Councilwoman Miller voting SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE aye. Councilman Nutter.
Aye. The ayes are 16, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. The final bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 010525.
An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Murdock Street between Pickering Avenue and Cheltenham Avenue.
This bill SECOND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the role.
Aye. The ayes are 16, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. This concludes our calendar for today. Are there any speeches on the part of the Minority? Are there any speeches on the part of the Majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. Back in June of 2001, this Body passed an appropriation of $60 million for the School District of Philadelphia. In September of 2001, the SPEECHES Mayor vetoed that bill over concerns which I think are justifiable concerns about the effect of Act 46 on the perpetuity of that appropriation. We were all willing to wait, and I think that Mayor Street and former Governor Ridge really did attempt to find, through good faith efforts, a way to solve the problem of the Philadelphia Schools and its funding issues. I think they both acted in good faith and I think they tried their best to get a hard job completed. Then came September 11, 2001, and all of our worlds changed. Governor Ridge was called on by the President to help protect our country from further terrorist attacks. I believe that he's a tremendous person for the job. We're all very proud of his elevation to this position, although saddened by the reasons for it. But he's no longer here. And the issue surrounding the School District have certainly changed dramatically as a result of it. We have a new Governor. Governor Schweiker is a very decent person, hard-working person, but in his own admission has not been totally engaged in the issue of school funding in the Philadelphia School District. SPEECHES I think in the end, though, we really can't wait. And I've asked today through a bill that I've introduced along with a number of cosponsors for $75 million appropriation to the School District of Philadelphia. Any solution that may be coming from Harrisburg is going to require local increased aid to the district. I don't believe we can sit by and wait to see what happens. I don't think we can wait to see if a private company is going to come in and take these schools. I don't think we can wait to see for a magic solution coming from the legislature to give us the aid that we need to run the schools. I think in the end -- also, I believe that the legislature's made it very clear, the leadership there, that unless and until Philadelphia steps to the plate with additional substantial new monies for the District that they're really not willing to provide us with any additional funds that will make any difference. In the end, it is our responsibility to deal with the District. In the end, the Mayor and Councilmembers here have been elected by the people of this City to be responsible for the schools. Councilmember Nutter was successful in SPEECHES passing a charter amendment which allowed the Mayor to appoint the entire School board under the understanding that past mayors had always used that as an excuse for not being able to run the School District effectively because all the people weren't part of his or her team. I can't think of a more important investment than we can make in this City other than the education of our kids. And I will argue that probably even beyond blight and taxes and auto insurance and other reason why the citizens of Philadelphia decide no longer to be citizens of Philadelphia, probably the No. 1 reason is the condition of the schools and lack of choices that they feel they have for their kids. So I think that we ought to really take the bull by the horns, move forward, step up to the plate, provide a substantial sum of money that I think $75 million represents, show the legislature that we mean business and that we'd like their help and really put our best foot forward in trying to get these schools' funding issues and governance issues resolved. So I would seek in the future support from members of this council and the president in trying to get this done SPEECHES so that we can move forward and live up to our responsibilities of running these schools. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. Two items that I wish to speak on. The first is I'd like to commend our president and all Councilmembers for supporting the resolution introduced last week calling for additional support for our men and women who are public employees here in Philadelphia who have been called up to active duty because of the national crisis. There was a concern about the extension of health benefits and other provisions that those employees and their families enjoyed because of their call to duty and the distinction between what they would have when they were working versus what those members and their families would enjoy while called up for national service. I want to thank the Council for passing that resolution last week and also thank the Mayor and the Administration for taking quick action. It was announced the other day that all of SPEECHES the City of Philadelphia public employees will enjoy the same level of benefits as extended by the State to state workers and in the protection of their families that they will continue to have their health coverage and other benefits that they so desperately need especially at this time of national crisis. On that same point, I also want to thank one of my constituents Ed Tolin who called me about this when the call went out for people to go to service. There was a concern expressed, and I want to thank my constituent Ed Tolin for raising that issue and the Administration getting it resolved very quickly. Secondly, Madam President, I wish to speak fairly briefly about our situation here. We have many, many things still to do in the course of this term. It will require a great patience and good judgment and also the ability for us to continue to talk and trade information, share what our concerns are. " We have a responsibility to work with each other in the spirit of collegiality, the spirit SPEECHES of frankness and openness, but we also have much work to do. These are the type of days and the kinds of days that Dr. King must have thought about in one of his speeches when he talked about the need to carve a tunnel of hope through a mountain of despair, to try to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. We have much work to do, and it will take some time and a little bit of healing, but I think in the good work, in the good spirit that goes on in this great and wonderful building that we have an opportunity to work in called City Hall and these great jobs that we have as Councilmembers -not many people get the opportunity to serve in such a great way. And so all I can ask is that we continue to respect and support and encourage our leadership. For leaders to be able to lead, we must be willing to be led. And that will require more tolerance and patience and much more work. There is no fight here today. " We are, in fact, one body. We are the City Council of Philadelphia. Our disagreements come out of our notion and our understanding of what a democracy is all about. And this is a democracy in which we believe, in which we have faith, in which SPEECHES trust. And we will continue to participate in this wonderful experiment called democracy. Thirty days ago today, we witnessed one of the most tragic events in all of our time, an attack against not only this country, but about our beliefs and our way of life. We are still shocked and saddened, but as Americans we have united, we have pulled together and we continue to believe in each other and trust in each other. Likewise, the events of the past week, even in this Chamber, will continue to challenge us; but they can not affect our oath that all of us took, which was to discharge our duties with fidelity. Let me reaffirm my commitment to you, Madam President, to the leadership of this Council, you as our president; our majority leader, Councilwoman Blackwell; our majority whip, Councilwoman Tasco; and to our good friend, the minority leader, Councilman O'Neill.
The four of you share the pleasure, the responsibility, but also the burden of leadership. I support this collective leadership and I fully believe that the four of you working together will make all of us proud Philadelphians and also proud members of this SPEECHES Philadelphia City Council. Let me close by using the words of another person that was a great leader and one whom I admire greatly. In his 1861 inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln said the following: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. " Let our better angles lift us up as we understand very clearly and very directly that even in our disagreements, we will not be disagreeable, for we are one body, the City Council of Philadelphia. Thank you, Madam President. )
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Last week this Council unanimously SPEECHES passed Bill 000716, which is a bill I introduced last November in the year 2000. I want to take this time to thank my colleagues for their support of that bill. It was the fifth bill that I offered and the fifth bill was passed offered unanimously. I have three other bills pending, all reviewed and approved by the policy committee of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, which is a City-wide association of 78 community-based organizations. I took it to their policy committee this summer for the amendment on 000716 and for the three other bills to ask for their input. I view Bill 000716 as a neighborhood transformation bill. I want to explain exactly for those people who don't know what 00716 was about, exactly what it does. It mandates that at least 5 percent of all community development block grant money be spent on economic development programs administered by community development corporations. A lot of people within this Council and maybe within government and the listening audience and throughout Philadelphia are not as familiar with those economic development programs the CDC is engaged in. We had SPEECHES a hearing here a couple weeks ago where up to 9 or 10 talked about their work. We have a program at Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation called the Neighborhood Development Fund. We have a program the Commerce Department called the Neighborhood Development Grant Program. We have a program in the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation called a Acquisition Grant Program. In year 27 in the Neighborhood Development Fund, there is $2 million. It's the first time that this fund has been capitalized in five years due to some of the policy and legislative here. 5 million in year 27. Last year was not funded due to some of the policy and legislative work done here. PCDC has a program that I created called the Acquisition Grant Program would actually allow CDCs to purchase property on behalf of neighborhood businesses, to rehab their property and then use it as an equity investment actually in those businesses. Many people wouldn't know that. There's a lot of work being done here, a lot of work being done out in the community in terms of community economic development. SPEECHES In testimony on behalf of Bill 000716, the director of PCDC talked about the work that CDCs are doing, from supermarkets to retail commercial space development to business development to operating main street programs, special services districts, know they're taking over efforts to strengthen neighborhood commercial corridors. 000716 is a neighborhood transformation bill that passed unanimously. In fact, 000715 which was introduced before it, Councilwoman Tasco's predatory lending bill was in fact a neighborhood transformation bill. That leads me to believe that if we actually take the charge of neighborhood transformation and we broke it down to a series of Council bills, they probably would pass unanimously. I completely concur with what Councilman Nutter said. We here are united. We stand with each other. We have stood behind each other's bills. The problem is once you put the label of Mayor Street's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative on it, efforts that all of us might undertake individually, it becomes Council politics, Council versus Mayor. That's the way some people play the game. It's unfortunate. It's happened for SPEECHES years. It's happened for a lot of years. I happen to have witnessed it in the administration of my father. It disturbs me, but it is what it is. So I would just say today that Council politics is what it is. Let's talk about unity, let's work toward unity; but let's also be honest about what disagreements exist. And on the note of Council politics, let me say this also, share this story. About two months ago I was walking down the hall going to lunch. I ran into Councilman Kenney in the elevator.
I wished him a belated happy birthday. He said thank you. He didn't know that I knew it was his birthday a few days before because his birthday was a couple days before mine. He said to me, "Oh, you're a Leo also. " I believe I am in the right business because I believe that if it was not for Jim Kenney in this Body, this job would not be as interesting as it is, it would not be as challenging as it is, and because of Jim Kenney, I love this job. I love this job so much, I'm willing to do it for free. Thank you. ) SPEECHES
Thank you, Madam President. I want thank Councilman Nutter and Councilman Goode for observations. I think as we strive to develop a sense of unity in Council, we have to understand that we have to look at our own policies. We've been criticizing the Mayor and the City Administration, and I think in most cases for very good reason. We have applauded ourself as being the people's Council. I think we have to examine whether, in fact, we are the people's Council or whether other forces have overtaken most of the feelings of people in Council. I'm very concerned about one recent aspect, this concept of commitment to a bill passed introduced by a Councilmember, any Councilmember. I believe it's our duty before we arrive at a decision to hear every point of view and to reserve decisions until final action. And I'm hoping that in this spirit of unity, in the spirit of compromise, we're going to be willing to be critical of ourselves as well of the City Administration. Thank you, Madam President. I think we're moving in the right SPEECHES direction. (Applause.)
Are there any other speeches? The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.
I know everyone's on the edge of their chair at this moment. Relax. I just want to remind Councilman Goode that we actually are working for free this week, since we have not passed the redistricting plan. Thank you, Madam President. (Laughter.)
And if Councilman Goode would like to give up his salary, I'll take it. Madam President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, October 18, at 10:00 a.m., 2001. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, October 18, at 10 o'clock. SPEECHES All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. And the Council will stand adjourned until Thursday, October the 18th. Thank you. (Council adjourned at 11:45 a.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of October 11, 2001, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: STATED MEETING ___________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR and Notary Public