Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. That completes our Calendar for today. We will now take up the consideration of applications for take-out beer permits under Act 39. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer one resolution on your behalf.
Thank you. The Chair would ask that the Clerk 39 APPLICATIONS please read the title.
A resolution accepting the recommendation of the Hearing Examiner and approving, with conditions, the following application for a permit to sell malt and brewed beverages for consumption off premises: Northstar Deli, 655 North 15th Street.
The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for a motion on the resolution.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will please signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. The record will please indicate that Councilman Clarke has recused himself in this matter and did not vote. That completes our business for today. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilman Ramos.
Thank you, Madam President. Visiting us today from San Juan, Puerto Rico is Business Leader Carlos Lopez Dalsua (sic) and his associates. They're here on business matters. Accompanying Mr. Lopez is his son, Lieutenant Al-Fayed Lopez Dalsua, who just returned from Iraq and has now been stationed at the U.S. Naval Academy where he will serve as a training officer. Welcome to Philadelphia and congratulations and welcome back home.
If they would stand, we would like to recognize them. Welcome. (Applause.)
Thank you and welcome, sir. The time has come for us to consider the Mayor's presentation of his annual budget message. The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter states that the Mayor shall submit to Council no later than 90 days before the end of the fiscal year his Operating Budget message and proposed Operating Budget Ordinance for the ensuing fiscal year. At the same time, the Mayor shall submit to Council the recommended Capital Program and Capital Budget as received from the City Planning Commission, to the extent approved by the Mayor. I now appoint the following committee to escort the Mayor into the Council Chambers: Councilwoman Blackwell, Councilwoman Tasco, Councilman O'Neill and Councilman Rizzo. (Pause.)
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, Mayor John F. Street. Mr. Mayor.
Thank you, President Verna. Good morning, Council President Verna, Majority Leader Blackwell, Majority Whip Tasco, Minority Leader O'Neill, Councilmembers, distinguished guests and friends. I am truly honored to stand before the distinguished legislative body of the next great American city, the Philadelphia City Council. I am here today to present for your consideration my proposed General Fund Operating Budget, my proposed and Program, along with my proposed Five-Year Financial Plan for FY07 through 11. " Philadelphia has recovered from the economic distress that held this city hostage when Ed Rendell became Mayor and I became President of City Council in 1992, a partnership that provided strong cooperative political leadership at a critical juncture in this City's history. That recovery gained an identity with the opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Marriott Hotel in 1993. These and other investments transformed Philadelphia into a top tier destination city. A city where visitors stay in hotels, eat at some of American's finest restaurants and see live performances at World Cafe and Rotunda, and enjoy museums and public art along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. We flawlessly hosted the Republican National Convention, the X-Games and the Live 8 concert attended by hundreds of thousands of people from throughout the country. No doubt our city has the capacity to host the international Olympic games. By the way, March Madness returns to the Wachovia Center as the Atlantic 10 Conference hosts the 2006 NCAA Division 1 basketball tournament for the first and second rounds. During the early '90s, Philadelphia's signature corporations, Comcast, GlaxoSmithKline, Rohm & Haas, Aramark and PNC, made important long-term commitments to stay in this city. Equally as important has been the development of small-to-mid-sized at the Navy Yard Keystone Innovation Zone and the University City Keystone Innovation Zone, which provide opportunity to grow small businesses, further contributing to the City's vibrant economic future. The growth and renewal of Center City has been an enormous benefit to all. My commitment always has been to turn our attention to neighborhoods without turning our backs on Center City. But as you know, at heart, I am a neighborhood Mayor. Philadelphia has always been known as a city of neighborhoods. The courage and passion of long-term residents is infectious and a source of great personal satisfaction for me and, I dare say, most members of this Council. Together we have created a new look, a new spirit and a better quality of life in neighborhoods. We have invested in neighborhood recreation centers, libraries and other critical public facilities. Under our Initiative, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to demolish dangerous buildings, clean and green vacant lots and build much-needed housing. Market-rate and affordable housing developments are blooming throughout the City like daffodils on a warm spring day. Thousands of housing units have been completed since 2000. Westrum's Brewerytown development is transforming an entire North Philadelphia neighborhood, and the Toll Brothers development at the Naval Home is walking the delicate line between historic restoration and housing rehabilitation on a project I once thought might never happen. The Philadelphia Housing Authority has developed the finest public housing in America. We are dramatically changing the face of housing in this city for poor, middle-income and upper-income
The success required the persistence of a diverse group of leaders, including people like Sister Mary Scullion, Pat DeCarlo, Kenny Gamble, John Westrum, Joe Zuritsky, Bob Toll and many critical but lesser-known citizens, churches, CDCs and civic associations. I thank them and each of you for your efforts. Over the past several years, this Administration with your support has made unprecedented investments in children and youth. We have dramatically expanded prevention services by investing approximately $80 million to create, among other things, a network of over 150 new after-school programs located at schools, churches and recreation centers serving approximately 40,000 children. Twenty-three school-based beacon programs provide safe havens for hundreds of children and families. Nineteen centers offer a wide range of activities for high-risk teens, and our youth job employment programs are reaching many more. We have enhanced our recreation centers by adding 120 after-school programs and by creating spray parks, which delight our youngsters with safe summer water play. We have strengthened fragile families by investing more than $17 million to create innovative parenting programs and home visitation services, reaching over 4,000 families. We invested $5 million to establish a Child Care Health and Safety Fund to support capital improvements in child care facilities. A lead abatement strike team was established to enhance our efforts to eliminate lead hazards that threaten our young people. These historic investments are working. The infant mortality rate in Philadelphia has fallen by 20 percent since 1997. The number of children with age-appropriate immunizations increased for the second straight year. Child are 35 percent lower than they were in 1996. The number of children testing positive for lead poisoning was cut in half between 1999 and 2002, even though the number of children tested for lead increased over 45 percent during the same period. There has been an 11 percent decrease in the number of juveniles arrested for major crimes, and births to unmarried teenagers are down 7 percent since 1999. We are proud of the continuum of prevention programs we have initiated and encouraged by the results we are seeing. We remain committed to maintaining and ultimately expanding these programs so that every child in Philadelphia can have the supports needed to reach his full potential. But while we celebrate the progress, we also understand there is much work to be done. We remain alarmed by the tragic deaths resulting from co-sleeping that families throughout our region. Co-sleeping is practiced primarily because families cannot afford to purchase cribs for their newborns. To alleviate this problem, we are proposing an additional $250,000 to the Maternity Care Coalition's Cribs for Kids program to ensure that every family in need receives this critical assistance. And while the number of juveniles involved in major crimes is down significantly, homicides in general, and certainly for young people, have increased over the past couple of years. In addition to preserving and expanding our prevention programs, we are expanding with the financial assistance of the state and federal government our highly successful Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. We are about to enter our fifth police district. This program has demonstrated extraordinary success in reducing the number of young victims of homicide. However, to reach a of potential victims and perpetrators of violence, we will soon launch a city-wide Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership.
The AVRP program will provide intensive services to high-risk children between the ages of 10 and 15, in an attempt to keep them in school and out of the juvenile justice system. Public safety remains a top priority of this Administration. While crime over the past six years has decreased, the recent spike in homicides is unacceptable. The Police Department has launched a new, more strategic policing program in targeted high crime areas, and we are committed to getting more residents involved in the war against drugs and violence in an all-out effort to reduce the number of homicides. To this end, I propose to spend an additional $10 million in police overtime to fight crime and violence in our city. The Department's work is made difficult, however, by the Commonwealth's refusal to recognize the special challenges related to guns in urban areas. Until the General Assembly strikes a better balance between the right to bear arms and the tragic consequences of easy access to weapons, our efforts will be compromised. We must have limits on the gun purchases to one per month and laws that require reporting of lost or stolen firearms. Easy access to guns will remain a threat to the safety and welfare of our citizens and police officers alike. To be a vibrant, safe and compassionate city, we must continue to work effectively to help the homeless and those recently released from our prisons. I am proud that our city is nationally recognized as a model in dealing with the challenges of homelessness and reintegration, and I thank Majority Leader Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell for her leadership in this area. Our to end homelessness in our city will solve this problem. I'm also pleased to announce the proposed FY07 budget contains $1 million to fund the Mayor's Office of Reentry for ex-offenders. We must slow the growth of our prison population while also reducing recidivism and crime on the streets. We cannot afford to pay $28,000 per year to incarcerate a Philadelphian knowing full well that seven out of ten prisoners leave our prisons and are doomed to return in three years. This Administration will continue to invest in neighborhoods because we strongly believe there is a direct correlation between thriving neighborhoods and a prospering Philadelphia, a reality often underappreciated or overlooked. A fundamental difference between this Administration and some of its critics is our belief that the link between a city's quality of life and its is just as important as the link between tax reduction and economic growth. I believe both are necessary to a strong city. Our Neighborhood Transformation Initiative has been an overwhelming success. It must be continued. I will shortly transmit legislation to establish the New River City Economic Development Fund with a recommended funding level of $125 million to make investments in neighborhoods, other NTI-related projects and to leverage private investment along Philadelphia's waterfront. Making Philadelphia the New River City in America is the centerpiece of our economic agenda. Thousands of jobs have been created at the Navy Yard since this Administration took office, and cruise ships now dock in Philadelphia annually. Business like Barthco International and App Tec Labs have moved to the Navy Yard, and the University of Pennsylvania and have expanded eastward as they extol the virtues of the New River City initiative. The building of river-related infrastructure will leverage hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment. The FY07 Operating Budget and Five-Year Financial Plan contain debt service to borrow $150 million to provide two cornerstones of the City's economic vitality: Our arts and cultural institutions and our neighborhood commercial corridors.
The City's commercial assets are economic engines for the region. They are not, however, self-sustaining. 9 million. Without financial support from both the public and private sectors, crucial organizations such as the African-American Museum, the Philadelphia and Freedom Theatre will be crippled or, indeed, some might even go out of business. Other organizations, such as the Please Touch Museum, have raised millions of dollars of private capital and, with City support, can proceed with projects that will not only enrich the lives of residents but also support the City's historic preservation, job creation and hospitality objectives. The Zoo and the other similar institutions have substantial private support but need infrastructure funding that cannot be generated from private funders. There can be no doubt that these investments will have a positive and lasting impact on Philadelphia and the region as the City's investments leverage increasing support for this powerful economic engine. By making these investments, we will create an enduring legacy that will sustain Philadelphia for our children and future generations. FY06, the City broadened the scope of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative to focus attention and resources on neighborhood commercial corridors. In FY07, the Administration will undertake a major initiative, NTI's ReStore Commercial Corridor Initiative, weaving together the principles of NTI with the strategies developed in the City's Economic Blueprint, supported in part by $65 million in bond proceeds proposed as a part of the FY07 Operating Budget and FY07 through 11 Five-Year Financial Plan. This will allow the City to breathe new life into long neglected commercial corridors by putting in new curbs, sidewalks, lighting, trees and facade work so that these areas will be appealing places for residents to shop and work. To help these small businesses, we propose to support the Small Business Guarantee Fund proposal sponsored by Councilman W. Wilson Goode. program, the City would guarantee 20 percent of the loan in the event of default. Six million dollars would create a $30 million loan pool. " Their words, not mine. I can hardly pronounce them, but it was a quote. " Unlike many other places, our Center City is a residential neighborhood as well as a business district. Its population has increased by 13 percent since 2000. That growth is under-girding the resurgence of retail in our Center City Business District. The recently opened Cira Centre at 30th Street is 93 percent leased and the Comcast Center is 69 percent leased and scheduled to open in late 2007. They are the first skyscrapers built here in 15 years. Both projects received strong political support from this Administration. And despite earlier predictions the vacancy rate in existing office towers is expected to fall below 12 percent during 2006, well below the national average and also below the average in the surrounding counties. High-rise condos for middle-income home buyers and the growing population of young adults under the age of 35, as well as luxury condos for empty-nesters are being developed all over Center City and along the waterfront, with no shortage of buyers. Make no mistake, developers do not build in a city nor do people plop down large deposits for homes unless they have confidence in the future of the city. These housing developments have benefited immensely from the ten-year real tax by Councilman Frank DiCicco. Our Center City developments are complemented by two state-of-the-art sports stadiums that together have had an important economic impact on our region's economy annually.
Also, the $1 million annual contribution from both the Phillies and the Eagles to the Children's Fund that Councilwoman Reynolds Brown advocated provides critical resources to local children's programs. Beyond their economic impact, the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers and Flyers make Philadelphia one of the most envied professional sports cities in the country. We also look forward to the Barnes collection being relocated to the City-provided site along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway; to the opening of two new world-class gaming facilities that will provide the city with four percent instead of two percent of their gross revenues, an increase this Administration for in Harrisburg; and to the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which will be built and operated by the state. These three, the big three, have the potential to set us apart and set us up as we plunge deep into the 21st century. All of these activities are part of an expanding economic and a growing revenue base that will help underwrite the escalating costs of city services and the future tax reductions. This Administration and Council have already reduced taxes over the last six years by over a billion dollars. I am, however, prepared to support as a part of this total tax-and-spend program a $5 million reduction in the business privilege tax in FY07. I do feel compelled to emphasize my reluctance to defer our proposed investments in our arts and cultural institution and our neighborhood commercial corridors program or the city's most vulnerable citizens tax cuts. I also believe the inclusion of minorities and women in the economic mainstream of our city is important. It is a barometer of our progress in achieving the dream so eloquently articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King. Diversity is something to embrace, not fear. There should be greater diversity within the executive ranks of Philadelphia's business community. It's a challenge the Chamber and other business organizations should accept. Minority and women-owned businesses are an important part of the local tax base, providing needed jobs in neighborhoods where too many men and women cannot find work. I am pleased to report that the City has substantially increased its minority participation on city contracts. A comprehensive report will be presented during our Council budget testimony. I do want to assure Councilmembers Tasco Goode, who have been leaders on this issue, we will continue to do more and better. MBEC will also prepare strategies to increase diversity on union job sites. Real progress must be made on the issue, and minorities and women must more fully participate in union trades on work sites in our City. Because of the fiscal discipline this Administration has maintained and our unwavering commitment to basic services, the economy of this city is strong and the confidence of our citizens is high. In fact, the best evidence of this reversal of fortunes is a change in attitude among Philadelphians. We have rediscovered important intangibles like confidence, enthusiasm and imagination and developed a "can do" mind set. Increasingly, the creative class is migrating to Philadelphia, and their presence is giving us a national reputation as a city new ideas and encourages freedom of expression. In fact, Philadelphia will host the first-ever Creative Economy Convergence Summit and the Mismo Mundo Music Festival. We have even earned a reputation as being a hip city, not as in fact but as in hip. Our commitment to make Philadelphia a 35-square-mile hot spot has become big international news. Wireless Philadelphia will move our city ahead on the technology curve, improve the city's ability to deliver services and give us a legitimate strategy to bridge the digital divide.
Wireless Philadelphia is about more than technology. It's about fairness and equality. America's next great city cannot allow the digital divide to further exacerbate the educational and economic divide that separates important segments of our community. As we celebrate the birth, genius and public spiritedness of Ben Franklin, let us pay his legacy and add to our reputation as the city of firsts by becoming the first major city in America to go wireless. This is really a great time to be a part of our city. We heard it from the convention planners who spent several days here in our city earlier this month. We heard it at the hospitality summit we convened just last week when 50 leaders in the Philadelphia hospitality community came together to discuss our future. Everyone agrees. It's time to tell the new Philadelphia story. 5 million to support a marketing effort which we will strive to get matched by the Commonwealth and other sources. Philadelphia has momentum. Now is the time to come together as a team, Team Philadelphia. Time for City Council and the Mayor to find the common ground that an odd couple like Rendell and Street found in the '90s. It's time for private leaders to transcend single issues and open-mindedly work for compromises that best position Philadelphia to succeed in the new challenging global economy. The future of cities is increasingly defined by global competition. Last year the City participated in a forum in China that was attended by more than 150 cities, including five from the United States. Multi-national companies like General Electric, Wal-Mart and Microsoft routinely outsource low-skilled jobs to cities like Bangalore, India, which right now has 245,000 people answering service calls of American customers. These jobs are never coming back to Philadelphia or America. Over the next two years, I intend to work with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, reach out to the international operations of local companies and support trade missions in to encourage foreign investors and companies to consider Philadelphia. We will continue to support Innovation Philadelphia and the activities of First Deputy Director of Commerce Mjenzi Traylor who leads our international economic development efforts. We also will work more closely with our ten international sister cities. To be serious competitors in the global economy, the productivity of this government must improve. The City's executives and managers need greater management prerogatives and the resources to establish a better-trained city workforce. So let me sing an old song. The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter needs to be amended into a 21st century governing document. We are driving a 1950 vehicle on the highway of an increasingly competitive global economy. Over the coming weeks, I will meet with City Council and other elected and private sector leaders in an effort to consensus around this effort. Young professionals in this government have told us that better training, better use of technology, better mentoring, better performance-based career opportunities and an objective-based pay system would make local government more competitive as a career choice. We are blessed to have many young people dedicated as public servants. Our challenge and responsibility is to keep them. This will require some changes to the Civil Service system. We must not be invested in a system that in its infancy was a reform measure, but which in its older years serves as a straightjacket. I have asked Managing Director Pedro Ramos to recommend a comprehensive training and intern program and appropriate changes to the Civil Service regulations. In January 2000, I appointed the first Secretary of Education in the City's history, Debra Kahn.
Together we attempts to force programmatic cuts that were totally inconsistent with quality education; established a CEO model of governance; negotiated contracts with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers that lengthened the school day and the school year; and established a partnership with the state that produced increased funding for public education and established the School Reform Commission. Over the last three years, Paul Vallas, Jim Nevels and the Commission, with the full cooperation of the City's appointees, have provided students with a range of education options, developed an aggressive capital program that is symbolized by the Microsoft School of the Future under construction in Fairmount Park, and they have instituted important curriculum changes, including the mandate that every high school student take African-American history. These programs are producing measurable results. In 2005, public improved their state-wide test results for the third consecutive year. That progress is important, but more is required. The public school system must become the gold standard for public education in urban America. A system impatient with modest progress and marginal funding. A system that bridges the digital divide and steers gifted students toward technology-friendly fields of mathematics, science and engineering. A system whose students graduate from high school and go on to college or pursue trades and training. The ultimate question is not whether the district is controlled by the state or local government, but whether the students are getting the knowledge, motivation and discipline required to prepare them for productive lives in the 21st century. Our Secretary of Education, Jackie Barnett, over the next year will work with the School Reform Commission, Vallas and the education advocates to evaluate the performance of the School District and make recommendations to accelerate our progress. The financial support of the corporate and philanthropic communities will be needed to accelerate the pace of improvements in public as well as private schools. As Mayor, I am concerned about the achievement of all city students whether they attend public, parochial or other private schools. However, our efforts will go unrewarded unless adequate state funding for public education becomes a legislative priority. The deficit borrowing proceeds supported by the City and used to balance the District's budgets in recent years will run out at the end of '06. To avoid surprises and disruptions, the School District should articulate its needs now. It is my prayer that Pennsylvania does not follow footsteps of the federal government, which has made the unconscionable decision to reduce spending on education. The ethics and disclosure bills that have been passed by City Council and signed into law will be strictly and fairly enforced. 2 million in the current fiscal year to support that effort. This Administration is proud to have continued the fiscal discipline that has anchored Philadelphia's recovery over the past 14 years. 6 percent. There's a buzz about Philadelphia around the country. I hear conferences of mayors. Cities are visiting and calling to learn more about NTI, Safe Streets, Wireless Philadelphia, our homeless initiatives and our marketing strategies to attract gay tourists. Many complimented our Katrina relocation program that served desperately needy fellow Americans. Our sister cities marvel at the fact that we have reduced taxes in each of the last 11 years. It's the kind of predictability and economic stability they would love to duplicate.
This Administration in a tough political environment has kept a firm hand on the economic rudder of this city and a clear eye on the growth of neighborhoods, Center City, commercial corridors and the well-being of its most vulnerable citizens. As a result, Philadelphia is flourishing. We are proud of our accomplishments and rightfully celebrate the progress of the last six years. However, Thomas Friedman book The World is Flat gives us a glimpse of the challenge for cities in this African proverb: "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. " Tomorrow when we wake up, start running. God bless you. )
Are there any speeches on the part of the Minority? (No response.)
Are there any speeches on the part of the Majority? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for a motion to adjourn.
Madam President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, February the 2nd at 10:00 a.m., 2006.
Council stands adjourned until Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. Thank you. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 11:25 a.m.) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on January 24, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)