No. The vote is 8 in the affirmative, 9 in the negative, and the bill passes. (Applause.)
Oh, I'm sorry. (Inaudible.) SECOND READING - BILL 000629 The next bill to be called for consideration is -- everybody's light is on. Does -
I'm sorry. The vote was 9 aye, 8 no. Nine being the majority, the bill passes. The clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 000716.
An ordinance amending Chapter 21-1100 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Community Development," by amending Section 21-1108, entitled "Economic Development."
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all members of Council having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. That concludes our calendar.
Are there speeches on the part of the minority? (No speeches on the part of the minority.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? Councilman Cohen, your light's on.
Yes. I just wanted to report why it's so important for the Gas Works to be part of the City of Philadelphia. Last night, about 7 o'clock, I received a call from a block captain in the ward in which I'm the Democratic leader, telling me that a quadriplegic person had had the electricity turned off, which she needed desperately for breathing since she has a severe asthma case, and PECO -- she owed a bill of $600. She's on Social Security, disability, has no other income. She was told she SPEECHES had to have $400 in by the end of the day. Using her check and every available resource, she put together $350 and delivered it to the office that they had requested, the Thriftway market at 22nd and Lehigh. Through the intervention of our Managing Director Joe Martz, PECO was contacted and promised to put her electricity on. It was clear it was a humanitarian matter. She was only $50 short. Her life was at stake with her severe asthmatic condition. I have to report to you that PECO did not do so. If it were a City agency, there is absolutely no question that the lights would have been turned on. I want to mention that because I think people so misunderstand the role of public service. They think business is efficient. I don't think that's necessarily true because of all the bankruptcies that take place, but business seems to have no feeling for people, no humanitarianism. I call this to everyone's attention when we consider the plans for PGW in the future. I think it was a shameful action that PECO took last night in refusing to put the woman's electricity on. SPEECHES Thank you, Madam president.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Madam Chair, I wanted to speak before, when the bill was being considered. Ten years ago, I stood up in this Council, myself and Councilwoman Tasco. At that time, the Latino community had a problem: We were divided into four different districts. The bill today that we considered, this Council had a very good opportunity if the Latino issue was the priority two weeks ago and a few weeks before that to really create a Latino district. But this Council didn't do that. We went, we did not bad, not good. There was a lot of dissatisfaction. I voted no. It was 15 to 2. The Latino issue has been brought up as a reason for this, for this veto. I don't think so. I think the people who spoke on the bill to try to delay the bill really couched it correctly. This was about Center City, some divisions, but it was not about creating a Latino district. I would hope that now that we're here, we will come up with a 45, 46, 47 percent Latino SPEECHES district. I would hope that the reason given for the veto is made to stand, but I don't think that was the reason. And that's why, knowing that the Latino was being used, I was not going to go along with it. But this was -- this vote was not about creating a Latino district. This vote was about Center City. That's all it was, this veto. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, Madam President. You know, I probably shouldn't say this and that's how I get in trouble around here, but I just can't help myself. That's probably one of the biggest untruths I ever heard in Council. You know, I mean, the Councilman fought all along for a district, and then when it comes to a chance to do something for the people that he's supposed to represent here in Council, who he's been telling me he represented for the six years I've been sitting here, then he changes the vote and then cops a plea afterwards. In my neighborhood, Councilman -- I SPEECHES don't know what that's called in your neighborhood, but in my neighborhood, it's just no intestinal fortitude. Sometimes you just got to do what's right. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, all due respect to the Councilman, at least in my mind, this was not just about Center City. This was about a dilution in votes in the most densely populated portion of the 5th District that required that I then move northward and eastward and acquire a substantial amount of wards and divisions that were populated extremely highly by the Latino population. If I had not had to move as far northward and eastward, those divisions could have been put in the existing 7th Councilmatic District and increased the percentages as it relates to this particular bill. So it was not just about Center City, in all due respect, sir Thank you, Madam President.
Madam chair, I've been in this Council many, many years. The words that I use, I use very carefully. I don't think that I have ever used a word to question someone else's intellect, valor, whatever. It's about ideas, it's about concepts. Some people may not understand that. But I stood on this Council many times by myself on the issues that I believe in. Again, people had an opportunity, the representative from the 7th District had an opportunity to really advocate for a district during the term that we used to create the redistricting plan; he did not use that. He did not create a plan, he did not go forward and say, We need a 45, and I will not accept anything less than that. He didn't say that. He voted for the plan. He voted for the plan. I didn't vote for the plan. However, when the override comes, I look at this body, and this is (indiscernible), which I've grown to respect, which I've grown to understand over the last 17 years. We're a legislative body, that's all that we are. I do not SPEECHES believe that this represented what I thought it represented and I voted accordingly. Let's see what happens in the following weeks when we create a new map. Let's see what happens and who supports what, because I would like to see that. I would like to see a commitment of at least a 45 percent district in the 7th Councilmatic, because that's where it grew and that's where it should be.
Thank you The chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
This could probably go on and on all afternoon but, you know, sometimes enough's enough with the rhetoric. When both Latino groups came to me -- and I'm sure all of the other Councilpeople in this room, I said to them, I know what I said. I said, what do you need? what do you want? how big of a district? They said, Councilman, we're looking 43, 44 percent. We have 38 percent citywide. I said, You may be selling yourself a little short; it may be higher than 38 percent. They said, We'd be very happy with a 40 percent. One of the young men in that group, I said, Let me understand what you're SPEECHES saying, and there was other people from my staff and some other people present. I think Ed Nielson (ph.) was in the room from the Electricians Union. And we said to that group -- I said, now 40 percent, right? And I said 40 percent in my mind is 39.6 percent, 39.7, 39.8, 39.9, that's 40 percent. Okay, that's 40 percent. Are you clear with that? And they said yeah, both groups. If 45 percent was what someone wanted, they should have said it. Now, I don't want to -- you know, I saw what went on here today and I'm personally offended by it. And I'm sure everyone in my district that looks around and tries to use the at-large people for what good they're good and they're good, and that's one of the reasons. The Councilman is the one that hangs by -- that hides behind that banner all the time, not me. I'm the one with the district that's 40 percent, maybe 45 percent, and I'm okay with that, I'm fine with it. But I think everyone -- if we're going to give speeches, let's tell the truth, you know, let's not say one thing to the press and in private say something different. Thank you, Madam President. And I'm SPEECHES willing to go on all day if he wants to go on. I have my yogurt and I'm happy
Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Needless to say, this is a difficult day in City Council; it's a day which didn't have to happen, and actually, I wish it happened next week. I believe that had it happened next week, the outcome might have been different. It was my every intention to vote to override the veto. I can say that as much as people want to frame this as a duel between the Mayor and yourself, I'm not choosing between you and the Mayor. As much as people want to make this a duel between the Mayor and Senator Fumo, that's not even -- the senator does not represent me. In the end, what happened today, which shouldn't have had to happen, was a split in Council leadership. I think that's what we need to consider and we need to mend whatever has been broken today. Thank you.
Thank you. SPEECHES The chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you, Madam President. As a follow-up to what Councilman Goode just said, I think the Council made a terrible error on Bill 629, for which it will suffer and the citizens of Philadelphia will suffer, because there will be no peace in this Council until 629, if it gets signed, by the Mayor is repealed. That's number one. Number two, today, in one sense, was a very great day for City Council. I regret the fact that the Mayor's veto were not overridden, but at least we got started on acting like a legislative body. I think it's dead wrong that the Mayor should try to control Council as well as the mayoralty. He did that when he was president of City Council. He operated very closely, never shared information with the other members of Council. For him to attempt at this stage of the day to control City Council, I think, represents a very bad judgment call by the Mayor, and I hope he understands that. But today, this City Council, I believe, began to reassert itself and began to reassert its SPEECHES responsibility to the citizens of Philadelphia to act as an independent legislative body. And I believe, Madam President, that before we're done, the redistricting bills 0and the bill with respect to the public schools will show that Council is an independent body. This is a mayor who plans on throwing away the public school system in Philadelphia. This is a man who, without any consultation with any member of City Council, urged the governor to take over the public school system in Philadelphia. I've never heard of such a single disgraceful act for a chief executive of the city to do as the Mayor has done. Today City Council has really begun to act independently. We had a majority in City Council today who believe that City Council ought to make the decisions, because in both cases, the majority voted to override. It did not -- the majority did not vote to sustain the veto. The Mayor won a technical victory because of the fact that to sustain a veto, you need only approximately one-third of the City Council. I congratulate the City Council on its actions with respect to the two bills that were put SPEECHES before it on the question of overriding the Mayor's veto. I think we're going to work that out ultimately in a way that respects City Council. I do regret again, as I say. The action taken on 629, but the will of the people on 629 will assert itself, and it will assert itself at whatever cost it takes, at whatever price has to be paid, and under any form; as will the people's will to maintain a public school system in Philadelphia and not permit its privatization. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President Let me say that in response to one of my colleagues who talked about a break in leadership, there is no break in leadership.
