Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes.
Bill No. 080624, an ordinance amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code by amending the provisions of Chapter 33, including provisions relating to the protection of 12/11/08 - STATED - 2ND READING pedestrians, all under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes.
Bill No. 080880, an ordinance authorizing the installation of all-way stop signs at the intersection of 22nd Street and Cherry Street.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will call the roll.
Councilman 12/11/08 - STATED - 2ND READING DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Aye.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. This completes our Calendar for today. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes
Madam President, I'll be very brief. The Youth Study Center, Philadelphia's secure detention center, is designed to provide temporary care, custody and control for alleged young people 13 years and over. Currently, one of our talk radio stations in the City, WURD, under the leadership of Thera Martin, is organizing a book drive, because the young people there do not have books. So during this holiday season, the appeal is for those of us who have used books at home that are sitting on our library shelves, if we could please remember to send them to the Youth Study Center so that those young people there while awaiting court action can be engaged in their studies. Happy holidays. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam. I'm going to be brief, because I see my colleagues have suffered long and hard this year. But I wanted to say that this Council has done some good work. Earlier this year you pointed out the need -- and this Council unanimously agreed -- the need to look into the Sheriff sale situation, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people are in their homes this holiday season because of the good works of this Council. I'd like to warn us in the upcoming year that there have been federal bailouts, $700 billion, for Wall Street and bankers and there's going to be bailouts for the auto industry, but none of those bailouts, none of them, have actually helped small-town people, people in inner cities, people living below the poverty line yet. If the Obama Administration's hope and promise is that they will turn relief, that spigot of relief, we need to be building the baskets now so that we benefit from it. It's time, as Bilal Qayyum talked about this week, to relook at the CEDA program, the old Welfare-to-Work programs to train our workforce to take advantage of jobs that Councilwoman Brown talks about as green jobs and others that you talk about in the health industry. But if we do nothing, if we don't prepare our workforce to take advantage of it, it will mean nothing to the people in the cities and neighborhoods that it's meant to help. Thank you and have a good, prosperous holiday.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to put the context. I believe that this body has been extraordinarily supportive of the Administration. We have agreed with 99.85 percent of every single priority and spending program in the Five-Year Plan. We have passed, almost unanimously, every single revenue enhancement that the Administration has proposed, and I think Councilman Jones wanted people to know that we are working with the Administration to solve the problem together, and I think we have acted in that spirit. Of the 0.15 percent where we have a disagreement with the Administration, 12 members of City Council propose that the Library save $8 million, the same savings proposed by the Administration, through a shared-sacrifice model rather than ripping libraries out of working-class neighborhoods. NBC National News had a story noted that in these economic times, library use is up 40 percent nationally. We are not rightsizing. We are blind downsizing. We have 75 percent of the population as 1960 and one-third as many -- that's two-thirds fewer -libraries than that time, when you take into account all the libraries and librarians that were in our school system at that time. Almost all of the comparison cities provided by Ms. Reardon have libraries staffed with library professionals in 100 percent of their public schools. We are at less than 50 percent in our public schools. Twelve members of this body called for hearings so an open and honest debate can occur on this issue. We understand that the leaders of City Council are unwilling to schedule a hearing on the library resolution passed out of Council last week while Council is recess, which means that the hearing won't take place until after the 11 libraries at issue are scheduled to close. In this case, our elected leadership should ensure that the Administration respects the wishes of 12 members of this body and uses our shared-sacrifice model to achieve the necessary savings in the Free Library's budget until we are able to have the hearings called for in the resolution and pursue the appropriate open and transparent process. I would also like to ask our leadership to put in place a dialogue and -- an opportunity for dialogue and a process for discussing additional cuts that the Mayor says may be necessary publicly prior to final decisions being made so stakeholders can share their ideas and provide input and we can help the Mayor achieve the necessary savings in the spirit of cooperation that we believe we have been working in. you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you very much. Today is the President's Christmas party and always tomorrow, for those who will be in town, we always have ours the next day so that we give the President her respect, and certainly we invite all staff and all Councilpeople who are here to ours, which will begin at noon, our office party. But I really rose because my colleague mentioned the issue that I'm most concerned with, and that's homelessness and people in need. And as many of you know, we do every year a big affair, a big party, a dinner, fun time for homelessness. That will be on December 18th. The City has opted not to do its anymore, so we are it for the City of Philadelphia. The minimal number of are homeless is 3,000. We're never below 3,000. So we'll serve between 3,000 and 4,000 people, men, women and children, and certainly that will be on December 18th at 3:00 at the Convention Center, and we invite anyone to attend who would like to attend and to help out who can. And let me thank everyone who has contributed. We have so many people across the City who have contributed, from unions to people like the PFT, just across the board that we want to recognize for helping us to get all that we need for a crowd so large, and we're very grateful to them and grateful to everybody, and certainly wish you all a blessed holiday season.
Thank you very much. Certainly we wish all of you a very happy holiday, and enjoy yourselves while you're away. Have a good time when you come back. Clarke for a motion to adjourn.
All right. Thank you, Madam President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, January 22nd, 10:00 a.m., 2009. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The motion is carried. Good day, and have a happy holiday. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 2:40 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 11, 2008, 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.)