I apologize for the interruption. May you please repeat the names for the record, because they are not on the list that we have, so that we have them for the official record for public testimony and also for the stenographer.
Okay. I'm speaking on behalf of Alexander Moranke. I don't know if he's on that list.
They're not, but I'm going to allow you to proceed with the testimony.
Because the other students have just testified, but we do have to get their names for the record. May you please spell that, because I can't hear you very well.
Okay. Moranke. Okay. And then you said a second name.
Okay. Please proceed with the two minutes of testimony, and then we will recognize you next, because you're on the list. Okay?
Thank you, ma'am. My name is Cortez Fox at the Science Leadership Academy in the 5th District. School districts should increase funding for teachers as it would directly improve the quality of education that students receive. When teachers have better access to resources, updated materials and classroom support, they can create more engaging and effective lessons. Increased funding can also reduce class sizes, giving teachers more time to focus on each student's individual needs. In addition, fair pay and support for teachers help them stay motivated and committed to their work. Overall, investing more in teachers benefits not only in the classroom, but also across the entire school community, helps students succeed and prepare them for the future. Our students are the future of this city. If you contend to defund the school, you'll cause decrease in enrollment, decrease in student morale, decrease in the reputation of the city. Investment in the school isn't an investment in students and teachers; it's an investment in the future. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Council, Council Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, and also Education Chair Isaiah Thomas. I'm here today to represent Children First. My name is Inella Ray. I'm the Director of Parent Advocacy and Engagement. So we are here today for a statement on both the rideshare and the school closures. The district and school board need to rebuild trust in the process so that City Council can play the role that they had always has in supporting our schools. For 46 years, Children First has been a passionate advocate of delivering more for our kids. We worked with parents, teachers, principals, businesses, and community members to push the city, the state, and the school district to step up for Philadelphia's children. Time and time again, we've seen our local elected officials, including the mayor and City Council, join us as leaders in that fight for our kids. When the closures of 14 schools was first announced, we knew 15 that school facilities plan will 16 destabilized education of students, 17 making the continuity of teaching 18 and learning and access to school 19 more complicated for many families. 20 Cognizant of the desperate impact of school closures on Black, Hispanic, and Latinx students, we called on school officials and elected officials to spell out and guarantee that every child will be better off than they are now when that plan is implemented. Further, we call for the district to increase the depths of the details of the plan, and associated with pre-K, CTE, and modernization. So students of family, children, and faculty, and all concerned Philadelphians can determine if that vision and goals of this plan align with the estimated cost of implementation. We also urge the school board to add a new principal to the plan's framing and the essential goals that this plan would do no 18 harm. This includes outlined supports a student transition process, and at minimum includes the following: robust communication within support of impacted families for students being relocated to receive priority access to unfilled seats in other schools, including special Ed mid schools, and priority offers in the school selection process. Individualized transition plans for students with IEPs and IFSPs, and a full suite of mental health services for students in schools that are closed. I realized the time, I'm almost done. At the same time, we also understood the need for the facilities plans that focus on resources wisely and provide a pathway for our crumbling infrastructure. The School District of Philadelphia is currently underfunded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by nearly $1 billion. A stark reminder of the decades of disinvestment. This process was never going to be easy, but in order for it to work through school district and the school board needs to rebuild trust with the communities, parents, teachers, and principals, most importantly, the students who will be impacted. We participated on the facilities task force --
Please conclude your testimony. I'm just keeping it fair for everybody.
And so I think the main summation here is, I have like three more paragraphs, but to summarize, is that we really need the school board to work in good faith with City Council as we both look at this facilities master plan process, but also as we look at the structural deficit. So thank you all for your time, and thank you also for graciously allowing me to swap out with the other student.
