they're going to be lost. That's directly 100 jobs, good paying jobs, and indirectly 200 jobs
that'll help every community in Philadelphia. So we implore the board to please, you know,
help this project go through. PHA's purpose is to preserve affordable housing, and especially
neighborhoods. Our recent record has shown we're buying affordable housing and placing it in
in affluent areas all throughout the city. And we feel like this, this area here is an area that
will soon not have opportunities for affordable. We want the folks that live and grew up in this
neighborhood to be able to afford to live there when they, when they start their careers and jobs.
Mr. Hampson, thank you very much. Steve, do you have any questions?
Sure. Mr. Hampson, are you familiar with the decision by your agency to cite this project
in Strawberry Mansion? Yes. Are you aware of the requirements and the obligations that your
agency has under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968 to eradicate segregation and racial
discrimination? Yes. Did you prepare any kind of a document that outlines why you believe that
putting 57 units of affordable housing in a almost 100% Black, low-income neighborhood
contributes to, in your view, eliminates racial segregation?
Mr. Masters, I disagree with that statement. I think if you drive down Third Street and use your
eyes, you will see what's going on in that neighborhood. And we are preserving affordable
housing in specific areas that were bladed.
That was what I asked you. Of all of the locations in the city of Philadelphia and in the surrounding counties, is it your testimony that the only place that you could put this housing project was right in Strawberry Mansion?
all over the city and this this location is a beautiful location right next to a park and we
think that affordable housing and folks that are in affordable housing deserve to be in this location
before there is no affordable housing in that neighborhood can you can you share with the
with the board how many projects that you've put in the last 15 years in a white community
how many um how many portable housing projects have you done in a white community in philadelphia
in the last i don't look at community and what the color the people are that may be your thing
but i don't really i'm not going to go i don't i don't have the demographics of every area that
we put housing in i i know recently we've probably purchased 1500 units in the that are in you know
affluent neighborhoods i can't attest to the race of the folks but uh based on the housing prices
in those neighborhoods i can say they're affluent um wait one second
So, um, Mr. Hampson is, um, you said earlier.
Mr. Hampson, you said earlier that you understood that your agency has a mandate to provide for desegregation and racial diversity in your projects, correct?
I'm going to object to the form.
Yeah, I don't think he said that.
I don't appreciate it.
I thought you said you understood your obligations under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968.
I understand. You changed the words that I said. I said, yes, I understand that.
Right. So how is Strawberry Mansion under your stewardship going to turn into a middle neighborhood if all you're doing there is putting low-income housing units and having no housing for people who are being able to create home ownership?
Strawberry Mansion is already turning into a middle neighborhood. You need to drive down 33rd Street.
So, yeah, I think his comments, and I've heard it several times now, he sees 33rd Street changing a great deal is what he said.
And I'm not talking to the attorney, but I don't mean it.
I understand, but we're not talking about 33rd Street.
I understand.
All right, do you have any other questions for him, Steve?
I don't.
All right, thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, I have a hand up from a number ending in 6303.
I have allowed them to speak, Mr. Chair.
How many more hands do you have?
Three more.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record in the virtual audience that if you have already spoken on this matter, we ask that you please put your hand down because we have a lot of other people who are waiting to speak and we are not able to accommodate multiple testimonies from the same person.
Thank you.
All right.
Next hand, please.
Hello. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Minnie Brown, Minnie spelled like the mouth, M-I-N-N-I-E, Brown, B-R-O-W-A.
And I oppose. Hold on, hold on. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. And I think I understand where you are opposed to this project. Are you a neighbor?
yes thank you very much next hand please
yes sir joyce washington has their hand raised i have a lot of them
sure i've promoted them i could you please state your name as bell for the stenographer
they should be coming back in shortly
hello could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes my name is
delores washington d-e-o-o-r-i-s last name washington i'm just using my mother's zoom
account that's why it's okay could you spell washington just for the record i a w a s h i n
g t o n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes are you a neighbor yes are you in favor of this project or against against all right thank
you very much for taking the time she has something personal that we know that we've
heard of you have something personally you want to add there's something that we haven't heard
already? Yes. So I'm a third generation neighbor. My grandmother was raised on this block. My mother
was raised and I'm being raised. And just as far as safety measures, I drive right now. There's
literally nowhere to park on my block without the units being there. So I can only imagine placing
units at the corner and I'm having to park down the street or around the corner. Also, I love that
we have new playgrounds and with the pocket park, we're able to sit in a pocket park and watch our
kids nieces nephews play across the street if you put the units there where then we are allowed to
sit to watch our kids um the neighborhood is up and coming but it's still dangerous
so my me personally i'm not saying that affordable housing is bad it's just so many other problems in
our neighborhood that we need to address right now crime rate super high i'm not allowed to walk my
dog in the neighborhood out of fear of getting robbed or getting shot.
The ollies, trash, potholes. Everywhere you go around the neighborhood
I'm driving over, potholes have to get wheel alignments. It's just many other
issues that we can focus on right now rather than putting
affordable housing in. Alright, thank you very much for taking the time to call. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the audience? Yes, Mr. Chair, I have
Adrian Fernandez. How many more hands do you have?
One more, Mr. Chair.
Adrian.
Good afternoon, Adrienne.
Good afternoon, Adrian.
Hello?
Hello.
Hi, Adrian.
Hi, Adrienne. Could you, just for the record,
state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Yes, Adrienne Fernandez. My last name is
spelled F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
Yes. Please proceed.
I am testifying
as a swamp little RCO.
For this project, there are
at least three affected RCOs.
However, somehow PHA held private meetings for a CBA,
which we knew nothing about,
and that's definitely against the violations
and the latest FILED ethics code changes
for CBA participation by RCOs.
So we are opposed to this project.
