And, Council President Johnson. 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 17. The nays are 0. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. Will the Clerk please read the title of Bill No. 240435.
An ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property on behalf of the City to acquire fee simple title or a lesser real estate to all or a portion of a parcel or parcels of land situate at 121-25 East Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, all under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. Will the Clerk please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17. The nays are 0. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. Will the Clerk please read the title of Bill No. 240245.
An ordinance amending Chapter 9-800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Landlord and Tenant," to modify requirements and authorizations related to the City's residential Eviction Diversion Program, including associated changes to the landlord and tenant relationship and to make certain technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. Will the Chief Clerk please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 16. The nays are 1. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.)
The Clerk will please read any additional resolutions on today's Calendar.
A privileged resolution honoring and celebrating the life and legacy of service of the Honorable James R. Roebuck, Jr., introduced by Councilmember Gauthier. 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING
Can we do a silent voice vote? Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, can we do a standing -
I don't know -- what does that mean? What should I do?
You can move for the adoption of the resolution.
Thank you, Council President. I move for the adoption of the resolution with a standing vote. (All members stood.)
Will the Clerk please read the title of the next resolution.
A privileged resolution honoring Eric D. Williams, founder of the Project Elijah Empowering Autism Foundation, for his work ensuring 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING that children with autism are supported, included, protected and empowered by creating the Autistic Person Area street sign introduced by Councilmember Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for its adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING is adopted. Will the Clerk please read the title of the next resolution please.
A privileged resolution declaring June 2024 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in the City of Philadelphia introduced by Councilmember Landau.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.) 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. Will the Clerk please read the title of the next resolution.
And a privileged resolution authorizing the Committee on Legislative Oversight to hold hearings examining disparities experienced by the LGBTQ+ community and exploring solutions to achieving equity for LGBTQ+ Philadelphians introduced by Councilmember Landau.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau for a motion on the resolution.
I move for the adoption of the resolution. 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. Will the Clerk please read the title of the next resolution.
A privileged resolution recognizing May 2024 as Building Safety Month in the City of Philadelphia introduced by Councilmember Young.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Young. 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for its adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. Will the Clerk please read the title of the next resolution.
A privileged resolution recognizing and celebrating the 2024 Philippine Independence Week Celebration in Philadelphia taking place from June 5/30/24 - STATED - 2ND READING 1st to June 15th introduced by Councilmember Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. I move for the adoption of this resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted.
That completes our Calendar for today. Are there any brief speeches on behalf of the Minority? The Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks.
All righty. So today I'm really excited because I reached two milestones that have been guiding my work over the last few years. First, this Council body has made the Eviction Diversion Program permanent in the City of Philadelphia. Protecting Philadelphia's renters has been the focal point of my work for several amazing to see this program evolve and grow. When we launched the Eviction Diversion Program in 2020, there was a lot of opposition. But over the past few years, people have learned more about the program and its popularity has really grown. We now know that the program is responsible for preventing tens of thousands of evictions a year. 45 percent of all landlordtenant pairs have been able to resolve their issues outside of court, avoiding costly legal fees and preventing an eviction filing that blocks access to housing for years into the future. This program has become a national model. Second, we have established a priority bid for the Land Bank. And as many of you know, I see as lifegiving resources for Philadelphia neighborhoods. By establishing and protecting these spaces, residents are building community, reducing crime and improving their physical and mental health in primarily Black and Brown neighborhoods across the City. But once again, these spaces are being bought by developers and once they're bought, they can never get them back. So I'm really excited to be kind of setting the standard for housing justice and land justice here in Council. And I'm also co-sponsoring Councilmember Landau's resolution declaring June as Pride Month in Philadelphia. As we head into Pride Month, I'm so grateful for the leaders that have fought for more safety and more freedom for work has laid the foundation for one of the laws in the Reproductive Freedom package that I passed last year. This law prohibits sharing of any data that could be used to harass or prosecute someone for using reproductive care, and it makes Philadelphia one of the safest places in the country to access reproductive and genderreforming health care. But still we have so much work to do, especially when it comes to our queer and trans youth, who are more likely to be facing depression, homelessness. Whether we're talking about housing, health care, education or any other issue, we need to uplift the unique needs of queer trans youth and insist on laws and policies that protect their humanity, their dignity and their freedom. much, Council President. (Applause.)
