After a bloody Father’s Day weekend in which 28 people were shot and five of them died, State Sen. Anthony Williams sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf asking him to declare a State of Emergency for the city. But what does that mean?
By Denise Clay
During his recent campaign for Mayor, State Sen. Anthony Williams said that if he were to win the Democratic nomination for the office, he’d declare a State of Emergency to combat Philadelphia’s gun violence epidemic.
On Monday, Williams sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf requesting just that.
After a weekend where a graduation party in Southwest Philadelphia was ended by gunfire and a mother of five was killed after an argument that she wasn’t involved in escalated, Williams requested that the governor’s office take the lead in stemming the tide of gun violence in Philadelphia.
The problem needs more muscle than the city has put into it, Williams said.
“This is a national epidemic,” he said. “Lives are being lost at a massive rate. Where this is happening is in places where the rest of the community —- White people —- aren’t looking at it. Everyone needs to pay attention to this. We need to put the kind of money behind this problem that we’ve put behind the opioid problem.”
In his letter, Williams told the governor that he’s tired of the city being reactive to the problem of gun violence and asks for a gathering of all stakeholders immediately to tackle the problem. He also called for more of a police presence in the impacted neighborhoods and also called for using the money that the Commonwealth and the City currently gives to universities studying the violence problem instead be directed to solving it.
“We need to align our government in a way that supports the people in these neighborhoods,” Williams said. “Temple and Penn get millions of dollars to study the problem. We need to spend those millions on this instead.”
In a city where stop and frisk is a campaign issue and relationships between the people who live in the most impacted neighborhoods and the city’s police department is fraught with conflict, some expressed concern that a State of Emergency might mean turning the city into a police state, complete with National Guardsmen and tanks.
That’s not what he wants, Williams said. Besides, it’s time that the city, the Commonwealth and the community groups on the ground work together because doing it in silos isn’t working out.
“I don’t want tanks in the neighborhood,” he said. “For me, the most fundamental thing is that I’m surrounded by this activity because I have family and friends affected by it. We need to stop talking about this like we’re not neighbors. We have complementary skills sets. We don’t have time to find fault. ”
In January, Mayor Jim Kenney’s Office of Violence Prevention launched a plan it calls the Roadmap. Aimed at people aged 16-34, the group most impacted by the violence, the program looks at the violence as a health issue and tries to combat it that way, said Theron Pride, senior director for the office. The group meets every other week to work on a five-year plan designed to address everything from the workforce and education to community based services.
While the city has been reaching out to community groups and others to find ways to be more effective, it also recognizes that there’s more that needs to be done, Pride said.
“I don’t know why a State of Emergency is being requested, but my personal feeling is that one shooting is far too many,” Pride said. “We don’t want to rest until everyone is free from the threat of gun violence. It’s heartbreaking because you know that if you’ve done all you can, there might still be an incident. It’s going to take some time, but we’re not going to rest until we get there.”
That’s not good enough for Williams.
“It’s not working for whatever reason,” he said.
While he isn’t against working with the Commonwealth to combat gun violence, a spokesperson for Mayor Kenney’s office said that there are things that the legislature could do now, and haven’t done.
“Mayor Kenney supports any and all efforts to combat gun violence in Philadelphia and across the Commonwealth,” said Kenney’s spokesperson Deana Gamble. “Unfortunately, for decades the General Assembly has failed to pass meaningful gun reform legislation, and [has] seen fit to strip local jurisdictions from passing their own gun laws. This violence is a symptom of a much larger problem, stemming from historic disinvestment in our education system, and removing the social safety net by eliminating programs like General Assistance. We hope that the General Assembly will follow Philadelphia’s lead and invest in our communities and not back corporate interests like Big Soda and the natural gas lobby.”
Wolf knows it’s going to take a collaborative effort to get this problem solved. It’s an effort he’s willing to make.
“Gov. Wolf strongly shares these concerns about gun violence in Philadelphia and the risk to people across Pennsylvania,” said his spokesman, J.J. Abbott. “He has worked extensively with the legislature and Philadelphia delegation to put more resources into community safety and advance common sense gun safety bills. The violence in Philadelphia over the weekend is disturbing and horrifying. More can be done and we look forward to discussing further steps with members of the Philadelphia delegation and other partners, including the mayor, attorney general and law enforcement.”
If you have a gun violence issue and would like help, the Office of Violence Prevention wants to hear from you. To connect with them, call 215-686-0789 or send an email to [email protected]. The office can connect you with the resources you need.
Leave a Comment