Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING passes. Mr. Decker, 130246.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2013 from the Grants Revenue Fund, the Director of Finance Provision for Other Grants to the General Fund, the Managing Director.
This bill having been read on two separate days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 130247.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2013 within the General Fund, the Department of Human Services.
This bill has been read on two separate days. The question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, please call up 121037.
An ordinance 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING amending Chapter 19-2600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Business Income and Receipts Taxes,' by, including but not limited to, modifying certain definitions.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the amendment, which has been circulated to all members of Council, be adopted. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor for the amendment? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Bill 121037 has been amended. It will be on our next session of Council on final passage. 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING Mr. Decker, call up 130227 and the Chair recognizes -- call the bill, the title first.
An ordinance amending Chapter 19-200 of The Philadelphia Code by amending Section 19-201, entitled "City Depositories," by authorizing the City Treasurer to deposit funds in Bank of New York Mellon.
Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I'd like to say that in the length of time that I've sat here, I must say that I've greatly admired Councilman Goode's efforts in basically throttling Wells Fargo for so many years to make them into an institution that takes into consideration how they lend, where they lend, who they lend to. There's been a number of efforts that he put forward, resolutions and bills, and I think I can easily say that I've supported a hundred percent of 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING Councilman Goode's legislation since he's been here and I've had a chance to vote. So I have sat in admiration of his doggedness in dealing with institutions that do not show compassion, understanding, and fairness to people in our community. I'm going to ask you if you would, and I've asked you in advance, to hold this bill, because I think part of this whole overall discussion is what our relationship is with our banking institutions. At one point in time when Wachovia was close to going insolvent, we had 90 percent of our deposits in that bank. God knows what would have happened if they had gone under with that amount of money of City taxpayers' dollars in that bank. There's about $200 million -not to pick on Wells Fargo, but there's about $220 million in deposits at that bank as we speak, and there are other banking institutions that obviously hold 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING large sums of our money. I watch television at times and I see advertisements for commercial banks that talk about customer service, and customer service is their prime approach in trying to get people to put their money in their bank, and we are a big customer for a lot of banks, Wells Fargo included, and we may be some of those bank's biggest customers. There seems to be no leverage unless Councilman Goode has done the things in the past to leverage change in behavior. And I've turned to Councilman Goode this morning and talked about New York Mellon, and he is my community banking expert, that they did not get a very good rating in New York. Why we're sending Philadelphia dollars to a New York-based bank without a really full explanation. Now, I'm not on the Finance Committee. I did not participate in the hearing, but I don't think there was a large discussion or a wide-ranging discussion on why the 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING Administration or the Treasurer needs to have this bank as a depository. There was a time in our city when banks were headquartered here in Philadelphia. Their national headquarters were here. There was a lot of gravitas and a lot more involvement with local banks that were headquartered nationally here. We've lost that because of the economy and ways things have changed over the years. So a lot of these banks are headquartered in other parts of the country, and even though they're a local presence, they are involved in community activities and they have changed their ways with community lending. I think we don't utilize the opportunity to leverage behavior better than we do. There's a lot of things that went on during the course of that fiscal crisis we just faced in this country. A lot of people lost a lot of money. A lot of taxpayers' money was used to make 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING banks whole again. People's 401k's weren't made whole again. People's mortgages weren't made whole again. People lost their houses. And no one went to jail. No one was investigated or indicted. All these large banks all got -- all their CEOs got all their bonuses like it never -- they never skipped a beat. And we can't turn the clock back, but I say in going forward, we need better standards that we have to employ to spread our money around to the institutions that do the right thing. And as I think about that, I'm thinking about the School District. I mean, we are scrambling, literally scrambling, to find money for our schools. And we need to do that, and I understand that. Harrisburg has pretty much walked away.
The feds have stopped giving. And we're still stuck with having to deal with what we have to deal with. They could play a role in this. They could play a role in providing at least some time, if not some 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING money, to back off some of these debt service payments and swap deal exit payments and all the other things that we have to do. So, again, based on what Councilman Goode has said relative to his relationship with Wells Fargo and what he's been able to make them do, the right thing, I think going forward, the Mayor and this body needs to fairly vet what these banks are about, what their activities were during the course of the fiscal crisis and make good banking decisions as a big customer that we are. So thank you for agreeing to hold this bill today, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Mr. President. I agree totally that we need to have a discussion about how we measure banks, and we need to take that 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING seriously. I'm going to continue to be blunt, not just as I was earlier in this meeting but as I was at the Finance Committee hearing. The City of Philadelphia releases an annual lending disparity study every year that's about this thick. I read it cover to cover. New York also releases a disparity study that's not quite as thick. As I became a part of this national organization looking at municipal policy, I became a part of it because I was asked to be a keynote speaker at a responsible banking conference in New York. There's actually a report that came out about how to do local responsible banking ordinances. I will provide that to each member of Council as soon as I leave here electronically. In terms of whether we should take this seriously, we should and we have, and I thank Councilman Kenney for 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING voting for actually every piece of responsible banking legislation that I've offered. To know how seriously we have taken it, this report will show you how we measure up to other cities. We are considered the leader. Since my legislation back in around 2001, 2002, several cities have embarked upon this, particularly after the convening conference we had. I've advised San Francisco. I've advised San Diego. I've advised Los Angeles. There's nothing wrong with the laws that we have on the books now, and so the banks that have come before us have gone through a rigorous process. If we want to add to that process, I'm fair game to that. This bill in particular I wouldn't say let's just hold it. Why? Because it's irrelevant. For anyone who actually understands a portion of the City Charter with regard to our authority and the City Treasurer's authority, our authority is simply to authorize and 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING establish criteria. The City Treasurer's authority is to decide where the money goes. We can at any time decide to do whatever we want in terms of deciding who should be a City depository. We can authorize people. We can revoke their authorization. We can set standards for it, which I've done time and time and time again. But this is not an issue to just discuss. We should hold this bill today and then if Fight for Philly, Anne Gemmell, Jim Kenney or anyone else wants to actually examine this issue and take it seriously, then let's legislate on it and not just talk about it. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too want to commend Councilman Goode and note that during the hearing in the Finance Committee, which I 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING chair, on this bill that Councilman Goode specifically asked Bank of New York Mellon if they were going to comply with the laws that he has put in place, noted why they were not currently a depository, and received an affirmative response from them that they intend to do so. I have no objection holding this bill for two weeks. However, I want to be clear that the City Treasurer made clear to the Finance Committee, which as Councilman Kenney notes he is not on, that the leverage was applied to the Bank of New York Mellon in terms of providing the City a direct economic benefit worth millions of dollars in connection with commercial loans and other things we are going to get as a benefit or as part of making this bank a City depository, and that has been a strategy that our City Treasurer has followed with commercial banks and investment banks with which they are choosing to do business, saving us millions of dollars, leveraging our 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING depository and other relationships with those banks. So it is in fact being done. We are leveraging these relationships and, as a consequence, saving millions of dollars of taxpayers' money every single year through the great work of our City Treasurer in this regard. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Yes, Mr. President. Very briefly. One good thing about your presidency and administration is that you pick chairmen on their area of interest but also their area of expertise as well as their area of effort, and I don't think anyone has given more expertise, effort, and concern to the issue of banking other than Councilman Goode. And I think it's important to 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING note that this bill was submitted by myself on your behalf, and at least two sets of eyes read it, and then after they read it, checked back with the expert in this body on responsible banking and gave us a thumb's up and comfort zone. So I echo Councilman Kenney's seal of approval, if you would, on this particular matter, and I'm ready to hold it, ready to move it. It's the will of the body, but I do know that this body takes banking and responsible banking and responsible lending and responsible inclusion in contracts very seriously, and I would defer to my colleague in his area of expertise. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be really brief. I want to thank Councilman Green for 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING reminding me something I forgot that happened at the hearing. Essentially I did remind Bank of New York that they were removed from the list, and they said they knew that they fell out of compliance, but they didn't know they were removed from the list. And I said, Yeah, you were removed from the list because I took you off the list. And then I asked him, Do you want to play by the rules now? They said, Yes. I said, And if not, I'll take you off the list again. So in terms of how seriously we take that, those people who were at the Finance Committee hearing know it. Those people who have been here for several years know it. If we want to get more serious about it, then let's get more serious about it. And so if we want to hold this bill, fine, but this bill is actually not serious enough to hold. So we can move forward or hold it. It makes 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING no difference to me.
Thank you, Councilman. There are no other conversation on this particular bill, as a person who likes to keep their word, I was asked earlier to hold the bill, and I will hold the bill. So Bill No. 130227 will be held and it will be on the Final Passage Calendar at our next session of Council. Mr. Decker, do we have any additional resolutions?
A resolution honoring, recognizing and commending Mr. Bob Pantano for his contributions on the radio, television, area concerts and his music, creativity, charity and community service, introduced by Councilman Johnson.
Thank you, Council President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution commemorating and celebrating the first All-Army Reunion being held on June 15th, 2013, under the leadership of the Philadelphia Veterans Comfort House, introduced by Councilman Oh.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. This resolution was co-sponsored by Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, Majority Leader Curtis Jones, Jr., and Councilwoman Cindy Bass, and I 5/23/13 - STATED - 2ND READING move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution commemorating and honoring Ryan Chalmers on his "Push Across America" challenge: crossing the United States from Los Angeles to New York City, arriving at Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 in his racing wheelchair, introduced by Councilman Oh.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. This was Jones, Jr. and Councilwoman Cindy Bass for a young man pushing a wheelchair for the first time from coast to coast, and I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
There are no other resolutions on the Final Passage Calendar, Mr. President.
Thank you very much, Mr. Decker. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? The Chair recognizes Councilman
Thank you very much, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank all the Councilmembers who have stepped forward to advocate on behalf of fairness in our city and really I think on behalf of the taxpayers of this city for the firefighters who have, time and time again it's been said, one and two arbitrations, one on appeal, and ultimately there's an undisputed amount of money of $66 million that we have authorized to be paid to them. And I know that each of the Councilmembers here in their own ways and on their own behalf have championed the causes of our firefighters and in particular, Council President, your efforts on behalf of all our City workers is really to be commended. Of course, we have our role, the Administration has its role, but I think that we have stepped up and done something that is in the best interest of our city. thank everyone and commend our body for doing something a little different, a little new, but I think very fair and right by the voters and by the taxpayers. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. President. I have one announcement. Next week at Yesha Fellowship Hall in South Philadelphia, May 28th at 2:00 p.m., State Representative Jordan Harris will be hosting a public hearing for House Bill 908 and House Bill 909, which propose amending legislation regarding the process of the expungement of certain crimes. And so he have introduced legislation to amend our state penal code, and he will be hosting a hearing along with State Senator Shirley Kitchen at Yesha Ministry Halls, and the hearing will focus on expunging certain crimes. Oftentimes individuals go and apply for a position. You don't have to just only have a felony, but various misdemeanors or any time you're actually arrested, it's documented. And so his bill will explore the possibility of expunging certain crimes of individuals' criminal records. So we want all individuals to come out who is interested in that area. That's May 28th at 2:00 p.m. at Yesha Fellowship Hall. Last, but not least, as always, yesterday myself, Councilman Mark Squilla, and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, we attended a press conference held by the Crosstown Coalition of Taxpayers. The Coalition released its report compiled by industry experts using the available assessment data that we recently requested from the Administration regarding AVI. The report found that the rate of error is far standards, something many residents have expected since February. I want to commend Councilman Mark Squilla for arranging and requesting that OPA actually sit down with the Crosstown Coalition so they can compare data and actually really defend if their formula is accurate and the numbers according to their formula are accurate as we move forward with AVI. At least sitting down with the Crosstown Coalition and comparing both sets of numbers will give the public more confidence in this process. And, again, my public position has always been I think the numbers are still flawed just personally myself just based upon the inaccuracy that we received early on, but I do want to thank Councilman Mark Squilla for stepping up to the plate, reaching out to OPA, and requesting a meeting with the Crosstown Coalition and OPA regarding AVI and its formula. Thank you very much, Council
And also if everyone can have a great Memorial Day weekend with their families and just have an opportunity to enjoy themselves. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. The Chair recognizes Councilman Henon.
Thank you, Council President. Today I introduced a bill that exempts manufacturers from the use and occupancy tax entirely. As I've said before, and I'll say it again, I'm committed to ensuring that Philadelphia becomes a major national and international center for manufacturing. I know that there are many different budgetary interests and needs out there, but I believe in Philadelphia's ability as a manufacturing stronger. I'm not certain what the outcome of these conversations will be, and I hope by introducing this exemption, we can have a thoughtful dialogue. As always, I welcome feedback from this body, any suggestions, and look forward to the conversations that lie ahead of us. In addition, I want to draw attention to the bill that we, you, Council President, Councilman Oh, and myself, introduced today that will give this Council the authority to hire an audit to audit OPA and will give us the access of the data and information about OPA's process, like the methodology, the work product and/or their lack of. So moving forward with transparency and objectivity, to post annual assessments publicly, I'm pretty excited about that. I'm excited about the prospect of finally having some answers from OPA, and I commend you for your leadership on this issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Brien.
Thank you, Mr. President. Last week, 317 violent crimes were reported to the Philadelphia Police Department. That number includes two homicides, 64 gun robberies, and 42 aggravated assaults with a gun. Since the start of 2013, 92 families lost a loved one due to violence in our city. This violence also deeply wounds our entire community. Unfortunately, the community's relationship with law enforcement has been historically stressed, strained, and fractured in many neighborhoods for a multitude of reasons. Honestly, I think more work needs to be done to repair those relationships in an honest and open fashion. Misconceptions and preconceived ideas need to be cleared out. neighborhoods do not care is simply false. The good people in our neighborhoods far outnumber the troublemakers. That isn't a perception. The data tells us this is fact. The data tells us that a very small number of individuals are causing the majority of gun violence in our city. The focused deterrence strategy is built upon three pillars: social services, community voices, and law enforcement. Each performs its own integrated function for the success of the strategy. Today, I wanted to specifically talk about the community or moral voices component of that strategy. The focused deterrence strategy identifies, engages, and uses community figures willing to articulate key community standards to members of targeted groups at a call-in. Those standards are, the violence is wrong. There is no excuse for committing damage to yourself, your family, and your community. You're better than this. We care about you. We need you, and we want to help you. We're challenging the street code. It's not okay to go to prison. It's not okay to die. It's not okay to hurt someone, and your group will not have your back. The voices are community elders, family members, mothers of murdered children, mothers whose sons have gone to prison, old head ex-offenders, and faith leaders. These strong critical voices combined to articulate community standards and morals to undercut the street code. The community has simply decided enough. The community has decided the violence must stop. I hear their collective moral voice and I want to amplify it. I believe the effective and proven focused deterrence strategy can help them deliver gun violence in our city. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to briefly commend Councilmember Greenlee on the bill that passed today, 130057, with respect to the regulation of tanning facilities. Recently my family has experienced a number of people who had some serious operations due to melanoma. I myself have an appointment with a dermatologist this evening on this very topic. And I also want to note the presence of my former Director of Constituent Services, Marita Crawford, who is here today, who when she was on the State Board of Cosmetology as Governor Rendell's appointee tried to have just such a law passed at the state level, and once again Philadelphia is going to have to lead to get the state to pay attention to this very important issue.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Mr. President. You may recall as a result of the AVI hearings and, more importantly, the AVI public testimony that we were -- it was affirmed that the lack of awareness of the rollout of AVI was not where it should be, and vulnerable populations, particularly seniors and hard to reach populations that include those who don't speak English, revealed to us that we needed to do more as a body. I introduced a resolution calling for hearings on that topic asking members of the Administration to come back before us and tell us how we need to the imposed deadlines. In lieu of those hearings, Councilwoman Tasco and Councilmember Maria Quinones-Sanchez and I opted to have a briefing with the Administration that was led by Anna Wallace Adams, Chief of Staff for the Office of Finance. Subsequent to that briefing, members were provided a menu of options that we have to layer how we get to these hard-to-reach populations. So I want to offer a friendly reminder to my colleagues that the Office of Finance, specifically Anna Wallace Adams, need to hear back from everyone by May 31st so that she can hear from you how your particular allocation will be spent. We want to do better in reaching those populations, and now the Administration wants to help. So we need to do our part and tell them how we want to do that. As of yesterday, she's anxiously waiting to hear from all of us. So if we could please act on that and do all that we can seniors, hard-to-reach populations, and the vulnerable citizens across the City around the protections for AVI. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. And with that, I call on you again for a motion to adjourn.
Surely. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, June 6th, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, June 6th, 2013. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Council shall stand very much. ) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L. ) A acre 120:24 121:6 165:24 173:24 afternoon 105:3,7 Allison 32:17 abandoned 27:20 ACS 84:10,10,14 174:6,20 107:16 35:23,24,25 abandonment act 103:24 130:12 admiration 147:4 age 26:22 85:2,18 allocation 25:4 72:12 133:17 174:25 admired 146:17 86:10 87:10 174:18 abatement 91:18 action 39:15 84:9 adopt 130:8 agencies 25:16 allow 14:7 63:24 abdomen 40:4 131:10 adopted 27:23 120:10 85:8 ability 101:17 actions 84:15 126:3 127:7 Agency 85:15 allowing 24:10 167:25 activism 109:25 128:7 129:6 120:6 132:22 able 16:17 80:14 112:11,17 130:5 131:3 agenda 24:4 allows 38:24 101:15 106:11 113:15 145:12 160:12 74:24 75:1,19 94:15 100:3 151:9 activists 114:14 161:13 162:17 76:2 97:20 133:4 abominable 82:20 activities 149:16 adoption 125:17 118:1,2,15,17 All-Army 60:22 abounding 3:22 151:13 126:20 127:20 118:20,23 119:1 160:15 absence 6:8,13,21 actual 80:21 128:20 129:19 119:3 120:1 alternative 81:2 academic 39:8 97:25 130:16 159:25 121:1 122:1 alternatives 83:10 accept 130:11 Adams 69:17 161:2 162:6 123:1 124:1,22 altogether 87:17 access 35:2 174:7,15 adult 87:8 ages 23:7 amazing 30:12,12 168:16 add 114:2 153:18 adulthood 25:2 aggravated 30:18 accompanies adding 47:9 65:4 adults 85:24 87:8 169:12 ambassador 9:17 102:21 71:18 72:2 advance 104:11 aggressive 133:5 Amen 4:19,20 accompany 99:22 121:17 147:10 Agnes 43:15 amend 114:20 100:12 addition 75:24 Advancing 22:17 51:24 94:14 120:14 164:22 accompanying 168:10 adverse 86:7 agree 97:16 115:7 amended 63:8 7:17 21:21 additional 45:20 advertisements 151:23 113:2 134:17 32:17 56:15 159:13 148:4 agreeing 97:7 145:24 account 19:6 additions 62:23 advise 42:6 151:16 amending 42:12 accountability 62:24 advised 153:12,12 agreement 43:15 42:19,22,25 81:21 address 47:21 153:13 44:19 51:23 46:11 47:7 accountable 77:21 112:4 Advisory 37:11 132:25 50:10,20 55:17 114:18 127:15 128:15 advocacy 23:25 agreements 51:14 56:11,20 57:3,5 accumulation 129:14 84:11 120:10 131:9 57:12 59:12,14 40:3 addressed 98:3 advocate 28:20 agrees 74:14 62:9,21 64:24 accurate 166:9,10 addressing 78:3 33:17 163:6 ahead 14:15 68:12 71:14,16 accurately 177:5 89:4 advocates 24:12 89:13 168:9 71:24 72:7 74:5 acknowledge 8:6 adhere 77:9 27:15 aide 30:6 74:7 119:19,25 9:15 10:4 14:11 adjacent 45:13 advocating 97:25 airlines 51:15 121:15 131:6 22:15 58:2 affiliate 84:11 Airport 19:16 145:2 146:6,7 acknowledged adjourn 175:10 affirmative 51:17 164:19 86:19 adjourned 175:12 124:20 137:8 Alarcon 112:24 amendment acknowledges 175:17 176:2 139:25 142:12 113:2 131:14,23 100:2 ADJOURNME...