Thank you for your testimony. Chair recognizes Councilwoman Ahmad.
I have a question for you actually. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted -- I know the partnerships, you mentioned CHOP and Penn and you and obviously we're facing draconian cuts, problematic, deeply problematic. However, CHOP and Penn do have deep reserves. And I want to know how we're leveraging that. And I don't know what PHMC has --
So if there was to be public-private partnership set up for having a fund that we could draw on in terms of filling the gap, is that something that we could get these entities. And it could have a sunset, it could be -- because we're also strapped, right,
We are strapped for dollars, how we allocate across the board. And because we have heavy hitters in this space, and we're grateful that you are looking at community health and these services, but I just want everyone to dig a little deep to see what can we do, how creative we can be to stand in this gap. I'm hoping this is not forever, and we can sunset a fund like that, and there could be a capital piece because I know there's some renovation needs in that space, which I'm a little curious why we have them in the first place in terms of how it was built. That's a whole other conversation because there was an (inaudible) cap involved with that. So I'm a little concerned that we have so many building issues when there was public money involved in putting that together in the first place. But that ship has sailed at the moment. So we still have people to take care of. So I am asking -- as you're asking us, I'm asking you and your partners to actually look to see what can you do in terms of leveraging resources you might have to come to some joint solution on that because we are strapped. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Absolutely. In this particular project, just as with the Alliance it really requires us getting along well with each other in order to make sure that we can get along well with our public partners, whether that's at the city level, the state level or even at the federal level with conversations that I have around the federally qualified health center program. That's an important part of what happens at Cedar as well as in four other locations. And so, it really does require three large organizations with track records across the city that haven't always played well in the sandbox together with others, who had the audacious vision during COVID to try to engage and support this really essential community resource at 54th and Cedar. And it's one thing to have the honeymoon energy once you get started in the midst of a crisis and COVID on the heels of what happened at Hahnemann. It's another thing to really figure out how to sustain that. And that's a really important conversation that we need to continue to have and maybe having public engagement, the engagement of relevant Councilmembers really would be helpful for us to continue to make sure that all three parties sit at the table effectively for the right community solutions that are necessary.
I agree that we need to do that. So I'm just asking because there's an urgency of time and the urgency of how we're going to pass this budget, so in this interim space we need to come up with an ask that is more in line with what we can afford. So if you can take that back, and then we can have further conversations to push the publicprivate conversation. And again I said, it can be sunsetted. It can be a limited partnership to get us through this time. But I do think we need a little skin in the game from everyone.
I got my mortgage on the line to make sure all this gets worked. I got all the skin in the game on my end. But really what it takes, I know that a request was submitted to Councilmember Gauthier's office about a month ago. If that request is not really appropriate from where you're at in terms of how to manage, we want to continue to be at the table and how to engage. I mean, this is a very large, you know, six-, seven-, eight-figure type of conversation that we really want to have collaboratively because collaboration is what started it. Collaboration is what it'll take to be successful as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilmember Ahmad, for your comments. I agree that everybody has to have skin in the game, but I wanted to be on record with my support of this request. I just want to also make sure that people understand what's going on at this site. This is a community hospital that mostly serves people who don't have insurance. It's also a hospital that has had a dark history. It had a lot of troubles under Mercy. It had a lot of troubles when it was Misericordia. People called it Killercordia. Misericordia, my grandmother died at this hospital. You know, it's a place that West Philadelphians had learned to fear and not to trust. And this could have been a Hahnemann situation. Penn Medicine stepped in. Kevin Mahoney promised me personally that this wasn't going to be a Hahnemann situation. And I think the partnership that has evolved there among Penn Medicine, CHOP and PHMC is really important and that you all are bringing a higher level of quality than has ever existed there. And I also appreciate Penn Medicine reopening the Crisis Center that had closed at that site and not even asking the City for any funding. And so, the point is well-taken. But I want to be on record that this will be a part of my budget push and my budget request and is sorely needed within our community. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Next panel to testify is Kateri Andriole, Jane Allen, Elena Brunner, Cinthya Hioe. That group will be followed by Diane Payne, Erica Ezold, Darnelle Radford and Nell Bang-Jensen. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Thank you for being here today. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
My name is Elena Emelchin Brunner. And I'm just opening my doc because my phone died while I was standing here. Okay. Thank you to the Councilmembers who are still here today and were here to listen to all the testimonies yesterday, especially in the afternoon sessions. Many of us who are able to be here to testify represent our communities and families who are unable to take the day off to participate because of work and family commitments. We may be some of the last on the list and come from communities not often in the room. So thank you for hearing us. I'm speaking today as the eldest daughter of a mother who was naturalized after coming here with my grandparents, my aunts, uncles, cousins as refugees. We are an indigenous people from the (inaudible). My mother was lucky enough to attend Girls' High while also living through the loss of siblings and cousins from gun violence, substance abuse and unintended medical needs, all of which could have been prevented if our family community and communities across the city had access to resources needed to actually survive, to thrive instead of access to immediate band-aids to cope from day-to-day. I am asking the City to invest in $1.9 million in three newcomer programs, reinstate the multicultural assessment centers and hire more multi-lingual counseling assistants at a livable wage and the full $1.8 million for PAIFUP, which provides more of our community members currently in detention access to legal representation. And it's important to note that immigrant communities aren't just immigrants. Our community members are also workers, taxpayers, business owners, community leaders, parents, youth, students who are also struggling for medical care, housing stability, access to reliable public transportation. So I'm also asking for the City to invest in equitable tax policy, safe healthy homes, investment in the Zero Fare SEPTA program, restorative justice grants, community-based violence prevention and Citizens Police Oversight Commission, public spaces. These are all part of the people's budget demands. Instead of investing in harmful punishment and surveillance tactics that keep our communities in a cycle of incarceration and active addictions that we know circle back into each other, we need a budget that invests in actual transformative, equitable solutions that meet the people where they're at in a community- based, culturally-competent way and stop the cycle. Can we count on you this time to invest in our needs? Will you commit to the budget that actually funds the people? (Applause.)
