Just a year after former Mayor Jim Kenney left office, Philadelphia lawmakers did just that is already revisiting one of his signature achievements.
At its first meeting this year on Thursday, the City Council approved legislation to allow hearings on the city’s tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, commonly known as the soda tax, which Kenney has championed as a way to pay for universal prekindergarten and upgrades to city parks, recreation centers and libraries.
But council member Jim Harrity, a Democrat elected to office at the end of Kenney’s second term, said the 1.5-cent-an-ounce tax disproportionately affects the indigent and that the council should consider whether there are other ways to raise revenue.
“We must reassess its impact on Philadelphia businesses, commerce and consumers,” Harrity said.
» READ MORE: How Mayor Kenney’s soda tax sparked controversy and impacted Philadelphia
Also this week, members introduced legislation that should be condemned President Donald Trump just days after entering his second term and investigating a school district’s practice of having some employees sit in conference rooms.
What was the highlight of this week?
Is the tax on carbonated drinks ending? The approval of the beverage tax in 2016, Kenney’s first year in office, is still widely seen as one of the former mayor’s most significant achievements. This caused political confusion and pitted the city’s special interests against each other during debate, but since its passage it has remained largely uncontroversial, and research shows it has a positive impact on health in the city.
While campaigning, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said she would keep him and support the programs he funds. When the council previously voted to study the tax in 2019, Parker, then a council member, called it a “political weapon.”
Since the tax came into force, the city has received approximately half a billion dollars. Harrity said the city needs to investigate whether there are other ways to make that money. He said he supports universal pre-K and “won’t do anything to hurt that program.”
“I just want to watch [the tax]. “I’m not saying we’re going to do anything about it,” Harrity said. “I just want to make sure I welcome everyone who has an opinion on it.”
It’s not clear whether a majority of council members actually have the appetite to take up what was once a heated political topic, or even where most members stand on the tax. The body has experienced significant turnover since 2016, with only four members who voted in favor of introducing the tax in 2016 still working in the organization.
One of them is House Speaker Kenyatta Johnson, who controls the flow of legislation in the chamber. He said Harrity “has a right to a hearing” and indicated he still supports the tax he voted for nearly a decade ago.
“My position is the same,” Johnson said.
What else happened this week?
Official condemnation of Trump?: Three days into his second term, the City Council is already considering condemning Trump.
A day after Councilmember Rue Landau convened a hearing to examine the city’s readiness to protect immigrants and other marginalized groups during Trump’s second administration, she introduced a resolution Thursday “condemning” President Donald Trump’s “underqualified” Cabinet nominees and leadership choices. The council will vote on the resolution next week.
In the legislation, Landau singled out several candidates for their lack of governing experience or controversial records, including billionaire Elon Musk, former U.S. Republican Tulsi Gabbard, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Fox News host Pete Hegseth and former wrestling executive Linda McMahon.
Landau, a Democrat, maintained that Trump’s election would have a direct impact on Philadelphians.
“We learned a lot in the first four [years of Trump]but nothing can prepare us for what will happen soon,” she said.
Several other members shot at the new president. Democratic Councilmember Anthony Phillips called on the Philadelphia School District to provide adequate protections against federal policies targeting immigrants, LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups.
“It is very important for us as Philadelphia city officials to understand that we cannot play games with Donald Trump,” Phillips said.
And council member Nicolas O’Rourke of the progressive Working Families Party introduced legislation Thursday calling on the city to provide funding and resources to mitigate climate change.
O’Rourke has campaigned on supporting environmental sustainability and said it is more timely given the raging wildfires in California and Trump’s executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords, a binding international treaty on climate change.
Polling the “rubber room”: On Thursday, the Council adopted an act ordering the organization of a hearing regarding the so-called transfer rooms in the Philadelphia School District after pressure from Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who chairs the council’s education committee.
Offices, commonly known as rubber rooms, are designated areas for school employees who are under investigation for misconduct.
Thomas is calling for greater transparency in the process of assigning employees to windowless conference rooms at the district headquarters on North Broad Street, with little guidance on how to spend their time. And they make money sitting there.
» READ MORE: The City Council wants answers about the so-called rubber classrooms in Philadelphia schools
“The topic of school faculty discipline may be an uncomfortable one, but putting teachers in a disgusting room with little communication or due process is not a solution or a good strategy for teacher retention and talent acquisition,” Thomas said in a news release. “I look forward to working with the school district and relevant unions to address this issue and find immediate solutions.”
A hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Quote of the week
“That’s how I refresh every drive, whether I score a touchdown or miss a pass. I always come back to this book on every ride and refocus myself.
OK, so it wasn’t a City Council member. It was Eagles winger AJ Brown who explained why he was spotted reading the book “Inner Excellence” while standing on the bench during a playoff game earlier this month.
Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson must have been inspired – on Thursday she brought 16 copies of the book to the Council and left one on her colleagues’ desks. I guess it’s time to refocus.
