The nays are five; the ayes are 12. The resolution is adopted.
Therefore, the resolution is adopted. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the next resolution.
A resolution recognizing, honoring and celebrating September of 2008 as Death, History and Awareness Month.
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
And a resolution recognizing, honoring and celebrating the 400th anniversary of the first Polish settlers in America who arrived on October 1, 1608.
I move for the adoption of this resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
I guess the resolution is adopted. As there are no reports from committees and no bills on the First Reading Calendar, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for the purpose of calling up bills on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar.
Thank you, 9/18/08 - STATED - 2ND READING Madam President. Today Bill Nos. 080380-A, 080251, 080543 are being called up for second reading and final passage today. The other bills will be held.
Thank you. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 080380-A.
An ordinance authorizing and directing the revision of curb lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 97 by relocating the easterly curb line of Broad Street approximately nine feet six inches eastwardly from a point approximately 75 feet one inch south of the south curb line of Fitzwater Street.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill 9/18/08 - STATED - 2ND READING passes. We will now consider Bill No. 080251.
An ordinance establishing a neighborhood improvement district in an area that generally includes the east and west sides of Aramingo Avenue to be known as the Aramingo Avenue Shopping District.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Aye. 9/18/08 - STATED - 2ND READING
Councilwoman 9/18/08 - STATED - 2ND READING Reynolds Brown. (No response.)
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The final bill to be called for 9/18/08 - STATED - 2ND READING consideration is Bill No. 080543.
An ordinance authorizing the creation of a loan or loans to provide funds for and toward various capital municipal purposes; authorizing the Mayor, City Controller and City Solicitor or a majority of them to sell bonds at public or private negotiated sale.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Aye. 9/18/08 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. That completes our Calendar for today. Are there speeches on the part of the minority? Kelly.
Yes. Thank you, Madam President. I would just like to make a few comments about a bill that was introduced today, and with all due respect to Councilman Goode --
With all due respect to Councilman Goode, his bill is nothing less than undemocratic and a front to Philadelphia's thousands of proud registered republicans. Furthermore, I would caution the Councilman that he is treading on a slippery slope. Why stop at eliminating one at-large Council seat? Why not eliminate every at-large Council seat, as one news publication from Northeast Philadelphia has already suggested. The bottom line for me is that although democrats hold a significant city, Councilman Goode's bill would serve only to disenfranchise tens of thousands of loyal, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens simply because they have an "R" next to their names. I think this is the wrong direction to go. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. Although it is good to be back in City Council to do the work of the people of Philadelphia, we return to Council during troubling and unsettling times. Our financial markets are in chaos and disarray: Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG and many more possibly to come. Financial giants that have needed government bailouts have collapsed. What has caused these problems turmoil? Predatory mortgages and home equity loans. As you are all aware, I have been fighting against this problem for years and we are now suffering from the repercussions of predatory loans. Many bad actors have been involved in this crisis. It's more than just banks, but also home improvement contractors, realtors, real estate appraisers and mortgage brokers. From this perspective, I am taking this opportunity to commend State Representative Curtis Thomas for being a prime sponsor of House Bill No. 2179, which passed this summer relatively quietly. This new law, which took effect on July 8th, requires all loan solicitors or brokers operating in Pennsylvania to be tested and licensed. Before this law, anyone could become a mortgage broker by just paying a fee. Through the outstanding work and efforts of Representative Thomas, we now have a protect the citizens of Philadelphia and all other constituents of our Commonwealth. I want to thank him. And I didn't know until I got a mailing from him, and I just wanted to thank him for taking the lead and bringing this about, because it was one of the recommendations that this Council had made when we passed our legislation back in 2000, that the mortgage brokers had to be licensed. Thank you very much.
