Ferry. I want to say that I got experience with working with kids at night. I worked six and a half years at Audenried School. Every evening, including from Monday to Saturday, I had 130 kids in that school with different programs. We never had to call the cop there. We never had no gun problems there. We allowed no fighting there. We had no drugs there. We had no alcohol there. The Captain from 17th District gave testimony to it, he never been called to that school. Why? Because we had programs there. Now they're closing the school down. They closed the park down. And I'm listening to you all talk about what we're going to do for the kids. Well, why are they tearing all the things down that the kids need to survive with and then you tell us do something with the 75 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 kids? (Applause.)
Grays Ferry, you're going to have so much trouble out in Grays Ferry this summer, because you got all those kids out there with nothing to do, tearing down the park, closing down the school. Nobody is creating no 10 activities. Nobody wants to put no 11 dollars out to help develop anything with kids, and I am telling you, you better get extra police force, because you're going to need it. Them kids are running wild out there now. 27th Street, 31st Street, gang war. 24th Street, 31st Street, gang war. (Applause.)
You got three or four streets up there gang warring against each other, and all I'm saying is -- Mr. Evans, I know you for a long time and I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I am telling you, if they don't get some activity out there in that 76 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 community and get some jobs out there for those kids, it's going to be plenty of problems out there. Okay? I'm telling you, it can be done, because I did it for six and a half years at Audenried School every night and every Saturday morning, and we never had no gun problem and never had no police there. If there was a fight, believe me, it didn't happen very long. And anybody can check the record out there. We need some programs out there in Grays Ferry for those kids. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Charlie Reed has been around a long time. We worked together at the Philadelphia Urban Coalition. He has run many programs down in the Grays Ferry area. Glad to see you back. Ms. Sherrod.
I thought you was going according to the list. 77 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
I work for PAAN. I just came aboard with PAAN about a month now, but I've been working out in the community, helping the youth and doing things with the youth for over ten years. So I'm glad to be a part of PAAN. But I'm speaking on behalf of myself and Point Breeze Youth Development. Gun violence has affected me in my life. I lost a son. He was 15 years old. He got into a conflict with another 78 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 youth. The youth was about his age, around years old. They were fighting, 4 and somehow or another, the fight went 5 one-sided and some older youth, around 18 6 to 20, witnessed the confrontation and 7 gave my son a gun, thought he was doing 8 my son some good to say, Well, look, he 9 got family, he got people, so, you know, 10 here's a gun just in case something else 11 occurs. 12 So my son, 15-year-old young 13 man, was infatuated with having a gun. 14 He thought that he was stepping up into 15 manhood or trying to be a part of something. The gun was an old gun, about -- it was old. It didn't work properly. So my son was trying to clean it and fix the gun, and it discharged and it shot him in the forehead, killed him instantly, in my home, in my bathroom. So here he is laying on my bathroom floor in a pool of blood. There's many things that I can say. I can go on and on and on about the 79 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 gun violence and whatnot and the kids needing something to do. So I work with a youth program called Point Breeze Youth Development. It's a basketball league that we run every summer. I've been doing it for ten years. Half the time I've been coming out of my pocket, getting donations from other people or other concerned neighbors or what-have-you. I'm asking the Council could we get some type of assistance, some kind of funding for our program. Because when the kids are at the playground, there's no altercations. There's no altercations. So I would like to ask and plead with the Council to support our program, give us some funding, if they could. Thank you.
Mrs. 80 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Sherrod.
Good evening, everyone. My basic reason to be before you this evening is to ask one question. South Philadelphia Homes, where I am the Executive Director, and the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, where I am the President of 39 organizations, churches, individuals, et cetera, we have never heard of this plan, and we'd like to know how can we as a community-based organization, the only one in Point Breeze that's community based, be overlooked to the extent that we can't be a part of it?
Well, I'd like to hear more, because we work with children and families daily. Our funds are limited, but there is City funds that can help us to do better, because we know the children far better than people who don't live in our community. 81 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Ms. Cheryl Weiss. Sorry I went off the agenda, Ms. Weiss.
Forgive me. Cheryl has been around a long time. We worked together in many areas, and she's head of the Diversified Community Services, Incorporated.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you all. I'm Cheryl Weiss and I run Diversified Community Services, and we are a community-based organization in Point Breeze and have been there for a hundred years. We are in the heart of the violence. Our facility surfaces straddle both the 1st and 17th Police Precincts. The shooting that occurred just a couple 82 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 of days ago is equi-distant from our community center, Dixon House, and one of our daycare centers, Dixon Learning Academy. We see the shootings. We hear them regularly. Our community center has hosted too many funeral luncheons for families in the neighborhood who have buried their children. It's a scary place, and it feels like the shootout at the OK corral. And we've seen federal police officers raid houses for people who have fled federal bench warrants. So the place is very wild. Having said that, I think our community is being held hostage by a few people who are still in huge fear in the neighborhood at large. But having said that, there is a lot going on. A number of people have already stepped forward to talk about the work that they're doing. My organization, in partnership with the Councilwoman's office, the police who are here, others, have started a grassroots 83 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 bootstrap kind of effort called "Stand Up for Kids" campaign to stem the violence. We're trying to cast a wider net to engage larger segments of our community to provide alternatives and positive activities for kids. For example, we've been visiting, knocking on the doors of local businesses and saying, Hey, listen, hire a couple of kids, give them a job. And some of them have stepped up and have begun to hire kids, such as Shop Rite and A.J. Wright. We got a response from the King Ferry Apartments and they're willing to sponsor a game night once every few weeks. Small steps, chipping away, but it's indication that people really do care. Having said that, we also need more. Our community needs more mental health services. There are no mental health services in South Philadelphia for children and their families. Twenty percent of the kids in Point Breeze 84 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 between the ages of to are unemployed and/or have dropped out of school. (Applause.)
There are a few 7 programs. We run one of them. But you 8 know what? None of these programs are at 9 scale. And while Mr. Leacock's program, 10 Don't Fall Down in the Hood, is an 11 exemplary program, it is nonetheless 12 small. Now, that's not a criticism. 13 What I'm talking about is, good programs 14 never happen at scale at a sufficient 15 number to make a difference, to make an 16 impact, and we got to reverse that. 17 (Applause.) 18
The other piece 19 that I would also add is that we need to do a better job of discussing with our kids and our parents some conflict resolution, talk about reversing behavior. Well, that too needs to happen at a scale and it needs to happen in a consistent, sustained way, and maybe 85 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 using the School District is part of the answer. So having said that, we'd like to get the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia down in our neighborhood. The outreach that you mentioned to parents, 19145 and 19146 ought to be at the top of your list. But thank you very much. (Applause.)