I'm only commenting on 2500 North 31st Street
because we are only an affected RCO for that address.
So the opposition is based on overall, just from us listening to neighbors within the neighborhood, the pocket part continues to want that to be preserved as existing green, open, and recreational space.
Also, there was absolutely no required meeting that was held for this project at all.
The pocket part, to remove it, would conflict with the Strawberry Mansion overlay and other overlays in the area.
Also, the pocket park is a remedy against the negative impacts of urban congestion that contribute to increased shootings, mass shootings, as we had recently at Lemon Hill, which is very close to this location, rioting, and other violent crimes within that vicinity.
There's no evidence of any legal basis that allows the pocket park to be removed.
And also, this project is overuse of the multifamily variants in the area in the RSA zoning district.
Conflicts with really safe streets as far as increasing traffic congestion, parking stresses, and proposing curb cuts, possibly.
Because we haven't had a meeting, I'm not really sure what exactly the project is, how it would be finalized.
And there's specific negative impacts that are introduced for, you know, removing public open space, removing sidewalk trees and other greening that the mayor claims is a priority.
And lastly, the neighborhood, the neighbor corporation, the neighbor is based on this park department to stay there.
And we're opposed to the CBA that we have no knowledge of, which is against the regulations.
That just shouldn't happen.
Thank you.
Adrian, thank you for your time.
One more person, am I correct?
Yes, sir.
One more person.
number and again 6681
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hello hello hi could you please state your name it's hi could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer yes my name is trina singleton t r i n a last name singleton
s-i-n-g-l-e-t-o-n i'm um opposed hold on hold on hold on hold on do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you are you in favor or opposed
i'm opposed okay and are you a neighbor i'm actually a neighbor to 2400 block which is
in between both of the blocks that we're actually talking about lived on this block since the 50s
my grandparents we have three homes on this block and i just think hello oh yeah i'm here
oh yes i'm just i don't see it working here at all okay so i'm not going to hold you long because
i listened to this and i just want you to know that i i just don't see it happening here and
i'm really opposed to this all right thank you very much uh colin could somebody please put
colin on the mic please
colin could you do this for all three please or your position of all three
okay colin just for the record state your name and spell for the
excuse me mr chairman i'm only testifying on behalf of one case this one here uh
i've got 2500 north 31st i just gonna get to that but you i'll take your no i'll take your
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir i do please proceed um the fifth councilmatic district takes a position of opposition
The 5th Councilmatic District takes a position of opposition for 2500 North 31st Street. This project does not fit the character of the neighborhood and places of hardship on the community and will cause the community to lose a valuable pocket park.
for uh 2500 north 30
Colin, thank you very much. Anybody have a question?
Thank you.
No questions. Okay, thank you very much.
Before I go to the, no one else in there virtual audience, am I correct?
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
Everyone who has asked to speak has gotten an opportunity to speak. As I mentioned, we unfortunately cannot accommodate requests to testify multiple times. And I just also wanted to reiterate for the record that all testimony is being incorporated into the record for all three cases, unless it is specifically indicated for a particular case. Thank you.
for the first case well well mr chair there's been some allegations regarding the ability of
penrose to properly manage the property and i do believe that's a zoning related matter
so i i would request that miss samsi just briefly discuss her but just so you know she's coming up
that she can come the next or you want to do it right now yeah just do it for all three okay just
for all three right okay you've already been sworn just for the record state your name lindsey
Okay, please proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to be clear that these, this development and these homes will be managed and owned by Penrose, which is a private company, not by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. And we have a very good track record of managing affordable housing throughout the city. We currently have 700 units under construction all over the city of Philadelphia, not just in Strawberry Mansion.
So I want to put that on the record that we look forward to managing these and we do a good job of managing.
All right. Thank you.
Can I say one more thing?
What? Go ahead.
I'm sorry. I also want to emphasize that, you know, we've had six years of community engagement regarding this project.
I know there has been a lot of back and forth.
I know there has been opposition from Ms. Cummings, but we are now at a point where we will lose our funding if we do not close on the financing by June 30th.
And this is federal funding that is coming through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
Sure. Steve, do you have any questions?
Yes. Sam C., does your company do the property management along Diamond Street?
The Brownstones, yes.
Are you aware that there is a lot of trash and complaints about a lot of trash along the properties?
so how would you characterize your company as a as a good property manager if you're
not in control of the trash i we are in control of the trash and we are talking with our residents
well you just acknowledge that there's a lot of trash that gets blown around i did not
acknowledge that i said we're in control of the trash i i thought you acknowledged that there's
an issue with trash and people are complaining about trash we address all complaints by our
residents all across the city of Philadelphia and 18 states across the country.
So what is it that you're working on right now about the trash on Diamond Street?
This is not about Diamond Street or about trash. These are about zoning variances that we are
seeking. You're asserting that your company is going to be a good steward and a good property
manager and that you're better than PHA. I did not say that. I said we are a different
management company than pha management so do you feel like you're the same as pha you're not you're
not different than them can you object i'm not a lawyer so so i i think you know what miss sampsy
understands what you're saying about the trash on diamond street she's her company's addressing it
um you know they're not babysitting the tenants that live there and they're responding to
issues like landlord and property managers do all across the city
okay steve um i i think that was that was all that was a very good ambiguous statement um
so okay so but but apparently there are just for the i heard your point there are significant trash
issues and um they need to step up and yeah all right thank you very much thank you thank you
mr chairman um planning commission just one more point just so it's a matter of context
Our understanding is that the decision makers and strawberry management are working with the mayor's office to increase public trash pickup.
So right now it's once a day, I mean once a week, and it will be coming twice a week.
So I just want to let you know in terms of the alleviation of any issues with trash.
Thank you very much. We appreciate your input.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, AMYBOID.