complete presentation i did indeed is it accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it is would you
adopt the statements as your own i would is there anything that you would like to add
no thank you thank you um i would next like to call carl st pierre the civil engineer for this
project mr st tier is your new virtual audience please raise your hand they've been allowed to
speak good morning sir can you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter
carl st pierre c-a-r-l-s-t period p-i-e-r-r-e can you please turn your camera on and do you
swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do can you turn your camera on sir
You came on, sir.
Excuse me, sir.
They will be rejoining as a panel shortly.
For it to do so.
Good afternoon.
Counsel, please proceed.
Thank you.
Mr. Pierre, I apologize.
Mr. St. Pierre, did you hear my complete presentation?
i did is it accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it is would you adopt the
statements as your own uh yes is there anything that you would like to add uh no
that concludes my presentation at this time
thank you council uh so i do have one question council so out of the 54 people that did show up
52 of them was in support of the project.
Out of that 52, what percentage was in close proximity to this project?
I don't have an idea of that.
I believe the members of the RCO who are present may have a better idea
because not all members of the community spoke at the hearing,
but there were a number of people who were very close neighbors
and did indicate their address who were present.
Okay, understood.
Okay, questions from the board?
No, Mr. Vice Chair.
no mr vice chair um do we have any questions from our attorney our attorney hillary emerson
um one brief question um miss reinhardt i believe you mentioned earlier that there
was a traffic study done is that correct yes um this was uh
if there are questions about the traffic study, I believe Mr. St. Pierre would best be able to
answer those questions. Could you please, because I don't believe that was included in
your exhibit, can you please forward that to the board so it can be included with the record
for the hearings today? Absolutely. Thank you.
Any more questions, counsel?
That was all, Mr. Shahid. Thank you.
No problem. Any questions from the virtual audience?
Yes, I have a Darryl Deans with their hand raised. I've allowed them to speak at this time.
Good morning.
Can you hear me?
Please state your name. Yes, please state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please.
Yes, it's Reverend Darnell, D-A-R-A, N-E-L-L, Deans, D-E-A-N-S.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And good morning to everyone.
and thank you so much for the opportunity to speak on this project here. To hearing
of the conversations in reference to the 2100 block of Diamond Street, the 2000 block of 22nd
Street, as well as the 2000 block of Diamond Street, there have been several meetings in
reference to this project. We've had, from the conversations of the biggest meeting we had of
the 54 members. We did have 52 people in support of the project, and I guess two sustaining.
But what I did was, because I am full support of this, but what I did was, if I had to have
the conversation again amongst everyone here, just so that I know that I was, for me, standing
on solid ground on october the 25th 2023 i took a survey of where the project buildings would be
erected because i live around the corner from them i live at 20 on the 2200 block of diamond i mean
of fatane street between 22nd and 21st of diamond so on october the 25th i took a survey of 75 people
And I was very careful when I was speaking with those who I, you know, spoke to because everybody doesn't want to have you have their name.
But I told them of the project that's trying to be erected here and what they're feeling.
But I told them of the project that's trying to be erected here and what their feelings were about the project.
Well, on that given day, I had 18 people who I spoke to was against the project.
Then I had 53 people who was in favor of the project.
And then I also had two people who just didn't care.
So with that part being in support of the community and they wanted the project to be here, I wanted to follow up and make sure that I was talking with the community again and not just for the first time.
So on November the 9th, I did the same procedure, stood between Diamond Street 2100 block and Diamond Street 2100 block and 2200 block of Diamond Street because there's a little small street in between called Banco.
So I stood there and I spoke with 42 people who came across my path. I asked them the same question in support of this project coming here. It's just not a police station. It's a police administration building that's going to have great things for the community.
And out of that, I had eight people who was not in favor of it, 33 people, I mean, yeah, 33 people who was in favor of it, and one person just, again, just did not care.
So with that being said, I think that we truly are in favor of this project being erected here, because it'll be a great source for the community. I'm in total support of this project being here, I mean, being done. So with that being said, we've had several conversations with the community about it.
I do not think that there needs to be a continuance on this project.
I'm fully supportive of it and hope that, you know, with my conversation, it helps the project go along the way.
And thank you for the opportunity to speak.
We thank you for sharing.
Yes, sir.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Vice Chair.
I have Judith Robinson with their hand raised.
I will allow them to speak at this time.
Please allow Mr. Robinson to speak.
Yes, good morning again. Judith Robinson here. I'm going to say, first of all, I am a homeowner.
Can you state your name and spell it for the record? I know we heard you earlier,
but we still need to go on the record with it. Okay. My name is Judith Robinson, J-U-D-I-T-H,
Robinson, R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N
and I am a homeowner
I would be 300 feet away from this proposed
site. My neighbors voted
for me as a committee person. I am the committee
person in the 32nd Ward, the 13th Division
This would be 300 feet away from my home. I am a
grandmother. If I thought this place would be of value to my grandchildren, teenagers, and the
community, I would be so happy. But this is our historic corridor. I have a petition from my
neighbors. I do want to say that. And they are most impacted. We're talking about a police station.