Good evening, everyone. My name is Dawn Caldwell and I'm here to be a resource to your organization or to your community. I am the Outreach and Admissions Manager of the Philadelphia Job Corps Center. We are located at 4601 Market Street. And I've heard a lot of comments and a lot of concerns here regarding the young people not having anything to do. I don't know how many of you have ever heard of Job 86 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Corps, but we are a national program. We've been around for 40 years, and although we know that not every program is stellar or fit for every person, I do want to at least make you aware that for you parents or for you young people that may not feel safe in your communities, we welcome you at Job Corps. Currently, the Philadelphia region alone has over 900 beds available to young people. Unfortunately, Job Corps is still the best kept secret, which we don't know why. We have commercials on TV. We're on the radio. And, unfortunately, we're still the best kept secret. If you do not want to leave Philadelphia, we are at 4601 Market Street. We provide free Transpass every week, free breakfast and lunch, a biweekly stipend, get your driver's license, come and get your education, your vocational training. We have identified the 12 high-growth industries. 87 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
215-966-0103. 215-966-0103. We have orientations twice a month. We have open enrollment all year long so we have something for you guys to do. So we're there for you if you want to be there, but we're looking for these young people. God bless you.
215-966-0103, Job Corps. And if you don't have a pencil, Job Corps is in the telephone book. The telephone book still exists, always there. White Pages, go ahead, look it up. Yes, ma'am.
Hello all. My name is Tasha Teller. I currently reside in Wilson Park Housing Authority. Speaking to the issue of the 88 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 violence, recently Tasker Homes and Wilson Park were combined. These two sites have had a long history of gang warring with each other. And for me, it's kind of heartbreaking not to ask or not to look at the statistics and evaluate and combine these two in one site. So currently as a result, you have Tasker and Wilson gang warring right out front of the children, trying to kill each other. A young man was just shot in the ankle a couple of days ago. It just happened to miss a little girl. I mean, some of the decisions that are made need to be thought in advance, because it's not fair and it's not safe for not only us as adults, but the main issue here is the children. And I'm a little scared that no 22 young men, men between the ages of 14 and 18, have came up to this mike yet. I'm a little appalled that the main reason we are here is because a lot of the youth 89 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 that age is this group out there killing each other, shooting each other, who either don't want to do nothing different or don't know how to do nothing different, and none of these young men are here. And the couple that are here need to come up here and speak on some of the realities that you have faced in your life. (Applause.)
And, also, us as parents have to try to take from some of the things that happen. I stand here before you. Yes, I do, I might have on a Rocawear pocketbook and Rocawear shoes, but I worked for it and I earned it. Okay? If your child comes into the house with Rocawear pants, Rocawear shoes and you know you didn't pay for it or your child isn't out there working to get it, it's up to you as a parent to make them take that mess out your door, throw it away and you step up and teach them that everything is not about name brand. 90 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Everything isn't about this and that. But everything is about right or wrong. And if we make it acceptable that our kids come in here with these clothes and stuff that you know that you didn't pay for and they didn't work for, then we're part of that problem with our children. (Applause.)
Second, we need to establish -- and I understand about Job Corps. Trust me, I support Job Corps. I graduated from Job Corps in '91. So I fully support Job Corps. But we need community-based programming. Why isn't there a post secondary educational program stationed in South Philadelphia? Everybody is not going to college. Everybody is not college material, but everybody can get a trade. Why aren't we building these type of centers in South Philadelphia for these young men on the street, the ages of 14 and 18? South Philly is rich in resources. We have Point Breeze Civic 91 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Association. We have Mr. Rogers came up here, Diversified Community Services, and the list goes on and on. South Philadelphia is wealthy in services, so why not establish these type of programs where these children dwell at? North Philly has those programs. West Philly has those programs. Why isn't there any of those type of programs down here in South Philly for our children? (Applause.)
I have a 14-year-old son. Okay? My son is six feet. His age matches his shoe size. He wears a size 14. My son only wants to play basketball. He wants to get his education and play basketball. It's a hurtful feeling to me to say -- because I love South Philly and this is where my heart is -- that I have to pack up and move because I'm scared that my son is going to get killed going to the basketball court. My son come home and 92 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 say, Mom, when are we moving? That's sad. That's sad, and something has to be done. If you're scared to step up and if you're scared to say something about the violence that's going on, tell somebody who you know is not afraid. Okay? At some point, we have to start thinking about our lives and our children. The little four-year-old girl that got shot, that's sad that nobody saw -- shoot a child in front of me. I don't care who you are. Shoot a child in front of me. And nobody stepped up and nobody saw it and nobody said anything? That's sad. We know who is doing it. Some of them is our family. We're not even going to front up here today. But guess what? If it was my child, his ass be locked up, too. Excuse my French.
Thank you. Let me just say that the programs in the community, if you want programs, you got to step up and say you're going to run 93 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the programs. The community has to take ownership, and the parents have to be involved.
No one else is going to do it for you. You have to do it for yourself.
That's my next step. That's where I was going to next. We have to take ownership of our own. A lot of people come up here and talk about what everybody can do for us. What about what we can do for ourselves? I'm not scared. I work for Vare Beacon Community School, an organization of Diversified Community Services, and I am a product of South Philadelphia. Most of all, I am woman and I am going to roll. So right about now, I'll step up for anything, especially when it comes down to children. I will establish and help get anything started. This isn't 94 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 about me. It's bigger than me. It's bigger than everybody sitting here. It's about the children in the community as a whole, and at some point, the community has to step up and do something for itself. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Ms. Houston, you have a couple of students who want to speak, because she spoke about young people not coming up to speak. Are you Ms. Houston?
