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Description
From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia City Council held Thursday, January 28, 2021, Councilmember Derek Green (At Large) speaks on his legislation to organize a Public Banking Authority.
Read the legislation: http://phlcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/CM-Green-Ordinance-Public-Bank-Authority.pdf
A
Councilman
green
please
proceed.
Thank.
Thank
you.
Council
president.
Thank
you
for
the
opportunity
to
speak
on
this
bill
to
be
introduced
today.
Many
of
my
colleagues
and
others
know
that
I
started
my
career
as
a
small
business
lender
with
meridian
bank.
I
brought
in
glenwood
north
philadelphia,
it's
funny
because
for
a
number
of
years,
while
I
was
there,
people
would
not
call
me
derek.
A
Small
business
owners,
like
my
father-in-law,
is
no
longer
with
us,
ned
mitchell,
also
known
as
mitch,
who
started
his
career
working
in
cadillac
as
a
mechanic
and
then
was
able
to
open
a
gas
station
at
20th
indiana
and
just
having
an
understanding
and
talking
with
him
over
the
years
and
seeing
the
challenges
he
had
and
trying
to
grow
his
business.
Just
like
so
many
small
business
owners
in
the
city
of
philadelphia.
A
A
So
this
has
been
an
issue
in
our
city.
Historically,
and
even
the
president
of
the
us
black
chambers
ron
bisbee,
said
that
access
to
credit
is
the
number
one
issue:
that's
limited
businesses
and
being
able
to
grow,
and
so,
from
my
perspective,
based
on
this
history,
I
thought
this
idea
of
a
public
bank
is
an
opportunity
to
address
that
issue
and
having
a
city
take
a
more
active
role
in
helping
businesses,
especially
small
businesses,
especially
businesses
of
color,
and
principally
african-american-owned.
A
Businesses
get
access
to
credit,
and
I
think
the
city
needs
to
take
a
more
active
role
in
helping
these
businesses
to
grow
and
as
these
businesses
grow,
that
creates
opportunities
for
jobs
and
opportunities
for
us
as
a
city
to
address
poverty.
I
want
to
thank
my
colleagues
and
council.
We've
had
11
co-sponsors
to
this
legislation
and
this
legislation
is
something
I've
been
working
on
for
some
time
from
the
hearings
we
had
during
my
first
term
about
this
idea
to
the
fact
working
with
the
administration.
A
We
hired
a
national
consultant
to
do
a
study
talking
about
the
benefits
of
a
public
bank
having
hearings
on
that
report
and
then
more
recently,
working
with
the
law
department
and
the
treasurer's
office
in
drafting
today's
legislation.
So
we
still
have
additional
work
to
go
and
reference
his
legislation
being
passed.
A
Looking
forward
to
a
very
robust
conversation
with
a
number
of
stakeholders,
I
want
to
thank
all
of
the
grassroots
community
based
organizations
who
helped
to
put
forward
and
help
us
draft
this
legislation
and
bring
a
number
of
people
into
this
coalition
regarding
this
issue
and
look
forward
to
a
way
and
this
legislation
coming
to
fruition,
so
we
can
help
business
owners
like
mitch,
be
able
to
grow
and
provide
jobs
and
reduce
poverty
for
the
benefit
of
our
city.
Thank
you.
Council
president.