And a resolution proclaiming February 2014 as "American Heart Month" and proclaiming February 7, 2014 as "Wear Red Day in the City of Philadelphia," introduced by Councilman Jones.
The 2/6/14 - STATED - 2ND READING Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for its adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution authorizing Council's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings to examine Philadelphia's black homicide victimization rate, introduced by Councilman Jones on behalf of Councilman Johnson.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones. 2/6/14 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you again, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted.
And a resolution recognizing and congratulating Comcast Corporation on their $1.2 billion investment to build the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center to further solidify their commitment to the City of Philadelphia, introduced by Councilman Oh.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is also adopted.
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? And the Chair recognizes Councilman O'Brien.
Thank you, I introduced legislation to create a Vacant Property Task Force charged with compiling an inventory and database of such properties. It also calls for an inspection team with specific responsibilities to mark and make secure large abandoned structures. The District Attorney released his grand jury report earlier this week and it made several references to my legislation in its recommendations. This makes me all the more confident that my legislation is appropriate and needed to increase safety in our neighborhoods and reduce the risk presented to our firefighters and our first responders. I look forward to working with all the stakeholders in Council to make this bill the best it can be and have it enacted into law. Continuing on my focus on the Fire Department, today I introduced a resolution calling for public hearings to use of post incident critiques after major incidents. I believe we need to look at the impact they can have upon the training and preparedness of firefighters and other first responder personnel of the Fire Department. I believe the Fire Department has a duty to its members and the community to systemically evaluate major incidents and communicate the findings to all relevant emergency personnel through a post incident critique. A critique is a fact-finding exercise to collect information that forms a picture of the major incident and how personnel responded from both the tactical and operational standpoint. The lessons learned from the experience are then constructively -- they're used constructively to correct deficiencies, highlight good practices, and influence training and education. Philadelphia recorded an deaths in 2013, and the annual number of fires in the City continues to decline. However, the reduction of fires subsequently leads to less actual firefighting experience for firefighters. The Fire Department is in the midst of a senior personnel transition due to a high amount of retirements. As staff leaves the department, they take their command and operation experience. The post incident critique can help fill that experience void by conducting routine after-action reviews, document problems encountered, and successful actions taken. Critiques allow for training and learning opportunities to improve plans, procedures, and outcomes based upon real experiences in Philadelphia. I believe it is crucial to the safety and protection of the citizens of Philadelphia to have firefighters, whose job often requires them to lay down their others, to be trained in the most effective firefighting methods and protocols. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Oh.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'd like to recognize that our Council acts as a body, and part of that is the discussion that we have and the interfacing that we do, sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing, but at the end, making votes, hard choices, and coming up with solutions. One of the biggest issues on all of our minds has been the well-being of our residents and citizens in terms of jobs and wages and how we're going to deal with this economic struggle that we have, and many Councilpeople here have offered solutions. Piggybacking off of discussion, I introduced a bill today to reduce wage taxes, wage and net profit taxes, on residents of Philadelphia by $100 million over the next ten years, $50 million immediately, followed by $50 million over the next ten years, and I believe that this can be done without increasing any other taxes. My bill reduces wage tax for employees and net profit tax for individuals that will see the rate go from 3.92 percent in 2014 to 2.09 percent in 2025. With the median household income in Philadelphia being $34,207, the annual wage in PICA tax being paid is $1,340. The reductions that I'm advocating, along with the conclusion or the end of the PICA tax in 2023, will result in a savings to the average family of $626 per year every year after this ten-year period is over. But for an employer of 500 workers, that is an immediate savings at that point in time $318,000. When more Philadelphians have disposable income in their pockets, they will spend more money at local stores and businesses. In addition, employers will have a greater opportunity to retain both high-quality talent and every other worker who lives in Philadelphia. This is the most practical way to drive our economy and benefit our residents and do so in a way that does not increase other taxes. Experts agree that Philadelphia's tax system is too complex and too business unfriendly at this time, especially for the residents who live and work in our city. In 2003 and 2009, Tax Reform Commissions were established and provided a series of recommendations to simplify our tax system, but these recommendations have not been implemented. Of these recommendations in both reports, there was a need to reduce the personal wage and net profit tax on on making Philadelphia a more globally competitive city, Professor Robert Inman of the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania stated that even a slight reduction of wage tax could result in adding roughly 5,000 jobs to this city every year. When we take a look at the reduction of $5 million in wage taxes every year for ten years for the 50 million to add to the other 50 million, the creation, even at the average household income of $34,000, is roughly $4.1 million. So we can afford to do this. There are additional benefits that doesn't include sales tax and rents and other type of things. Business owners and economic experts have consistently testified that Philadelphia's wage tax is so detrimental and that by reducing it, we would actually add jobs, grow the economy. issue, I believe that this solution of reducing these taxes in particular is the solution that our city needs to address the issue identified to us by Econsult and others that by 2021, this city will see the loss of 75,000 jobs if we don't make a change. So with this, I hope that this reflects the discussions that we have all had, and I look forward to hearing from all of my colleagues as we continue under your leadership, Mr. President, to try to address the critical needs of our city. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones -- I'm sorry. Councilman Greenlee is next.
