m. - - - BILL 040595 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code ("Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions") by amending Section 9-605 ("Towing") to prohibit certain towing upon the establishment of a rotational towing system; to define the parameters of the rotational system; and to make certain technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 040904 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions," by adding a new Chapter requiring dentists to post and distribute certain information concerning the use of mercury in dental procedures, and requiring dentists to install systems that permit the recycling of mercury waste, all under certain terms and conditions. 2670 2 Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions," by amending Section 9-102, entitled "Licenses and Permits," by providing that no license or permit shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes, charges, fees, rents or claims, or is delinquent in the payment of certain penalties of fines, and by increasing the fee for dishonored checks. BILL 050204 - An Ordinance amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "The Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code," by amending Subcode A, Section A-202, entitled "Duties and Powers of the Code Official," by providing that no 13 license or permit required by Title 4 shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes, charges, fees, rents or claims, or is delinquent in the payment of certain penalties or fines, all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050266 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades, and Professions," by amending Section 9-601, entitled "Garages, Parking Lots, Sales Lots and Showrooms," by providing further for the filing of rates by public parking garages, under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050267 - An Ordinance amending Title 4, Subcode "A," The Philadelphia Administrative Code, to clarify the types of permits in connection with 3 which the Department of Licenses and Inspections may charge fees for providing accelerated plan reviews and to establish a fee for the electronic storage of building plans; all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050342 - An Ordinance amending Chapter 10-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Vicarious Liability for Student Conduct," by amending the definitions of Educational Housing District to include the Eighth Councilmanic District. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO, Chair COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE L. BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN JUAN F. RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS-BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO 4 L & I - 5/25/05 - - - P R O C E E D I N G S - - - CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I want to bring this public meeting of the Committee on Licenses and Inspections to order. We have a quorum. Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Ramos, Councilwoman Krajewski and Councilwoman Blackwell. I think Councilman Clarke's in the building, too, but we have enough to start. Mr. Lisko, would you read the first bill. CLERK: Bill 050203, An Ordinance 16 amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions," by amending Section 9-102, entitled "Licenses and Permits," by providing that no license or permit shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Any witnesses? Come on up. Both come together, Glancey and Otis. Come on. Let's go. Come on up. I 5 L & I - 5/25/05 think he's senior, Otis, so you've got to let him go. He's senior to you. Mr. Glancey, state your name for the record.
Whoever is senior. First of all, my name is David Glancey, and I'm the Chairman of the Board of the Revision of Taxes. I don't know whoever's senior. I think I am, so I'll probably run it. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Let the record show, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown just joined us. Continue, Mr. Glancey. I'm sorry.
Good afternoon, Chairman Mariano and other members of Council. First of all, I'd like to make it clear at the outset of the testimony that I'm not here testifying on behalf of the City of Philadelphia. I'm here testifying on behalf of the Board of Revision of Taxes on these two bills. And the Board of Revision of Taxes 6 L & I - 5/25/05 is in favor of passage of the concept embodied in these bills. We believe that no building permit should be issued to any party prior to the determination of whether that party is delinquent in taxes, charges, fees, rents, et cetera. We've been proposing this change to individual Council people, to developers, to lawyers, to individual homeowners for many years. And we say this because it makes no 14 logical sense to grant any party a permit to build in our City if that party is not abiding by the City's rules and laws. And more importantly, under the current legislative scheme for abatement legislation, a party can receive a building permit, build a property, and sell the property to the ultimate consumer, usually a homeowner. And furthermore, that party may make representations about the availability of an abatement on the property which may not be 7 L & I - 5/25/05 true. And for example, the party developing the building -- I'm sorry. The party developing or building the property may still have some outstanding delinquency in taxes, rents, fees, et cetera. T. of this situation. And we, in turn, will inform the developer that no 11 abatement will go into effect until the Department of Revenue gives us clearance to proceed. In most cases the responsible developer will clear up the matter with the Department of Revenue, and an abatement will be approved for the property. There are times, however, when the developer is not responsible and does not clear up the past delinquencies but nonetheless tells the purchaser that they will have an abatement on their property. After settlement, the developer is gone. And the innocent and injured party is the new homeowner, whose only legal recourse 8 L & I - 5/25/05 is to sue the developer for misrepresenting a material fact in the contract to purchase that property. , the first question the innocent purchaser asks after the shock of not having the abatement wears off, is why did the City let this party build in the first place, if that party owes money to the City? When there's really no sufficient answer to that question. Granting a building permit to a party that is delinquent in taxes, fees, charges, et cetera, cloaks that party with the City's stamp of approval. If the City is granting someone permission to build or develop, it is reasonable to assume the applicant must be legitimate. And unfortunately, that is not always the case. If no building permit were issued until all delinquencies were resolved, the situation I just described wouldn't happen. Adopting this front-end 9 L & I - 5/25/05 certification puts all developers on an even playing field. The buying public will not have to guess who may or may not qualify for the abatement program. Home buyers can be confident that their builder will be approved and they can enjoy the benefits of the abatement. T. We cannot suggest an easier or more efficient solution to the problems that we face under the current abatement processing methods. T. certainly doesn't have the expertise to address those particular 10 L & I - 5/25/05 issues. We do, however, strongly support the concept of having any delinquency review performed prior to the issuance of the building permit. And I'll happily answer any questions you might have. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Glancey. Let the record show that Councilman Kelly has joined us. Any questions for Mr. Glancey from the board... from the committee?
I would just like to compliment Mr. Glancey because what you spoke of, you have been very helpful to me because I have had those problems in the district, as far as the developer. And the homeowner always has to go through an awful, awful time on it. But you were there and I just want to thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. 11 L & I - 5/25/05 CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Any other Council people want to say anything? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: No. 6 Mr. Glancey. Mr. Haigler, do you want to go? You might as well stay there, Dave, for the next one. Go ahead.
Good day, Councilman Mariano and members of the committee. , Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of License and Inspections. I don't have any written testimony on this issue. And we would basically be trying to address any questions that would come our way regarding this matter, but from a perspective, the concept of verifications and checks, I don't think nobody would disagree with. But the practicality of implementing such a proposal at this time would be difficult for the Department of Licenses and 12 L & I - 5/25/05 Inspections because we have over -- well over 100,000 licenses that we process in our department. These licenses are renewed automatically. There is no manual process to do this. And to take this from an automatic process and put it in a manual process, it would create a major disruption in our operation. So, that's why we would have an impractical way of doing this at this present time. And also, some of the information that would be necessary to do the verification is in another department. It's not in L & I. It is in the Records Department -- in the Revenue Department. So, we would have problems dealing with that from that perspective. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Okay. Let me say that Councilman Clarke has joined us. I think, Councilman DiCicco, do you have a question for Mr. Haigler? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 13 L & I - 5/25/05 Mr. Haigler, what kind of resources do you think the department... I see the Commissioner's approaching the witness table. When you talk about resources, that you don't have the resources to monitor this, what are we talking about? COMMISSIONER SOVILIVE: As Mr. Haigler just stated, we issue over 100,000 licenses a year, and a manual process would be near impossible. What we are presently working on with revenue and L & I in our new computerization that we talked about in our budget testimony will be basically, if we put Robert Sovilive and company in the computer, it will say yes or no if the taxes are current. And then we'll be able to process the license. That's the type of... COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: How far away are we from implementing this new technology or... COMMISSIONER SOVILIVE: As we speak. They're working on it, as we speak. Within the next year we should be able -- year -- 14 L & I - 5/25/05 six months to a year we should be able to have it completed, where we can have that type of information. Right now we have one interface with revenue on licenses to come in. And we're trying to work off of that interface, to see if we can tie it into the information we need to be able to comply with the intent of this ordinance. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Is the reason it may take six months to a year because of the... Maybe is it lack of resources to speed up or expedite this process? COMMISSIONER SOVILIVE: It's basically we are creating the system in the department right now to computerize the department. It's scheduled to be completed by November to December of this year. So, right now it's difficult... It would be difficult to put it in place now because the system's not completed yet. Once the system's complete -- As I stated, we have one interface right now. We 15 L & I - 5/25/05 have one interface right now that works when -- When the bill comes in, revenue receives the funds, and then it comes in to Licenses and Inspections, and it's put in our computer that the license has been paid. So, now we're trying to build off of that interface, and we're building another -- We're going to build another interface which will be used towards working an interface with revenue. And that should do the trick for us. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: If we amended the bill for the effective date to be December 31, '05, would be okay? Otis is shaking his head no, but you said October, November. COMMISSIONER SOVILIVE: I said our system we're building that we had planned will be built from between November -- I said November to December. You can't catch me, Councilman.
I said from November to December. And that's from my lips to God's ears that that will happen. What will happen, in fact, is in the 16 L & I - 5/25/05 interim we are working with revenue to build -- to comply with the ordinance, this ordinance. And it would be hard for me... I'd have to get back to you with a time frame. It seems that we can have it done by December. But I'm not a computer expert, so I don't want to misspeak. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: With the co-sponsors, Councilman Kenney and Mariano, if we change the effective date to December 31, '05, and for some unknown reason the system was not up, we can always, I guess, extend it. But I think it's important that we put a time line on this so it doesn't just continued to... COMMISSIONER SOVILIVE: I mean, absolutely for the record, we are in total agreement with the need for the bill. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: All right. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Any other questions for these witnesses? 17 L & I - 5/25/05 Councilman Cohen.
Is there an agreement that there are other people who may be in higher positions who are not in agreement and welcome the opportunity to not have a perfect answer in every case?
Because that's how people in Philadelphia think. They think that these deficiencies exist because people want them to exist to have an excuse later to say, well, it was the system. COMMISSIONER SOVILIVE: My superiors know what I was going to say today. And nobody told me not to come here and say it. And I do work for the administration. So, I don't know... If you mean the administration, I feel that they're on board with this.
Well, we hope you're right. I do mean the administration because the administration could clear it up immediately if they made an announcement that 18 L & I - 5/25/05 they wanted to clear it up and make a commitment of funds to enable you to be sure to do it not next November or December but to do it by July or August. There should be no such safe places where people can hide bad deeds. Everybody ought to be treated fairly. And that's what we're looking for, is a sense of confidence for people in Philadelphia that the government is clean and nobody's playing games. All right. Otherwise, I think the efforts by Council members DiCicco and Kenney and his field are admirable, and they ought to be maintained that way. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions for these witnesses? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, Mr. Lisko, will you read the next bill.
Thank you, Mr. 19 L & I - 5/25/05 Chairman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Oh, you want -- I'm sorry. Do you want a witness on this one?
I have a few copies of a letter I sent to Councilman Kenney and Councilman DiCicco back when this bill was introduced. Hope it's enough. In the context of all the hearings you've been having... Incidentally, my name is Gray Smith. I'm an architect in Philadelphia. I've practiced here for over 30 years as a sole practitioner and as a member of a couple of other organizations in the past. Had my practice since 1975, and have been paying City taxes. And I own property here, so I've been paying real estate taxes as well. I'm speaking primarily from an architect's point of view, having to deal with L & I frequently, and the difficulties 20 L & I - 5/25/05 that we have over there. Hopefully the computerization that's been under way for a number of years will improve a lot of the procedures over there, which are still somewhat medieval. I think this bill has a lot of flaws in it, and particularly since there's no 9 detail in it, particularly the issue about... in Bill 204, under certain terms and conditions. And I'm going to raise a number of issues that are going to probably create, if this bill goes through, some 10 or terms 15 and conditions that you're going to need to do in order to be fair to the taxpayers of the City of Philadelphia, particularly those people interfaced with L & I. And I know the context of this hearing is to try to collect more revenue which is what we're all trying to do. And it's a good cause. It's a good goal. And to that effect, I would just like to thank Councilman DiCicco for all the great work he's done for our neighborhood in 21 L & I - 5/25/05 putting the Santora Library back on a full scale operation and the good work that was done at Palumbo Playground. But regarding these two bills, 50203 and 50204, I really request that you table these bills or hold them for consideration next year because I think they have serious defects, and if enacted can wreak some havoc in the design and construction industry in Philadelphia. I recall that Bennett Levin attempted to implement this practice of permit denial for tax delinquency when he was Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections. And he realized, after discussing with the industry, that that was a mistake and it would be counterproductive. So, he withdrew his proposal. And I personally pointed out to him some of the defects in that approach, and I think he based it partly on some of my advice. On their face, the bills might seem to force payment of some outstanding taxes 22 L & I - 5/25/05 which is a very good goal. And I know there's lots of tax cheats out there that need some stimulation or some inclination to... And they need some stimulation or inclination to pay their taxes. However, I think this is the wrong way to do it. 150 or so licenses that are required to undertake various business practices in Philadelphia and the business privilege license are all mandated by City ordinances. You can't do those things without those licenses. And you can't do any business in the City without a business privilege license. These bills are, therefore, contradictory to those ordinances. These bills make L & I perform a tax collection operation which it is not capable of or prepared to do or staffed to do or have the computer software to do. As it is, L & I has half the staff needed to do its mandated work in a boom construction period. 23 L & I - 5/25/05 Now, I don't know if you've been over there recently, but it used to take one day to get a zoning review and approval or refusal. Today it takes a minimum of to 7 days. You can't stay there and get it. 8 You've got to wait for a letter or phone 9 call. And if you want to get it expedited, 10 it still takes at least seven days. 11 L & I is backed up in a boom period. 12 You're adding still another aspect to 13 their -- to the 400 requirements that you 14 have and hoops that you have to jump through when you go over there to get a permit.
The same problem is with building permits, which now building permits that used to take a month to get are taking three and four months to get. And that's slowing down the process. Adding this additional hoop will slow down that process even more. I suggest you go down to the concourse some day and see how it works or how it doesn't work, for that matter. It's like seeing sausage being made. It's an 24 L & I - 5/25/05 excruciating process. And those of us who have to go through it don't want another layer put upon us. And I think you should leave tax collections up to the Revenue and Law Departments. The no license, no permit regulations will effectively interfere with legitimate business operations in Philadelphia, which have nothing directly to do with the payment of taxes. How, for example, can a business operate and produce income so as to pay its City taxes if L & I will not issue a legally required business license or permit to do that business? It's a catch 22. You've got to do your business. You've got to get your license. But if you don't have your license -- If you haven't paid your taxes, you can't get your license, so you can't make the money to pay your taxes. I think these regulations will encourage people and businesses to operate 25 L & I - 5/25/05 without licenses and without permits which is an all too common practice already. This will just encourage people to operate without those licenses and permits. The most difficult part, though -- And this gets into those conditions that are referred to but not listed in the bill. These bills make no consideration for tax disputes between the Revenue Department and a business or individual, which disputes are not the subject of an agreement but may be moving slowly through negotiations or the courts. If I have a dispute with the City, with respect to a $20 tax bill or a $200,000 tax bill, and it's a matter of dispute, it is listed as delinquent, as far as the Revenue Department is concerned. That means until that thing goes through the courts or through the procedures, I will not be able to practice my profession as an architect by applying for building permits over at L & I. And yet, I am entitled to that L & I - 5/25/05 procedure, that due process, if I have a dispute with the Revenue Department. And I have personally had occasion -- and I'm sure other business people have -- where the Revenue Department billed me erroneously for months for taxes that were already paid, due to their clerical errors and their inability to respond in a timely manner. Now, they've improved things over there, but they're still not perfect. And also, if you happen to have an agreement to pay a long-term tax bill with the Revenue Department, say, to pay a certain amount of money for eight months or a year, you're still classified as delinquent. During that period, if I have an agreement, I would not be able to go to L & I and practice my profession as an architect by applying for a permit for one of my projects. Under these proposed regulations, during a three or four-month period, where there is a problem clerically at the Revenue Department, I would not be able to practice 27 L & I - 5/25/05 architecture. Now, The Philadelphia Building Code requires the design professional, that is, the guy, the architect, the engineer who designs the project, to be the applicant for a building permit. The contractor can't, the owner can't, the lawyer can't. The design professional must be the applicant. If I've designed a building and there's a dispute with it... I'm just about through. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Okay. Because we're really under constraints here. We've got an hour to do five bills, and we get your point that you're against this. And it's duly noted.
Two more minutes and I'm done. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Two minutes and then I start shooting.
Again, these two bills 28 L & I - 5/25/05 contradict that legal requirement, that an architect must apply for the building permit. So, you've got to resolve the dilemma between one ordinance that says one thing and one ordinance that says you can't do it. And the Legal Department, I guess, is going to have to explore that. In any event, I am analyzing these from an architect's position in a business continuously in Philadelphia since 1975. And it appears that it would -- this bill would also adversely affect all 150 of those other types of professions that have to get licenses in Philadelphia. And it also contradicts the ordinances that are on the books that require those people to have licenses. And if they can't get a license because they haven't paid a tax, then they can't do their work in order to earn the money to pay the tax. So, it's a catch 22. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Smith. And we get it. We really do. Thank 29 L & I - 5/25/05 you for your thoughtful insight. There's some other testimony we're going to add into the record. Any questions from this witness? Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. Just briefly, are you aware of any current requirements, as it relates to having paid your real estate or any other City taxes, as it relates to your ability to do business with the City of Philadelphia.
Are you aware if you are trying to acquire a property from the City of Philadelphia, if you have any outstanding delinquent taxes, you will be prohibited to do that?
Yes. A title company would have a record of any outstanding liens on a property that you would have, plus any outstanding debts you would have from any 30 L & I - 5/25/05 source, one of which would be an outstanding lien on a piece of property. And you go to buy -- You go to sell a piece of property --
The title company... We're talking about properties that are being purchased from the City of Philadelphia. So, it's probably not a lien on the property owned by the City of Philadelphia.
I'm not familiar with that. I've never bought a property from the City of Philadelphia.
Currently... Give you an example, one that Council its involved with. The Vacant Property Review Committee, which is a Council committee, committed by Council, meets on a monthly basis. And I understand the volume is obviously not as large as the volume in the MSB, as it relates to issue of permits for a license. But you are required to have all 31 L & I - 5/25/05 taxes and fees paid before you were in the position to receive a property from the City of Philadelphia through the Vacant Property Review Committee.
And it's my understanding that there are a couple of other instances, and there are probably some that I don't even know of, that you are required to have all your outstanding debt paid to the City of Philadelphia. So, we're not talking about setting a precedent as it relates to this particular proposal.
Well, the most important thing here, I think, is, if you're going to set a precedent, then you have to have the exceptions built into it that allow for people who have agreements to pay back taxes or who have a dispute that's in the courts, with respect to back taxes in Philadelphia, rather than just simply summarily determine that they're delinquent, so they're not entitled to get a license or permit in the 32 L & I - 5/25/05 City. There have to be -- There has to be enough flexibility in the process, and therein you're going to have to have some computer software and a lot of extremely up-to-date information at the Revenue Department which may be a task.
In order to be able to be fair to people who walk in and don't even know they owe taxes or are sure that they don't owe taxes. And then they have a shouting match with the L & I guy who's really just put in a bad position of having to say, I'm sorry, I can't give you your permit because you haven't paid your taxes. And there's going to be a big argument. I see arguments like that all the time at L & I.
We're not requiring people to do that. So -- So, conceptually you agree with the premise that an individual should pay -- should have all obligations to the 33 L & I - 5/25/05 City of Philadelphia paid prior to being able to get a permit. The question is that you just don't think we have the wherewithal, as it relates to our technology. Should be some flexibility, as it relates to other documents, in lieu of having actually paid, the agreement of sale or some -- something referencing some litigation or challenge, as it relates to... Would you agree with the premise that people should in fact...
...pay taxes prior to being able to get something from the City of Philadelphia?
I do. I think, though, in order to be fair, like I said, you're going to have to have consideration for those people who are in a dispute with the Revenue Department or whose names are the same as somebody else who does pay taxes, and for some reason their name comes up and it's the 34 L & I - 5/25/05 same name. And they have an argument, it's not me. There's all kinds of...
And the way it works is, that usually something like that happens. That's Murphy's law.
I actually get a letter every week sent to a Darrell W. Clarke saying I owe $670 to some entity that I never heard of. I call them and say, this is not me. They say, we're sorry sir. And I get one the following week, so I understand that. But the reality is that if we don't approach this in this matter -- And I've heard testimony indicating that L & I has some concerns about being able to provide the technical aspect of this proposal in a timely way, to incorporate in a reasonable time period. And I think I heard the Council -- the sponsors indicating that if in fact they weren't able to have this implemented, that 35 L & I - 5/25/05 there could be some discussion about lengthening the time, as it related to enforcement on this particular measure.
I don't think L & I should be in the tax collection business. I think you should leave that to the Law Department or the Revenue Department, and frankly because L & I has got enough to do.
Hold it. I heard you. You've said that several times. And I'm not suggesting that they should be in the revenue. But I'm telling you that there are currently cases in the City of Philadelphia where you are prohibited from doing business with us if you have unpaid taxes. The Vacant Property Review Committee does not collect taxes, but they will prohibit your ability to acquire a property through that process, unless you have taxes paid. So we're not setting a precedent. 36 L & I - 5/25/05
Well, I know this: When you go to L & I and you apply for a building permit, let's say for a historic property, they don't just process it there. They say, okay. You've got to go to the Historical Commission in order to get their review and their approval which might take a few days. But they don't do it for you at L & I. They send you to another department. By the same token, if this system is set up, then L & I could tell the person who comes up on the screen as owing taxes, you're going to have to go to the Revenue Department to resolve this. And you either come back with a indication that you paid the taxes or some alternative explanation as to why you don't owe the tax or why there is a dispute regarding the tax, which will allow me to therefore proceed with your application. There has to be something of that nature. You can't just be black and white.
Okay. Thank 37 L & I - 5/25/05 you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Smith. Would the Clerk please read the title for the next bill.
The accompanying bill 9 was 050204, an ordinance amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "The Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code," by amending Subcode A, Section A-202, entitled "Duties and Powers of the Code Official," by providing that no 15 license or permit required by Title 4 shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes, charges, fees, rents or claims, or is delinquent in the payment of certain penalties or fines, all under certain terms and conditions. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: So, this is basically the companion legislation to the last bill. We're not going to hear any 38 L & I - 5/25/05 testimony on this because everybody that got to speak on the last one is going to say the same thing. Are we okay with that? Mr. Smith? Everybody's okay? Okay. Go on to the next bill. CLERK: Bill 040595, an ordinance 9 amending Title of The Philadelphia Code ("Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions") by amending Section 9-605 ("Towing") to prohibit certain towing upon the establishment of a rotational towing system; to define the parameters of the rotational system; and to make certain technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: All right. First panel is going to be Lewis Rosman for the Law Department, Frannie Healy, and Sergeant Bee, but I don't think Bee could say. He had to leave. So, Mr. Rosman and Mr. Healy, whoever wants to go first.
My name is Lewis 39 L & I - 5/25/05 Rosman. I'm a senior attorney with the city Law Department. I don't have any prepared testimony. I'm available if there are any technical questions about -- legal questions about how the bill works or if there are any amendments proposed to the bill. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: We love that, Mr. Rosman. Councilman Rizzo? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Councilman Kenney? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Councilman DiCicco? (No response.) Anybody? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Any questions on this bill, how it works? Anyone on the panel? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: All right. Mr. 40 L & I - 5/25/05 Healy.
Good afternoon. My name is Francis Healy. I represent Police Commissioner Johnson in this matter. First, on his behalf, he extends his appreciation for valuing his comments on this legislation. As you well know, the primary objective of the Police Department is to protect life and property. However, for many years, a dangerous condition has existed on our roadways. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Frannie, slow down a little bit. Pull the mike closer because the stenographer...
However, for many years a dangerous condition has existed on our roadways that the Police Department has been powerless to completely control or eliminate. Vehicles that have been in accidents are often not removed expeditiously from the City streets, which present a hazardous condition. To date the Police Department has not had a formalized system to remove these vehicles. 41 L & I - 5/25/05 Additionally, the practice, which is better known as wreck chasing, negatively impacts the public safety. When multiple towers rush to an accident scene to secure business, they sometimes cause accidents themselves. But the Police Department can and does cite towers who drive carelessly and recklessly. The profit motive outweighs the risk. As the law of unintended consequences would have it, the current towing laws actually facilitate this very hazard. There is no logistical or systematic method to assign accidents to specific towers. So, in essence, the towers are left to fend for themselves and literally scramble for any and all available work. The amendments to Section 9-605 creating a rotational tow system will remove this danger. Equally important, this legislation does not interfere with the ability of towers to engage in other towing operations. 42 L & I - 5/25/05 This legislation only mandates towers for those situations where disabled vehicles are obstructing highways and sidewalks who will not prohibit towers from engaging in other towing contracts. For these reasons, the Police Department fully supports the amendments to 9-605, in that it eliminates the hazards involved in wreck chasing without over regulating the industry. At this time I'm available for any questions, as well as I have a corporal from police radio, as well as a dispatcher, that can comment on how the existing rotational system works for the stolen program which is what we would mimic this program upon. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Stand by in case we get there. Let's go through the other panels and you guys hang around so we can get to that because I'm sure there will be questions that the last panel asked that won't have to come back and ask you. Is that okay? 43 L & I - 5/25/05
And dinner's on Councilman Rizzo for everybody that hangs around late, just so you know. The next panel will be Art Kulis from AOK Body Shop, Joseph Parente from Morton Towing and Recovery, and John Devirgilis, Silver Miller and Devirgilis. I hope I said everybody's names right.