Excuse me, Councilman. If you would like to speak, I'll yield to you.
That's all right. Thank you. There is no break in leadership. I believe in my president, I believe in Council, I believe in the value and the leadership abilities of everybody here and in their sincerity in not only leading their districts but in trying to do the best for all of the citizens in our city. Certainly, I believe even now that the best will come out of all of this. And I believe that leadership dictates that we have to find a way to make everybody feel that they're included. I heard my colleague talk about there's been some debate about Latino districts, about all of that, all of that. We a city made up of all ethnic groups, and certainly that is as it should be. And I believe that out of this, good will come so that all people will feel that they are included. Let me say that from the inception of our president's term, when the Mayor was president of Council, our city with a in economic straits, and we worked very hard to support him and the former mayor because we had to to bring our city to a certainly economic stability. When President Verna came on SPEECHES board, we were ready to be our own body, and we are. I believe in this body. I believe in the value and the abilities of everybody here. And, again, I will reiterate that I believe the best will come out of this because it gives everybody a chance to work it out. I don't believe that we can't work out issues that only involve a few thousand people in a city this size. You mean we can't work it out, we can't be positive, we can't show that we can feel, make everybody feel that they're included so that John and Jane Q. Public realize we care about them, that we are not -- that the debate is not about who wants or who doesn't want certain communities, but that the debate is about everybody feeling they have a place in redistricting, that we are proud to represent them, and that we can do it in a way so that we're all satisfied? I don't think it's worth a debate, I don't think we should walk out of here with ill feelings about one another over -- because of a few thousand people. We love our citizens in this city, we certainly respect that -- at least we respect one another. I respect each and every one of you, I SPEECHES support each and every one of you, and I'm looking forward to us working this out to the betterment of all. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. I just finished reading a book called "All Politics Is Local," written by Tip O'Neill. It's a very short book and it has in there a number of statements and stories and little anecdotes about his career. And one of the top things that he says that makes legislative bodies work and that makes people have collegial attitudes toward each other, open-mindedness towards each other. The one mantra that he has is that your word is your bond, your word is your bond, and without that simple tenet -
-- and will never be a SPEECHES force, will never be a part of the process that we have in this government. This -- the framers of our charter understood that they were creating a strong mayoral form of government, and that's what we have, and that is a good thing. But we as a legislative body have a role. And if we allow, after we've expressed our vote, 15 to 2, 17 to 0, if we allow ourselves to be manipulated, if we allow ourselves to have our arms twisted, if we allow ourselves to be intimidated, if we allow ourselves to be moved from one side to the other willy-nilly every other day, we will never have the credibility that's necessary to do our job. Not to beat the mayor, not to be the top dog on the ladder, but to fulfill our duties as legislators, to be able to do our jobs in an independent and careful and responsible way. And unless we decide, 17 of us decide, that we are going to work as a body, we are going to allow our leadership to lead us, 'cause let me tell you something, I voted for all three members of leadership, all three members of leadership against men. A male voting against men to break the glass ceiling, to have this kind of leadership. And if I SPEECHES can't depend on people's word and people's bonds, if we're being allowed to be whip-sawed in this chamber on this issue, on stadiums, on whatever it is, we might as well mail our votes in and allow a single branch of government to run this city. And if that's the case then fine, let us all say that's what we're going to do. But I'll tell you what, in the last month, up until today, I felt proud to be a member of this body, I felt proud that we were actually sitting there across the table from each other, going to people's offices, talking to them, even if they didn't agree with you. I was trying to get Bill 505 passed; I had nine votes today, I had nine votes today, but I held it because some of the votes changed, and I understand the pressure that a lot of people have been put under, and I think that pressure is unfair, because this is a debate about ideas and issues. And if you can't express yourself and then not be put upon, pounced upon by various interests and then have your vote change -- see, to me, I think that's what our real problem is. And until we decide as 17 members of this body to stand up and do our jobs and to work SPEECHES together and to support our leadership, then we're not really going to be a part of this process. And every major issue that comes down this road, we're going to have the same problem with. And I'll tell you the truth, I was going to give a speech today about how proud I was to be a member of this body, how I felt for the first time in ten years this January that we really did stick together and do the right thing by everyone, with the exception of Councilmember Cohen's position on 629, which I will give him his due, he has his purpose, but when it -- he has his right to express his view. But I've sat across the desk of many people in this body in the last month -- maybe for the first time sometime, and that's my fault, I should have reached out and branched out and tried to do better to get along with my colleagues. But in the last month or so, I have had the opportunity to sit across a desk, look in people's eyes, and say you know what, I can respect where you're coming from, you can respect where I'm coming from, and we will try to get ourselves where we want to be as a legislative body, and then we allow ourselves to SPEECHES have our arms twisted up our back over -- not the Latinos, this has got nothing to do with the Latino district, absolutely nothing to do. This has got something more to do with the control of development and campaign dollars in Center City. This is what it's about, this is what it's always been about, and that's why Bill 505 is absolutely and totally necessary. If we had passed Bill 505 some time ago, we wouldn't be arguing about the 8th Ward, we wouldn't be arguing about the 5th Ward.
