Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120084.
An ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to enter into a sublease DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING agreement with the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, for certain land and improvements located at 300 East Hunting Park Avenue.
Thank you. 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. DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. All members voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. The Chief Clerk will please read any additional resolutions on today's Calendar.
Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to be recorded as recusing myself on Bills 120104 and 120105 for the reasons stated in the Committee hearing and the memo DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING presented at that time on these bills. Thank you.
A resolution recognizing and congratulating the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation on its designation by the U.S. Travel Association as an engine of regional economic growth, and on the recent identification of its slogan, "With Love, Philadelphia XOXO," by Frommer's as one of the fifteen best in the tourism industry, introduced by Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. With love, I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded that the DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING resolution pass. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution calling on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass Senate Bill 338, The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline Act, introduced by Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Brown.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted. (Applause.)
And a resolution calling on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to cease the use of gender identification stickers on transportation passes, introduced by Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
Those opposed? DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING (No response.)
And a resolution honoring and congratulating Mr. James (Jimmy) Lewis on the occasion of his retirement from the School District of Philadelphia, after thirty three years of service and his lifelong contributions to education, prosperity, and the quality of life in Philadelphia, introduced by Councilman O'Neill.
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
Those opposed? (No response.) DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 3/22/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
And a resolution in solemn recognition during the week of April 16 through April 23, 2012 as the Annual Remembrance of the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, who perished during the Holocaust, introduced by Councilman O'Neill.
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted. DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com
There are no other resolutions on the Final Passage Calendar, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. Decker. That completes today's Calendar. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
There being none, are there any speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. Just quickly, I'd like to commend my friend Senator Larry Farnese on the introduction of the piece of legislation that will require men who seek erectile dysfunction medication to undergo a series of tests, including a prostate exam, sexual therapy, a signed DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com or significant other. I assume that they're going to call this bill what's good for the goose is good for the gander. So I commend him on his actions. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. I don't know how to follow that one up. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. Today I rise with regard to Regulation 769, 785. We learned about this and it wasn't introduced as a bill or presented as Executive Order, but we learned that a policy would be enacted to not allow outdoor feeding on the Parkway and in the parks of our City. Mr. President, I passed around a letter that was sent to me by Reverend Brian Jenkins that I support with regard DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com 300 Ministries that talks about the Mayor's eliminating -- that the Mayor should eliminate this ban and this proposed elimination by the Health Department to not allow feeding in the park. He talked in this -- and all of you have a copy of it in your offices -that we have a meeting with some interested people, like the Health Commissioner, who is also Deputy Mayor, myself as President and other interested people, to deal with this issue. He talked about creating a task force, about supporting free voluntary classes for food safety, providing funding for this and allowing parking for indoor feeding and also for looking at the food that is now provided by shelters. These are seven points that he listed in his letter and certainly that we're happy to support and to be a part of in any way as a discussion. DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com President, we believe that in this day and time, after coming so far, the late and great Lucien Blackwell started the City in dealing with homelessness as an issue and having a department that deals with this, and I would hope that in 2012 we would move forward and not backward. Let me say that many years ago, some of you have been here long enough to know, we were handcuffed, jailed and locked up for feeding the homeless, because we learned a long time ago that if we don't stand for something, we stand for nothing. So I hope that all of us would stay together on this issue. It's a human rights issue, a civil rights issue, and realize that, again, we're all brothers and sisters under one God and everybody deserves a right to the tree of life and not to be discriminated against because of income or their social level, cultural or ethnic or ethic background. DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com
