And a resolution honoring and celebrating the life and accomplishments of Peggy Amsterdam.
The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Madam President. I ask for a standing resolution.
Thank you. Those standing will be voting in favor of the adoption of the resolution. (All Councilmembers standing.)
The resolution is adopted. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I have one bill and one resolution.
The Chief Clerk will please read the title of the bill.
An ordinance authorizing Charles Weiner to construct, own and maintain a building encroachment at 3653 Germantown Avenue.
The bill will be referred to the appropriate committee.
And a resolution approving the redevelopment contract and disposition supplement of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia for the redevelopment and urban renewal of a portion of the Model Cities Urban Renewal Area, designated as Parcel No. 683.
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. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of the resolution.
A resolution recognizing, honoring, celebrating, and thanking Robert Capanna on the occasion of his retirement as Executive Director of Settlement Music School.
Madam President, I move for the adoption of this resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. There are no reports from committees. Therefore, the next order of business is special business. Council will proceed under a special order of business, a resolution re-calling Bill No. 090568-AA. Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer one resolution, and because this resolution was not circulated yesterday, I move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit consideration of the resolution at this time. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of Councilman Kenney's resolution. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The Clerk will please read the of the resolution.
A resolution requesting the Mayor to return to Council Bill No. 090568-AA for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
Thank you, Madam President. I move 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 has been passed. Clerk will please read the letter from the Mayor.
To the President and members of the Council of the City of Philadelphia, I am returning herewith, as requested by your resolution adopted January 28, 2010, Bill No. 090568-AA, entitled "An ordinance amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code by requiring the periodic inspection of the exterior walls and appurtenances of certain buildings, the filing of reports of such inspections, and the repair and maintenance of certain conditions discovered during such inspections, all under certain terms and conditions," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
I'm For a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 090568-AA was passed.
All in favor please signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the motion carries and the vote by which Bill No. 090568-AA was passed has been reconsidered. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for an amendment.
I'm looking for the amendment, Madam President. I move the adoption of the amendment, Madam President. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 090568-AA be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and Bill No. 090568-AA has been amended. This bill will be placed on our Final Passage Calendar for our next session of Council. We will now consider a resolution re-calling Bill No. 090777, and the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer one resolution, and because this resolution was not circulated yesterday, I move that rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of the resolution at this time. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of Councilwoman Sanchez's resolution. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the Clerk will please read the title of the resolution. (Pause.)
We will return to Councilwoman Sanchez's resolution. Rather than just be kept waiting, I think we ought to proceed with the Calendar as we have it. will now consider a resolution re-calling Bill No. 090691-AA. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer one resolution, and because this resolution was not circulated yesterday, I move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration at this time. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of Councilman Clarke's resolution. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the Chief Clerk will please read the title of the resolution.
A resolution requesting the Mayor to return to Council Bill No. 090691-AA for the purpose of reconsideration of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
Madam President, I move 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.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. Chief Clerk will please read the letter from the Mayor.
To the President and members of the Council of the City of Philadelphia, I am returning herewith, as requested by your resolution adopted January 28, 2010, Bill No. 090691-AA, entitled "An ordinance amending Section 9-605 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Towing,' and Section 12-2405, entitled 'Removal or Immobilization of Parked Vehicles; Notice,' to prohibit the towing of vehicles identified as reported stolen unless an attempt has been made by the Police to give the vehicle owner an opportunity to recover the vehicle before the vehicle is towed," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 090691-AA was passed.
The ayes have it. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the motion carries and the vote by which Bill No. 090691-AA was passed has been reconsidered. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I offer an amendment to Bill No. 090691-AA. A copy of this amendment has been circulated to all members of Council. Before I move for the adoption, essentially this amendment will set an effective date for the towing bill. The version didn't have an effective date. The effective date will be 30 days after the passage of the bill. It will give time to the Administration to work on mechanisms in order to adopt the program. So with that, Madam President, I move for the adoption of the amendment. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 090691-AA be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and Bill No. 090691-AA has been amended. This bill will be placed on the Final Passage Calendar for our next session of Council. going to have to bear with me a moment. I think Councilwoman Sanchez is waiting for her amendments. (Pause.)
So there's no confusion about what we're doing, I think we ought to start from the beginning.
Thank you. We will now consider a resolution re-calling Bill No. 090777. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. I will try this again. I offer a resolution, and because this resolution was not circulated, I move that the rules of Council be suspended to allow consideration at this time. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of Councilwoman Sanchez's resolution. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the Clerk will please read the title of the resolution.
A resolution requesting the Mayor to return to Council Bill No. 090777 for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
I move 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.)
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Clerk will please read the letter from the Mayor.
To the President and members of the Council of the City of Philadelphia, I am returning herewith, as requested by your resolution adopted January 28, 2010, Bill No. 090777, entitled "An ordinance amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions,' to eliminate and revise various licensing and enforcement requirements and to provide fees for various licenses and permits, and to make technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions," for the purpose of reconsideration of the Council by which said bill passed Council.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez for a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 090777 was passed.
All in favor will please indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the motion carries and the vote by which Bill No. 090777 was passed has been reconsidered. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 090777. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all the members of Council and I move for the adoption of the amendment. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 090777 be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and Bill No. 090777 has been adopted. This bill will be placed on our Final Passage Calendar for our next session of Council. We will now consider a resolution re-calling Bill No. 090841. The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer one resolution, and because the resolution was not circulated yesterday, I move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration at this time. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of Councilwoman Sanchez's resolution. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and the Chief Clerk will please read the title of the resolution.
A resolution requesting the Mayor to return to Council Bill No. 090841 for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
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.)
The ayes have it and the resolution has been passed. The Chief Clerk will please read the letter from the Mayor.
