And Bill No. 000355, an ordinance amending Chapter 21-1400 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Tax Increment Financing Districts by providing for certain additional requirements for the Tax Increment Financing District project plans, all under certain terms and conditions.
And Bill No. 000546, an ordinance amending Chapter 21-800 of the Philadelphia Code entitled Advancement of Economic Opportunities by adding Section 21-802 of the Philadelphia Community Reinvestment Commission.
The Chair SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR agrees.
And Bill No. 000537, an ordinance amending Chapters 10-100 and 10-600 of the Philadelphia Code relating to animals individual conduct and use of public and private property by adding to Sections 10-101, 105, 603 and 606, the prohibition of dog fighting.
The Chair agrees. The bills read by the Clerk will be placed on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar for our next session. That concludes the First Reading Calendar. The Chair will now recognize Councilwoman Blackwell for purpose of calling up bills to be considered on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar today.
Thank you, Madam President. Today Bills No. 000583, 000590 -
Councilwoman, why don't you simply say what bills are not being considered since more are being considered, if you don't mind. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
Yes. Bill Nos. 000103A and 000314 are being held.
All other bills are being called up for second reading and final passage.
The Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 000583.
An ordinance authorizing the amendment of the Philadelphia Facilities Management Corporation Agreement to provide for a temporary change in the amount of temporary financing that the City may provide to the Philadelphia Gas Works under certain terms and conditions, and authorizing the temporary advance of up to $45 million to the Philadelphia Gas Works pursuant to that agreement under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
I'm sorry, I'm not receiving that. It's not coming on the monitor. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill. One day we'll get this straightened out, I hope.
I think the old system was better than what we presently have, to be honest. Councilman O'Neill.
Thank you. I'd like to speak against this bill. The $45 million loan that's being requested troubles me for many reasons. Primarily because PGW is in such a sad state even though there have been so many watchdogs around it during this three-year period or so when things have been going down hill financially. We had the consumer advocate. We had the auditor that's hired to audit the Gas Works on a regular basis. We have the banks that lend them short-term money. We have the financial institutions that have been floating hundreds of millions of dollars in SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR bonds based on recommendations that this is a good investment. We have the Commission, which I understand has had trouble getting any information from the gas company to make an accurate assessment of their finances over the last several years. But most importantly, we have financial institutions with a lot at stake here. And I take you back to a period when the City was in terrible financial condition in the last part of the 1980s pre-PICA, trouble paying bills, terrible structural deficit, and one of the things we needed from a local bank that we had been doing all our banking, all our depository work with was a short-term bridge loan to get us over the hump until we got some permanent financing. And I remember sitting in this Chamber and all of us with appalled that the bank was willing to lend us the money, very short term money, but at 27 percent interest. And it seemed like a material thing. There was a grab by the bank. But in retrospect, what is instructive, as far as I'm concerned to all of us, is that banks will lend money if they feel they can be paid back. They may put a higher interest on the loan depending on the risk, they may ask for very SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR onerous security requirements depending on the risk, but they'll lend the money if they feel it can be paid back. In this case before us, we have one bank out of New York, I believe, that has $97 million at risk in short-term loans and has said, No more; no more loans at any interest rate, no more loans with any security. They have the financial analysis capability that I believe we don't have and maybe a lot of other people don't have. But they see something so terrible here where they have not even said, We'll give you a bridge loan, which they're asking us for, the City, we'll give you a bridge loan, PGW, contingent on November 9th when you go before the PUC and ask for a rate increase. You get that rate increase, this is what we'll give you and this is the rate you'll have to pay. And that would be to protect their own investment. They're unwilling to do that. These financial institutions that have put their recommendations on the line selling bonds over the last several years for several hundreds of millions of dollars are unwilling to get involved even though should those bonds be defaulted on, it wouldn't be the City of SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR Philadelphia that would be at risk, it would be the bondholders and ultimately lawsuits against those that sold these as a good investment. What we are doing here today, I believe, is letting all those people off the hook and replacing their problems with the taxpayers' problems. Today before we vote on this bill, the taxpayers are not on the hook; the banks are, the financial institutions are. What happens today with this $45 million loan is that the taxpayers let the banks off the hook and step in their place. I believe if there were a strong possibility of this loan being paid back, the banks would be making the loan at a certain interest rate that they would place on it. We've been told on the record there is no loan at any interest rate that's been offered. That scares me and it scares me to put the taxpayers in that position. I do not believe that this is going to be paid back or that there's a reasonable scenario of payback or else the banks would be doing what we're doing.