Thank you, Mr. President. In several news reports this past week describing the Actual Value Initiative, it's been noted in articles and on broadcasts, the critics are saying that, quote/unquote, critics are saying that AVI is a tax increase or a backdoor tax increase. AVI takes our tax system from unfair to fair. It would not be possible without Council's action creating the Office of Property Assessment. AVI, Actual Value, needs to be addressed and debated on its merits. A revenue or tax increase is a completely separate issue. If we increase taxes and revenues, the only AVI-related question is, will the DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com on a fair system reflecting actual values or the unfair system that we have today? I look forward to the discussion next week about the merits of the separate issues of AVI and revenue increases. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Squilla.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say the reason why I introduced the bill today was because during my visits to community meetings and even our first hearing for our budget out in Southwest Philadelphia, we kept hearing the question, How is the Actual Value Initiative going to affect us, and the problem was our answers were terrible, and it was, We don't know. And we don't know because we don't have the DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com all the information necessary to make a good decision on the AVI. And I feel that because we don't have the information, and not only that, we don't have the ability to put the proper safeguards in place. I want to thank Council President Clarke and Representative Parker for putting together last week our House Summit with City Council, and then we realized by speaking to some of the House members that House Bill 1600, which is their homestead bill that would be put into the House, will most likely not be passed in time for us to be able to do this. This is a big disadvantage for us in City Council to not have that ability to put homesteads to protect some of our most needy residents here in the City of Philadelphia. I was elected to represent the people of my district in the City of Philadelphia, and I believe it is DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com with this AVI plan at this time. My bill will keep the tax at its current level -- the current level is what we're paying at this time -- until we could actually meet and find the information out from the Office of Property Assessment and be able to digest and come up with proper solutions. We need to make sure that this is done correctly. We all agree that our tax system is not a fair system for our real estate at this time, but we have to make sure that we do it right. And we have our chance to correct the problem that has been going on for a long time, but if we make mistakes now, we'll spend a lot of time, year after year, trying to fix it. My mother always told me, never dive into a water if you can't see the bottom. And you know what? This is what we're doing at this time, and I'm not willing to take that dip into the millage DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com how deep the assessments are. And we know what could happen when you dive into that murky water, the consequences that can be caused by that happening. In closing, I believe that the challenge of Council is to come up with ways to collect taxes off of those who are delinquent and will not pay and to create new ways to bring the revenue without raising taxes on those who do pay. So thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. No other speeches? (No response.)
The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Certainly, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. DiscoveryWorks Global 888.557.8650 www.dw-global.com (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It's been moved and properly seconded that we stand adjourned until Thursday, March 29th, 2012. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The meeting stands adjourned. com CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on March 22, 2012, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L. com 22:21 74:5 83:23 53:5,12 70:16 82:13 53:19 54:3 55:12 30:7 35:3 43:4,10 personally 71:19 places 10:5 40:2 possible 25:7 55:14 59:2,5,9,19 43:22 84:12 plan 49:24,25 50:7 124:18 60:20,23 61:3,17 probation 56:19 persons 69:20 70:9 50:8 51:5,6 70:8 postage 40:2 61:20 67:21,24 problem 63:6,7,8 Pete 61:14 68:6 70:12 92:8,9 potential 77:23 68:3,8 71:7 75:3 66:12 125:23 petty 58:16 127:3 pothole 13:9 78:5,18 80:17,22 127:16 PGW 109:10 platform 84:4 power 3:5,17 22:8 83:5,11 84:22 problems 74:22 Philadelphia 1:2,6 played 21:11 practices 85:20 88:11,14,18,19,23 76:20 6:24 7:3,13,15,16 playground 73:3 97:9 90:17 91:5,9,11 proceed 12:6 17:20 7:23 8:2,10 9:16 Plaza 65:17 pray 3:4,18 92:11,15 94:16,18 27:18 28:7 38:18 9:17 11:2,7 16:2,8 plead 80:12 preachers 20:20 94:21,24 95:11,16 54:11 68:14 16:19 17:3,15 please 2:10,18 4:2,5 precious 20:13 95:18,22,25 96:13 proceedings 3:16 19:19 20:6,24 6:17 12:5 14:3 predict 86:25 96:16,18,22,25 130:4 23:15 28:10,16,23 17:19 27:4,13,18 premises 35:13 97:14,17,20,24 proceeds 28:18 30:9,14 31:7 32:6 27:23,24 28:7 Prep 9:20 98:3,7,20,25 99:4 42:19 32:13 34:11,17 30:5 32:22 38:18 prepare 19:25 99:7,11,14,24 process 54:15 35:8,9,11 36:5,12 46:10 49:14 54:13 preparing 20:23 100:3,6,10,13,24 proclaiming 36:23 37:3 42:17 43:14 54:22 55:3 60:3 prescription 24:23 101:5,8,12,15,22 37:8 43:17 44:15,16,18 61:5,12 68:11,14 present 1:9 6:14 102:3,5,9,12,20 proclamation 13:2 44:22,25 45:2 84:8 90:23 91:12 13:25 102:23 103:2,6,9 Procurement 51:17 46:14 50:9 56:18 95:2 96:4 97:4 PRESENTATIO... com