Aye on all bills. A majority of all the members having voted in the affirmative for each of the bills on the Consent Agenda, the bills are on the Consent Agenda are Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING passed. We will now consider the bills and resolutions on the regular Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar. Mr. Decker, if you will read the title of 150936.
A resolution confirming the reappointment of Michael H. Reed as a member of the Board of Ethics, to serve in the term ending November 16, 2020.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
Those opposed? (No response.) Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING
The ayes have it. Resolution 150936 has been adopted. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 150745-A.
An ordinance amending Title 14 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Zoning and Planning," by providing special density rules for buildings with a green roof.
This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilman Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Greenlee.
Councilman Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Squilla.
Aye. The ayes are 15; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 150744.
An ordinance to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by 10th Street, Packer Avenue, Darien Street, and Hartranft Street.
Thank you, Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Council President. I would like to speak before I call the bill up for a vote.
Thank you, Council President. Today I ask my colleagues to vote yes to Bill 150744 and 150767, which will provide zoning authorization for the placement of the Live! Hotel and Casino in South Philadelphia. I understand that this proposal has raised concerns among a number of those who have voiced their opinions to Council. I also understand that many support the proposal because it represents a massive economic development project in the City of Philadelphia. At this point, all stakeholders have had the chance to voice their opinions on this very important issue. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has awarded a casino license to Stadium Casino, LLC through a competitive process that included five other Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING applications and a public comment process. City Council had no authority or influence over the state Gaming Board's decision to award this casino license, but City Council is charged with considering the required zoning legislation. Over the past several months, I have worked diligently to ensure that the casino project truly benefits the City of Philadelphia, including the neighborhoods immediately impacted by the development and the Philadelphians who will be employed at the site for construction, professional services, and all levels of operation. Accordingly, we have negotiated an historic Economic Opportunity Plan and goals for this project. The jobs created must pay living wages, and the workers at all stages of the process, including construction, professional services, operations, and vending and contracting, must represent Philadelphia's diverse Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING demographic makeup. Accordingly, we have negotiated a $12 per hour minimum wage for any worker or subcontracted employee at the casino. Additionally, I have worked with the Office of Economic Opportunity to set historic diversity goals that calls for at least 50 percent minority participation at all stages of this project, including construction, professional services, and operations, including executive management, managerial, and supervisory positions. I have also established a Diversity Oversight Board comprised of industry experts and area leaders to monitor compliance with the casino's diversity commitments and its EOP, which I take very seriously. I will work with the Diversity Oversight Board to make sure we hold the development team accountable in making sure they reach their obligations and goals. We will continue to also Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING address any issues regarding labor and management as it relates to the new Live! Hotel and Casino. We have also worked to ensure that this project is supported by the immediately impacted neighborhoods in South Philadelphia. Accordingly, the Cordish Company has entered into a Community Benefits Agreement with the surrounding neighborhood associations to ensure that the Live! Hotel and Casino has a positive impact on the local neighborhoods. This project represents an investment of over a half a billion dollars into the City of Philadelphia that will create thousands of jobs, both construction and permanent. I believe that this project will benefit the entire City. I want to also thank all of my colleagues for their input, their insight, working in partnership with my team to make sure that this casino not only benefits the 2nd Councilmanic Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING District but the City of Philadelphia as a whole and ask for your affirmative vote on these two bills. Thank you. I move for the adoption of the bill.
It's actually an ordinance. Thank you, Councilman.
And good work. You did a lot of work on that. I know it's somewhat challenging, having had some history with casinos. This bill has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilwoman Blackwell. (No response.) Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING
Councilwoman Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Reynolds Brown.
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 150767.
An ordinance amending Title 14 of The Philadelphia Code by revising requirements in Section 14-405, entitled "SP-ENT, Entertainment (Special Purpose) District," under certain terms and conditions.
This bill has been heard on two separate days. Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 15; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Councilwoman Blackwell, 150744.
Yes. I'd like to be recorded as voting aye on the bill.
Let the record reflect that Councilwoman Blackwell voted aye. That vote is 15; zero. Mr. Decker, we go to 150809.
An ordinance authorizing the City's Managing Director or his designee to enter into a cable television franchise renewal agreement with Comcast of Philadelphia and Comcast of Philadelphia II, renewing the cable television franchises granted by the City to Comcast for Franchise Areas I, II, III and IV, under certain terms and conditions.
Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Thank you. That bill has been heard on two -- Councilman, would you like to speak?
Thank you, Council President, for allowing me to be heard prior to a vote. So I'm not going to take much time going over the details on the franchise agreement. I think we've said enough and a lot of people have worked very hard. So I want to thank you, Council President, for your stewardship and allowing the Committee to do a lot of hard work and then the colleagues to champion a lot of issues that are important to them and the constituents in the City of Philadelphia. So I want to thank all of my colleagues, especially Councilman Greenlee, Wilson Goode, Jannie Blackwell, Kenyatta Johnson, Maria Quinones-Sanchez, Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING and Cindy Bass, for their leadership, in addition to yours, Council President, on key issues to get us to where we are here today for, I feel, a very good franchise agreement package. And this is my only time to thank everybody, so bear with me for a second. PhillyCAM, CAP, Comcast especially, Gretjen and Hannah with the advocacy groups, who never stopped pushing. Every time we went outside your office, they were sitting on the floor. They were in the coffee shop and they're always around, and it's true, and they were championing what they needed to. Comcast, Mark Reilly, Kathleen Sullivan, and Sharon Powell-Lee, who approached this process with the commitment of Philadelphia in mind and, I might add, with a great sense of humor throughout this process. And I want to thank Comcast for putting Philadelphia first. And I especially want to acknowledge Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Scott Maslowski, Michael Athay, Steve Robertson and, of course, Adel Ebeid. These four, led by Adel, is the reason and one of the main reasons why we never stopped pursuing getting the best Comcast franchise agreement package that we have in the country. So I can't begin to convey how complicated the agreement has been and how negotiations were throughout the two and a half, three years, and they've all come up with creative solutions to where we are today for this final vote. So, Adel, to your team and the City, you deserve a lot of credit and a lot of recognition. And, lastly, my office. My office -- I think we take on challenging and complicated issues as something that we look forward to actually, and I want to thank my entire staff who worked relentlessly, countless hours. I think they're awesome, and I want to thank them personally for all their dedication and Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING everybody else who has been a part of this process. So thank you very much, and thank you for your time, Council President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to first start by thanking my colleague Bobby Henon for his hard work and his office for the work that was done on this Comcast franchise agreement. And I did want to say that there's still a couple of things that I wanted to bring forward and to make sure that we pay attention to as we move forward with this agreement. And I'll be voting today for Bill No. 150809 with reservations, and I've stated them publicly before and I just really wanted to be on record and, again, make sure that everyone is aware that there's a Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING couple of things that need to be paid attention to. And primarily the biggest thing -- actually, both of them are very, very important in my eyes, but one of the issues is that I'm still trying to understand why is it that Philadelphia, which, as we know, is the poorest of our nation's top ten cities, is subsidizing Comcast with a 90-day rule on Internet Essentials, and Comcast obviously is one of the world's wealthiest corporations. That is something that even though it's in the agreement, I think that Comcast can still do something about it. Even regardless of what our agreement is, there is still room for them to make this, in my opinion, right. The other piece that needs to be paid attention to as we look at Comcast in the future is that in terms of senior staffers, senior vice presidents and above, reflecting the diversity we expect to see from corporations that we have invested in. And so we know that Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING there are two African American senior VP's, both slated to retire in 2016, according to my understanding. And so we look to Comcast to address this issue and the other issue as well. We're proud to have Comcast here in Philadelphia. I believe that we've made a significant investment, and we're looking to them to make that investment back in Philadelphia. So thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. There being no other speeches on that bill, Bill No. 150809 has been heard on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING
Councilwoman Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING Reynolds Brown.
Aye. The ayes are 15; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.)
An ordinance amending Chapter 9-3500 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Fair Criminal Records Screening Standards," by amending certain definitions and adding certain additional requirements with Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING respect to screening job applicants and license applicants for criminal history.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. As we look at the year end and session end work that we put in, we are at the precipice of leaving a recession. I think when we first got here, at least when I first got here, we were battening down the hatches of one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. But as we turn the corner on that page, as we see Comcast putting up its second skyscraper, as we look at our second casino, as we tout a W Hotel, as we look at the Dranoff project, which I don't think anybody in this Chambers will ever be able to afford, we see a better tomorrow. This bill that we are considering now will give that same type of folk an optimism to over a half Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING million people in the City of Philadelphia, saying that when you paid your debt to society, that you have an opportunity for redemption, have an opportunity to be a citizen and reap the full benefits of this society. So I know that this was a lot of work for a lot of people, that this made people take pause, but in this kind of situation, we have to send the signal that if you do the right thing, good things can happen for you in the long run. And I appreciate everyone who has decided to give this leap of faith to this many citizens and welcome them home. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Oh.
Thank you very much, Council President. I just want to state that I wholeheartedly support what Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. has done and Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING the Committee in terms of the effort. I will say that I have a couple provisions that I think are important that I disagree with. I've expressed that to Councilman Jones. I certainly agree very much with the fact that people who have paid their debt to society should not be punished. We certainly should get past that. However, at the same time, I will say that I believe that the more jobs we have, the more people will get hired. And so I think the burdens to the employers in some of the provisions are overly burdensome, and I wanted to explain that for that reason, I will not be voting for the bill. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. This bill has been heard on two separate days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll. Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING
Nay. Stated Meeting December 10, 2015 12/10/15 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 13; the nays are two. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.)