Philly could get a new city flag design | Council roundup

Philadelphia’s flag isn’t exactly memorable, and a pair of City Council members thinks it’s time to consider a redesign.

Councilmembers Mike Driscoll and Jimmy Harrity introduced a resolution Thursday to create a task force on “city flag reform … in line with vexillological conventions.” (We’ll save you the Google search: Vexillology is the study of flags.)

The current Philly flag has blue and yellow stripes — “the first and third shall be azure blue and the middle pale golden,” per city law — with the city seal at the center. The colors are a nod to the Swedish colony that occupied the Delaware Valley before William Penn founded his in 1682.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia’s flag is very bad. Can you design a better one?

Harrity said he doesn’t have a specific idea for what a new flag could look like, but wanted to start the conversation.

“It was more me and Mike spitballing that we didn’t like it,” he said. “It’s very old, and we can be a little more inclusive and stuff like that.”

Council approved the resolution to create the task force in a unanimous voice vote at Thursday’s meeting.

Not much! It was a brief session, and Council did not take up any significant legislation.

A potentially controversial vote. Last week, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada introduced a resolution stating that Municipal Court Judge Wendy Pew’s ruling to dismiss charges against former Police Officer Mark Dial, who in August shot and killed Eddie Irizarry, was “erroneous.”

Resolutions such as this are symbolic statements of Council’s stance on an issue, and they usually pass quickly. But Lozada declined to call it up for a vote this week, forgoing what could have been a tense debate over whether lawmakers should criticize another branch of municipal government.

» READ MORE: City Council may declare the ruling in the Eddie Irizarry case ‘erroneous’

Lozada said after Council that she held off because she heard from numerous stakeholders after introducing the resolution and wanted to use it as an opportunity to have a broader discussion about the criminal justice system.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier on Thursday led Council in holding a moment of silence to honor journalist and activist Josh Kruger, who was shot to death in his Point Breeze home Monday.

» READ MORE: Local journalist Josh Kruger fatally shot inside Point Breeze home

Kruger, who previously served in Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration, was an advocate for many of Philadelphia’s most overlooked communities, including HIV+ people, the LGBTQ community, and people experiencing homelessness.