Reduce our jail population by a further 50% from the 2019 levels
End City interaction with Immigrant Customs and Enforcement (ICE)
City agencies should not accept, seek out, nor honor ICE contracts.
The City will only accept federal funds if these funds do not come with obligations to work with or support ICE.
The City will require public funds do not get used for collaboration with ICE (through DHS, the Police Department, Courts & Parole, the School District, etc.)
Explore what further power our City has to limit ICE’s presence and impact on our communities
Add staff and ample funding to the Police Advisory Commission, following through on the commitment to increase funding from $500K to $1.5 million – power to subpoena, investigate and censure – including but not limited to cases of police brutality and over-policing.
Cut the adult parole and probation population from 40,000 to 20,000 within two years, and end surveillance in our communities such as electronic monitoring, by pushing criminal justice stakeholders like the First Judicial District, the District Attorney, the Managing Directors’ Office and the Public Defender
Provide young people with resources, not prisons and detention centers, by ending the practice of prosecuting youth as adults, removing all youth from the city’s adult jails, and diverting young people out of the juvenile justice system and into community-based models of support.
Sue banks that have, in recent history, redlined in Philadelphia and use the funding to provide for more affordable and accessible housing.
End Stop and Frisk
Keep Philadelphia Accessible and Affordable
Enact rent control legislation to stabilize rents for low-income households and strengthen good cause eviction policies
Prioritize city land and money for permanently affordable developments
Stop taxing the poor!
Make nontaxable the first $25,000 of income for the city wage tax
Make the Longtime Owner Occupants Program (LOOP) permanent
Stop sheriff sales
Pass and fund the right to counsel for all housing-related civil cases
Enforce the existing Land Bank and make sure it puts land out for equitable development and community green space in a transparent way
Pass legislation that will make newly constructed homes be visitable, by creating one entrance on the first floor with no steps, wider doors and hallways with access to half a bath that someone in a wheelchair is able to close the door.
Expand funding for housing first opportunities for persons experiencing homelessness to reduce the harms associated with housing instability.
Expand mental health support programs for homeless individuals at their level of desired support.
Invest in Healthy Schools, Jobs and Re-Entry, and Affordable Accessible Housing
Find a permanent, dedicated source of new money for the city’s Housing Trust Fund (HTF) and ensure that HALF of all money in the HTF goes to families making less than 30% of Area Median Income (or about $26,000/ year for a family of four)
With the savings from our decreasing jail population and the closing of facilities like House of Corrections, we demand that City Council use that funding to invest in:
Alternative sentencing programs like restorative and transformative justice initiatives
Skill and trade building programs, paired with job programs, to prevent recidivism and support re-entry
Investing in pre-trial and re-entry services that are community-centered
Retraining and reskilling the current criminal legal workforce with good union jobs that support decarceration.
Ensure City money to the School District be used to immediately cleanup toxic lead, asbestos, mold, rodents, faulty electrical and poor ventilation in all schools and install kitchens that can provide healthy, cooked food to all students by holding the District accountable to:
Hiring the hundreds of additional union cleaners and maintenance staff necessary for the cleanup and cooking by increasing wages to at least $15/hour with healthcare benefits;
Setting up a facilities taskforce of stakeholders to prioritize and oversee repairs
Install full service kitchens in all schools
Increase funding to the Free Library of Philadelphia by $15 million to ensure full staffing and access to library services for all Philadelphians
Fund recruitment and retention strategies and programs to hire more teachers and support staff of color, particularly Black teachers and multilingual teachers and support staff
Fully fund the Community College of Philadelphia, renewing the city’s original commitment to cover 1/3 of CCP’s budget and taking the financial burden away from students
Fund support and trauma treatment for the victims of gun violence and their families
Fund the development of worker owned business cooperatives
Expand the City Council budget for cooperative development
Educate city government workers in the commerce department and the Office of Workforce Development on the cooperative model in partnership with community-based groups doing cooperative economy work
Amend existing business support programs to include and incentivize worker coops
Invest in waste reduction, including supporting community-led composting enterprises and municipal composting and requiring all city agencies and departments to compost
Make Corporations, Developers and Universities Pay their Fair Share
End the 10-year tax abatement completely and ensure that the 55% coming back to the School District goes towards cleaning up toxic schools and the 45% coming back to the city goes to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and is earmarked for families making less than 30% AMI
Enact payment in lieu of taxes (PILOTS) for large non-profits (defined by Rendell’s 1994 memo) at a rate of 50% of their estimated forgone taxes
Reclaim public control of taxpayer subsidies from the Chamber of Commerce by severing the city’s relationship with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.
