Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. Two-thirds majority of all members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the Mayor's veto is overridden. This now completes our Calendar for today. And the part that we have all been waiting for, are there any speeches on the part of the minority? The Chair recognizes no one. Are there speeches on behalf of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Vaughn.
All right. Thank you, Council President, and welcome back, everyone. This afternoon -- this morning has been quite interesting. As a new academic year and legislative session gets underway, I want to take a moment to urge people to wake up. The last 18 months have been a Stated Meeting 145 9/14/2023 historic rulings from an increasingly right-leaning Supreme Court and the many subsequent policy changes that have followed, from the repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ongoing attacks on reproductive rights, to this year's rejection of affirmative action and the initiative to ease the burden of student loans to millions of Americans. Now, more than ever, you must pay attention. While it's heartening to see recent headlines in the Inquirer and elsewhere outlining efforts to push back against affirmative action decisions and other legal outcomes such as discontinuing of legacy admissions at some highly competitive schools and other considerations to further diversify the college admission process, we must understand what these outcomes mean to our communities. You must educate yourself about who is doing what and how it can benefit Stated Meeting 146 9/14/2023 in the long term. Please pay attention to what's happening, not just at the federal level but also in your home backyard. We're at a pivotal point in our city and the nation's history. It frustrates the hell out of me that people keep missing the significance of local policies and elections and the implications they have on our livelihoods and personal freedoms, like our rights to clean air and voting. Remember, elections do not just happen every four years. Elections happen twice a year, people. Pay attention. Know who is influencing legislation and the policy that impacts your life and the lives of our children at the ground level. Be clear on what changes are happening within our schools and elsewhere and what that means to Black and brown kids from underserved neighborhoods. Stated Meeting 147 9/14/2023 of life is being changed for better or worse by those in leadership, particularly regarding issues like public safety and the never-ending gun violence in our city. Understand that your vote is ultimately and only your voice. Otherwise, don't you dare complain about anything that what being woke means, living with your eyes wide open. Our civil liberties are under threat now more than ever, and it is past time for everyone to wake up. Thank you, Council President. (Applause.)
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Phillips.
Thank you, Council President. Stated Meeting 148 9/14/2023 quickly note from earlier the second time I made this mistake, I just -- I move the adoption of the resolution instead of motion. So I just want to make that clear being corrected. But I also want to just make a quick announcement, that we are going to be having some block meetings in the Ninth District. One of the things that I always wanted to make sure that our community understood was that I wanted to bring resources to our neighborhoods directly to their houses and be ever so present. So we're having -- just announcement for those watching from the Ninth District, we have one tonight in Olney from 6:00 to 7:30 at the 5700 block of North Howard Street. We also have one next week in West Oak Lane, Tuesday, on the 7000 block of Forrest Avenue from 6:00 to 7:30. And then in Mount Airy, we have one on the 1100 block of Dorset on September 21st from 6:00 to 7:30. And Stated Meeting 149 9/14/2023 one, on the 1300 block of Unruh Street on September 28th from 6:00 to 7:30. So just come out to the block meetings, learn about City resources, and hear from other City leaders about how we can work together to make our neighborhoods stronger. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Squilla.
Thank you, Mr. President, and I just have to say a few things today. And I'm usually not one to speak, but I find it very hard to dissertate and understand how people are opposed to community input. The bill that we passed today on safe injection sites is allowing the communities to have a say in the process. It's not even saying they have to support it or oppose it or anything, but just to Stated Meeting 150 9/14/2023 the process. Yet, there was people here today testifying saying that people who live in the community don't have that right to even talk about it or have a conversation with somebody who is going to bring a proposal into their neighborhood. You know, we're dealing with big projects right now, like the Arena District and other things, and we're having a whole bunch of community processes in that, and nobody is saying that you have to have 100 percent support or 20 percent support or anything like that, but there needs to be community input in those processes. And today we have elected officials say, no, you shouldn't have community input. I find that hard to swallow in that we represent people in the communities. And, again, we're not saying you got to have 10 percent, you have 15 percent. We're not saying any of that. All we're saying is you need Stated Meeting 151 9/14/2023 input, and yet there's people voting against giving community members a say in the process. So the reason why I supported that bill is because we are here to get community input and we are here to make a final decision at the end, and this actually goes to a zoning board, who is an outside body from Council, to make that decision. And so we support this bill. We support the community input and, again, we should as elected officials understand whether -- I don't have -whether we agree with something or disagree with something, we shouldn't exclude the community from that because we strongly feel something strong about the circumstance. So thank you so much, and hopefully that people will understand that moving forward.
Thank you, Councilman. Thank you for Stated Meeting 152 9/14/2023 clarification, for those that don't know. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Mr. President, I want to thank all of my colleagues for deliberating on hard issues. It's when we disagree and want to kind of debate an issue strongly, passionately but respectfully that I admire us the most. If 17 people always agree on everything, 16 of them aren't necessary. So that's why we have this forum, that's why we have this process, and at the end of the day, that's why we come out with pretty good public policy. I rose today -- I wasn't going to say anything because Member Thomas wants to go to lunch, but I feel compelled to report back about last night. I had the honor of being at a meeting. It was about public safety. It was in your district up at the church on, Stated Meeting 153 9/14/2023 think, 3200 block of Broad Street, and it was a coalition of ACLU, it was Black Votes Matter. It was a number of them. And I sat through the three hours that they did it. It started a little late. But what I want to tell you is that we have to do more of the dialogue, difficult conversations where people who don't necessarily agree with everything that we're doing, because out of that, you get better understanding. So I say that because the issue is public safety, and you have some people who are expert, as nominee Parker said, expert pontificators of the -- say it again for me.
Articulating the problem. And I respect that, because you have to kind of first understand what the nature of the problem. But for me, let's get to the solutions. At the end of the day, that's what counts. Stated Meeting 154 9/14/2023 doing, I was ferreting through a lot of the long -you think we're long? You should have been there last night. But there was a group of young people that were out of West Philly, not in my district but I think they were in Jamie's district, Movita Johnson's people. Those were some of the best speakers in the whole conference, because after every issue that they raised, they raised a potential solution. They talked about conflict resolution that I heard from you, Member, I heard from you first, and they talk about they need more of that in schools. They didn't read your legislation, but they understood it to be true. These are young people that said, you know, to us that what matters is not showing up for the photo opp. They want consistency, that they can rely on us and be there for them. And that rung -- that tattooed my heart, because they're the ones going through it, Stated Meeting 155 9/14/2023 16-year-olds, 17-year-olds going through it every day, scared to go to school. They were at school, a gunfight breaks out, and you could see the trauma on them. So I listened to that. So what I want to urge us to do, and hopefully we will all play a role in the summit on gun violence and crime that I want everybody to play a part of, but that we come up with solutions that we can present to the 100th Mayor. We made a trip to a number of cities, and what came clear to me was that they were able to get along. And they didn't always agree, but they all together committed to put down their egos at the door and work on the problem. If we can evolve to that state, I absolutely believe that the solutions to gun violence and to crime are within our reach. So at St. Joe's, we're going to have that conference. If you have ideas out there, those who are listening, send Stated Meeting 156 9/14/2023 hear the problem, yeah, yeah, but tell me what we're going to do about it. If I hear another "thoughts and prayers" without solutions, I'm going to scream. So thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just really wanted to thank Councilwoman Lozada and also Councilman Harrity for the legislation today and for moving forward with it, and I just really wanted to give them kudos publicly, because I know that this is hard. This is not something that -- this is not an issue that is easily dismissed. I think sometimes it's easy, or it seems to be easy, to draw a very clear line and to say if you don't vote this way, if you don't think this way, if you Stated Meeting 157 9/14/2023 thing, then you don't care. And nothing could be further from the truth. And we all care. The difference is, we disagree on how to address the problem, and fundamentally that is what is happening right now. You know, I don't agree that having safe injection sites, unless you can have one on every corner, is going to have the impact that advocates say. There's still so many questions that are out there that haven't been answered by the advocates, such as what if my daughter, a teenager, shows up to use, are you going to admit her? What if I show up and I'm with child and I don't know, are you going to test me prior? Is there a pregnancy test involved prior? What if I show up visibly pregnant, do you allow me to use? What if I drive up and then I use and drive away? Who is responsible? Is the City of Philadelphia liable for whatever happens once you get behind the wheel of a car? Stated Meeting 158 9/14/2023 of very important unanswered questions that need to be addressed before I think we can have any sort of conversation otherwise. And I think that one of the things we see among the folks from the community, they just want to have a say, and I think that fundamentally every community should have a right to say what goes into their neighborhood, whether it's a safe injection site, a stop-and-go, a smoke shop. You know, people should have a say as to what's happening in their community. So I just really wanted to say thank you, Councilwoman Lozada and also Councilman Harrity, because, again, these are just really not easy decisions. We all know someone who is affected by addiction. We all probably have loved someone who is affected by addiction. I know I lost my 27-year-old niece last summer through addiction, who was a mother of a newborn baby. Stated Meeting 159 9/14/2023 that we are unaffected really just doesn't even touch the surface of what we're trying to do here and who we are and what they're trying to accomplish as well. So I thank everyone for supporting this legislation, and thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. That concludes our speeches on behalf of the minority -- I'm sorry. I mean, I can't see what I can't see. Did you press it?
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Harrity.
I Stated Meeting 160 9/14/2023 One percent, one percent, that is the number of individuals who actually asked about treatment in New York's facility. One percent. So for somebody who is in recovery -- and I get the families that are upset because their loved ones have died and they're looking for anything that may have prolonged their life. And I get it, because I was there, but when I tell you that giving them a place to get high is only keeping them out there longer. We need to make it easier for them to get into long-term treatment. These people need long-term treatment. Three months is not going to do it for them. We need six months, with follow-up. And that's why I'm so happy that Councilwoman Lozada has picked the lead up on this and has run with it. You know, I've been calling her the little fireball, because whenever we go out to the meetings, she gets it, you know. Stated Meeting 161 9/14/2023 And, listen, we are not unsympathetic. None of us here want any of our people to die. We don't want these poor people to die. I don't want them to die. I want to save as many of them as I possibly can, and that is by getting them into recovery, because otherwise they will never have a life. Giving them a maintenance program so that they can stay zombified is not it. And, listen, I'm not sure of all the things. I'll be the first to admit that. I'm not sure of all the things that we should be doing, but I know one thing, I know that's not it. So thank you, Quetcy. Thank you everybody else who voted for this, you know, and let's just keep on trying to help these people by getting them into recovery. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. That concludes our speeches on Stated Meeting 162 9/14/2023 and the majority for today's session. With that, the Chair recognizes Councilman Squilla for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 21, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 21, 2023, 10:00 a.m. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
Thank you all very much. ) Stated Meeting 164 9/14/2023 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.