PASSED! Philadelphia City Council adopts resolution to
redirect military spending to fund our communities

By Jane Dugdale
Op-Ed News
June 22, 2012

http://www.opednews.com/articles/PASSED--Philadelphia-City-by-Jane-Dugdale-120622-114.html

The Philadelphia City Council, by a vote of 15-2,
passed June 21 a resolution "calling on the U.S.
Congress to bring all U.S. troops home from
Afghanistan, to take the funds saved by that action and
by significantly cutting the Pentagon budget, and to
use that money to fund education, public and private
sector family-sustaining job creation, special
protections for military sector workers, environmental
and infrastructure restoration, care for veterans and
their families, and human services that our cities and
states so desperately need."

Introduced by Councilmember Maria Quinones-Sanchez on
April 12 with six other co-sponsors , the resolution
was drafted by the Delaware Valley New Priorities
Network, comprised of dozens of labor, neighborhood,
faith, and peace organizations.  The resolution details
the human catastrophe in the City of Philadelphia: a
third of its children live in poverty, more than a
third are hungry, more than 300 veterans are homeless
on any given night; schools and health clinics are
closing; teachers, firefighters and police are losing
their jobs.

According to John Braxton, President of the Faculty and
Staff Federation of the Community College of
Philadelphia and representative of the Delaware Valley
New Priorities Network, "This resolution asks you
[members of Philadelphia City Council] to join the
majority of Americans who favor cutting the military
budget and rebuilding America.''

The City Council of Philadelphia is now on record as
having done just that.

The resolution contrasts the $2 billion shortfall of
the City of Philadelphia over the next five years with
the $5 billion spent on wars by Philadelphians since
2001.   The resolution notes the doubling of military
spending in the last decade and that the U.S. military
budget could be cut by 80% and still be the largest in
the world.

The Delaware Valley New Priorities Network  is
comprised of: American Federation of State County and
Municipal Employees (District Council 47), and retirees
of same; Brandywine Peace Community, Center for the
Celebration of Creation (Chestnut Hill United Church),
Catholic Peace Fellowship , Faculty and Staff
Federation of Community College of Philadelphia,
Coalition of Labor Union Women, East Mt. Airy
Neighbors, Fight for Philly, Journal of the Working
Class Struggle, Living Water United Church of Christ,
Main Line Peace Action, Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church,
Neighborhood Networks, Pennsylvania Progressive
Democrats of America, Philadelphia Granny Peace
Brigade, Philadelphia National Writers Union,
Philadelphia United for Peace and Justice Delaware
Valley Network Education Committee, Philadelphia Area
Black Radical Congress, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, Temple University Graduate Students
Association, US Labor Against the War, Vets for Peace,
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
______________

Attached photo:  Councilmember Maria Quinones-Sanchez,
who successfully introduced the resolution to Redirect
Military Spending to Fund Our Communities, poses
outside Philadelphia City Council Chambers with some of
the members of the Delaware Valley New Priorities
Network, which drafted the resolution,  passed by
Philadelphia City Council June 21 by 15-2.  From left,
Jane Dugdale, Main Line Peace Action; Councilmember
Quinones-Sanchez; Ben Sears, Philadelphia Federation of
Teachers, retirees; Bob Smith, Brandywine Peace
Community; John Braxton, Faculty and Staff Federation
of Community College of Philadelphia; Ken Heard,
National Writers Union. http://tinyurl.com/6n5u8d9
________

Jane Dugdale facilitates Main Line Peace Action, is an
active member of Central Baptist Church in Wayne, PA.
and a retired public school teacher and a returned
Peace Corps Volunteer (Chile 64-'66).

___________________________________________

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