Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are 12/17/09 - STATED - 2ND READING zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill to be called for consideration will be Bill No. -- is that it? That was fast. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 090890.
A resolution appointing Stephanie Wall to the Board of Directors for the Old City Special Services District.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for a motion on the resolution.
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 indicate by saying aye. (Aye.) 12/17/09 - STATED - 2ND READING
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 090891.
A resolution appointing Arthur Holst to the Board of Directors for the Old City Special Services District.
The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for a motion.
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 indicate by saying aye. (Aye.) 12/17/09 - STATED - 2ND READING
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 090892.
A resolution reappointing Sheryl Bar to the Board of Directors for the Old City Special Services District.
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 indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
Those 12/17/09 - STATED - 2ND READING opposed? (No response.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 090893.
A resolution reappointing Harvey Spear to the Board of Directors for the Old City Special Services District.
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 say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. Are there speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. I appreciate being recognized. I'd like to take a moment, a brief moment, to say a few words about South Philadelphia High School. As a resident of South Philadelphia lifelong, a neighbor of the high school, about four blocks away, as a person who represents the area, along with Councilman DiCicco and yourself, I want to give you a little historic context. I remember growing up down 3rd and Snyder and back in the '70s when the Italian kids were battling with the African American kids and when the Irish kids were battling with the Italian kids and when the Italian and Irish kids were battling with the African American kids. All of that was wrong then and it's wrong now, and there's two things that I think should be rules of thumb in this whole discussion. Number one, no one has a right to put their hands on anyone in a violent way for any reason, whether you like them, whether you don't like them, whether you don't understand them. I don't care. You keep your hands to yourself. The second rule is racial epithets like the N word, the C word, the G word and every other word we can think of that we have to describe with a letter because we hate the sound of it are unacceptable. Racism is racism is racism, and it's wrong. It's wrong then; third thing is, with the exception of 20 or so knuckleheads who have caused all this problem, the vast majority of the children in that school are decent, law-abiding, honorable kids who certainly just want what everyone else wants, and that's an education. And the vast majority of those kids, black, white, Hispanic, Asian and anything else, were painted with a brush that was undeserved. We have a responsibility as adults -- and I have confidence that the Superintendent of the schools, her staff, the Police Department, the staff of the school, community members, community leaders will all work together in a positive way to protect the vulnerable, to eliminate the thugs and to allow the rest of the children to get along and learn about each other's cultures and to get a good education and a good experience in our South Philadelphia High this is possible, because just 12 blocks away in Councilman DiCicco's district is a high school, a public high school, called Furness High School. Furness High School has approximately the same basic demographics as South Philadelphia High School. It is a very diverse student body of African Americans, of Asians, of Latinos, of white kids, and it is a family over there. I went there yesterday to do a ribbon cutting for a training facility for their football team, and I'll tell you, the school is well managed, well behaved, and those kids have respect for each other, are learning and are having a great experience. This is possible to be done. If cooler heads will prevail, if adults will act like adults and protect our children, and if we give our kids the opportunity to understand each other's cultures, our histories and where where we're going, I think that in the spirit of Christmas, we all need to dedicate ourselves in the next year to making South Philadelphia High School the great school that it has always been and the great school that it is today, and they need our help and in a positive way, we need to pull together and make that happen. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. We concur with the comments made by my colleague, Councilman Kenney, and, in fact, are representing as Chair of the City Council Committee on Education, are representing all of us on the Superintendent's Task Force dealing with South Philadelphia High School. We did attend the meeting a few days ago, Tuesday, and there were even students from the school at the meeting as well as stakeholders across the City, from Kenny Gamble to the NAACP head to leaders just across the City who were there and who were involved in this issue. So we're happy to keep Council advised and informed and are happy to represent our body there. Number two, our Partnership for Prescription Assistance table is available with discount prescription information that we all need. And, finally, number three, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone involved in our holiday party for the homeless. For the first time, I dare say in the history of this city, we fed 5,500 people at the Convention Center, and certainly we are grateful to people who volunteered here, everyone. I mean, Danny Hines from the -- people from the Masonic Hall, like Danny Hines volunteered, Stephanie Marsh's mother here, all of my office and certainly members from other offices who volunteered. We had senior citizens, those who work, those who don't, people from all walks of life and all income levels volunteered. We also want to thank the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Obviously we couldn't have it were we not there, because no other place in the City is large enough to accommodate such a crowd. We're still in the process of giving out toys. We've given out thousands of toys. We're still in the process of doing that, and we feel blessed to be able to serve, especially at this holiday season where so many people are in need and so many people need support. In addition to the Convention Center, we thank Kevin Parker Companies. You know he's Ms. Tootsie's Soul Food Cafe and the 3801 Cafe. He is certainly owner, that chef. We thank Universal Companies, Comcast. The Philadelphia Housing Authority contributed in a big way and used their resources to solicit other funds for us. , their tenant group supported us. Drexel University; the University of Pennsylvania; the Temple Group; Coca-Cola; Linebarger Law Offices; Penn Mutual Company; Powelton Village Civic Association; MASCO, Mantua Aspen Street Community Organization, and Norman Ellis. We want to thank the Sergeant-of-Arms, Madam President. They worked. And we are grateful to all of City Council who worked so hard. We couldn't move all of this. We just couldn't do what we do. Lui Cruz and AP Construction; Terry McNair. We mentioned Danny Hines from the Masonic Hall across the street. The School District of Philadelphia; the Delaware River Port Authority; Lisa pictures; Keith Conrad. He was the gentleman who we worked with last year when we had all those housing hearings under the former Mayor, and his job was saved, and he always contributes and buys enough candy canes for everyone. Tastykake Baking Company. We mentioned the University of Pennsylvania; Brandywine Realty Trust; Dennis Cook and Joanne Bell; the Bravo Group; Pepsi Cola; SEPTA; Local 394. They gave -- water union. They gave bikes and toys. Local 690, the plumbers were here with all kinds of toys. Local 332 donated labor. We couldn't get tables set up. You never have enough to pay everybody everything. We thank them. We thank the stage hands, Local 8; Local 98 for all that they do to provide electricity. The Fraternal Order of Police was fabulous and all the police officers who helped us keep order. , who gives us toys; Wal-Mart; the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, you know my former union.
In addition to so many school teachers teaching, they must have given a thousand gifts themselves. We thank teachers across the City who realize in addition to teaching their classes, there's so many people in need, and they gave. Across the City they gave. We thank the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. We're so grateful. Thelma Peak, Peak's Little Angels. She always gives us our Santa suit, and I won't say anymore, it's close to Christmas. Connie of Green Things for all the balloons; Liz Campion from Campus Real Estate. She always donates and gives face painting. And everybody I didn't mention that I should mention. Universal Companies, we thank them. All the folks across the board whom I didn't mention, I hope they know how much we appreciate them. I'm just so moved. I'm just so grateful for the privilege of service.
Congratulations to you on a job well done. (Applause.)
Thank you, Madam President. I too want to commend Councilman Kenney on his comments about South Philadelphia High School and say that I certainly concur in his sentiment and have the same wish for this holiday season. Madam President, today City Council took bold and decisive action to bring fundamental change to Philadelphia's property tax system. The reform legislation, which was co-sponsored by 15 Councilmembers, will bring accountability, professionalism and transparency to a broken assessment and abolished the BRT and created two new agencies - the Office of Property Assessment and the Board of Property Assessment Appeals. The Office of Property Assessment will take over property tax assessment and appeals functions from the BRT as of October 1st, 2010, assuming the voters approve the Charter change in May. Both the bill as introduced and the amended version before Council today benefited immensely from the significant input of numerous Councilmembers and their staff. Today, City Council took the crucial step to ensure that citizens of Philadelphia will have a property tax system that they can trust, that adheres to the highest standards of professionalism and under which all citizens are treated equally. When voters step into the polling places next May, they will have the opportunity to implement long overdue reform to Philadelphia's property tax fact, this reform has been attempted since the Administration of Joe Clark in the early 1950s, and it is City Council that brought this reform to the citizens of Philadelphia to ensure a fair property tax system. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. There's a play called "In What the Wine-Sellers Buy," and the quote that comes to mind is, by the time the suckers catch on to the game, the players have disbursed. In each attempt, whether we're in the federal government or in private sector and in Roman times when the mob calls for blood and calls for some action, they go to the dungeons and drag up some prisoners and feed them to the lions and call them reform and call them progress, without ever dealing with the critical issue of providing bread to the masses. In this case, I was a co-sponsor of that bill, and I support reform. I ran without party support and won. I have often gone against the tide, but all too often when we call ourselves fixing a thing, we find the poorest of us, the working person, and say if we slaughter them, this will fix the problem. But I consider that a quick fix. The true heavy lifting will come when we come to full valuation. Before we declare victory of reform, those things need to happen, and as a former supporter of that legislation, it saddens me that we often do it on the backs of the people. It's wrong when Enron does it, it's wrong when AIG does it, and it's wrong when we in the City of Philadelphia in order to deal with a long-term problem, a quick fix on the backs of the people.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. I'd just like to say that I thank Councilman Kenney for his comments and for his vigilance on the issue in South Philadelphia High School, and I certainly want to thank Councilwoman Blackwell for her hard work in keeping true to her commitment to the least of these. She has taken on the issue of the homeless and those who are without for the many years -- the number of years she's been on this Council and has worked diligently to see that they are provided services wherever those services are needed. What she does each year is a Yeoman's job, and it takes a lot of work and effort to recruit all those people who help. So I want to thank her. say congratulations -- I mean to say happy holidays to all my colleagues and wish them well and that we look forward to year 2010 and the actions and behaviors of this Council next year. We wish everybody a happy holiday.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I had opted not to speak on this issue until my colleague did, but let me say that as we know, the numbers were the School District currently employs 76 people. The numbers were 80 to 88. They tell me now it's 76, who deal with -- who are affected by this bill today. These employees participate in a benefits program provided by the School District to its employees, including a pension plan, medical insurance and other benefits. This bill these workers who take the test are assured a job at the new assessment office and does not assure that all of them will be unemployed. We've seen it many, many times in the past. And those that are retained are not assured that their employment with the new office will be under the same terms and conditions of employment compensation or the right to participate in political activities on their own time, which I strongly believe is a violation of their constitutional right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. BRT reform should not come, Madam President and my colleagues, at the expense of the low-level employees at the Board of Revision. They're low level because they're not paid the -- we talk about it all the time. These are people, in spite of an editorial that said these well-paid employees, these are employees who make $22,000, $23,000 a year and who level of 36,000, if they last more than 20 years. I do not believe that when there are budget problems, when there are organizational problems, when there are any problems dealing with departments in the City, dealing with how departments are run, that they should be corrected on the backs of those least able to defend themselves and least able to pay. I believe this is the wrong way to go. I have from the beginning. If we wanted to talk about who runs BRT, if we wanted to talk about how all of that is operated, all of that should be done and corrected. This bill does not ensure job protection for those least able to defend themselves. I will never support, never support -- and I can hear Lucien Blackwell saying it, Look out for the poor and see that they get justice. I will never support legislation that victimizes people who did not cause a problem but do a good job city, to provide information, to provide all kinds of jobs, whether it be in the street assessing properties, whether it be at their desks on their computers doing the job they're required to do. I think it is unfair, unconscionable, dishonest and immoral to victimize people who are doing a good job because we feel that the agency has not been run correctly. Therefore, I'm sorry that my colleagues did not agree with me, but we feel it is important that somebody has to speak up. Somebody has to speak out for those who can't speak out for themselves, and I think it is my moral responsibility to do that. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank my opinions on the significant reform that City Council undertook today. I'm very proud of this legislation. If only the legislation had dealt with the issues they discussed. It did not, and I think that City Council took a significant move forward today for the citizens of Philadelphia, and I want to thank my colleagues who supported it.
In the spirit of the holidays, I'm not going to respond, and say happy holidays.
Thank you. Anyone else would like to be recognized? (No response.)
Seeing no one and in the spirit of the holidays, I'm going to recognize Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I move that Council stand adjourned until January 28th, 10:00 a.m., 2010. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, January 28th, 2010. All in favor please say aye. (Aye.)
Thank you. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.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 December 17, 2009, 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.)