I also believe that it's the tip of the iceberg and that this 45 million is going to become SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR a much larger number when now the taxpayer, the City has to protect its $45 million investment when we're ask for more money. Why should the taxpayer be gambling on a cold winter versus a warm winter. It turns out the way everything sits at PGW that if we have a cold winter and there's a high demand for gas, that's terrific for the finances of the gas company and they'll be in much better shape. At the same time, if there's a cold winter, that one-third increase could be a 50 percent increase because that much more gas will be used. The one-third increase is based on the continuation of warm winters, which the gas company hopes we don't have this year because they get more revenue when there's a cold winter. I believe the road we're going down is one we should not even be opening the gate to, let alone walking down. If you look at the last couple of years of the heavy debt that has been added, long-term debt that's been added to PGW when these financial institutions have been lining up to sell bonds with a recommendation that this is a good investment when they should have known going on in that company SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR because it's been going on for the last two or three years. And you look at how a gas utility operates in terms of its long-term debt, it's capital expenditures, it's capital budget. While it's legal to use capital money that's borrowed for things that would normally be done at operating, and that is repairing pipe, fixing pipe, it is not the recommended way of running a gas company. Fifty percent out of operating, 50 percent out of capital is the normal. Well, this company, even with this $45 million is not going to be able to borrow any money for the foreseeable future. So for the foreseeable future, they're going to have to go out and repair and replace critical gas mains and gas pipe that they're way behind on and just use operating money when for the last several years they've had the cushion of using capital money to do that. It won't have it anymore. Nobody's going lend them money if banks aren't willing to lend them money today. So I believe that we are making a major mistake. The watchdogs for the last 10 to 15 years are running the company now. They have no interest in taking any blame. They also are dealing in SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR strictly a crisis mode. They're not thinking long-term because they may not be here long-term. And without someone doing some long-term restructuring and people up there at the gas company who have a real feeling of crisis and when asked two weeks ago was the crisis so bad up there that they were no longer paying $240,000 a year to belong to an organization, the American Gas Association, that they can't even travel to, they said no but they were considering cutting out that expense $240,000 a year to belong to an association that you can't travel to. It didn't seem to me that they're really all that worried. And as long as we sit here willing to bail out at the taxpayers' expense what we have no business getting involved in because we were misled at the very first hearing on this bill when we were told by the witnesses from the Gas Works, by the gas company, that there was a danger of employees not being paid and gas not being bought. Two weeks ago we were told that that's not true. We were told that the people who won't get paid are the bondholders if there's a cash shortage. The bondholders aren't individuals SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR sitting in homes around Philadelphia; they're large institutions that buy bonds in the million dollar bulk category and they're sophisticated financially and they take risks and they know what to do if somebody doesn't tell them the truth when they buy a bond. They go after them legally.
