And a resolution affirming and praising Philadelphia's City Commissioners and citizen poll workers in implementing free and fair election procedures to determine the will of all eligible Philadelphia voters, and decrying efforts to undermine such officials and citizen participants through bullying and legislative interference, introduced today by STATED MEETING 82 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING Councilwoman Brooks.
Council President, I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted. Councilman Thomas, did you need to be recognized?
No problem. We're still dealing with the new technology. STATED MEETING 83 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING Mr. Decker.
And a resolution honoring the People's Emergency Center on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary, introduced today by Councilwoman Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. I want to thank my colleague, Majority Leader Jones, for moving the earlier resolution, and if it's okay, I'd like to speak on that one and this one as well.
Today we voted on a resolution to rename the 6000 block of Chestnut Street "Julia Chinn Way" to honor the life and work of a woman who spent her entire life working for the betterment of the people around her. Mrs. Chinn served her community STATED MEETING 84 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING through direct action for more than 60 years, serving as a democratic committee person, president of the 18th District Neighborhood Advisory Council, and founding the Cobbs Creek Town Watch community organization. She was known to those around her as a loving woman who was particularly invested in children, orchestrating trips to amusement parks, and hosting annual toy drives. Mrs. Chinn passed away last September, and the void left by her absence continues to be felt by all who loved her, but her legacy of civic engagement and community action will live on through the host of family and friends who still cherish her legacy. I'd also like to acknowledge Senator Williams and thank him for coming today to speak about Mrs. Chinn and what she meant to her West Philadelphia community. And I just want to thank my colleagues for voting in favor of this STATED MEETING 85 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING resolution. It means more to my community than you know. So thanks so much.
And moving on to the PEC resolution, before I move for the adoption of this resolution, I'd like to acknowledge the People's Emergency Center for the decades of work that they have done to ensure that children and families experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia have access to resources and safe spaces. This year PEC is celebrating its 50th anniversary and during that time has provided more than 200 affordable housing units and millions of healthy meals and safe nights for thousands of people in our communities. This is no small feat. These accomplishments have been achieved over many years and at their core have been driven by the guiding principle that no STATED MEETING 86 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING family should have to wonder if their child will have a safe place to sleep and food to eat every day. I'd like thank everyone at the People's Emergency Center for the work that they are doing to ensure that our children and families have roofs over their heads, food in their stomachs, and access to opportunities and services that will allow them to be the best versions of themselves and live with dignity. And with that, I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is STATED MEETING 87 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING adopted.
And a resolution authorizing the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding expanding Philadelphia's mobile crisis response capacity to develop strategies and best practices for non-lethal de-escalation, crisis intervention, and restraint of individuals experiencing mental or emotional distress, introduced today by Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just really wanted to take a brief second and say a big thank you to former Councilmember and many other things, John White, Jr., who is with The Consortium and who has worked very closely with us on this resolution and mobile health crisis here in the City of Philadelphia. And with that, I call for the STATED MEETING 88 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. The resolution is adopted.
And a resolution authorizing the Committee on Parks and Recreation to hold public hearings on the status of the City of Philadelphia's Rebuild Initiative, introduced today by Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. STATED MEETING 89 10/20/2022 10/20/22 - STATED - 2ND READING (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution recognizing and commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia, introduced today by Councilman Oh.
Thank you. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. STATED MEETING 90 10/20/2022 by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. The resolution is adopted.
There are no other resolutions on the Final Passage Calendar, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. That concludes our Calendar for today. And are there any speeches on behalf of the minority? (No response.)
Speeches on behalf of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gym.
Thank you STATED MEETING 91 10/20/2022 much, Council President.
