In their own words: Philly’s City Council rookies reflect on their first 6 months

Starting a new job can be a whirlwind. Remembering everyone’s name. Filing everything in the correct format. Figuring out how to eat throughout a day on the run.

Now imagine six months in, you have to help turn around the budget for one of the nation’s largest cities.

For Philly’s four freshman City Council members — Nina Ahmad, Rue Landau, Nicolas O’Rourke and Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr. — this was their first session in City Hall.

Billy Penn spoke with each member to see what they learned in their first six months, what surprised them about how City Council works, and what they plan on doing in their next sessions.

Councilmember Nina Ahmad, at-large

Ahmad was no stranger to City Hall and its people, having served as a Deputy Mayor in the Kenney administration’s first term, where she helped form the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement. She described her new legislative role as carrying over that ethos of listening and speaking to people and advocacy groups, then using the greater power that comes with a Council seat to seek solutions.

“I am hardly in this office,” she said. “We’re literally moving around the city. Regardless of what the event might be, people want to see their elected officials. And so I try to make as many [events] as I can.”

The one bill she was the primary author of addressed the maintenance and replacement of charging stations for public and some residential electric vehicles, which passed and is awaiting the Mayor’s signature or approval. 

Ahmad described stepping into the budget process near its completion felt like jumping onto a train that was already moving. She said that rather than learning on the fly, she wants to spend time reflecting on what she felt comfortable and uncomfortable with in the budgeting process, then trying to figure out how to improve it.

She said that time management was an issue for her in the first six months, spending a lot of time at every possible event and too little sitting and planning.

“I remember a former Congressman told me, ‘One of your first lessons is going to be you have to know when to say no. Use that strategically, or else you’re going to get burnt down,’” she said. “And that reflection is very real, that I have not been able to say no.”

As chair of the Public Health and Human Services Committee, Ahmad said her office is working on a bill that addresses maternal care through the lens of how medical racism and bias impacts it. She said she was excited to get Doula care, implicit bias training, abortion access and community-based healthcare into the recent budget.

Ahmad, who came to the U.S. as a Bangladeshi immigrant, became the first South Asian person to win a Philly City Council seat. She said that the feedback she has received from members of Asian and Pacific Islander communities has been one of excitement. 

While praising Philly as a welcoming city, she said that the city still tends to overlook how hard it can be as an immigrant in Philly. 

“We are good at acknowledging, we have flag raisings that make people feel included, but now it has to translate into actual dollars and cents,” she said. “What does it mean when [immigrants] want to have access to capital for starting businesses? What does it mean when the school district needs to make sure there are no bullying issues going on because someone’s come here with limited language skills … How do we have these culturally competent conversations?” 

Ahmad wants to work with the Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Human Relations Commission to see how they’re proactive with making cultural competency real, for new and established communities in the city.

Councilmember Rue Landau, at-large

Landau was the primary author of the most bills (3) for an at-large freshman. They addressed consumer protections against scams, greater transparency of professional tax preparer fees, and expanding outdoor dining options for restaurant owners. Mayor Parker has signed all three. 

However, she described the bill to modify the city’s residential eviction diversion program that she coauthored as the most emotional for her, given her previous roles as a housing lawyer defending low-income tenants and her time in both the City’s Commission on Human Relations and the Fair Housing Commission.

“As it brought together every area of work I’ve ever been in, that’s why it was possibly my greatest days so far,” Landau said about when the bill passed.

Landau said she has enjoyed the collaborative nature and energy of the current Council and she has been able to reach out to various members for their expertise, particularly Council President Kenyatta Johnson, for “soup to nuts” guidance.

The fast and busy pace of the budget process kept Landau from doing as much as she wanted to do this first session, particularly as housing lawyer and consumer protection advocate.

“There was less time to do that this first term than I expected because of the budget, so it’s going to be a fun summer,” she said.

She said her next legislative plans are to do a “deep dive into affordable housing preservation.”

“We have so many buildings in this city that are either subsidized or naturally affordable to a degree and if we don’t focus on them and affirmatively work to protect them, either when the subsidy is removed … or when building potentially could go for sale, then we’re not going to have enough for the housing in this city,” Landau said. 

