Mayor Parker hits the town hall circuit to promote $6.7 billion budget plan

As Mayor Cherelle Parker works to get her billion proposed budget passed by the end of June she and her entire cabinet have been barnstorming around the city holding a series of town halls to explain the spending plan to residents There s little doubt that the budget which covers the fiscal year that starts next month will win City Council approval during a series of hearings over the next three weeks But Parker commented she nonetheless wants executives to get out of City Hall and into Philly s neighborhoods to lay out to the community how tax dollars are being spent and what they re trying to accomplish Mayor Cherelle Parker spoke at a town hall at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia June Meir Rinde Billy Penn When she was first learning about working in cabinet the worst thing in the world that you could say to an elected official is The only time that we see you or you come talk to us is when you re knocking on our doors asking for our votes Parker narrated residents gathered at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philly for her preponderance up-to-date town hall Monday night So I am trained that you don t sit in the office when you re doing your work no matter what the issue is she commented You don t ever allow anybody else to speak for you To that end Parker and her top staff spent two hours explaining in detail and seeking to justify the gamut of programs and expenditures they re planning for the next year and beyond in areas ranging from housing assistance and illegal dumping cleanup to tax cuts and police body-worn cameras The event was the seventh of nine planned town halls the administration has been holding in different council districts since mid-April Two more are planned on June in South Philadelphia and June in West Philadelphia Here s a sampling of what bureaucrats noted Monday night Homeownership as a path to pride Parker began by reading from a profile of the th Councilmanic District where the church is located including its racial income gender and income input and recounting her own connections to various places in North Philly when she was growing up How a multitude of of you all remember something that used to look like flags that they used to put on a block at the top she requested during an aside about block pride on her great-grandmother s street Audience members yelled back Streamers streamers They had planters going up and down the block the streamers they would go across and then they would have planters on each side of the street Parker explained The th District is highly educated she commented with of residents having a high school diploma or higher degree and has a lot of new families as indicated by the large number of women aged to living in the area Two-thirds of the residents are renters a not entirely welcome increase from previous decades she announced I am unapologetic about attempting to use housing as a tool to put people on the path to self-sufficiency she announced You take care of things differently when you own the bricks that you live in You have the ability to fix up sweep up clean up The pride and the dignity associated with when you own it s extremely fundamental Angela Brooks Philadelphia s chief housing and urban improvement officer spoke at a town hall at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia June Meir Rinde Billy Penn Separate from the regular budget Parker has proposed borrowing million and using additional outside funding to encouragement two dozen new and existing housing-related programs including home repairs mortgage and rental assistance the Turn the Key affordable housing initiative and redevelopment of vacant parcels We understand that the easiest home for you to own is the one you already have commented Angela Brooks the lately appointed chief housing and urban maturation officer later in the evening So we want to make sure we protect the ability for countless of you to stay in your homes or age in place or ensure that you have a legacy for your children and your grandchildren Council is expected to approve several of the bills creating Parker s proposed H O M E initiative this week However parts of the package are facing resistance including the expansion of certain benefits to middle-income residents and efforts to slightly loosen council s tight control of the land disposition and zoning processes Applause for tax cuts and lower crime Much of the city s presentation focused on the nitty-gritty of budgeting such as the difference between Class expenditures salaries and Class outside contracting the breakdown of tax revenues from various business taxes versus from property taxes and the importance of maintaining a positive fund balance or financial cushion A fund balance is basically what s left over in your bank account at the end of the year reported Sabrina Maynard the city s budget director as she pointed to a chart projected on a pair of screens in the front of the room So you earn a paycheck you buy groceries you pay rent hopefully there s a little bit left over That s our cushion So when there s uncertainty that s what we draw upon to help us cover costs Finance director Rob Dubow spoke at a town hall at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia June Meir Rinde Billy Penn Microphone issues made it complicated to understand several of the speakers at one point audience members notified finance director Rob Dubow they couldn t hear him and he moved to a different spot to try to fix the issue They applauded however when Dubow mentioned Parker s plans to gradually reduce the Business Income Receipts Tax over years in an effort to encourage businesses to locate in Philadelphia and hire more employees The residents numerous of them church members sat in rows of chairs set up in the Deliverance Evangelistic chapel They were surrounded on three sides by information tables staffed with representatives from city agencies behavioral physical condition Licenses Inspections Parks Recreation the Water Department and various others as well as organizations like PECO and Society College of Philadelphia The audience clapped at times as when chief population safety director Adam Geer noted that installing LED street lights had led to reductions in violent crime in certain areas and that the city was giving million in anti-violence grants to th District organizations The audience for Mayor Cherelle Parker s town hall at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia June Meir Rinde Billy Penn Other city executives briefly described various projects Parker has prioritized such as the wellness ecosystem of remedy centers shelters and court diversion programs the city is emerging to move homeless drug users off the streets of Kensington The mayor and others emphasized their efforts to develop both the city and private workforce Chief administrative officer Camille Duchaussee noted that upped recruitment and retention programs had helped stem the tide of city worker leakage and bring the city s payroll up to employees Though still far short of the number needed it s about more than at this time last year she explained A few questions unanswered Clean Green director Carlton Williams drew certain of the loudest cheers and clapping along with enthusiastic nods from Parker when he talked about twice-a-week trash pickup coming to North Philly later this year the higher fines and tougher enforcement against illegal dumpers increased cleaning of commercial corridors and other sanitation programs I want to thank Mayor Parker and our entire club for the hard work but certainly want to thank our block captains that are here our residents that are here all of y all play a big role in helping us achieve that vision and we look forward to continuously working with each and every one of you he revealed to applause Mayor Cherelle Parker spoke at a town hall at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia June Meir Rinde Billy Penn The event at times had the feeling of a Parker campaign rally with a multitude of of the leaders praising their boss or noting her longtime interest or particular enthusiasm for certain initiatives such as the Taking Care of Business cleaning undertaking she helped create as councilmember and the H O M E initiative which Brooks described as Parker s baby After the presentation ended a crowd gathered around the mayor at the front of the room to chat with her and ask questions until a phalanx of aides extracted her and expeditiously escorted her out of the building Selected of those who attended revealed they were glad to have the chance to hear about the city budget even if their particular questions were not answered Darnetta Arce who works for a workforce enhancement nonprofit revealed she was particularly interested in learning about the budgets of individual city departments and understanding why it takes a long time for nonprofit organizations to receive their city funding I could not hear too well so that s part of the trouble But I did take a look at the PowerPoint that was provided and I kind of understood what was going on with that but I would love to hear more about how and who gets the opportunity to receive money from the budget she explained Dwayne Smith a church member and police department administrative employee commented he would have liked to hear more about efforts to reduce violence and improve safety on SEPTA which is independent from the city but receives particular city funding He mentioned he takes transit for free thanks to the city s participation in the SEPTA Key Advantage undertaking but is concerned that he never sees any police officers on the trains The post Mayor Parker hits the town hall circuit to promote billion budget plan appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY