Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members present voting in the affirmative, the bill 4/4/13 - STATED - 2ND READING passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of Bill No. 120825.
An ordinance authorizing the Concession Agreement regarding the Burholme Park Golf Center between the City of Philadelphia and Burholme Golf & Family Entertainment Center to have an Initial Term of ten years and, at the City's option, up to two Renewal Terms of five years each.
This bill has been read on two separate days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, please call the roll.
Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez. 4/4/13 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120796.
An ordinance amending Section 19-2604 of The Philadelphia Code relating to tax rates and credits for the Business Income and Receipts Tax by providing a credit for 4/4/13 - STATED - 2ND READING contributions to non-profit organizations engaged in developing and implementing healthy food initiatives.
Thank you. This bill has been read on two separate days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, do you have any additional resolutions?
A resolution honoring, recognizing and commending the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society for its dedication to saving and protecting neglected animals and its service as an active and effective resource for disadvantaged pets, introduced by Councilman Johnson.
On behalf of my puppy Sasha Blue, I move for the 4/4/13 - STATED - 2ND READING adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution authorizing a joint hearing between Council's Committees on Education and Global Opportunities and the Creative/Innovative Economy to hold hearings to examine best practices in education on a global basis to determine how they may be implemented to establish world class public education in Philadelphia, introduced by Councilman Oh.
Thank you very much. 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. Any speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
none, I see we are back online. Are there any speeches on the part of the majority? Maybe we're not online. Jones first? Premature. Councilman Jones.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. We just passed Bill No. 120822, which readjusts some of the freezing of interest when people make agreements in our Revenue Department. That wasn't the first revenue bill that I'm proud of that this body passed. We passed a bill in 2010 called the Internship Tax Credit, which would allow summer youth, whether in high school or college, to be employed by businesses in a private-sector manner to get $600 worth of credit. And as you know, you have been a strong proponent and this Council has been a strong proponent of interns getting an opportunity to work with lawmakers, but the private sector. The Mayor and others have a goal of 10,000 jobs this summer for young people. We're currently funding about 5,000. This Internship Tax Credit has an opportunity to go out to the private sector, incentivize them to pick up a young person for the summer or any part of the year. We signed this into law in 2010. The regs just were written finally that will include 2013. We will be introducing an amendment to extend it to 2014 to be able to provide this kind of opportunity for young people. They'll be able to get a minimum of $8 an hour, not to exceed 40 percent of their total compensation. It may not seem like a lot, but the difference between an internship that is done by a low- and moderate-income person often is the ability to have lunch and transportation to and from. This more than does that and puts a little change in their pockets for things like or books when they go back to school. This is a step in the right direction to motivate businesses to employ young people and for some of our brightest and best not to go other places to seek opportunity. So I want to thank the prior Council for passing. I want to thank the Administration for writing the regs, and I want to thank you in advance, Council, for an extension to include 2014 in this worthwhile tax credit. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. First, let me thank Glenn Ellis, who was here earlier and who handed me a letter dated December 16th, 1993 to Glenn Ellis from the late and great Lucien E. Blackwell as a member of Congress in supporting Glenn Ellis with Supplement Health and Education Act of 1993. So I thank Glenn Ellis for giving me this letter so that I can make it a part of my Lucien E. Blackwell archives, which are everywhere in my life. And we're so happy, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, that they were talking about labeling dietary supplements and such, an issue that is close to your heart. The second thing I'd like to mention, I'd like to talk a little bit about school closures. We are well aware of the pain that we're going through with regard to school closings, and we thank all of those who have fought to keep more than a dozen schools open. Now we're down to 23. And we're especially happy that the head of PFT, Jerry Jordan, is here today, and we associate ourselves and agree with all the comments he must make, but we continue and we add that the battle still continues. We have to still be diligent. about the safety of our students in schools and their travels to and from schools. We're still concerned about whether or not more people will be hired to deal with safety personnel about how the School District is dealing with safe corridors. Many of us have done and worked with the community and the Police Department for years on safe corridors, but there's many more work that needs to be done in that area. We're still concerned about how children feel when they hear their schools will close and what the School District is going to compensate for that, and we still want to know overall their contingency plans and economic indicators being tracked to deal with school closings. How soon will the School District let the public know of their intentions if there are going to be even more additional schools in the future? And we still want to know about the to limit charter school funding. They've been successful in trying to make traditional schools and charter schools fight one another when we all represent the same children, and I'm always speaking against that. We have Dr. Walter D. Palmer, who is here today, who is part of obviously the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School and who has been granted the $91,000 and has been waiting on it for months to get his payment. So it's these kinds of issues that still concern us and that still make us realize that we have so much to do and we're well into April with regard to public schools and our future. I'd like to conclude by saying on Monday, there will be a press conference in our Caucus Room at 9:30, and this press conference will be sponsored by Orlando Acosta and Vernard Johnson, Respect Our Vote Movement group, to Harrisburg on Wednesday. And you've seen them around. If they're here, I hope they'll stand and be recognized, because they're behind this pole, as is Dr. Palmer. Orlando Acosta is in the hallway. And they are taking a trip to Harrisburg Wednesday to deal with school closures. I would like to thank the Majority Leader, Councilman Jones, who along with myself tried to help them sponsor the bus so that they may do what they've been fighting to do, and that is to fight to keep schools open. Having said that, thank you all, and I hope that you all will take a few minutes just to come and hear what they have to say on Monday morning at 9:30. Thank you very much, Mr. President and colleagues.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman
Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President and colleagues, today I'm continuing to advocate and emphasize the importance of doing everything humanly possible to ensure that the people have accurate property assessments under AVI. To me accurate assessments means assessments that are in line with what their homes would sell and appraise for. Otherwise, the residents of the City of Philadelphia as well as my constituents will never have confidence in this process, as well as us as a legislative body. Recently I was contacted by a constituent who purchased several properties from the Redevelopment Authority. The properties were all appraised in 2012 and was recently sold for what the City appraised them for. After the new property assessments by OPA, those same properties were valued at 33 to 143 percent higher than the appraised value and sale price given by the City in 2012, leaving my constituents to conclude that AVI is not about fairness or accuracy, but rather about generating more property tax revenue. To give you an example, all in the Point Breeze area, one property which was appraised by the Redevelopment Authority was appraised for 60,000. It was sold for 55,000, and in 2014, it was appraised by OPA at an assessment of 97,000. We had another property that was appraised by the Redevelopment Authority at 60,000, sold for 58,000, but was also appraised by the Office of Property Assessment at 93,000. Now, here's the kicker: You had another property that was appraised by the Redevelopment Authority at 42,000, sold for 46,000. Under OPA it was assessed at $109,700. Now, I attended a community of the constituents got up and talked about this process of property assessments and asked me, quite frankly, is the Administration and OPA using fuzzy math to come up with these property assessments. I didn't have an explanation for the disparity between the assessments and the appraised values of the homes that were given, but what I do know, that if this assessment process is working as intended, we will not see consistently, meeting after meeting, more than 90 percent of the residents who come out to these community meetings not talking about them paying their fair share but the inaccuracies of the assessments, house by house, block by block. So, again, my thought is that there's a flaw in the process. There's a flaw in the formula. The Administration, OPA need to let the public see what is the actual formula that they came up with when it comes to implementing AVI in properties, not only throughout the 2nd Councilmanic District but also throughout the surrounding districts that also are significantly impacted. So as we move forward in this process, in order for this process to be legitimate, I will continue to advocate and make sure that it's done right, this process is transparent. And it was even suggested why not at this particular time use these numbers, these first-year numbers, as an estimate as we work out those numbers that are inaccurate or seem not properly done throughout this process. So my staff and I will be working with some other community groups to make sure that if we move forward, it's done accurately, it's done right, but at this particular time, I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the process in terms of how they went about going out. No one yesterday mentioned that anyone even came into their home, so how do you come up with these inflated numbers. And so I just wanted to make this statement for the record. We will continue advocating as we move through this process to make sure it's actually done right. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. Just quickly on the AVI issue. Mr. McKeithen was quoted this week in the paper and I think said it at a Council hearing that people who file first-level appeals should be careful, because if they file a first-level appeal and information is brought to OPA, Property Assessments Office attention, they might have their assessment raised further than it's been already. unfortunate, it's unfair. I think these folks that we go to these community meetings and hear their tales of whoa are older, they're working families, they're not wealthy people, and they've been whacked with -in their opinion, whacked with a property assessment that's far above their ability to pay based on the Mayor's requested or suggested millage rate. But for a public official to be making more than just a veiled threat in writing in the newspaper quoted, is that you'd better be careful, if you want to challenge our assessments, we may just turn around and raise them even higher, I think is extremely, extremely bad taste. It's not something that a public official should be doing. And these people -- our people are frightened enough out there with this process without holding that hammer over their head. So I wish he would refrain from saying it and perhaps even issue some statement of retraction, wrong. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. We spoke to both these issues that were mentioned by my colleagues in our Council sessions and here on our Stated Meeting day, and certainly as we've said, in all the meetings I've attended and been a part of, we haven't met one family who had someone come to their home, and when the question was asked on budget, to assess their property, they said maybe they did 10 or 12 or 15 percent. I haven't met one person in my district who said somebody came to their house. And as Councilman Kenney said, I read the article. To threaten people is unconscionable. Not only that, I've had members from neighborhood papers all over to USP where the meeting was scheduled that the Administration set up, not through me, and we had five community groups - Spruce Hill, Walnut Hill, Garden Court, Cedar Park, and Clark Park - and other owners and property and interested committed people in University City there. Not one person heard any threat given to Mr. McKeithen as the reason as to why they refuse to come in the 3rd District. I know the Administration doesn't want to hear me say this, but you started it, I didn't, and it is unconscionable that you choose areas that you all decide to visit in my district. I go to all the meetings I hear about, many churches, many other groups. Community organizations are still giving meetings. We will continue to go and I will continue to speak against the Administration representing my district, because if I don't agree, that means then you don't come. What nonsense is that? forum here, and we have a right and a responsibility to fight for the views of the people who elect us here. I'm clear on why I'm here. I'm clear on what my role is. And as long as I'm here, I will continue to try to represent the people in the 3rd District who elect me. If they have a problem with that, then that's their problem. It certainly isn't mine. But to set the record straight, I agree with the comments made by Councilman Johnson and Kenney and certainly reiterate, nobody heard Mr. McKeithen threatened. Nobody knows where it came from. I've checked with many, many people, and there are many astute people in my district. That was the University City area meeting that the Administration set up. And they claim this threat that caused police to -- us to spend more dollars for all this police protection about a threat that only they very much.
Thank you, Councilwoman. There are no other speeches. I'm having a challenge with our technology. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
I certainly want to reiterate the issue around AVI is around protecting residents, and for that reason, I want to thank Council President and the Administration. We have a lot of work to do around educating folks around this. I am extremely concerned. And I want to thank Council President and his staff for continuing to pull data from us. I have 22,000 people who have not applied for homestead. Homestead represents a $400 saving. So while we're going to continue to debate the issue of AVI, we also need to do our best to reach these that people, at the end of the day, get protected. So I want to encourage the Administration to continue to do more, and I will continue to push them. I want to thank the Council President for allowing us the resources to continue to reach out to our residents. And the goal should be that we protect everyone. So let's make sure we get everyone the senior freeze and the homestead application. I encourage all my colleagues -- that's the one issue we agree on, that we need to protect people, so let's make sure we help the Administration get to those folks. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. There are no other speeches. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown. For a motion or for a speech?