Thank you. And we all know, Councilwoman, how hard you've worked on the issue of predatory lending, and I think that you brought it to the attention of many, many people who were not really aware of what was going on. So we thank you, too. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Madam President, I will yield to my colleague, Councilman Goode, and go after Councilman
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. I was not going to speak on the legislation that I introduced, but I feel compelled to do so since it was mischaracterized. The goal of the legislation is actually not to take anything away from anybody. The goal of the legislation as it is currently constructed actually gives each party one more nomination and gives each voter one more vote. That's actually more democracy. That's actually more choice. I would note for the record that this Council actually once had as many as 139 members, which is too many. It was based upon two per ward. When the Charter was changed after that, the number went down to 22, and it was based I might remind my republican colleagues, back then in those four elections before the Charter was changed, there were 22 Council seats. Twenty were held by republicans, 20 out of 22. I've done my research. I know the history. There were no set-asides, no quotas then for democrats. We had to change the Charter, put the corrupt political machine out of power, took over, and at that point, we were only about 600,000 strong. We're now 800,000 strong. The number of democrats has now decreased from 400,000 then to only about 140,000 to 150,000 now. The truth of the matter is, if each party can nominate nominees, if each voter can vote for those nominees, each voter can choose a democrat, each voter can choose a republican, they can choose an independent, they can choose anyone they'd like. If a party cannot attract people to their policies and register people, if voters choose not to vote for you, then the simple matter is that you lost. Even maintaining that one seat, that one minority seat, I think is actually a compromise and a compromise I'm willing to make. But this is not 1951. There is no consolation prize that should be in effect anymore. The truth of the matter is, this is democracy. It's giving parties one more choice in terms of nomination. It's giving voters one more vote. It will be the most votes that a voter has ever had in terms of City Council. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
All right now. Madam President, we would be remiss to start our new session and not acknowledge also that this is the of a new academic school year, and I would like to go on the record to both salute Mayor Nutter and Dr. Arlene Ackerman for the manner in which they've made it clear to principals and teachers and students that the bar has been raised and the expectation is that teachers and principals and students will rise and meet that expectation. Secondly, and lastly, for those of us who struggle still with physical fitness, me included, and for those of us who care about the environment, all are invited to join us to help promote bike sharing, where on September 19th from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. we can follow the example of San Francisco where artists, activists and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into park, P-A-R-K, spaces. And so we invite all who care about being physically fit and caring about the environment to join us on September 19th. you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. I want to also go on the record and acknowledge the fact that this Council did good work last session by having hearings on homelessness and housing and calling for a moratorium of sheriff sales, working with the Sheriff's Department, the courts and the Administration to create a deferment program that may have well saved close to 1,000 homeowners from losing their properties, and this is good work. We also had hearings on the benefit bank which was conducted, and we talked about batching services that could be provided to the 24 percent population of this town that lives below the poverty guideline. And I'd like to note that yesterday the Mayor, the Governor moved the first prong introducing to the public BENE (ph) Philadelphia, which is batching of services designed to help assist our seniors to take advantage of programs that exist and all too often leave money on the table. So this Council has done some good work, but I, like my colleague, Councilwoman Tasco, warn us that there are some dark days ahead and we're going to have to make some tough decisions on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, and that 24 percent of population that lives below the poverty guidelines is going to count on us to make the decisions that benefit them as well as the majority of Philadelphia. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I would like to yesterday we had a business opportunity breakfast that they sponsored for businesses affected by the Market Street Elevated Project. That's from 46th to 63rd Street. I want to thank Peter Longstreth, President, for being present, for sponsoring this breakfast and for their presentation, as well as Andy Altman, our Commerce Director, being present and for all of those from The Enterprise Center, Della Clark, who was co-host, along with myself, and the Partnership CDC, who talked about credit repair. I would like to thank all those involved with trying to help in this issue. We still have until next year before the whole project in curbs and sidewalks and all related issues are completed, and we would like to thank everyone for helping to sponsor this business opportunity breakfast and all the presenters. I would also like to commend -- and we'll introduce a resolution next week -- and Rob Hess. As you all know, he was Director of OESS, Office of Emergency Shelter and Services as it was then called, because they just passed a resolution along with their Mayor, Mayor Bloomberg. The city agreed formally and permanently to a principle that said homeless people, homeless families are entitled to shelter. They ended a 25-year battle with their Legal Aid Society, and it was Rob Hess who worked with the Governor to make this happen. As all of you know, on or about August 5th, we had a press conference on homelessness, and just last Wednesday, on the 12th, we had one on housing opportunity, a housing policy forum, as we told the Mayor we'd be happy to talk about housing policy issues. We had that last Wednesday and then again yesterday, the business opportunity breakfast. As many of you may see, you'll lady walking around my office, and her name is Britney Hess, and she happens to be Rob Hess's daughter, who went to Temple, graduated and opted to stay in our city and now she's a part of our staff. So across the board we commend people who are doing great things to move our city and our country forward, and we rise again to say thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Madam President. Again, in all due respect to my colleague, in all reality, the actions of his bill today will only just reduce a member of the republican members in Council. That's what it's going to do. The result is that no matter what numbers he gives out, the result of his bill would just minimize the republicans in City Council. And I say that as Ronald Reagan said, concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty, and I'll end it with that. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. There are no guarantees of seats in Congress. There are no guarantees of seats in the State Legislature, and the only guarantee for a seat in City Council should be the voters elect you.
Thank you. Are there any other speeches? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 25th, 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 25th. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m.) 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 on September 18, 2008, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (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.)