City Council overturns mayor's veto on safe injection site ban

City Council has -- once again -- voted to ban the potential development of safe injection sites in a majority of Philadelphia, leaving only one councilmanic district where they could possibly be permitted.

With this move, council overturned a veto of the bill that introduced the ban, which Mayor Jim Kenney issued this week.

During the meeting, several members of the public provided impassioned pleas asking councilmembers to abandon the legislation and allow safe injections site to possibly be developed in other parts of the city.

Casey Miller, who identified himself as a registered nurse, told council that banning the ban "is dangerously anti-science" and argues that it limits how the city can combat addiction issues.

He suggested safe injection sites could be a way to help provide healthcare to those struggling with addiction, instead of leaving that burden on the existing hospital system.

"We are seriously strained as it is and I only see this getting worse and worse in our city," he said.

When council initially voted in support of a zoning overlay that would only permit safe injection sites in southwest Philly's third councilmanic district, they also voted to require the non-profit group, Safehouse, to halt implementation of these sites in order to allow for more community involvement and input from other city officials before they would be built.

In defending his stance on the bill, city council member Mark Squilla (D-1st dist.) said the bill is less of a ban and more of a way for city residents, especially those who might live closest to any safe injection site -- if or when a location for one is ever proposed -- to have a say on what happens in their community.

"This bill allows the community to have input on where these sites would be selected, what would be happening around there and how that their input would be put in place if these sites were to ever be put up," he said.

In the end, council undid the mayor's veto by a vote of 13-1.