Thank you, Mr. President. This past Tuesday, the Law and Government Committee had hearings on the issue of indigent defense, and while I certainly want to his staff's hard work on this important issue, that's not really what I wanted to talk about. But when the Administration testified, Mr. Resnick in this case gave the Administration's testimony against those bills, and they certainly had the right to their opinion, but for some reason sprinkled throughout the whole testimony was their opposition to what they called our "political interference" in this issue. So I guess as elected officials, we're not allowed to try to be involved in something that's very important to citizens of the City of Philadelphia. And where Mr. Resnick said that he was not the one that actually wrote those words, couldn't remember who did, he also seemed kind of surprised that we were offended by those remarks. Well, whatever mystery man or woman wrote those words, it's hard to believe they did not understand the negative connotations that was in that. just because over these past years under your leadership, Mr. President, we have certainly worked together, and one of the reasons we've worked together is the respect we've shown to each other, even when we all always didn't agree with each other. We got some tough things coming up this spring besides the budget, which is also difficult. We got a lot of issues. And all I would say to the Administration is, we respect their position and the hard work that they have to do, and I hope they remember one thing, respect goes both ways. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Thank you, Mr. President. On any given day there is no shortage of things to be outraged about, but in light of the recent snow, I was preparing to take the train into town and wondered if I should carry my pocketbook. In light of the recent shootings around purse snatchings, I thought maybe I shouldn't, but quickly decided that I would. I wanted to say something to the, quote/unquote, "men" who felt that taking something, anything from any other person was acceptable, but since they haven't turned themselves in, I'll speak to them in their absence. So you must feel like a big man sticking a gun in a girl's face, which is terrorizing and traumatic in itself, but you didn't stop there, because being the little boy that you are, you pulled the trigger. In three acts around purse snatchings, two women were killed and one man was shot and injured coming to the aid of his girlfriend. Two men have been apprehended, but the rest of you are large, lurking and stalking women, your prey. Cowardly is the word that describes you. What kind of person are you? If you stuck a gun in a woman's face and pulled the trigger, how many other women have you terrorized before this point? If you've done this, I'm sure you've likely put your hands on a woman before. Who are you and what are you? Certainly not a man at all. A coward, a weakling, a punk, gutless, without a backbone, less than scum. There are other words that could be used to describe you, but I won't darken this Chamber by saying them. But, again, I ask, who are you and what are you? How could you be a man born of a woman? Where did you come from? And I have my thoughts on that matter as well. Maybe you were afraid. I guess you thought without a gun these girls would have put it on you and given you the behind kicking you deserved and what you deserve, I'm sure of that, and I ask you, was it worth it? Was it worth a life? Likely you got a couple of dollars, maybe a cell phone, maybe some makeup. It wasn't worth it. It never is, and you will pay. Our police will find you, our District Attorney will prosecute you, and all the lives will be changed forever because of your actions. Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair agrees. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I almost hate to speak after those remarks. Thank you very much. I wanted to announce two things. One, tonight -- and we're closing of schools -- we're having a meeting at Lea Elementary School, where I worked in my first life as a school teacher. Registration 5:30 and meeting that starts at 6:00 with regard to Wilson Elementary School. But I specifically wanted all of my colleagues to know and remind you that tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the Caucus Room, State Senator Vincent Hughes will provide a briefing on the state of affairs of school funding and what's going on at the state level. So I hope all those who can will come and join us tomorrow in the Caucus Room at 10:00. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez.
Thank you, Council President. I want to thank you and Councilman Kenney, Oh, and joined Asian Americans United and the Asian American Advancing Justice in releasing a new study called The State of Asian Americans in Philadelphia. I want to recognize their achievements in the fact that the Asian American community has grown. There are over 106,000 in the City of Philadelphia. They've grown 43 percent in 2000, 32 percent in 2010, first even to Latinos who have had about a 40 percent growth, while the rest of the population has grown about 1 percent. This community has become an important fabric of the City of Philadelphia. They represent over 8,500 businesses. They directly employ over 12,000 people, and commerce is estimated at anywhere between 250 million and above. In registration, we've seen a tremendous increase. Some of us would like to think the participation in the election of our colleague Councilman Oh do with that. Registration has increased 23 percent and turnout by 35 percent. These reports are important because it speaks to a community that is growing and is important to the City of Philadelphia, but it also highlights their challenges, which are now part of the challenges that the City overall faces. Eighty-four percent of their children tend to attend public schools. Forty-eight percent of Vietnamese and 52 percent of Cambodian adults don't have a high school diploma. Twenty-six percent of the community lives in poverty, and 47 percent are low income. This is Philadelphia's reality. Their growth has been important to the City. Their challenges are a reflection of the overall challenges that the City of Philadelphia faces. I continue to be committed to ensure that we work for all of the City and particularly these communities who many times feel language access, 47 percent of their community does not speak English, and I challenge all of us to continue to figure out how we are more inclusive of this growing and important demographic. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I applaud all of my colleagues today on thoughtful public policy issues. To listen to them let's the world know that they are thoughtful on different varying points of view. Particularly Councilman Oh talked about his ordinance for wage tax reductions, but I am reminded, Mr. President, that we've delayed the poverty wage tax cut for a number of years in light of dismal budget projections, and as we work our way out of a five- to seven-year recession, depends on who is counting, that we should not forget the poor. What I am discovering is a series of cascade failures, cuts for necessary programs like SNAP, aka food stamps. We have not passed the unemployment extension bill, which continues to bring Pennsylvania and Philadelphia families to the brink of their own fiscal cliff. I also raise the issue and join voices like Councilwoman Blackwell to talk about the poor in the City of Philadelphia, but I'm noticing that poverty has many faces, as spoken to by Councilwoman Sanchez. It's not those people anymore. It's all of us and more of us every day. We've talked about City workers even not getting raises and becoming a part of a potentially poor class of people that are working poor. We talked about senior citizens that retired in the fourth quarter of their life, only to to make a choice between heating their home and eating or medicating their illnesses. In today's Daily News, it's called upon the face of poverty has changed that has included people from Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and their poverty rate exceeds the City's poverty rate. It is troubling to me that the impact of poverty is hitting more and more people. Yesterday the U.S. Senate voted to approve a new five-year farm bill, which will pass and probably be passed in the House of Representatives, but what we don't understand or have not taken to account is that it has traumatic impact on Philadelphians. We're talking about a heat and eat program that used to exist. What it meant, Mr. President, was that if you qualified for LIHEAP, you could qualify for food stamps, and if you qualified for food stamps, you could get Enemies of the poor have separated that out so that you're no longer eligible for both, and they're beginning to take out again and again underpinnings that give a safety net for our most vulnerable. Eleven thousand nine hundred and ten people are on unemployment. So this vote today in the Senate -- in the U.S. is critical. They have not had an unemployment benefit since Christmas. Ironic, isn't it? On average, $314 a week are given to people on unemployment. That means a cumulative effect of $2,198 in cuts. And those cuts don't stop at the individuals that didn't receive unemployment, because they are consumers. Their disposable income is small. They go to the corner store. They spend money on gas bills. They buy food in local establishments. And so as we look at this in the chambers of the Senate, that we need that this is impacting people right here in our city. I look forward to working with the Mayor's Office of Community and Economic Opportunity to have what is an anti-poverty summit scheduled for this September. We will not look at, in earnest, wage cuts in good times if we can't look at anti-poverty impacts in bad times for all citizens of Philadelphia. So, yes, I want more jobs, but I don't want the negative impacts when people are pushed to the brink of poverty and even, in some cases, starvation and homelessness. This is a city of all of our people and we're going to look out for them all. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell again.