Yes. Alicia. While they're coming up, I just want to speak briefly. My name is Charlene Houston from the Vare Beacon Community School, a center underneath of Diversified Community Services. We've 95 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 been established in the South Philadelphia area for the last four years, because we realize the need for more recreation and academic services for the youth in the area, and we service -- we have a lot of services and programs that we offer to the youth, and we try to provide a safe haven for them. But at the same time, we've realized that we need the community's help in order for this to work both ways. Just the last year that I've been there, we've experienced a lot of shootings and violence that has affected the youth in our program. We just had an incident last week where one of our youth were shot at, and thank God, now he's in protective services, because we reported it and we went through the system the way that it needed to be done. But we are here for the community. We have the programs and activities that help the youth and get them off the streets, and we want the 96 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 community to know that, but at the same time, we need them to work with us and help in the youth. And now I'm going to bring up Aleasia. She also works here with us at the Vare Beacon Community program. Thank you.
My name is Aleasia Welton and I work at Vare Beacon DCS, and I just want to talk about some things that I witnessed as a young girl. Back in 1997 --
Back in 1997, there was a killing where I live at 13th Street projects. There was a killing, and that killing came from somebody in my family. And we had to move back into the house where somebody was killed at, and there was a lot of stuff that I went through. I went through therapy and 97 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 stuff like that, but that still didn't give me a reason to start killing people, start shooting people. At a point in time, I wanted to drop out of school, because I thought my brother, he's doing this bad stuff, so why do I have to go to school if he's not in school? But I realized that if I drop out, then that's not going to solve nothing. All I just want to say is just stop the violence, increase the peace. We need to come together as a community. That's it.
We have a long line. Three minutes, please. LOUIS: Hello. My name is Louis. I just currently turned 18. I'm with two other fellow colleagues, Don and my other friend, William. We're from a youth-based organization called YO-ACAP, which stands for Youth Outreach 98 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Adolescent Community Awareness Program, and what we basically do is, we help teens from the age groups of through 5 18, help them get through their lives and 6 we teach them about STDs, violence and 7 other things concerning to life. And we 8 do a whole lot of stuff. And how I got 9 there was, a couple years back when I was 10 coming into the ninth grade, I thought I 11 could do what everybody else was doing, 12 and I had my friends and everything, 13 until I saw one of my friends get killed. So that kind of changed my life. And when YO-ACAP came to my school, they just picked me up and just taught me the right way from the wrong way. I've been there for four years now and I'm help mentoring to other youth members, and I'm currently graduating this year. Thank you.
Congratulations and thank you. That's YO-ACAP. That's funded through the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs 99 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Coalition. WILLIAM: If anyone has any children they would like to enroll from ages through 18, please call Derwood 6 Bill at 215-851-1834. 215-851-1834. And 7 we teach acting skills, we do drama plays 8 about violence, we do commercials on 9 smoking, we teach HIV information. So 10 anybody have any kids 13 to 18, send them 11 down, 1207 Chestnut Street, third floor. 12
Right. 13 YO-ACAP. LOUIS: One more thing, we also work with the Blueprint of Philadelphia. So I know ya'll said the number, but I'm going to just say it one more time. It's 1-888-570-BLUE. Thank you.
He gave out the number for the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. 1-888-570-BLUE. If you're interested in finding out what the Blueprint is all about and how you can get involved, 1-888-570-Blue, and there are pamphlets in the back. 100 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Good evening, sir.
Good evening. My name is Jerry Hawthorne. I'm the Director of an organization called Coffee. Our organization mission statement is "Save the Family, You Save the Child - There's No Other Way." Our responsibility and activity involves providing direct service to troubled families and individuals. I have been a family counselor for 35 years, and I'm happy to report that we have six staff people who are very interested and concerned about the well-being of our families and have taken it upon themselves to service families seven days a week, hours a day. 19 I'm not here asking for any 20 funds, but just to offer a perspective 21 that I think would be helpful to this 22 commission in its endeavor to resolve the 23 issues that overwhelm this City. 24 I think the reason why we have had difficulty in understanding and 101 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 solving the problem of violence in the City is because of the way we think about it. We think about it along prescribed designated lines, without any deep insight into what the cause might be. We talk endlessly about the symptoms, the violence in the street, the crime, but we never talk about the cause. The cause is in the homes. We don't have initiatives that go into the homes. We have programs that go to the front door, and that's where they stop. I believe 30 years ago there was a wellness in this City. We didn't have the kind of violence that we have now. We didn't have the family dysfunctionality that we have now, simply because we had institutions like Catholic Family Service, Christian Family Service, Presbyterian Family Service. But then Congress decided that they would no 23 longer fund these type of services, but would instead fund children's services, and I think we all bought into that, that 102 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 saving the children was the greatest humanitarian goal, and that's what we set out to do. We were wrong. We were wrong. We were so wrong. This is the reason why we're dealing with the issues we're dealing with now. If a portion of the millions and billions of dollars have been spent on family programs, we wouldn't have the issues we have now. We have programs everywhere where people believe that they have the ability to raise our kids better than we can, and when they initiate these programs, they really involve us. We're the last ones consulted. We're the last ones that's informed about what's going on. Everybody wants to be a parent to our kids. What we need -- and I've heard some of the speakers address it. What we need is more parenting-focused situations where people can go and get some support and help with the difficult tasks that they're confronted with in raising their 103 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 children. We got to always keep in mind that we are a people that's hurting. We are in pain. Nobody seems to understand that we're in pain. Tonight we have the unique situation where there are more fathers than there are mothers here, but no 10 mention has been made of that. And since I've gotten the finger, let me just conclude by saying, I wish all of the fathers here a happy Father's Day. Stay to the task. Keep your families going. You're very, very significant in the whole scheme of things. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. And I must say, I have to support you on that. We do have a lot of men in this room, and we appreciate them coming out. And to the fathers, happy Father's Day. Yes. Please, three minutes. 104 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 We have about ten people.