21 28 parking spaces are required they don't have enough room y'all they're asking us to change our
zoning but i'm going to state that first of all they want us to take away our historic corridor
which has been designated since 1986 by the historic commission and it was has benefits
Okay. The benefits are that we would get a residential house back. We would get our house and we get our history because the facade would be what was a replica of what was there in the past. Much needed housing and then history.
We have this history on our historic corridor where Church of the Advocates is located, where the home of Paul F. Keene, the world-famous artist, lived at 20th and Diamond.
You got the world-famous Jones Tabernacle AME, and as they mentioned, right across the street, New Jerusalem Church.
The reason why it was designated in 1986 as a historic corridor is because of the great architecture, you all, and then all the social history that we know of the Black Panthers, of the Black Power Conference, right on our historic corridor, Diamond Street.
So they're trying to take that away from us, you all, and the benefit of having housing there.
And also, I want to really point out about this traffic study.
Also, I want to really point out about this traffic study.
We never once.
We never once, it was not a part of the package, never once had the community viewed these documents.
I am a professional with nearly 40 years of real estate background.
I was the RCO facilitator for over a decade, you all, in a 30-second war right here.
I pray to God
why on earth
I've never had a conversation
about this
project
one meeting you all
held on a Friday
my Sabbath
I'm Hebrew Israelite
that was my Sabbath night
at 6 o'clock
they had to meet and it was sneaky
I bet you can't find 10 flyers
they did not fly in the community
listen
it appears she dropped out chair
listen
I'm here I'm here please please don't do
that don't do that I'm asking for this to be
continued. Listen, can you hear me? Can you hear me? We can hear you, ma'am. I'm asking for this to be
continued at one meeting on a Friday night at 6 p.m. on a $32 million project. That's unfair to the
community. It's unfair to the taxpayers. This is totally out of order. We never saw a traffic study.
We have people right now parking on our sidewalks, parking on our sidewalks now.
We have a new church, the church you mentioned.
They have a robust congregation.
They are parking on the sidewalk without any community input this project has been put through.
We are being overpowered by the governmental process.
I beg of you, if you have any conscience, if you claim that you are for the people, stop this madness now and allow us to have community input.
All right, let's talk about the refusal.
Could you please put the refusal up?
Because this is about land use, land use, land use.
The refusal, it says, this is zoned RM1, residential multifamily, you all.
We could get affordable housing for real.
we could get that by requesting that they stop this and do not change our land zoning code
because it doesn't allow for accessory parking.
That means parking without a building attached to it just off there.
All that parking, you all, it's an environmental hazard.
It's to our health.
We have respiratory issues.
Why would you plop this in the middle of a residential area?
Look, we have land, you all.
I told you I'm a real estate professional. We got land all over the place. I just sold the community. The whole block, 2300 block North 21st Street, one house on both sides of the street. We got the 19th and 20th on Norris Street, the whole block. You could put the whole thing there.
I'm not a person that brings a problem without a solution, but this is dangerous to us.
If we allow this, with one meeting, you all, everybody in the whole city should stomp down on this.
One meeting on a Friday night at 6 o'clock, and you call this done, the Art Commission has tabled this.
I hear some lies being told.
Attorney, you're dangerous, baby.
You're dangerous in the lies you're telling.
And listen, you don't do a survey.
Excuse me, ma'am. Excuse me, Ms. Robinson. Ms. Robinson, please keep your testimony to the project. Thank you.
So, ma'am, I understand you're not in favor of the project.
It looks like we might have lost her again. Oh, there she is.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, here I am. I don't know why I'm being lost, but I want to make sure I have a full presentation here
because I want the community to be clear on what they're asking us to do.
This land use is for residential multifamily housing.
Our historic overlay, you all are talking a lot about overlays these days,
and it's the first overlay in the whole city of Philadelphia.
The whole city should be standing on this.
The Historic Commission has advocated their responsibility in allowing us to even move thus far.
At first, they voted against it, and then here comes a politician to the hearing in May this year, two years later, and bullied this way through.
Ms. Robinson, excuse me, can you please, the historical aspect of this is not before the zoning board.
The historical aspect of this is not before the zoning board.
Yes, can you please keep it to the zoning-related issues?
Thank you.
And Ms. Robinson, I believe we heard you,
and we understand the community definitely has a voice at the table,
and we want to make sure the community is heard.
And that's why we did have a meeting, or they did have a meeting.
So we want to make sure we get to hear everyone in the virtual audience.
So is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Thank you, Ms. Robertson.
Yes, I have a Ruth I. Burchett with their hand raised.
I have allowed them to speak.
They've been allowed to speak.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Please state your name and spell it.
I'll go to court reporter.
Good morning.
My name is Ruth I. Birchett, R-U-T-H-I-C-I-R-C-H-E-T.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
I submitted a letter in behalf of Heritage Community Development Corporation,
a 30-plus-year-old organization in the area of which I am founder and president.
May I read the letter?