Landau was the first openly LGBTQ+ member of Philadelphia City Council. She said it was a wonderful experience to be the first and to also be a support and vein of communication for the community.

“When I was working for the city, I always played an advisory role in LGBTQ+ issues,” Landau said. “But to actually have a seat at the table has been more meaningful than I could have even imagined.”

During Pride Month, Landau introduced a package of resolutions related to the recognition and protection of the LGBTQ+ community in Philadelphia. 

Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, at-large, Minority Whip

O’Rourke said that, having previously seen how government works as an organizer and activist, he didn’t have any surprises coming into City Hall, but instead had “assumptions that proved to be true about the way that government works.”

“That has been a big learning curve for me, and remains to be one, understanding both the written and unwritten rules, how best to navigate those and leverage those to be able to do the job well,” he said. “For me that means measurably and materially improving the lives of working people, measurably and materially reducing the suffering they experience every day.”

O’Rourke said that most of the material legislative pieces he had been a part of had begun prior to his arrival. Much of what he came on to was assisting Minority Leader Kendra Brooks, who he campaigned with in the previous two elections. Together they helped the Working Families Party take control of the minority Council seats from the Republican Party. 

“I marvel every single day at the fact that she did what I’m doing now, without a me,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke said that his “moonshot” remains giving people money, though that fight is not won yet. 

“We have learned through the course of the last politicizing five years that — certainly in America — if the world shuts down, the remedy to make sure that folks can make ends meet is giving them money,” O’Rourke said. “So how do we bring that to scale, in the poorest big city in the country, where you’re going to have a significant portion of the population that doesn’t have what they need?”

O’Rourke said that he’ll continue to call for hearings on the subject and meet with groups and pilot programs in the city pursuing guaranteed or targeted income in their communities.

A highlight to O’Rourke’s first six months was giving his party’s response to President Biden’s State of the Union Address.

“I’m grateful as an actual independent with the Working Families Party to give voice in a moment that’s replete with history,” O’Rourke said. “To give in that moment from an independent perspective, to be able to literally speak truth to power — as cliche as that sounds — was literally a great honor.”

Going forward, O’Rourke said he wants to also continue to address rental assistance and infrastructure that addresses the challenges of the climate crisis.

Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr., 5th District

Being the only freshman to win a district seat, Councilmember Young’s priorities are more narrowly tied to his constituents, rather than the city as a whole. This led to him being the primary author of 18 bills. 

His first resolution was calling for a public hearing on Act 135, the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act, which he said was a good law in theory that has become predatory in practice.

“That was something that was very near and dear to me. As an attorney, I represented clients in those matters and it was something that I wanted to address at some point during my tenure here at Council,” Young said. “It just so happens that because of an ongoing issue and Fishtown that it had to be the first thing that I addressed as a member of Council.”

Young was previously a City Council staffer for former-Council President Darrell Clarke and an intern for District 4 Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., so he was no stranger to City Hall or the many faces in it. Moving up in roles went easier than he expected. 

“The biggest issue that I thought I would have to get over is just building relationships with the members of Council as a Council member,” he said. “But as we started going through the budget process, I realized that some of my colleagues and I have similar goals. So it’s just easier to work with them.”

Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson was particularly helpful in guiding his transition, since she had previously been a staffer as well.

Young said that there have already been some contentious votes for him, but things have remained amicable with Johnson at the helm. 

“I do like the fact that this Council President allows us to be ourselves to express how we really feel and to make those tough decisions that our constituents put us here to make,” he said.

The years spent in City Hall before sitting on Council have also made Young aware of ways that he could do a better job serving its constituents. “I’ve been seeing inefficiencies in government since I was 17,” he said. 

Young said he plans to look at how the city can improve communications between people and city departments, and looking at updating the technologies that legislators use to communicate with their constituents. 

Young said his future legislation is committed to his constituents, making sure that they know that government is there to work for them and make their lives easier.

“Ultimately, I have to do what I think is best for my Council district,” he said.