Aye. The ayes are 17. The nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 050343.
An ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Stated - 6/2/05 Industrial Development to file an application with the Office of the Budget to assist in the renovation and expansion of Roxborough YMCA.
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. The majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 050416.
An ordinance authorizing the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development to file an application with the Office of the Budget to assist in the construction, renovation an expansion of the emergency room at the Mercy Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia.
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, this bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 050454.
An ordinance Stated - 6/2/05 amending Bill No. 040765, entitled An Ordinance Approving the Fiscal Year 2005 Capital Budget, providing for expenditures for the capital purposes of the Philadelphia Gas Works.
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, this bill passes. 040595 will be considered next.
An ordinance amending Title 9 of the Philadelphia Code by amending Section 9-605 to prohibit certain towing upon the establishment of a rotational towing system.
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. I'm sorry. Councilman Cohen, you wish to be recognized?
Thank you. I think today we received letters from District Council 33 raising very basic questions of discrimination against small operators and against minority operators. I think we ought to look into the question before we vote this bill. So I therefore move that this bill be held. It raised both union and other kinds of questions of discrimination. District 33 is a very responsible organization, and I think we should honor their request.
Are you asking the sponsor of the bill to consider holding it?
Councilman Rizzo, would you consider holding the bill? Stated - 6/2/05
I'm not going to -- the information that -- he may have something from District Council 33, but I haven't seen anything. There's nothing from District Council 33. There's a letter, but I'd like to move forward.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I have tow truck operators that live half a block from my house. This is an industry where in the last -- particularly in the last five to ten years has been an industry where there's been a tremendous amount of minority participation, mostly Latino operators, not exclusively. And I have spent a lot of time since this bill was introduced talking to operators from different viewpoints, the salvagers and all the others, the repair shops, and how this bill would impact upon them. Stated - 6/2/05 Councilman Rizzo and the chairman of the Committee of License and Inspection, Councilman Mariano, put in a lot of time in trying to make sure that no one got -that no one would be hurt. Nevertheless, I believe that this bill has the potential to remove people that this is their only way of making a living. And I am still very concerned that there could very well be some particular tow truck operators that would not be able to provide their families with a decent living. However, I have been informed recently, as recent as last night to a number of operators that there is some good things in this bill; that we do in fact need a rotation system; that this is going to be something, according to the bill, that the job of picking the towing companies is going to be with the procurement department. In the bill there's a Section 2 that says that this ordinance shall not be effective unless the rotational towing Stated - 6/2/05 system referenced in the section of this ordinance is established pursuit to a bid solicitation substantially in the form of Exhibit A. I think that this leaves -this is a very good thing because it could very well address the participation of minorities in this industry. I will be voting yes for this bill this morning. However, I will be the first to come here, come back here in September and amend this bill if in fact I see that this has a drastic impact where it's going to hurt the livelihood of tow truck operators and their family. And for the tow truck operators that are listening or are here today, that they can continue to count on me not to -- and I'm quite sure they can continue to count on Councilman Mariano and Councilman Rizzo to make sure that this does not have a negative impact on tow truck operators who have put in a lot of money. These are trucks that are very, very expensive, and we want to make sure that we're not Stated - 6/2/05 breaking up the livelihoods of people in this industry. So I will be voting yes on this bill. I do appreciate the comments and I agree with the comments with the exception of the voting with my colleague, Councilman Cohen. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam President. I appreciate Councilman Ramos' remarks. And I'd like for the record to reflect that just yesterday representatives of the industry met with Michael Williams from the Minority Business Council. I believe that's the proper term. And everyone left that meeting very assured that they were going to be treated fairly. Mr. Williams assured them, the people in the towing Stated - 6/2/05 industry. As you can see today, it is relatively quiet here inside the chamber at least because I think most of the members or the people, the interested parties, realize that there is going to be a lot of careful observation. We've invited the counsel for the towing industry to be involved in the implementation. So I appreciate my colleagues' support on this particular legislation.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, Madam President. Councilman Ramos and Councilman Rizzo pretty much summed it all up. I'll be voting in favor of this. But the people on the committee -- I'm thinking of Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown -- we belabored this point for the exact reason Stated - 6/2/05 that Councilman Ramos brought up. We want to make sure that nobody is shut out from this process. This is strictly one of those things that you run into government where you can't please all the people all the time. We could have held this thing up for another two years. And Councilman Rizzo was like an attack dog on this. He stayed on it and stayed on it far longer than I could have with my attention span. But I just want you to know that yesterday the political leader -- and he's going to be embarrassed because he's probably watching this -- Carlos Matos, the Ward Leader of the 19th Ward, who has a lot of clout in the Latino community, along with Councilman Ramos and a few other people, were down here yesterday and met with Mr. Williams from MBEC to make sure that nobody gets shut out. And Rizzo and I, along with Ramos and I'm sure everyone else here, if this doesn't work out right, we're watching Stated - 6/2/05 this. This is something because of a few bad apples there has to be a rotation system. It's not perfect, it's a work in progress, and we can't please everybody all the time. If we could, it wouldn't be President Bush. It would be President Mariano, so there would be no problem. Thank you. (Laughter.)
Thank you. This bill, having been read on two different days, the question now remains shall this bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman Cohen, how are you voting? Stated - 6/2/05
Aye. The ayes are 16. The nays are one. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.)
The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 050203.
An ordinance amending Title 9 of the Philadelphia Code by amending Section 9-102, entitled Licenses and Permits, by providing that no Stated - 6/2/05 license or permit shall be issued or renewed if the applicant is delinquent in the payment of any City or School District taxes.
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.