Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution congratulating and honoring the Mt. Airy Schools Coalition for upgrading the 9/11/14 - STATED - 2ND READING Eleanor C. Emlen Elementary School's computer lab, introduced by Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution designating and recognizing September 2014 as Library Card Sign-up Month in Philadelphia, introduced by Councilwoman Bass. 9/11/14 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is also adopted.
There are no other resolutions on the Final Passage Calendar, Mr. President.
Thank you very much. That concludes the Calendar. Now the Chair recognizes Councilman Squilla for a motion regarding
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of special business at this time. (Duly seconded.)
The ayes have it and the motion passes. Mr. Decker, please read the letter from the Mayor.
To the President and members of the Council of the City of Philadelphia, I am returning herewith, as requested by your resolution adopted September 11, 2014, Bill No. 130950, entitled "An ordinance amending The Philadelphia Code to provide for the pedestrian enhancements to occupy, by license, a portion of the right-of-way," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
The Chair again recognizes Councilman Squilla for a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 130950 was passed.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and a majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the motion carries and the vote by which Bill No. 130950 was passed has been now again recognizes Councilman Squilla.
Thank you, Mr. President. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 130950. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of Council. I move for the adoption of that amendment. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 130950 be adopted. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and Bill No. 130950 has been amended. This bill will be placed on our Final Passage and Second Reading at our next session of Council. recognizes Councilman Kenney regarding special business.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of special business at this time. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and properly seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of special business at this time. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
Those opposed? (No response.) COUNCIL President CLARKE: The ayes have it, and Mr. Decker will please read the letter from the Mayor.
To the President the Council of the City of Philadelphia, I am returning herewith, as requested by your resolution adopted September 11, 2014, Bill No. 140377, entitled "An ordinance amending Title 10 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Regulation of Individual Conduct and Activity,' by adding a new Chapter 10-2100, entitled 'Marijuana Possession,' to create a civil penalty for the possession of certain items and to provide for penalties and enforcement procedures for violations of such provisions," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 140377 was passed.
The ayes have it. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the motion carries and the vote by which Bill No. 140377 was passed has been reconsidered. The Chair again recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 140377. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of Council and I move for the adoption of that amendment. (Duly seconded.)
been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 140377 be adopted. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and Bill No. 140377 has been amended. This bill will be placed on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar at the next session of Council. That completes our Calendar for today. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Oh.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would just ask a moment to talk about PHL Live, which is, as many of us have, a project from my office, but as Chair of the Committee on Global Opportunities and the Economy, this project was really a project to emphasize the importance of music as an industry and as an employment opportunity in our city. And the project kind of grew on its own, and that has a little to do with me and a lot to do with music professionals, musicians, and folks in our city who really seized on the opportunity to try to bring more jobs and employment to folks in our city who are amazingly talented and for those who would like an opportunity to begin going down a road of perhaps being discovered and developed towards a future. And so with that, PHL Live Center Stage has become, I think, a really outstanding opportunity. Anybody can do it. It's free. They just record themselves, load their video to our website, phllive.org, and they're done. After that, Grammy award-winning, Grammy nominated judges will review their videos and pull out five finalists, and the at some of Philadelphia's best venues. And I've put some paperwork on everybody's desk, with the hopes that they will tell their constituents, family, and friends about this opportunity. The videos have to be submitted by September the 30th. And after the live performance on December the 5th, all the musicians will be invited to the Trocadero where they'll be brought on stage and a winner in each of ten categories announced, and the people will vote on the people's choice. That's 11 categories. And thanks to the volunteer effort and donations by interested folks, including Susan Slawson on behalf of the Department of Parks and Recreation, Helen Haynes on behalf of the Office of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy and other corporate contributors, we're able to provide each winner $1,000 and the amazing prize of having a concert with a world-class headliner at the Dell and studio time and photography and other things. So it's a great opportunity. Again, I hope people who are interested will submit. They have until September 30th. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. As we commemorate the 13th Anniversary of the tragic event on 9/11 I am reminded of all of the brave police officers, firefighters, and emergency responders that lost their lives that day. I'm also reminded about the citizens that lost their life that day. As we honor them today in respect to their courage and service to citizens in New York, Washington, DC, and here in Pennsylvania, as Chair of the Committee on Public Safety, I have had good working relationships with similar responders here locally within the Fire and Police Departments. I hear about stories every day about officers, sergeants, lieutenants, detectives on the front line in our communities that wake up every day, protect and serve, and all they really want to do after that is go home to their individual families' safety. But I'm reminded on the photo of the Justice Center the scales of justice, and they are balanced or they symbolize fairness. I'm also reminded of the troubles this summer in Ferguson, Missouri where this summer a young man was shot to death and the result resulted in a community that was torn apart because they did not believe that there was a fair process to lodge complaints and that their issues would be truly heard. As I talked about introducing the Police Advisory Commission bill, many Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is not Ferguson, Missouri and I said to them, thank God. But we also need to remember 50 years ago North Philadelphia was set ablaze because people believed they did not have a fair, transparent process to lodge complaints, and that riot resulted in loss of life, loss of property. And, again, thank God we're not Ferguson, Missouri. But the way that you keep from becoming Ferguson is by having a process that the citizens can believe in, both police officers who don't want to be unfairly charged with things and want a process that is swift to restore their reputation, but also citizens that travel our streets, pay their taxes, and want to feel that if they have a complaint, that it will be treated with dignity and respect in a fully funded, transparent, fair, citizen-controlled process. And I would urge my colleagues -- and this is not something to be taken lightly. It -- as my colleague always says, you can act in haste and repent in your leisure. So we need to think about it deeply, but in order for us to be the beacon that we are, the founding city in the nation, we need to be first to be all we should be by way of offering our citizens a process they can believe in. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. President. It's nice to have a full body in attendance here in this legislative body. So I want to welcome my dear friend Councilman Neilson today. Good luck and Godspeed and everything that goes with it. I'm sure we're all going to be proud. You're a hard worker and you're going to serve Philadelphia well. since we all met, and it's been a busy summer. So I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to thank all my colleagues who participated in the program that I had started in 2013 called Philly Play. Philly Play is a program that encourages kids -- well, it started off in my district, encouraged kids in the district to engage in active play for 60 minutes a day in our play spaces and recreational centers, which went citywide. So it evolved and participated in one rec center of each of our ten districts. And it wouldn't have happened without the members of this body being the muscle in the community, no pun intended, to try to encourage our kids for healthy play to combat the disease of childhood obesity as well as the chronic diseases that stem from a healthy lifestyle. So all statistics and policies show that if we encourage our kids to play early, they play healthy and they live healthy lives in their workplaces so we can have healthy workplaces. I'm happy to report because of everybody's help and participation in Philly Play over the summer, we helped out over 3,000 kids at each of those rec centers. We had 16 pop-up play events throughout the City of Philadelphia. We had a one day play day on August 13th where 3,400 people gathered and played safely and showcased all their skill sets that they've learned through the six weeks of the summer camp in the programs of Philly Play. So it is my intention to say that Philly Play and my commitment to Philly Play and addressing these issues with our kids is going to live on through this summer, and you're going to be hearing a little bit more on how it grows and is a part of every family, and any kid that wants to play healthy, any kid that wants an opportunity to play, we're going to continue to try to give them the here in the City of Philadelphia. So to all my colleagues and friends here, thank you, and stay tuned.
