Councilmember Isaiah Thomas wants Philly to pay residents $500 for tips on quality-of-life violations

City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas is proposing that Philadelphia create a Citizen Watchdog Fund that would pay residents $500 or more for tipping the city off when people violate quality-of-life rules ranging from illegal dumping and excessive noise to fatal car accidents.

Thomas said the legislation was designed “to hopefully activate constituents across the city of Philadelphia” to help tackle “nuisance behavior” that the city has struggled to control.

“We are limited as it relates to our ability to enforce it,” Thomas said. “This is another small step by this legislative body to do something about the nuisance behavior that we’re seeing.”

» READ MORE: Philly adds more funding for quality-of-life funding, but critics say it's not enough

Quality-of-life issues like trash, blight, and speakeasies have long been a major problem for many underserved Philadelphia neighborhoods. Those issues were compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which left agencies like the Department of Licenses & Inspections and the Police Department severely understaffed.

Thomas’ bill takes a novel approach to the issue. It’s unclear, however, that soliciting citizen tips will help the city keep up with quality-of-life violations given that the main impediment to addressing them is staffing, not citizen input.

Philadelphia already has a way for residents to report nuisances and request city services in the 311 system, which is often overwhelmed by submissions.

Councilmember Mike Driscoll, who supports the bill, said his office frequently gets calls about quality-of-life issues and he doesn’t believe citizen participation is lacking.

“They’re not shy about calling,” Driscoll said. “We’ve been getting the calls every day. The quality-of-life issues are off the charts.”

Thomas said implementation of the program would be up to Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration, but he floated the idea of a new system to field quality-of-life concerns separate from 311. Should the city integrate the program into 311, Council should consider approving funding to expand the office, he said.

The bill lists six violations for which residents could get paid for tipping off authorities: illegal dumping, illegal alcohol sales, excessive noise, operating an off-road vehicle in the city, or “any crime involving use of a motor vehicle in the City that leads to death or serious bodily injury.”

Thomas has not specified where the reward money will come from, and the bill allows the Managing Director’s Office to determine the amount of each reward depending on “the violation, the accuracy/specificity of the information provided by the Citizen Watchdog, and the Citizen Watchdog’s cooperation with a potential investigation/legal proceedings,” according to Thomas’ office.

Kenney’s office said the administration was reviewing the proposal. Council President Darrell L. Clarke said he was supportive of Thomas’ approach.

“We have to talk about the details of it, but just this whole notion of community participation is very important,” Clarke said. “You can’t expect the government — be it the police, be it the sanitation officers, or be it whomever — be the only entity that deals with the quality-of-life issues, so as much community participation that we have, the better.”

Thomas introduced the bill at Council’s first in-person meeting in more than two years, since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Until Thursday, Philadelphia had been the last of the 10 largest U.S. cities with a municipal legislature that was meeting entirely remotely.

“People were excited. Council members were excited to be in the room. The ability to have interactions on a personal level — face to face — is always something that we like to have,” said Clarke, who controls Council’s meetings. “We’re back. People can come in, in person, and have their public comment, see their government in action, and see that their taxpayer dollars are being spent well.”

Clarke called lawmakers back to Council chambers in City Hall for a meeting that was familiar in some ways and new in others. Members’ desks were more spread out and equipped with wireless microphones. The number of people allowed in Council chambers was limited, and masking was encouraged.

Council also skipped its traditional Thursday morning caucus meeting, in which members report to Clarke which bills they plan to call up for a final passage vote and how many they plan to introduce.

It was also the first in-person meeting since the recent resignations of four members who are running in next year’s mayoral election or are considering doing so. Those seats will remain vacant until late November, when results are certified for the four special elections to replace former members Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, Allan Domb, Derek Green, and Cherelle L. Parker.

Parker served as majority leader, and her resignation caused a reorganization of Council leadership that Clarke announced Thursday. The new majority leader is Curtis Jones Jr., the majority whip is Mark Squilla, and Cindy Bass joins the leadership team as deputy majority whip.

Clarke also announced new committee chair assignments to fill vacancies created by the departed members.

Jones will take over the Appropriations Committee, which handles midyear budget transfers, from Quiñones-Sánchez, and Thomas will chair the Education Committee, which Quiñones-Sánchez also led.

Squilla will replace Green as Finance Committee chair, while Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson will take over the Law & Government Committee, which he also chaired.

Lastly, Driscoll will chair the Licenses & Inspections Committee, which Squilla previously led.

Driscoll is the committee’s third chair in the current Council term. Former member Bobby Henon held the post before being convicted last year on federal corruption charges, leaving it temporarily in Squilla’s hands. Driscoll replaced Henon in Council’s Lower Northeast Philadelphia-based 6th District in a special election earlier this year.

Also Thursday, Council passed a resolution that calls on the administration to take a number of steps related to abortion access, including to restrict the use of city resources to assist out-of-state investigations related to abortions that take place in Philadelphia.

The resolution, which is nonbinding, also calls on the administration to work with abortion clinics to improve safety at and outside their facilities, and to continue to allocate funding to cover the cost of abortion care. The legislation passed, 12-1, with Republican Brian J. O’Neill, who represents parts of Northeast Philadelphia, voting against it.

It was part of a package of legislation introduced last week by a trio of progressive lawmakers that they say will strengthen privacy protections and access to abortion care following the June overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Kenney’s administration has already taken some steps since the decision, including donating $500,000 out of the city’s general fund to the Abortion Liberation Fund of Pennsylvania, which helps patients pay for abortions.

The administration is defending a lawsuit lodged by antiabortion residents who claim the donation violated state law.