Could I have the next hand, please?
Chair, the next hand is Michael Schreiber. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Mr. Schreiber.
Michael Schreiber.
Move to the next hand.
chair the next hand is dina willow they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
hello everyone how are you today hi could you please state your name and spell for the court
sonographer yes my name is dina willow d fidelto d-e-f-e-d-e-l-t-o i am a caretaker at the meadows
which was originally actually called the woodlands okay you swear well hold on one minute hold on
one minute. Do you swear or affirm? No, no, that's okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. So I'm going to try to, um, try to keep it
try to keep it short. I know. Are you a neighbor? Oh, I am. Yes. So not only am I a neighbor,
short. Are you a neighbor? Oh, I am. Yeah. So not only am I a neighbor,
but I'm a neighbor actually on both ends of the park. So growing up in Southwest Philadelphia
and Eastwick and then residing as an adult in South Philly and back and forth taking care of
my parents. Are you in favor of the project? I am a hundred percent against it. Okay. Could you tell
us something different than what we've already done? I can. I can. So I'm going to start by saying
that the pollution in the neighborhoods surrounding the parameter of FDR really is off the charts.
My father's dead, so are countless of my neighbors. One person in every household on my street has
died of cancer, and the rest are suffering with like debilitating issues, health issues.
The community surrounding the park are South and Southwest Philly, and we've actually been deemed
a cancer cluster. And all because we're in close proximity to the Sunoco Hilco refinery.
I mean, it's right across from FDR, literally. The Philadelphia Water Department, the sewage,
their chemical methane that burns constantly, the landfill that it was even built on,
our whole area, we're poisoned by the airport fuel and the radiation constantly.
And now that all those canopies of trees were cut down in front of I-95 at FDR, my God, it's like you can't even walk around that.
It's terrible.
I know we're living on DuPont illegal dumping grounds.
I mean, it's crazy, the area.
And FDR Park is literally just, it was this beautiful green space in a sea of concrete, right?
And I believe that our neighborhoods are under attack.
and the underprivileged children, they deserve nature and clean air too, okay? My father is dead.
I've had 26 surgeries because of this pollution. The only thing that is going to save us are those
heritage trees. We all know there's a lot of corruption. There's a lot of gaslighting. I mean,
it's just common sense. It doesn't take a genius, okay? But like, at what point do we say like,
guys, enough is enough. I'm telling you, we can't breathe. We can't open our windows.
You walk to your car, you have to cover your face in the morning. These trees are all that
saves us. And all the nonsense that is going on in our society today and everything that's
happening and all the chaos, this place truly was a sanctuary for the neighbors and for our
community and the wildlife there um that has that that calls that place home i mean there's that's
really all that's left the deer um the fox the eagle's nests i mean these are all part it's an
ecosystem and if you if you cut down these heritage trees if you continue destroying this
natural wetland and that and and that untouched developed woodlands if they continue to destroy
this like that's going to make our our community and our brothers and our sisters sicker and sicker
and then that turns into a genocide like this is my like this is my family i can't even get my mom
to move because she's too old and she doesn't want to leave her doctors and why are there why are
there real estate developers on the board of the fairmount park conservancy why are there real
estate developers i think i want to concentrate on on the trees in the park and okay well i just
appreciate everything you've said. Thank you. Thank you for hearing me. And another thing I
want to understand that we signed, I believe that the FPC signed a treaty with the Lenape
and a treaty of renewed friendship and that they're supposed to protect this land. They're
supposed to protect these trees. So how is this happening? You know, it's happening because the
same people who are on these boards are making a percentage of privatizing this land. They're
getting the percentage of it and that's insane you cannot you cannot defend our land if you're
getting a percentage to develop it miss willow i understand where you are on this and and and
thank you very much next hand please chair next hand is sarah anton they have been unmuted and
allowed to speak sure hi could you please state your name
Sarah, Anton, please unmute yourself.
Chair, I hear nothing.
Move on to the next hand, please.
Next, we have Kimberly Richards.
They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Kimberly Richards, please unmute yourself.
Hi, hello.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, Kimberly Richards.
Hi, Kimberly Hitcher, K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y-R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S.
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Are you in favor of this project or against?
I am in favor of this project.
We've had quite a bit of testimony. Is there anything different that you could offer?
um i believe so um i'm in favor of this project because like there was said before
uh this park is like a staple in the community for our family
pardon me um we bring our family there for fun games and just to get together just to get away
from some of the stuff and the trauma in our neighborhoods it's just a peaceful place for us
to be. I feel as though the project would be beneficial so we don't have to travel out of
our own community to have, you know, like a beautiful space or beautiful scenery that
we would have to go to other places. I feel as though the center, the space would be beneficial
to other parts of the community, especially for the youth, to bring us like a better morale
in the city with the youth. They have a lot of issues with gun violence and things like that,
and they always talk about how the youth don't have anywhere to go. I feel like this place
would be a central spot where youth can meet up. We could do youth activities. We could come together
as a community. We could do events. I know people are worried about like the trees. We can do events
where we could plant new trees, clean up the community, you know, have youth days, things like
that. I just feel like it'll make the community a better place. All right. Thank you for taking
the time to call us. We appreciate it. Next hand, please. Jared, the next hand is Carol
Petratus. They have been muted and allowed to speak. Hello. Hi, could you state your name,
please, and spell for the court stenographer? It's Carol Petratus, C-A-R-O-L, and then Petratus
is p-e-t-r-a-i-t-i-s right you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do are you a neighbor i am uh are you for this project or against it i'm against but i have
two sentences to say that are different from what other people have said you can say those two
sentences. Thank you. I'm a senior citizen that lives in the neighborhood. And this natural part
of the FDR park is the only accessible place that myself and my husband can go to, to be in
something approximating some wild nature. And that's the reason that we oppose the destruction
of these trees that support the whole environment
and area of FDR Park.