I want to acknowledge Councilmember and Public Safety Chair Jones for his earlier resolution calling for the support of our City Council body on a very serious matter involving the state. I want to especially acknowledge the members of Local 159, President David Robinson and all the members who are at the Juvenile Justice Services Center and, in fact, across our City prisons. The conditions that were described in public today are ones that have been well known to the state for weeks on end. It's one that we had hoped as colleagues, all of us on those calls late at night, in the morning, at the Juvenile Justice Services Center, to ask the state to take action on not only the inhumane conditions that our staff and young people are enduring but on those STATED MEETING 92 10/20/2022 rights. It is unconscionable that a center that was designed to originally be a place of a model for how young people could be cared for was supposed to be a temporary holding facility only between 10 to 30 days where they could get schooling, recreation, mental health supports, find mentors, and have programming has now been turned into one of the worst examples of what happened under state neglect in our juvenile justice system. And to be clear, as somebody who has worked on this area since I've come onto Council and before I came onto Council, I am appalled at the length and the effort to which this state has denied young people justice, decency, and humanity in all sectors, even before we got to this particular crisis over here. I have sat for 18 months on a task force recommending commonsense transformations to basic rules and STATED MEETING 93 10/20/2022 the governance accountability and management of juvenile centers easier, more humane, and we have watched as none of those recommendations from that task force got implemented, even though they were enacted by the Governor himself. So we have lost -- we have no rose-colored glasses on today. We are crystal clear about what needs to be done and the rights that must be granted. We are also crystal clear about the safety of individuals who are in our care, whether they are City workers who are parents, who are leaders and civic leaders themselves who need to go back healthy and happy to a home and family for whom they care for or whether they are children of young people and families all across the City who expect their children to be treated with decency, humanity, and love at a time when they need it the most. I think what we've heard STATED MEETING 94 10/20/2022 prison experiments in history to the cries at the conditions of the Juvenile Justice Services Center, to the calls of our own youth here in this hall, that they need basic support for their mental health, to get back and forth from school, to have a city show them some love and decency; that this conversation about public safety doesn't start until we stand up for our young people, unless we draw the line on what public safety needs to look like in our city; and that we have a responsibility to do it in all parts of our city, that actually public safety is defined not just on interactions between our police and individuals but actually in the ways in which we care for people in our public schools, in our Juvenile Justice Services Center, in the places and homes and parks and recreation centers and libraries, which should be open, programs which should be running. " And I think that that is what this complaint to the Governor, and it is an unusual and bold step and it could not be more important or more urgent or more overdue than it has long been for so many communities and families. But I want to thank Chairman Jones for allowing us an opportunity.
I want to thank the Administration for drawing a line in the sand, but I most especially want to thank the members of Local 159 and the families of the young people who are at the Juvenile Justice Services Center or in any of our City institutions to tell them that we will not go back to that dark past that we had STATED MEETING 96 10/20/2022 blind eye to what would happen. We are going to take this on. We want to thank people for bringing their stories to light. That is in fact the only way anything changes in this world and the only way in which hard actions need to happen. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Thomas.