Thank you very much. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Sure. Just -- I'm sorry. One second here. Okay. My name is Mitch -- Oh, okay. My name is Mitch Channon. Thanks for the opportunity to testify. I'm a lifelong resident of Northeast Philly, a graduate many years ago of George Washington High School, the son of two PFT retirees who spent thousands of dollars buying supplies, basic supplies for their schools. I want to thank Councilmembers for standing up against the school closures. I'm going to deviate a little bit from what I wrote. We've been hearing about so many crises today and so many unmet needs. And what is driving that is economic and tax policies that are designed to benefit the ultra- wealthy at the expense of everyone else. Where I live in the northeast, whether we're talking about our overcrowded schools and under staffing, the broken HVAC system at the Bustleton branch of the library that had my library closed last summer, the nine-month wait to get an appointment at the District 10 Health Center, we are suffering from chronic underfunding of essential services while the wealthiest people hoard the resources that we all need. Without taxing the rich fairly, we will not have the services and facilities that we deserve. And we need tax policies that require far more from those who have the most at the state and federal level, and also right here in Philadelphia locally. The proposed Philly budget goes in the wrong direction by continuing to cut BIRT across the board, while failing to remedy the harm caused by eliminating the $100,000 exemption for the smallest businesses and for independent contractors like me. I -- we really need Council to take the lead in fair taxation. I understand that the uniformity clause is a challenge, but I want to be honest, it's also an excuse. And of course, not my testimony by the way. With bold leadership and creative -- bold and creative leadership, there are ways forward at the state level and the local level. We really can't afford excuses. I'm tired of hearing how the uniformity clause makes it impossible to tax fairly. It's not true, and we need your leadership right now to reverse this. In addition -- this will be my last point, I urge Council to fully fund the $4 million operating budget for the Philadelphia Energy Authority. PEA programs like Solarize and Built to Last are really essential for addressing both the crisis of poverty and the climate emergency by repairing and weatherizing people's homes so that they're safe and healthy and energy efficient by enabling working class residents to access solar energy and reduce their energy bills, and by creating living wage green jobs. I cannot understand why Mayor Parker keeps proposing to cut the small budget for this essential agency only $4 million a year, especially since every dollar that's invested produces like $90 in private investment matching it. It's really important to me and to so many of us in Philly that Council ensures the Energy Authority is fully funded. Thank you. SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: State your name for record.
I'm Isabel Melvin. I'm here on behalf of our family business at G.M. Venango Street. Thank you, Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore-Richardson, and members of Council and staff for the love you give to the city of Philadelphia. SEPTA and the city of Philadelphia have been very good to us. I agree with Council President Johnson, we need to invest in our workers. To continue our success and other employers' success in Philadelphia, our company encourages prioritizing and increasing funding in the 2027 budget for SEPTA, Vision Zero, and Zero Fare. Public transit, safe corridors for our employees to and from our facility at G.M. Venango is paramount to our success. Multimodal transit reduces traffic so we can get our deliveries out on time. It also -- I'm asking you, please, let's fuel Philadelphia's economic engine with safe, clean, SEPTA, Vision Zero, and Zero Fare. I just want to add, both my grandparents, Mary McCarthy and Mary Melvin, Philadelphia residents and my brother Michael Melvin, have been victims of traffic violence and struggled with those injuries. And tragically, my neighbor, three doors down, Dana Dino was hit and killed by a car. Please give love to Vision Zero funding to keep everyone safe. Please give love to the city budget and invest in the freedom of mobility and making transit more affordable. And please give love to fund the Zero Fair Program and make it permanent through a transit access fund. Thank you.
Sarah Bradley, Sultan Smalley, Gabriel Carrion, Jeffrey Markovitz, and Ruth Convasser. Alex Haynesworth.
Hello. I'm Sarah. I'm a mother, CCP student. I've recently lost my job due to working for a small business which couldn't make it. I love also how we are trying to come to a resolution for our childcare. I believe for CCP that if we have not a daycare on site, that may be a voucher for the students for daycare through CIS or something throughout the city that we know our children are in a safe zone, that would be great, but childcare would definitely be able to push me to complete my digital imaging program at CCP. I'm very busy; money is tight. I often can't afford to get to class and take my son to speech therapy. But at the end of the day, if the CCP gets the promise of the -- gets the promise that we had from the CCP to get free SEPTA passes, then that would help a lot. You see, I'm not uniquely busy, there are thousands of other CCP students just like me, students who are taking care of aging parents, students -- new parents, single mothers, single fathers struggling to pay childcare, workers coming off of shifts and going directly to class, wrung out and exhausted, trying to absorb the information. And yet we still put in the effort. And the least the college could do is give us a way to get there and back. Given how much students struggle worrying about where we can afford to get to campus shouldn't be a problem, but the college insisted on making it one. The college present board has stalled for over one year, again on SEPTA passes. The college yet -- the colleges having to spend $1 million on a fancy AI metal detector investigated by FTC, which has privacy breaches and also false positives. So these things haven't been installed yet, but it's clear that if they do, it will -- CCB will become more like a prison. That place is beautiful; the atmosphere is nice. What real crime do you hear from right there in that area? We all, I feel, come to do the same purpose as the better our future. So we know where -- we know where we stand, we know what we need: We need more money for CCP and childcare. No more beating around the bush from the states, no 23 more saying we have to look into something or numbers by the states. We want to work together to these actions right for us students and faculty. Let's work to make it -- let's work to make a better future together. Thank you. SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: State your name for the record.
