Philly DSA urges support for Councilman Green’s Pubic Banking Bill

Alongside other members of the Philadelphia Public Banking Coalition, Philly DSA has fought for City Council to create the first municipal public bank in the country. DSA members now have the opportunity to make that vision a reality. Councilmember Derek Green took up the coalition’s call and introduced a public banking bill that has a hearing in the finance committee on Monday, December 13 at 10am. We need our comrades’ voices in the fight to make Philadelphia the first city in the country to break the power of Wall Street by creating a public bank. 

The bank would take tax-dollars currently invested in Wall Street and instead fund projects that benefit our city’s residents. It would focus investments on working class neighborhoods and communities of color that have historically been denied banking services and access to credit. The bank could fund the reconstruction of our toxic school buildings, green infrastructure projects that create union jobs while reducing carbon emissions, permanently affordable housing, and the creation of worker cooperatives and Black and Brown small businesses – among a long list of potential projects. And we can do this while ending the city government’s reliance on Wall Street banks that overcharged us hundreds of millions in fees, but continue to get contracts to issue new bonds.

To win these investments and a future not governed by private capital, we’ll need every comrade to raise their voice in unison and urge our City Councilmembers to pass this bill. You can learn how to call, email and post at the relevant Councilmembers by using this toolkit.

I’m proud to fight alongside all of you for a future where public investments are determined by the needs of the people – not the profit margins of Wall Street.

–Greg Windle, Philly DSA member and representative on the Public Banking Coalition