Thank you, Council President. I have a lot to say. First of all, it's good to see so many people here in Council today and so many people testifying today, from the young people who came to see their government in action, to the number of people who came to communicate their concerns as it relates to the state of our city and the City of Philadelphia. Council President, since you STATED MEETING 97 10/20/2022 of the Education Committee a couple weeks ago, I visited six different schools across the City of Philadelphia, and when I say that the condition our young people or the condition of our city and how we treat our young people as it relates to everything, from our schools, to what happens out of school time, to what we're going to talk about continued on this floor today as it relates to the Juvenile Center, it's really an embarrassment. The members of Local 159 who came here today talked about the fact that this incident took place weeks ago, in early October, and we thank them for reaching out and letting us know what was going on, because without them reaching out, we would have never known what was taking place. I appreciate Councilmember Jones for his leadership and introducing the resolution today, because we tried to solve this issue. We made phone calls. STATED MEETING 98 10/20/2022 We did as much as we can. Councilmember Gym just spoke about it before me. And at the end of the day, when the incident took place, there were 213 young people that was in the Center. As of today there are over 220, which means since all of us have visited, since we've been on these calls, since we've basically put a cry for help, things didn't get any better. Things have actually gotten worse. So if I'm an employee, if I'm a member of Local 159 and I've seen all these elected officials come by my workplace, if I'm one of those young people that's in that center and I've seen all these elected officials come by and only see the conditions getting worse, it's similar to what the young sister who testified earlier today said, nobody cares about our children. That's the state of Philadelphia that we're in right now. I listened to the other sister STATED MEETING 99 10/20/2022 that her father had to deal with in the prison and the impact that it had on her and the fact that nobody spoke up, nobody said nothing. You know, myself and some of the freshmen colleagues, we've only been on Council for a couple years, but I know for me, a lot of the work that I do and my perspective on leadership comes out of my time being mentored and working under the Children's Defense Fund and Marian Wright Edelman, and one of the things that we studied in depth was the cradle-to-prison pipeline. I never thought that they would come where I would be a part of a system that pushes the cradle-to-prison pipeline. When I went and visited those young people at the Center and I watched them basically in solitary confinement for almost 23 hours a day, it's not just about why they are in there right now, but who are they going to be when they STATED MEETING 100 10/20/2022 that when you put young people in the position where they can't socialize, they can't exercise, they can't interact, they can't get a quality education, how can we then expect them to return to the collective and be a restorative part of society? That's not realistic. We're literally perpetuating the same negative interactions that they were involved in before they got into the Center while they're in there. And one could even argue that we're making them worse. It is extremely disappointing, not just what's going on in the Center but the quality of life issues that children are facing all across the City of Philadelphia. So I join my colleagues today to beg and plead for help.
I join the members of Local 159 to beg and plead for help. At the end of the day, I can't STATED MEETING 101 10/20/2022 You know, I have to believe that if the majority of those children in that center, they look like me and some of my colleagues to my left and my right, the response would be different. I believe that in my heart. And so I refuse to be quiet. I refuse to not say nothing, because I would hate for City Council 25 years from now to introduce a resolution to apologize about how we treated the young people in the Juvenile Center. No, we're not going to do that. We're going to speak up now. We're going to scream at the top of our lungs, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that those young people are put in a position where they're not being oppressed. That is the closest thing to indentured servitude that I've ever seen in my life, and it's heartbreaking, it's disappointing, and I know for a fact that this legislative body will not stand for some of the things that we've seen when STATED MEETING 102 10/20/2022 to visit. If you think we're exaggerating, if you think we're taking it a little bit too far, go visit. Listen to them young people screaming out of their rooms, calling our names, calling for help. It is literally the saddest thing I've ever seen since I've been on City Council. It's heartbreaking. And we're demanding that the state step up and do their part to be able to support this crisis and this emergency that we're dealing with. Thank you, Council President. I appreciate the time.
Thank you so much, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson. STATED MEETING 103 10/20/2022
Thank you, Council President, and thank you, colleagues. I'll first start by thanking Councilmember Jones, Chair of Council's Committee on Public Safety, and all of the colleagues on the Committee on Public Safety and all of my colleagues who have spoken about this issue relative to JJSC, and I just wanted to rise and stand in support of those efforts. Although I'm not a member of the Committee, I've worked very closely with all of the members on the Committee on this issue. I also have family who work in that center and are appreciative of the staff members who have called us and e-mailed us and spoke out about what was going on, because if it were not for their efforts, we would not have known what was happening in that facility. So I also rise to call on Governor Wolf, Acting Secretary Meg Snead, and all the officials in the STATED MEETING 104 10/20/2022 help us alleviate the challenges that we are faced with at JJSC in Philadelphia so that we can get the population and the census down there, not only for the young people but for the staff who are dedicated and still go and show up day in and day out, so many of them who were injured as a result of the riot that took place a couple weeks ago. So we are also calling on the Governor and Acting Secretary Snead to help us bring that population and census down at JJSC. And, lastly, I just wanted to remind all of our colleagues that we are hosting a luncheon and a briefing for Visit Philadelphia in the Caucus Room after Council today. So we're asking all colleagues to come over to learn more about our commercial corridors and economic revitalization in the City. It will happen right after Council today. Thank you, Council President.
STATED MEETING 105 10/20/2022 you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. I also want to speak on Majority Leader Jones's resolution. I want to stand in solidarity with my colleagues that have talked about what's going on at the Juvenile Justice Center, and I also want to thank the staff who came here to speak up today but who have been raising their voices probably for a long time but who reached out to us a few weeks ago to make us aware of what's been going on. I want to be very clear. There is no situation where it is acceptable for a facility built to house no more than 180 young people on a given day to have a regular census of 220 to 280 young people. There is no situation where it is acceptable for staff-to-resident STATED MEETING 106 10/20/2022 skewed that fewer than ten adults are left to operate a facility housing more than 200 young people. We are in a crisis. Workers at the Juvenile Justice Center are not safe. Young people at the Juvenile Justice Center are not safe. And the crisis that these individuals are facing is a direct result of failures at the state level. Upwards of 90 of the young people currently housed at the JJSC are assigned to state care, and as far as we know, counties outside of Philadelphia have dozens of openings to safely house these residents. Failing to place these residents in other facilities has only exacerbated the safety concerns that are now being faced by the staff and the young people at JJSC. I will not and this body will not stand for the state's abdication of its responsibilities to these kids and to the staff, who are risking their safety to operate the facility. STATED MEETING 107 10/20/2022 it's especially insulting that this is happening at the same time that legislators at the state level are participating in theatrics to feign like they care about public safety here in Philadelphia. I am calling on my colleagues in City Council and at the state to come together to create a solution, because this cannot go on any longer. And I want to thank all of my colleagues on the Public Safety Committee as well as Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson and you, Council President, for coming together over these last few weeks to see what we could do to alleviate the situation. I would suggest that both state and local officials come together on a daily basis to enact a plan to improve the conditions at JJSC and that we continue to do that until our young people and our staff are safe there. STATED MEETING 108 10/20/2022
Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Councilwoman. And it is a very, very challenging issue, very sad, and as usual, City Council steps to the plate and has to do what we have to do. So, you know, we'll have the full support of all our resources here in Council in our conversations primarily with the state, making sure that people understand not only for this particular Governor, for the next Governor, because this is an issue that is going to go on for a while unless we do something dramatic and drastic. So thank you all. Any additional speeches? The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
First and foremost, I want to thank the members of this body for being courageous for a very long time on these issues, from the adult prisons to the Juvenile Justice Center. STATED MEETING 109 10/20/2022 when I first came on board that if 300 wales washed up on the shore of the Delaware, every marine biologist, including Jacques Cousteau himself, would figure out why and how we could save them, but when it comes to our babies, why is there an absence of urgency, an absence of urgency? Well, we didn't want this fight. Mr. President, you've negotiated on behalf, the Mayor. Commissioner Ali has been shuttle diplomacy trying to figure out answers to this, while our babies remain in danger, while our workers remain in danger. Most of the staff at the Justice Center are females, females that ran into a foray of young people, some of them 200 pounds plus, bravely taking a beating on behalf of those babies. We began -- and I want to thank in particular Member Gym for her study over the years and making these recommendations on how to change things STATED MEETING 110 10/20/2022 And so we didn't want this fight. We tried to avoid this fight. We tried to negotiate this fight. But we are up for this fight on behalf of our kids. It got so bad on a Zoom and it was so, you know, "yeah, but it's your problem." No, it isn't. Ninety of those kids are wards of the state literally. And one of the things that is tattooed in my mind is that -- and this came out of Member Gym's study -- that the longer they stay there and they're staying there longer, supposed to be a temporary placement, their time doesn't count until they get to state custody. So they're sitting there with their rights being violated. Our minds adjust to wherever we are. If we wind up on a college campus, we become students. If we wind up in City Council, we become legislators. You wind up in a gladiator school, you become STATED MEETING 111 10/20/2022 to adjust and survive. It got so bad on one of those Zooms, I asked the City Solicitor, how many laws would I violate if we got the Sheriff to get two sheriff buses, fill those in custody of the state, and take them to the Governor's mansion and knocked on the door and say, here are your kids. The only reason we didn't attempt it was because of the benefit of those babies. They don't deserve to be treated like that. So we tried to avoid this fight and this confrontation. I want to thank again the Mayor, Tumar Alexander, Commissioner Ali for doing it quietly, you, behind the scenes, but we are risking a catastrophe. And as my colleague says, we will not be silent. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you so much. STATED MEETING 112 10/20/2022 (Applause.)