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke.
Council President, thank you very much. As a new member of this body, I know some of my biggest votes are actually still ahead of me, but today is monumental in my book. Philly's Eviction Diversion Program is now permanent. (Applause.)
And it feels like one of the most important votes that I've cast in the last five months that I've been in this body because of the material difference. This program has made since its introduction, part of why I wanted to run and to win election to this body, to join in bringing material wins to working people. I'm grateful to all of my colleagues who co-sponsored and saw this legislation through. It is an enormous moment for our city and a deliberate and measurable shift in how we treat renters who are in need. Extra thanks are in order for Councilmembers Brooks and Gauthier who worked to push this policy forward. We can make some noise for them. (Applause.)
And they did it in a moment of real crisis. I realized that politicization can happen more than once in a lifetime. The most recent example for me is actually the entirety of the year 2020. remember how discombobulated we all were in that year. I was still reeling from the changes that we had seen in those first months of the pandemic, that summer of protest and of passion and timely enough the tension that we were feeling about a presidential election, sounds familiar. But this program started that September and in some ways for many was a real leap of faith at the time. Members of this body have spoken about their skepticism when it first launched, but then how seeing eviction diversion in action seeing the 10,000-plus Philadelphians it's helped changed their view. The manifested evidence of roofs overheads and relief for the people changed their view. That sounds like visionary sounds like good legislating to me. So thank y'all both for being down from the jump and for allowing myself to be able to arrive here and join with y'all. I'm grateful to join the fight now and continue to learn from you. The Eviction Diversion Program is also proof of a much bigger concept to me. Its success is proof that we can learn from the pandemic instead of trying to keep it in the rearview mirror. The emergency measures as we call them that led to an influx of social support during the pandemic, well, they don't all need to be emergency measures. Sometimes big disruptions reveal what opportunities you're overlooking or unwilling to see before. And I hope that we can consider that more when reflecting 2020 and 2021 especially. Despite all the deep challenges of those years, I believe there are key lessons to learn locally, nationally, globally. And when we do that, we're in that Jeffersonian lane, if you will, toward a more perfect union when we learn from these things. Eviction diversion is a local success that has gone national. But what matters most is what it's changed here on the ground. There are many ways to quantify the difference this program has made, but a few facts sum it up and I'll be real quick. There was 2061 evictions in January 2020 and not one month since then has that number been matched. That's good news. And Philly hasn't hit its pre-COVID average for eviction filings in over four years, four years, and hopefully never again because there's no need to go back to the way that things were. Philadelphians who rent have been clear about how the program's mediation process has bought them time, has saved them money, has lifted the crushing weight off of their shoulders and the Housing Committee's hearing on the program that we heard from landlords who described eviction diversion as a real benefit that helped them stay true to their mission, especially with the targeted financial assistance that helps smooth out mediation cases. The coalition that has come together around this policy is clear evidence of what success looks like, uniting factions within and without this body that may appear to be in opposition. And I part of many, many, many more moments like this where we help fashion clear, material, measurable change that makes people's lives better. That's why we're here. And I'm so grateful for everyone who played a part in that. This is holy work, Council President. Good trouble, dare I say. And I'm happy to be in it with all of y'all. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Curtis Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. We don't have Freeway in West Philly. It's an unfortunate fact that we've had to live with. But this Saturday we will have the Music Center and we're going to show up and show out, and we welcome everyone to come on out. Right down the street there is a place called the Container Village and there is a vibe. And if you're not at the Roots, come on down. We'll be playing Summer of Soul, every online concert that the Roots ever did, we'll have that. There will be food. There will be Black thought. There will be purchasing opportunities from vendors that are in the Village. So it's a vibe. Come on out, do it with us. If you want a clean, safe place to go to the bathroom, we can provide that too. So all my members and all the folk within my voice, please come out, enjoy the weekend, enjoy the day because we got the Roots in the 4th District. Thank
You know Freeway is from West Philly. I just want to let you know that, sir. He's from your from District.