Good afternoon, members... Mr. Chairman and members of Council. My name is John Devirgilis. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Councilwoman Krajewski wants to know if you're Jim's dad.
I know Jim D. Devirgilis. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: You're not his dad, though, right? Because you're not old enough to be his father.
I did not say that. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Yes, you did. 44 L & I - 5/25/05
To make things even more confusing, Jim and I have a case together, and you can imagine the confusion. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: He's a good man.
I represent the Philadelphia Authorized Towers and salvers which are towers in the City of Philadelphia. But there are also authorized salvers from the state -- the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We support this amendment to the bill. The Police Department has, of course, documented the need to control the chaos involved in a situation that this bill would certainly help to alleviate. I can tell you as an attorney for 30 years representing towers and victims, not only of motor vehicle accidents but of the victims of the opponents of this bill, that there's a very real problem, and that there's a very real need for this amendment. Philadelphia Authorized Towers is a success story for the removal of vehicles on a rotational basis. They already perform 45 L & I - 5/25/05 under a contract with the City of Philadelphia which the Police Department suggests that this bill should mirror, towing and storage of recovered stolen vehicles. They respond within a particular 20-minute period of time, something along that order, by a -- from a list that's kept by the Police Department. They go out, they move the vehicle, and the police are back on the streets, back in service immediately thereafter. We support the implementation of this bill through an RFP, and with the participation of all licensed towers, not just my organization, with a strong minority participation and the eliminating of any control by any one entity, as this bill and the amendment proposes. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you. Any questions for this witness from the committee or from the floor? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none... 46 L & I - 5/25/05 Sir.
My name is Joseph Parente. I own and operate Morton Towing and Recovery. I'm here today to support the implementation of the rotation bill. My company at the present time tows the City stolen and abandoned vehicles. The stolen vehicle program is currently on rotation where the police dispatchers notify tow companies to respond and retrieve vehicles in a timely fashion. The City is also divided into different divisions so that a company in that division is able to respond promptly, and also that the police officer resumes to other calls. This program has been designed by the Philadelphia Police Department and instituted by the Law Department and works without flaws. The City needs to stand up and protect the victims and the insurance companies of these accidents so that they are 47 L & I - 5/25/05 not charged with inflated prices or put through an ordeal just to retrieve their vehicle. If the rotation is put up on an RFP basis, it will let all towers who meet the proper requirements of the City to be able to be a part of this program. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Any questions for this witness? Councilman Kenney, please.
Okay. Do you know whether or not Morton has or your township or city has a rotation tow system?
Actually, it just -- They just went into a rotation system because of --
Are Philadelphia based towers permitted to apply for positions on the rotation?
I'm sorry. The question, was it in Morton, Pennsylvania. You said, yes.
Fine. I guess I have a question for the police. In the original towing bill or a subsequent piece of legislation, it was indicated that you could not license a tower from the municipality or township surrounding Philadelphia that refused to allow Philadelphia tow companies to participate or compete in their rotation tow system. I mean, are we abiding by that or is L & I -- Maybe they're here too. Because I've heard of contracts that the police have with tow companies from outside Philadelphia areas that preclude the ability for Philadelphia towers to compete in their area but still issue the contract anyway. I mean, if you could find out from me.
I'm not exactly sure exactly which contracts we have. 50 L & I - 5/25/05 When we did the 40,000 cars in 40 days, we actually expanded the scope of the available salvage operations we had. I believe that was back in 2000. I'm not sure whether we preclude or prohibit anybody from joining onto our program, if they're -- if we're not actually allowed into their jurisdiction. I don't know.
Right. I'll have to look to see whether we have any of that fall into that category.
Okay. There's one particular -- There's one particular contract with Janeway, which I believe is located in Norristown, which prohibits Norristown by law, prohibits Philadelphia towers from participating in any of their rotation programs or contracting. But we still let the contract to this company. And I'd like to get some information from you guys as to whether or not that's the 51 L & I - 5/25/05 case and why that happened.
I think it's important we kind of regulate this, especially where there's abuse. But also, I don't want to put our own local towers at a disadvantage because they're precluded from expanding their reach into areas around Philadelphia -- some areas around Philadelphia, but we have an open shop here where people can come in and just bid for the business.
I'll look into that. But it's important to note that this law is all-encompassing. It's not going to preclude towers from -- the average tower on the street from entering into different contracts. If I can get my car off to the side of the road, I can contract with anybody I want.
But the wreck chasing issue is relative to accidents which 52 L & I - 5/25/05 are impeding the highway. And you need to get them off. And that's why these guys race to the scene to catch the big tuna.
I've heard stories where guys won't pick up an old car if it's in an accident but a Mercedes will go pretty quick. But I need to get some information relative to that Janeway contract.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Healy, get that information to all of us, so that if we have to amend this or do something at a later date, we can do that. Because the Councilman's point is well taken, and it's something that we discussed on this floor before. Any other questions? (No response.) 53 L & I - 5/25/05
Seeing none for this panel, let's move into the next panel. Mr. Doubman from the Insurance Federation and Ronald Kosh from AAA. Are they still here? Insurance guys? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Looks like not. Okay. Anybody else? Let the august counselor go first. Give your name.
I don't know whether I qualify as august, but I am getting old. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I just use that word. I really have no idea what it means.
Believe it or not, I don't either. John Mattioni. I represent the Tow Truck Operators of Philadelphia LLC. And unfortunately, we didn't get early notice of this meeting. I got used to the idea that either your office or Councilman Rizzo's office 54 L & I - 5/25/05 sends me a letter at least a week in advance. I'm coming in here -- CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I'm not sure why that happened. I thought everybody knew. I just figured...
Well, it's kind of consistent with what's happened to my group, the group that I represent. I suppose because they're the group that are called direct chasers in an appropriate... sort of as a... suggesting that every member of this organization has some kind of nefarious activity associated with them. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Counselor, I wouldn't call them wreck chasers. I just think they're guys that are trying to make a living. And part of this legislation is just to try to make sure that everybody, being white, black, Puerto Rico, Asian American, gets the same opportunity to get to the plate and do this here. The last thing we want to do is have something where somebody comes and 55 L & I - 5/25/05 says the process wasn't fair. If you look at the makeup of this -- at least the racial makeup and the sexual makeup of this board, you will see that everyone's pretty much represented. So, that's why this took so long. And I think it's to the point now -- And you can continue. But I wouldn't call your guys wreck chasers. I've talked to most of them through the last six, seven, eight months. And some of them are wreck chasers. And some of them admit it. But most of them aren't. They're just guys trying to make a living the only way they know how. But I think there's a cry from the citizenship, especially the people on this panel, to slow it down a little bit.