Hi, everyone. My name is Cinthya Hioe. I'm a member of Asian Americans United and I live in South Philly. I'm here because I'm concerned about the proposed city budget. Public health and behavioral health services are only going to receive $193 million while the City is planning to upgrade the police force's new bikes and uniforms at a whopping $872 million budget. That is a slap in the face to all Philadelphians. My father is disabled and has battled chronic illness for the last years. Getting seen by a doctor at a City Health Center is one of the most difficult and time consuming parts of managing his health. We often can't get an appointment for months. My friends say by the time we get seen we'd already been healed, so what's the point. Last year my mom had a cancer scare. The cost of testing scared her more than the scare itself -- than the cancer itself, to the point that she decided to hold off on getting treatment. Now, imagine if the City Health Centers had the funding they need for adequate staff, a city budget that equips them to serve people and their needs. No more delaying appointments, no more cancer scares that go untreated. Isn't that vision of Philly beautiful? But none of that is possible if City Council goes through with the proposed tax cuts. Cutting taxes for big corporations means stealing from the pockets of people like my family. It means forcing moms like mine to suffer in silence instead of being helped by our city. It means families like mine being scared that my father will be trapped in appointment waiting lines forever. Let's choose better. Do not codify 13 years of tax cuts that benefit mega corporations that most and gut our public services. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Diane Payne. I live in Northeast Philadelphia 19111 and I'm a member of 215 People's Alliance. I'd like to thank Anthony Phillips, my City Council rep for his advocacy around illegal dumping and to Mayor Parker for the Clean and Green Initiative. I'm here today to tell a story and make an ask. I'm 75 years old. I've lived in my house for 40 years. I vote in every election. And as a member of 215 PA, I have been involved in many cleanups of our legacy dumping site on Snake Road in Lawncrest. My story: As part of the April 5th citywide cleanup effort, the massive tire dump in Tacony Creek Park was on the agenda. I was part of the human chain that descended into a muddy ravine in the park to roll out 4000 illegally-dumped tires, despite cameras being in place. By 3:00 p.m. that day, I began having stomach pains. By 7:30 p.m. that evening, my daughter took me to the local ER and by midnight, I had emergency hernia surgery which my doctor characterized as lucky I came in when I did. Our coalition stories: Legacy dumping and litter are as much Philly culture as hoagies and cheese steaks. Our coalition members' stories involve citizens of all ages and backgrounds fighting to reclaim our streets and neighborhoods. There are countless stories from across the city of volunteer anti-dumping armies. Between the World Cup and the 250th anniversary, our city will be showcased far and wide. Now is the time to expand and strengthen the Clean and Green platform. My ask: Only 4% of the City budget is allocated for dumping prevention. We at 215 PA and the Clean Philly Now Coalition applaud increased cleanup efforts in the advent of the DA Quality of Life Department with a goal of enforcement, but a focus on cleaning will not engender a culture change and is not sustainable. We need resources put into serious enforcement and prevention strategies like small hauler convenience centers and education to begin to change the culture of Philadelphia from filthy to fresh. Please increase the budget allotted to prevention to invest in a sustainable, clean and green Philadelphia. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Council President Johnson, members of Council, staff and everyone else watching today. My name's Jane Allen and I'm providing testimony in my capacity as Government and External Affairs Director for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. This budget season PACDC has been advocating for three items. We saw during COVID just how important CDCs and NACs are in helping people with essential program applications like rental assistance. PACDC's number one priority this budget cycle is passing the Community Capacity Building Fund, Bill No. 250324, which would create a reliable, flexible source of financial supports to qualified nonprofit CDCs. These organizations provide a familiar place for our neighbors to go for help during uncertain times. Second, any tenant who is evicted because they can't afford to pay rent in a Federally Subsidized Low Income Housing Tax Credit project is a policy failure. But thankfully, this local government has implemented a successful intervention. Philadelphia's existing Shallow Rent program makes affordable units actually affordable for tenants renting subsidized apartments that still leave them cost-burdened. Mayor Parker has included funding to expand this program to 4.69 million in her proposed allocation plan for H.O.M.E. bond proceeds and PACDC encourages Council to increase this investment slightly more to a level of 5.25 million. We also request your continued support in ensuring these dollars go to the renters who need them the most. Third, as many of us who have tried to purchase a home within the last decade know firsthand investors who offer cash make it nearly impossible for the rest of us to compete, especially in changing neighborhoods. According to a 2024 Federal Reserve Bank study, once institutional investors have purchased a property these speculators tend to jack up the rent by a rate that is nearly more than double what a noninstitutional landlord would, and this trend is associated with neighborhood-wide rent increases. To keep more property in the hands of the people and organizations that care about the long-term health of our neighborhoods and more importantly, the people who call Philadelphia home, PACDC is advocating for the City to seed a quick strike property acquisition and stabilization fund designed to help nonprofits compete with deeper pocketed investors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today and please let me know if you have any questions about these three priorities.
And we'll also call up Taibi Magar, Lee Goldenberg, Casey McMillan and Anne Gardner. You can make your way to the podium. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
You can go ahead and state your name and proceed with your testimony.
Great. We're sort of all a whole group together so I was just waiting for the rest of us. Hello. I'm Erica Ezold. I'm the Executive Director of Quintessence Theater in Northwest Philadelphia. Happy to be here today at the end of the day to talk about our creative economy. We're glad that that came up in conversation earlier. I want to start by thanking the Whole Council for welcoming us here and in particular, Councilmember Landau for encouraging us to come today and advocate. As Philadelphia's text-based, actor-focused theater Quintessence re-envisions the classics and inspires our community to consider what is essential in theater and in human nature. Our work allows people to ponder the big questions and creates access points for all Philadelphians to see themselves reflected in classic stories. I'm here today to ask for your increased support for arts and culture. SMU data art shows that between 2020 and 2024, years that included the pandemic when operations were depressed, arts and culture organizations provided nearly $2 billion in direct expenses to our economy and served 5.6 million people in the city. In addition to the approximately 14,000 people in Philadelphia who see our plays, Quintessence serves about 3000 school children annually, many of whom only experience art through our theater and programs. Our work, as well as that of all theaters, helps create a more empathetic culture, something that is sorely needed right now. Quintessence Theater lost a $25,000 NEA grant for an upcoming production highlighting the work of Black queer writers during the Harlem Renaissance. We are actively fundraising so this project can continue. Our theater currently receives funding from the City through the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and I thank you for that. It is critically needed. However, as a growing organization we will soon surpass the current size restriction for this funding and we know that many other theaters do not receive any financial support from the city. As federal dollars are stripped away, it is more important than ever that we establish consistent funding on a city level that can adequately support all of our arts and culture institutions. There are many examples across our country and even in this state of dedicated funding streams for arts and culture. I urge this Council to research how one could be established for Philadelphia. It will only serve to strengthen the city we all love. Thank you. (Applause.)
My name is Darnelle Radford. I'm the Director of Operations at Theater Exile. I live in Point Breeze. Thank you to City Councilmembers for funding the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. We are Theater Exile, led by Producing Artistic Director Deborah Block, in the heart of South Philadelphia. We are at the end of our 28th season. The support that we receive is crucial. We would like to urge the Council to find additional mechanisms in support of our stellar arts community. Small companies like ours and smaller have been enriching our communities on a shoestring budget for years. The uncertainty of when a grant will be released often comes into play. When we know we have been granted, we can breathe easier. But when a grant is rescinded like our NEA grant of $25,000, we are left with few options. We see the City's future with a plan to research how other cities have set up renewable revenue streams to fund arts and culture with a commitment to propose the new funding stream in the FY27 budget proposal this time next year. Since our organizations tend to be supported by many of the same donors of our community who continue to show up for us, and we thank them for that, this uncertainty takes its toll on them as well, when the organizations they support start informing and inquiring about whether they have the ability to swoop in and save the day. Currently, Philadelphia supports the arts at less than $4 per person at a population of 1.5 million. While our peers in Pittsburgh for example, receive over $60 per person with a population of 303,000. We see the City's future with an expansion of the arts funding in the City budget at three times the current rate of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund to support both increased funding of cultural grantee organizations and the inclusion of more arts and culture organizations in the city. Thank you for your time. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Anne Garner and I'm the Managing Director at Interact Theater Company, grateful recipients of PCF funding. Thank you. Our mission is to produce new plays that deal with the social, political and cultural issues happening in our world today and we are in our 37th season. Let me tell you about the play that cemented our mission. In 1993, Interact produced 6221, a new play about the MOVE bombing. Local playwright Thomas Gibbons felt the coverage he was seeing wasn't telling the whole story so he gathered information from public transcripts as well as interviews with MOVE members, Mayor Wilson Goode, the police, journalists and West Philly residents among others. On opening night, Interact held a talk-back featuring Ramona Africa and a policeman who had saved a child from the fire and whose life nearly fell apart in the aftermath. At times, the conversation got heated. But in the theater, we know how to turn conflict into something useful and beautiful. Afterwards the officer said to our artistic director, Watching the show tonight helped ease my pain. And quite honestly, we get that kind of response a lot. I know you have a lot of competing funding priorities, but theater should be among them. Theater is a hyperlocal event. Every performance we do takes place in the communities you serve. And almost every dollar we spend stays here too. Our work draws arts patrons who might not otherwise have a lot of reason to visit the city on to public transportation and into restaurants. Funding theater in Philadelphia is an investment in our economy and it comes with the added bonus of teaching empathy and offering healing. That is a bargain. So I hope City Council will find a way to fund theater more robustly, and I know all of us in the theater community would be happy to work with you to make that happen. (Applause.)
Thank you so much to the Councilmembers who are still here. I'm Nell Bang- Jensen. I am the CEO and Producing Director of FringeArts in Philadelphia. I want to say I do not envy any of your roles. It is very hard to weigh all of these different priorities and I really just hope that the arts can be among them. It's hard to articulate the value of the arts, but there's more and more data being shown about its benefits to public health, to building social connections and strong neighborhoods. I moved here years ago to Philadelphia to make a show for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and now really am in my dream job at this point in time. Like so many other arts organizations, you'll hear from many of my colleagues we recently lost funding from the National Endowment of the Arts. As we all know in this room, the federal administration has an aggressive policy against care and civic spaces, which I really feel like are what these arts organizations do. We are currently the largest Fringe Festival in the United States and we get $0 from the City of Philadelphia. We --
Fringe Festival, so anyone can come make a show. We have shows at 110 venues every September over the city. Last year found us doing 343 shows. We engage with thousands of artists and technicians on a daily and annual basis. We look to models of other festivals around the world, even around the country, and they've become a real economic driver for the city as our festival as well. We are in a very difficult position of not being a large enough organization like Mural Arts to receive funding from the city, but being too big for the threshold for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. We have about a $2 million operating budget so we're just over the threshold. And many of my colleagues are in that position as well. So it means we're currently getting no funding from the city and just had our funding cut at the federal level. So that is my plea today, that you would reconsider additional funding in the City budget that goes beyond the PCF threshold to help out organizations like us who are really being attacked at a federal level right now. Thank you so much for your time. (Applause.)