Good evening to this distinguished panel and our respective audience. I'm Harriet Frye-Brown. I'm the President of Chew Playground at 19th and Ellsworth Street. I also have a family organization called Philadelphia Alliance for Community Improvement. And just let me say, and with all respect to everyone, including children, I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it anymore. And I say that with all my heart and soul. I've been out here for 30 years cleaning alleys, helping the kids clean up their corners, telling the young boys, You can do something different. And I've watched South Philly not have one place of its own in the community for jobs for our young people. You go on our main avenue. Everybody else owns it. Everybody else is getting a house. And if you are mid income, which means that you have to earn $30,000, $40,000 a year, 105 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 you'll have a home. We have so many more people who are going to be displaced. I've also had politicians who have offered to help me get my building done, and they have not told me the truth. The only Councilperson that's ever told me the truth was Council President Anna C. Verna, who said, Here's the building, do your work. But we also do a street ministry. We've been out here working with young women, trying to get them off the streets and trying to keep them from going into the business that they're in. We're trying to get these young men a job. One young man that we raised has said, You know what, my mother solicited me and I'm not going to school today. So we kept him for an afternoon. My nephews, both of them were killed with gun violence. My son died at 30 years of age. So this is nothing new to us. We've walked through blood. We've tried to take children off the 106 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 street at and o'clock in the morning, who supposedly is going home with no home to go to. And we need you to look at us in this community and say, Let us help you do something different. We need the street ministry going, and by that I mean, it's not all of hallelujah, but I do believe. I'm saying that we've got to get out here and walk these streets, get these parents out of their homes. If they're on drugs, shake them up, put them before a court and say, Look, you're not doing your responsibility. I raised my daughter up in doing community work, and this is my baby. And I've got a daughter who is my middle daughter who lost both her legs out there chasing drugs, even though I had a lot of resources to her. But I keep on working and so does my daughter. But we've got to do something different. We've got to say -- and I don't want to preach to the choir, but I'm telling you now, we've got to get out 107 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 here, wake these parents up, knock on their doors and say, Look, it's your responsibility. We're always blaming the police. And just because we happen to be liaisons for the Police Department, we want to find out who is at fault here. Who is at fault here? Is it that the cops don't come every time we're sick? Is it that the cops won't know who is doing the drugs and won't do anything about it? They do their job. They do their job, and we know that firsthand, because we've been to find out firsthand for ourselves. So we do need you to help us do something different, to reach these parents, because no matter what with the children, they're going -- they're out here homeless, parentless. They're raising theirselves. You all know that. You all know that. We all know that. So we've got to get out here and dig deep and tell these parents they're wrong. They're afraid of being shot. I don't 108 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 want to tell because somebody so-and-so. The young lady gave the speech that I've been saying for years, and I am proud of her for doing that, where we've got to do something different. We've got to get out here and drag these parents to court. We've got to do something about curfew.
Because I am 67 years of age. All that matters, all that matters -- I've taught kids how to make a bed. I've taught them how to wash clothes. I've taught them how to iron. I taught them how to cook a meal. And our babies are on the corner eating chicken wings and Hugs and everything that's not good for them and eating out in the street doing all these kind of things, and we've got to change what we're doing. I'm out here. I'm still working. You still got me, and thank God, we got some younger people that you've got. You've got my daughter, who I expect to work after me, but while I'm here, I want to see change. I'm not 109 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 asking for it. I'm demanding change, and I will do what I have to do to get it.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you. Sir?
Excuse me. I don't mean to take up any more time, but I met this young man over here, and when his niece got shot, this child came out and he spoke to the men and the boys on the corner, and he was very articulate, and I'm hoping that he will come and speak to you this evening, because it's very important, if you don't mind. It is more than important that he say what he has to say. And God knows he touched my heart.
Yes, ma'am. And we think he's going to be brief, too. There are about ten people behind him.
I'm going to be brief. I ain't going to take long. How everybody doing tonight? 110 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I'm going to make it quick. I'm 24. I have a daughter. It hurts to see my niece like laying in a bed that she's laying in from the crime that we go through on these streets. Now, I don't walk the hallways of the schools. I didn't sell the drugs on the streets. I didn't stole cars. I didn't do all that, but guess what? I changed. Guess what made me change? This right here. When she came into the world, all that was out the window. I had something to live for. When you think your life is over, it's not over. So like if I can change, any of these young men can change. And my niece is not the first victim, ya'll. She's not the first young child that's been shot in these streets, and she damn sure ain't going to be the last. Just last night somebody got killed on 23rd and Bonsall. Like think about it. All the crime that's going on, 111 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 you think a child being shot would slow it down. An innocent bystander just got shot, and then last night 30 shots rang out. And when ya'll get to Bonsall Street, ya'll got ya'll a dead body on the ground. That just shows how much respect we have for each other, black, white, Puerto Rican, Mexican, whatever you is. But like I'm not going to take up a lot of time, but just take me and my family experience, because every day is hell for us right now. It's no pleasure watching my niece on that bed. It's no 16 pleasure at all, because she was four. And guess what she was doing? Nothing but what a four-year-old do. Outside playing, minding her business. She didn't ask for no bullet to be hit by her. It's crazy, and it hurts my family a lot, and I hope us getting up here saying something make a difference. Maybe it will, maybe not. Maybe my niece being shot would make a difference, maybe 112 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 it won't. But all I can say is, us as a community, us as a family, we just all need to do something to make a change, man. Because if nobody don't do it -- (Applause.)
My name is Khjalif Little. I'm Nashay Little's uncle. I just got one more thing to say and then I'm going to be done. But you want to know what's crazy? I want everybody to go home and I want everybody to think about this: Yesterday after the Commissioner and them went back to 21st and Sigel, had their press conference, a lady came up and she said, I seen everything that happened. She said, I seen everything that happened. But then she said, But why would I want to help ya'll if nobody helped me when my son got killed? 113 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Think about it, ya'll. She said, Why would I want to help ya'll and nobody helped me when my child came along? Two wrongs make a right? Negative. How about you give my family some closure? How about it could cause some closure for you if you can make a difference in some family life like nobody made a difference for your family when it happened to you? (Applause.)
It's just something for everybody to think about. When ya'll go home drinking your coffee, doing whatever you're doing, just think about it. But thank you.
Thank you all very much. Thank you. Identify yourself for the record, please.
Hello. My name is Kenyatta Johnson. I'm a founder of a program called Peace, Not Guns. I'm down 114 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 here in South Philadelphia. I also work with State Senator Anthony Williams, but I'm not here in that capacity, but at the same time, I'm going to shine on you because we have somewhat of a -- and I worked with the majority of you up there in a variety of different capacities. However, I wanted to come up here and talk about some of the solutions that we're working on here down in South Philadelphia, and I figure since we have Chair of Appropriations, Mr. William Keller and individuals from City Council, to see if we can get some support on the project that we're working on. Ms. Claudia Sherrod was just up here early on. She failed to mention that we're working on trying to get a Class A recreation center at Chew Playground. We've never had a Class A recreation center in South Philadelphia, in the Point Breeze area specifically. There's one in Grays Ferry, and Marian Anderson has a very, very large 115 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 recreation center. So we're looking to change Chew Playground at 18th and Washington Avenue to a Class A recreation center. And we do have Councilwoman Anna Verna's support. We're going to be lobbying Mr. Dwight Evans, Mr. Bill Keller, as well as Ms. Tasco, Mr. DiCicco. And I know it's not a part of ya'll district, but I figure if everybody is sitting here listening and trying to get solutions and want to be supportive of what we're trying to do, that's one major project that we're going to be undertaking. Me personally, because I grew up here in South Philadelphia, I really can't front because I got a suit on. A majority of people in here watched me grow up. So I really can't put a facade on for them, but I do know in terms of South Philadelphia getting the type of resources that we deserve within the Point Breeze area and Grays Ferry area, we've never had in terms of standards, my 116 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 personal feeling, it's never been like -- I'm just keeping it real with you -- North Philly, Northwest. And I think today the majority of people here are people that come out and do the community work. So when I hear a lot of people coming up here saying what we need to do, the people here I can honestly vouch for, they are doing the work, putting the hard work in. The majority of people here you see come to the same community meetings. So I just wanted to put that one initiative out there. I'm not the lead. Ms. Claudia Sherrod is. She just left, but we will be getting in contact with you and hopefully we can get your support. The last two things I just wanted to share, on this Saturday there's two major events going on. In Grays Ferry, this gentleman right here, his name is Michael Johnson, he runs the Grays Ferry Brotherhood and Sisterhood. He's having a major community barbecue 117 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 where he's trying to get all the organizations in South Philadelphia to come out and support one another. We're not competing over funding. It ain't about no egos. We are really trying to be on the grassroots level straight up, just come out and fellowship with one another and network. Also, at 6 o'clock at 23rd and Wharton, by our great Captain of the 17th Police District, him and the community relations officer, Mr. Horace Gibson, they are having a faith march through the neighborhood where we go to different corners and we do a prayer piece, and we let the young people know that you're not just going to do whatever you want to do out here in our neighborhood. This is the second time they're having their march. So I think that everyone needs to know about that event. And just on the last note, just staying positive, a gentleman right here named Mr. Al Littlepage, he just gave me 118 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 an application and he's looking for young adults who have records that's trying to get a job.
Here is an ex-offender application that I have. Al, raise your hand. These type of resources are the resources that we need to be letting people know so we can be more solution-oriented and not negative. That's all I have to say. Thank you.
Please identify yourself for the record. AMANI: Hi. My name is Amani. First of all, I want to say I am delighted that all of these -- I see my community people and my ward leaders and our elected officials. I thank you for coming out. Secondly, I'm not here for the office that I'm from. I'm a legislative 119 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 aide for Representative James. I'm here as a mother. October the 30th, I got a call in the evening that my son was murdered during a robbery attempt. That was one of the hardest things as a mother that I had to deal with, because parents don't think they're going to bury their children. Your children is supposed to bury you. So that was very hard for me to go into work the next day. And I service over 800 to 900 constituents a month, do food referrals, work with the hardest cases and still have to look at these people and say, You want me to help you? I am in support of the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. I'm a member of that Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. I'm also a member of stakeholders. I see some of my stakeholders here. My children -- hi, Archye. It's Ahera. My children was in Archye's 120 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 program. My youngest son is ten years old. He's a straight A student. He speaks three languages, English, Spanish and Swahili. I can attest to the Institute for African-American Youth because I've had my children in that program. I believe it's an excellent program, and I'm going to be looking for all kinds of ways that I can help Archye. But I know starting with my children, my youngest son was already smart because he came from me, but now he speaks three languages. He came here speaking two. He speaks fluent -- am I not right, Archye? He speaks Swahili. So I'm grateful and thankful that there's programs that are out here that help our children. Lastly, I want to say I'm thankful that our legislators and community people, that our elected officials have come up to the plate and say, Listen -- we can't always point the fingers at people. We have to come 121 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 together. I'm thankful for the Police Department, because the police caught the people that killed my son that night. So I'm thankful for the Police Department. I don't have no complaints about the Police Department, because they caught the boys that killed my son. Because they wanted someone -- I mean, they just didn't try to rob my son. They were on a robbery spree. So I'm thankful for the Police Department. I'm thankful for our elected officials. I'm thankful for these community forums. And I'd like to especially thank all my ward leaders and community people that are here. And, again, I thank the elected officials. I'd like to leave everybody with one thought. My way of getting involved was becoming a stakeholder, was joining MEE Philadelphia. Not because I work for someone, but because I needed to know what could I do to save my children. What could I do as a parent to save my children. I have high expectations for 122 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 my children. I can't move anywhere, so I have to change where I'm at in my home. So I changed my attitude. I tell my children, I expect you to do well when you go to school. I expect you to be respectful. I expect you to hold open the door for old ladies. I'm always in the district office, if anybody needs my help. My community people can attest to that. I'm a leader, but I'm also a mother, but I'm here in the capacity as a mother telling everybody, we each have to step up to the plate and become mothers again. If you got to go to a class -- I went to a class. I'm not going to front -- for three years to love, how to spend time with my children, because I thought, you know, achieving was everything. So, I mean, I'm not going to front. I went to a class for three years at the Dixon House with one of the places that I work with. And I was very honest. I said, I got children that come here.
I come to 123 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 your parenting classes. And they looked at me, What you need a parenting class? I want to become a more effective parent. That's why I went. So I'd just like to leave that with everyone, that we all need to come to the plate, we need to take ownership of our children. If we see them out there doing something wrong, we need to stop them. We need to start supporting one another and stop play-hating about these different groups. It's not about that anymore. We're losing too many of our children. We're losing too many of them. We need to come together, support our elected officials. Whether you like them or whether you don't like them, if they're speaking about our issues, I support them. Thank you.