And as far as we're concerned, I believe that if not all, most of the members of this organization are interested in trying to have a system or program that protects our citizens but also protects the small business people who might 56 L & I - 5/25/05 be adversely affected by the legislation that's presently pending. I've already testified before you once before. I've also submitted some rather lengthy legal briefs. I've also submitted some follow-up information. I participated in at least one relatively informal meeting. Unfortunately, we repeatedly were told that we would be allowed to participate to a larger extent than we have, in other words, more than just my submitting or saying things, and actually get involved in the nitty gritty of what it is you propose to do. We do oppose the bill, but we've also made it clear that, not to the extent of saying let's not do anything. Apparently this panel thinks that something should be done. If so, we have suggested a number of alternatives. Our major concern is that legitimate tow truck operators not be denied the opportunity to make a living, as you pointed out. 57 L & I - 5/25/05 And we're really concerned with when you pattern the tow truck operation after the existing one related to the salvage... what's been going on by contract with the City, the basic effect has been to limit the competition to perhaps a half a dozen or so different companies. But we're talking about a spectrum of perhaps as many as 2,000 or more independent tow truck operators who we think, if you don't, and draft the bill correctly, and if the regulations that implement it are not properly crafted, will put most of them out of business. And most of them are legitimate business people. We do believe that a rotational system can work. We've said that. We don't want one. But we said that we would work with the Council and with anybody else who cares to listen to us to come up with something that is workable and also reasonably protective of legitimate tow truck operators. Our gripe, if you will, has been 58 L & I - 5/25/05 very simple. We've said a lot of these things, but nobody wants to talk to us. So, we're here talking again. And we're telling you that while we don't like it, we think the only way to get a balanced program is to have our view heard, so that you take into account the limitations and the concerns that we have. And we think you haven't done that up until now. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I would disagree with you. I think we've done that, and we've probably done it to an extent where this could go on forever unless the people that are elected make some decisions, being good, bad or indifferent decisions. I hear your plight. And I think you and I are saying the same thing. I've been assured... Now, I'm not the brightest guy in this City. I'm probably not even the brightest guy in this room. But I've been assured by people that will not lie to me, because if they do they won't be working when I find it out, that this thing is going to be fair to everybody. 59 L & I - 5/25/05 Is everyone going to be happy? Absolutely not. If we had to wait for everyone to be happy, we'd still be fighting the civil war. Okay. There's times when leaders have to lead and there's times when us legislators have to legislate. And unfortunately, I'm sorry you feel that way because I like you, and I like your people. And I've been listening. I don't think any of your members are going to get cut out, if they comply by the regulations. Now, the gentleman from the Law Department is here. He can come up and explain the legislation. But there's a Council President in the other room that wants to come in here and do another hearing as of 15 minutes ago. But we're going to extend that. But we worked on this, right, Mr. Rosman? This has been worked on. And it is the best it's going to get for right now. I'm not saying it couldn't be amended at a 60 L & I - 5/25/05 future time, but there's been a cry.
There's been a cry from the public. There's been a cry from the newspapers. And I'm not one that reads the newspapers a whole lot. If you read them, you'll know that. It's just time for us to act on this. Do I personally think it makes a difference if we acted today or three months from now? No. 12 But the voices on this committee want to act on it, so we're going to have to act on it.
Well, as you know -- CHAIRMAN MARIANO: But you know, you will be heard.
Well, that's our problem, however. And I respect the fact that we've -- you have spoken to us and we have presented our views to you. The problem that we have had is that we were told that the Law Department's representative and the Managing Director's Office would respond to any suggestions or 61 L & I - 5/25/05 recommendations I made in behalf of my client. I did so and never heard a word. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Okay.
And I was a seven-year product of the Law Department back when Councilman Rizzo's father was Mayor. I have to tell you -- CHAIRMAN MARIANO: His father was the Mayor?
I have to tell you, I was very much disappointed I never got any kind of response. So -- When -- You understand -- CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I apologize for that. You should have gotten a response. And maybe we could find out from the Law Department why, but we can belabor this all afternoon. And I think there's some questions. Councilman Rizzo, you have a 62 L & I - 5/25/05 question of any of these witnesses? Does anyone else have any questions? You guys can still testify. But you understand what I'm telling you? I held this off as long as I could. It's here.
And I appeared before you, and I made a number of submissions. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Because you had some great points.
I don't know if there's anything else I can add by continuing to talk. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you. I appreciate that. MR. DeCALSANOVA: Good afternoon, Council. Anthony DeCalsanova. I represent the towers. I oppose the rotation mainly because of all the numbers of individuals that are out there towing. Many companies... Sergeant or Officer Healy mentioned that he wants it to mirror the salvagers' way of doing businesses or towing, as far as rotation with the 63 L & I - 5/25/05 abandoned and the stolen recoveries. Big problem that I see with that is that there's only a handful of individuals doing that recovery system right now. And based on all of the tow companies that are qualified to do those tows, they could not compete or there just wouldn't be all of those individual towers needed to do these removals on a rotation basis. So, to implement a rotation system, you'll be eliminating many small businesses from going after that work, first of all. So I personally believe it could never be mirrored, according to the way it's done now. You'd be eliminating many newcomers to the program or you'd basically be shut out to where no more could be accepted for the program. There's a large number of towers versus a smaller number of disabled or recovered vehicles. And then we throw in the wrecked or disabled vehicles from accidents, there still 64 L & I - 5/25/05 isn't enough to supply proper work. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Can I interrupt you for a minute? MR. DeCALSANOVA: Sure. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Have you seen the new proposal? Because it's not... Where's Sergeant Healy? Did you just -- You didn't say that it was on -- this new proposal was based on the salvers' proposal? UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: He wanted to mirror it, he says. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It's been changed. Maybe what he wanted to do and what happened. I think there's a new proposal that you guys haven't seen.
I think that's true, because I haven't seen anything whatsoever. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Lisko, how about we go -- Do you want to finish? And then you go to the sidebar with Mr. Lisko and see this stuff? I mean, we were trying to get away from that. And I haven't been as involved as 65 L & I - 5/25/05 I would like to because of other things. But it's not going to happen like that.
I understand. That's one of the problems I had personally, having established what I thought was some degree of liaison between your office -- CHAIRMAN MARIANO: And I think we were using a lot of your proposals.
-- and Councilman Rizzo's. And we did not hear a damn thing. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: We were using your proposals. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We haven't received any new proposals in order to act on it, in another sense. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: And I don't know why that is. You should have. I don't know why. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Even with our input or output on it, either way, we haven't received that. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It wasn't intentional because I would have rather this run smoother. I was under the impression -- 66 L & I - 5/25/05 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Based on what Officer Healy said, he did say he wanted to mirror what the program is right now. And if something's been changed, I'm not... CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It's my understanding that Procurement came up with this new proposal. And it seems to be fair. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I need to go back and do new homework then. We weren't prepared for that. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional, believe me. Okay. Well, let him testify and then go talk with Lisko on the side, and maybe it won't be that bad.
I will go around myself now. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Sure. Thanks.
My name is David Wakowski. The problem I have is, you said that we'll all be assured of fair dealing, and stuff like that? CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Well, let me 67 L & I - 5/25/05 rephrase that. I have been assured that it's going to be fair to everybody. But at this point in my life, there's no way of ever pleasing everybody. So can I assure you that you or he'll be happy or Mr. Turzanski will be happy. I'd love to say yeah, but I'd just be lying to you.
One thing I do know about amongst your salvagers that you have that are supposedly all... work together and do everything together. There's certain body shops that are salvagers that pay wreck chasers, whatever you want to call us, percentage to find stolen recoveries, give them the tag information so they can run it for us, let us go to people's house, and work it back to their shops. And one of them's sitting over there now. And I got other people that are coming that he pays to do that. Okay. Now, they're supposed to be legitimate salvagers that between each other 68 L & I - 5/25/05 they're supposed to be honest and let everybody down the list get that theft recovery, the next person on the list. But they try to have people out there in cars and everything else finding these theft recoveries and all, so they can get the information; the can pull the car into their shop and get the work. And there's other ones that have body shops in the back of their shop and say they rent it out to certain people, but that's not fair to us. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: And what you're saying is absolutely true. And that's why we're trying to change it.
Right. So, I feel if you put anything together like that, somebody some way down the line is going to find some way of either getting in with cops, because we heard before, years ago cops got in trouble for taking payoffs. So, somebody will get in touch with the cops. They'll get their things going on or somebody else. And sooner or later people are going 69 L & I - 5/25/05 to get cut out, where we're trying to come up with our own rotational system that helps everybody. It's fair to everybody. And they could come in. Even the salvagers are allowed to come in and work with us, and do their work that they have to do. I mean, we don't stop them from making any money. We don't stop them from going out and picking a wreck up off the street. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Sergeant Healy, on that issue -- And I know you can't speak for the Police Commissioner, but you are a policeman, not an attorney. If someone in the Police Department was found out to be helping someone get to a point in this list that would give them an unfair advantage, what would be the consequences, just off the top of your head?
Obviously, the Internal Affairs Investigation. They'd be terminated. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: You have to step up to the mike. 70 L & I - 5/25/05
If we find someone guilty of a violation like that, if it's a criminal violation, we'll arrest the officer. I mean, we have no objections to doing that. We do it all the time. When we find cops that are acting in a criminal manner, we'll make the arrest, period. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Sergeant. Not perfect because you know stuff still goes on, but --
Right. That's what I'm saying. We're not assured anything's going to go our way. I mean, that's why we tried to come with -- We got ideas of our own, things that we come up with and do, to help everybody. Like I said, we ain't trying to push anyone out of... We're not even trying to say, we want it all ourselves; the heck with the salvagers or nuttin'. They're free to come in and be part of our rotation system, 71 L & I - 5/25/05 whatever we want to do. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It's my understanding that this new rotation system will do all that.
