Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 110276.
An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 121 by striking from the City Plan and vacating the legally open portions of the westerly twelve feet wide portion of Thirty-Second Street from Glenwood Avenue to a point approximately twelve feet south of the southerly side of Master Street produced.
This 5/26/11 - STATED - 2ND READING 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 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having 5/26/11 - STATED - 2ND READING voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 110294.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011 from the General Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions and from the Grants Revenue Fund, the Director of Finance - Provision for Other Grants to the General Fund, 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 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 110295.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011 within the Water Fund from the Managing Director - Office of Fleet Management to the Managing 5/26/11 - STATED - 2ND READING Director - Office of Fleet Management.
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. 5/26/11 - STATED - 2ND READING The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 110296.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011 within the Grants Revenue Fund from the Director of Finance - Provision for Other Grants to the Managing Director - Division of Technology.
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 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. That concludes our Calendar for today. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Madam President, I actually had a couple of issues. One, we got a bill that came to me late. I'd like to be able to And, second, I'd like to make a motion. Madam President, earlier I indicated in the Caucus Room that we would like to move a bill off of the Suspension Calendar known as "sick leave bill," earned sick leave, 080 -(Applause.)
Madam President, at this time, I will move that Bill No. 080474 be removed from the Suspension Calendar and placed on the Final Passage Calendar for the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chief Clerk will please read the title of the bill.
An ordinance enacting a new Chapter 9-3300, entitled "Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces," to provide that certain employees are entitled to paid sick leave, all under certain terms and
Thank you. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 080474 be removed from the Suspension Calendar and placed on the -(Applause.)
-and placed on the Final Passage Calendar for the next session of Council. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, the motion is adopted and Bill No -(Applause.)
-Bill No. 080474 will be placed on the Final Passage Calendar for the next Now, I understand the Councilman had a bill to introduce.
An ordinance amending Section 9-213 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Farmers' Markets," by adding a permissible location on the sidewalk of the west side of Germantown Avenue between North 10th Street and North Alder Street.
This bill will be referred to the appropriate committee. I would ask the Clerk to please read any additional resolutions on today's Calendar.
A resolution declaring May 28th to the 30th, 2011 as Cherokee Heritage Weekend in celebration of the Eighteenth Annual Cherokee Indian Festival, introduced by Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. Are there any other resolutions?
Thank you. Therefore, our Calendar is concluded, and the Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Are there speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you so much, Madam President. I want to thank you for having the stamina to sit through most of those hearings yesterday and the day before. It came at a point where it almost reminded me of a bad "B" movie, and a bad "B" movie when they do the "who done it." A lot of people were pointing fingers at the federal government for not replacing stimulus dollars. Some people pointed the finger at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for holding out on a rainy day fund. Other people pointed at the Commission itself for management issues. But at the end of the day, after the dancing is done, we need to be prepared in this body to do the heavy lifting. We will not sit by and let students be the unintended victims of any of the above inter-multiple test question. None of the above is acceptable. We will not allow for them to suffer. This should never be the body that eliminated kindergarten. We cannot allow -- as Green often says, this is a national security issue. As Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown said today, that this is an important aspect of life in Philadelphia and our future generations of an educated workforce. This is not a game. We want all of the above to take a part in it. We're looking for -- as young people say, if the Governor doesn't know it's raining, it's a doggone thunderstorm down here, and we need to take action. So we're going to tighten up our belts with the School Reform Commission and hold them accountable for the money we send, but at the end of the day, when the voting is done, we need to do the heavy lifting here. And I will call on my colleagues personally to do so. As a public school graduate, as a parent who sent his kids through public school and as a proud "pop-pop" that intends to send his kid to public school, we have to do this. If we can build stadiums, if we can exempt downtown from taxes, we are going to do the right thing by our kids, so help me. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you, Madam President. I would like to place District on our shoulders. I'd also like to place responsibility for our children on the shoulders of the people who run the Philadelphia School District, the School Reform Commission. There are several things that I think have been lost in the debate and were lost in the public testimony yesterday, which was orchestrated in large part by the million-dollar communications staff of the Philadelphia School District. I saw their communications people back there lining people up, getting them ready. That's a million-dollar staff. The top person on that staff makes $170,000 a year. There are seven people who make over $100,000 a year on that staff. So, yes, there's a lot of responsibility to go around about keeping full-day kindergarten and keeping early childhood education, which I know we're all committed to, but it starts next week at the interim budget that is by the School District of the City of Philadelphia. During testimony in this body, the CFO said, yes, maybe we can solve the education problem if you can help us finance through the issue of state reimbursement. In other words, we don't get reimbursed for a year what we spend this year. We can do that. That gets them to about $35 to $50 million of the $100 million they asked for, without us appropriating a penny, by guaranteeing a bond they might issue or guaranteeing a loan they could get from the bank before they get the state appropriation next year. That's halfway there. So we must be responsible in the help, if any, that we provide. There are a couple of issues that I think have been missed in the testimony of the School District. The first is that they're $132 million short by my count compared to what they presented. They have two assumptions in appear to be true at this point. The first is that they will get $75 million in labor concessions. The second is that they will get $57 million in charter school reimbursement from the State Legislature. In order for any money we put into the School District to be used for the things that we consider priorities, both of those assumptions will have to have been true. We have not yet seen evidence that they are true. So there's a lot of hyperbole and discussion about protecting the children, but we also have to be responsible. President Obama from the Moneygall Obamas recently was in Dublin, Ireland, spoke to 30,000 of his cousins, and he said several times during the speech, quoted from a William Butler Yeats poem, "in dreams begin responsibility." We have dreams for the children of the City of Philadelphia. We future of this city. We have dreams about how we can help them, but we have to be responsible dreamers, and that means making sure that the School District is responsible in the choices that it's currently making in its budget and that we are responsible in making sure that if we provide help, it's help that we agree with. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. Thanks to the public school system, I understood what hyperbole was. It means talking stuff. And at the end of it -- and I appreciate it, but at the end of the day when we're done talking stuff, we're going to have to vote to help them kids. Thank you.
anyone else that would like to be recognized? (No response.)
Seeing no one, the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Madam President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, June 2nd, 2011, 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, June the 2nd. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 12:35 p.m.) 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 May 26, 2011, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-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.)