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. I'm going to add my voice to the chorus. Today we voted to enshrine our Eviction Diversion Program as the permanent law of the land, a critical step in our fight against housing insecurity. When coupled with rental assistance, the one of our city's most effective antidisplacement programs ever. And it is a racial justice program too, because an overwhelming majority of tenants who face eviction are single Black mothers. Thanks to the Eviction Diversion Program we have an average of 10,000 fewer evictions every year than we did pre-pandemic. That's 10,000 families who would otherwise undergo one of the most traumatic and destabilizing experiences possible, because a safe stable and affordable home is the bedrock of a successful life in healthy communities. As rent and housing costs continue to soar, we know that the Eviction Diversion Program remains just as important for the safety and vitality of our neighborhoods 2020. So thank you to all of my colleagues for recognizing how important it is to keep this program working for our communities. I want to give a special shout-out to my co-introducers Minority Leader Kendra Brooks, Minority Whip Nicolas O'Rourke and Councilmember Rue Landau. And thank you to our co-sponsors Majority Whip Thomas, Deputy Majority Whip Bass, Councilmember Ahmad, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Lozada, Councilmember Harrity, Councilmember Driscoll and Councilmember Squilla. Let's keep this pro-housing, pro-neighborhood momentum going by supercharging the Eviction Diversion Program with a robust investment in rental assistance. Our Targeted Financial Assistance program works in tandem Program to keep families housed and landlords paid. But the demand already far outstrips the amount of funding available. The most affordable home tends to be the one you already live in. To defy displacement and stabilize our communities, we must expand TFA, not slash the City's contribution. I look forward to working with all of you on this as our budget process continues. On a more somber note, I would also like to take a few moments to honor the life and celebrate the memory of the late Honorable James R. , who passed away earlier this month. Rep Roebuck served as a legislative assistant to former Mayor Wilson Goode, an Assistant Professor of history at Drexel University and a State Representative for West 188th House District for 35 years. Rep Roebuck was a noted authority on schools and public education. He possessed an exceptional ability to form legislative coalitions and articulate nuances in policy proposals. During his two decades of service as the democratic leader on the Pennsylvania House Education Committee, he fought to give our young people a high quality education. He helped secure state funding for kindergarten programs, the Community College of Philadelphia and local access to high-speed internet. Rep Robuck's beloved wife Cheryl taught music and together they tutored students in reading at Lee Elementary. And, in fact, Cheryl Roebuck was my little sister's music teacher when school. Rep Roebuck was also a staunch supporter of women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, labor rights, gun control and the protection of animals and the environment. Rep Roebuck led the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus which created a scholarship in his name upon his retirement.
Outside of Harrisburg, Rep Roebuck served as a Board member at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I will always remember Rep Roebuck for his intellect, passion for social justice and commitment to public service. I am proud to honor this trailblazing West Philadelphian and champion of our young people with a resolution today. Robuck's family, friends, colleagues and supporters for coming today to honor his life and celebrate his memory. Thank you so much. )
You're welcome. Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Council President. And thank you colleagues for your support of the passage of the bill around the Office of Homeless Services Ombudsperson. Today I rise to speak about a bill that I introduced to remove the nonprofit vendor exemption. First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank Mayor Parker and her Administration for their hard address the significant concerns regarding the Office of Homeless Services' spending and operations, from calling for a forensic audit to when the Mayor pulled us all together for a press briefing on April 22nd to share the findings of the Inspector General's draft report. I felt her urgency to address what we all know is a serious problem, not only with financial mismanagement but also with quality of service. The Mayor has made high service quality her most important priority, and I know that City Council shares and supports that goal. Mayor Parker has also stated unequivocally that we are no longer here to do business as usual, that our service delivery has suffered from doing the same and expecting a different result. And I agree with her. In order to ensure we are taking the necessary steps to not only address the situation with the Office of Homeless Services, but also that we are in an open, transparent and accountable government. With the release of the draft report -- and we all have a copy on our desk, colleagues -- the OIG listed a number of recommendations I was able to review, including Recommendation 4 which is on of the report to evaluate the scope of the nonprofit exemption. The draft OIG report stated, OHS created and managed a unique market for services that was fairly unregulated and not driven by pricing competition with more than 150 nonprofit vendors. The lack of a certain freedom to work with their vendors on more of an informal and relationship-driven basis. I greatly appreciate all of the hard work that our nonprofit vendors do each and every day and I do understand that this will be a significant change in the way they do business. I also know that our partners will want to support the City's attempts to be transparent and accountable with taxpayer dollars, resources that come out of the pockets of our hardworking residents. City contracting can be a cumbersome process, but I have seen instances where doing an RFP has created a better outcome for service quality. For example, when I worked with DHS to establish our Community Evening Resource Centers, I advocated for them to do an RFP were identifying community-based organizations who had the cultural competency to provide high-quality services to the families in their neighborhoods. Today DHS has completed four rounds of RFPs for the CERC centers, and we have six vendors all of whom are rooted in their local communities. Some of these vendors previously held DHS contracts and others were new. It became a great opportunity for smaller nonprofits to benefit from a City contract. We need to be creating more opportunities for smaller organizations to benefit from City work. Additionally, we have seen repeatedly that the nonprofit exemption has created issues with compliance.
