Aye. The ayes are 16 -(Standing ovation.) 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING
Folks, we still have some additional votes, actually one pertaining to this matter. Thank you. The ayes -(Applause.)
Hold on, folks. Hold on a minute, please. The ayes are 16; the nays are one. The motion passes. So Resolution 140527 is approved. Mr. Decker, would you please read the title of 140660.
A resolution urging the United States Department of Defense to include the names of the 74 fallen sailors of the Destroyer U.S.S. Frank E. Evans on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Thank you. Let me make a slight correction. The vote was 15 to one. Councilman Oh is not present today. The Chair recognizes Councilman 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING O'Brien for a motion on 140660.
I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and Resolution 140660 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 140662.
A resolution supporting President Obama and The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan that will help reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants throughout the United States.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Reynolds Brown. 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and Resolution 140662 is adopted. Mr. Decker, can you please read the title of 130950-A.
An ordinance amending The Philadelphia Code to provide for the authorization of certain pedestrian enhancements to occupy, by license, a portion of the right-of-way.
Thank you. This bill has been read on two separate days. The question is shall the 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Hold on. Mr. Decker, hold on. Folks, I ask as you exit, will you please keep your voices down. Thank you. Please proceed, Mr. Decker.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 140377-A.
An ordinance amending Title 10 of The Philadelphia Code, by adding a new Chapter 10-2100, entitled "Marijuana Possession," to create a civil penalty for the possession of certain items and to provide for penalties and enforcement procedures for violations of such provisions.
Thank you. This bill has been read on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll. 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are two. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 130530.
An ordinance amending Chapter 19-2600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Business Income and Receipts Tax," by providing certain exclusions; revising certain tax rates; and creating certain fresh food tax credits; and amending Chapter 19-1200 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Parking Tax," by providing for scheduled reductions in the rate of the tax.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Bill 130530 be placed on the Suspension Calendar. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING Bill No. 130530 be placed on the Suspension Calendar. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and 130530 is placed on the Suspension Calendar. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 140514.
An ordinance providing for the submission to the qualified electors of the City of Philadelphia of an amendment to Article VIII, Chapter 5 of The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, entitled "Referenda Approved by the Voters," by adding a new section providing that the citizens of Philadelphia call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Governor to abolish the School Reform Commission and return local control of Philadelphia's 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING schools, as proposed by a petition presented to the Council.
This bill has been read on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 15; the nays are one. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, do you have any additional resolutions?
A resolution recognizing and commemorating the 225th Anniversary of the official organization of Delaware County, Pennsylvania to be celebrated on September 26, 2014, introduced by Councilman Kenney.
I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution recognizing and honoring the life and career of former professional golfer and Philadelphian, John J. McDermott, Jr., who will be memorialized with a historical marker in his childhood neighborhood of Kingsessing in Southwest Philadelphia on October 9, 2014, introduced by Councilman Kenney.
I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution recognizing October as Philly Plays Scrabble Month, introduced by Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING Those opposed? (No response.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution honoring Maria Walsh, introduced by Councilman Henon.
I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING honoring, recognizing and congratulating Philabundance, the Delaware Valley's largest hunger relief organization, on the occasion of its 30th Anniversary, introduced by Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for its adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution authorizing the committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to conduct joint hearings to 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING evaluate DHS Family Services Plan policies and procedures, including the relevance of the FSP in reunification or alternative permanency planning goals for children and youth under DHS authority, introduced by Councilman Jones.
Again, Mr. President, I move for adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution recognizing September as National Literacy Month and acknowledging the 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING critical work of PHILADELPHIA READS in strengthening the literacy skills of Philadelphia's children, introduced by Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution endorsing the People's Climate March in New York City scheduled to precede the United Nations Climate Summit that will 9/18/14 - STATED - 2ND READING take place on September 23, 2014, in New York City and supporting the thousands of Philadelphians traveling to New York to participate in the march, introduced by Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
There are no other resolutions on the Final Passage Calendar, Mr. President.
Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Any speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. As we've all read and seen in the media in the last week, two Philadelphia citizens simply enjoying the streets of our city on a way to get a pizza were descended upon by as many as 15 people, and one of the gentleman's jaws is now wired shut for at least two months. They were beaten to a pulp. The police on the scene thought that someone had been shot, there was so much blood at the crime scene. They were beaten primarily because of who they are, who they were born to be, and the fact that they decide that they want to live their lives in freedom and dignity. this group of young folks, these 20 something's, are not Philadelphia residents but came into our city from the suburbs and ended up pounding two of our citizens in a severe way. I sent a letter today to Zane Memeger at the U.S. Attorney's Office, simply because Pennsylvania does not have a provision in its Hate Crime Code dealing with sexual orientation, and that says a lot about Pennsylvania, but it doesn't mean that people in our city should not be protected under federal law from assault and mayhem based on their sexual orientation and their display of their affection and emotion for others. If you are a homophobe or a racist and you're from the suburbs or from outside the City, we really don't want you to come here. We don't want you to use our restaurants. We don't want you to walk our streets. We don't want you to enjoy our city life. We can live that this will all work its way out relative to social media and the surveillance cameras and everyone's cooperation. The one thing that was very, very heartening about this whole situation was how social media responded and people retweeted and tweeted and posted on Facebook, and these miscreants were tracked down as a result of that cooperation. So it shows that as Philadelphians, we do care about each other. But I want to reiterate, we don't want your kind here in Philadelphia. If you have hate in your heart, if you have violence in your fists or your feet, we want you to stay home and deal with your own community in a reckless way. We hope that these two young men, citizens of our city, will recover and not have many psychological issues it, and we hope that people who are LGBT or any way different than anyone else who thinks about wanting to come and live in the City, this city was rated by the HRC as the number one gay-friendly city in the country, including San Francisco, and we're proud of that, and we want you to come here and live. We welcome you, and we will do our best to protect you. But this incident, again, with much violence in cities and in America today, this stands out as really a totally unnecessary situation, and we will fight to make sure it doesn't happen again. And I've asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to bring, if possible, if necessary, the force of the federal Hate Crime Act to bear in this, if necessary. So I just want to apologize to the two men that were beaten and hope that this kind of thing won't happen again. And it's just a very sad situation, and hopefully Seth Williams law enforcement will address this in the most appropriate way. Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
Thank you. Well said, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. Yesterday you celebrated your birthday and it was -
You went to public school, but we counted a little differently, but --
You might have been rounding down, I guess. But the point is, today you gave a lot of returning citizens a potential present that will last a lifetime. You submitted a bill to move about a million dollars to the Prison and, in fact, get young people that are trying to come back as citizens a job cleaning lots in our city that is so very needed. We've done -(Applause.)
And I wanted to commend you for that and say that we've done a lot of things in this body, like ban the box and trying to level the playing field, if we could, to get citizens to be the responsible individuals we hope them to be, but this is tangible help for real people. And I know you can't give a speech of the majority, so for your birthday, I wanted to say that for you. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. President. I do want to echo those comments from both of my colleagues, Councilman Jones and also Councilman Kenney. I strongly follow their sentiments and agree. But one of the things that I wanted to touch on today is that September is recognized as National Literacy Month. So last week we talked about library card sign-up week. Last week was sign up for your library card, and this week we wanted to highlight the work that Philadelphia Reads does for all of our city's children to help make sure that they can read above their reading level. Facing shortages in our classrooms, Philadelphia Reads makes filling the shelves with books a little bit easier for educators and for parents. And also I want to mention that outside of my office we