Philly Plain Dealer

On Thursday, May 1st, the Philadelphia City Council met, as they regularly do, and discussed a variety of topics. Some of those matters included local apprenticeships, Asian American & Pacific Islander Month, and the recognition of a number of Philadelphians that have the council’s attention. 

In the midst of this meeting, the Philadelphia City Council very briefly discussed Bill #240665-AA and its new amendments, which were introduced and passed with the only objections coming from Councilmembers Brooks, Landau, and O’Rourke. This was much was different than the responses of the community members and Kensington residents who joined the meeting to overwhelmingly object the potential passing of Bill #240665-AA. Philadelphians have been referring to this bill as the “Mobile Services Ban” and that’s for good reason. 

This bill would effectively legislate fines of up to $1,000 against mobile service providers into law under the guise of protecting community safety and “ensuring that children, families, and residential communities in the Seventh Councilmanic District are treated with dignity.” However, how does this bill’s mandate on restricting the locations that medical providers may provide services, limiting the number of medical providers through permits, and forcing harm reductionists and Kensington residents to stop distributing aid every 45 minutes ensure that the increasingly marginalized population of people living on the street in Kensington, a number of whom are children, receive their dignity? 

Evidently, many Kensington residents disagree given their responses during the public comment portion of the meeting. Community members went so far as to describe the bill as “criminalizing kindness”, “a danger”, “cruel”, “lacking compassion”, “over policing”, and even ”anti religious.” A community member named Leslie even went so far as publicly expressing the hurt she’s experienced as a result of her brother, Joey Gabor, dying in the custody of the City of Philadelphia after being detained in the midst of a police sweep in Kensington this past December. Notably, Leslie also mentioned the careless response of the City after being “interrogated” by a city official in the wake of her brother’s death. 

So in the face of this bill, we must ask ourselves this question: Who will we entrust with the future of Kensington and the lives of its population? The City of Philadelphia or the Kensingtonians who have devoted their lives to supporting the community they live in?