Councilman Longstreth. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill being called for consideration is Bill No. 010633. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2001 within the General Fund from certain or all city offices, departments, boards and commissions to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill being called for SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR consideration is Bill No. 010664.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2001 within the Water Fund from certain or all City offices, departments boards and commissions to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilwoman Krajewski. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR The last bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 010689.
An ordinance authorizing the City Solicitor, on behalf of the City, to enter into a mutli-year contract with a provider of codification and editing services, all under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilwoman Krajewski. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR This concludes our Calendar. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you Madam President. Madam President, I'm pleased to report after consultation with you and conversation with the health commissioner, Commissioner Su that covered employees that are associated with the city health plan will be eligible for flu shots. This has been a pretty tough winter with colds and flu, as you know of. The fire fighters have started to receive their flu shots last week; the police department, this week; and City Council staff will be eligible for flu shots right here in the building. So through your office, communication circulated to make those arrangements so I wanted everyone to be aware that the Health Department will be making flu shots available to Council staff. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Councilman. That's wonderful. Are there speeches on the part of the SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Thank you, Madam Chair. For a week ago, two weeks ago, we were told that the Edison issue was off the table. Today we're told by the Philadelphia Inquirer that Edison is very much on the table and that a deal with Edison -- and obviously Edison is very much on the table because they have begun putting full-page ads in the Philadelphia newspapers. I imagine TV and radio is forthcoming. This is all taxpayers money, money that should be going towards education, money that should going towards books, recreation, and teachers salaries is being spent really on trying to win the hearts and minds of Philadelphia citizens for Edison. Well, it says that among the deal that the Governor has already entered into, it seems, Edison will cut 500 teaching positions. That means that probably we will have bigger class sizes. They will fire at least half of the principals, over a hundred of them. Who they're going to be bring in, what the leadership is going to be, we don't know because we have not been told; we're not privy to SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR the negotiations, Madam President. They're also going to begin charging community groups for the use the public schools. I sponsor a league together with the Sixers that has over 300 kids in that league and they play every Saturday, 300 kids from the ages of 6 to 16. We could not afford to have those kids playing every Saturday if we had to pay for the facilities. The volunteers that run the league, that coach, that maintain the whole organization would have to dedicate their time really to begin fund-raising in order to be able to pay for the facilities. I have recommended that we do a task force and that we look at places like Hartford and Chicago where state takeovers have happened and really have not succeeded.
Councilman, on that issue. At your request, I did write a letter to Mayor Street. He was ill on Monday, but he did send Debra Kahn in. A copy of that letter was given to her and indicated that they would get back to us.
Well, we are in a time line obviously that -- and I believe, Madam President, that we've never had a conversation with SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR the Governor. This Council has never had a conversation with Governor Schweiker. It's as if Governor Schweiker has met with ever community group in the City of Philadelphia. He's been in North Philadelphia, he's been in Germantown, he's been in South Philly. He's been everywhere across the City. He's like the scarlet pimpernel, he's here, he's there, he's everywhere. We need to be able to get a real grasp as to what is going on and what is going to happen a week and a half from now. It isn't only the payroll issue that is on the table, it is the governance issue of the City of Philadelphia of the public school system. I think it's time that Governor Schweiker at least held a meeting with this Council. Let us not have anyone brokered or meeting -because he's met with everybody else. Let him come to the table and tell us what is it that he's going to do. At least at that point we will hear it from his mouth. We will be able to decide what we as a body would want to do legislatively, politically, organizationally, and otherwise. We can decide whether we're going to go along with it, oppose it, sit in in schools, be with the parents, do civil SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR disobedience if necessary to prevent the takeover, because it might come to that. Madam President, I would wish that you would call him up, pick up the phone, say we want to talk. We want to sit down at the table. We want to hear it from you, because we're not hearing it from anybody else. We're hearing it from the Philadelphia Inquirer. And I'm tired of that. I think we should hear it from him and I think we should have that conversation. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. I would like to first thank those who have participated in our annual warmth and winter drive and appeal to the generosity of both my colleagues and their staff to help us meet the goal of 2,000 new hats, mittens, scarves, and gloves for the children in the homeless shelters. We are as of this hour 700 short, so any support we could get from my colleagues and staff and those in attendance who care about little ones in the homeless shelters, we'd welcome it. Thank you very much. The final SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR day is Monday, December 17th.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. This morning I rise to say thank you and certainly to Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown. There will be -- we will be getting about 300 coats but they'll be men's coats from Today's Man, so I don't know if that will help with regard if you're just doing children, but certainly we wanted you to know that. And I wanted to say thank you today to just some of the people, people like Kevin Parker from 3801 Cafe and Simply Delicious Caterers, and Miss Tootsie's and people like Neil Stein from Stripe Bass and Gabe Marabella from Avenue B, people like Giuseppe Sena from La Familia and Penn Mutual Company, just to name a few, people like Power 99 and Rob Hess and Lou Sauder from OESS and the police department, the University City District, committeeman, town watch leaders, certainly community groups in West like Spruce Hill, Clark Park, Squirrel Hill Substation, so many people, people from all walks of life who help to feed over SPEECHES a thousand children two nights ago at 3801. Madam President, they really deserve a thank you. We had people from all walks of life, some wearing suits, some with spiked hair and orange hair who were helping children find there mothers. I will tell you that the food never ran out nor did gifts. I want to thank my staff and all those who for the last week have been wrapping a thousand gifts here at City Hall that made it look like we were looking for Santa and a reindeer ourself. I contend and have always contended that people give if you just give them a forum in which to do so. We believe and it is my philosophy that we are our brother's keeper and that if we do our part to improve life that the quality of life for those at the bottom rung of the ladder, those most in need, that the top rises. So, again, to all of those for people, to people I haven't mentioned, I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you, and God bless you.
Thank you, Madam President. I will be brief. I would echo the SPEECHES comments of my colleague Councilman Ortiz, possibly with the exception of the scarlet pimpernel. I have no expertise in that particular area. I do wish to express my continued concern. There was a resolution that was passed this morning. There was a fair amount of activity this morning. I chose not to speak on the resolution at that time. With eight days to go in a deadline for possible school takeover, I don't know whether that deadline will be met or possibly extended, but it is astounding, I guess, at a certain level that we've read about the Edison report, we've read about the Governor's report, we now hear more news about what Edison will be doing, and it seems like they're going to be taken care of. The one group that seems not to know what's going to happen are the citizens, taxpayers, and parents of 212,000 school children who continue not to know what will happen to the future of their individual schools and the educational opportunity for their young people. I do not understand why there is no information about what the City proposes to do in that regard. This is not a union contract SPEECHES negotiation. I understand that you can't negotiate those out in public and there has to be some level of secrecy. But for the issue of public education, with eight days to go, many extensions, documents signed and offered and sent back and forth across the table, for the citizens of this City and especially, again, the parents not to know what's going on I think is inappropriate. I think the Mayor does have obligation to at least let us know, not only what he's against because many of us are against either privatization by private for-profit or even possibly a takeover by the State, but I think leadership also requires that you articulate not only what you're against, but what you're for so that people in this City can rally around something, so we can have a better understanding of the issues of class size and educational outcomes, what our schools will look like. We had two days of hearings about blight. I think if you go into some of our public schools, both the interior as well as the physical plant and outside, some of those buildings are blighted as well and I've not heard about a blight rehabilitation program for our schools. There's an SPEECHES estimate five years ago that it would take at that time $700 million to bring our school buildings up to code. We've renovated, created new buildings and facilities that we were told were greatly needed, whether it was sports stadiums or other facilities. Veteran's Stadium was 30 years old. It was no longer good enough for our teams. I agree. But we have over 10 buildings that are a hundred years old in our school system, and the average age of a school building in Philadelphia is over 65 years old. Most of us would not want spend much time in some of those places. Yet we hear nothing about what will happen to those facilities in any kind of blight proposal -- not the one that's on the table with the Mayor's NTI program, but from a School District perspective. And so I think that the public does need to know what's going on, because many of us who have children in the schools or have relatives in the schools are just regular taxpayers. Madam President, I cannot tell you the level of inadequacy that a person might feel if you go to a home and school association meeting, as I have on a couple of occasions, to sit around with SPEECHES parents who do not know what's going to happen. They care about their schools. All they are left to do is read the newspaper. But I will share in a very personal way, Madam President, the experience of reading over a paper one day and the headlines were about the schools and being asked a question by a person that means a great deal to me.
When my daughter asked, "Daddy, what's going to happen to my school," and to not to be able to answer that question is a really bad feeling for anyone, but especially if you're a public official and you cannot explain what's going to happen in that young person's life. And so I think the time has come to let the public know. What is the problem with telling people what it is that we're trying to accomplish for our kids and for this City? I ask, Madam President, as Councilman Ortiz has asked you, to be in touch with the Governor. I think we do need to have a conversation with the Mayor. A public announcement needs to be made. We cannot wait until 11:59 on the 21st and we can all sit up and wonder if there's going to be a major announcement at some hotel or out on the SPEECHES sidewalk or somewhere else. The public needs to know what's going on with schools, and I think they need to know today. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you. I see that we have Harold Thomas. Thank you also Harold Thomas, Belmont affordable housing. And thank you, Mary, for letting the public know about us and for saying nice things when somebody criticized us this morning for talking feeding homeless people and they thought we ought to be above that when we elected, as if the world changes. Thank you. Thank you.
Madam President. THE COURT: The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
I want to express my compliments to all four of my colleagues who have spoken before. To Councilwomen Blondell Reynolds-Brown and Jannie Blackwell, I think it's SPEECHES wonderful to think of the holiday spirit. But when I saw the youngsters March into the Chambers a few minutes ago and then leave, it seemed to me real gift-giving means giving something of substance beyond the immediate need. And I can think of nothing more important to gift-giving to children than a healthy public educational system which will prepare them for the future. To Councilmembers Nutter Ortiz, I join with them, but I think they're much too mild. I don't think we just have a right to know what's going on; I think we have a right to participate in the decision-making. I don't want to just be informed, because as I read Governor Schweiker and maybe or maybe not Mayor Street's proposal, it's a sure prescription for disaster. If people are looking for trouble, they're certainly going in the right direction because if a decision is made to take away control of the public schools from Philadelphians without our right to participate, if the continued contempt for this body seems to continue to pervade the state levels of government as well as the local city government levels, I think we're headed in a very disastrous way to begin the new year of 2002. SPEECHES So I urge, Madam President, I support the recommendation by Councilman Ortiz and Councilman Nutter that you call the Governor. I have to confess I did that and I got absolutely nowhere. Two weeks ago I spoke to the Governor's office here in Philadelphia, expressed a strong concern that we as the budgetary body for the City of Philadelphia, as the ones who have to provide the other money that the State does not provide, we who represent the constituents, the parents of all the school kids have been totally left out of the picture. Nobody wants to know what we think or cares about. They're going to have to think about what we want. They're going to have to care a lot what the people of Philadelphia want. They can do it in nice, easy, successful way by acting in a civilized fashion and including City Council and the people of Philadelphia in the participation of decision-making or they're going to do it the hard way because I can tell you, Madam President, it's my reading of the people of Philadelphia that they are not going to likely give up total participation and decision-making about the schools of Philadelphia. Their children, their families mean much too much SPEECHES for them to do that. So you're going to have two roads to go. We can have a good constructive road if the Governor and the Mayor both participate us in arriving at a sensible solution, or it can be a hard road because I for one and speaking to constituents, I can tell you that all over city they have a right to participate in the decision-making about the education of their kids. And we're go can to see to it that their right is enforced. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you very much. Are there any other speeches on the part of the majority. The Chair recognizes Councilman Longstreth.
I would like to congratulate Councilman Ortiz for his use of the masterpiece Scarlet Pimpernel, however, he didn't finish it. So I thought in the search for perfection it would be all right for me to take 30 seconds to finish it.
He started off, "They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere," then the rest that he left out which I'll finish for him was, "Is he in heaven or is he in hell, that damned elusive pimpernel." (Applause.) THE COURT: The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for a motion.
Madam President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, December 20, at 10:00 a.m. 2001. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, December 20, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and Council will stand adjourned until Thursday December 20, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. Thank you all very SPEECHES much. (Council adjourned at 12:05 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of December 13, 2001, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: STATED MEETING ___________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR and Notary Public