PGN recently joined Mayor Jim Kenney’s “Ask Kenney” effort, an initiative aimed at ensuring the Mayor’s Office is accessible to local residents. Throughout May, PGN solicited questions from readers about city government and issues impacting local communities and forwarded the inquiries to Kenney’s office.
Below are the mayor’s responses to some of our readers’ questions.
1. Please tell me what you’re doing to address corrupt politicians in Philadelphia.
2. How does one make a complaint against a member of city government, and who will investigate the complaint and let the citizen know about the outcome?
3. How do you report City Council members who are violating the law?
4. What are you doing with the homeless and those who panhandle aggressively in Center City?
5. How come you have remained so silent when politicians have been accused of wrong-doing or have been locked up?
6. Crime is going up in the city. What are you doing to support the police?
7. What are you doing to collect taxes from those who have not paid them?
8. Is there an employee manual for the public to view for members of city government?
— J. Cohen
To answer your first and fifth question, I take seriously my responsibility to ensure the public’s trust in their government. Since becoming mayor, my administration has released more than 30 open-data sets to provide more transparency to the public, and the Office of the Inspector General established a nonprofit task force to prevent wrong-doing at city-funded nonprofits and increased contract-oversight efforts to prevent abuse of the city’s minority-participation contracting program. In October, I also signed an executive order that established clear guidelines for gifts for city employees and specifically named registered lobbyists as prohibited sources. I also have spoken up when I have seen other Philadelphia elected officials accused or indicted for corruption, including D.A. Williams and the former head of the PPA. I think it’s important for citizens to know I don’t consider those things normal.
To answer your second and third questions, citizens who want to make complaints against city employees have several options. Alleged ethical violations should be reported to the Philadelphia Board of Ethics. Suspected cases of fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement of city funds should be reported to the city’s Inspector General. Anyone with a question about where and how to report issues can always contact the city’s Office of the Chief Integrity Officer at [email protected].
To answer your fourth question, the city recently launched a new text-to-give campaign to address panhandling. This campaign allows concerned citizens to donate $5 by texting the word “share” to 80077; all funds will go to the Mayor’s Fund to End Homelessness and all donations will be matched by the Office of Homeless Services. By supporting these programs, we will be able to grant individuals in need with better access to treatment and necessary services that will address the issue of panhandling at its root cause. It is important to note that panhandling is not illegal and involving the police in this matter only makes it more difficult for the city to get these individuals the treatment and care they need.
In addition to this effort, we are also funding an extensive system that provides emergency, temporary and permanent housing for individuals and families that are experiencing homelessness. In my last budget, I proposed 83 new permanent housing units for individuals and families to exit homelessness.
To answer your sixth question, first, let me say that one stabbing, one shooting, one homicide is too many. Now, right now, both violent and property crimes (part 1 and 2) are at the same levels they were last year. That doesn’t mean we’re resting on our laurels, however. The Managing Director’s Office has launched an effort to better catalogue all of our anti-violence programs. We spend tens of millions of dollars on various anti-violence programs in several different departments but it’s evident that those programs need to be better-coordinated towards a common vision and mission. The culmination of this effort will result in a public detailed action plan in six months.
In addition to this effort, we have many ongoing ones. The police have also stepped up their efforts to engage our youth and community through PAL, the Explorer Cadet program, CHEERS, GREAT Training, DARE Program and more. Additionally, PPD is strategically deploying officers in the needed “hot spots” and, since much of our violence is retaliatory, they deploy specific intelligence strategies to deal with that. In my latest budget, we also provided them with additional funding for body cameras and improvements to high-need districts.
To answer your seventh question, the city has made progress in collecting delinquent taxes. Right now, we have the lowest number of delinquent accounts and amount owed since 2011, thanks to new initiatives including more frequent mailings to those in arrears, increased use of data from the IRS, the state and other sources to uncover underreporting of tax liabilities as well as denial of tax credits, permits, city jobs, zoning variances and payments to delinquents. Thanks to these efforts, our Finance Department believes we will increase collections from delinquents totaling $70 million above what would have been collected without the new efforts over the next five years.
To answer your eighth question, the city’s Home Rule Charter and The Philadelphia Ordinance contain rules governing the ethical conduct of employees who work in all city departments, agencies and offices, including the executive and legislative branches, the District Attorney, City Controller, Sheriff and City Commissioners. There are also several executive orders dictating ethical conduct. Links to all ethics resources are available on the CIO’s website: www.phila.gov/integrityworks.
When will the city start mandating the recycling of plastic grocery bags?
— Scott A. Drake
Scott, thank you for writing. Currently, plastic bags are not collected as part of the city’s Recycling Program because, among other reasons, the bags create static electricity, which attracts dirt and creates contamination, which could potentially ruin large portions of a recyclables load. Instead, Philadelphians should drop off plastic bags at many retailers/stores. Residents can find retail stores offering drop-off recycling for plastic bags in their area by going to our website: http://www.philadelphiastreets.com/zero-starts-with-one/resources/
What is the latest on The Gallery area development?
— Tim Adams
Tim, thanks for writing. The ongoing development around The Gallery Mall site is one that will greatly transform our downtown area. The Gallery, which will be known as the Philadelphia Fashion Outlets at the Gallery, has been completely gutted and is in the process of being rebuilt. This $350-million makeover is anticipated to be completed in mid-2018. By the end of the summer, Burlington Coat Factory is slated to be relocated to the eastern end of the mall (near Century 21), and their current space will begin renovations. Another major change expected by the end of the summer is a new glass-cube entrance at the corner of Ninth and Market streets.
As a disabled person on Social Security disability, I am first dismayed that I have to pay for SEPTA, as retired individuals on the same Social Security do not. In most cases, the disabled make less than retirees. Second, I’m even more dismayed they are raising the disabled fare in July. Please address.
— Jason Eric Klemm
Mr. Klemm, I understand your concern. While the city does not run SEPTA, I understand from speaking with them on this matter that SEPTA’s senior free-ride program is funded by the PA Lottery, so SEPTA doesn’t have the ability to apply that funding to subsidize fares for disabled riders or other non-seniors. The state would have to do that.
Regarding the increase in the disabled fare, SEPTA has shared with me that the disabled rider fare has always been approximately half of the regular cash fare. As they are increasing the regular cash fare, they are increasing the disabled fare so it remains half the cost of a regular ticket. They’ve shared with me that this will be the first increase in the disabled fare in nearly a decade.
If there are any other ways the city can assist you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities at 215-686-2798.