I feel compelled as well to underscore this notion of education and to put my former teacher hat on for five seconds. It takes children seven times to hear something before they actually get it. And as I have attended a couple of these AVI community meetings, my heart breaks for seniors who are anguished and scared that they are, A, not aware of what the protections are; B, clearly not familiar with the deadlines; and, C, actually need help in the completion of the applications. So I would also underscore the request and urge the Administration to do the layering. I mean, some of us get it it, others of us get it by reading it, and then others of us get it through some kind of art form. Enough work has not been done to ensure that seniors in particular, veterans, those on fixed incomes are aware of the protections in place. We simply have not done enough of the work. So I want to also thank you and put on the record the work that you have in mind for members of your team to alert citizens around the City about the homestead act and others, we have not done the work. We've been talking about this for three years. I was surprised to learn that there are many of our citizens who were completely unaware that we've been having dialogue, conversations, debates, and arguments about how we implement AVI. So there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in informing citizens that the reality is here, it's in front of us, and we got to, as the street, get with the program, but we can only have them get with the program if they are fully armed with the accurate current information. With that, Mr. President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, April the 11th, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, 10:00 a.m., 2013, April 11th. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Council is adjourned. Thank you all 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 104:1 Ali 57:17,20,24 65:6 67:25 art 103:4 Abernathy 58:6 Administration 62:4,17 69:15 71:3 article 97:23 59:4,5,6,21,22 31:12 34:22 Allison 2:8 application asked 60:7 93:4 60:7 62:5 49:18 86:10 allow 84:18 101:14 97:17 ability 54:11 70:8 93:5,22 98:4,13 allowing 101:9 applications assess 97:17 85:22 96:9 98:23 99:22 alternative 21:11 102:22 assessed 92:24 able 58:22 68:25 100:16 101:6,18 56:9 applied 100:21 assessing 94:2 85:14,16 102:24 altogether 55:8 apply 39:12 assessment 92:13 absence 6:23 7:5 administrations alum 8:24 105:20 92:19 93:11 7:13 46:19 amassing 9:10 appraise 91:13 95:24 96:9 absolutely 59:24 adopted 11:20 ambassadors appraised 60:3,10 assessments 102:8 71:2 72:7 73:9 11:9 91:22,23 92:3 38:17 91:10,11 accepting 10:19 82:13 83:16 ambitions 3:17 92:10,11,13,16 91:11,24 93:4,7 accompanying adoption 70:15 amen 5:11,12 92:18,21 93:9 93:9,18 95:23 8:6 13:11 71:20 72:23 amend 36:20 appreciate 7:19 96:16 accomplishments 82:2 83:4 amended 42:12 18:19 19:5,12 assets 52:3 11:8 adult 15:21 amending 24:12 22:16 23:8 assignment 42:8 accounts 51:22 adults 15:10 24:15,18,25 approached assistance 64:11 accuracy 92:6 advance 86:11 27:18,20 34:9 45:24 50:22 64:12 accurate 91:9,10 advantage 60:15 35:12,18,25 53:10 57:19 associate 87:21 104:5 advise 23:25 36:3,13 37:6 62:25 65:12 associated 67:13 accurately 94:21 advisor 52:20 38:22 39:2,9,11 68:6 astute 99:20 105:5 advocacy 14:18 73:13 78:22 appropriate Athletic 10:5 achievement 10:8 17:14,21 54:2 amendment 42:2 27:24 32:13,23 attached 42:22 11:2 advocate 91:6 42:9 85:13 33:5,16 35:22 attendance 7:24 acknowledge 94:9 amendments 36:10 39:6 attended 60:5 18:24 55:7 advocated 16:20 24:25 25:3 62:10 92:25 97:14 Acosta 89:24 90:7 advocating 95:7 35:18,20 73:17 appropriations 102:15 act 51:21 87:3 affirmative 75:25 America 15:18 25:5,9,16,23 attending 21:16 103:14 78:17 81:10 American 63:6 26:5 31:19 32:6 attention 5:20 action 7:20 67:7 affordable 16:13 amount 47:10 32:16,25 33:8 18:23 62:12 active 29:22 81:19 afloat 63:20,24 and/or 105:22 approval 5:1,23 95:23 activist 63:7 afternoon 63:2 anguished 102:17 6:1 Auditor 54:16 activity 16:2 age 18:13 Animal 29:19 approved 6:9,14 authorities 61:10 actual 38:17 ago 20:14 61:19 81:16 6:21 Authority 30:15 93:24 agree 87:22 98:24 animals 29:21 approving 41:24 37:21 41:20 ad 3:14 99:14 101:16 81:18 April 1:7 24:2,5 42:5,6 58:4,14 add 33:25 87:23 Agreement 76:6 answering 3:12 89:18 104:8,14 61:2 71:10 adding 36:15 37:8 agreements 54:14 3:14 archives 87:6 72:13 91:21 addition 20:7 67:14 70:11 appeal 95:21 area 18:8,8 36:23 92:11,17,22 21:9 53:19 84:13 appeals 95:20 39:13 68:24 Authorization additional 44:9 ahead 60:19 appearance 9:15 88:13 92:9 39:4 48:9 81:13 aid 66:23 Applause 12:3,24 99:21 authorizing 25:4 88:24 Alabama 46:24 19:7,14 22:22 areas 36:22 98:16 25:8,15,22 26:4 adjourned 104:7 47:19,23 48:17 49:21 arguments 28:3 30:12 104:13,21,23 alert 51:15 103:12 50:17 53:7 57:3 103:20 31:19 32:6,16 ADJOURNME...