To the President and members of the Council of the City of Philadelphia, I am returning herewith, as requested by your resolution adopted January 28, 2010, Bill No. 090841, entitled "An ordinance amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code by adopting the '2009 Pennsylvania Uniformed Construction Code' through the adoption of the 2009 edition of certain International Codes as published by the International Code Council, with amendments thereto, all under certain terms and conditions," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez for a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 090841 was passed.
All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the motion carries and the vote by which Bill No. 090841 was passed has been reconsidered. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 090841. A copy of amendment has been circulated and I move for the adoption of the amendment. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 090841 be adopted. All in favor will please indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and Bill No. 090841 has been amended. This bill will be placed on the Final Passage Calendar for our next session of Council. We now will consider a resolution re-calling Bill No. 090691 -I'm sorry. The next order of business is the consideration of the Calendar. There are no bills on the First Reading 1/28/10 - STATED - 2ND READING Calendar for today. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for the purpose of calling up bills on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar.
Thank you, Madam President. Bill Nos. 090844 and 090467 are being called up for Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar today. All other bills are being held.
Thank you. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Bill No. 090844.
An ordinance authorizing Joseph Vento, owner of Geno's Steaks, to legalize various existing sidewalk encroachments located on a triangular parcel bounded on two sides by Ninth Street and East Passyunk Avenue.
Thank you. This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is 1/28/10 - STATED - 2ND READING shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 090467.
An ordinance amending Title 19 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Finance, Taxes and Collections," by adding a new Chapter providing for the recovery of enhanced monetary damages from persons who file false or fraudulent claims with the City.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. That completes our Calendar for today. the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. Last night I had the honor and privilege of attending the first State of the Union address by President Barack Obama. He talked about many of his public policy agenda items, and it was fascinating to see how prominently in some cases Philadelphia and Pennsylvania was mentioned. Recently, my colleague and Chair of the Fiscal Stability Committee, Councilman Clarke, held hearings dealing with the impact of the stimulus dollars coming from the federal government and an effort for Philadelphia to be better prepared to receive those dollars coming pike, and in that process, I thank leadership for allowing me to be the appointee to work with the Steering Committee on Recovery with the Administration. I am pleased to report that we went from a question mark to an exclamation point over the past months. We have managed to be recognized similar to what we did with the mortgage foreclosure program where HUD recognized Philadelphia as a model for dealing with foreclosures. We are now being recognized as a blueprint for how cities and governments can utilize stimulus money. We have pulled together a briefing for Council to be held in the Caucus Room February 2nd at 2:00 p.m. for the Administration, Dr. Barnett and Steve Agostini, to talk about what specifics we have done, but just to whet your appetite, we already know about the $300 million going to the School Board. We $300 million for highways; SEPTA $190 million; PECO $200 million for 600,000 "smart" meters that will tell people how to better conserve energy during peak periods of consumption; $43 million for Housing Stabilization Fund; 27 million for small business loans, rebates and green works; 26 million on a high-speed rail line from Harrisburg connecting Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. I've introduced a resolution, however, today to do one other component that is still undone, and that deals with the 24 percent poor population in the City of Philadelphia. We need to call upon Harrisburg to draw down on the $360 million eligible for TANF funds to do good things like job training, summer youth jobs, to take folk on assistance to move them to self-sufficiency, job training and the like, which MOCS desperately needs to bring about a change in that 24 percent population. a good job, but I think that we still have work yet undone. So we need to keep up our speed to do the recovery so that people not just on Wall Street, Main Street, but on my street get that relief. Thank you.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam President. This past Sunday night I witnessed the installation of the first African American head of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, Dr. Audrey Bronson. And in her talk, she talked about the book of Isaiah and the passage from it that began or that said "Watchman, what of the night." And she went on to describe the Black Clergy's role in society and in Philadelphia and in political debate in terms of standing on the wall, looking forward to try to happening, but also informing citizens or informing parishioners and other people about what's happening in the City, and it got me thinking about an important role that we have here in City Council, and, that is, our oversight authority and especially in the context of the upcoming budget season. I'm very proud of the way Council worked together to stand on the wall to prevent the closure of libraries, the way Council stood on the wall together not just to prevent bad things from happening but also to inform the citizens and engage in a debate and exchange of ideas and public policy. And we were able to sort of win that public policy debate with the public by warning them about what was coming and providing facts and figures. And it's my sincere wish that the Nutter Administration use the time that they now have before they're planning to give us the budget address to work with Council so that the our constituents are interested in are reflected in the budget presented to us so that we can work together in that time to avoid the acrimony and disputes that occurred after last year's budget address. So I would ask them to do that, and I would look forward to working with them in that process to try to reflect the sentiments that we know we think will bring -- that are reflected in the budget. So with respect to the upcoming budget process and our work, I say to my colleagues, Watchmen, what of the night. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I am reminding my colleagues that we still have our Partnership for Prescription Assistance constituents who need prescription help. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Very briefly, Madam President. I just want to state that while Councilman Jones was down there flitting around with the hoity-toities and enjoying the pleasure of watching the President in person deliver his State of the Union message, I want to give a shout out to Jeff Brown, the owner of ShopRite, a number of them throughout the City and the State. He was right there behind Mrs. Obama, and that is because he is working with our State Representative Dwight Evans, who introduced a fresh food initiative in the state, which has provided support money for grocery stores to open throughout the State of Pennsylvania in neighborhoods So we're proud that the Administration is looking at this initiative and hopefully will be supportive to replicate it throughout the country. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other speeches on the part of the majority? (No response.)
Before I recognize Councilman Clarke, I would just like to remind my colleagues that we do have a briefing in the Caucus Room immediately after Council sessions regarding the Fairmount Park and Recreation. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion to adjourn.