I'm not concerned at all that there's not going to be enough money to pay employees or to buy gas and I don't care if the banks who are ultimately responsible for watching this happen as they fed more and more money into this company are the ones that take the hit. I want to make sure it's not the taxpayers that take the hit, and I'm going to vote no on this. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak on this issue? The monitor is not working. Mrs. King, would you call the Commissioner of Public Property. I want him or Mr. Costello here before the conclusion of this session. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR President. I agree with many of the sentiments that Councilman O'Neill has expressed and will also be voting no on Bill 000583 and 000590. You know, not to reminisce too much, but when I was a kid, about 10 years old, one of my vivid memories was my grandfather who had tended bar for 40 years, much of it on one leg that had been amputated, he used to send me to check cashing agency every month because he didn't have a checking account. A lot of people back then and even today didn't trust banks or checking accounts and they would pay their bills in cash or with a purchase of a money order. He would send me around with three or four different envelopes with the exact amount of money in it to buy a money order to pay his gas bill along with his electric bill and his phone bill and his water bill. They used to do that before they bought anything for themselves of any luxury. And that was what was important. They paid those bills up front and they paid them regularly and they never missed. He's gone now, but there are a lot of people in the City who have a similar ethic about paying their bills and making sure that they do what's right. Elderly people, families who are SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR struggling to pay tuitions and raise their kids and send their kids to college, people who play by the rules who don't look for ways around things, but pay their bills as they come in. They're the people who pay their auto insurance bills, they're the people who do what everybody else, I guess, thinks are stupid things to do by playing by the rules and doing what's right. And for 30 years, 30 years or more, this agency has been run away political patronage, has been glutenous pin-striped patronage that goes on to this day. It's not as if anything has changed. Every time there has been a suggestion in the past to sell this agency or to do something different or to turn it over to a utility company who could run it the right way as opposed to the City government, the political forces that were around, the people who were running the government at that time, from the last Administration backwards, always resisted because there was too much to get from that agency for their political friends and supporters. And right now, there's not a piece of meat on that turkey carcass. There's not a piece of meat on the bone of that turkey carcass and it is in the toilet. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR They're hard-working people at the gas company, you know, the men and women in those blue shirts that go into the street and dig up in the middle of the winter those gas mains to keep them from exploding, those people that go into your homes in the evening when you can't get your gas on and the elderly person can't get heat or the woman with a small baby can't get heat, those are the men and women who go into the street, go into houses and fix those things. When they go into houses in Philadelphia today, you know what they're hearing? You guys, you're doing this, you're rising our rates, you're the guys who ought to be ashamed of yourself. The morale in that particular division of the Gas Works is terrible because they're on the front line of dealing with the ratepayer and the consumer that's been raped pillaged over the past 30 years by people in white collar shirts, not in blue collar shirts. And this goes on, as I said, to this very day. Even the current management team at PGW is hiring consultants who are hiring consultants who are hiring consultants and billing this agency in SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR unbelievable proportions. And it still goes on today. And we're being asked by the Administration to dip into a surplus, which I am glad to see today as rosy picture of perhaps $295 million in the City surplus.
But my concern as a member of the board of directors of this municipal corporation is that I have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of this City. We've seen over the last number of months a number of efforts to dip into that surplus. And let me tell you something, some of it is reasonable and responsible stuff to do. I don't have a particular problem with giving a one-time shot of $45 million if we're asked or when we're asked to the School District of Philadelphia. Those are reasonable things to do. But we continue to be asked to dip into a surplus that three, four, five years from now I don't know in results of a recession or projections that may not meet their mark that we might not be in a fiscal situation three or four years from now that we would dread being back in 1991. I think the future health of this City SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR depends on what we do in the next few months as it relates to this utility. And I believe then, now, and I believe 30 years ago this City should never be in the business of running a public utility. It doesn't know how to do it. It never knew how to do it. And that's why we're in the condition that we're in today. Instead of having a surplus at the Gas Works that could cushion the blow of the cost of natural gas purchases today, which is out of everyone's control, instead of having that surplus to rely on, we have spent every possible dime there is in that building in order to do other things that have nothing to do utilities, and that's paying consultants and dealing with law firms and paying bond counsel and doing things that have gone on throughout the course of the years to pay back people who make political contributions. That's got to stop. The only way that that old lady with the housecoat, that that working family in Philadelphia, and that that gas worker that's digging up the hole in the street make sure that their future is insured along with the fiscal health of this City's future is to sell this utility. And I know there's not a SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR value left in it because of the pirates that have raped it over the past 30 years. I know it's going to be a tough thing to do. But if we could at least on a sale of this utility wind up alleviating the billion dollars of debt that is strangling this company. We could make sure that there's long-term stabilization of rates as we've done with -- the PUC has done with electric utilities recently, stabilizing rates for 10 years out. If we can do that and if we can make sure that there's an investment in the infrastructure of this company -and let me tell you something, PUC now has control over or some jurisdiction over the Philadelphia Gas Works, and you're not telling them you don't have the capital money or the operating money necessary to make sure that those pipes and those connections are safe. They're not going to want to hear it. They're going to make you pay for this. We can't afford it, the taxpayer can't afford it long-term, and we don't know how to run it. So my argument is save everybody the aggravation. We should have done it 15, 20 years ago, but it's never too late to correct a mistake. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR Unload it, get rid of it and let somebody who knows how to run it, run it. And I will be voting no on this $45 million because I think it's irresponsible to ask the taxpayer to jeopardize their fund balance surplus into the next five years. You know, all the money in that five-year plan that we approved with the exception of the new 85 to $90 million in projected increases in revenues has been accounted for and spent. 5 million. On top of that since then has been a $260 million number for the municipal workers contract settlement. There's been a $45 million request for the PGW bail-out. There's going to be a $45 million responsible request for the school system.
And there are going to be issues and items that come up in the course of this five-year plan that we do not anticipate like, God forbid, a national recession. My argument is why put us all in this sinking boat? Take this sinking ship of PGW, let's find someone who's willing to buy it. I think there's one or two people out there in the region right now that may be interested, and let's SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR move on. And I'll be voting no on this particular bill and the next one. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will say that 30 years ago, I'm not responsible for it because I was in kindergarten. I will also say that this probably could have started less than 10 years ago. The fact that we have a fund balance as it exists and need to use that fund balance to solve problems at this point as a result of some matters being unattended to over the last decade. But I want to speak to very specifically what this bill is about. This is not just a matter of access to capital or financing. It's a matter of access to appropriate and affordable financing. PGW can not afford a market rate loan. They cannot afford market rate financing. Banks are in the business of doing for-profit lending. We're not going to change their business. They will charge PGW market rate at this loan. If we were in the position to sell this utility, I would agree with my SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR colleague, we should. There are things we have to do to get in a position to even be able to do that. Now is not the time to point fingers. It's time to make a hard decision. There's a hard decision to be made, and I will be voting in favor of this bill.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Madam President, there's much that I agree with in the statements made by Councilmembers O'Neill and Kenney, yet I've come to the opposite conclusion and I will be voting in support of this bill. I don't know when the crisis started. Maybe it's always been there. I remember the days when UGI ran the Gas Works and it seemed to be run professionally, and then I remember the day the Mayor came into office and said, We don't need the UGI to run this operation; we have enough in-house talent ourselves. And maybe the problem began then. Or maybe it began at a much later time as Councilman Goode suggests. One of the officials testifying at a hearing said the problem began in 1997, four years ago. My position is the City should never have been taking the $18 million a year from the Gas Works. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR Taking even the most optimistic point at which the trouble is supposed to have begun, that's four years at $18 million a year adds up to $72 billion that the Gas Works would have had in its treasury today if the City of Philadelphia's General Fund had not insisted on the payment of 18 million each year. Philadelphia apparently, the mayors, whoever they were at the time, always seemed to feel as long as we get the $18 million there will be no questions asked. And when the Gas Commission tried to get information from the Gas Works -- and it's strang because they're two parts of the City dealing with each other -- the Gas Commission was offered rebuff. I'm not worried if the $45 million isn't repaid because it's only payment back to the Gas Works of money that should never have been taken from them. I also remember when the group of people now being attacked so strongly came into the City. We were told for years that we needed real professional people and there was a national search team and it spent a lot of money, this national search team, finding the best executives and they SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR came up with two of the people who are now defendants in the recent criminal investigation by the District Attorney's Office. They told us that what these two top officials did was standard practice in the private utility field. Well, if that was standard practice in the private utility field, I'm not so sure about this whole question of private operation. I don't think they're going to do any better than the City did. In any event, in my judgment, talking about the company, the gas company, I don't know what we're talking about. We're talking about the City of Philadelphia. The City of Philadelphia runs another utility and it seems to be doing it quite well, at least from the point of view of there being no criticism, the Water Department. That's a private utility. Many governments in many states throughout the United States water companies are private utilities subject to Public Utility Commission jurisdiction just as gas companies