Respect Citizen Input

City Council public hearings will be structured so that the public can truly participate. For issues of significant public concern, Council hearings should be located in the community, in locations accessible by public transportation, conducted after working hours, and/or organized to permit remote communication for citizens.

The City will make public (published on the Internet and through other convenient media for public review) any and all vacancies in government agencies, boards, and commissions to facilitate filling vacant positions so these entities can accomplish their missions. The City should publish all open positions and qualifications for those positions so that members of the public can submit their names for open positions and City officials have a pool of qualified applicants and no excuses for not filling positions.

The City will draw lines for Council districts that reflect geographically meaningful boundaries and avoid gerrymandering in the 2010 Council redistricting. In doing so, the City shall empower an independent redistricting commission composed of citizens, demographers and statisticians that will report directly to the Philadelphia Board of Ethics.

All elected city officials shall host at least 5 hours of direct office hours per week for consultation with the public. Office hours will be held at City Hall, City Recreational Centers, and/or in virtual space via webcam and chat interface.

The City will make public (published on the Internet and through other convenient media for public review) any and all City and City Council documents in a timely fashion as determined by the voters of Philadelphia and in accordance to nationwide best practices with an exemption for documents critical to the safety and security of the citizenry of Philadelphia and as determined to be so by The Philadelphia Board of Ethics. Bills on final passage must be publicized at least one week prior to that final Council vote. If Council does not vote when publicized, then the bills must be sent back to committee. This will eliminate public uncertainty about the future of legislation and ensure that time taken off work to attend Council votes is meaningful.

The Home Rule Charter will be changed to require that all proposed legislation affecting a specific district must first be presented at a public meeting within that district, with the district Councilperson and at least one at-large Councilperson present to explain and defend the bills. The meeting must be publicized in all free and community-based newspapers within that district. Exceptions will be made for health and national security emergencies only. This will bring legislation from smoke-filled backrooms into the light of day.

The Home Rule Charter must be changed so that the City Planning Commission is required (a) to hold public hearings on all matters that come before it; (b) to hold a public meeting within any community to be affected by a matter which it reviews; (c) to have its staff solicit input from the general public prior to issuing a staff recommendation; (d) to require that all decisions of the Commission contain a statement of impact on housing for the low-income, and whether a proposed development or zoning change is likely to cause gentrification, displacement or neighborhood tensions.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment's (ZBA's) published "Regulations" must be changed to require that the ZBA provides a brief statement describing the reasons for its decision - when issuing each decision. That statement must cite legal precedent and indicate the likely impact of its decision on housing for the low-income and whether a proposed development is likely to cause gentrification, displacement or neighborhood tensions. It must also disclose which, if any, government officials, applicants or other parties communicated with any Board member or ZBA staff concerning the decision being issued.