Philadelphia City Council 2022 Stated Meetings of Philadelphia City Council, 24 Feb 2022

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From YouTube: Councilmember Domb Floor Speech 2-24-22

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From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia City Council held Thursday, February 17, 2022.

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Thank you, council president. You know there have been some comments made recently that I'd like to comment on, because I think- or I hope they weren't meant the way they were delivered.

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First, I want to mention this pandemic has taken its toll on everyone, our families, our friends, our neighbors, all philadelphians, even all of us here today, and our businesses and our workers also took their hits, as the data has proven and as stories have been told, restaurants, hotels and the entire hospitality industry, including our tourism industry, was decimated crushed more so than any other sector in our economy and they're still lagging in their ability to recover january and february were devastating months for hospitality.

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So I'd like to thank the restaurants for doing everything they could to keep their doors open and safely serve us all, well, mostly for surviving through the pandemic. Thank you for every city mandated sign. You hung in the window for every temperature you took remember we used to take temperatures before we walked in a restaurant for every vaccination card.

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You checked for every sponsored vaccination clinic, you ran, and for every time you asked a customer to put their mask on as they left the table, hoping not to hear the wrath of their opinion on this topic.

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It's been very difficult for everyone, but especially those in the restaurant business, to say the least. I'd also like to thank the restaurants for fighting to keep philadelphians our residents employed at a time when carrying a payroll was and has never been more difficult.

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So thank you to the restaurants and their workers, who fought their way through each and every shift and safely served all of us while they were wearing a mask for 8 hours and 10 hours and 12 hours straight.

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This industry has shown us what resilience looks like, and I thank them for their creativity and advocacy these past two years. Our restaurants were the only thing that helped bring us together during coven in a safe manner. Thank you and thank you for keeping that fun going when we needed it the most. I also want to comment council president and talk openly about the safety in our city.

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I believe it's our job as elected leaders to reduce the anxiety that comes with where we are in this moment, and we need to let people know what's being done to keep them safe with group violence, intervention gbi, I know, council members, jones and johnson have been spearheading our gun safety and violence programs doing a great job. We have support services working diligently to offer alternatives to those who want a new way forward and we want to to avoid them being in our systems.

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We now have multiple layers of law enforcement, federal state and local entities talking with one another regularly, to course correct, share intelligence and support one another. I personally am appreciative of the arrest made this week to remove a dangerous person from our community.

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This was someone who led a carjacking ring and murdered two people in our city and someone who may lead us to several others committing acts of violence in our streets. This arrest was made possible because the very people we need to come together are doing just that. We are not perfect, but we are taking back control of the city by working together. I encourage everyone to get to know the support service workers and law enforcement officers in their neighborhoods.

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Let them know what you need. Let them know what you know and let them know what you see, and I ask every single public employee working on behalf of our city, to rise to this moment and outwardly appreciate each and every person who lives or works in this great city.

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We are a community when we see one another, we're a community when we acknowledge one another and when we extend a hand to one another, we're really a community. We are stronger if we do this together. So I ask that our leaders all remember how closely people are listening to what we say and how it impacts what people do and say to one another, and on that note, I think we're all pleased to see the arrests made this week. That makes philadelphia a safer city for all of us. Thank you, council president.