Councilman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I've been wrong before, but I don't think so this time, but...
I've read the amendment to Section 2, and quickly glanced through Exhibit A, which is pages long, 13 bid specifications and Exhibit A to that, 14 establishing division boundaries which are 15 not attached, and Exhibit B, tower 16 information forms. 17 I think I'm a pretty good lawyer, but I don't think I can read this and understand it in the time that you want me to take here today. And that's the reason why we thought we were going to be favored with copies of this beforehand. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I thought you were, too.
So, I have to tell 72 L & I - 5/25/05 you that being sandbagged like this for my clients -- And I know none of them received any of this information.
Counselor, you weren't sandbagged. These things were legally --
Counselor, if you were doing your homework, you would have read the paper, and made like everybody else does, to look at the advertisements of what we do here. It was -- This is a legal hearing. If your eye wasn't on the ball, don't blame us.
I -- I -- I -- I confess that I didn't follow the published notices. And there's a very good reason for that. You established a pattern of giving me personal notice. And so, I thought I could rely on you and your integrity and reputation. That's what I did. And I think this is far too important to the 2,000 plus people who are tow truck operators to be treated that way. 73 L & I - 5/25/05
I have not tried to delay anybody. I've tried to cooperate with you from the beginning when I first got involved. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Mattioni. Any questions for anyone else from this committee for this panel? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Any other Council people? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none. Mr. Lisko, we got one more bill? CLERK: Bill 050266, an ordinance 19 amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades, and Professions," by amending Section 9-601, entitled "Garages, Parking Lots, Sales Lots and Showrooms," by providing further for the filing of rates by public parking garages, under certain terms and conditions. 74 L & I - 5/25/05 CHAIRMAN MARIANO: The witness list for this is Fritz Smith.
Mr. Chairman, may I just quickly state for the record some initial comments?
This bill is an effort to... We've been for a while now trying to get our arms around the issue of high parking rates in the City of Philadelphia. There's a number of factors that affect those rates, some of them being taxes, others being the lack of competition from the government in the parking business, and having it basically be a private -- totally private sector monopoly. We've looked at a lot of different areas. And one of the areas that we could address relatively quickly is the requirement that this bill would -- would -- would... The process that this bill would require on private parking lots filing the rates with the Department of Licenses and Inspections at 75 L & I - 5/25/05 the beginning of each month, they would not be able then to change those rates until the beginning of the next month. And what we're trying to do is to get the practice of what we consider gouging and special events: Flower Show, car show, sporting events. So that if you want to charge that type of rate, you have to start out with it in the beginning of the month, and not be able to change it until the beginning of next month. There's only one recommended amendment that came from the Parking Authority which is the change in the schedule of rates being at least 48 hours to 72 hours in advance. That gives them the opportunity to include this parking rate information in their newly designed parking lot finder program that they're going to go on the web with. So, with those comments, there's a number of people here to testify. I would 76 L & I - 5/25/05 just like to state for the record that there are letters in support of this bill from Jane Pepper of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society; the Center City Proprietors Association, Ben Frank, Executive Director; the Reading Terminal Market, Mr. Paul Steinke, but he's here today to testify; and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Governor Mark Schweiker has sent letters in support of the bill. And we have some people to testify in person. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: We'll admit those letters into the record. Thank you, counselor.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Haigler, do you want to go first?
Good day, Councilman Mariano and members of the committee. I'm Otis Haigler, Jr., Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses & Inspections. Today I'm here to provide testimony 77 L & I - 5/25/05 on Bill 050266 which, if enacted, will require the owners or operators of public parking garages or lots to wait until the following calendar month before implementing changes to rates charged to consumers, after providing L & I with 48 hours' notice of such change. The Department of Licenses and Inspections offers no objections, and in fact supports passage and enactment of this consumer protection legislation. The intent of this bill will protect the public from dramatic increases in parking rates from the usual rates charged at the public parking facility when special events are conducted in the City. This practice has had a negative impact not only on our visitors to these events, but also to frequent users of the parking facility who unwittingly are charged rates that are much higher than what they are used to paying or what is expected. We will be offering a friendly amendment to the bill which we believe will 78 L & I - 5/25/05 close an unintended loophole in the bill and reduce the chance of confusion, concerning the bill's enforcement after passage. Passage and enactment of this bill 6 may act as a deterrent to discourage this practice from continuing, and the department will enforce the provisions of this bill 9 should it pass in Council and signed into law by the Mayor. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the bill, and I will be happy to answer any questions. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Haigler. Are there any questions from Mr. Haigler from the committee or any other Council people? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: No. Seeing none... Any other witnesses? I think there's Mr. Smith.
We have a copy of the amendment that we'd like to hand up. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Smith, Ms. 79 L & I - 5/25/05 Young and Mr. Steinke.
Okay. The one part of the amendment, as Councilman Kenney had stipulated, was the 72-hour provision. The other part of the amendment was to close an unintended loophole, I believe, that the Councilman was not aware of in the bill. You stipulate in the bill that the parking garage or facility would not be able to change their rates within the same calendar month after notice has been given. But the thing is, it will be easy to get around that provision if you were to give notice one minute that you're going to change the rate, on, say, the 15th of the month that you were changing the rate, and then on the, say, the 20th of the same month, you stipulate you're going to change the rate back to the --
I'm sorry. I am aware of that proposed amendment, and I am in agreement with it. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: All right. Give 80 L & I - 5/25/05 us that.
Good afternoon, members of Council. My name is Fritz Smith, and I am with the -- I am the Director of International and Domestic Tourism at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, on behalf of our President, Tom Muldoon, who unfortunately could not make it today. I apologize. Therefore, I don't have prepared remarks, but I would like to express the sentiment that our organization supports the bill. We are a membership based organization with about 1,000 members in the Philadelphia region, predominantly in the hospitality industry. Our primary mission is to solicit and book meetings, special events, sporting events, motor coach tours, and to bring international visitors to Philadelphia. And I would remind members of Council that we are about a $10 million, $11 81 L & I - 5/25/05 million organization, funded primarily with hotel room tax, state tax dollars and membership dues, and that we spend that money in a very aggressive effort to bring people here to this region, and that it is imperative that we give them the best experience that we can. And some of these parking rate increases during the course of special events have a very negative influence on our ability to market Philadelphia. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Smith. Any questions for him? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, Ms. Young.
Yes. Good afternoon, honorable City Council members. My name is Aminah Young, and I serve as the Executive Vice President for External Affairs at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. I appreciate the opportunity to 82 L & I - 5/25/05 speak with you today to discuss an issue that is very important to the Convention Center and the Philadelphia tourism industry as a whole. The simple fact of the matter is that the hospitality and tourism industry in Philadelphia must always be viewed in its totality. You simply can not separate the business at the Convention Center from the cultural attractions, shopping, restaurants and, yes, parking when considering specific topics that can impact the economic impacts of tourism. That is why I believe that the legislation being considered today, which would further regulate changes in parking rates, is important to the Convention Center and Philadelphia economy as a whole. In fact, I believe that enacting such a measure is a step that stands to have a significant impact on the industry. As you know, the opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the early 83 L & I - 5/25/05 '90s has been driving the enhancement and development of many of our tourist attractions. And the City of Philadelphia continues becoming a more prominent American and international tourist destination. Today Center City has been re-invigorated and its energetic nightlife is the envy of many cities. The Convention Center is a hub of local economic impact. For example, the Reading Terminal Market, Chinatown, Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, the Kimmel Center, Constitution Center, the historic district, the many restaurants and other attractions are all at least partially dependent on the success and viability of the economic engine that is the Convention Center. Specifically, I would like to highlight the economic impact that is realized as a result of the attendings of three large local shows held each year at the Convention Center. 5 million to the local economy, through auxiliary economic impact such as hotel reservations, dining, and shopping. 6 million into the economy. These numbers are encouraging and are, as you know, critical to the Philadelphia economy. Unfortunately, these numbers have decreased from last year. This is why it is critical that we take all possible steps to avert or at least control potentially adverse variables that can lessen the economic impact of the Convention Center in years to come. In what seems like an example of smart business, we often see parking rates at local facilities rise during these large 85 L & I - 5/25/05 infusion of tourists and other visitors into Philadelphia. This may seem for the garage operator like smart business on the surface. However, the temporary increase of parking rates is one factor that retains the potential to adversely affect the positive economic impact of the Convention Center. The problem is very simple. The increase in parking rates discourages attendees from extending their stay to enjoy so many of the amenities that our City has to offer. The more a visitor must pay to park and store their car, it logically follows that the visitor will likely have less resources to expend on hotel stays, dining, shopping, entertainment or to visit one of the many wonderful cultural attractions of which we are so proud. This legislation is important to the Convention Center because it would stop our parking vendors from instituting very temporary parking rate increases in order to 86 L & I - 5/25/05 exploit the visitors and businesses being generated by the Convention Center and the surrounding attractions. By making it necessary to keep rates steady on a month to month basis, I believe that parking operators would be much less likely to increase rates during the critical economic periods marked by increased tourism activity, fearing other financial losses during the remainder of each month.