and electric companies are. I don't think it's a question of selling to a private company that can be more efficient. And I think what has happened is that money has been taken from the Gas Works that SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR should never have been taken. It's been taken by one arm of the City of Philadelphia. When we say Gas Works, we're talking about a department of the City of Philadelphia. And Philadelphia cannot abandon the Gas Works at this time. What are we going to do? Are we going t let people freeze in the wintertime, is that what we're talking about doing? It makes no sense to me to talk about this gas company as if it were anything other than an arm of the City of Philadelphia. It's a Philadelphia business just like the water department is a Philadelphia business. So therefore, I think there's something we have to do. I've been very impressed during the hearings. I asked them many tough questions during the hearings, as many other Councilmembers did. I have a pretty high regard of the current efforts being made.
It's the first real sincere efforts I've seen it reform, and I think this request for this loan is a very reasonable one. I don't know why we call it a loan. If the Water Department needs money or any other department, we furnish it. L & I costs have gone up. Police costs have gone up. Every agency of government's costs have gone SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR up. We don't suddenly get involved in all kinds of complaints about them or try to disown them. Seems to me we ought to recognize our responsibility. The citizens of Philadelphia need to have heat in their homes. And the Gas Works hasn't just done bad things; it's done some good things. It has recognized, for example, the existence of senior citizen discounts. It was a pioneer in the effort to see that people don't freeze in their homes by being one of the first agencies that enforced the rule of no shutoffs during the wintertime. It has taken great pains to make it possible for low income citizens to have heat in their houses; otherwise, they would abandon the houses. And the present inventory of abandoned houses wouldn't be just 20,000, it would be 30 or 40,000. The Gas Works has done good work. The Gas Commission has done some good work. It has tried to maintain forms of control. It hasn't always been successful for some of the reasons mentioned by Councilman O'Neill and Councilman Kenney. But I think at this time with respect to this loan and considering the fact that SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR winter is coming on and that the money should never have been taken by the City in the first place, I'm referring to that $18 million a year, I'm voting in favor of this lone and urge my colleagues to do likewise. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. I have a deep appreciation for the comments made by Councilman O'Neill and Councilman Kenney. Many of their points are valid points. I'd just like to say that sometime ago, we looked at the idea of selling PGW because that was the issue on the table at that time about two or three years ago. And, of course, there was some work done to -- an analysis as to whether or not it could be sold at the time. And that question couldn't be answered, and at the time it came to a conclusion that it couldn't be sold. But that's an issue for further discussion. I think the issue for us, as Councilman O'Neill raised, was the issue one of governance. We have the PFMC Board, we have the Gas Commission, we have the Mayor, we have City Council, and then we SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR had our past Administration collude with some of the state representative to put Gas Works under the PUC which throws it into another political body. Even though they will deny they were not for the legislation, they were, in my point of view, clearly involved and initiated the action to put the PGW under the PUC because they didn't like the Gas Commission and the questions we asked. So I think the issue here -- and if we want to address the issue, if we can't sell it, we have to talk about the issue of governance. And as you know, I've introduced a bill in the City Council where we begin that discussion on governance and hopefully we will have a hearing on that soon. And I certainly hope the Administration should respond to some of the comments made today about dealing with patronage and all that will be supportive of discussion around governance so we will have one intent that will govern PGW. PGW is a City-owned asset. It's not going anyplace and we have to deal with it. We tried with the past Administration -clearly, I had some very strong feelings about their failure to address the problems of PGW. They put a SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR Band-Aid on a cancer. And we heard the lady from PMC testify when she recommended that rates be raised, the rates were not allowed to be raised for political reasons; it was an election year. Clearly, as Councilman Cohen said, costs go up and rates should have been raised and it was not done. So part of where we are today is mismanagement, mismanagement on the part of some of the people at PGW, but mismanagement and not paying attention by the past Administration to what should have been done with PGW. But I have to agree with Councilman Cohen. The Commission looked at during the course of the hearings to determine whether to recommend the $45 million or not. Came to the conclusion the money is needed and it is not the time now when we are beginning to go into a winter to have this discussion. The discussion should have taken place four or five years ago, but we will have an opportunity to have the discussion of how we deal with the finances and how we deal with the governance of PGW. I think we're at a critical point now where it's important that we do give at least $25 million. We're not giving all of the 45 million. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR They have to come back to City Council to request the 20 million and they have to be able to tell us at that time how they stand financially, how they look towards the future by producing a financial plan. So I hope my colleagues, knowing that the comments made here today bring some validity to them, but I hope that they will move forward so we can provide heat to the ratepayers and to our citizens this winter. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Councilman Ortiz, I understand you want to be recognized?