Thank you so much for taking the time to close.
Who's next?
Chair, we have Harrison Mace.
They have been allowed to speak.
Could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court stenographer?
Yep. Can you hear me?
Yeah, my name is Harrison Mace.
I don't know why it says maybe.
It's spelled H-A-R-R-I-S-O-N-M-A-C-E, Mace.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Are you for this or against?
Against.
Is there anything you're going to offer that we haven't heard?
Yep, definitely.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, board.
My name is Harrison Mace.
I live near Broad and Ellsworth.
I'm an environmental justice professional, and this is the part that I take walks in for my mental health.
I want to thank you all for taking the time to listen to the public.
There haven't been a ton of meaningful ways for the public to express their concerns over time,
especially as more and more have surfaced, whether this version of the plan is the right one.
Sally McCabe of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,
recently honored for a sustainability award at Philly's only annual sustainability award ceremony,
talks about the difference between need-based design and asset-based design.
Needs-based community design focuses on deficits and looks to outside agencies for resources.
In contrast, asset-based community development focuses on honing and leveraging existing strengths within the community.
Looking at the world as a blank piece of paper for whatever you want to impose upon the people you are...
Looking at the world as a blank piece of paper for whatever you want to impose upon the people
you are charged with serving is an outdated approach to development. The current approach
is what got us into the climate crisis in the first place, and the Legislative and Oversight
Committee as part of city government just meant this month to learn how far off the city is
from meeting its 2050 carbon neutrality goal. I'd be happy to share more about this if it's
views to the board's decision. As mentioned by Adam earlier, the tree canopy declined a massive
6% between 2006 and 2018. Declined. And when the clear cutting of Cobbs Creek created countless
issues among neighbors, that number is not looking good from 2018. In fact, it was one of the reasons
council member and now majority leader Catherine Gilmore Richardson introduced the tree bill,
which passed unanimously. This legislation was created to act as the muscle behind the City
Council, the Office of Sustainability, and the organization Tree Philly to enforce the city's
stated goals around tree canopy. What should this law stand for? It represents something,
and your decision represents something too. It's 2024 today, and the time to consider what natural
and existing resources we have is more than overdue. I mean, even the fact that we are
discussing this very bill, which was passed in the time since this initial plan was conceived,
is testament to the fact that things change. No one on the Zoom will be alive by the time any
new saplings reach the level of climate sequestration that these 64-some-odd trees carry
today. And finally, because today the board is only considering the trees with this case,
I'd like you to require the Conservancy to revisit the drawing board around various alternatives that keep the trees in FDR around an asset-based design process.
Thank you for your consideration.
Thank you for your call.
Next hand, please.
Chair, we have Dan DiLoreto.
They have been unmuted.
How many more hands do you have?
We have five more, Chair.
Thank you very much.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
the name has disappeared chair okay go the next hand the next person is praise
itica they have been unmuted and allowed to speak i could you state your name please and spell for
the court stenographer yes my name is praise itica first name p-r-a-i-s-e praises and praise the
lord last name spelled i d is in dog i k a i are firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth i do are you a neighbor i'm not a neighbor but i'm nearby and i use the park often
and i have a favorite project are you in favor or against i'm 100 against it and i have new
information to share i am a youth i am a youth and i've heard a lot of discussion on community
but it is very clear and evident the community does not include the indigenous people who are
native to this land nor the non-humans and there is a general tone of human superiority which is
distressing and quite frankly disrespectful to see. The only reason why we're in a climate
crisis is because people put humans above everything else and I've heard a lot of statistics
given on climate change and what different conservancies are doing for or against it.
But what I will say is we will not survive climate change if we are unwilling to change.
We have forced the earth to change over and over again. And this is yet another
project that is asking the earth to do unreasonable things for the gain and the greed of very few.
And it's disappointing, but not surprising to see that this is happening again. People have
been cut off, people not being allowed to share their comments. And I think that says a lot more
about what the goal of the project is rather than it being for a community. It's for a couple of
people to have a little bit more money in their pockets. And that's unfortunate because if people
will not center the earth in our projects going forward, none of us will be able to have a
comfortable life. So people need to be willing to be uncomfortable and become more creative with
thinking about what community spaces can look like if we all want to live long lives, not just
me as a youth, not just you as seniors or older people. We all need a place to live, and at the
end of the day, we cannot and we will never be able to create another earth. Thank you, and that's
all I have to say. Thank you for taking the time to call. Next hand, please. Chair, we have Anastasia
they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
Hello.
hello hi could you state your name please
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. My name is Anastasia Vrtsjanova. My last, my first name is spelled A-N-A-T-A-S-S-I-A, last name V-E-R-T-J-A-N-O-V-A.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Are you in favor of this project or against?