So this is the basement, and that is going to also have communal space for the girls
and their storage and the utilities also.
This is a photo of the outdoor deck that the adolescent girls will be able to enjoy
on appropriate weather days.
Another photo of that, this is the side walkway of the home, and this is the other side of the property.
2nd floor master bedroom
2nd floor bath
2nd floor front bedroom
The living room view 1
And view 2 at the fireplace
This is view 3 of the living room
third floor bedroom
third floor front bedroom
the bathroom under remodeling
and this is the basement area that we looked at
on the plans for the family room
this is the family room dining area
basement bathroom
The business plan that Ms. Baines will also review with you, she calls it the lady in
the shoe because she's had many, many children, both biological and foster that she has raised
over the years.
I'm actually going to have Ms. Baines walk through this with you so that we don't have
to do it in duplicate.
In Exhibit 6, we have our zoning posters.
for today's hearing.
Exhibit seven is our tax clearance.
Exhibit eight, we have a deed,
but we also have a statement of adverse possession
for over 21 years.
So we have double proofs of ownership of this property.
And then in exhibit nine,
is our application for the special exception and exhibit 10 is the project information form
and exhibit 11 is the um the rco mailing notice and the proof of mailing that was sent to
oh we also had um a second meeting with the rco where we went door to door with a with a flyer
also uh and our proof of mailing shows that uh we had 115 letters that were sent out
so i'm going to return to
bring your client on steve yes um so i'm gonna ask cynthia baines to raise your hand so you can be
uh admitted into the panel
admitted into the panel.
cynthia barnes has been allowed to speak
hi hi good morning could you state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure my name is cynthia baines v-a-i-n-e-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes i do we proceed counsel um sure well first i'm
going to get this out of the way. Ms. Baines, have you heard my testimony so far in this hearing?
Yes. Do you agree with it and do you adopt it as your own? Yes. So now let's move forward. So
that's, I wanted you to describe to the board what kind of a personal care home you are creating
and also talk about what brought you to this project, what motivated you to start this kind
of a visit. Hello, everyone. I would like to first start, again, my name is Cynthia, and I am the lady
in the shoe. I was a mother at the age of 15 years old, so I had to learn what to do. And by the age
of 28, I had eight children, four now, I have in which six are college graduates. I have one in the
military station in Africa, and I have one in nursing school. I adopted a baby when he was two
weeks old, and he's now four, and he's at preschool. I was a correctional officer for 10 years for the
city of Philadelphia at CFCF prison, and I am a nurse. I've been a nurse for seven years with
the experience of care for patients with medical conditions, mental health challenges, and drug
alcohol, these drug and alcohol treatment. I was a nurse for four years as a manager overseeing the
medical department of 250 clients. I have been a foster mother of five years, four children,
three of which are siblings. One, as I spoke earlier, I adopted and he was a few weeks old.
And then two, I have permanent legal custody.
Today is a milestone in my journey for me, creating a safe haven and nurturing environment for adolescent girls who deserve a chance to thrive and succeed.
The Lady in the Shoe, our mission is to be able to provide a caring environment for adolescent females who have mental health or behavior challenges.
We will provide life skill training, therapy, outside resources, medication administration and transportation.
There will be training in such areas as anger management, building positive relationships, life skills, and helping change negative thinking.
And our goal for this program will be to help prepare our girls to become self-sufficient
and self-supporting young adults.
And family reunification will be an important component of the individual's growth and development.
Thank you.
So can you can you just briefly describe the the letters that were in the exhibit binder from your professional associates and colleagues?
Can you can you just briefly tell the board who these people are and why they have come to support your project?
some people know me um from personal from my personal life like i sent children seven six
children of college and some of their room their friends needed help and i helped them as well i
was more than a mother just to the children on birth i it seems like i'm everybody mother who
needs me they call me up on the phone they call me mom and they need advice they need help i'm
there always to help. I have friends, nurse practitioners, nurses, doctors. I have a lot
of friends that know what I do. St. Christopher's Hospital had me come in in April as a foster
parent on a panel for the doctors and nurses to describe how is it to be in a foster mother
because they'd say I do such a good job with the children as they chose me. A lot of people
support what I do because they know I have a heart and it fills me up with love and joy to
be able to provide and give this gift to others. Thank you. I wanted to just get a couple of the
details of the operation. Can you tell the board how many children you're planning to have in this
House? 68. And the ages? 14, 18.
14 to 18.
And do you have an idea at this point of where these referrals and where these children will be, how these children will be brought into your care?
CDH, private pay, they can come from Magellan, DHS. I'm already involved with DHS. I've been a class parent again for five years.
And in terms of staffs, have you identified the staff that you're going to have for this project, and can you tell us how many staff and what the hours are going to be?
Well, it's going to be a 24-hour care with my staff. I have a staff member who's a daughter of mine who has a doctor's degree, and right now she works as associate director in Delaware, so she has lots of information and input that she provides to me, and she's going to come and work for me and my mom.