The economic impact parking rates have proven hard to justify in hard numbers and research other the years. In fact, the only documented study of non-commuter behavior as a result of increased parking rates comes from an increase in 1970 in San Francisco due to a then newly imposed parking tax. I can certainly go on, but I don't want to take up the time. I'll have this added to the record. And I'd just like to say, parking is an important factor in the streamlined tourism center, and that is why I've come 87 L & I - 5/25/05 here today. By keeping rates stable by the month it is very likely that we will avert the temporary parking fee increases that may very likely already be adversely affecting the businesses of the Convention Center. I believe the legislation being considered today is an important step in our everlasting mission to enhance Philadelphia's tourism industry, and therefore produce more business revenue and tax revenue for the city. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Council members, for this opportunity to speak with you today as you consider this legislation. I look forward to continuing to work with you to promote our growing tourism industry in Philadelphia. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, ma'am. Paul.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've been informed by the Chairman that... Paul Steinke, Reading Terminal 88 L & I - 5/25/05 Market Corporation. Thank you. I've been informed by the Chairman that Council has pressing business, so I will dispense with my written testimony which everyone has a copy of. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you.
And I do -- And the market fully supports this bill. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Dixon, you can be just as short.
I will be equally brief. I have written testimony to be submitted for the record. The Parking Authority fully supports this bill. And would just add that we have developed an electronic web-based parking locator by which all private and public parking facilities can enter their rate information. And it will be publicly accessible. And we would be happy to share that information with the City -- with the department as their agent, to collect it if 89 L & I - 5/25/05 they so desire. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Dixon. Mr. Lisko. CLERK: Bill 050267, an ordinance 8 amending Title 4, Subcode "A," The Philadelphia Administrative Code, to clarify the types of permits in connection with which the Department of Licenses and Inspections may charge fees for providing accelerated plan reviews and to establish a fee for the electronic storage of building plans; all under certain terms and conditions. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Haigler. Mr. Haigler, brief.
I'll be very brief. In the interest of time, Councilman, we have submitted our written testimony, and we would like to have it entered into the record in its entirety. The gist of what we're proposing here is to do, one, a technical amendment to the administrative code, to allow for the 90 L & I - 5/25/05 plumbing discipline which was excluded under the accelerated review process. So what we're saying here is that any issue under Title or Title 14, any 6 person who wanted to avail themselves of the 7 accelerated review process, they will be able 8 to do so under this amendment. 9 The second amendment under this proposed bill deals with electronic imaging. And what we would propose to do there would be to give the -- to add a nominal surcharge to the plans that are submitted to the department for review. And the purpose for that would be so that we could have this information electronically stored in an electronic format for retrieval at some future date, either by the public or any business entity that would have need of that information. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Haigler. Any other witnesses? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Commissioner, not 91 L & I - 5/25/05 to stymie you, but we're under time constraints. So, if you can make it brief and give us your testimony, we'll enter it into the record. COMMISSIONER DECKER: I certainly will do that. My name is Joan Decker, Commissioner of the Department of Records. And I'm here today to support this legislation. It is very good record-keeping practices that will very much facilitate improved access to records by citizens. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, ma'am.
Councilman, we would request a suspension of the rules. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Suspension of the rules, Mr. Lisko. Any questions? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none. All right. Mr. Lisko, go on to the last and final one. CLERK: Bill 050342, an ordinance 25 amending Chapter 10-1800 of The Philadelphia 92 L & I - 5/25/05 Code, entitled "Vicarious Liability for Student Conduct," by amending the definitions of Educational Housing District to include the Eighth Councilmanic District. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Mr. Turzanski, since you're a former CIA employee, you get to go first. You can't top that unless you were in the NSA.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting us. In the interest of time, I understand the pressures on the committee. I have submitted our testimony in writing. We are in support of the bill. We thank the Council for giving us the opportunity to support the bill, to work with Councilwoman Miller and all members of the Council on insuring the best quality of life for residents and students of our area. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, Mr. Turzanski. Any questions for Mr. Turzanski? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none... 93 L & I - 5/25/05 Sir.
My name is Bill Durham, consultant for the -- and I have worked with Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and members of her staff. I'm here to support this bill also and would encourage that the dialogue that is being held in the community continues to go forward. It's been very positive. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you. Sergeant Healy.
Also in the interest of time, we've already submitted our written testimony. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: And we have it.
Based on a lot of factors at this point in time, the Philadelphia Police Department either can't support or object to the bill at this time. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: That's pretty good. Any questions for any of these witness? (No response.) 94 L & I - 5/25/05 CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none... Any other witnesses? Come on up. Go ahead, ladies. You can go first.
Good afternoon. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Pull that a little closer and state your name for the record.
Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Faith Whitehead, and I'm here to ask that City Council support this bill. I live in the 2100 block of Chew Avenue. I have college students that live in the house next door to me. On April the 21st to the 22nd, I called the police six times. The police came the first time at 11:45. The police did not come back out again until almost 2 o'clock in the morning. I have a 16-year-old daughter that has to get up to go to school, as well as activities on Saturday. My daughter is asthmatic. It's very unfair not only to 95 L & I - 5/25/05 myself, as well as the other neighbors in the neighborhood who are also sick, to have to tolerate with the noise of the parties constantly, not during -- not just during the weekend, but also during the week. They don't put their trash out. They urinate on your property. And when you call the police, there's always an excuse before they can come to your house. I literally had to sit on the phone and cry before I was able to be able to get any type of assistance. And that is totally very unfair, for not just myself, as well as two neighbors on my block who's also sick. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: You think this bill will alleviate that problem.
This bill... I urge that the bill be passed. I also urge that there should zero tolerance with the college students in the neighborhood because it is very unfair to the people in the community. It sets a very, very poor message to our students, to our children, as to what type of life you should live when you leave 96 L & I - 5/25/05 home to go to college. It's a very, very poor thing. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, ma'am. Ma'am.
My name is Ola B. Smith. I reside at 5700 North Woodstock Street. I am here to support this bill, and I want to thank Councilman Cohen for introducing it on the 21st of April, 2005. Also, I had wrote to City Council the year of June 27, 2002. I wrote to City Council and asked them if they would introduce some type of bill like the one that Nutter had did. I did not get a response from nobody. I in turn wrote them again about the same thing, telling them the problems that we was having in the neighborhood. I myself have been hospitalized three times from the noise, the carrying on from LaSalle College. I am a cardiac patient. I have 97 L & I - 5/25/05 asthma, and stand up 7/24 trying to take medication. I cannot live like that. So for the last two weeks have been the best weeks I have had in years living 6 there under that circumstance. 7 The students not only get drunk. 8 They's all over your property. They's turn 9 it up. I have had my automobile, you know, 10 vandalized twice. I didn't get reimbursed 11 for that. I am not just saying that to be 12 saying it. I have proof. And nobody wants 13 to look at the case. 14 The conduct that these students do, 15 I mean, is not tolerable. I mean, not every student go to LaSalle act that way. But St. Catherine dorm which is across the street from me, every year they put in a new crowd, and that crowd is worse than the other crowd. I don't have a problem with LaSalle College. I think it's a great university. I have been there myself, and I have had my children to go there and get their degree from LaSalle. 98 L & I - 5/25/05 My problem is, this bill that they have, it should have been in effect long ago. And since it's in effect, I hope that it will be, you know, carried out. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: And let me -- For the record, it was Councilwoman Miller's bill. Although Councilman Cohen's a great Councilman, this was Councilwoman Donna Miller's bill.
