LIVE STREAMING
Photo: Max Marin / AL DÍA News
Photo: Max Marin / AL DÍA News

Coalition gives Kenney 99 days to enact 8 progressive policies

The eight proposals deal with everything from public safety and police-community relations to gentrification and environmental concerns.

MORE IN THIS SECTION

Cargos por ser demostrados

Temporary Protected Status

The Economy is Stuck

A Great Win For Small Biz

Good Bye To A Problem Solver

SHARE THIS CONTENT:

On Wednesday, a new coalition of organizations with varying interests will deliver a bright-line challenge to Mayor-elect Jim Kenney:

Enact eight progressive policies in your first 99 days in office.

Six days before Kenney's inauguration, the coalition has launched a petition for the platform it is calling “The First 99 Days of Mayor Kenney,” justified with the explanation that, since progressive organizations helped Kenney get elected, now it’s time they hold him accountable.

Some of the organizations behind the coalition —  among them low-income family advocates of ACTION United and the labor union 32BJSEIU — threw their support behind Kenney during the mayoral primary season.

And much like Kenney’s famously long list of endorsements, this coalition represents a swath of interests from minimum wage reform (15 Now Philly) to immigrant rights (New Sanctuary Movement, Juntos).

Likewise, the eight platform points deal with everything from public safety and police-community relations to gentrification and environmental concerns. They demand new labor practices and education reform, and they demand it in three months time:

  1. End the Philadelphia Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy.

  2. Re-establish executive order No. 1-14 in order to limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents, a policy which Mayor Michael Nutter recently amended.

  3. Support more funding for affordable, accessible housing through the Housing Trust Fund and ensure diverse community representation on the boards of housing agencies and the Land Bank.

  4. Launch a study on the health impacts of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refinery in South Philadelphia, which has been hit with dozens of environmental violations and community backlash.

  5. Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all city workers.

  6. Create a Direct Care Worker’s center for “workers employed by seniors and people living with disabilities.”

  7. Turn the three elementary schools (Cooke, Huey and Wister) that the Philadelphia School District has proposed to turn into charters, and instead turn them into community schools.

  8. “Implement the historic digital inclusion, worker, and technology education provisions of the new Comcast franchise agreement by working with the Office of Innovation and Technology and City Council, and establishing robust oversight over the franchise and its side letter provisions from key stakeholders, including low income communities.”

Many of these policies are ones that Kenney campaigned on, like ending stop-and-frisk and raising the minimum wage. Others are ideas he has been entertaining since his election, like the idea of all-in-one community schools.

The coalition will present the petition at the northeast corner of City Hall on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Update on Dec. 30, 10:00 a.m.: 

Read Kenney's response to the coalition in full below:

"I'm very excited that some of these policies, specifically the reversal of the City's latest ICE policy, will actually be enacted on day one. Others, like the enactment of the Comcast Franchise agreement and reform to end unconstitutional stop-and-frisks, I'm confident will happen within the first 100 days. Some of the additional proposals will admittedly take more time, and I look forward to working with the groups behind these eight proposals to determine what an appropriate timeline might be."

  • LEAVE A COMMENT:

  • Join the discussion! Leave a comment.

  • or
  • REGISTER
  • to comment.
  • LEAVE A COMMENT:

  • Join the discussion! Leave a comment.

  • or
  • REGISTER
  • to comment.
00:00 / 00:00
Ads destiny link