Gauthier on Housing:
“We are currently experiencing a housing crisis in western southwest Philadelphia and across the city. It this year, in particular, I’m going to be focused on the preservation of affordable housing.”
“Low-income housing developments that were supported by federal subsidies that are now expiring can now be sold, leading to displacement for many people.”
“There’s really no plan for that. I want to do what I can at the local level to ensure that people are protected and we’re not losing affordable housing and displacing people. Particularly Black and Brown people from our neighborhood.”
On curbing violence:
“I’ve been very vocal about the need for the city to have a more urgent and comprehensive strategy (to combat gun violence). I fought with my colleagues for record-level funding for violence prevention and intervention initiatives.”
“All of us were heartbroken because Tiffany Fletcher, a Parks and Rec employee working at the Mill Creek Rec Center, which is in my district, was caught in the crossfire among two groups of youth who had guns and were shooting at one another, and she got caught in the crossfire, and she unfortunately died because of those injuries.”
“And so I’ve been watching the violence that has been happening in my district and across the city. A lot of it is caused by conflicts arising between different youths tied to various blocks or areas of west and southwest Philly who are feuding with one and another.”
“I think that in order if the city wants to get a handle on gun violence, we have to understand what’s going on with young people”
Regarding city services:
“(Another key issue this) is city services. It has become very apparent to me in my time as a councilmember, is that every neighborhood in Philadelphia is not served equitably.”
“There’s no real proactive strategy for (repairing) streetlights in the neighborhoods where you are having issues with gun violence or carjackings. The city is unable to really deal with nuisance and blighted properties that are leading to gun violence and illicit drug activity in our neighborhood.”
“If you overlay (311) service calls on a map, it’s lamost the same map where gun violence is happening over and over again. If the city was better at delivering basic city services, and if the city did that in a more equitable way, it would not only show our residents that we care about them and care about the places where they live, it could also make our neighborhoods a lot safer.”
