Mayor in Philadelphia taking 1,000 families

[angelwing]

I know it's way north, but the Mayor has offered to take on 1,000 families.


Posted on Sat, Sep. 03, 2005


STREET: WE'LL TAKE 1,000 FAMILIES

'IT IS OUR BELIEF THAT WE CAN DO NO LESS,' MAYOR SAYS

By MARK McDONALD

mcdonam@phillynews.com


AS PHILADELPHIA slept Thursday night, Mayor Street - wide awake and restless, haunted by the televised suffering of thousands of Gulf Coast residents - was roaming around his house.

By yesterday morning, Street had decided on a bold act of charity, particularly for a city riding so close to the fiscal edge.

In an early morning meeting with his top brass, Street said he wanted to take in one thousand families, perhaps as many as 5,000 individual victims of Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans and neighboring communities. Thus was born Operation Brotherly Love.

"We will be prepared to receive our brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans as soon as they can be brought to the city. It is our belief that we can do no less," Street said in a morning news conference.

By late afternoon, Street said the city could take in 400 families immediately and more in the coming days. They'll get food, clothing and shelter, medical care and counseling, schooling for children.

The mayor was scandalized by the televised scenes of people herded into enormous venues like the Superdome or New Orleans Convention Center. "People are without food, clothing and shelter. They don't have water. They have nothing," he said. "We can do better."

When and if they will come is another matter. City officials were still awaiting word from federal officials about the likely timing of the first arrivals.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Dwight Evans sponsored a fund-raiser for Katrina victims outside the American Red Cross building on Chestnut Street near 22nd, raising about $40,000 in cash and $50,000 in pledges from the local NAACP chapter, the African American Chamber of Commerce, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity and a host of other groups.

"I've been watching this whole catastrophe unfold since the beginning and there's been an awful lot of complaining and whining and some of which might be true," Street said yesterday. "But it's very difficult for me to sit here in my little, warm comfortable city of Philadelphia and see all this devastation and hurt and tragedy and not do anything about it."

Street conceded he doesn't know how much this relief effort will cost or how long the commitment will run, though he believes that some New Orleans residents might end up living here permanently. Others might stay a few weeks.

"We could spend $1 million and that wouldn't be unreasonable," Street said. "I'd be prepared to spend more but we're going to be as judicious as we can. We don't have a lot of money."

With federal disaster funding set to flow out of Washington, Street said the city might be able to get reimbursement for some spending, but the bottom line is the city is prepared to open its checkbook.

Street said there was no time to develop a fully articulated plan with costs fully identified. Sometimes, you just have to act, he said, likening his quick decision on Operation Brotherly Love to his decision to sponsor Live 8 or his pledge to remove abandoned vehicles from city streets.

"If we sit around and try to figure out how we can do this, in the end, more people will die, more people will starve, more people will be engaged in violent behavior," he said. "Can we house 100,000 people? I don't think so. Can we make a difference in this catastrophe? Yes, we can and we will."

Through the day, Street met with his staff, scoping out facilities that could be used to house the refugees and developing the sequence of intake procedures for the Gulf Coast victims.

He had meetings with clergy, phone calls with Gov. Rendell and his staff, and got a commitment from the buildings trades unions to help retrofit recreation or school facilities for use as housing.

Street spoke at least three times with U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphoso Jackson, whom he quoted as saying "Mayor, this is a good idea. Proceed with your planning."

Asked about the angry comments made by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Thursday, criticizing the relief effort, Street said he'd been unable to talk to Nagin. "But when you see the lack of facilities and you see the kind of conditions that exist after this length of time, then one can only wonder about the adequacy of their response," Street said.

Though Street made three references to helping the "brothers and the sisters," he refused to speculate on whether the rampant suffering and the seemingly slow moving rescue response in New Orleans might be linked to the mostly poor African-American population that has suffered so much.

As for how the Southerners will get to Philadelphia, Street initially implied that city services would begin only when they got here. Later, he said he'd be willing to spend city funds. By late afternoon, his staff had talked to several airlines, without any conclusion.

[GalvestonDuck]

Thank you, Philly!!

[themusk]

I know it's way north

Ahh, but when I lived in Philly for two and a half years, I called it the "deep south" (By way of reference, note my current location. Most previous residences were about as far north, and one even futher north).

On a more serious note, Philadelphia is probably the most "Southern" of Northern cities, though it resembles Virginia more than the Gulf states. Even the climate is fairly mild in the winter: it's usually above freezing, and one year I was there we had no measurable snowfall.

[angelwing]

Our winter may be mild to someone from VT, but to someone from the deep south, it may be nasty (especially the nites that get to 10-20 degrees)

[themusk]

Our winter may be mild to someone from VT, but to someone from the deep south, it may be nasty (especially the nites that get to 10-20 degrees)

That, and the nor'easters might be a bit of a shock.

But overall the climate is similar to parts of the "northern South" (to coin a really bad term) and nowhere near as harsh as further north in the northeast or midwest. It's definitely not Louisiana, but it's also not a climate likely to produce lows in the -30 degree range.

Philadelphia is, after all, a border city, historically, climatologically, and culturally, and some of the old Mason-Dixon survey markers are just a short drive out of town. The one thing I truly appreciated about living in Philadelphia was being surrounded by American history. Even the small and undistinguished plot of land I lived on (at the Mt. Airy-Germantown border and part of the battlefield of the Battle of Germantown) had a tale to tell about the Colonial period, the Revolutionary War, and the period and politics leading to the Civil War. I suppose it can never match the history of their hometown in the hearts of the families from New Orleans, but hopefully it will offer them some comfort.

Unfortunately you guys also have an ungodly hot summer for this creature of the frozen north, and I was very happy when I had the chance to return north.

[Stephanie]

I know it's way north

Ahh, but when I lived in Philly for two and a half years, I called it the "deep south" (By way of reference, note my current location. Most previous residences were about as far north, and one even futher north).

On a more serious note, Philadelphia is probably the most "Southern" of Northern cities, though it resembles Virginia more than the Gulf states. Even the climate is fairly mild in the winter: it's usually above freezing, and one year I was there we had no measurable snowfall.

Philadelphia is full of rich history and we do enjoy the beauty of all 4 seasons, pretty much as the calendar flys.

I'm glad someone posted this article. I was going to add this to the "What is Your Community Doing" thread. They have an abandoned school setup in North Philadelphia where class rooms are going to be used as "bedrooms", the cafeteria for meals, they do have a gym, phones and computers will be setup for people trying to reach loved ones, etc. I'm very proud of Philadephia right now.