Thank you, Mr. President. I mentioned Senator meeting with Dr. Hite present tonight at Lea School, but I neglected to mention there will also be a meeting tonight at 6 o'clock, same time, at the Hardy Williams School at 54th and Arlington, the old Shaw. So you get two for the price of one. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Oh.
Thank you, Mr. President. I forgot to say something, but I just want to first say I thank Councilwoman Sanchez. Before I got elected, I was setting up meetings with her, taking my Asian American businesses, and we had so many times we went over to Councilwoman Sanchez, who was the acting Asian American Councilwoman. So thank you very much, Maria. And I wanted to just say best wishes to Councilman Bill Green, also is now the SRC Chair. And I especially want to say -- and many people, myself included, are happy about that, but I wanted to say to some people who may not find that like the best thing in the world at this point in time, we got to get rid of this Philly shrug thing. Let's go into this with full faith and full support for our new SRC Chairman. Let's back him up. Let's believe that he is going to do a great job for our schools, because we need it, and let's support him. I believe in Bill. Bill's a work in progress, like all of us are, but he needs our help. He needs our help. And he certainly has mine and I am happy to see him. I don't know who would take this job. He is taking this job and it's a tough, tough job, so important, so critical for our city. It's a wonderful thing that you're doing this. You're in our you the best. I think I speak for everybody on Council. Thank you, Bill. (Applause.)
Thank you, sir. With that, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Mr. President. Councilman Oh has opened up the door here and I would be remiss not to formally state on the record how much I agree with what Councilman Oh has said with regards to our departing colleague Councilman Green and will acknowledge that even in our times of agreeing to disagree on public policy, that has never affected, if you will, our ability to enjoy each other's company offline. So I will say, as I stated earlier, that I've worked with both Councilman Bill Green and Farah Jimenez matters and have found them to be passionate, which should really be in capital letters, bold lettering, underscored, exclamation points, quite passionate in his stated position and doggedly determined to push the needle. So my greatest hope is to think that we will continue to work strategically with the new Chair of the SRC Commission, looking at both traditional and, more importantly, non-traditional funding streams that bring new, recurring, sustainable dollars to the School District of Philadelphia coupled with a fair funding formula that provides for quality education for all the students irrespective of where they sit, public, private or charter. Irrespective of where they sit, they all deserve a quality education. And with that, I congratulate also Councilman Bill Green. With that, Mr. President --
Councilwoman, hold on one second. Councilman Jones.
For the record, you're not -- this isn't your last session, is it?
Okay. All right. I just wanted -- because I had a long one for you, but I'll save it for next week. Thank you, Mr. President.
Councilman, I doubt that the Councilman would have been as quiet as he is today if this is his last. There's no way that would have happened.
Councilwoman Blackwell, before Councilwoman Brown calls for a motion to adjourn, did you -
Yes. that as Chair of the Education Committee, we're expecting great things from one of our colleagues and great access. And also as all of you know, People's Emergency Center is in my district and we spoke at a dedication with Farah Jimenez yesterday. So we really feel we should have great access to at least express our views, and certainly we look forward to reaching out to them. And on another matter, we certainly want to thank our labor in the City, District Council 33, the Water Department, and 98, for what they've done to try to help us in this storm and all those related issues. Thank you again, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. And Councilwoman Brown, we'll now have a motion to adjourn.
Surely. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, February 13th, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It's been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, February 13th, 2014. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. 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 addressing 26:21 aging 26:22 80:10 auditing 31:8 abandoned 60:9 adhere 37:24 ago 26:24 anymore 77:18 Authorities 18:8 abilities 11:24 adjourn 83:10 agree 65:14 69:8 applaud 76:14 Authority 14:13 ability 83:21 85:24 86:23 83:15 Applause 10:19 14:15 15:3,4,8 absence 6:9,14,22 adjourned 86:25 agreeing 63:15 12:20 72:14 15:12 17:13,15 70:14 87:7,17 83:19 83:5 18:7,10,13,17 acceptable 70:12 ADJOURNME...