We wouldn't be having people in the Administration trying to manipulate the one role that is soley our role. The districts created so we represent them, it's our business. Other issues that come before this City Council, there are economic-development issues, there are other important issues, and we have to work with the Mayor to do these kinds of things. But this is our business, and if we allow our business to be disrupted, to be manipulated, then we get what we deserve. And when issues come down the pike that we're concerned about that you need our support for, we should stick together, but we're not sticking together, and until we learn to SPEECHES stick together -- 15 to 2 means 15 to 2. It doesn't mean, Well, maybe it's 15 to 2 and I'll change and I'll get a couple phone calls and maybe I'll change, and if somebody grabs me in the hallway, then maybe I'll flip it. It's 15 to 2, 17 to 0. If you can't stand by your vote, you should have voted no in the first place. So I am -- I feel badly today, not because we lost. We didn't lose. It's an issue -- we'll resolve it. Councilmember Blackwell's right, we'll figure out a way to fix this. But what we lost today was our independence, and unless we get that independence back, there's no reason for this body to exist. Thank you, Madam President. )
Thank you, Madam President. While I agree with much of what Councilman Kenney says, I have to disagree with some things that Council does. Let's take Bill 629 -(Laughter.) SPEECHES
Well, I'll tell you where I'd like to take it because I think Council acted wrongly two ways on the substance, we've discussed. But before there was even a hearing on this bill, I was informed that an overwhelming number of Councilmembers were committed to support Councilman DiCicco for one reason or for another. They hadn't heard a single argument about 629, but they were for Councilman DiCicco. When you say your word is your bond, that means -- that's a good thing, but it also carries with it a responsibility, that when you begin to understand an issue, you open your mind up and you say if you believe you were wrong, I believe I was wrong, and a number of members did that today and voted to defeat Bill 629. But if this Council is to maintain integrity. Let's not just accuse the Mayor of making little political deals. A political deal was made for 629 to permit developers to run rampant throughout the City. Now, that's what hurts, because our responsibility is to the people of SPEECHES Philadelphia. That responsibility was not met today because of a failing of City Council. This crazy notion that issues don't count but that I give my word to somebody when I don't even know the words. I take umbrage by District Councilwoman Miller for voting against the communities in her 8th Councilmatic District today. I don't understand how she did that, to say to them that you're going to be excluded from having your right.
Oh, I'm sorry, okay. I thought she was here. I'm opposed to all of these District Councilmembers. Richardson Dilworth was right when he said a majority of the membership of City Council ought to consist of Councilmembers-at-large because they have an overall view. Well, each district tends to be very narrow, selfish about its own particular interests. There's nothing wrong with a District Councilman being selfish and wanting things for his district, but a District Councilman has the same responsibility as Councilmembers-at-large to SPEECHES think of the whole city. And this notion of just getting a commitment to take away the rights of Philadelphians is dead wrong. And this is why I disagree with Councilman Kenney. There's no way to be proud of a body that takes its responsibility so loosely that it makes commitments without concern for the issues. So when we talk about changes, we've got to include our own procedures in City Council. Thank you very much, Madam President.
You're welcome The chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I'll be real brief. I promise. Madam Council President, I cannot sit here and listen to references about the Mayor and the Administration putting pressure, as if that is the only body or the only entity that does that. During the hearing on the redistricting bill leading up to that particular hearing, I thought I had it, which was nine votes. That morning, I no longer had nine votes, and it was -- and people were pressured. They were not pressured by the Mayor, all right? They were pressured by outside sources. And I SPEECHES understand that. You know, people told me -- at least they told me to my face that they had to do what they had to do. So I think this goes on across the spectrum; it's not just the Administration. I'm not acknowledging that the administration did that in this particular case. So, you know, to sit here and to imply that somehow that that particular arm-twisting was only on behalf of the Mayor, I think, is disingenuous. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. I think there's been a struggle today. There's been some victories and some disappointments, but I think it's good that we can do, that we live in a democracy where people can have their view and have their say. Sometimes your view will prevail and sometimes it won't prevail. I do regret, though, that this issue of the redistricting reduced itself to a power struggle, and to say that it was anything else would SPEECHES be disingenuous. We all know what it was all about. However, I question where do we go from here, 'cause the discussion and the debate was not about the Latino district; it was about three divisions. And how do we resolve that. And I ask each of my colleagues, when we go back to the drawing table to address this issue, if I decide that I don't like what I get, do I get a veto? Does Councilwoman Blackwell decide when she doesn't get what she wants that we get a veto? How often will we veto this bill? Because I believe that nine District Councilmembers agreed upon the plan that was presented, and none of us voiced any opposition to the districts that we got. I did not particularly like moving my district further northeast; I would have preferred it to go in another way, but I sought to compromise to accommodate the Latino district. So as we deliberate in the next few months -- because I don't believe the issue will be resolved very quickly, because the issue was not about the redistricting; the issue was about who the power. And to say anything other than that would be disingenuous. SPEECHES I do hope we come to a resolution on it. I agree with Councilwoman Blackwell that we may not always be together on everything. As leadership, we should struggle and try to be together. I do agree with Councilman Kenney: Your word is your bond and that's why I ended up voting for Bill 629 because early on, I supported Councilman DiCicco because I understood the problems. I am a District Councilperson who spends a lot of time, I have a staff person who represents my office before the Zoning Board. We struggle with this and we talked about this based on the experiences we've had with zoning in our district, and we talked about examples that I've had in my district where this bill would be very beneficial. And if you had 67 counties, 66 counties in the State with the -- that has the same legislation, I mean, I was puzzled about Philadelphia and why we were left out. So, you know, while we -- some people voted for it, some people voted against it. Some people voted for another bill so -- it was just really wonderful to see how people voted different interests so you don't come down on one side or the SPEECHES other. I think we voted based on how we believed in the issue. But I do hope that we -- and I believe we will continue to exercise a democratic process that is so important in this country and that we are sending our people across the country to fight for. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, Madam President. From all the good speeches we had today and all of the different points of views, what a better reason to go with the proposal that I talked about last week, and there's still information coming from my staff in the next couple of weeks to create 15 District Council seats. This is the main reason we should do this, so we never have to go through this again. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. Just quickly. I know a number of people speaking today SPEECHES are trying to minimalize the issue by talking about three little -- minimize the issue, thank you, about three little divisions. Council technical staff knows quite well that those three little divisions could cause, and have caused, when you try to move them, a domino-like affect, affecting not only the district involved but the district to the east, the to the west, the district to the north. I mean, I've seen the Council tech staff go through months and months of hard work and energy, trying to make everyone as happy as possible. Obviously, everyone wasn't as happy as possible. But to cull it down to three little divisions is understating the problem that we face, because as we change these three little divisions other divisions and other areas of the City and other districts change with them. And those District Council people may or may not be happy with those changes. So I know it may amount to three divisions in what people appear it to be, but it could be 60, 70, 80 divisions by the time we start moving these lines around again. So three little divisions is an understatement, SPEECHES thank you.
Councilman cohen, your light is on. Do you want to be recognized regarding Bill 629? (Laughter.)
I see it's merely noon. Councilman DiCicco referred to a Council meeting at which he and I had differences of opinion at 2 in the morning. As far as I'm concerned, this can last until then, because I think it's very important to get some things resolved. I disagree strongly and vehemently with Councilwoman Tasco's votes on 629, but I think she's right about one thing: I think this is going to be a very difficult thing, a very, very difficult thing to resolve. And, therefore, I think we as members of Council ought to be planning ahead financially to see how we're going to live, because none of us are going to get paid until this is resolved. And in my opinion, this is going to be an enormously difficult period of time for us financially. Thank you, madam President.
In fairness to economic condition over the next few weeks and months and considering the role that the Administration has played in this, perhaps the Mayor would agree not to take his salary for the period of time we're not taking ours. Thank you.
As far as the economics, I sell real estate, so I'll be busy. In case anybody would like to move into the 1st Councilmatic district over the next few weeks, I'd be glad to show you some nice properties in my district.
Thank you. Any other speeches? (No further speeches.)
At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for a motion.
Madam President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, October 11th, at 10 a.m, year 2001. ADJOURNMENT
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, October 11th, at 10 o'clock a.m. All in favor will say aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it and Council will stand adjourned until October the 11th. Thank you. (Proceedings end at 12:05 a.m.) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Thursday, October 4, 2001, are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. RE: STATED MEETING _______________________________, Josephine Cardillo Registered Professional Reporter and 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.)