June 08, 2016
Brian Hickey/PhillyVoice
Daniel Grace, left, head of Teamsters Local 830, emceed a June 2016 rally against Mayor Jim Kenney's proposed soda tax.
As you may have heard, Mayor Jim Kenney's proposal to tax soda (and other sugary beverages) to fund an initiative including universal pre-K and community schools has drawn some pushback.
If you hadn't heard about it before now, a) where have you been and b) if you were near City Hall on Wednesday morning, you know about it now.
On the north side of the building, where City Hall-perk recipients used to park, about 500 protestors hoisted signs, chanted "no new taxes," egged horn-honking truck drivers on, sipped free samples, dined upon gratis box lunches and listened as a collection of speakers took to a stage adorned by a "No Philly Grocery Tax" banner.
The horns and chants were meant to send a message inside the building, as City Council members prepared for a 2 p.m. committee hearing that could very well define what legislation comes up for a vote at Thursday's full session.
There have been discussions about a "container tax," hiked real-estate taxes and other compromises that apparently play into the theory that Kenney has backed away from his earlier 3-cents-or-nothing stance.
We'll get into all of that later, but for now, here are a collection of photos from Wednesday morning's rally to give you a sense of what you missed if you weren't close enough to hear Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (get it?!) a few times through the speakers.
There were crass signs...
... and less-crass signs.
Some protesters took to the streets with their signs as soda-company and supermarket trucks drove by.
And, after the program was over, attendees were invited to grab free samples of beverages and boxed lunches.
If you missed the action, Periscope video of the protest (and speakers related to it) is available via this link.
LIVE on #Periscope: Philly anti-soda-tax protest https://t.co/E522GfGsre
— Brian P. Hickey (@BrianPHickey) June 8, 2016