My name is Tyler Dobrowsky and I'm one of the Artistic Directors at Philadelphia Theater Company based at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre right here on Broad Street. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. We this year received a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to produce a brand new musical inspired by interviews with Philadelphia health care workers and cancer patients. We brought the show directly into hospitals, community centers and libraries across the city completely free of charge so that anyone facing cancer could experience the show regardless of where they lived, how much money they had or whether they were in active treatment. This project only happened because we believed in good faith the NEA support would come through. Now, after we've already finished the project and spent the money the NEA is walking away from that commitment. At a time when the arts are fighting to survive, this feels like more than a funding cut. It feels like a betrayal. That's why we're asking the City of Philadelphia to step in today. I know how lonely it could be to care for a loved one afflicted with cancer. I'm sure some in the room do too. I also know how powerful it is to sit in a room with others who know that loss and how important it is to laugh, to cry, to find communion with each other in a shared experience. Theater creates that space. It gives us the chance to feel less alone, to feel seen, to feel human. The arts aren't a luxury. They are a public good. And if the federal government is abdicating its responsibility to fund the arts, then we must take it up here at home. Philadelphia is one of the greatest art cities in the country. We are urging our elected officials to increase funding for the arts now when we need it most so it stays that way. Thank you for your time. (Applause.)
I want to -- excuse me, sir. Just real quick. I just want to thank you for the work that you do with the Suzanne Roberts Center, which is located on the Avenue of the Arts in the 2nd Councilmanic District. I learned recently that that's the family of Brian Roberts as well. That's named after his mom actually. And so, I know a lot of work that they do in terms of the arts along Avenue of the Arts. And it's a great theater so keep up the good work. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
And I also wanted to call up the next panel, Fabiola Davila, Jan LaSuer, Phoebe Bachman and Patrick Houston.
Hello. I'm Lee Goldenberg. I'm the Managing Director of the Wilma Theater also on Avenue of the Arts --
1st Councilmanic District on the east side of Broad. Okay.
Yes, just on the other side. Exactly. But we serve all of the city.
Thank you all for your time, and I just want to thank all of my incredible colleagues, the community of artists. I'm just so moved to hear all of you talk about the work you do. This time last year you may remember that I was here in these chambers with my colleague Lindsay smiling as you, Council, proudly recognized the Wilma is Philly's first regional theater Tony Award winner. This honor came with proclamations from all levels of government, our moment in the national spotlight and lots of shared joy with our community of artists and audiences. And yet in that year the Wilma has not received a single dollar from the City of Philadelphia. We're supported at the state level by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for general operations and RACP for much-needed building upgrades. Our only source of federal funding, as you've heard, the National Endowment for the Arts rescinded our grant too on May 2nd alongside dozens of colleagues locally and hundreds nationwide. This was $25,000 spent in accordance with the guidelines on our production of the Half God of Rainfall, a beautiful play that ran on our stage in February. And we were simply waiting for the reimbursement that will now never come. We know that arts in Philadelphia must exist as an ecosystem. As such, we are grateful that Council supports the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Illuminate the Arts program. We are grateful for Creative Philadelphia and the Cultural Plan in development under Val Gay's leadership. We appreciate that arts organizations, including Mural Arts, receive direct funding through other programs. And you have demonstrated that you believe the arts contribute to a thriving Philadelphia. And yet dozens of mid-size organizations like the Wilma, who pay millions each year in direct wages to city residents and generate millions more in economic impact, are left out of this city budget. You can choose your own reason to support the arts because there are so many of them. We provide arts programs in public schools. We combat the loneliness epidemic. We cultivate spaces for free expression and complex conversations at a time when our First Amendment rights are under threat, or maybe you just like that we drive tourism, keep streets safe at night, fill restaurants and parking lots. Whatever your reason, I encourage Council to increase support of the arts. This request is for this year at a critical time for us and our country, and this is a request for ongoing dedicated funding -- I'm almost done. The arts are human infrastructure just like housing or transit or schools, and they all need support accordingly. We urge you to look to peer cities, including Pittsburgh, to develop a dedicated funding stream for arts and culture. I look forward to being back in this chamber for future celebrations of our city's great arts community. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. MS. McMILLAN: Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Casey McMillan. I'm Artistic Director of Inis Nua, a theater company here in Center City. Inis Nua produces compelling contemporary plays from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. These plays are the lens through which we explore important ideas affecting Philadelphia right now, economic and education inequity, changing neighborhoods, health care and housing insecurity, addiction. We believe that seeing our challenges reflected in the context of other cultures gives us as Philadelphians new insight into our own conflicts and our opportunities. We produce four shows a year for over 5000 patrons annually and we do it all with a full- and part-time staff of only four because we drive much of our budget going to dozens of freelance artists who are our backbone. We're a small company with real impact. Because unlike cities where large and small theaters rarely intersect, small companies like Inis Nua are key contributors to Philadelphia's ecosystem, sustaining artists' careers and allowing diverse artistic community to put down roots, to buy homes, to raise families, to be civic participants. While we were not among those who had funding rescinded last week, we currently have an application out to the NEA, $15,000 of critical funding for next season. And given the federal government's likely demands that we renounce our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we will be forced to withdraw our application as it undermines initiative Inis Nua's values and our commitment to a vibrant, diverse Philadelphia. (Applause.) MS. McMILLAN: Thank you. We have to stick with our values --
Time out, pause. I wish Councilmember Jamie Gauthier was down here. And I see Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad and my colleagues took the task certain institutes of higher education, notably the University of Pennsylvania, unfortunately my alma mater, for not standing up and speaking truth to power when it come to diversity, equity and inclusion. So they could take a page out of your book and know what standing up to bully stands for. So I just want to personally just say thank you because you said, we withdrew our application because that's not what we represent in terms of moving forward and their restrictions on DEI. So thank you for just standing up. (Applause.) MS. McMILLAN: Yes. Thank you, Council President Johnson. It's now where we have to live our values. That's their job and that's the job of theater. But this loss of federal funding is likely to affect passthrough funding offered by the state as well, and that would mean a total loss of more than 15% of our annual budget next year making it possible to do our work, to plan, and that represents jobs for Philadelphians and loss of our economic and artistic impact. Thank you, Council, for supporting the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Their support has been vital to maintaining operations for us in this volatile period. But with the loss of state and federal funding, we ask you please will you deepen your commitment to the arts right now this year at this critical time. Thank you so much for your consideration. (Applause.)