Not only has OHS been identified as using the nonprofit manage and I quote the draft OIG report here, "a unique market for services that was fairly unregulated and not driven by price and competition," but there have also been other instances identified by the City Controller of the nonprofit exemption allowing the City to do business in a way that favors certain providers. In the report issued in April, the Controller cited the nonprofit exemption as a way the City avoided an open and transparent bidding process for the Community Expansion Grant Program. Additionally, in a report from July of 2021 former Controller Rebecca Rhynhart found that CBH inappropriately entered into a sole source contract under the nonprofit exemption. For years this provision a challenge to our goals of open, transparent and accountable government. And once again, the unfinished draft OIG report urgently and expeditiously released by the Mayor showed how this provision was central to OHS's financial mismanagement. The draft report also demonstrated instances where departments who do not have the ability to contract with nonprofit vendors without RFPs added onto contracts held by departments who do, which further complicates our ability to track spending and service quality. As our Mayor says, we are One Philly, a city united and our goals are the same; to create the safest, cleanest, greenest city in America that provides economic opportunity for all. The City in providing that economic opportunity and in ensuring the highest quality services reach our residents. For all of those reasons colleagues, I respectfully request your support for Bill No. 240379. I know change brings fear. I know change brings fear-mongering, bullying and more attempts for complacency, but change allows us an opportunity to improve and incorporate best practices in City government. I hope you will join me in adopting this recommendation from the draft unfinished OIG report. Thank you, Council President. )
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jay Young.
Thank you, Mr. President. Today we on City Council passed a resolution recognizing May 2024 as Building Safety Month in the City of Philadelphia. Building Safety Month is an international campaign that was started by the International Code Council to raise awareness every year about building safety. Building Safety Month provides an opportunity to educate the public, professionals and policymakers about the essential work of construction workers and to me more importantly, construction safety inspectors and building inspectors about the impact of their efforts on safety in the community. So I just want to give a special shout-out to AFSCME D.C. 2187, those building inspectors and there who work tirelessly every day to keep our city safe and secure. Again, we want to give you a special shout-out. We know our city is an old city and you face challenges every day going out to inspect these properties and make sure that they're safe, to make sure that construction sites are safe, by being conducted in a workman-like manner. So we appreciate you and all you do for our city. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. I have to add my voice to the super excitement of the permanency of the Eviction Diversion Program. When we were bills, I was on the Administration side and working with Councilmember Gauthier and Brooks's office along with others to make sure that we got it right when we were doing it for the first time. So to me this is a full circle moment of making this incredibly successful Eviction Diversion Program permanent. But I would say in order to make it even more successful, I will take a term from my colleague Councilmember Gauthier to say we got to supercharge it. And we currently have some money allocated for Targeted Financial Assistance rental assistance. We must do more. We must expand the rental assistance, the Targeted Financial Assistance to make sure that this program is not only successful for stopping eviction but keeps people housing and as a part of their communities and neighborhoods. So thank you to my colleagues. And also, thank you to the incredible advocates and tenants and landlords who have come to support this from day one. They're the reasons why we could make this happen and they are the ones also who are doing the hard work on the front line. I also wanted to just take a moment to thank State Rep-elect Andre Carroll and Jasper Liem, the Executive Director of the Attic Youth Center, for coming out and speaking today in support of my three resolutions. I'm honored to be the Philadelphia's first openly LGBTQ+ Councilmember. And to me, this affirms the values that continue to make Philadelphia a beacon of inclusivity, diversity all of its residents. Today I introduced a package of three resolutions aimed at, one, celebrating Pride and kicking off Pride Month; two, protecting LGBTQ+ people here in Philadelphia from potential attacks at the state and federal levels of government; and three, opening a conversation in City Hall about what that actually means in practice for Philadelphia's queer community, especially when it comes to the systemic barriers that our community faces. While Pride is meant to be a time of joy and celebration, it is also a time of action. Remember, the first Pride was a riot led by