Sultan Smalley. Good afternoon. My name is Sultan Smalley, and I'm a student at the Community College of Philadelphia, studying computer science. Our school has been chronically underfunded for decades. When the school was created, it was created with the promise that the city would pay a third of the cost. Tuition would pay a third, and that the state would pay a third. That has not been met since the 80s. And increasingly that burden has been shifted onto students. As you know, the Board of Trustees voted to raise our tuition by 9.5 percent. And yesterday, we had budget hearings for CCP where we were not allowed to give public comment, unlike in previous times. So I want to respond to some of the points that were made yesterday by our president. As you know, the school signed an agreement to provide SEPTA passes for students after AFT 2026 almost went on strike last year. The agreement did not say that SEPTA passes would be for, you know, means tested or that would be for a limited amount of students; it just said SEPTA passes for students. And the president says that only 50 percent of students have applied for the pilot program that they've done at CASTE. However, when I talk to students, nobody knows that it exists. The campus, you know, that they have it at has fewer students than on main campus. And yeah, it also has free parking. And any student knows that admin knows how to flood your emails and let you know what they want you to know. Yet, somehow none of my friends knows that this pilot program, you know, has even been started. So over a thousand students signed a petition to get free SEPTA passes. This is something that students want. If you're not able to provide something, then don't agree to it. You don't get to tell us one thing to avert a strike, and then go change your mind because you supposedly don't have the money. So I urge Council to increase funding for CCP, broadly speaking, and I encourage Council to, you know, tell the Board of Trustees to live up to its promises and provide SEPTA passes for students and childcare for students as well, so thank you.
Narita Pugh, Marie Ranzell, Emily Abendroth, Reverend Gregory Holston, Gabriel Ballard, Marcus Allen, Ryka Cooper, Dr. Candace Player, Dan Miller, Martin Robinson, Lydia Cooper. SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: If your name is called, please come.
Okay. Hello, my name is Emily Abendroth. I'm a resident of Cobbs Creek in West Philly, and a member of the HERE 4 Climate Justice Coalition, which focuses on the intersection of housing, justice, and climate justice. Our coalition's name stands for Housing Equity Repair and Electrification for Climate Justice. Thank you, Councilmembers, for your recent support of both ICE-Out and Safe Healthy Homes, and the values for human life, health and dignity that those legislations reflect. Many of us here today hope the investments made in this 2027 city budget can reflect the same. As a city resident, I stand in support of the shared requests and demands that people have put forward here to fully fund public services, mobile crisis units, abortion access, libraries and rec centers, CCP and more. As a member of the HERE 4 Climate Justice Coalition, I want to draw specific attention in my testimony to the $4 million operating budget request to the Philadelphia Energy Authority. Our coalition, which includes 18 distinct Philly-based orgs, supports PEA'S request and calls on Council to do the same. I also want to say like neither the public nor City Council should have to fight every single year for the Philadelphia Energy Authority to receive adequate operational funding in the mayor's budget. This program has an extensive track record of proven impact and efficacy as PEA's Emily Schapira testified before this body last month, for every dollar of city investment, they have spurred $90 of local investment in clean energy projects and programs. PEA is one of the only of a small handful of city- funded agencies that is directly addressing climate change through programs like Built To Last and Solarized Philly, despite the dire need for action and intervention on this front, the kind of investments in home repair that Built To Last provides, help people have homes that are more climate resilient, that can keep them safe and comfortable in both extreme heat and cold -- this will be the last bit, which we are getting more of each, and that are energy efficient in ways that keep their utility bills affordable and which help prevent the -- all too pervasive utility shutoffs that endanger the lives of Philadelphians. Please fully fund PEA's $4 million operational budget requests. And the last thing I'll say is just that we hope we can work with City Council to push the mayor, so that we are not, both Council and ourselves, repeating this same fight every year, and can push for the many other essential things that are being advocated for here today. SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: State your name for the record, sir.
Thank you. My name is Dan Miller, and I am the business manager for the training department at Mental Health Partnerships. I'm also a certified peer specialist, and thank you for the opportunity to provide public testimony. Mental Health Partnerships serves individuals experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Although my own role does not involve direct delivery service within homeless programs, my -- through my work in mental health systems training and peer support, as well as through lived experience, I understand how closely housing stability, access to healthcare, and recovery are connected. I want to express strong support for the city's continued efforts to reduce homelessness and for the progress made through coordinated service-driven investments. The city's plan to expand shelter capacity while pairing shelter with wraparound services and stronger connections to permanent supportive housing reflects an understanding that homelessness is not just a housing issue, but a health and systems issue. Continued investment in safe havens, recovery housing, supportive housing, and continuity of care is critical for individuals experiencing serious mental health challenges. As a certified peer specialist, I want to highlight how close to many people are losing stability. I've personally come close to experiencing homelessness due to my own mental health. If my Medicaid coverage hadn't been reduced or eliminated in 2017, I would've lost access to treatment and medication and would've been unable to remain housed. That lived experience informs how I view these budget decisions. For many people, healthcare coverage is what makes housing possible. The risk of housing instability is increasingly urgent, given that an estimated 310,000 PA residents are expected to lose Medicaid and SNAP benefits. When they lose Medicaid, they often lose access to mental health care, medications, preventative services. And when SNAP benefits are reduced and unlimited, and food insecurity increases, together these losses significantly raise the risk of housing instability and homelessness, even for people, those who are actively engaged in recovery or employment. In that context, the city's investments in homelessness prevention, shelter, supportive housing --
Please conclude your testimony. We have to keep it fair for everyone.
