Councilmember Jamie Gauthier speaks at Thursday’s Stop Trashing Our Air presser.
Photo by Lawrence Jones | PHL City Council

Philadelphia City Council’s first day of the fall session included resolutions, protests, and a building evacuation.

By Denise Clay-Murray

While it’s probably been a while for a lot of us, everyone remembers their first day back at school following summer vacation.

You’re glad to see the friends you didn’t see all summer. You’re comparing new outfits, pencil boxes, and other stuff. You’re catching up on all the gossip that you missed and getting ready to learn new things.

But most importantly, you’re looking forward to recess. Because while students understand that they’re in school to work, being able to play is also good.

That’s what the atmosphere at Philadelphia City Council felt like on Thursday as Council held its first session of the fall. Everyone was excited for the prospect of new legislation, discussions and hearings on such things as the expected closing of the Academy of Natural Sciences and the city’s continued reliance on flaming trash.

Councilmembers got the chance to introduce bills and resolutions, including one that called for hearings to investigate the Academy’s closing, restructure the city’s Law Department, and discuss traffic tickets and towing.

(There were also resolutions welcoming the Philadelphia 76ers’ newest members — forward LeBron James and swingman Jaylen Brown — to the City of Philadelphia. If you want to see a man look giddy, Councilmember Anthony Phillips introducing the LeBron Resolution will make your day. In all honesty, I’m surprised he didn’t dance a jig.)

At around 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, in the middle of public comment, Council President Kenyatta Johnson called for a recess.

But there was no playtime involved.

A council staffer found a backpack in Council’s caucus room across the hall from Council Chambers. When the staffer couldn’t identify where the backpack came from or who owned it, police were called, said Vincent Thompson, Johnson’s spokesman.

When police dogs reacted to something on the bag, the decision was made to evacuate everyone, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said. When the bag was searched, nothing harmful was found and while the owner was detained, no charges were filed.

At around 1:30 p.m., Council was brought back into session, and public comment continued. Have to hand it to the people who came back. They must have really wanted to make sure they had their say.

Although no one would have blamed Council if it decided to extend the meeting’s recess an additional day, Johnson said that wasn’t a possibility. Once the police and sheriff’s departments gave the all clear, continuing the people’s business became the priority, he said.

Following the meeting, Johnson praised the efforts of the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Department and the Philadelphia Police Department’s Civil Affairs Unit in getting everyone evacuated safely.

While it didn’t turn out to be serious, Council had to err on the side of caution, Johnson said.

“It’s a very, very serious issue and we’ve seen oftentimes in the world where things didn’t turn out the way it did today,” he said. “So, we do not take it lightly in terms of security here in this building. This is the people’s chamber, but at the end of the day everyone needs to feel safe.”

Toward that end, safety protocols for Council will mostly likely be re-evaluated, something that my Hanging In The Hall sources say was on the table before Thursday’s meeting.

There were more than 25 bills and 40 resolutions introduced during Thursday’s meeting prior to the evacuation. Hopefully, next week’s session will focus more on legislation than it does on safety.

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