many, including Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman. The LGBTQ+ community is facing an inflection point that I don't think 10 years ago when marriage equality became the law of the land and so many of us felt like there was no going back and we were moving on the path forward. There's been a noted rise of anti-LGBTQ hate and violence. Recent murders of trans people such as Nex Benedict in Oklahoma and numerous Philadelphians, including Mar'Quis MJ Jackson, Shantee Tucker and Shahere Diamond JacksonMcDonald in Philadelphia are unacceptable, outrageous and must be stopped. Black trans women in particular are disproportionately affected by violence, displacement and discrimination. Right now LGBTQ+ people across the country and right here in our Commonwealth are facing unprecedented attacks on our rights that threaten to strip made as a country, state and city. Legislation is being introduced across the country to restrict our rights and launch attacks at our most vulnerable neighbors. As of this morning, the ACLU reports 515 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced nationwide in 2024 and 4 of them right here in Pennsylvania.
Some of the proposals include book bans in schools for queer authorship or content, legislation at state and federal level that would limit the ability to live authentically and restrictions on access to genderaffirming health care that have been proven to save kids' lives. To say the least, the stakes are high, so very high for our community, and especially for the LGBTQ youth who have found themselves the target of so much of sombering to note that the LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers, a statistic that I hope will go down in coming years and perhaps our actions here today and moving forward in City Hall can be a small part in making that happen. For that reason, I'd like to thank all of my colleagues who co-sponsored today's resolutions for being allies today. The message we are sending as a legislative body is clear: Pride isn't just a celebration, it is a reminder of the courage, resilience and unwavering spirit of the LGBTQ+ community which could not be more important than in 2024. By affirming to continue to protect LGBTQ+ people regardless of what happens at the state or federal levels, we are sending a no place for hate, prejudice or discrimination. Our community, especially trans people, continue to face widespread discrimination, have a harder time accessing health care and/or finding employment and suffer more mental health issues related to discrimination. That's why the Committee on Legislative Oversight will hold a hearing to examine the inequities experienced by LGBTQ+ people. This hearing will provide a platform for voices that are too often marginalized or ignored. I can't wait to hold them in the second half of the year. And I'm hopeful for the day in which every single member of the LGBTQ+ community can be their full authentic selves and are not only accepted but celebrated for who they are. There is so much great the City this year. I hope you'll join me on Sunday at the festival. We're having a table and we're registering people to vote, among other things. And next week on Thursday in the Mayor's reception room as we hold a press conference announcing this new package of Pride resolutions, I look forward to seeing you all there. Thank you for allowing me a couple extra minutes, Council President. I appreciate you very much. )
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Lan -- Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. Very briefly because the is always on polar setting. It's always freezing in here. So very briefly. The Barriers to Bed resolution passed favorably today. I want to say thank you to those who co-signed, Councilmember Harrity, Squilla, Driscoll, Ahmad and Jones. Our goal is to really break down the barriers and to allow people to really connect to those services when they say they're ready and when they need them. And so, I'd like to ask my colleagues if there are people in your networks that you believe we've missed that we've not had a conversation with that can help us really figure out where are these beds, who are the providers and what are some of the challenges or some of the success stories that they have experienced when individuals come to them for these you know of any, please send them our way. We really want to make sure that we're able to capture all of the voices and all of those experts in the area of providing services where beds are required. Please send them our way. We're really looking forward to change the process and to make it an easier path for people to truly get into recovery. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. There are no more speeches on behalf of the Majority. I just want to say good job everyone on the package of bills and the bills that we have passed as it relates to moving the City of Philadelphia forward. The Chair now recognizes motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Council President. I move that Council stands adjourned until Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. promptly. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, June 6th at 10:00 a.m. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. Thank you very much. ) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. m. C.