Thank you, Councilman. Congratulations and good work, and I'm sure we'll hear about the program again during our budget season. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilman Henon for coming up with a great idea. And we had a wonderful day at the Dorothy Emanuel Rec Center. Hundreds of kids were there playing and exercising and dancing. Of course, my dancing was limited, but we got -- they really had a great time, and it was a wonderful experience, and we're looking forward to it next year. And I guess people say, Well, they're on City Council, they should be dealing with more issues, but to us, kids, young people in our neighborhood, they are the serious issues we deal with, because they are our future and we want to look out for them and make sure that they have the facilities where they can go work and play. And I want to thank you, Councilman Clarke and Councilman Greenlee, for stopping by Sturgis Playground. That's now a recreation center. After eight years, we finally opened the Sturgis Recreation Center on Saturday, had a wonderful turnout. I want to thank our Recreation Commissioner, Susan Slawson, for her tireless work and her cooperation. Thank the staff of the Recreation Department, who worked so hard moving tree stumps and trying to make the playground look really presentable on Saturday. The Department of Public Property, the staff at Sturgis, and I want to thank all those community folk who came out, especially Jeff sidekick, Fran McDonald, who runs the Sturgis Advisory Board, and all of the groups and parents who came, the students, young people, male and female, who performed that day. It was a great day. We had Helen Sturgis, who the rec center is named for. She was the moving party back in the day back in the '70s to get that. It was just a little one-room building started. Her family all came out. So it was a wonderful day, and I feel real good. The neighbors felt real good at that -- we've expanded. The neighborhood has expanded with more children and we have a place to go. So I want to thank all of my colleagues for their support in this effort, and when you get a moment, just go by 62nd -- I can never remember -- and 65th. I can never remember the streets. It's across from the old Cardinal Dougherty High School. So it's a wonderful site. Thank you so much, and thank who helped, thank my community for their strong support.
Thank you, Councilwoman. It was an awesome job. You did a great job. Congratulations. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too want to join the chorus in extending a personal welcome to Eddie Neilson. Who knew 12 years ago when we were doing our part to then get candidate Governor Rendell elected that 12 years later we'd be able to work together in this body. So kudos, Eddie. Secondly, I want to move back to stage left and refocus on Councilman David Oh's enormous undertaking he has put together around highlighting and celebrating a spectrum of genres of music, from classical to hip hop to my favorite, jazz, and to challenge my District Councilmembers to look within districts, because there's so much rich talent in Philly and too often they don't hear about huge undertakings like this, so that we can get those young people and artists on stage to do what they've been blessed to do. I will be there as a spectator, as I was not blessed with a voice, but I do want to -a singing voice, that is. I do want to congratulate Councilman David Oh for this enormous undertaking and the huge effort that it represents. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Johnson.
Thank you, Council President. I want to say welcome back to all my colleagues. It's good to have a chance to join this distinguished body as we do the good work of the City of Philadelphia. know, this week school started, and I want us to continue focusing on making sure that our public service in Harrisburg on the democratic side, on the republican side, including our Governor, focus on making sure that the City of Philadelphia, specifically our public schools, receive the type of funding that they need. Schools opened up this week with a lack of maintenance staff, which means our young people are going to dirty schools. Schools have opened up this week with a lack of security forces, which means our children are going to unsafe schools. There's no other pressing issue that the City of Philadelphia faces than making sure that our schools are properly funded. (Applause.)
And so as we have already did the heavy lifting, as we have done in the past, we still have continue advocating, working with our state legislators, and even demanding that they make sure that when they go back into session next week, that the cigarette tax legislation should be their number one priority after them taking a very long vacation and putting our young people on the back burner this past summer. And so I just want to put that out there for the record. I will continue advocating and working with my former members in Harrisburg to make sure that we get a cigarette tax to support our public schools here in the City of Philadelphia. Thank you, Council President.