Good afternoon and thank you very much for your time. My name is Fabiola Davila and I'm a Senior Program Associate with the Vera Institute of Justice. I'm testifying regarding Bill 250196 or the operating budget for Fiscal Year 2026, specifically the Office of Immigrant Affairs under the Managing Director's budget. I've also submitted written testimony. The Vera Institute urges the City to support a $1.8 million investment in the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project or PAIFUP. The Vera Institute also urges the City to transition the administration of PAIFUP from the Nationality Service Center to the Defender Association of Philadelphia. PAIFUP is a successful publicly-funded program that provides lawyers for immigrants facing deportation. Unlike in the criminal legal system, people facing deportation don't have the right to an attorney if they can't afford one. Since 2019, PAIFUP has represented hundreds of Philadelphian residents. PAIFUP has won legal relief for their clients, kept families together and helped Philadelphians return to their jobs. But the need for representation is great and requires increased funding. Without a lawyer, immigrants are more vulnerable to Trump's mass detention and deportation agenda. His Administration has issued executive actions that expand the use of immigration detention, gut access to federally- funded legal programs and vastly expand immigration enforcement, including right here in Philadelphia. The city must increase PAIFUP's funding to ensure that Philadelphians who face detention and deportation have a meaningful opportunity to defend themselves and remain at home with their families. The Vera Institute also supports the proposed transition of the program administration from Nationality Service Center to the Defender Association. With the Nationality Service Center's full support, the Defender Association would use the increased funding to create an immigration unit that specializes in deportation defense. My organization, the Vera Institute, oversees the safe network which is a national network of publicly-funded deportation defense programs. And we have seen this model be very successful within other large public defenders offices in places like New York, San Francisco and Cook County, Illinois. We urge Philadelphia to protect immigrant communities by increasing its investment in PAIFUP to 1.8 million in Fiscal Year 2026 and by transitioning this important program to the Defender Association. Thank you again for your time. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Patrick Houston. Thank you for this opportunity to testify, and I noticed many of the Councilmembers have been here all day. That's deeply appreciated. Talk about public service, sitting in these chairs all day and listening to our testimonies. I'm here testifying on behalf of the housing equity repair and electrification for Climate Justice Coalition, Here for Climate Justice. The Here for Climate Justice Coalition brings together community organizations, home repair providers, workforce and community development partners and climate justice groups across Philadelphia to fight for safe, affordable, fossil-free housing for all. We urge City Council to provide $10 million for the Philadelphia Energy Authority and the Built to Last Whole Home Repair program. Built to Last is a popular, effective and unique program serving hundreds of low-income Philadelphia households with essential home repair and energy efficiency services. The program is a critical complement to the Basic System Repair Program. Built to Last fills critical gaps that BSRP does not cover. Philadelphia needs both Built to Last under the Philadelphia Energy Authority and BSRP. Defunding Philadelphia Energy Authority, as the mayor's budget proposes, would be a step backward for affordable, equitable, synchronized home repair and energy efficiency services in Philadelphia. Thousands of Philadelphians are on the waitlist for Built to Last. And here are the numbers district-by-district. These are the waitlist numbers, the numbers you're about to hear. District Squilla's, 92 on the waitlist. District Johnson, 226. District Gauthier, 425. District Jones, 366. District Young, 254. District Driscoll, 114. District Lozada, 312. District Bass, 445. District Phillips, 348. District O'Neill, 35. In total, 2617 low-income households across Philadelphia are on the waitlist for the Built to Last program. Many Philadelphians apply to this program because they know how thoroughly it has already served hundreds of families. Lastly, the Here for Climate Justice Coalition wants to express gratitude to those Councilmembers who have expressed support for this program in varying ways. Councilmembers Johnson, Gauthier, Young, O'Rourke, Ahmad, Landau and Brooks, please keep that up, all of City Council. We are counting on you to make sure we can fight for a livable future where every Philadelphian can enjoy lower energy bills, critical repairs and a safe and healthy place to call home. Please secure this $10 million for the Built to Last program through the Philadelphia Energy Authority. Thank you. (Applause.)