I have a son who's a registered nurse who can help me out when I'm not available to do medication administration passes.
I have a daughter who is going to come and work for me, who is the director at DHS.
I have a nurse practitioner friend who's going to come in and help do the psych evaluations.
And I have other members that's going to come on my team.
And in terms of shifts, how are you going to be dividing the staff up?
It'll be three shifts. I'm sorry. Three shifts, 24 hours staffing, two staffs on each shift.
All right. At this point, I'm going to turn it over to you, Mr. Chair, for questions from the board.
Sure. Questions from the board.
i have a question um so all things be equal but what is your timeline if everything like
lined up well with the state and everything what would be your timeline for ideal um operations
beginning oh that's for is cynthia still um is she still able yeah okay great yes okay
if it was up to me i can have everything running within six months
If I had all my licensors and everything, I can have it up to running in six months.
Thank you.
Other questions from the board?
You said six to eight girls?
Yes, ma'am.
So, question then.
How is this going to work in terms of the number of bedrooms that you have?
I thought, can we look at the floor plans?
Yes, I have six large bedrooms.
I can have two bedrooms and two beds in each room and still have more space.
It's three on the third floor, it's two on the second floor, and it's one on the
in the in the downstairs in the basement that I'm going to use that as a storage.
So if it's going to be two children in each room, so on the third floor, that'd be six,
and then it'll be two-pound stays on the second floor.
Other questions from the board?
And then you're going to have,
where are the staffing people going to be?
Yes, you're going to have staff.
The second floor has the office and the medical room for the staff.
And also when the children are in the community room, the family room, in a basement that has a large TV, a pool table, a sectional, it has access to go outside in the yard, it has a bathroom, laundry area.
It will also be office down here so that the staff could be with them at all times.
All right.
And then when you say medical room, what are we talking about in terms of?
If we have clients that take some medication, they have to be in a locked room.
And I'm a registered nurse, so I can get medication.
and I have a son also who's going to come and work with me,
who can administer medication as well.
All right. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, there are three hands up.
Donyell Holmes will be allowed to speak first.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Donyell Holmes, D-O-N-I-E-L, last name Holmes, H-O-L-M-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I'm a fellow co-worker also, yes.
Are you in favor of this project?
Yes, I am.
And you're going to work at the project?
Yes, I am.
All right.
All right.
Thank you very much.
We appreciate you calling in.
Thank you.
Next hand.
The next hand will be Charles Richardson.
Hi, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
Could you please just state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Charles Richardson, C-H-A-R-L-E-S, Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman
Cindy Bass, Room 508, City Hall.
Do you swear to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, sir.
Okay, Mr. Chair, this property has had two meetings. The first didn't go very well. The applicant had loaded it up with friends and her former colleagues, and only actually one or two near neighbors actually appeared.
uh following you know the rco uh you know said that they would give them another opportunity
to give her to go out and find the you know introduce herself to the near neighbors and
let her her project be known to them uh in the interim the councilwoman and i had a conversation
with steve and uh she indicated to him at the time that she was opposed to granting the special
exception because of the fact that the number of uh such properties that are in that specific area
and within the that 17th ward uh so since the rco decided to give them the second opportunity
they had this second meeting but you know still only eight uh properties where uh individuals
showed up of 115 properties that were mailed to um you know it still does not have a whole
a lot of community support, but since the RCO has decided to have a position of non-opposition,
the councilwoman is going to also take a position of non-opposition, but that two-year proviso
that we're talking about is definitely necessary because we don't know exactly what type of young
ladies that they're going to be getting into that property. We're hearing CBH and things along those
lines, but we need to be able to let her prove herself essentially to the community and see
that they're going to do what they say they're going to do. If not, then they need to come,
and then they can come back before that. But we're supporting the two-year as opposed to three-year.
And we've had that conversation with Steve as well. So again, she is taking a position of
non-opposition, but supporting that two-year variance. Thank you. Anyone else in the virtual
audience? Yes, I have another hand up by the name of Cynthia Barnes. We'll be allowed to speak.
Well, that's the applicant, so maybe we'll have her speak after all the members.
is there anyone else yes there there was two um two cynthia barnes and in the audience i thought
it was another person oh all right um should i allow them to speak the left one come on
the other cynthia barnes has been allowed to speak
you're breaking up sir
could you state your name all the board members can you i can yeah what's your name state your
name my name my name is marvin gross okay m-a-r-v-i-n-g-r-o-s-s do you swear or firm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing yes sir are you a neighbor
i do sir i'm in proximity of the residence i grew up in the neighborhood
are you in favor i grew up in the neighborhood and i'm listening listen to me are you in favor
of the project mr grocery in favor of the project sir thank you for taking the time
Thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. Is there any more hands up?
to call us we appreciate it is there any more hands up
There are no more hands.