And I must say that we have strengthened our numbers in terms of our Council's House of Representative caucus, now having State Representatives to strengthen our ability to influence what happens up in Harrisburg. So get ready, guys. You may be taking some trips up to Harrisburg. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. Today I introduced a resolution recognizing September as Library Card Sign-up Month in Philadelphia. And Philadelphia is a city of firsts. In the 1700's Ben Franklin introduced the concept of a library to share books and knowledge with people who wouldn't otherwise have such access. In the generations since, the Free Library of Philadelphia and its numerous locations encompass -- have greatly of simply sharing books. Libraries provide a place for collaboration, a place for learning, and a place where people of all ages can access technology. But it starts with a library card. While we continue to impress upon legislators in Harrisburg the importance of funding our schools, we know that libraries are able to help bridge the gap and provide the resources and support that schools and parents alone cannot provide. After severe cutbacks in our libraries, Mayor Nutter announced in his budget address a $2.5 million increase in the Free Library of Philadelphia's budget, allowing branches to reopen on Saturdays. And this afternoon the William Penn Foundation will officially announce a historic $25 million gift, transforming our libraries into 21st century institutions. Among the buildings receiving a facelift through this initiative is Lovett Library, which will be transformed into a community center for all ages and of course is located in the heart of the 8th District. At this time, what we want to do is just really make sure that everyone understands how important it is to have a library card. And so if you don't have one, we want to encourage you to go and get one. I must admit, I haven't had one in many years, but I'm going to go get one today, because my five-year-old daughter actually has one, and so she said to me, Mommy, where's your library card. And I so encourage all of my colleagues, all of our constituents to make sure that even if you already have your card, that you make sure that the young people in your neighborhood have cards and access as well. There's two cards that every Philadelphian should have, particularly adults. The first is a library card and the second is a voter registration card in our library and school systems. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez.
Thank you. I too want to welcome Eddie Neilson, my new neighbor next door, to City Council, and I look forward to having fun and hopefully not getting into too much trouble over here. It will be him every time. But I did want to follow along with Councilwoman Tasco and congratulate Henon on his wonderful event. I got an opportunity to share with some of my colleagues at the closing event. It was very impressive to see 3,000 young people from all parts of the City sharing together. And as Councilwoman Tasco said, our kids are enormously important. think alike, Councilman Johnson talking about the schools, on Tuesday, I had an opportunity to eat a quick dinner with my son, who is a junior at Central, and his first thing out of his mouth was, Mommy, what are you guys doing about the schools? And he said to me that in two of his classes, he does not have a desk and that in some of the classes at Central, one of our premier schools, the kids are sitting on the windowsills. And so I too join Councilman Kenyatta Johnson and all of us here to let's be laser focused on Harrisburg over the next week and make sure that they do their part so that my conversations at dinner, the few that I have with my son, are more productive than what is Council doing and what are you guys doing about our schools. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. It's so true. Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. Certainly I concur with all that has been said today, and I'd like to mention two issues. Before I mention education, I would like to say that this past weekend we enjoyed Operation Stand Down. Operation Stand Down is a homeless vet program that exists from Thursday to Sunday. I guess I've been dealing with it maybe about 15 years. And at the beginning, I thought that maybe -- from Thursday to Sunday we've been at the VA, we've been at armories here. We started out at the Lighthouse Field on Erie Avenue, and now we're all the way up in Norristown because we don't have a place closer in Philadelphia for our homeless vets. We need to deal with that. I was hoping early on that since it started on Thursday and ended on Sunday, if we extended it one day a week, a week where vets are outside in tents, but they get clothes and food and haircuts and the ability to see doctors and they get treated and taken care of, but as it is now, after Monday or Sunday night, they're back to being homeless people. And it's so sad that after all these years, we still have our vets who have given their lives for us who still sleep on the street, and I see them each and every year. Many times in between, but I know I'll see them yearly. Some of them will -- and they move up to be volunteers to help other homeless vets. But it's so important. We need that program located back in Philadelphia. It's headquartered here, but we need our services such that we don't have to go all the way to Norristown to be with them, and certainly we need to find a way to treat our vets better. The second issue I'd like to deal with is education. I've been going So far I've serviced about a third of my schools. The buildings look nice at this beginning of the year. By servicing them, I mean I've taken the money we raised and created boxes for 30 to 33, depending on the class, of first grade schools, and we've given them all kinds of materials, everything from books to erasers to you name it, all things that kids need and we have -- my pencils that you all see that say "stay in school" that already have a message and all kinds of materials. So we have sacrificed to try to deal with at least so far a third of my schools. That's where I've been every morning, going to see my schools. It gives me a chance to see my teachers, to see the children and to take materials, enough for at least all their first graders. We do 30 in a box of all kinds of things and continue to do that. We try to do our part, and I try to do this every year at this time so that our principals know we them, our parents know, people who work in the schools, and it gives me a chance to just see who is there and what's going on in our schools. So we said that to say many things about where we are. Certainly I'm really concerned that even when we have new schools, we have libraries that aren't staffed and libraries that don't have books in them. You know, you all have been in schools where they might put a stuffed animal here and there to make it look attractive, but it's just the way the system is set up now and the way principals have to deal with teaching and learning. It's sad. Children should know what a book is. Even though we're in the computer age, they should still know what a book is and learn how to read. Children should learn how to write in cursive. They don't do cursive writing anymore by fourth grade in school. So there's so much we need to do, and this is why -- those are just a few of the reasons why I do support a new School Board. I'm for elected. (Applause.)
I'll live with appointed if I have to, but as the saying is, everything lawful is not expedient. We did not want to add to confusion. Some people are concerned about the vote on the state level, cigarette tax. We didn't want to send mixed messages, that we're trying to fight anyone when it deals with the funding level of schools in our city, and this is why we decided that after many calls and requests in the last two days, that we needed to hold it. But it only means -- everything delayed does not mean that we can't deal with that issue. We'll continue to deal with the issue, continue to work with how we go on from here and where we go and continue to be committed to our children and the schools of Philadelphia. much. (Applause.)
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Neilson.
Thank you, Mr. President. It's great to be back home from Harrisburg. However, always coming home isn't always a great thing, because next week I look forward to going back up to Harrisburg and fighting for the school funding that we need so hard. In the past few weeks since I've joined Council, I have been making calls all throughout the Commonwealth and talking to both democrats and republican-elected officials to make certain that our kids do get what they deserve and in the hopes of Harrisburg passing a bill for simply our kids and take all the other attachments out of it. We know what held it up recently was some of the hotel taxes and things. This is our children here in Philadelphia. I want to thank everybody on Council for their kind remarks and the welcoming here in City Council. The staff members throughout the halls have been more than gracious and helped all of us get together so we can hit the ground running, so to say, through our transition. The District Councilmen and members, my colleagues, have invited me into their communities, into their neighborhoods, introducing me to their neighbors. There isn't anybody here that hasn't done that. I look forward to joining you on Saturday, Mr. President. And I just want to personally say thank you to all of you. I look forward to working with you, and together we will all build a better Philadelphia for all our future generations to come. Thank you, sir.
you, Councilman. Before we call for an adjournment, I would like to recognize some visitors/guests, the Temple University Law School's law and public policy scholars. They spent the summer in DC at public policy and government agencies and will be conducting research on public policy issues related to the City. I'd like to ask you to stand for a moment. (Applause.)
Thank you. So I don't care what anybody tells you about City Council, you saw firsthand today, right? I can tell by the smiles on your face that you were impressed. Thank you. With that -- I'm sorry. Councilman Squilla.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to add one thing. The resolution I introduced today about the concerns of the increase of that would actually affect the time that's going to be used for classroom preparation is a time that could be prepared for testing and the preparation for testing taken away from the actual teaching moments. Also is that how the tests will be used. Is the test going to be used to actually monitor the student's growth? Is it going to be used for teacher increases or decreases or firing them? There's something that we need to know. Also they have a cut score system where they put in place to determine whether a student is proficient or not, and we have interest in that, because that could negatively affect all the students in the class, but particularly a lot of the low income and disabled students who have to take these tests. And lastly would be the costs associated with this. If the cost associated -- how is that money being spent or that money can be spent and maybe better ways to help resource are the questions that we need to get from this hearing, and I really appreciate the support from our colleagues here to push that through. So thank you.
Great. Thank you, Councilman. We will be visiting members of the General Assembly next week, and one of the topics of discussion is the possibility of some level of implementation on the proposal to have some level of fiscal oversight on the local level, because we are concerned about how the money is spent. Is it actually spent on classroom teaching relating to the kids and not heavily focused toward administrative or other issues relating to that. So we'll -obviously you'll be an integral part of that conversation as we move ahead. With that, I'd like to call on Councilwoman Reynolds Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that City Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 18th at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 18th, 2014, 10:00 a.m. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Thank you all very much. ) 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, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L.