Jim Kenney Hits Home At Town Hall Meeting

by Monica Robinson
Community schools, affordable housing, trash pickup, gun violence and small-business contracts with the city … all were hot topics at Tuesday night’s town-hall meeting with Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney at South Philadelphia HS.

This was the second of five town-hall meetings Kenney had planned to get feedback from Philadelphians. Last night, he answered questions from members of the community in the school’s auditorium. He was on stage flanked by members of his large transition team, who will put out a final report from these gatherings in January.

FUTURE MAYOR Jim Kenney discusses community concerns with citizen at Second Town Hall meeting at South Philadelphia High School on Tuesday. Photo by Monica Robinson

Community Schools
Substitute teacher Meeka Outlaw lives in Grays Ferry. But she takes her child to Center City to attend a good school. She wishes she didn’t have to travel so far.
“We’re working to create community schools in Philadelphia,” said Otis Hackney, Principal of South Philadelphia High School and the next chief education officer in the Kenney administration. “Everyone wants a school your child can walk to, especially at the elementary level, and get a high quality education.”

Philadelphia’s City Council has also started examining the idea of turning schools into social-service hubs. They would be ‘school-based family service centers.’ “If we have those services on site, we have eye services, dental services and a nurse, the child can stay in the classroom (and not go home)” said Mayor-Elect Kenney. “Most of the children we will service are Medicaid eligible, which means it’s not costing the district anything. Medicaid reimburses the organizations that provide these services.”

Hackney also said the Kenney administration is working to decrease class sizes and ease overcrowding by getting fair funding at the state level for Philadelphia schools.

Affordable Housing
Tiffany Wright, a South Philadelphia resident and worker for Councilman Kenyatta Johnson said a lot of constituents call looking for somewhere to live. “There’s not enough housing. Shelters are full to capacity.” She asked Kenney, “What would you do about our housing crisis?”

Kenney talked about several strategies including funding CDC’s (Community Development Corporations) and the Housing Trust Fund. “When housing gets gentrified, make sure long-term residents can remain and don’t get pushed out.” Plus, there’s a gentrification freeze, which doesn’t allow property owners’ tax assessment to go up more than three times.

He added, “When it comes to development in the city.. we need to set aside some part of that development for affordable or low-income housing.”

SUBSTITUTE TEACHER Meeka Outlaw lives in Grays Ferry but takes her child to school in Center City. She’s looking for a good school in her neighborhood. Photo by Monica Robinson

Trash Pick-up
One resident asked about making sure businesses have enough ash trays to keep cigarette butts off the streets. But Kenney pushed back. “In the end it’s about us. When people ask me, ‘What are you going to do about the trash pick-up?’ and I stop them and say ‘What are we going to do?’ This is about all of us, about how we behave and act… “We’re going to have to have a conversation with all of us about how we treat our neighborhoods and our streets, from cigarettes butts to larger items.” That includes throughing trash out of car windows, Kenney said.

Gun Violence
Last night, residents were looking for ways to reduce deadly shootings and get guns out of young men’s hands.

“They need to go to work,” Kenney said. “They need training and they need direction to go to work. If you have a job, and come home at night, you’re too tired to do some nonsense.”

He’s dedicated to beefing up vocational training and building trades— and opening access to these jobs that pay $35 to $40 an hour. He also wants to invest in (with the state) the waterfront and expand the container port to double the size we have now. These jobs also pay $35 to $40 an hour. “These are jobs you can do without an education, even though we’d like everyone to be as educated as possible. But you can make a living and raise a family working on the waterfront with containers, as opposed to standing on a corner.”

Small Businesses
Small business owners are looking for help in getting city contracts. Kenney said he has named two appointees to help in this area.

First, Kenny has named Nolan Atkinson as the city’s first ever Chief Diversity officer. He is an attorney who has worked for years making the legal profession in Philadelphia more diverse. His job will be to diversify city government and contracts.

Kenney has also tapped local business leader Harold Epps as the city’s commerce director.

Epps is the vice chairman of PRWT Services, Inc., a minority-owned firms and a $100 million provider of high-performance business solutions, facilities management and infrastructure support services. Kenney believes there will be positive results at the end of four years with these two appointees.

TIFFANY WRIGHT, a South Philadelphia resident and worker for Councilman Kenyatta Johnson is concerned about Philadelphia’s housing crisis. Photo by Monica Robinson

Communication
Kenney said he will to work on the interaction between management and labor. “We’re going to have a dignified relationship. We’re going to have a respectful relationship. We’re going to make sure our taxpayers are taken care of and not fleeced. But we’re also going to make sure our workers are shown respect and dignity, and we listen to what they say… We can collaborate with them to make them a part of the process… That’s not a hard thing to do. We’ve already started the process.”

He also vowed to work with city council. “You can’t dictate things. You can’t tell people what to do. You have to get consensus.” Kenney said he likes to use sports analogies. “If you want to be a single tennis player and be mayor, and stand in center court, and be the focus of attention, you’re not going to get anything accomplished with city council.”

Here’s the town hall meeting schedule for the rest of the week:

Mayfair Community Center, 2990 Saint Vincent Street
Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, 7:30pm – 8:30pm
Strawberry Mansion HS, 3133 Ridge Avenue
Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Members of the public are invited to attend. You are encouraged to RSVP online at KenneyForPhiladelphia.com or submit your recommendations on the website.

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