are going to be having a box. If you have any old children's books, old, gently used or new children's books that you would like to donate, we will have a box outside of my office that you can donate those books there. As part of National Literacy Month and the ongoing commitment to helping children become lifelong readers, I'm happy to join Philadelphia Reads in their Reading is Love initiative, which encourages parents and caregivers to read aloud to their children in an effort to better prepare them to excel in an academic environment. We know that children who haven't been exposed to reading prior to kindergarten are already behind by the time they start school. I'd like to encourage my colleagues to show your love through reading. Join me in the Reading is Love effort by posting a selfie of yourself reading your favorite book to a child, a grandchild or maybe even a child in your community. Take the time to show that reading is love. And I'm going to be my daughter, Carson, today on my Twitter page. So I hope to see yours as well. Also, really briefly, I just wanted to mention that next week, we're going to be introducing a resolution recognizing that it's National GEAR UP Week, and we're going to have a great series of events here in Philadelphia, starting with Monday, September 22nd down at the Atrium in the School District building, 440 North Broad. We're going to have a dynamic group of speakers, including Congressman Fattah and Ricardo Calderon, the EPIC stakeholder coordinator for ASPIRA, who is going to be recognizing National GEAR UP Week and all the work that GEAR UP has done to send so many children on a national level to higher education. So it's very important to note that as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. I thank all my colleagues again for the vote with regard to education and certainly agree with all that has been said today in their remarks. But now I rise to talk about International Peace Day and we will be celebrating it at the Penn Museum on the 21st. As you know, the Penn Museum at 33rd and South Streets, Spruce and South, has the largest collection of artifacts anywhere in the country. On the 21st, Sonia Sanchez, poet laureate emeritus of Philadelphia and an international peace activist, will host this event, and we will be with her as she hosts it and as she performs. We will also be featuring many students and we will have renowned performers, including TC Carson, the actor of Living Single and Fame; Black Ice, poet; Danny Simmons, artist and philanthropist; Lady Alma, vocalist, and many others. We also will be dedicating a peace bench and establishing peace sites throughout Philadelphia and will give out "peace warrior" citations honoring people like Charlie Mack Foundation and Palm Solutions as well as the African Diaspora Local and Global Initiatives. We will also honor Sonia Sanchez, our co-host, as she celebrates her 80th birthday. So, Mr. President, you may not be 35, but you're not 80 either. So certainly we invite everyone to join us on Sunday at the Penn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. We will be there to co-host this event. And all of you know how Sister Sonia has been dealing with the idea of peace, and this is an important day for her to talk about her views and for us to have a chance to enjoy her. Thank you.
you, Councilwoman. And with that, I'd like to call on Councilwoman Reynolds Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 25th, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It's been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 25th, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Thank you all very much. ) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L. m 1:7 87:9,15 accelerate 6:6 85:7 43:18 44:15 14:12 18:18 87:25 accountability agreed 48:12 45:7,14 48:23 19:24 73:6 agreement 7:16 51:25 52:7 53:3 authorization B 28:6 accurately 88:5 7:21 53:18 56:7 80:5 58:19 B 1:17 acknowledging ahead 47:17 81:7,22 authorizing 7:19 babies 44:7 20:24 73:25 air 33:16 34:5 apply 88:20 8:4 10:24 12:17 back 6:2 25:12 Act 79:19 Algebra 37:25 approached 12:25 13:17 42:18,19 45:2 action 5:23 25:9 allegations 16:18 24:24 27:13 14:9 17:14 45:11 53:9 81:4 25:13 allies 25:15 29:12 32:16 18:11 19:6,21 back-to-school active 42:7 allow 22:2 43:12 35:12 39:11 72:23 37:21 42:21 activist 85:19 52:25 41:21 automatically bad 33:16 38:8 actor 85:24 Alma 86:2 appropriate 53:11 ballot 26:22 29:3 adding 46:12 aloud 83:12 12:22 17:23 autonomy 31:6 30:18 35:24 61:14 65:20 alternative 18:17 19:11 80:3 Avenue 19:9 36:15 38:19,25 additional 7:4,12 73:5 appropriations aware 52:12 41:5 44:23 51:8 7:24 8:16 56:3 amazed 35:24 12:25 17:14 aye 4:20 22:14 51:20 52:11,12 68:13 Amen 3:19,20 approval 4:1,5 54:5,8,10,15,18 52:17 53:5 address 80:3 amend 30:17 approved 4:12,18 54:20,23 55:2,5 ban 81:11 adjourn 87:5 amending 6:24 46:11 51:21 55:8,11,14,17 bargaining 7:16 adjourned 87:8 7:8 58:18 61:13 56:12 65:20 55:20,23 57:9 based 77:16 87:13,24 64:6,11 approving 7:20 58:8 59:6,9,17 basis 29:19 ADJOURNME...