Restore the Business Income and Revenue Tax (BIRT), particularly the Gross Receipts portion of the BIRT, to pre-2018 cut levels (1.415% on Gross Receipts)
Increase the Use and Occupancy tax to 1.5% and proportionally increase the exemption
Enact an Impact Fee on low-wage employers who fail to pay their employees a living wage in order to recuperate costs to the city for city social services.
Expand Community Control of Land, Housing, Schools and Energy
The practice of councilmanic prerogative for land use decisions is deeply flawed, unaccountable, and broken. Urgently protect, preserve and expand affordable housing and green spaces in black and brown communities:
Enforce the existing Land Bank and establish accountability by ensuring that the Land Bank publishes sales information in real time and accessibly on their website both before and after transactions.
Put publicly held, and tax delinquent land into the Land Bank and ensure that land is given for nominal fee to groups for community benefit: low-income and affordable housing, food production, community green space, or economic development that creates living wage jobs.
Ensure community control of land for gardeners and farmers that have worked the land: fix the broken EOI process for more transparent & accessible pathway for land ownership, extend garden leases beyond 1-5 years, approve garden leases to individuals, not just non-profits, and increase transparency around land allocation decision-making
Community elected representatives on the Land Bank Oversight Board that will include a community gardener and someone with experience developing or living in low-income housing.
Hold Land Bank and Council Quarterly Town Halls for community accountability, leadership, and authority in Council’s decisions around land use and ownership per district.
Call for a moratorium on all sheriff sales
End the 10 year tax abatement
Declare your support for and nominate people to the school board who support:
Charter school moratorium and charter school accountability standards
Invest in an alternative safety plan that doesn’t rely on school police and security
Commit to the goals of a Green New Deal by investing in a more democratic, renewable and equitable energy system:
Demand that the City invest in and prioritize community-owned renewable energy projects by Black, Brown, and poor communities in its energy procurement portfolio
Commission and fund a public and participatory study to take community control of PECO
Commission & fund community-labor led studies on transitioning Philadelphia Gas Works to 100% renewable energy
Divest from fossil fuel investments in the City Pension Fund and reinvest in a just transition from fossil fuel efforts that center labor and environmental justice communities
Advocate for a federal Green New Deal to advance efforts to move Philadelphia towards a democratically controlled 100% renewable energy system by 2030 through unionized job creation that prioritizes Philadelphia’s working class and communities of color
Make Philadelphia a Safe and Healthy City for Everyone
Support the proven ability of Philadelphia’s drug users, and those working with them, to keep themselves and those around them healthy, while addressing the legacy of racism and community devastation created by the war on drugs:
Support and expedite the implementation and sustainability of Safehouse, a non-profit organization providing overdose prevention services to persons who use drugs. Explore decentralized instances of peer-run overdose prevention sites.
Lift the ban on methadone treatment clinics in District 1, 6 and 10 so that people all over the city can access treatment regardless of where they live
Continue lowering barriers to access so that more individuals can engage in medication-assisted treatment on a consistent basis.
Support the creation of a community health worker program led by active drug users and sex workers.