Thank you very much. (Applause.) 124 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
How you doing? My name is Julian Trent. This is my son Kyrie. I'm a Philadelphia resident here. I'm from Philadelphia, not just South Philly. I'm a victim of society as well. I've been in your institutions, Lewisburg, Gratersford, Camp Hill when they had their riots. I'm self-educated, only went to the fourth grade. As you see, I try to bring my son up right and I even try to do the things in the community. Never got none of your community programs. I did things in the past, and I was accounted for it. As far as testifying on anyone, I had to do what I had to do for me, because I was only guilty for what I did and I only can stand. And I can see the violence going on out there with these children, and everybody I've ever dealt with was men. But these children are innocent people, and I'm saying to ya'll officials, I'm not that studious with the books. My son reads better than me. I'm self-educated 125 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and still struggling. I own properties that I bought that I got from case money years ago, and I help people in the 5 neighborhood. But ya'll are in a better 6 position than me. And what I see ya'll 7 doing is taking from the community and 8 you're not putting nothing back in it. 9 That's the way I see it. Because the way 10 these kids is talking out here -- and I 11 go up to them, and I feel the pain of 12 their parents. How are you going to 13 teach your kids something? I'm a 14 fatherless child. I never knew my father. My mother raised me. I went to the streets. I worked at your jobs and I left your jobs, because your jobs wasn't preparing me even for the future. But you got to prepare these here kids. And I prepare this one. And I got seven kids, and I always took care of my kids even when I was doing wrong, and I paid the price. But these kids shouldn't have to pay the price. They are innocent and they are the future, and all I'm asking 126 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 ya'll people -- I listen to people with your programs. I ain't got no programs from nobody, and I own like houses. 5 Nobody gave me nothing, and I didn't ask. 6 And when I did ask, I got turned around 7 in this here net. I don't have it like 8 that there, the studious part and that 9 there. And I try to hook up with people. 10 But I'm saying, ya'll got it. 11 Put it back out there. Put it back in 12 South Philly. Not just South Philly, all 13 over, man, because, hey, man, this is our 14 future. Them little kids getting shot, I 15 feel the pain from all of them. This is my son. He'd like to say something. I hope ya'll -- if ya'll got grab money or whatever, put it back in the streets. Don't take it. I mean, you spend --
Wait a minute. Hold up. Before you cut me off, please listen to me, Miss. You spent $240 127 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 billion on a war that we ain't got nothing to do with, but I'm saying, I'm talking about this war right here. You can hold your head down all you want, Miss. That's just the type of person I am, but please don't cut me off. (Applause.)
Hey, Miss, please don't do that to me. But this is what I'm talking about here. I paid the price and I was from the street, and I told them I was sorry for what I did, but I'm not -- listen, let him talk for a minute. He talks better than me, because I'm an emotional person, Miss. But don't do that to me, cut me off like that. You had all your representatives and Rizzo got here. I was on the street. I'm 54 years old. I was on the street when he had us out there naked and all that. It ain't about a black, white thing with me, because I look at all the races. I look at the human race, and I respect the officers, too, man, because they got to 128 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 do they job, too.
You know what I mean? But don't try to ever cut someone off, because you know -- let my son talk, please. He can talk. Don't cut him off.
Let your son talk. KYRIE TRENT: Hello. My name is Kyrie Trent. I'm speaking for truth. This sort of feels embarrassing for me to say this, but I am not that strong, and neither are these kids. They don't have the strength to defend themselves. I was told in my school by a teacher that from his time when he was a child, there were really no guns on the streets. Sure, there were gangs, violence, but they only used their fists, not guns. When they would fight, they would use their fists. It doesn't make sense to go out with a gun and shoot somebody, thinking that's right. It's wrong. Guns should 129 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 only be used for self-defense only. And also I'd like to say my dad's life has turned around because of my mom. I want to thank her, and myself really. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your comments. I'm sure your father is grateful for your help and support and your love. Thank you for testifying. Yes, sir.
Hi. My name is Demetrius Richardson and I work at the Wharton Square Recreation Center at 23rd and Wharton, and I too have a story to tell, but I'm not going to stand up here and take all day. But in December the 7th, 1998, around 9:46, as we are sitting at home celebrating my oldest brother's birthday, we get a call from the Philadelphia Police to say come down to 15th and Ellsworth. We get to 15th and Ellsworth 130 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and I see some of my dad's friends hanging around there, and they said, Your father has been shot in the head. And I was years old then. And I saw a 6 lightning flash from that day on, and I 7 feel as though that I needed to make a 8 change in someone else's life in case 9 they don't have a father to look up to. 10 So I feel as though if I can change one 11 person's life, I did my job. 12 So I just wanted to say that at 13 Wharton Square, we offer enormous 14 programs for the kids to come out. 15 During the wintertime, we're there from 3 16 o'clock to about 7 o'clock. Homework help, basketball, all kinds of things, cooking class, because my director felt as though the kids are not eating, so she's developed a cooking class where the kids can come in and cook the food, they serve the food and they eat the food. During the summer, we run a camp program. It runs from 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night at the low 131 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 cost of $40 per week, and a tennis program. So we're there in the park. Utilize us. That's what we're there for you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Certainly there seems to be a lot of activity going on in South Philadelphia and a lot of programs, and we certainly appreciate all those folks who are here who are part of those organizations and providing services to the young people and to the community, and we thank you for coming out, and thank the leaders for asking people to come to the meeting and share with us what's going on. Good evening.
My name is Eve Tinsley. I live in South Philadelphia. I think the point everybody is missing, it was a four-year-old little 132 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 girl got shot in South Philadelphia, and that was horrendously hurting to a lot of people. These streets are not safe. Not at all. You can't even walk out your house and you see a fight or somebody going to come after you. You all talk politics, but you don't do nothing. You say you're going to do this, you're going to do that. What did you do? We look for it every day, and we don't see it. I mean, ya'll come up with these brilliant ideas, but you didn't put them to use. Now, Street, I don't see him here. He's supposed to be the Mayor of our City. He's a sell-out. He doesn't really care. And, once again, it brings back to this four-year-old. We need to do something about these streets. We need more cops somewhere on the streets. When you call a cop, it takes four or five hours before they come to your house, and then all you got is an excuse. But you mention you got a gun, they be 133 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 there within two seconds, and that's not fair to anyone. All I'm saying is, don't talk the talk. Walk the walk and stop all this nonsense, because it's horrible. Even young kids getting killed. Sooner or later my mother might walk out in the street one day and get killed. For what? Nothing. But I ask you politicians, once again, don't talk the talk. Do the walking and let us see what ya'll can do, instead of ya'll keep behind your desk and say, Well, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. So far -- I have to say this in my language -- you haven't done a damn thing. So let's see it. Bring it on. ) UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good evening, everybody, public officials and the community. I've been involved -- I got involved with the community because I live down here, and I've been down here 134 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 since I was -- well, I'm 50, going on 51. And I've seen a rash change down here. My mother and father, gone and deceased, sold the house on Dickinson Street. I've seen when it was gang war. I've seen when I was going to school when they did have after-school programs to teach you how to sew and everything, and then all the sudden, that just dwindled. They started putting up different communities and everything, like the Spectrum, and funding was going there. Now, I'm not blaming anybody, because I have seen some change down here, and the reason why -- I'm just saying, because I live down here and I'm the Block Secretary. I got involved to help my Block Captain. Everybody was just saying, Oh, the Block Captain not doing this and that. Everybody misinformed about what a Block Captain is. So I took it upon myself to become the Secretary. 135 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I go around when they have meetings. I go to Harold James' office. I just went on Snyder Avenue. I just found out they connected. I go up there and get literature for jobs and everything. What we need to do as a community -- and we have police, the 17th District. The Captain was there before. My block has changed on the 2200 block of Pierce. The reason why, because we had meetings. And people need to come out, help their Block Captains. That's where it starts. Okay? Meetings and know what's involved. So I started around on Moore Street, the little block around there. I go around, talk to the neighbors. They older now, but I said, What's going on? What do you need? Now I went around on Tasker Street. I want someone to help me, to help me form these blocks so they know what's going on so people can come out 136 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and use the resources. We have all these different groups here that come and say they want funding and everything like that, but like Kenyatta said, we need one like Marian Anderson. We have that -- the Chew that they're getting ready to close down. We need a center down here.
And they just built the big, what is it, that BJ's and all that. I mean, but the reason why they did it is because people in the community, this whole place, all from Washington Avenue, all the way down past -- what is it? Well, the cut-off now where it's Moore Street. But we all as a community, all the way down there to Oregon Avenue, this whole place -- this is a disgrace. Every bench in here, every seat should be full, because we are taxpayers. So I got involved with Clean Streets, because about the lot. Because I tell you, I was going to take it to the Mayor. I passed the Mayor because I went down there Anna Verna's office. So then 137 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I said, you know what? I got to do drastic. Maybe I'll send the pictures to Rendell. Boy, I got action. They came and cleaned the lot. They did one lot. I called them back, Oh, there was another one. So they did that. They tearing down the building now. I mean, whatever I've asked -- because I'm a taxpayer and I live in the block. I'm a homeowner, bought my home, because I love South Philly, because it was available to everything. But one of the things that we need to do, I mean really seriously -- I mean, the cops, the police, they can't do everything. We need to come out. Snyder Avenue looks like I don't know what. Come out your doors, clean up. How do you expect for people to come in the neighborhood when it's all trashy? Come out and clean up, sweep, go back to what we used to do back then and there, the values. Then maybe these children will stop all the killings. 138 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 We got to show an example. Go back to yesteryear, even if it hurts you. Say, Oh, man, nobody is coming out. Don't worry about nobody else. I got all my neighbors in the block, but I expect them to come out, but they don't. So we come out, the ones that can and the ones that see that we -- oh, man, what's going on? You know what I tell them? I say, You know what? I got a book, and everybody that attend a meeting, I say, Where you been all this time? But I said when they come and say what they need, Oh, no, I have to see what you're doing. Then you can have something. That's how we rolling on 2200 block of Pierce Street. So everybody that knows somebody in the next block, tell them if you don't have a Block Captain, be a Block Captain. If you need help, see if somebody that is involved to be Secretary. Start cleaning your neighborhoods, start getting involved, 139 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 stop blaming the politicians, because that's what -- they only can do what they can do. What we got to do is start being about a community here. Okay? That's where I'm looking at.
Thank you so much. We appreciate your testimony. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Thank you. ALICIA EVANS: Good evening, everyone. My name is Alicia.
And you're going to speak a little more slowly so we can understand what you're saying and we can hear what you're saying. Okay? ALICIA EVANS: Good evening, everyone. My name is Alicia Evans and I'm going to give a speech about violence. Today it's sad, very sad. You see teddy bears everywhere in their stores and stuff, people that got shot. 140 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I see every sign on Fox 29 News somebody just got shot. You can just tell by that yellow sign "do not enter." Just like when the four-year-old got shot in the leg. Me and my dad was in the car riding by, asking the cop, What happened? Somebody just got shot in the leg and don't nobody know nothing about it, supposedly. But there's really somebody did. All I know is, we need to do something about this and all these people doing crime out here, because it's getting worse and worse every day. Thank you.
Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good evening, distinguished panel. I would just like to say, one of the things we continue to talk about is programs and things like that, but 141 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 unfortunately, we've come at a time that we almost have to legislate parenting. I am a parent of a young man now who was eight years old who was gunned down, who was one of the first fatalities particularly here in South Philadelphia July 1st, 1984. I then predicted that the problem was going to get worse now. I went to several people to set up different things. I don't know. Maybe because of my color and it wasn't other people's ideas. Instead our community has dwindled on the onset of that, along with the drugs. But what I've been doing is empowering parents, because pretty much this is where this comes from. We have parents who have been failed by the system, as a result failed their children. That's the reality, and we need to look at that. Some of those parents weren't bad people, but they went to systems who failed them, systems who molested, raped 142 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and stolen their identity, and we need to address that so we can better help our parents be more effective parents, because like you said, you can't solve it. It all starts within the community. And I am a change agent. I'm the one that's in the trenches, but don't nobody want to hear it, because for whatever reason, maybe I'm not the right skin color and it's not their people's ideas. So I want to know, how can I be a part of this process? Because as Willie Lynch's letter said how to instill that mentality, I have a letter of my own to ensure that our community will prosper and grow without the shortage of black men. Thank you.
Thank you. JOE: I just want to take a second to say it's great that everybody 143 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 is here. I wish we would have had the Mayor here. It would have been good. And also I'd like to say it doesn't matter what color the person is, whether he's white or black, or any religion. It doesn't matter. We're all a child of God, and that's my opinion. And I believe that we should all fight for what we believe, and instead of making excuses of most things, I think each individual one of us can make a difference, even if it's one percent, two percent. It doesn't matter, but we can all make a difference if we fight for what is right and for what we believe in. And about the race issues, that shouldn't be a problem. Everybody should work with each other and love and help each other. That's what God wants. It's in the Bible. I mean, come on. So that's what I believe. And I believe also, not to put anybody down, but politicians should, instead of putting their money in their pockets, 144 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 should help people out a little bit more. (Applause.) JOE: My name is Joe.
