Know your city council
Yanik Ruiz-Ramon
City Council Chambers
Here is a quick run down of how City Council works.
There are two types of City Councilmembers: at-large and district Members.
The at-large Councilmembers are elected citywide and hold seven spots.
There are ten district members that represent different geographic areas in Philadelphia. Penn’s Council member is Jannie Blackwell, representing the 3rd District of Philadelphia, which is basically all of West Philly.
The full council so far has been meeting every other Thursday, starting at 10am and ending about an hour later. At the beginning of each meeting, the Council discusses resolutions that commend organizations and recognize active citizens. On the one hand, the Council should be an official body that recognizes good deeds on behalf of the citizenry, but on the other hand, it seems like the Council wastes a lot of time on these formalities.
The last meeting on the 16th of April recognized the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority for outstanding civic service and the Gift of Life organ donation program among others. These are valuable organizations which should be celebrated and promoted, but resolutions recognizing people and organizations risk becoming trivial.
In any case, some food for thought.
Interesting note: all full sessions of City Council must begin with a prayer by a chaplain.
There are 21 standing committees in addition to the full Council. Apparently Philadelphians like committees like mustard on a pretzel. Bills are introduced in the full Council and then shuttled off to the committees for members to debate. This is where the politicking begins. If there is a bill that affects your district but is in a committee you aren’t part of…you better have friends.
The President of the Council has a lot of power. Anna Verna appoints all members to their committees after consulting with the majority and minority leadership. She also appoints chairs and vice-chairs for each committee. Let the bargaining begin!
That is a brief rundown. For the nitty gritty details you can read the official rules.
A bill to impose a Green Fee on plastic check-out bags has just made it out of the Environment Committee and will be voted on in a few weeks. I attended the committee hearing and it was really a great experience. They hear testimony from concerned parties. This legislation would go a long way towards reducing trash and litter in the city - I think we should all support it however we can.