PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Jim Kenney may say there is no greater priority for his administration than reducing violence and saving lives, but city and community leaders are calling on him to do more about it.
Their criticism came on the same day a man was shot and killed outside Pat's Steaks in South Philadelphia, and just one day after two teens were gunned down near a daycare in West Philadelphia.
At a news conference in West Philadelphia on Thursday, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said the crime prevention plan the mayor has been touting, the "Roadmap to Safer Communities," isn’t cutting it.
"None of us can say that we are doing everything we can. Everybody can be doing more in this moment, and that’s what we should all be looking to do," Gauthier said.
"We haven’t seen this level of gun violence ever, right? We are on track to reach a historic record in the year 2021. So pointing to a plan that was developed two to three years ago that we have never tracked or reported on regularly is not enough."
City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart said a letter outlining a number of recommendations -- including a daily briefing among all pertinent agencies -- was sent to the mayor.
"What Councilmember Gauthier and I outlined in the letter that we sent to the mayor ... details out specific action items of what we want from the operating departments, from the 14 ZIP codes that are most impacted," Rhynhart said.
"We want expanded programming at Parks and Rec, in these ZIP codes. We want trauma treatment. We want expanded access to behavioral health to treat the trauma of living in this cycle of violence."
That letter is available here:
Kenney has handed out grants for violence prevention programs, and he has said he will work with anyone and everyone to stop the bloodshed.
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City Council’s leadership team struck back with a letter of their own, outlining how they are spending $68 million on violence prevention programs. They note that Council is only three weeks into the new budget.
"As that community-based violence prevention work moves into the implementation phase, it’s equally important that our local, state and federal partners in law enforcement show the same amount of coordination and action," they added. "Residents in every neighborhood deserve to feel safe. That means all our law enforcement stakeholders need to work together to get illegal guns off our streets. Every agency needs to be on the same page."
Read the letter in its entirety below: