Aye. The ayes are 15; the nays are zero. A two-thirds majority of the members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the Mayor's veto is overridden. The next order of business is the consideration of the Calendar. The Chief Clerk will please read the bills on the First Reading Calendar.
Bill No. 060012, an ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, to acquire fee simple title to 3000 and 3030 East Castor Avenue.
And Bill No. 060056, an ordinance authorizing the 4/6/06 - STATED - 1ST READING Commissioner of Public property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development a deed located at 105-09 Reed Street.
And Bill No. 060058, an ordinance amending Bill No. 990728, approved December 6, 1999, to convey to the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia by extending the time for compliance with the conditions until December 31, 2006.
And Bill No. 060144, an ordinance amending the ordinance approved June 28, 1966, Bill No. 1845, as amended, known as the Philadelphia Housing Development Agreement Ordinance.
The Chair agrees. That completes the First 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING Reading Calendar. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for the purpose of calling up bills on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar to be considered today.
Thank you, Madam President. Today our Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar starts on Page No. 7. Today we will hear Bill Nos. 050661, 060086, and on , Bill Nos. 060112, 060158 and 060159. All other bills are being held.
Thank you. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the title of Bill No. 050661.
An ordinance authorizing the creation of a loan or loans to provide funds for and toward various capital municipal purposes.
Thank you. Since Bill No. 050661 would authorize the City to incur new debt, this bill requires the approval of 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING two-thirds of the members of Council. That is a statutory requirement. This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk -- I'm sorry. I didn't see that Councilwoman Tasco wants to be recognized. So before I ask the Chief Clerk to call the roll, I would like to recognize Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, we have been going round and round on this bill for a while, and I plan to vote no on this bill. I'm a signatore to a letter that we have sent to the Mayor explaining why some of us are not in support of this legislation today. We have negotiated this bill in 2004. We sent a question to the voters about the capital budget, and in that, the Council had passed and the Mayor had signed legislation that appropriated 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING funds, of which $12 million was for the Council Districts and we were to be given $1.2 million. Of course, we have only been able to spend $500,000 of that because the Mayor has decided not to spend that money. Now in an agreement, side agreement, the Mayor wants to ask us to accept $850,000 per district rather than the $1.2 million. There is no hardship. The money is there and the money has been designated for the District Councilmembers. The reason we got to the point of designating the $1.2 million, when the Mayor was Council President, he convinced Ed Rendell to agree to appropriate $1.2 million to each Council District person, and the reason I believe and as I remember it happening was because we could never have predictable funding for projects in our district. We tried to expand the Finley Recreation Center. It took us ten years 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING to build an addition, because each year I would put so much in the budget and that was never enough. When we went to the $1.2 million, we were able to know that by a certain date we had enough money to expand or do whatever with the recreation facility. As a result of that and with matching dollars from the state, from my State Representative, LeAnna Washington, we were able to expand the Dorothy Emanual Recreation Center at the tune of $5.1 million. And now we are asked to take less money when the money that has been appropriated is there for us. I don't want to be cynical or personal, but I can only think that maybe sometimes these capital projects are used as leverage to gain votes for whatever the Mayor may want. So maybe there was a need not to let Ed Rendell use the leverage of the Recreation Department to get votes. So here we are now back at the old system where the Mayor has the 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING ability to use the funding to cut deals for whatever he may want on votes. I think that's a disservice to the people in the City. I think it's a disservice to the people in my district, and I want to know why would I take $850,000 when I am entitled to $1.2 million for the people in the Ninth Councilmanic District? It does not make sense. The money goes for improvement to existing facilities. We can use it for a fire station. We can use it for whatever we need it for. The priorities are set by us with the communities in our district and we're able to move forward and be effective. I think that this whole impasse is nonsense, and I just think that he is at this point not willing to move or to give and to be cooperative on this issue. So I am voting against this bill because I think we deserve better and we deserve better respect than we get. 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING Thank you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. I can only echo the comments of my colleague, Councilwoman Tasco, and I will also be voting against this particular bill. Not because I don't need the money, but because I do need the money. I need the funds that were allocated and that we voted for. This body supplemented that particular capital budget bill to allow for the level of funding that we've had in the past. We voted for it, as Councilwoman Tasco pointed out. It was signed by the Mayor and subsequently approved, with an expectation by the voters and our constituents that that's what the deal was. And just this past Monday, I had a meeting with community leaders in 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING the Winfield Heights section about a recreation facility, a small one, that needs a significant amount of work. It's been neglected over the years. When I laid out to my constituents from that neighborhood what this situation is with declining resources that I presently have, I won't be able to complete that project in a timely fashion with the dollars that are being offered versus the dollars that we're supposed to have, and when I presented my own constituents with this situation, their recommendation was, Get the funding that was previously allocated that we expected so we can get our project done. This arrangement was, as I recall, primarily put in place because the City Administration at the time, not this Administration, the previous Administration, was not putting as much money in the recreation facilities as many of us thought and so as, again, the Councilwoman laid out, this was an 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING agreement that had the District Councilmembers working with the Recreation Department and other departments. Where they had shortfalls, we would be able to make up for it in a quick fashion, because we already had the dollars. You sign a document and move on and then monitor and oversee these particular projects. So this is an issue where funding is available, but for the '05 capital budget, it would make absolutely no sense to take less than what has already been approved and agreed upon, and I don't understand the rationale here. It is shameful that we have reached this point and not been able to move forward, especially when the funding is not in question. This is about who is making which decisions on certain facilities, and I would respectfully say in many instances we certainly, the folks who work with community leaders on a 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING regular basis about these facilities and what their needs are, might have a little better sense of what those needs are than some other folks in other parts of the government. So I'll be voting against the bill, and we can continue to try to negotiate back to where we should have been in the first place. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
Thank you, Madam President. I believe that this bill fails today to get the 12 votes required. The least surprised person will be the Mayor. The Mayor spent over 19 years here, the majority of it I believe as Council President, and he knows this issue better than anybody, how important it is. He was also a District Councilman. 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING How many times I and others were in his office lobbying, as Councilman Tasco said. I don't know how many times I went in lobbying for that 1.2 million. Before that, for 1.1. Before that, for 1 million, because of the needs out there in all districts. And the system that is the best needs assessment you could have -- and I use the terms "needs assessment" because we heard about a needs assessment that the Administration did, which I'll get to a in a minute, but every District Councilman has to listen to the community, has to listen to the rec leader, has to listen to the users of the rec center, whether it be the Rec Advisory Council, whether it be an informal group of parents or whether it be the youth organization that predominates the programming there. And if we don't, we know where we are at the end of four years, we're out of a job. And that system works very 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING well, and it enables us to stretch very limited resources and try to do as much as possible with them, doing a lot of long-term planning, sometimes two, three, four years out, before you can let people know you'll have enough money for them as you're putting it away for a project. And in '05, this 12 million, 1.2 a district, was passed, the Mayor signed it, it went to the voters, the Mayor signed that bill, it went and got approved by the voters. That money is already there. We heard this year in our budget hearings from the Administration that they've done a needs assessment of the Recreation Department and they'll spend that extra $7 million. That would be such a break not only in tradition but in common sense, because no one knows better and has spent more time working on this needs assessment than each individual District Councilmember. And if the money is going to be spent, it 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING should be spent not by the Administration and their bureaucratic hires, but by the elected officials working with the community, as it's always been done. Not just while I've been here, not just while Council President Street, District Councilman Street was here, but long before that. This tradition goes back as far as people can remember. I would say that let's be fair. '05 was passed. We're still only allowed to spend a small portion of it. That's unheard of. But do that to me once, shame on you. If you do it to me twice in '06, shame on me. I'm not going to allow that to happen twice. I understand that the capital budget is getting reduced. Mayors, several in the last term, were spending way more than was going to be left if they evened it out, but that's the problem with two four-year term limits. That's as far as any Mayor can see. And we're dealing with a shrinking pool of 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING money. This is '07. We have not passed the operating or the capital budget, let alone get to the ballot question for '07. I am willing to talk realistic reasonable terms with anybody, members of Council, the Administration, about a negotiated number, recognizing that we have to take our fair share of those cuts, but these monies have passed in '05. They were approved by the voter. If we voted for this, they would be approved by the voters again, I'm sure. Can't allow that to happen until we have an agreement that this $12 million in both years, '05 and '06, will be given to us for our districts and we can negotiate on that on a reasonable basis going forward, but not going backwards. This is really unheard of, and I'll be voting no on this bill. Thank you.
Thank you. 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Madam President. I just want to say right now that I will be supporting those District Councilmen and Councilpeople that do need and absolutely must have at least 1.2 million for their recreation centers and all the other things that they want to use that money for in their districts. Previously I was a District Councilman, so I know how important it is to receive that money. In fact, I don't even think it's enough at this point, even the 1.2, but be that as it may, I think it's very, very important that they get the full funding. So I will be voting no for this bill. Thank you.
You're welcome. Would anybody else like to be recognized? 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING (No response.)
Seeing no one, I would ask the Chief Clerk to please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 10; the nays are five. A two-thirds of all of the members having voted in the negative, the bill fails. 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 060086.
An ordinance authorizing Evangelisonna of Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church to construct, operate and maintain an existing raised platform entrance.
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 15; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 060112.
An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance, Bill No. 040763, approved October 27, 2004, by extending the time for compliance with conditions stated therein.
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 15; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 060158.
An ordinance establishing a no parking anytime regulation on the east side of Keystone Street between Unruh Avenue and Longshore 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING Avenue.
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. 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING The ayes are 15; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 060159.
An ordinance to amend the Institutional Development District Master Plan of the Holy Family University by allowing for the construction of a new student residence building.
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.
Councilman 4/6/06 - STATED - 2ND READING DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Aye.
Aye. The ayes are 15; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. That completes our Calendar for today. Are there speeches on the part of the Minority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Yes. Thank you, Madam President. I just want to report on an incident which I find very, very disturbing, and, that is, a few weeks ago, I had read and presented a 25th anniversary of the Irish Hunger Strike. During that resolution, there was a fellow by the name of Shane Coleman who played an Irish flute for us that day. He's from Ireland. He was vacationing here and he decided that he wanted to do something in the memory of those people who died during the Hunger Strike. When he was returning to go back to Ireland, he was delayed. He was put into a room. He was interviewed. He was intimidated, and he was recruited to join the English government as a spy to the IRA. This man has never been political. He's never joined any organization, and yet he was held for hours. And two detectives from Scotland Yard were the ones doing the recruiting. I find this to be upsetting at the most that government representatives from a foreign country can come into our soil and to recruit people to join them as spies. And you have to remember the last -- just recently, within the last week, there was a spy for the IRA who was found shot. He was killed just about a week ago. Now, this man, again, had no political aspirations whatsoever, but yet he was detained by two Scotland Yard detectives in Newark, New Jersey. And I think that is deplorable and I would like to at least bring it to the attention of our government officials that this type of activity ceases. I don't think it's something that we should tolerate any government to do, is to intimidate people who are vacationing here in this country. So, again, I just wanted to bring it to your attention and this Council's attention, because it's something that I wasn't aware of, and I don't think anyone was aware of something like that could happen in this country. So I would like to, again, I would like to ask our government to be out what exactly happened and to make sure it doesn't happen. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ramos.
Thank you, Madam President. For many years in Chambers we have seen many, many activists come here, me being one of them many, many years ago, and state where we stand on the issues, and this Chamber has been welcoming to all Philadelphians who want to express their views. A Philadelphia housing activist, Rosemary Cubas, that many times sat right behind here or to my right sometimes -- she sat anywhere, but a lot of sometimes she would sit right there. And here she passed away yesterday evening. She was very highly respected by all of us and the people in Philadelphia, the Latino people in particular and her community. She was very adamantly opposed to the powers of eminent domain and always in favor of affordable housing for the poor. So if we could have just a moment of silence at this time to remember Rosemary Cubas and her good works. (Moment of silence.)
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. At a brief re-rally yesterday, the Mayor stated that he predicts that Philadelphia will be a smoke-free City when he leaves office at the end of 2007. Well, Madam President, my clock shows that there are 640 days, 13 hours, 29 minutes and 6 seconds until very much.