Hello. It's a pleasure to be here. My name is Dorothea White. I live 1600 block of Bailey Street. So did Joe. He's our newly elected Councilperson in our area.
Well, Committee person. I'm a little nervous. And in our block -- oh, first off, this meeting, I found out about this meeting maybe about two hours before the meeting. And I really believe, especially considering what happened with the four-year-old girl in our neighborhood, that there would have been a lot more people here had they were informed. It wasn't like no leaflets or anything out in the area about this 145 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 meeting. I'm sure there's a lot of people in the neighborhood that would have been here. But on my block particularly, 1600 block of Bailey Street, we're right across from Vare Recreational Center, which they had a rally there on --
Would you move back a little bit from the mike, because we can't hear you, but not too far back.
Excuse me. Now, we just had a big like rally at Vare Recreational Center about three weeks ago and they had speakers there on AIDS and community violence and that type of thing, which was very informative. But on our block, what I started was called the Bailey Street Beautification Committee, and what we're trying to do, we have about six vacant homes on the block, lots, and we went about trying to clean up the lots and we're looking for funding and we're 146 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 looking for funding to start community gardens. And they do have organizations through the Holy Cultural Museum that offers classes to anybody that's interested in cleaning up the lots and everything in the neighborhood. Me and Joe and a couple of other neighbors are working, and we're trying to get together like leaflets and things to go in the neighborhood to help improve the neighborhood. And while I'm here, I took some notes and I became informed of a lot of things that I didn't know was available in the neighborhood, because I only been in South Philly a little over a year. But I am about trying to join some of these organizations and get together with some of the people right here. And to me, it sounds like it was a great idea for the community center on 18th and -- to have it built where they want, 18th and Washington Avenue. If we had a main recreational center where everybody in the community could 147 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 come to work together, with the funding. If you all would help us with funding, I think that that would be a great idea to help improve South Philadelphia as a whole. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We certainly appreciate those of you who have left who have come out. We appreciate those who have stayed. If you're interested in finding out what's going on in your community or if you're interested in working with an organization that is already doing something or if you're interested in trying to set up your own program, you can contact the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. That's 1-888-570-BLUE. It seems that a lot of things are going on, a lot of activities are going on down in South Philadelphia. There needs to be sort of like a collaboration so that everybody will know 148 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 what's going on and what's happening. We want to ask our State Representative Dwight Evans and State Representative Keller if they'd like to have some closing remarks. But I certainly have learned a lot. All of our neighborhoods are similar. I represent an area where we hear the same concerns about activities for young people, and particularly I think activities for parents is very important, because we have young parents. A lot of them don't know about to be parents, and we need to have parenting classes for those young people who are -- (Applause.)
Because as the gentleman from Coffee said, it all begins in the home, and how do we work with these families to help raise these children, and that way -- because the community can't raise the children. The parents have to raise the children. So it's been quite informative 149 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 for me. I certainly appreciate your coming out. It's a good experience for the Councilmembers to come out into the community. We began these hearings in City Hall, but we know you're working and you can't come out during the day, so that's why we are having the hearings around the City in the evening, so we can hear what's going on in the community and you can find out about the Blueprint. Representative Evans. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: I'd like to first thank all of you for coming out and presenting your testimony. The purpose, from our standpoint, rather than to respond was to listen, to hear what you have to say. I don't believe that we, as I started out, have any magic answer. There's no quick answer. Some of the suggestions that you were making yourselves are solutions to what needs to take place, but most of all, we were here to listen. I said to my colleague, Bill 150 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Keller -- we've both been in public office for a certain period of time. This is always a rather interesting job when people feel they have to kind of be hostile towards your elected officials. I mean, we are extensions of you. We are human like you. We live in the neighborhood. We don't wear bullet-proof vests. We are just as subjected to anybody shooting us, too. I don't think you see any body guards around us. We're here. This is the place we come. And I say that because I think it's important to understand that there has to be a level of civility. There has to be a level of civility when we communicate with each other, because even though we may disagree, in my view, we don't need to be attacking you and you obviously don't need to be attacking us, and we try to work together. We're quick to say we don't have all the answers. This is the fifth hearing. We was at Olney, Germantown, Gratz, here. 151 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 We was at City Hall. We're going to do West Philly. We keep moving around. And the reason we keep doing this is to open up the dialogue and to work with you together. So I want to make that very clear. We are not anybody's enemy. We want to work together. So I want to put that out and branch out there to you. We say thank you. But I want to say this in closing, I want to thank Marian Tasco, Donna Reed Miller and the City Council. To my knowledge, this is a first. This is jointly being done between the Councilpeople, which have taken the lead, and the State legislators. And on this sheet of $16 million that was invested, even if some of you may disagree with how that money was distributed, without his vote -- there's 102 members in the House that have to vote. There's in the 23 Senate, and then there's the Governor's 24 signature. His vote, like my vote, helps 25 distribute your money that reinvests into 152 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 programs and initiatives. So two years ago, this program didn't exist. We work together. Even though you don't see our names on the front of it, we vote for a budget. That's how that works. So we just want you to understand, we're on your side. Thank you very much. (Applause.) REPRESENTATIVE KELLER: I also would like to thank everybody for coming out again. I know it's a lot easier to stay at home than to come out and be part of the solution. Again, thank you, Councilwoman. I appreciate you inviting me. And, Dwight, this is South Philly. This isn't 20th and Olney. We always have community meetings like this.
I'd like to thank Linda Callan for being here representing Councilwoman Verna. She has taken a lot of notes. I've taken notes. I will talk to Councilwoman Verna. 153 6/15/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I want to thank the Captain and the Inspector for coming tonight, staying, listening, and we appreciate the wonderful service that you give us. You have your lives on the line every day, and your officers, and we want you to know that we appreciate it and the people here appreciate it. Thank you all very much, and God bless all of you. This Committee is recessed to the call of the Chair. (Joint Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services adjourned at 9:35 p.m.) - - - 154 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on June 15, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)