I'm pretty sure that Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell wants to be the next John Street. Granted, she can't have his job as mayor, since that would require her to win the Democratic primary. But although she is excluded from Street's position, Blackwell is not prohibited from adopting his corrupt style of governance. And, in fact, she has.
Over the past few months, Blackwell, a close Street ally, has been hard at work alienating her constituency, engaging in dirty Street-style "pay-to-play" politics, and circumventing the City Charter. Worst of all, she's done it right here in West Philadelphia, our own back yard.
If you've been following local news, you know that in early June Blackwell introduced a bill to sublease an old 70,228 square foot nursing home facility, located at 4508 Chestnut St., to the city for the purpose of a new homeless shelter with a minimum of 340 beds.
Allowing the creation of a new, fairly large facility for those less fortunate members of our community, in Blackwell's own district, sounds like a nice gesture, right? Wrong. In reality, under the guise of "Christian charity" Blackwell is serving no one greater than herself.
What you may not know is that the owner of the facility, James Campenella, has been a major contributor to Mayor Street and has donated to Blackwell. He also stands to make a handsome profit if his facility is to be subleased to the city at the taxpayers' expense.
Several private institutions have approached Campenella offering to buy his property including Penn's own School of Nursing, which has shown interest in using the facility as a day-care center for elderly West Philadelphians. Campenella, however, refuses to sell in hopes that his City Hall connections will land him a more lucrative contract.
So far, Blackwell has been more than happy to reward Campenella's loyalty to her cause. She's gone out of her way to craft this special ordinance, which, if enacted, would guarantee Campenella a 10-year deal with city via a sublease agreement through the Philadelphia Municipal Authority. If the city leased the property directly, the agreement would be subject to the "four-year out" provision prescribed by the City Charter, which allows the city to terminate any bad deals which last longer than four years. As Councilman Frank Rizzo later pointed out, by having the city lease from the PMA instead, Blackwell's ordinance is designed to circumvent the City Charter.
If Blackwell genuinely cares about the welfare of her constituents, homeless or otherwise, why would she propose an ordinance that could potentially harm them by binding the city to a long-term contract? If problems with the facility arise, the city will be unable to escape the agreement. Could it be that our Jannie isn't so charitable after all?
I attended a town hall meeting, organized by the Councilwoman, at the beginning of August. Its purpose was to "relieve the concerns and dispel malicious rumors in the community" regarding 4508 Chestnut. It was an eye-opening experience as Blackwell spent the first 10 minutes explaining that she was the third most powerful person in the city. In her own words, "if the Mayor and Council President died tonight, I would be mayor."
Her speech was followed by an irrelevant presentation given by Philadelphia Housing Authority Director Carl Greene complete with elaborate graphs which proved that when the city replaces crack-houses with low-income housing, the property values in the neighborhood increase.
Greene was followed by Robert Hess, deputy director of the Office of Emergency Shelters and Services, and what I thought would be an opportunity for community members to express concerns. It turned out to be a condemnation of us "heartless" homeless haters who were attempting to "undermine" Blackwell's divinely inspired plans.
The hemorrhage of Christian rhetoric throughout the evening was nauseating, and I never did get to ask if there would be increased police presence around the facility, a curfew imposed, why the community hasn't been involved in the planning or why such a large facility was being created when we know from past experience that the homeless benefit most from smaller community-friendly facilities.
It seemed clear that Blackwell has already made up her mind.
If the Councilwoman really does value the opinions of those she represents, as well as the needs of our homeless neighbors, then she should withdraw her flawed, loophole-exploiting bill and work with area residents and businesses to find a better way of meeting the needs of our city's poor.
Andrew Rennekamp is a first-year Biomedical Ph.D. student from East Stroudsburg, Pa. His e-mail address is andrewre@med.upenn.edu. Any Ice Today Lady? appears on Tuesdays.
