Quiñones said that in June she passed Resolution 200402, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Johnson, Thomas, Parker, Green, Gilmore Richardson, Domb, Henon, Brooks, and Bass, to develop a process for the long term.

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The Councimember pointed out the opportunity to learn from similar experiences in order to create a new model for Philadelphia and to bridge the digital divide not only during the pandemic but permanently. “California created a sustainable fund (the California Advanced Services Fund) using a surcharge which has expanded broadband access to high need areas over the last decade, and this year Chicago announced a $50 million, four year initiative to expand broadband to 100,000 families,” Quiñones said.

The Councilwoman projects the presentation of options for equitable broadband internet access by September.

“Our fight against our intractable poverty rate depends on our ability to provide all of Philadelphia’s children with a full and meaningful education and to provide Philadelphians who want to re-train and learn new skills with access to the tools they will need,” Councilmember Sánchez stated. “We cannot do that without equitable broadband internet access, regardless of income or housing status. This is our opportunity to set a new standard.”

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While I understand the administration must make tough decisions in the aftermath of COVID-19, this proposal simply falls short. We can and must do better.

That’s why I’m planning to introduce a budget amendment that would restore funding for the arts, including the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and African American Museum, reduce cuts to our parks and libraries, and provide the Department of Commerce funds to assist the City’s economy recovery – all for just under $22 million dollars.

In particular, I plan to do so using unused money from the recession fund and beverage tax revenue.

As the City Controller points out in a recent report, the $50 million set aside for recession recovery can be used effectively to do just that – recover from our current financial crises created by the onset of the COVID-19 virus. My amendment pulls roughly $11 million from this fund.

In addition, I am proposing that $10 million of unused beverage tax revenue be moved from the Department of Human Services (DHS) to fund libraries and the Department of Parks and Recreation.  In fiscal year 2021, the City will fund 3,300 Pre-K seats at a cost of about $28 million.  In the current budget, over $40 million was sent to DHS from the Office of Children and Families, (formerly the Mayor’s Office of Education) to fund Pre-K education. Therefore, there will be more than $10 million at DHS unused and available for transfer.

The amendment will deliver the following:

Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE):  Completely restore the OACCE and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF).  At a cost of a little over $4.2 million, this restores 8 jobs and fuels the economic recovery. The City’s creative arts industry is valued at $3.4 billion, generating annual tax revenue of $157 million. This also restores funding to the African American Museum and the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and a myriad of cultural activities.

Department of Parks and Recreation:  Retain 29 staff and restore $8.7 million in personal costs. This will allow the restoration of a variety of summer programs for youth, including pool openings the city’s underserved neighborhoods.

Free Library of Philadelphia:   Retain 28 staff and restore $6.2 million in personal costs.  This allows the restoration of service hours, particularly on weekends and Sunday in the four regional and main libraries.  Students in underserved communities rely on WIFI service in neighborhood libraries for research and other learning activities.

Department of Commerce:  Retain 43 staff and restore $1.5 million in personal services.  In addition, provide funding for the Citizens Diplomacy International.  Restoring personnel available to aid in administering grant programs is essential.  The department has $4 million in grants available, and numerous other grant programs have been recently created.  Recovering city business, particularly those with insufficient insurance need grant and programmatic help.

The administration has also experienced savings from the COVID-19 shutdown not taken into account when calculating the $649 million budget hole.  My office performed an independent analysis and found a savings of greater than $44 million – these unreported savings are a potential source of funding to save jobs and restore core services.

It’s also important to note the administration has steadily increased spending by $1 billion since 2016. Now, in the first real sign of economic downturn, the City tells us that layoffs, tax increases, and cuts to core services is the only way to meet our obligations.  I disagree.

The adjustments to the Mayor’s budget proposal presented in my amendment would restore services and programs that affect education, summer programs that impact our underserved communities, fuel our City’s economic recovery, and save our cherished arts and culture industry. I urge the administration and Council to adopt my proposal– there is simply no excuse to defund vital offices and core services when there are feasible alternatives.

 *  David Oh is an At-Large Member of the Philadelphia City Council.

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“We must enact a permanent, independent, citizen-led police advisory commission with real powers to investigate, to discipline, to enforce, and to change policies that include public reporting and accountability when it comes to officer misconduct, limits on use of force, limits on racial profiling, limits on stops, searches, and arrests, and protections against hate crimes and sexual assaults”, the Councilmember said.

Quiñones mentioned the initiatives that have been carried out before with the same purpose. These include an executive order from Mayor Michael Nutter who in 2015 created a citizen oversight board and carry out the recommendations of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The creation of this board revealed that the Philadelphia Police Departmet “only sustained 138 of 8,555 complaints of misconduct over a four year period between 2013 and 2016.”

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This oversight board followed the proposals she made with Curtis Jones Jr., Cindy Bass, Kenyatta Johnson in 2012 and 2014. The goal was to establish a permanent, citizen-run Police Advisory Commission to investigate and change department misconduct policies. These included limits on use of force, on racial profiling and protections against hate crimes and sexual assault.

“Together, we reset police policies and procedures including 7 of the 8 that Can’t Wait, that is, the 8 actions trending on Twitter today that reduce police violence by 75%,” explained the Councilwoman.

However, Quiñones pointed out in the statement that it has not yet been possible to implement “the 8th action,” which represents the presentation of public reports accessible through a system of anonymous complaints online and which would ensure the full effectiveness of the other actions.

“We did not achieve and we have still not achieved”, she stated, “the 8th action that brings it all together , that reduces 25% of killings alone because it gives all the other actions teeth , and that is the requirement of accessible public reporting, through a complaint system that is anonymous, online, and available in multiple formats and languages at nonpolice locations.”

According to the councilwoman, this action would permit the establishment of” a system that identifies officers by name, and that pinpoints the date, time, location, evidence, and both actual and perceived identity of those who are stopped, searched, arrested, profiled, or victimized.”

Hence the importance of transparency in police procedures. “We simply cannot achieve meaningful policy reform without real accountability and transparency,” stated Quiñones.

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