All right. I will say, as someone with lived experience and who has been on the social security, please help people who cannot advocate for themselves and think about them. Thank you.
Hello. My name is Lydia Cooper, and I am the program manager of Family Education and Support at Mental Health Partnerships. First, I'd like to commend and congratulate City Council for continuing funding for the groundbreaking service that the city of Philadelphia has been providing to its citizens. The Philadelphia Police Department's Crisis Intervention Response Team, also known as CERC. In response to emergency calls of a person in mental health crisis, CERC sends out a duo of personally dedicated and specially- trained uniformed officers, who are accompanied by a behavioral health specialist from Merakey to provide specialized, competent de-escalation with safety, protection, and support as a team. Additionally, and unique to Philadelphia, CERC then follows up with patients and their families within 72 hours to provide additional help and resources. This program is successful. This program supports families, and this program is building much needed trust between the police force and neighborhoods. And yet, unfortunately, the CERC team's current level of funding is only enough for them to operate Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00. Evening, night, and weekend crises go unsupported by their expertise. Councilmembers, mental health challenges do not follow a work-week schedule. And it's not just the families and community that are being shortchanged by this lack of access. In just the first year of CERC's operation, other Philadelphia police officers who had responded to 911 calls radioed asking for help from the CERC unit more than 500 times. It's outrageous that only officers working the day shift can call for backup when they recognize that specialized compassionate service is needed. What a shame? I exhort members of City Council to champion increased funding to expand the response team's hours so that it's available to citizens, families, businesses, neighborhoods, and the police force itself. Thank you very much for your time.
Suzette Folks, Robin Hanson, Allegra Dingle, Tracy Allman, Margarita Padin, Patricia Ford, David Sims, Gloria Cartagena. SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: State your name for the record and you can begin.
Ma'am, please bring the mic up. Thank you.
Hi. My name is Suzette Folks. I'm from Limitless Ladies Ministries, Limitless Ladies CDC. And we provide assistance in most life issues, but my passion is our love bag initiative and interactive workshops provided to women and teens in shelters, recovery homes, the unhoused, and in crisis. However, I have been granted the honor of assisting and building relationships with those in mental health crisis. I am calling on mental health agencies and policy makers to take greater accountability and ensure consistent follow through on critical issues such as crisis response services, housing support, and case management. These gaps can have serious consequences for individuals living with mental disabilities and their overall wellbeing. Being in ministry and having a loved one experiencing mental health crisis, it is important to note that our loved ones are more than just a diagnosis. And decisions regarding their care should always reflect their humanity, dignity, rights, and best interests. I know firsthand the devastating impact that occurs when those responsible are not held accountable, leaving individuals emotionally broken and only a shadow of who they once were. I am calling for people in charge of their own care, policies and procedures to create a system rooted in hope, compassion, accountability, and meaningful support for our loved ones, their families, and all those involved in their care. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Good afternoon. My name is Allegra Dingle, and I represent Southwest Philadelphia on behalf of Transit Forward Philadelphia. Many have spoken to structural issues today, and funding public services. I believe that they are all connected, and access to them can truly change a person's life. As we all know very well, public transit in this city has taken hits that have led to a massive lack of trust from ridership. This year, we'll have the 250th celebration, the MLB All-Star game, the World Cup, and a hot summer coming for us all. Many Philadelphians have spoken to -- I have spoken to have expressed pessimism towards the influx of tourism and its effects on our already underfunded public transportation system. We're preparing to welcome thousands more people daily, and we are not guaranteeing that our rapid transit system is running on time. Student cars have time limits and location restrictions. We had to fight to save the Zero Fare program for low-income riders. Here is my ask, as a public transit rider and advocate: we make decisions that will augment our public transit system even after the summer ends. We guarantee city and state funding for increased capital and operational budget so that we have safer and more reliable access to public transit. We know that access to public transit makes for a healthier, more culturally educated and greener city. We know that allowing our students access to the city allows them to learn outside of the classroom. We know that getting cars off of the road reduces traffic deaths. We spend billions of dollars a year on public safety when we know that getting people where they need to go, allowing them access to the doctor and the food distribution, and getting their basic needs met will reduce crime. It does matter where this funding comes from. We are asking consumers to take on more expenses to fund public transit and it's a heavy lift. Investing in a proactive solution that allows Philadelphians to meet their neighbors and get their shit done will go so far to rebuild trust in our beleaguered public transit system, that by the way, we'll be offering free rides on the Broad Street line to tourists that are visiting the city for the World Cup. Thank you.
Good afternoon, City Council at large, Katherine Gilmore-Richardson, City Councilmembers, and all who are here. My name is Tracy Allman. I'm here on behalf of my parents, Beverly Allman and my deceased father, William Allman, who reside on the 5900 block of Latona Street. I need City Council to allocate a budget to help fix a retainer wall that never was built proper with proper drainage on 5900 Latona Street, of which I've been fighting a long-time during City Council Blackwell's term, since 2010 and long after my deceased father William Allman begun in the 80s and the 90s, up until now under Councilwoman Gauthier's term. That's a long time to slowly watch a deteriorating wall worsen. This wall has already partially collapsed behind the houses in the middle of the block from my parents' house two doors over, years ago where a huge tree 13 once was, but the roots caused it to 14 compromise that wall in that area to 15 cause it to collapse. Finally, we 16 got the huge tree cut two years ago, but the roots from the weeds and this tree, along with other re-pollinated weed trees in the alleyways, has caused the deterioration of the wall to progress along with my mother's alleyway, which had a hairline crack, which is now a huge crack, is beginning to buckle, worsen, and we're concerned about the collapse of homes in the close proximity of that area. I want to thank Councilwoman Gauthier and her liaison, Andrew Goodman, who helped facilitate the huge weed tree removal, which was in front of the area that was most compromised, but -- and I also got the weed trees cut, but the stumps were not being able to be removed, so therefore the roots are still pushing the bricks apart, which is compromising all the homes in that area, which can cause foundation infrastructure and possible collapse. My mom -- my father, used to get in the shower and be afraid to get in the shower thinking he's going to collapse into the side because not only we have a retainer wall issue for the foundation in the back, there's an empty lot on the side, which the city demolished the house and they never insulated the wall properly or did anything to help do the foundation on the side. So our home is in jeopardy of foundation in the back from the retainer wall and also on the side from the lot which our home is not meant to stand alone. So I wish the City Council could allocate some budget to help save our family home from falling or collapsing and help us repair the retainer wall, and get some insulation or something done to the house. Thank you, City Council, for your time.
Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate your -- oh, you just want to make a comment. Very quickly, Councilmember Gauthier.
Thank you, Ms. Allman, for coming out today and I'm so sorry that you continue to deal with this. And we have put this on the list for the NTI funding, and we've been checking and checking, and pushing and pushing, but we will continue to. We know how important this is. Not only to you, but to the entire block. And thank you for your persistent advocacy on behalf of your neighbors.
Good afternoon. My name is Robin Hanson. I'm here speaking as an advocate of Mental Health Partnerships, but not just at Mental Health Partnerships, period. I'm not only an advocate; I am a patient. I'm a psychiatric patient. There are 236 psychiatric programs in the city of Philadelphia that include adult and adolescent programs. They're funded under the DHS funding. It falls short every year. It includes the crisis support team, inpatient psychiatric program, outpatient programs, psychiatric offices, addiction services, and adult disabilities. I kind of want to go off on a tangent here. I'm a psychiatric patient. The program that I was in was supposed to close due to the fact that there was no funding for them. In the last hour, they finally got a grant. But funding is majorily important to the mental health system. We all need a little bit of help every day, but I appreciate your time. Thank you, and have a good day.
Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Gloria Smooches Cartagena-Hart. I am a long-term resident in Kensington, and I'm always here to advocate with Transit Forward, the PAHC, Philadelphia Affordable Housing for Communities. Name it, I'm there. I wear many hats in the community that supports them. I'm here today and also with Kensington Corridor Trust in keeping generational families in our community. We are living a life of chess, but if you take this money and put it in the places where it belongs, it will fall like a domino effect. It is -- the three necessities I always say: clothing, food, and shelter, and now education, because now we are losing our schools and how the students are going to learn. Housing is going up, rents are going up, employment is going down, salaries are not rising. So how are we going to maintain, and support, and live, and thrive in Kensington? I want to give flowers to Quetcy Lozada for fighting and believing in us in Kensington; Nicholas O'Rourke for fighting. I appreciate you in fighting for us to travel to get to and from. And those that I don't mention, please forgive me, but if you're fighting with us, I appreciate it and thank you. Keep fighting. I'm going to keep it short and brief, because this is so serious. This is really serious. People are falling back, and we not -- we want to thrive and stay in the communities. We are losing culture. We are losing history. We would love to keep that here in Kensington. And Kensington is a good place. It's -- everything lands there. I know it doesn't look pretty, but it's common. It's like a baby. You got to crawl before you can walk. And I appreciate those that support us in helping us crawl, so we'll be able to walk and be proud where we live. And thank you again. I appreciate you-all.
Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Margarita Padin. I'm a 40-year resident of Philadelphia. How do we make sure that we are not funding employers, developers, and general contractors that are exploiting the labor force by subcontracting to contractors who are committing tax fraud by skirting around laws that mandate payment into unemployment compensation and workers' compensation? This includes recipients of our public land through the Land Bank. Privatizing municipal services often leads to negative impacts, including higher costs, due to profit motives, decreased service quality, reduced public accountability, and diminished transparency. Private contractors frequently cut employee wages and benefits to maximize profits, causing higher staff turnover, and reduced service efficiency. Private contracts don't reduce costs in the long run. We need L&I fully funded, staffed, and trained. Neighbor's homes throughout the city are becoming unsafe, because of all the construction and the adjacent row homes. Work being done without the proper permits and certifications and qualifications to do the work. And finally, in Philadelphia, LGBTQ+ youth represent about to 40 percent of the young 17 people experiencing homelessness, 18 meaning the group is over 19 represented in the city's unhoused 20 population. Can we make sure that 21 we fund the agencies that give 22 support to the LGBTQ+ community? 23 Thank you. Have a nice day, 24 everybody.
CJ Randall, Christopher Williams, Anthony Winston, Jigar Mehta, Patricia Dominguez, Jane Knight, and Jenna Lamb.
Good morning. My name is CJ Randall from North Philly, and I'm here on behalf of the Mural Arts program. There's a line in the Will Smith movie, I, Robot, where Will's character is defining the nature of a soul, and he asks the -- if a robot can paint a beautiful picture, and the robot responds with, "Can you?" And Will is caught up -- and Will is caught up short because I presume he cannot. I can. But as valuable as that gift is, I need you to understand that it does not come without cost. As a kid growing up in Cheltenham -- as a kid growing up between Cheltenham and Broad and Airy, I had what could be considered an exceptionally violent childhood here, among other things, being a gentle and artistic soul, put a very specific target on my back as early as the second grade. And I grew up with the constant reinforcement that beautiful things were not allowed because they weren't inherently tough, and therefore, must be destroyed. I actually won an illustrated poster contest in the first grade that landed my picture in the Philly Enquirer. But in the second grade, I became the target kid, because I was the artistic sensitive child, and it wasn't considered manly or Black enough, even for an eight-year-old. I almost quit school in the fourth grade because school wasn't where I went to learn; it was where I went to get my butt handed to me on a weekly basis by 3, 4, 5, or kids all at once. It was a very tooth and claw existence, where my only counterbalance to the violence was my artistic pursuit. I wasn't the gifted engineer, like my brother was growing up to be, or the athlete that so many black boys were told as the only career path available to them. My gift was in the ability to draw and paint, and it was nurtured with a serious dedication across the entirety of my developing years. In high school, I got so addicted to drawing Ninja Turtles that I went to on to become a -- that I wanted to become a comic book artist. And I had a teacher who recognized my talents and helped me to get a partial scholarship to Kutztown University. By this point in my life, the physical conflicts had gotten so bad that I knew if I stayed in Philadelphia, I would not survive to see my 25th birthday, or that if I did, it would be because I had to fight hard enough that it would in inevitably land me in prison. I came to believe that staying in Philly would invariably lead to either a quick death by stupidity, or a slow death by poverty or incarceration, neither of which were a future I wanted for myself.
I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry, sir. We need -- we need you to summarize your testimony.
Okay. Let me skip, skip, skip, skip, skip. Shoot. I'm here to ask the city to keep funding the arts and the mural arts program specifically to give communities something to inspire, to work together towards, and to prove to myself that there is a place for me here. I happen to believe that the Sistine Chapel ceiling is one of the greatest accomplishments in human history, and that that renaissance sense would not be possible without it. And that --
Thank you. At a time when Philadelphia is known as the birthplace of the nation and the greatest city for murals nationwide, art is the best defense against fascism. It is the purpose of life, and that a beautiful painting is worth more than a thousand words; it's worth the souls that pour into it, the souls that are uplifted by it, and the community it represents. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. As a board member of Mural Arts, we appreciate you being here and we're serious about that painting. All right? So don't go too far.
All righty. My name is Anthony Winston. I'm part of the Philadelphia Homeless Union. I'm here to advocate for affordable housing. I'm actually a recipient of a voucher program myself. I was homeless for almost four years, going on five. I've been through the shelter system, I've seen what it is, I've seen what it can do to people. It's -- it basically, it's not a place that, you know, you're going to go and get the help that you actually do need, besides, you know, sitting there and dealing with so-called, you know, case managers that don't really care about your situation, they're just there to collect the paycheck. You know, you get -- you get hollered at by staff, you get down, you know, be berated for the simple fact is that you're homeless, but yet you're sitting here trying to help me prolong myself to get back into society. But we all know, if you give somebody housing, and it does work, it's -- it is proven. You can look at the studies that they did in Denver, Colorado, Canada. Okay. They -- it works. You know, if you put people inside housing -- if you put people inside a housing,
I hear it, too. You can continue with your testimony. We're just asking everybody to keep their phones on silent. It's distracting the public comment. Go ahead, sir. I'm sorry.
It's a proven -- it's a proven study fact that you put people in housing; it does work. Only 2 -- only 2 percent of people that failed the whole program in Denver, Colorado. One -- and another thing is, staying with Camp Chloe on every -- on the things that they're fighting for to simplify the things of freedom, that public piece of land has been -- we all probably know, we've seen it growing up as kids. It was a -- it was a go-karts, golf -- a driving range and batting cages back when I was a kid in the 90s. It was abandoned for like over years. You know, 11 all of a sudden, just one day, the 12 -- a public developer is going to 13 stand up and say, Hey, I want the 14 Land Bank. And after that, you 15 know, my -- like I said, other than 16 that -- and you just have a great 17 day. 18
22 Please state your name for the 23 record, and you may begin with your 24 testimony.
First, I'd like to apologize, but I didn't know that was still on.
Christopher R.K. Williams. I'm from the 5th District, North Philadelphia, born and raised, and I'm with the North -- I'm with the Philadelphia Homeless Union at the same time. You-all want to pass these bills; I don't understand how you-all do these things too much and not think about the people that are outside. Right now, outside. She's sitting there yelling, looking for help, but we're here talking about it. What are we going to do about it? I mean, is it the 26th of this month that that sort of tax is up? I'm just asking a question, because that made 600 something million out of it. And what do you-all do with it? I'm just following the money. I mean, I'm a business owner too. I'm a small business owner, and I got $135 back in taxes. I only made like grand. So 11 you're taxing me, but you won't tax 12 those other corporations out there, 13 like Grainger that sits right there 14 on 8th Callowhill, where I got to go 15 and get tools from, and I do employ 16 some of the transients, some of the 17 brothers, they all had to go. And 18 it's $1,800 for a room right now. I 19 can't even afford to pay them $14 an 20 hour yet. 21 So -- I can't even pay -- I 22 can't even afford to pay them $14 an 23 hour yet, and then your shelter 24 systems, they're horrible. You tell people to go in these shelter systems, but there's rape going on in there by staff and clients. There's other stuff -- mold. And not only that, when I came home from being incarcerated, February 3rd, 2024, I was told to go to OBP. My case was overturned. I go there, I'm treated with nothing but demoralization and disrespect, then I get kicked out because I wanted to serve my religion. And then I filed a grievance and then it was a stonewall. And you-all talk about you-all want to make bills. There's people out there right now that's on these grounds that's asking for you-all help, but you-all want to make more taxes. That's all I got. Get it together.
Good afternoon, Council. My name is Patricia Dominguez, and I'm here to ask if we could reconsider the BIRT tax change, and allow small businesses and gig workers to be exempt from this. I am a small business owner, I'm two-and-a-half years in, and I got walloped this year by these taxes, and I'm like, oh. And you know, as everybody knows, small businesses, any business is hard to get up off the ground. And I am, like, teetering on that edge of, like, will I be able to withstand -- take keeping moving forward to get past that, like, hump, and the BIRT tax is like making it quite increasingly difficult. But I also want to relay that I just also feel the stress of also supporting independent contractors that support me and my business. And I don't want them to also lose -- I mean, they're also getting hit on their other end, too, but, you know, I also support work for them, and I want to make sure that they're taken care of in that respect. But yeah, that's -- I could let go of, but I don't -- I think you got it. Thank you.
Thank you. There are some folks who want to get your information, so if you can give us your information, we'd appreciate it. Please state your name for the record, and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Jager Mehta. I talking -- registered for the rideshare, but it really is about just employment, similar to what the current testimony was. When someone's a W2 worker, if they're not making a living wage, they're going to go out and become a gig worker as well, or they'll have two jobs. That's just normal living right now in Philadelphia and everywhere in the country. If that W2 worker loses their job, they're working for a corporation, they lose their job, they now also become a sole proprietor, independent worker. What we're asking for is to give them relief. What we're saying is that these folks, these independent workers, they don't have access to unions, they don't have a voice out there. I can tell you from personal experience, it's been very difficult to get people organized. It's very difficult, because if you want to talk about diversity, this is the most diverse group of Philadelphians you can find. It's the independent contractor. Now, I know there's some concerns that if we somehow exempt sole proprietors and individuals that they'll be a runaway with developers, that somehow that the developer will greatly benefit from this. But I can tell you that developers, they go after access of capital. They're looking for money. They're not being structured for a tax cut. What we're asking for is to think about the other 60 percent, and give them the relief that they need. Councilman Driscoll's Bill 15 251026, that was created in partnership with all of you. That was created in partnership with two of the top tax attorneys in Philadelphia: Stradley Ronon, and Ballard. What we're asking for right now is that because you've done the work, you've put the -- you used -- I mean, I've worked with -- I'm sorry, people have worked with you guys, and all I'm asking for is that we can get a hearing. If there is a process to get a finance hearing, that's all we want. We just want to talk about it. And if from there, God willing, with God's grace, we will be able to move forward, and maybe there'll be a vote and we'll give -- we'll give some relief to these folks. So all we're asking --
I'm looking at my colleague, and we'll make sure you get a hearing.
I appreciate your testimony, and thank you for your continued advocacy. Can we -- we're going to -- we're going to read these names one more time, because we want to make sure that this is the last opportunity for folks to testify. We just want to make sure we haven't missed anybody.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this a Jane Knight -- excuse me, Zane Knight and Jenna Lamb?
That's correct. Okay. So these are our last two for the day. Sounds good. All right. Whoever wants to go first, please state your name for the record, and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Zane Knight. I'm a community activist organizer, a resident in North Square, part of many organizations, groups, et cetera. I'm grateful to be here, and have the opportunity to testify today. Thank you, City Council, and a big thank you to all of the groups and advocates that came out today to make their voices heard. I wanted to say that it's abhorrent that this city is considering tax increases and the implementation of a new regressive tax on the average people of the city, when it has done little to nothing transformational in the everyday lives of these people. The cost of everything has skyrocketed with inflation, and the -- and price gouging, while wages have stayed stagnant. All of our surrounding states have mandated wage increases, and if the city or state wants to increase taxes, then the city and its officials should be pushing state level officials to increase the minimum wage. This city just closed public schools and initially more than that were slated to be closed. Meanwhile, charter schools eat up exorbitant amounts of public school funding while operating like private schools exempt from the basic guidelines and requirements of public schools. With a surplus on the books, the issue surrounding funding and this budget do not have to be either or issues. The people of Philadelphia deserve better and the people of Pennsylvania deserve better. We have a homelessness crisis, not a housing crisis, with as many cheaply built developments that we have that we have -- that have been approved and erected in the last five plus years. There are more than enough empty units for the number of individuals in need. Stop the disposition of public land to private for-profit developers who almost always rent or sell at rates significantly higher than that of the area median income, AMI, in the neighborhoods they are in. Not every empty lot needs to be a cheap, ugly, gentrification project, and those who built truly -- and those who build truly sustainable and repurpose -- and repurpose existing buildings should be the only ones even under consideration for subsidies and/or abatements. We do not have to choose between funding transit or community services and programs; we do not have to choose between funding housing or schools. It is not a matter of money; it's a matter of political will. Fund sustainability, fund our schools, fund teachers, fund housing, fund people, fund communities. Free Palestine. Free Congo. Free Sudan. Free Yemen. Thank you for your time, and all power to the people.
My name is Jenna Lamb. Thank you, everyone, for your stamina so being here, good Lord. My name is Jenna Lamb, part of the team at People's Budget Office, a project of Mural Arts Philadelphia that uses art to invite Philadelphians into the city budgeting process. In Philadelphia, budget decisions are not theoretical. We have heard today about the many concrete ways they affect people's daily lives. Amid the converging crises of housing instability, public safety, economic inequality, and the rise of authoritarianism, including people with lived experience in shaping government's priorities is no longer optional; it is essential. This budgeting process, it needs to be accessible, democratic, and genuinely reflective of community needs. We've had 700 participants speak about the survey in our budget. At this time, where democracy feels increasingly gradual, trust in local governments that become even more important. We know more equitable models are possible because we've seen them. The city's budget office previously experimented with promising approaches: a participatory budgeting pilot, the creation of an education, engagement, and impact unit, and budgeting for racial equity. With these processes, communities' concerns were recorded before the budget was shaped, and tracked throughout the process. Let's do this in reverse: public testimonies before the budget gets decided. These efforts aimed to give residents the opportunity to shape the budget as it was being formed, and provide meaningful data points to make sure city departments were meeting equity goals. But today, those practices are no longer in place, and the opportunities that remain are limited and difficult to navigate. I am here today because I believe the opposite is possible. Philadelphians hold deep local knowledge that can strengthen the local budget and make your jobs easier and more effective as legislators. To harness that knowledge, we need to expand engagement opportunities outside of the spring so residents can shape the budget. The city needs to make more budget documents accessible and create structural and legal reforms that make these changes happen. So let's invest in that. Let's invest in that and make the opposite happen. Thank you so much.
Thank you for your testimony. Seeing that there is no 13 one else to testify, the Chair calls on Councilmember Gauthier for a motion that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and the resolutions before the committee today stand in recess.
It's been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the committee today stand in recess. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. COUNCILMEMBERS: Aye.
Those opposed? The ayes have it. The motion carries. The committee will stand in recess. Thank you. (Committee of the Whole public hearing concluded at 3:45 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me of the above case, and this copy is a correct transcript of the same. ______________________ Samanda J. Rios