Also want to call up the next panel at this time. Julian Burnett, Sam Tower, Christopher Setz-Kelly, Jaritsa Hernandez Orsini. (Witnesses approached Witness table.) MS. LeSUER: Hello. Thank you, Council President Johnson and Council. My name is Jan LeSuer. I'm from the 8th District and I'm here representing the Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I'm president of the Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library. I think we all understand and recognize the importance of libraries. I want to emphasize that they're more important now than ever. We still are feeling the fallout of the effects of the COVID period for our kids in school. And the advent of AI and high tech things, it's more important than ever that we have educational opportunities and places for study, for reflection and for learning to exist. We have these institutions, these branches within our communities. They are suffering and we should not let them become stranded resources. They're there. We need their support and they will be used if we continue to have them. I was here this morning and heard the staff complain about not having enough to do their work. And from the public side, we feel that very strongly. There is nothing more disappointing or dispiriting than walking or taking the bus or biking up to your local library only to find that once and again it is closed. This happens far too frequently across the city, particularly in communities that need the resource more than ever and may not have those in the home. What are the causes of this? Staff shortages which was brought up this morning. We were promised Saturday hours. That just hasn't happened. Too often the libraries are closed because somebody is sick or because the air quality in the library is not good. The other things that go on are air-conditioning is not sufficient. We know that these have provided shelter and cooling spaces for the public in the summers and too often in the winter the boilers aren't working. So these kind of -- we don't need new buildings. We just need regular, considerate maintenance of them. And, look, thank you very much for listening to us and look forward to working with you in the future. I have to say the staff has been very supportive of the librarians themselves, they're terrific. They're community- oriented. They want to do their best. They have fantastic programs. We've worked with the capital improvements. Ty Dupass has been fantastic. They just need the funding for staff and for materials. I want to thank Councilmember Bass in particular. We've had partying going on outside the Chestnut Hill Library. There's been defecation and tissues left and liquor bottles, and her staff was just terrific and getting that cleaned up. And thank you very much for your time.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilmember Bass. All right. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. And we ask that you please keep it to two minutes because we have a few additional witnesses who are here. Thank you.
Thank you. My name is Phoebe Bachman. It is great to be with you all today. Thank you so much, Council, for sticking it out. I'm apparently No. 96 so I'm impressed. So some of you may know me from my work with Mural Arts. I work in a couple of different fashions with them. I work in Restorative Justice as well as the People's Budget Office. And today I'm going to speak to you specifically about the People's Budget Office. We're a project that aims to imagine what a fully-funded city could look like. We use public art education and advocacy to empower residents to engage in the budgeting process. We facilitate Budget 101 and 201 workshops, teaching Philadelphians about the city budget both in neighborhoods and online. We run an interactive office at LOVE Park, and we created a survey that captures how people feel about the budgeting process and what they want to see funded. Unknown, opaque, obscure, confusing; these are the words that we hear over and over again when we ask Philadelphians what is one word that comes to mind when you think about the city budget. Overwhelmingly, respondents to our survey tell us they don't know how to get involved and they don't feel like their voices matter. You have said on your mailers, billboards and in emails that this is your city, your budget. But at this point in the budgeting process, the public can only do so much. Under the previous administration, we worked closely with the City's Budget Office and there was a willingness to reimagine the City's budget process from the beginning. They piloted participatory budgeting, which has later transformed into intimate focus groups. These opportunities are not only vital for residents but also for City Hall to gather nuanced feedback that cannot always be captured through public testimony. The City budget process can and should change. It should be a people-first approach informed by engagement. We are asking for the City to invest in a true participatory budgeting plan that allows Philadelphian's voices to be integrated into every step of the City budget, which includes the formation of the documents themselves and the priorities and lenses that guide the process. The City should allocate funding specifically for direct participatory budgeting, host regular feedback sessions on the City budget, restore these budgeting for racial equity and add an environmental justice budgeting lens. We often say that the City budget is an ecosystem. We each play a role in making it possible. We can work together to make sure that the budgeting process is transparent, accessible to ensure that all Philadelphians regardless of background, age or experience can have a say in how their city is built and resourced. And I just want to say thank you too so much to the Councilmembers who have worked with us in this process. A special thank you to Councilmembers Brooks O'Rourke, Gauthier, Bass, Landau. It's really been a pleasure working with you and we hope to continue it in the future. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Christopher Setz-Kelly. I'm a Managing Attorney at Highest Pennsylvania. I'm also a resident of District 1. Highest Pennsylvania is one of the region's immigration legal services agencies. On behalf of Highest PA, I'm writing to urge the City of Philadelphia to increase funding in the 2026 budget for deportation defense legal services by investing $1.8 million in the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project also known as PAIFUP under the general budget Bill 250196. Myself and my organization also support the Defender Association's proposal to take over this program as the fiscal sponsor and home of the PAIFUP program. PAIFUP is a program that provides no-cost legal representation to members of Pennsylvania's immigrant community that had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement also known as ICE. Additional funding for FY2026 would allow PAIFUP to increase its staffing in a moment when the Trump administration has prioritized the arrest and deportation of our immigrant community members. Legal representation for those who are detained by ICE is critical to protecting immigrant families. Often it is the primary breadwinner that is detained by ICE. When this occurs, the family is left without financial support until the individual is released. The Vera Institute reports that immigrants with an attorney are 3.5 times more likely to be released on bond. Thus, supporting universal representation programs like PAIFUP is one of the best ways to ensure that families remain intact and stay out of poverty. The other legal benefits of legal representation are numerous. ICE often institutes removal proceedings against long- term permanent residents who are not deportable under governing law. Often it is only an inexperienced immigration attorney that can identify those charging mistakes by ICE and intervene to prevent an unjust deportation. I also support the transition of the PAIFUP program to the Defender Association of Philadelphia. Moving the program out of a collaborative patchwork of small nonprofit agencies and into the Defender Association will make the program more sustainable in the future and would align with deportation defense programs housed in public defender offices of several other big cities, including New York and Chicago. I've represented detained immigrants in both private practice and now with Highest PA. I can attest that most immigrants detained by ICE cannot afford private counsel to represent them. Programs like PAIFUP are critical for ensuring due process and I urge City Council to allocate $1.8 million to PAIFUP in 2026 and support the move of the program to the Defender's Association. Thank you for your time. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for staying some extra time. Let's imagine a couple minutes ago we were hearing from all those arts and culture workers. I'm here to advocate for them. My name is Samantha Tower. I'm a West Philadelphia homeowner and constituent of District 4. I'm the Executive Director of Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation as well as a theater artist, an educator and a cultural producer and advocate. I made my home in Philadelphia for the last years 12 since I moved here to go to 13 University of the Arts. As a 14 private foundation, Stockton Rush 15 Bartol Foundation provides grants 16 to small and medium nonprofits who 17 provide arts education to 18 communities they're in deep 19 relationship with. We offer trauma-informed training to independent teaching artists who work in and out-of- school time and operate programs in community spaces and activate libraries and recreation centers. The educators we serve are vital changemakers in their communities, providing youth and adults across the city with access to traditional cultural art forms, valuable life skills and a supportive place to grow and learn outside of work and school. The demand on our arts educators is massive and it is only getting bigger as more resources are cut from other areas. Our communities benefit enormously from clear and direct resources for the community arts, so that means initiatives like the Neighborhood Arts Program, the Illuminate the Arts Fund and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. So I thank you for maintaining the stability in those programs through Creative Philadelphia. They also rely on a fully-funded SEPTA transportation system to get to and from work. I want to reiterate what my colleagues mentioned about the loss of the NEA funding and it's begun to affect our independent arts educators who already have precarious access to resources, who are gig workers and contract workers. I was going to tell you about all the amazing impact that they're making, but I'm going to keep that short now. So what impact for us looks like is young people in North Philadelphia practicing bomba, young people in Northwest Philadelphia studying theater in a church, veterans coming together to write poetry, a collective of Black women filmmakers sharing creative entrepreneurial skills, young people in South Philadelphia studying Cambodian classical arts. When young people ask me -- I'm sorry. When I ask young people what they want from their city, they always say safer places to gather, and that is what our arts educators provide. So I ask you to continue increasing support for the arts and culture so that our young people have a safe and supportive place to go after school and outside of work, and we have that 1.5 million people calling Philadelphia home. Let's give them some good, because the presence of risk is bad but the absence of good is devastating. Thank you very much for listening to me. (Applause.)
We have Greg Holston, Latoya Ayers, Lisa Bonitatibus, Jean Spence, Colleen Ott, Andre Dawkins, Paulette Whitfield and Jeremy Blatstein. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good afternoon. My name is Reverend Gregory Holston. I'm here with the Just Nation organization and also a member of the Tax Advisory Committee to the Tax Reform Commission. I'm here to talk directly about Philadelphians don't need another tax cut or across-the- board tax cut. It needs deeper investment in the people who live here. What we have recognized over the last four years is that investment in community works. We took a situation on gun violence that went from 563 homicides to 260 last year and even lower this year, a 60-year low because we invested $60 million, 30 million from here in the City of Philadelphia, another 30 million coming from the state, an historical level of investment that we have never done before and it produced results. It immediately started to reduce the homicides in the city, to reduce crime in the city to make us a safer place. Public safety is all about investment. We had only -- we had less than 1000 officers that were not available for us during that whole time period. We had the lowest number of police officers we ever had and we still reduced gun violence. So what does that mean? That means if you do taxes and you do an across-the-board tax cut of $1.3 billion, you're taking those dollars out of the city that could be used for investment. We can really start talking about looking at 0 as a real number for gun violence if we double that $60 million investment or tripled it instead of moving a tax cut for 1.3 trillion -- 1.3 billion. And even that 1.3 billion is only going to create 13,000 jobs according to the PA Policy Center, it is not going to produce the kind of jobs that we're already producing in this city. The last years we've produced 10 200,000 new jobs. So we're not a basket-job case. We are creating jobs. We are making a difference here in this city. But if we really want to address long-term poverty, if we really want to address Black and Brown poverty in the city, we need direct investment in Black and Brown communities. We need to support directly Black and Brown small businesses and we can do it. As one professor said, and I'm done, one professor from Temple University said it this way, you're trying to solve a problem of business with a hatchet when if you just could use a scalpel, you could get a whole lot more done. We do not have to destroy our city budget to be able to build businesses and at the same time build safety in our community. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Good evening, Councilmember Richardson and everybody else who is here. I'm going to utilize my ADA right and have my phone speak again for me. But it won't be as long as April. I'm the autistic founder of the Autistic Art Coalition of Philadelphia, some Councilmembers know, which is also a nonprofit. We are a community partner of Mural Arts Philadelphia. Our programming can be found on Tuesdays in the Mural Arts Tacony Lab Community Arts Center from 6:00 to 8:00 in the evenings or on Thursdays in Liberty Resources from 1:00 to 2:30. I am also one of the founding core members of City Year of Philadelphia, an America Corps program during my service year in 1997, 1998 with Council President Johnson. I served with Mural Arts Philadelphia. Back in the day City Year wasn't just only in the schools of Philadelphia. During this year of service, I had learned so much from scouting walls on rainy and overcast days just like this day in North, South, East and West to getting up on the scaffolding the old way and painting a mural from start to finish, doing the grid work, first for the artist to office paperwork for Jane Golden. And then on bright and sunshiny days, I would get up on the scaffolding versus with the parachute cloth today with the artist and volunteer and paint. I even helped during the Presidential Summit in 1998. Mural arts and working with is one of the most wonderful feelings ever for this Philadelphia right here in my hometown, the city I love no matter what. Murals also help with mental health matters too. Later on in life I did go to art school. I am a professional photographer. During that time, I did still occasionally paint. Today I am the autistic founder and CEO of the Autistic Art Coalition of Philadelphia because of my lived experience directly with Mural Arts. Keep hearing about this current Administration taking on the art sector. Since Philadelphia is known for its art, whether it's singing, drawing, painting or just being a mural capital of the world, I still see a lot of sore spots. As an autistic individual who picks up the detail that others don't, and maybe you do but you just don't know what to do about it, now is the time to do something about it. Now is the time to do those not-so- easy projects. Now is the time to rebeautify the city as we know because I know for myself that a community mural brings together neighbors who might not necessarily come together. We have the ability as Philadelphia fans from what I have noticed during large scale events like when the Pope came, Philadelphia pulled it off. I think that it is imperative that we act on the arts and not shut it down. I think it's imperative that we turn out the spice and show the world who we are. Come on now, the 250th is coming. FIFA is coming. Now is the time to act. Now is the time to invest in the arts, not take away the arts. Oh, and I also support Vision Zero. Have a great day. Peace. (Applause.)
