Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 070940.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2007 within the Water Fund 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 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. 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING We will now consider Bill No. 070941.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2007 within the Aviation Fund 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 Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Councilman DiCicco. 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Aye.
Councilwoman Reynolds Brown. 12/13/07 - 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. We will now consider Bill No. 070942.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2007 from the General Fund - provisions for other grants and from the Community Development Fund - to be allocated to the General Fund, certain 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING 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 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. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the title of Bill No. 070994. Councilman DiCicco, you want to be recognized? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam President. I would ask permission to speak on this bill.
The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam President. Needless to say, it's been an interesting week. Last Thursday I asked 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING this Council to adopt a historic amendment in Philadelphia. All of you supported me, and for that I thank you. What a week it's been since then. I'll admit that the amendment I proposed isn't perfect, that it doesn't necessarily effect the change that we'd like in and of itself, but it's a strong symbol of this body's dedication to the issue. We want Philadelphia to be built by Philadelphians and we want our job sites to resemble our diverse neighborhoods. It's not complicated, nor should it be. Governor Rendell commented earlier this week that minority inclusion and organized labor should not be mutually exclusive. He's right, they shouldn't be. Unfortunately, under Mr. Gillespie's leadership they have been. That has to change and it has to come from the top. Against my better judgment, I am agreeing to hold this bill. When we prepared this speech, Madam President, my 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING comments were until next week, but I will be holding it nonetheless. We may resolve it today. I'm not certain of that, but if we hold it to next week, we will meet with the Governor, Representative Dwight Evans, Senator Anthony Williams, Senator Fumo, the unions and several of my colleagues. Over the years I've seen these men in the Building Trades threaten, harass and disrespect this body and our legislative process. In fact, one of them threatened my family and me just yesterday, and I don't take his threats lightly, because in the past, although I was not able to prove, damage has been done to my property and disrespect has been shown to my family by one union leader in particular who made the threats yesterday. I will not continue to entertain their whims, nor their arrogance. In fact, I will go further and say that these men have caused the 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING problem. If Mr. Gillespie had acted appropriately last week, maybe we wouldn't be here today. Maybe if he had come in with information, if he had made an effort to address our concerns or if he had taken responsibility for the state of the trades, we wouldn't have gotten here. Since Mr. Gillespie and several union members have in the past spent untold amount of money and used their members to defeat members of this body, I think it's appropriate that I ask that the trades stand up to Mr. Gillespie and replace him with an appropriate leader. And if they did, maybe we wouldn't be here again. It's unfortunate that so many good men and women are represented in the trades by someone who is less responsible. The Convention Center is an important project for the City of Philadelphia. I would prefer, I would prefer to see it built by union labor, 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING but I also want it built by Philadelphians for Philadelphia, and I want the job sites to resemble the diverse city of our neighborhoods. If the unions can guarantee that, I am happy to step aside. If they can't, however, we're going to go down this road again next week, and everyone in this Chamber will have to make a decision on how they vote, either hold the trades responsible for their membership and approve the Convention Center agreement or kill the Center and continue to allow the trades to walk all over us. I, for one, have had enough. I think this body should feel the same. Thank you, Madam President, and I will be asking that the bill be held. (Applause.)
All right. There was applause and I couldn't hear. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm asking that the bill be held. 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING
Very well. I would then ask the Chief Clerk to please -
Yes. I'm sorry. I didn't realize other people wanted to be recognized. Councilman Ramos.
