A new era begins in Philly City Council under new President Kenyatta Johnson

The Kenyatta Johnson era has officially begun.

Philadelphia City Council’s new president led his first regular meeting of the city’s legislative branch Thursday and vowed a “new day,” welcoming four new members and bringing back traditions that were eliminated during the pandemic.

“It’s an honor and privilege to have the opportunity not only to lead you, but most importantly work beside you,” he told members, “in advocating for those who need a voice.”

The start of Johnson’s tenure comes at a time of remarkable change in City Hall. New Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, a former Council member herself and the city’s first female mayor, has been in office for all of three weeks. And Council has seen an influx of new staff and advisers who work alongside its 17 members.

Some of those members introduced significant pieces of legislation Thursday, including a bill to increase oversight of the city’s beleaguered Office of Homeless Services and to impose new regulations on the controversial for-profit eviction system.

Lawmakers are also poised to consider measures aimed at changing conditions in Kensington and improving services on city blocks that experience the highest rates of gun violence.

Johnson’s first regular meeting as Council president — following 12 years of leadership under former Council President Darrell L. Clarke — largely went off without a hitch, save for a short delay when lawmakers couldn’t locate a minor resolution. Johnson gaveled in the session at 10:01 a.m., a feat for a body that has for years habitually started well after its scheduled 10 a.m. meeting time.

Four new members — Rue Landau, Nina Ahmad, Nicolas O’Rourke, and Jeffery Young Jr. — also took their seats in the chambers for the first time. O’Rourke, a pastor and a member of the progressive Working Families Party, made a unique first impression by delivering a speech that began with him floating a “universal basic income” program and ended with him singing a hymn.

“I do not work for the Council president, I do not work for the mayor, or even necessarily the taxpayers,” he said. “I am a pastor, which means I work solely for a higher hope, a deeper devotion and good, the higher power.”

Some businesses along the Kensington Avenue corridor, home to an open-air drug market, may be required to close at 11 p.m. if Council approves legislation introduced this week.

Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who has championed a stronger law enforcement response in Kensington, authored the bill, which would require commercial establishments and restaurants to adhere to a curfew if they are located in the area bounded by East Lehigh Avenue, Kensington Avenue, D Street, East Tioga Street, and Frankford Avenue.

The establishments would be allowed to reopen at 6 a.m.

Lozada also introduced legislation requiring the city’s managing director to provide Council with regular updates and data on city operations related to the opioid crisis.

She’s seeking quarterly reports, beginning this fall, on how frequently and where first responders use the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone. Those reports, according to the legislation, must include the number of treatments provided to “repeat opioid antidote recipients,” which is defined as people who have been administered naloxone at least twice within a one-month period.

In addition, Lozada wants a report every other month from the managing director’s office on the number and locations of illegal encampments, as well as how frequently city officials interacted with people camping on public space.

Parker praised the package of bills, saying in a statement they address social ills “that erode quality of life in neighborhoods across our city, including Kensington.”

“The rampant illegal drug activity and other quality-of-life nuisances taking place in Kensington will not be tolerated by the Parker administration,” she said.

Council is poised to hold hearings about how the city can provide services more directly to the neighborhoods most affected by gun violence and that have experienced historic disinvestment.

Landau, who represents the city at-large, introduced legislation — her first as a Council member — to authorize hearings on how the city can better use data and technology to target resources and environmental improvements to the “57-plus” blocks that have seen the most violence.

The focus on those blocks follows a 2021 Inquirer investigation that identified 57 blocks in the city that had seen 10 or more shootings since 2015. The majority of those blocks had high rates of poverty and blight, and most of the communities were marked by injustices dating back generations.

» READ MORE: Intersections of Injustice: Gun violence has been concentrated in just a handful of neighborhoods

The number of blocks that have seen an intense concentration of the city’s violence has only grown over the last two years.

District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office has undertaken a variety of initiatives to focus on those blocks, and is supported by a coalition of community organizations that have advocated for strategies beyond law enforcement to change the reality in those neighborhoods.

The Rev. Gregory Holston, an adviser in Krasner’s office who leads the coalition, said Thursday that the residents of those blocks have seen repeated bloodshed and are “dealing with the trauma of that each and every day of their life.”

“We want to have a real, comprehensive way of addressing that trauma, addressing that pain,” he said, “and addressing this historic disinvestment that is creating the conditions of gun violence.”

Although Thursday was the first meeting of Council’s new term, some members turned back to work they thought they had finished last year.

Former Mayor Jim Kenney quietly killed several pieces of legislation just before he left office through what’s known as a “pocket veto” — when the mayor refuses to sign bills that come to his desk and Council doesn’t have an opportunity to enact them without his signature.

The proposals all passed Council with overwhelming majorities last year and are likely to be approved again if their authors push them through for a second time. Councilmember Isaiah Thomas on Thursday reintroduced a measure aimed at helping high school athletes get legal advice on how to navigate name, image, and likeness, or “NIL,” deals.

Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. did the same for a bill that would add regulations for virtual slot machines. Councilmembers Jimmy Harrity and Mark Squilla also had proposals that were killed by Kenney late last year, but did not re-introduce them at Thursday’s meeting.

Harrity, whose bill would have expanded protections for some building services workers, said he plans to resurrect the proposal soon.

And Squilla, who wants to create a 15-cent fee for single-use paper bags at retail stores, said he is working with Parker’s administration to draft a new version of the bill.