To all our colleagues, thank you so much. We will keep doing what we have to do. Okay? So that concludes our speeches for today by the minority and the majority, and with that, the Chair recognizes Councilman Squilla for a motion to adjoin. No. Councilman Squilla is not here. Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, October 27th, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, October 27, 2022, 10:00 a.m. STATED MEETING 113 10/20/2022 by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. Thank you all very much. Please be safe. ) STATED MEETING 114 10/20/2022 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, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L. or Wynnefield 65:21 66:3 g 71:23 74:11 11:6, 7 weapons 41:18 Williams Week 8:20 18:11 29:15, <Y> 71:25 78:7 19 84:21 y'all 70:23 weeks 58:8 willing 56:12 YDC 47:11 91:19 97:3, 16 67:5 yeah 110:9 104:11 105:16 willingness year 24:2, 4 107:18 29:10 48:14 61:14, week's 11:23 wind 110:22, 15 62:15 12:6 13:17 23, 25 85:16 16:17 17:4 Winslow years 33:3 Weikel 7:24 49:21, 25 50:2 37:14 60:19 16:14 wishing 28:12 67:19 84:3 welcome withdraw 5:25 85:24 99:9 19:12 20:3, 9, witness 43:17 101:10 109:24 91:4 witnessed yellow 28:17 welcomed 63:12, 24 69:3 yield 28:22 19:12 Wolf 103:24 young 20:18 welcoming woman 83:22 43:16 44:16, 21:9 84:9 20 58:21 well 32:11 women 30:9 59:13, 16 64:4, 35:24 38:23 32:15, 16, 23 5 91:25 92:2, 43:7 46:13 63:14 5, 20 93:20 47:12 49:5 wonder 86:2 94:12 95:21 56:17 60:17 Woodbine 11:7 96:19 97:6, 8 61:20 72:11 word 2:24 98:6, 16, 20 83:15 91:18 words 40:11 99:21 100:4 107:14 109:10 work 2:24 101:12, 18 went 60:19, 24 44:10 46:2, 9 102:6 104:6 62:6, 14 63:24 47:14, 20 105:21, 22 64:21 99:20 48:21 68:21 106:4, 7, 11, 20 102:2 77:6 83:21 107:24 109:19 We're 2:3 85:11 86:6 younger 68:11 19:17 20:21 99:10 103:16 Yousef 22:5 42:10, 16 worked 87:21 65:10, 17 46:16 59:10 92:16 103:14 67:14 65:2 82:24 workers 13:22 youth 9:7 97:10 98:23 81:19 93:15 36:5, 7, 8 100:11, 15 106:5 109:16 43:10 46:12 101:13, 14, 15, working 46:14 53:10 57:23, 102:3, 4, 11, 47:25 83:22 24 58:4, 14, 15, 104:19 99:12 18 59:2, 19, 20 West 34:24 workplace 79:9 94:6 35:11 39:2 98:16 84:23 world 54:10 <Z> we've 64:14 74:9 96:7 Zaleski 2:8, 18 93:25 98:9 worse 33:5 Zoom 110:8 99:8 101:25 98:12, 20 Zooms 98:2 whistleblower 100:16 111:5 67:20 worshiped 35:8 worst 92:12