Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker was handed a new Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia during a press conference on Thursday. I wish I would have had access to it while writing my first book.
For much of the last three months, I’ve been watching Philadelphia City Council meetings on Channel 64 instead of attending them in person because of a project I’ve been working on.
That project: a book on gun violence targeted to middle schoolers — that’s 6th, 7th, and 8th grade to you and me — designed to help them understand why it exists and how we got here. Among the topics I take on is guns themselves, why guns are given such carte blanche when it comes to weapons and, most importantly, what we can do as Americans to stem the tide.
I thought about my first book during Thursday’s City Hall press conference unveiling the Blueprint For A Safer Philadelphia. So much of what I wrote about is in this document.
The big difference is that I don’t have enforcement power. The folks overseeing this report do.
The document is the product of the Blueprint For A Safer Philadelphia Summit held by Councilmember Curtis Jones at St. Joseph’s University in September.
The document is about 200 pages long and covers a wide range of subjects based on concerns expressed by the people who attended the summit. State and local officials surrounded Jones as he presented the document to Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker, the person for whom, if we’re honest with ourselves, this plan was created.
A lot of the stuff in the plan isn’t new.
Safe Corridor programs so that kids in places like Kensington don’t have to worry about being exposed to stuff that no kid should be exposed to have been called for for a while now. And don’t get me started on how the Commonwealth’s stance on funding education in Philly is the main reason why it’s best I never become the city’s mayor.
(The first thing I’d fund with that tax money we stopped giving Harrisburg would be the schools. Between new buildings and teachers’ salaries rivaling Bucks County’s Council Rock School District, Philly would be THE destination for teachers.)
Some of the stuff in this Blueprint is new and kind of interesting. It addresses witness protection, something I feel I’ve been discussing for years. There is a section on using technology to fight crime, and that’s important.
And because this column is going to continue to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop until it can’t anymore, I found the inclusion of Drill music, a form of hip-hop, in this report a little curious. But okay.
Some of these suggestions have already been implemented. Money has already been invested in police recruitment and the Community Expansion Grant program continues to provide assistance to community organizations.
Some of them are going to require some help from the Commonwealth. While several state legislators including State Sen. Sharif Street and State Rep. Morgan Cephas,were at Thursday’s press conference, you’re going to have to forgive me for not being all that optimistic about Harrisburg’s participation. I guess I’ve seen them in action too many times.
But what all of them are going to require is something that always seems to be left out of these conversations.
Political will.
Folks are going to have to fight for a lot of these things, and the fights are going to be tough ones.
Which is why one of the questions I asked during the press conference was how folks were going to keep this report from being yet another example of the city’s ability to kill trees?
I think that Philadelphians themselves are going to have to determine that. Let’s hope they’re up to it.
Our reporters sit through hours of city council meetings, dig through piles of documents, and ask tough questions other media overlook. Because we’re committed to addressing Philadelphia’s poverty crisis — and challenging those who sustain it. If you think this work is important too, please support our journalism.
We’re counting on readers like you.