Madam President, thank you for calling on me. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all the members of this Council that I have served with in the last four years, and definitely I have an extreme amount of respect for my friend and colleague, Councilman DiCicco, but I cannot allow his statement just to stand alone in the record books of this Council without me standing up for an organization that I have been a part of for many years, most of my adult life, out of the Laborers Union. I sure hope 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING that my friend, Councilman DiCicco, did not mean to say that everyone in the Building Trades as separate organization -- Mr. Gillespie said there were 40-some members of the Building Trades. I met yesterday with a number of labor leaders who have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. DiCicco and a tremendous amount of respect for this body. I think that the majority, the overwhelming majority, of the leaders of the Building Trades have no personal animosity towards my colleague, Mr. DiCicco. I will say that I belong to a labor union who's had -- that I believe he holds in high esteem, the Laborers Union. And I just want to be on record saying that the Building Trades organization as such is a proponent of workers' rights. We might not be perfect. There might be incidents that I don't care for or I don't see in good light over the years when it comes to 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING relationships. However, that type of relationship with certain members of the Building Trades and my colleague apparently has not gone away. I wish it would. But I just want to be on record saying that the Building Trades organization that I know, that I've lived with all these years, particularly the Laborers International Union, Local 332, that I don't share the view and I don't want the view of this Building Trades organization to be just classified in the way that Councilman DiCicco expressed in his statement a few minutes ago. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. As Councilman DiCicco asked to hold this bill, whether it's until later 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING today or whether it's until next week, I think that we should make it perfectly clear why it's being held. We've put a lot of work over the last couple weeks on trying to make sure that there is a sound Economic Opportunity Plan attached to this legislation, and let me say for the record, as some people claim we were trying to solve this problem; namely, the Governor, the state Legislature and others, the Governor, the state Legislature and the Convention Center Authority sent the legislation to this Council without an Economic Opportunity Plan, and the plan they had, which was hidden within the binder that they had, said there will only be 13 percent minority participation. Now, since the last two weeks and the work this Council has put in, we've increased that from 13 percent to 35 percent minority participation on contracts and 40 percent in terms of workforce hours. So now everyone is in agreement with that. 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING So the issue here is not necessarily the Economic Opportunity Plan, but the open shop provision. And I still believe we did the right thing last week. Whether we choose to amend today or choose to amend next week or whatever comes out of the Governor's negotiation session, but the issues at hand, which we will discuss today and possibly discuss next week, is whether membership in the Building Trades is actually a vehicle for economic inclusion or whether it's a barrier to economic inclusion. That's a tough, tough question to answer, because we already know that for some it's a vehicle and for others it is a barrier. And since we could not get sound numbers, we're left up to the numbers that appear in the Philadelphia Inquirer today, gotten from the EEOC, which says that the 12 referral unions that were surveyed, they can't give out individual union information, but it says that the Building Trades are only 8.2 percent 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING minority and only 6 percent black, only 1.8 percent Hispanic and 0.3 percent Asian and only 1 percent female. So the question is, how are we going to resolve the issue that membership in the Building Trades is in fact a vehicle for economic inclusion for some but a barrier for others.
Thank you. Councilwoman Campbell, your light is on. Did you want to be recognized?
I would ask that you bear with me, because it's very difficult for me to speak.
But I feel that I must. 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING First of all, let me, to Councilman DiCicco, say that I will reiterate what I said to Mr. Gillespie the other day, is that we cannot function without reciprocal respect. We have always given respect to the unions, and I expect it to be reciprocal with the unions giving respect to us. If it has not been at the level sometimes it should have been, then they must deal with this or they cannot come to us for assistance. Let me go on. I heard these names of this meeting that is projected for Monday. As an official of the democratic party, not speaking just as a Councilperson, I have a problem with that, because all the names I heard were democratic people. This is morally wrong. You didn't just get democratic votes to get that money from the state, and both parties cooperated, and I feel that both parties should be represented in any meeting that they have regarding this Convention Center. Discrimination 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING in any form is intolerable, and this is discrimination. I also think that if we're going to have representatives from Council speaking for us at that meeting, then the Councilmembers should have some input as to who is going to represent us. I do feel that Councilman Ramos should be a part, because he has the expertise. I realize he's a labor man, but he is also a Councilperson, and I would ask that you greatly consider this, because I think this has to happen for us to come out with a fair and just decision.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam President. First, just let me thank my colleague, Councilman Ramos, for reminding me of some of the labor support that I've received over the years, and if 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING every local had the minority participation that the Laborers Union had in this town, we wouldn't have this -- we wouldn't be having this conversation. But when I receive a letter, just to make a point, from the Cement Masons Local Union Business Manager and President, Mike Fera, in response to a letter that I sent to Mr. Eiding, which I believe all my colleagues should have received a couple days ago, just one of his comments was, as far as Local 592 is concerned, Gillespie, Eidling or anyone else will not receive any statistics from my local union, period. So, I mean, that talks about the arrogance and why we can't get to the point where we should be in terms of minority and female participation. As to Councilwoman Campbell, I just mentioned names of folks that I understood would be at that meeting. I'm not setting the agenda, but I do know, having conversation with Council 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING President Verna yesterday, that our colleague from the republican side of the aisle, the minority leader, Councilman O'Neill, is, I understand, expected to be attending that meeting as far as this legislative body is concerned. As for the state Legislature and Senators, again, I assume that was the Governor's decision, but it's only an assumption. But it wasn't done on my behalf. I didn't set the agenda. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. We could go on then with our Calendar. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the title of Bill No. 070936.
An ordinance approving the fourteenth amendment of the redevelopment proposal for the Mantua Urban Renewal Area.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill 12/13/07 - STATED - 2ND READING 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 passes. We will now consider Bill No. 070943.
An ordinance approving the second amendment of the redevelopment proposal for the Wister III Urban Renewal Area.
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.