Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. All members present having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, do you have any other resolutions?
A privileged resolution honoring the inspiring partnership of two Philadelphia educators, Andrea Green and Teresa 11/1/12 - STATED - 2ND READING Maebori, who are celebrating the 30th year of "On the Other Side of the Fence," a musical created to break down barriers between students from the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy in West Philadelphia and elementary students from Germantown Friends High School, introduced by Councilman Kenney.
I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a privileged resolution recognizing and celebrating 11/1/12 - STATED - 2ND READING the 235th anniversary of the Siege of Fort Mifflin, known as the Valiant Defender of the Delaware, and for its many roles in the security of the United States, 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.)
There are no other resolutions on the Final Passage Calendar, Mr. President.
That concludes our Calendar. And at this time, are there any speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Any speeches on the part of the majority? It doesn't designate who was first, so I'm just going to pick. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Bass.
Good morning. I just wanted to thank everyone for their patience and for their help during Hurricane Sandy, and I especially wanted to give a special thanks to our Council President and also our Mayor for their leadership during this very difficult time, and also to Councilman -our Majority Leader, Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. as the Chair of Public Safety. They all kept us very, very informed with updates and made sure that we knew what was going on moment by moment. Not to be left out, I also special thanks to City workers, who have been out there on the front lines, whether it's our police, our fire or various other City departments that have worked so very hard during Hurricane Sandy, and it was through all of these efforts that we didn't lose one citizen here in the City of Philadelphia. So I think that that's very notable when you look at what's happened in other cities. When you see what's happening in places like New York and New Jersey, you recognize that there could have been a loss of life. There's property damage, and we're working hard to clear that up, but I think that overall our city did very well and it was due to the leadership of you, Mr. President, and also our Mayor and also again thanks to our Majority Leader.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you so much. Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. President. Just a couple announcements that I wanted to make in regards to some initiatives that I'm going to be hosting in the 2nd Councilmanic District, but, of course, I open it up to anyone to attend. On this Friday at Marian Anderson Rec Center, that's located at 17th and Fitzwater Street in South Philadelphia, we will be having a Job Readiness Symposium. That Job Readiness Symposium will focus on resume writing, cover letter writing, and also prepping people to be prepared to attend our actual job fair, which will take place next Friday, which is November 9th at the same location, Marian Anderson Rec Center, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We will have more than 50 employers participating, so I want to encourage as many people as possible to come out and is on next Wednesday, November the 7th at John Bartram High School. We will be having a town hall meeting with Dr. William Hite, the new Superintendent and CEO of the School District. So we want to galvanize and organize the constituents in that particular area to come out and really address the new Superintendent about how we're going to improve or move forward the schools in the 2nd Councilmanic District. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you so much, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to echo the remarks of my colleague, Cindy Bass, who was out in the thick of the Sandy storm. I want to say this, that the weather was at its worst; our city was at its best. OEM, the Managing Director's Office, the Fire Department, PECO, yourself in the command center, along with the Mayor, did a really good job of keeping citizens safe over these last couple of days. I want to also point out that our President was on his job being Commander in Chief in the roughest of times. And I have to give a shout-out to, in a bipartisan way, Governor Christie, who was on the front lines. Our heart and soul and prayers go out to other citizens in New Jersey who didn't have it as well as Pennsylvania, in New York that didn't have it as well as the City of Philadelphia. I want to say that we set this example here in these Chambers every day of a bipartisan approach with our republican colleagues, and it was good to see that it's begun to go national. So thank you again for your leadership, President Clarke.
you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Henon.
Thank you, Mr. President. I apologize for stepping out briefly. I just want to go on the record as reporting voting aye on all resolutions and bills. In addition, I too want to congratulate and thank you as a leader of this body being on the front lines with our Mayor and our OEM team that has been out there during this terrible storm that has devastated our city and some still left with much to clean up. Our City workers are the best in the country, and I want to thank them and our first responders as well for being out there while they were keeping us safe at home. So thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. Our City workers and all of the other individuals involved in the response were really awesome, and to be able to stand there and watch them. So they did a great job. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. There are some conservatives in this country that like to say that a liberal is a conservative that has not yet been mugged, and I'd like to turn that around a little bit and say that a conservative is a liberal who has not yet lived through a hurricane. People who espouse small government, be on your own, take care of yourself have learned a lesson over the last few days as, again, with bipartisanship. There's a lot of things that Governor Christie has said over the years that I'm not real thrilled with, but when I watched him and our President in New Jersey walking together, hugging people, making people -- try to assure people that things will get back to normal, it was really a wonderful sight to be seen, and I commend them both. I also would like to say that if we haven't forgotten already, that Tuesday is Election Day. It is probably going to be the biggest day in our country's history as to what direction this country goes in, whether it goes in the direction of you're on your own, whether you're old, whether you're sick, whether you're poor, you're out there by yourself just worried, just handle it, or we're going in the direction as we've seen over the last week, that we're all in this together, that there is middle ground, that there is bipartisanship, and that we do care about each other as Americans. And I think that if you take that into the polling place with you, you'll vote the right way and keep our country on a positive track coming back from a depression and moving our country forward together in diversity and in fellowship and kinship with each other. to commend the President and Governor Christie, who, again, sometimes he says stuff that just drives me crazy, but when I looked at them the other day, I just -- yesterday, I realized how good this country can be and how great this country can go. So get off your butts on Tuesday and go vote, because people have died for the privilege of us to vote. Let's not let them down. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. Well said. The Chair recognizes Councilman Johnson.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to echo some of the sentiments of my former professor/new colleague, Councilman Jim Kenney. And regardless of who individuals decide to support in the upcoming election, I'm hoping that on the City level as well as state and national level, we are taking into consideration the impact of the flood damage on certain polling locations throughout the country and will they be equipped to be prepared to actually have people to come out and to vote on Election Day. And I think that's something that hasn't been paid attention to in this process right now, because quite obviously if you have certain areas of power outages in New York as well as in New Jersey, those polling places will not be available and people will not have the opportunity to go to the polls particularly on Election Day. And that can have an impact regardless of who you're voting for, going one way or the other. So hopefully on a national level, they will take into consideration possibly even looking at pushing back the election time to give us more time to look at what areas will be impacted, what's the contingency plan, and I think that's something that really need to be Councilman Kenney just brought that to my attention in terms of looking at next week being the election. So that's all I want to -- just thank you, for the record.
Thank you, Councilman. No other speeches at this time, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, November 15th, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, November 15th, 2012, 10:00 a.m. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Council is adjourned. Thank you 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 on November 1, 2012, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. MICHELE L. m 1:7 65:22 bills 29:7 30:1,10 ADJOURNME...