Commit to a healthy fossil-free energy system and hold our polluters accountable:
Pass a moratorium on the development of fossil fuel infrastructure in Philadelphia
Transition the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery to restored public land and community-owned renewable energy projects
Amend Air Management Service’s permitting process to adopt a Cumulative Impacts Analysis & a Health Impacts Analysis
Advocate that Attorney General Josh Shapiro collect state back taxes owed by the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery and enforce clean-up of toxics from Sunoco’s ownership
Support a Good Neighbor Agreement between the Philadelphia Energy Solutions with surrounding neighborhoods as a precondition to the RNG Energy biogas development
Invest & Purchase in Good Food Communities:
City agencies must purchase food that is nutritious, sustainably sourced, values work-force, and locally sourced agriculture. To do this we need the city to divest from unhealthy, unsustainably sourced, labor exploiting, corporate food
Prioritize black & brown growers when investing in support & infrastructure for growing Good Food AND when purchasing Good Food
Make transportation more equitable, affordable and safe:
Free public transportation for low-income people and students, including ending the transfer fare.
Advocate that SEPTA prioritize the procurement of electric buses in low-income, EJ communities
Increase access to all transportation for people using wheelchairs, taxis, Uber, Lyft, SEPTA, hotel vans and all vans that travel to and from the airport.
Fund Vision Zero for bicycle safety
Create a city trust fund to supplement benefits available to Philadelphia’s publicly funded home care workers who care for our cities most vulnerable residents, allowing them to remain at home and live with dignity. Benefits could include: subsidies to provide affordable health care to uninsured caregivers, discounted transpasses to travel to and from clients homes, training opportunities, and the establishment of a caregivers worker center
Philadelphia Health Centers are an essential part of needed primary care. Expand access to primary healthcare, complete plans to expand District 10 Health Center and add needed resources to other centers across the city.
Registered nurses in our city’s hospitals are fighting every day for safe patient limits. All patients, regardless of income or zip code, deserve to have an adequate number of nurses at the bedside.
Make our homes and public spaces resilient
Invest in energy efficiency and buildings apprentice programs and expand basic service repair projects to support energy efficiency and decrease energy burden in communities
Advocate that any Rebuild projects incorporate solar microgrids to provide emergency power in times of storms
Close down the Philadelphia Nursing Home (PNH) by creating benchmarks to downsize the City-owned and tax-paid nursing home — with the commitment to close — so that we uphold Philadelphians right to access quality care in their homes
Protect the Dignity and Respect of all Work
Create a fully funded Enforcement Office with a council of workers and City officials to enforce pro-worker ordinances by seeking penalties from employers when the bills are violated. Such bills include: Fair Work Week, wage theft, paid sick, the future domestic worker bill of rights, and all other worker ordinances
Pass a Philadelphia Domestic Worker Bill of Rights to expand labor protections and raise workplace standards for the 16,000 nannies, house cleaners, and care providers in Philadelphia, including: rights to paid sick and paid time off; required paid breaks; guaranteed written contracts; health and safety protections; protection from employer retaliation including engagement with law enforcement including police and ICE; and ensure that all elements of the Fair Practice and Wage Theft Ordinances apply to domestic workers
Let all of Philadelphia’s citizens access protection and health care without stigma and judgement:
Decriminalize sex work and drug use so that persons who have a history of engaging in those activities can access medical and mental healthcare without facing stigma.
Support the creation of a community health worker program led by active drug users and sex workers.
Support fair contracts for faculty and staff at Community College of Philadelphia, which would allow faculty and staff to give students the time and attention they need, strengthen faculty diversity, and raise wages for the lowest-paid employees.
Expand funding and make permanent the Office of Workforce Development, with a stronger emphasis on job training and community organizing supports
Report on the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative and create a roadmap on how this program can be expanded to incentive job opportunities for marginalized communities
Support protective ordinances for workers in the gig economy including regulating delivery and transportation services and ensuring collective bargaining rights for these workers
Help ensure government programs reach workers who need them by including worker organizations in the provision of public benefits.
Use all means at your disposal to support workers fighting to unionize and win a fair contract.
Ensure a Democracy Where We Can All Participate
Create a democratically elected school board with taxation power and publicly funded elections that are open to all Philadelphians, regardless of documentation status
Create a publicly-owned bank for the City of Philadelphia that would hold all city funds to reduce our payments to Wall Street banks, invest in projects for the public good like education, housing, and community-owned businesses, and be governed by a political independent board
Expand language access supports in all city agencies – including budgets – that focus on achieving language access, proper training for staff, and emphasis on hiring bilingual staff across all city agencies