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I always find it troubling when I begin to agree with the analysis of Brian O'Neill.
And I think Jim has very good points in terms of the rate and the misuse that PGW has gone through over the years. We have a corporate entity that is in trouble. But as David Cohen said, it is our corporate entity. It belongs to the City. I think we are the fiduciary body responsible to maintain and look for the health, the SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR economic health of the City. Although we still don't have clarity from the team that has been put into place. And the team that has been put into place, I think, is an interim team and I have very good friends on that team. But some of those individuals on that team come from the line of thinking and philosophical viewpoint of corporates that I have. That worries me. We don't have a professional team at the helm of PGW that really understands the business of gas production and gas distribution and the entity that we have in order to be able to run it in a profitable manner. The last team of professionals that we did have are now under indictment. And we cannot blame that just on those individuals because they came in into an ungovernable situation, and the previous Administration did not monitor or supervise their operation. I have my doubts because we have not been presented a clear plan of how this entity is going to function in the near future. Jimmy talks about the consultants and law firms. We have law firms that have become rich, very powerful politically, and even have become part SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR of the folklore of the political ambiance of the City that certain powerful sectors of the political process understand that part of their meal ticket is PGW. And we make fun of it during political season, and everybody understands who the characters are and how they benefit from it. But the thing is, we don't know how the citizens benefit or if they have any benefit at all out of this political patronage and legal consultantships that we give out. But it all comes down to the final decision-making situation for me. We are the agents that have to look out for the economic well-being of all the citizens of Philadelphia. And we don't know what impact this badly run corporate structure will have on our economic health if we let it slide. With great misgivings, with great misgivings, I will vote yes on this because I really, really don't believe that we were presented with the plans, the objectives to be able to make a clear and rational decision or to really view the future in any sort of comfortable manner that this will not be a reoccurring event in the coming years. So with all those misgivings but understanding that it is our child, it belongs to us, we have to be SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR able to pass this legislation and give this loan. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to be recognized? The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I also agree that this is just a tip of the iceberg. We talk about the recovery of this utility. It's interesting, I've had conversations with numerous utility executives asking if they had an interest in managing this company, helping with some of the problems we're dealing with there, asking them if they're interested in the purchase of the utility company, and it amazed me when the response was that they see no recovery plan here. Apparently, there's lots of things that are being done over there, but none of the executives in the gas utility business, especially, see anything good about the recovery of this company. So I also plan to vote no on this. Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
Thank you, Madam President. I'll be brief. If I believed that PGW was just in a position where it couldn't afford a market rate loan, I'd be voting for this. If the City were just saving in interest money, it was a good loan, it would be paid back, no questions. So I disagree with the assessment they can get a loan. I was told repeatedly by the people both at the witness table and in the Caucus Room that they have no access to loans even from the banks whose money is at risk right now. And I also disagree with the statement that people will freeze. No one is going to freeze except a few banks. And I'm not concerned about banks freezing if they don't get paid. They have a second position to the operations of the Gas Works. The real crisis right now, financial crisis, is whether they can pay debt, short-term and long-term. And I believe that the difficult decision we have to make today, the tough decision is not the one to take $45 million in taxpayers' money and give it to the banks. The tough decision is not to bail out the banks and the bondholders. Thank you.