Hello. My name is Jeannie H. Spence. I am the Executive Director of the JSJ Food Bank. I am the first registered nurse woman-led organization for the SFSP program sponsor, which is the Summer Food Service Program sponsor, and a Child and Adult Care Food Program sponsor. I have been approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to provide Healthy Minds Healthy Hearts program with the Free Philadelphia libraries. It's a no-cost service. It helps provide nutritional education for students and their families. The JSJ Food Bank is here to help. We discussed the different increased tax cuts and the budget cuts. However, we are here to help the small local businesses through product purchasing, through food purchasing, through hiring local chefs to help with our nutritional educational programs. However, we are eager to render these services to the Free Philadelphia Library, but it has been difficult with navigating the bureaucracy. But despite the frustrations, the ongoing emails, I can definitely say that Isaiah Thomas, Councilmember At-Large, and Quetcy Lozada has been extremely helpful with understanding how to maneuver the process and we are here to help the Free Libraries of Philadelphia. So my issue raised is how can we have a solidified agreement or some type of partnership accessible to understand the policies and processes for nonprofit organizations that is just here to help the city. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you for being here. My name is Lisa Bonitatibus and I'm speaking on behalf of Toxic Free Philly, a broad coalition urging you to fully fund Parks and Recreation, especially to support the transition away from toxic herbicides and towards full compliance with the Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces law. Twelve years ago I was diagnosed with Stage breast cancer. Today it's Stage and incurable. My surgeon told me it likely came from exposure to chemicals, chemicals such as Glyphosate and 24D, the same pesticides the City reports spraying over tons in our parks. That's per year, not per day. These are endocrine- disrupting chemicals. They don't just stay on the weeds. They contaminate the air, soil and water. My oncologist says flat out we should not be spraying. My story is becoming more common. Cancer and chronic illness are on the rise, and our public parks should never contribute to that harm. All due respect for the good things that Parks and Recreation does, the public must be served without poisoning us. We ask City Council to fully fund Parks and Recreation so they can protect public health, protect city workers and comply with the law you passed. Let's make Philly clean and green by making it toxic free. Thank you. (Applause.)
No 10 goofballs? Okay. Good afternoon, Council President, members of City Council. My name is Jeremy Blatstein. I'm here to speak about the 2026 budget and Mayor Parker's H.O.M.E. Initiative. The Mayor's Housing plan identifies the right goal, expanding housing opportunities. But the current structure spreads money across too many programs without making a meaningful dent in supply. If we're serious about solving Philadelphia's affordable housing crisis, we need to focus less on short-term assistance and more on long-term production. Right now too much of the H.O.M.E. Initiative is demand side, vouchers, repair programs, rental assistance. These are important, but they don't create new homes. They chase too few units with too many dollars. That only drives up prices. What Philadelphia needs is a supply side engine, a revolving loan fund dedicated to financing new affordable housing construction. This isn't speculative. It's been proven to work in places like Montgomery County, Maryland, where a revolving fund has created thousands of units and paid itself back over time. It's a fiscally-responsible approach that turns one-time dollars into permanent solutions. Let's stop putting band-aids on a supply problem. Let's build. I urge this Council to allocate real capital, $100 million, into a revolving loan fund as part of the 2026 budget. If we want results, we need to stop subsidizing scarcity and start investing in production. A few more quick points: Stop gaslighting the public when it comes to the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office. Disband it. Do not give it another dollar. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Need to create a better environment for businesses. End the BIRT and Use & Occupancy. It isn't about billionaires. It's about small businesses. Grow Philly to 2 milli. Why 2 milli? That's what the population of Philadelphia was in 1950. Today we are at a population of 1.6 million. How? Upzone transit corridors, end parking minimums and CMX-3 as well. Bring back the tax abatement. Change the RCO/broken ZBA process. Cut red tape. And of course, we're talking about SEPTA. Fund SEPTA. It's crucial for our city. It is the lifeline of so many people who get around it and ride their ride. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there anyone else here to provide public testimony on the FY26 budget? (No response.)
This concludes the public meeting of the Committee of the Whole to consider the FY26 budget. The Chair recognizes Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson for a motion of the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolution before the Committee today stand in recess -- The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just had a question in regards to callbacks next week. Madam Chair for Health and Human Services and I were just conferring on the recent information regarding Department of Human Services. We just wanted to make sure that there was going to be an opportunity to have them come back?
I don't think we have it on our schedule at this moment, but we can talk offline. I have a recommendation in terms of how I think best to address it.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Majority Gilmore Richardson for a motion that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolution 5 before the Committee today stand in recess until Wednesday, June 4, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 400 City Hall.
So moved, Mr. Chairman. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the Committee today stand in recess until Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., Room 400, City Hall. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. The Committee will stand in recess until Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., which we will reconvene in Room 400. Thank you very much. And, colleagues, thank you for your very, very hard work and your dedication showing up as we evaluate the FY26 proposed budget. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 4:45 p.m.) 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. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL