Local lawmakers and transit advocacy groups hosted an “emergency town hall” in West Philadelphia on Thursday to discuss ongoing service cuts to SEPTA as Pennsylvania legislators struggle to pass a state budget.
The town hall, hosted by 27th Ward Democrats, featured a panel including Pennsylvania State Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-188), Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, and the Transit Forward Philadelphia advocacy group. The lawmakers criticized the political nature of transit funding, citing how Pennsylvania Senate Republicans have clashed with Democrats over attempts to pass provisions for transit-specific funding.
Krajewski criticized the Senate’s refusal to back the House’s proposed transit budget, citing the “anti-Philly sentiments” that prevent the chambers from reaching an agreement.
“There have been solutions that have been proposed to fund SEPTA and all transit agencies across the state, but we have been in this logjam with the Senate because they don't want to fund mass transit for reasons that still elude me to this day,” he said.
Krajewski called out several Pennsylvania State Senators — Sen. Frank Farry (R-6), Sen. Joe Picozzi (R-5), and Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-24) — whose districts contain “quite a bit of SEPTA infrastructure,” and encouraged them to vote in favor of Democratic funding proposals before “doomsday cuts” hit at the end of the year.
“I feel like every day now I see a video of Joe Picozzi where he looks like he’s being held hostage, being like ‘Don’t worry guys, I’m fighting for SEPTA, don’t kill me,’” he told the crowd. “But that’s what he should feel. He should feel that there are consequences to not being courageous.”
Gauthier called the fight “frustrating” and “nonsensical,” adding that “we can never again let our mass transit system be at the whim of ridiculous politics.”
The lawmakers additionally discussed solutions to prevent future crises of funding for SEPTA.
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Gauthier, in response to an audience question about the role that Penn and Drexel University could play in finding a transit funding solution, indicated a desire for the universities to step up.
“I’ll always agree that Penn should pay more for things,” she joked.
“I do appreciate that [Penn has] an employee program, that they’re subsidizing SEPTA to get their employees to work, but I also feel like, at this moment, we need wealthy institutions and corporations to support the needs of the city,” she told The Daily Pennsylvanian after the event. “That's transit, that's on housing, but a host of other things, especially as the federal government steps up their efforts to harm cities like Philadelphia.”
On Thursday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker announced that in response to the service cuts, her administration would use a portion of the city’s operating budget to restore service on several bus and trolley lines that allow students to get to school.
“We are proud that our City teams moved quickly with SEPTA to find a way to restore transit services in the areas where students are most affected by the cutbacks that started on the first day of school this week,” Parker said in an announcement, “Making sure that all of our city’s children and youth can get to school on time and safely is one of our top priorities. We need our students — Philadelphia’s future — to be at school learning and participating in extracurricular activities without interruption or challenges.”
Stephen Bronskill — representing Transit Forward Philadelphia on the panel — encouraged the audience to participate in activism to find a permanent solution.
“Contact your elected officials … if you’ve got friends, family, others in Bucks County in northeast Philly, in North Wales, all across the state. This is the moment,” he said. “We would love to amplify [your story] and [for you to] join us moving forward for the fight for Philly transit that we all deserve. We have so much more to do, not just to get back to where we were, but where we need to go.”
