Authorizing City Council's Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities to hold public hearings to investigate and determine the progress of the Market Elevated Reconstruction Project and to further investigate and determine whether SEPTA cannot do more to alleviate the displacement and financial desolation suffered by many of the small business owners and residents who are directly impacted by this project and the Philadelphia Community at large; and to investigate and determine what SEPTA has done, as a neighbor for the neighborhoods adjacent to this project and to determine why SEPTA cannot be more responsive to the complaints of this Community and the larger Philadelphia Community during the course of this reconstruction project.

WHEREAS, SEPTA started the Market Elevated Reconstruction Project (MERP) several years ago; and

WHEREAS, The MERP is the subject of numerous complaints from small business owners and residents living in Philadelphia, and in West Philadelphia specifically; and

WHEREAS, The MERP has negatively impacted the ecosystem that exists in West Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, SEPTA has a moral, prima facie obligation to do whatever is necessary to maintain the integrity of Philadelphia's communities, and especially the West Philadelphia Community, including all those who live, work, recreate and otherwise pursue life in West Philadelphia; now therefore

RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council hereby authorizes City Council's Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities to hold public hearings to investigate and determine the progress of the Market Elevated Reconstruction Project and to further investigate and determine whether SEPTA cannot do more to alleviate the displacement and financial desolation suffered by many of the small business owners and residents who are directly impacted by this project and the Philadelphia Community at large; and to investigate and determine what SEPTA has done, as a neighbor for the neighborhoods adjacent to this project and to determine why SEPTA cannot be more responsive to the complaints of this Community and the larger Philadelphia Community during the course of this reconstruction project.

End