Yeah, but she introduced it after he did. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Well, they're both great Council people.
And so, I have been contacting her and contacting her and never got a response. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: They're like George Burns and Gracie Allen. They work together.
Beg your pardon? CHAIRMAN MARIANO: They're like George and Gracie. They work together. 99 L & I - 5/25/05
Well, I'm just the one that -- CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I hear you. Thank you, ma'am. Ma'am.
Hi. My name is Collette Congleton, and I live at 5727 North 20th Street. I've had a couple incidents with the college kids with brawls out in the street with them. I live right next door to a house that's housing college students, and they're just unruly. I don't know what we can do about them, but everything that I'm going through with them, everybody is passing the buck. I'm calling the cops. The cops are coming out, but they're riding by. If I call them again, and I get a little agitated, then they'll come back out, and they'll talk to the students. But everybody's passing the buck. LaSalle comes out, but nobody's doing anything. So, we're having a lot of 100 L & I - 5/25/05 problems. I have a six-year-old and I move him from room to room. My first problem with them was on a Thursday night. Okay. A Thursday night I shouldn't even have that kind of a problem. The other nights that I had were like a Tuesday night. I don't really bother them on the weekends. I let them party as much as they want to, as long as they can clean up. But now I'm being threatened. And that is a problem. The kids are standing in front of my house like, this is where hmm-hmm lives because I'm the one that's always calling the cops, and it's always after 11 o'clock. So, you know, I'm really having a lot of problems with that. Because everybody's passing the buck. Nobody is really trying to solve that problem. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: This should end it because it worked, and Council Nutter did it at St. Joe's. This should be the answer to your problems. I hope. It should be. 101 L & I - 5/25/05
Okay. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Because now it's an ordinance, and it gives the police more of a leverage to go out and do what they got to do.
Now, that is meaning LaSalle? CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Yeah, at LaSalle. This is specifically addressed for L Salle. So, that's what this bill is right here.
Can I get a copy of that? CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Sure. Mr. Lisko will give you one before you leave. Okay? Any questions for these witnesses? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, is there any more witnesses? Mr. Kelley. Thank you, ladies.
My name is Kelley Miller, and I am the Past President of the Ogontz Area Neighbor's Association. And I've come this afternoon to support this bill. 102 L & I - 5/25/05 And I'm not going to read my prepared statement because of time. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you.
But I do have to say something because I waited all this time, and my folks are looking at me to make my presentation. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Sure.
I just would like to say that we have for many years had this problem with the students at LaSalle. But the administration of LaSalle has tried to work with us. Their hands were tied. We think with this bill, the passage of this bill will give them the ammunition that they need to deal with the problem more effectively. We have had a great relationship with LaSalle University, but we have had problems with the students who are drinking and causing problems in the community, and we have not had an effective tool to deal with them. And so, now we feel that with this 103 L & I - 5/25/05 passage of this legislation, we will be able to deal with this problem and continue our relationships with LaSalle University. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Thank you, sir. Any questions for this witness? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, thank you. And that will be it. Except there was a request by the sponsor for Bill Number 040904 is being held by the sponsor's request. So that will take us out of the public hearing. We're going to go into the License and Inspection public meeting.
Councilman. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Councilwoman Miller, you want to say a statement. Go ahead. I'm sorry.
We have two bits of testimony to put on record. One is from a gentleman that couldn't stay. He was here all morning. And then also one is from Ed Turzanski from LaSalle University. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Give them to Mr. 104 L & I - 5/25/05 Lisko. Thank you. (Public hearing concluded at 4:40 p.m.) 105 L & I - 5/25/05 - - - COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING COMMITTEE ON LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, May 25, 2005, 4:40 p.m. - - - BILL 040595 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code ("Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions") by amending Section 9-605 ("Towing") to prohibit certain towing upon the establishment of a rotational towing system; to define the parameters of the rotational system; and to make certain technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 040904 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions," by adding a new Chapter requiring dentists to post and distribute certain information concerning the use of mercury in dental procedures, and requiring dentists to install systems that permit the recycling of mercury waste, all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050203 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 106 L & I - 5/25/05 Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions," by amending Section 9-102, entitled "Licenses and Permits," by providing that no license or permit shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes, charges, fees, rents or claims, or is delinquent in the payment of certain penalties of fines, and by increasing the fee for dishonored checks. BILL 050204 - An Ordinance amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "The Philadelphia Building Construction and Occupancy Code," by amending Subcode A, Section A-202, entitled "Duties and Powers of the Code Official," by providing that no 13 license or permit required by Title 4 shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes, charges, fees, rents or claims, or is delinquent in the payment of certain penalties or fines, all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050266 - An Ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades, and Professions," by amending Section 9-601, entitled "Garages, Parking Lots, Sales Lots and Showrooms," by providing further for the filing of rates by public parking garages, under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050267 - An Ordinance amending Title 4, Subcode "A," The Philadelphia Administrative Code, to clarify the types of permits in connection with 107 L & I - 5/25/05 which the Department of Licenses and Inspections may charge fees for providing accelerated plan reviews and to establish a fee for the electronic storage of building plans; all under certain terms and conditions. BILL 050342 - An Ordinance amending Chapter 10-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Vicarious Liability for Student Conduct," by amending the definitions of Educational Housing District to include the Eighth Councilmanic District. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO, Chair COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE L. BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN JUAN F. RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS-BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO 108 L & I - 5/25/05 - - - P R O C E E D I N G S - - - CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that the amendment to Bill Number 040595 be approved.
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: A motion has been made to amend Bill 040595. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, the bill is amended.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill Number 040595, as amended, be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation; request for rules suspension as to allow reading at the next session. (Chorus of "ayes.") 109 L & I - 5/25/05 CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It has been seconded and amended, Bill Number 040595. There's a motion to approve it as amended. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, it passes as amended; and for the suspension of the rules, too. Okay? Next, Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move for the adoption of the amendment to Bill Number 050203. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: I have a motion to amend Bill Number 050203.
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It's been amended and seconded. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? 110 L & I - 5/25/05 (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, the amendment passes.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill Number 050203, as amended, be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation; a request for suspension of the rules as to allow reading at the next session of Council.
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: A motion has been made and it's been seconded that Bill Number 050203 be passed out of Council with a favorable recommendation, as amended, and to suspend the rules. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, it passes, suspending the rules and amended.
Mr. Chairman, I move for the adoption of the amendment to Bill Number 050204. 111 L & I - 5/25/05 CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Motion has been made to amend Bill 050204. Do we hear a second?
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It's been seconded. All those in favor of the amendment? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, 050204 is amended. Councilman Clarke.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill 050204, as amended, be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation; request for suspension of the rules, as to allow reading at the next session of Council. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: A motion has been made. Do I hear a second?
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: That Bill 050204, as amended, be voted out of committee with a 112 L & I - 5/25/05 favorable recommendation and a suspension of the rules. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, it passes with an amendment and we suspend the rules.
Mr. Chairman, I move for the adoption of the amendment to Bill 050266. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Motion has been made to amend Bill 050266. Do I hear a second?
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor of the amendment? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: None. It's amended. 113 L & I - 5/25/05 Councilman.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill 050266 as amended be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation; request for suspension of the rules, as to allow reading at the next session of Council.
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Motion has been made and seconded that Bill 050266, as amended, be voted out of committee with a favorable recommendation, and suspension of the rules. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, it passes, with an amendment, suspension of the rules. Councilman Clarke.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill 050267 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation; 114 L & I - 5/25/05 request for suspension of the rules as to allow reading at our next session of Council.
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Motion has been made and seconded that Bill 050267 be voted out of committee with a favorable recommendation; ask for suspension of the rules. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, it passes and with a suspension of the rules. Councilman Clarke, the last one.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill 050342 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation; request for suspension of the rules as to allow reading at the next session of Council.
Second. CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Motion has been made that Bill 050342 -- it has been seconded -- that it be voted out of committee 115 L & I - 5/25/05 with a favorable recommendation and for a suspension of the rules. All those in favor? (Chorus of "ayes.") CHAIRMAN MARIANO: All those opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN MARIANO: Seeing none, that passes. This closes the public meeting of License and Inspection. (Public meeting concluded at 4:45 p.m.) 116 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the public hearing and public meeting of The Philadelphia City Council, taken on May 25, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. _____________________________ DAVID A. DEIK, RPR and Commissioner of Deeds (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)