Thank you. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. I think that Councilman Kenney and Councilman O'Neill have raised some important questions today about the long-term future of PGW, and I have my own concerns about the long-term future of PGW. But I believe and I think that they also believe that there is a short-term crisis that needs to be responded to. Everyone has a right to vote the way they want on the particular bill. I will be voting in favor of the bill because I do have a concern about the short-term crisis, the immediate crisis that they are facing. I do believe, though, that one of the issues that Councilman Kenney raised, the issue of should we continue to be in this business, should the City continue to own and operate and manage or whether through a contract the Philadelphia Gas Works is a question that is unresolved at the moment. Councilwoman Tasco talked about some analysis that may have been sometime ago and maybe it was inconclusive. I believe that to get to the long-term future solution of PGW, that question SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR needs to be answered, questions need to be raised about it and responses need to be gleaned in order for us to have a much better understanding of what is going on with the company, not only in the short-term, not only in the medium-term, but also in the long-term because there is a legitimate question as to whether or not we should be in this particular business trying to function and operate and compete in a marketplace through gas service, which is one of the most volatile service companies and service activities that you can be engaged in, subject to national and international economic market pressures as we are trying to operate a City and make sure that service is provided. Councilman Cohen raises the comparison to the water company. I would differ slightly with the Councilman about that comparison. The water department is not subject to national and international pressures about what's going on with water. We just hope that it rains and we will have enough to circulate throughout the City of Philadelphia. It's a very different business. We don't buy our water from people from Wisconsin or Mississippi or somewhere across the United States of SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR the America. We pretty much have what we need and we're only subject to the environmental requirements that sometimes cause difference in prices. PGW and gas service is very, very different. So I think that we should look at and explore all of our options, anywhere from keeping it the way it is, looking at governance issues that Councilwoman Tasco has raised, to the final step which is whether or not we should be in this business or not. All of those issues need to be examined because so far we have not shown ourselves particularly well at running this particular utility especially over the pressures that we've seen over the past few months with incredible increases in gas prices. We cannot do anything about that. We are only subject to whatever the price is and then we have to respond in an increasingly competitive environment. So I think that all of those issues should be on the table. We should not shy away from it. I will support this particular provision today because I am convinced that PGW needs the money right now so that the company can continue. I am not convinced that in the long-term we should SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR continue to be in this business. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
I'm sorry. It was on the monitor. Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this issue? (No response.)
Seeing none, I would ask the Clerk to please call the roll.
Aye. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR The ayes are 14, the nays are 3. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 000590.
An ordinance amending an ordinance approved April 11, 2000, Bill No. 000005, adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2001, by making in accordance with Section 2-301 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter certain additional appropriations needed to meet the unanticipated emergency created by a cash flow crisis at the Philadelphia Gas Works.
This bill having been read on two different dates, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 13, the nays are 4. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes.
I may have missed heard Councilmember Longstreth's vote. I don't know if it was aye or nay.
I believe it was nay. Councilman Longstreth, did I misunderstand your vote? Was it a nay or an aye.
I'm sorry. I thought you said nay. So the vote of the ayes are 14. The nays are three. SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE CALENDAR
A majority of all members of Council having voted in the affirmative, this bill also passes. The Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 000506.
An ordinance authorizing and directing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan Nos. 157, 158, and 226, all under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two different dates, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. The Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 000510.
An ordinance amending section 12-2409 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Towing Zone Locations and Hours," by adding as a towing zone location the north and south sides of Green Street.
This bill having been read on two different occasions, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll.