Councilwoman 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING Quinones-Sanchez.
Aye. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, do you have any additional resolutions?
A resolution honoring the life and achievements of Joseph W. Mahoney, Jr., a longtime leader of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING Commerce and a passionate advocate for the business community in the city and region, introduced by Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the adoption of the resolution by a standing yes vote.
And a resolution Honoring the Life and Legacy of Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, introduced by Councilman Henon.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption by a standing yes vote. (All members standing.) 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING
And a resolution requesting that the Mayor return to Council Bill No. 120775-A, entitled "An ordinance amending Title 19 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Finance, Taxes and Collections,' to provide for a private right of action to enforce certain tax laws," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council, introduced by Councilman Henon.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
Those opposed? 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING (No response.)
And a resolution proclaiming May as Lupus Awareness Month and Celebrating and Recognizing May 10, 2013 as "Put on Purple Day" in the City of Philadelphia, introduced by Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.
Thank you, 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. That resolution is 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING adopted.
And a resolution recognizing and honoring the Children's Crisis Treatment Center and its Executive Director, Tony Valdes, on 40 years of exemplary and innovative service to Philadelphia Children, introduced by Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez.
Thank you, Mr. President. That resolution is co-sponsored by my colleague Blondell Reynolds Brown, and I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING ayes have it. That resolution is adopted.
And a resolution recognizing and honoring The Philadelphia Latino Pageant on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary, introduced by Councilwoman Quinones-Sanchez.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez again.
I'm sorry. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING honoring and celebrating Ready, Willing & Able for helping hundreds of men overcome poverty, addiction, and crime to become productive, contributing members of our community and responsible fathers to their children in the City of Brotherly Love, introduced by 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 honoring and celebrating The Berean 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING Institute for their tireless efforts and contributions to the African-American community by providing education in vocational and business skills, on this the occasion of their 113th Anniversary, introduced by Councilman Jones.
Happy birthday, and I move for its adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution honoring and congratulating Edward McBride on the occasion of his promotion 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING to the position of Manager of Local Government Affairs at PECO and for his years of dedicated service to the City Council of Philadelphia, introduced by Councilman O'Neill.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
And a resolution commemorating and celebrating the 2013 Italian Market Festival being held on May 18th and 19th, introduced by Councilman 5/9/13 - STATED - 2ND READING 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.
Thank you very much. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? you, Mr. Decker, for correcting me. We have an order of special business. The Chair now recognizes Councilman Jones for a motion regarding special business.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of special business at this time. (Duly seconded.)
It has moved and seconded that the rules of Council be suspended to permit consideration of special business at this time. All in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion passes. Clerk will 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 May 9, 2013, Bill No. 120775-A, entitled "An ordinance amending Title 19 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Finance, Taxes and Collections,' to provide for a private right of action to enforce certain tax laws," for the purpose of reconsideration by the Council of the vote by which said bill passed Council.
Thank you. The Chair now recognizes Councilman Henon for a motion that Council reconsider the vote by which Bill No. 120775-A was passed.
It been moved. All those in favor 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. 120775-A was passed has been reconsidered. The Chair again recognizes Councilman Henon.
Thank you, Mr. President. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 120775-A. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of Council, and I move the adoption of the amendment. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and amendment to Bill No. 120775-A be adopted. All those in favor say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. This bill will be placed on the Final Passage Calendar for our next session of Council. Now we get the speeches on the part of the minority. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Brien.
Thank you, Mr. President. Two weeks ago I introduced a resolution about focused deterrence. Just in the last 14 days, there had been over 1,300 violent crimes reported to the Philadelphia Police Department. This includes nine homicides, 130 gun robberies, and 95 aggravated assaults with a gun. Since year, we've had 85 families lose a loved one to violence. The good news is that our violent crime numbers are trending in the right direction compared to this time last year, but I think we can do better and I think the focused deterrence strategy can help us do better. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd just like to make two -- I have a comment and then I have comments about something else. I'd like to just first thank the residents of the 9th District who live in the 10th and 50th Wards for coming out last night to Reformation Church to meet our new police captain of the 14th District. We had over 500 people, and it was well -- he handled it well, let the voters know, the residents know, that he had worked in that area before and really had his finger on the pulse of what was happening in the community. Out of the 500 people who came, only eight people had questions. So we are doing a pretty good job up there in the 14th Police District. So I want to thank my colleagues, State Representative Cherelle Parker and State Representative Dwight Evans. We all participated in that town meeting. Slick, misleading, dishonest are just a few words that I would like to use to describe a recent letter that I, members of Council, and the media received on Tuesday from a Harrisburg lobbying firm on behalf of the Pennsylvania Consumer Credit Association. The letter states that this organization supports my resolution opposing new efforts in Harrisburg to legalize predatory small-dollar lending, commonly known as payday lending in Pennsylvania. However, the letter then tries to assert that I support short-term lending reform in Harrisburg. Nothing could be further from the truth. To my fellow Councilmembers, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the media and, most importantly, the Pennsylvania Consumer Credit Association, I am strongly opposed to the legalization of predatory payday lending in Pennsylvania. No matter what you call it, short-term lending, small-dollar lending or micro credit, it is all predatory payday lending that causes financial harm to borrowers, leading to overdrafts on bank accounts, defaults on other bills, and even bankruptcy, and these loans negatively impact Philadelphia and the Commonwealth by draining nearly $1 billion a year in economic activity and increasing usage of food assistance benefits and charitable relief services. To my colleagues in Harrisburg, co-sponsoring or supporting legislation that calls for short-term lending reform or micro credit modernization. If you support these efforts, you will be opposing your constituents and the over 90 organizations from across Pennsylvania that oppose the legalization of payday lending in Pennsylvania. Don't be fooled by the slick, misleading, and dishonest efforts of predatory payday lenders. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councilwoman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. Very quickly, two announcements. One, we are co-partnering with 6ABC at 4100 City Avenue to talk about the often confused, very much maligned AVI process as it relates to small businesses. So all are welcome to attend, particularly those in the small owners, but anyone with a question is welcome to come out. And the second announcement is that along with Councilwoman Blackwell and District Attorney Seth Williams, we will be doing a walk tomorrow starting at 52nd and Girard at 6:00 p.m. over to -from the 3rd District to the 4th District along Lansdowne Avenue to look at and talk to individuals who are dealing directly on boots on the ground with crime issues, and we encourage all of you to come out, particularly my at-large colleagues, to join us in that walk and hear it firsthand from the people. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Mr. President. Just a very quick announcement. Right after Council, there by Philadelphia Fight of the pop-up mobile computer lab units, which can be used by constituents and community groups all over the City. I think it's valuable information for all of us. Council and staff are invited. And if the issue itself doesn't get you, there's a lunch by DiBruno Brothers being provided, so please try to attend. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'm very encouraged by the student-led demonstrations that are taking place throughout the City as we debate the funding for schools and our system this year. My very own son, Tomasito, who attends Central High School, every single day asks me what we're doing. And sometimes we are not good at telling the story. Colleagues, let us not waste this opportunity to educate folks on the hard work and the heavy lifting that this Council has done year after year after year. We've demonstrated our commitment to public education, and I encourage the young people and the parents to become informed of what has happened in the last few years. Last week I participated with my Council colleague David Oh on a panel to talk about taxes, led by Temple University and the Pew's Foundation. There's wide agreement that it is important that AVI happen and that this shift that will happen as a result of it, this historic shift of the burden being placed on our residents versus commercial, what it means for the future of this city as we debate tax policies. Councilman Goode often reminds us of the millions of dollars in business tax reductions that we've provided to the City's businesses and our unwavering a better competitive environment. As we discuss and some of us will say debate the issues of the resources, whether it's advertising as you've proposed, Mr. President, liquor by the drink, the cigarette tax or U&O, let no one be confused, as my Council colleague Blondell Reynolds Brown outlined and articulated last week, let there be no confusion about our commitment to public education, but this one is going to be about a shared sacrifice. The state has to do its part as the City has always done, and there will be a need to have a discussion with our unions. I welcome this debate. I think we should all encourage our parents and our students to be part of this process as we debate long term what we do about public education. My colleague Councilman Oh asks for accountability. I think it is all of our responsibilities to ask for is at the table. I look forward to your leadership, and be rest assured that I believe this Council will do what it has done in at least the six years that I've been here, is figure out a win-win for everyone. Our kids will not be sacrificed in that process. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Thank you so much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Mr. President. I was listening to the radio this morning and heard the news announcement talking about the Controller's report saying that are unduly singled out in this whole AVI issue. It also talked about the fact that the Controller ask that we hold up doing any actions. And I started to, before that, to do a resolution today, but opted in the spirit of unity not to do that. But this is a very tough issue. Certainly we know our schools need more, but we know people can't afford more taxes. So obviously those are two opposite ends of the spectrum. But we say that this is a very tough issue, one that concerns us greatly. There's not one single way to solve it. And so I applaud my colleagues who realize this is a tough issue and we can't go blindly into it one way or the other, but we have to work hard to get past all of this somehow before our budget season ends. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. President. I think it's useful in the context of discussing education and the School District and the School Reform Commission that we take a second and remember how we got here. For the five years I've been in Council, I've questioned the expenditures and priorities of the School District. Let's not forget that five years ago, four years ago, the budget of the School District was over $3 billion. They were getting $400 million a year in federal funding and they had 300 million a year in funding that came from Governor Rendell every single year. We're now looking at actual revenue of 2.3 billion versus budgets that used to be over $3 billion just a short time ago. That money and those resources, which was said here in this body and questions were asked of the SRC and of the former of that money. Over a billion dollars was wasted on programs that are not sustainable, that were identified as not sustainable without future federal and state funding at the time, and that money is now gone forever. So it is irresponsible and profligate spending by the SRC and the Superintendents during my tenure in City Council that has gotten us where we are. It is not City Council -- and, of course, it is the decision by Governor Corbett and the State Legislature to cut state funding. But we knew the federal funding was going to be cut and we didn't plan for it. We spent it. We didn't save it. So I think it's important to remember that the issue is far more complicated than throwing more money at the School District. The question is, as I asked in my most recent paper on the School District, is the District too big to succeed. No strategic plan has been more than a vision of the SRC with their fingers in the dike. It proposes marginal and incremental change and not transformative change, continuing to condemn tens of thousands of students every year to proficiency below 40 percent. Many will end up in our penal system. No case has been made that outcomes will be significantly better or worse with or without the $60 million requested from the City. The problem is that the School District requires 120 million more from the state, which they won't get, and 100 million more in concessions from the unions, which has been budgeted for years and never been achieved. The SRC spent 300 million more than they took in last year, and we are on track to do it again. They requested -- their budget is 2.6 and their revenue is 2.3. It is irresponsible -- it was irresponsible last year, and it's not SRC, current and former, put us here by presenting unrealistic and Pollyanna budgets that are not achievable. They are still doing so. When they present a realistic budget that balances income and expenditures, then I think we should talk about trying to help them, because then we'll understand where the $60 million will go and what impact it will have. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Johnson. (Audience member talking out.)
Ma'am, ma'am, we had public comment time. I ask you to please...
I'm an advocate to figure out a way we support our students in the Philadelphia public school system, no matter what it takes to get there. So I'll state that for the record. Because as we debate in here, as Councilmembers and those on the State Legislature decide to participate or not participate, the reality is we have a lot of young people that live in urban poverty areas throughout the City of Philadelphia who will be significantly impacted based upon the decisions that we make, rather you agree with it or not. So I'm a strong advocate of making sure that however we go about it, we find a way to support our young people. And we can debate for days how we got here, but the reality is we got to all be on the same page and supporting our young people moving forward, because ultimately they're the ones who are going to get caught up in the cross hairs. And I say that sincerely, because a lot of us -- some of us have kids in the public school system, but the reality is a lot of us don't. In an ideal world, I would introduce a bill, if I could -somebody told me it would be illegal for me to do it -- to make sure that every elected official had children and teachers in the public school system, and then I will want to see what type of debate we will have. But nevertheless, I'm an advocate for trying to figure out a way, however we get there, to support our young people in our public schools. I hosted last night an AVI meeting for the sake of making sure I inform my constituents on the relief measures that have been introduced as it relates to AVI and answer some of their questions to the best of my ability, and I still want to make sure that -- as a Council body, obviously we did a report that shows that some of us will be getting a decrease and a few of us will impacted, but when we all became Councilpeople, we didn't only take an oath for our district, we took an oath for the residents of the City of Philadelphia. And so for everyone to keep that in mind as we address this issue of AVI, that, yes, some of our residents will have a significantly grave, negative impact as it relates to AVI and to keep that out in the forefront as we go and debate this process. We're at competing interests on what's accurate, what's inaccurate. I don't have any faith in the system just based upon how there's a lack in transparency in the Administration actually staying out on the front line. I'm a Councilperson defending a policy that's not even mine, but I don't have a problem going out there and letting the constituents know where I stand on the issue. I met a young lady last night who lives in a low-income affordable unit, and under the affordable housing unit, you can't sell your home over a certain period of time. And the home that she has has been significantly assessed at a higher value that she won't be able to pay when that time limit is up. So her time limit, within the next two years, she will have the option to either pay down on a new property tax assessment or sell her home. And she pretty much basically responded and said that, You basically encouraged me to move into these neighborhoods as a first-time home buyer and now I'm being kicked out. That's like a realistic situation that we're dealing with, not numbers, not semantics back and forth debating, but real people that we're dealing with. And so I just wanted to put a human face on these issues that we're dealing with, and also the lack of respect that I was told last night on how OPA responds to constituents regarding the first-level review, not when they office, when they were actually hosting the workshop meetings in my district. And I wish they would have brought that to my attention prior to us coming down here having these budget hearings so I could address it straight -- address it at that particular time.
And so I just wanted to put that issue out there. I will aggressively and continue to advocate in trying to figure out how we best protect those citizens, but I'm also calling on all our colleagues who participate in this body to make sure that people as a whole have faith in this body to be supportive overall of those individuals who will be significantly impacted if we move forward with AVI. Thank you very much, Council President.
Thank you. I'll be brief, Mr. President. Sort of piggybacking a little bit on Councilman Green. Having been here for a number of years and every year having to address the issues of the School District, not enough money for this, particularly we had the whole issue with books, it seems that we find a Band-Aid, we put a Band-Aid on the problem. And what we'll do this year we'll do, but in the interim between now and the next budget, what is the action plan. And what we need to do is figure out what the action plan will be, working with the SRC and the School District and our state legislators to come up with some plan for how we're going to have some dedicated funding for the School District and not every year have to fight for whether we're going to do liquor by the drink or raise someone's taxes. Last year we were in a mess. We are this year we're in a mess. We're going to look at liquor by the drink. We need to stop and figure out in the interim how we're going to address the issue of the School District, and I think that the Council should take a lead on that and that we call everybody to the table, not next year in May when we're doing the budget, but beginning the moment we complete this budget cycle. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman. That concludes our speeches. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Mr. President, I wish I could say that that does conclude our speeches, but I cannot, and there are not -- I mean, arts and culture, advocacy for women, people of color, doing better for the small business community rank high on my list, for me than this issue around every child getting a fair shot. And the beauty about this process is that we work in a legislative body where we can agree without being disagreeable. So I would be remiss not to go on the record and offer a friendly rebuttal to my friend Councilman Bill Green. Now, I live and work in a world or at least I learned very early on -- I was a graduate in graduate school -- and I read this book Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking, and I've approached most of what I do with that mindset. So I'm going to bore a few and shed the light on a few others about why it behooves us to move ahead with this debate and be what I call a possibility thinker. Reverend Robert Schuller wrote, and I quote, "Possibility thinkers resemble the hummingbird that look for and find honey often in the most unlikely, unthinkable places. Possibility thinkers perceptively probe every problem and proposal and opportunity to discover the positive aspects present in almost every human situation. "Impossibility thinkers make sweeping passes over a proposed idea, scanning it with a negative eye, looking for what might be the distasteful aspects. Impossibility thinkers look for reasons why something won't work instead of visualizing ways in which it could work. So they are inclined to say not possible, maybe, no to a proposal, never giving the idea a fair hearing." Now, we can't dispute what we know about the School District in years past, but at the end of the day, we have a duty to figure it out. And so this is why we need to figure it out. Young people are going to carry on what we've started. They're going to sit where we're sitting and, when we are gone, attend to those things we thought were important. We may adopt all the policies we please, but how they will be carried out will depend on them. They're going to move in and take your seat, my seat, Councilman Jones' seat, Councilman Kenney's seat, Jannie's seat. They're going to move in and control the cities, the states, and the nation. They're going to move in and take over our churches, our schools, our universities, and our corporations. All of our books are going to be judged, praised or condemned by them. So ultimately what we do for them now drives to set the stage about what they're going to do for us later. So I am of the view that we need to figure it out. And so just as I've extended an invitation to the Governor to come down here and shadow schools in our district, I'm going to offer a friendly invitation to my colleague Councilman Green. (Applause.)
Join us in a school to shadow a student that does not have arts and sports and counselors. I mean, there are young people across this city who are desperate to have a half hour for a high school counselor so they can figure out what they're going to do about the college education, the college application process. It is intimidating. And we have young people who will never, ever get a fair sit-down with a high school counselor, because they got 500 kids on their caseload. We need to figure it out. And so I'm offering everybody in here as I transition and get off my soapbox --
Councilwoman, I'm actually -- because you initiated this speech prior to your call for a motion, I'm going to have to pull back that motion, because we do have a rebuttal to your speech. So we'll come -
It's healthy debate. And so I would like to invite members to join the young people in your councilmanic district at the Strawberry Mansion High School Youth Court to observe young people in action doing good things. Councilman Jones is sponsoring this. He's inviting members to join him and others 10:00 a.m. He's providing transportation at the Mayor's entrance, so that we can be reminded that when we give young people the tools that they need, they actually do better. I rest my case, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilwoman. I'll come back to you later. (Applause.)
Thank you, Mr. President. My mother-in-law, who passed away some years ago, was a very big fan of Reverend Schuller, and he had a booklet or pamphlet that he sent out. I don't remember whether it was monthly or weekly. And she sent it to me and my wife, and we would read it on a regular basis. And when the Councilwoman was speaking, one of those things that I read probably 10 or 15 years ago popped into my mind, and that was a pastor whose church had burned down wrote Reverend Schuller and asked him what to do. They only had a little bit of insurance money, and his flock was struggling at the time and they had so much to rebuild, so much to do, you know, and he was really sort of asking do I build small or what do I do? Do I build within my means? What do I do? And Reverend Schuller actually responded build bigger, build bigger. did was build a church that ended up being one of the mega churches somewhere in Texas and he did it -- he was able to do that because he was starting from scratch. And the question I asked when I speak -- when I was speaking, what I'm trying to say is, the School District is burning down. It has been for three years. For three years, as Councilwoman Tasco said, we've patched it with Band-Aids, and every single year we say, And next year we're going to not at budget time but in between, we're going to address this, we're going to have hearings, we're going to understand, we're going to create a go-forward plan. And that has not happened in the three years we've done that, where we've had to provide stop-gap and emergency funding. The question I'm really asking is -- and I was corrected on my characterization of the funding. The funding that we appropriated was as part process, of course, but it was not ever what the School District was asking for, and it didn't ever solve the problem. Every single year the School District had to make sacrifices. It didn't do long-term planning. It still isn't. The point I'm making is, is the -- the School District is in a precarious situation and it is not clear to me that $60 million from us, when $300 million is required, is going to solve the problems that everybody is trying to address, that it's going to put children in a better situation than they'd otherwise be in. We need a realistic plan from the School District, and the question they really have to answer for us is, is the current system too big to succeed and do we need to start over and build bigger with something transformative. That's the debate we need to have, because what we have doesn't work and we'll be back here every have the same SRC, the same School District, and the same inability of this body to influence anything but the dollars they get. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Oh.
Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate and want to thank all of my colleagues for their passionate concern, and I think with the diversity of efforts that we're making, I'm hopeful that we will be able to do our part. I would also like to thank Councilwoman Blackwell for her leadership on the Education Committee and just point out to those listening that her committee will have hearings, one on world-class education that will be done jointly with my committee, Global Opportunities; her own hearing on the question of whether we the governance of the School Board runs, basically the question of whether we should have elected School Boards; and, finally, she has been kind enough to allow me to introduce a hearing on governance and accountability. So our City Council is, through our Education Committee, tackling these tough issues. I'm happy to say that we'll have members from -- we'll have a speaker from Finland who wrote a book recently, what Finland has to offer the world in education. We've met with the Swiss Ambassador on vocational education. We've spoken to different education systems, from South Korea to other parts in the U.S. While that will not resolve the issue by the time we do the budget this year, but we are, I believe, as a body, this body, taking up the call and responsibility of not only debating the issues, but taking affirmative and positive action. I certainly hope that and other friends to join with us, the SRC, in doing their part, because we only at the end of the day have a small piece of this pie. But I believe that we are doing our part, and I hope that they will join with us and do their part. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I was here in these Chambers many years ago when we were looking at the stimulus money for the School District, and it is true that Councilman Green pointed out the error in the ways of anticipating a forever funding from the federal government and warned in these Chambers with a clarion voice about getting hooked on an appetite of federal spending. He was right about that, and we should have probably been a frugal, looked at alternative funding, held the Governor's feet to the fire. All of those things are true. But I will not sit by and let this Chamber, this Administration, the Governor punish the youth for that. They weren't in charge. They couldn't do a budget. They can't do any of that. So recently I was at the protest, but that day I was at Dorothy Speight's conference on violence and Mothers in Charge, national organization, and the theme of the conference was what is the cost of violence. And one of the things that I took from it and when we start to look at what is the cost of education, all of those mothers, all of those victims, all of the perpetrators, particularly the perpetrators, had one thing in common: Lack of education. Lack of education. Councilman Goode always points out the correlation between if you cannot read by the third grade, particularly minorities, you know how many jail cells to build by the time they are 18. In the cost of crime, either we pay it now or we will pay for it later. Because out of the 25 cent bullet that leaves the $250 illegal gun, when the $36,000-a-year-to-start officer pulls up in the $20,000 car with the $5,000 amount of gas per year that goes into it, that young person winds up in front of a $55,000 public defender, another $55,000 district attorney, an $80,000 bail commissioner, before a $150,000 judge, who deals with a $30,000 clerk, who is escorted through the cells by a $40,000 sheriff, with another $35,000 prison guard, and every time there's a hearing that is postponed, it is approximately $600 out of the taxpayers' pockets. The cost of a semester at Community is approximately $11,000. The cost to incarcerate per year is $34,000. Pay it now or we'll pay for it later. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown again.
Yes, Mr. President. So it's true we can pay for it -- we can choose to pay for it now or we can opt to pay for it later, but at end of the day, we're paying. Dr. Hite is trying to save a system from collapse. So I would submit, never having managed anything remotely that large, is that he's been consumed with being in the weeds. It's difficult to be in the weeds and have the time to manage a long-term vision in the way that Councilman Green has observed. So I certainly agree with the spirit of Councilman Green's comments. Where I disagree is that at the end of the day, a portion of this duty does rest with us. So Councilwoman Sanchez reminds us all the time in meetings, why does it "or." Why can't it be an "and." And that's where I will leave my comments, Mr. President.
Thank you. At this time, I see no other requests for speeches, so I will briefly not break the rules, but bend the rules a little bit. With respect to this whole issue generally as it relates to AVI and this very, very critical issue relating to the School District, I just want to say a couple of things, that with respect to leadership -- and I've said -- now that Councilman DiCicco and former Council President Street has left, I can say this, that this is the best group of Councilmembers I've ever worked with. They'll probably hear about it on TV, but the reality is, it is. And with respect to leadership, this group of people have shown leadership in a clearcut way. We may not necessarily all agree on any particular issue, but as a sum total, great group that has always shown leadership and, when called, has always stepped to the plate. Some very difficult times. And I fully anticipate, because we have a history of stepping to the plate, not just a history of talking about the issue. So I think at the appropriate time in the appropriate way, this Council will step to the plate and do what needs to be done. But I got to tell you in a very public way that this whole notion that this Council continues to have to do it alone, I mean, that's getting stale. It's getting real old. So we're going to look -- I understand there was a press conference today by some friends of ours that discussed -- I don't know what they talked about because it was held at the time that we had to be in this room. Pretty much consistently every Thursday we're here, you know. But at the end of the day, I think that this group, as I said, is the best group I've ever worked with. We'll do what we need to do, but we don't -- I don't think it's appropriate for us to continue to have to do it alone. So I will get back on the rules and call for a motion to adjourn from Councilwoman Brown.
Agreed, Mr. President. I thank you, Mr. President, and I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday May 16th, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.) (Brief pause.)
I just want to make sure we clean this up. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, May 16th, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded. All those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Council shall stand adjourned until Thursday, May 16th, 2013. 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 115:15 116:15 35:22 81:3 amount 16:8 41:13,20,22 abandonment adjourn 108:18 Agencies 44:5 121:9 42:6,13 20:22 25:8 125:8,21 Agency 43:25 and/or 127:22 approval 4:1,21 ability 103:21 adjourned 125:13 Agenda 50:3 Animal 38:18 approved 5:4,15 able 13:2 35:8 125:24 126:12 aggravated 87:25 Anniversary 6:25 approving 48:7 80:3 105:7 126:14 aggressively 7:11 10:15 approximately 115:5 117:16 ADJOURNME... 106:12 33:15 35:25 20:15 121:19,22 absence 5:17,23 125:1 126:1 ago 87:18 98:13 79:7 81:6 April 10:16 19:20 6:7 Administration 98:14,22 114:6 announcement Aramingo 37:9 academic 8:13 57:6,16,21 114:14 119:16 92:5,25 96:24 37:21 9:18 104:17 120:6 agree 102:15 announcements area 9:25 29:8 accommodate adopt 111:3 109:6 122:19 91:20 37:9,21 48:11 10:2 adopted 49:4,25 123:24 answer 103:20 59:9 61:25 accompanying 51:2,21 52:17 Agreed 125:10 116:19 64:16 89:4 7:2 13:18 53:14 54:9 55:5 agreement 94:15 anticipate 124:6 areas 29:7 37:8 accountability 55:25 75:14 agreements 44:5 anticipating 37:20 59:8 95:24 96:2 76:3 77:5 78:2 ahead 109:14,19 119:20 61:24 64:15 118:7 79:3,24 80:23 allocation 56:8 appetite 119:23 102:12 accountable 57:2 81:22 82:21 allow 118:6 applaud 97:17 arrears 57:8 accounts 90:17 83:18 85:7 87:3 allows 24:4 Applause 11:11 articulated 95:11 accurate 104:14 adoption 48:17 alternative 120:2 13:8 17:9 18:10 arts 10:23 108:22 accurately 127:5 49:14 50:14 Ambassador 18:18 96:15 112:5 achievable 101:5 51:11 52:7 53:3 118:15 112:2 113:25 asked 98:25 99:23 achieved 100:19 53:23 54:19 ambassadors 8:7 application 114:17 115:7 achievements 55:14 56:12 amen 4:13,14 112:11 asking 114:22 22:7 74:23 58:4 75:8,23 amend 22:23 29:5 applications 115:22 116:4 acknowledge 76:18 77:15 37:6,18 59:6 72:11 asks 93:23 95:23 14:11,14,24 78:16 79:13 61:22 64:13 apply 69:21 aspects 12:24 action 6:15 27:10 80:12 81:11 amended 47:2 127:20 110:6,12 76:10 85:12 82:10 83:6 58:25 appointing 49:7 aspirations 7:20 107:16,17 86:22 amending 20:17 50:7 51:5,24 assaults 87:25 113:13 118:25 advertising 95:6 21:19,22 23:10 52:20 53:17 Assembly 90:7 actions 16:17 97:6 advise 19:17 23:12 24:19 54:12 55:8 assert 90:2 active 15:15 advocacy 108:23 25:3 27:6 31:11 appreciate 117:12 assessed 105:6 activity 90:22 advocate 22:10 38:5,17 43:16 appreciation 11:8 assessment actual 98:20 75:2 102:3,16 43:17 44:12,18 approached 105:11 Ad 14:5,10,15 103:13 106:12 56:5 67:3,5 109:15 assist 16:5,10 15:11 17:16,17 Affairs 36:17 82:3 69:18,20 72:8 appropriate 22:3 assistance 90:23 addiction 35:10 affirmative 61:18 76:7 85:9 23:7 29:12 30:4 assistant 14:5,9 80:4 64:9 66:23 amendment 31:19 37:15 Association 14:11 adding 23:14 69:14 72:4 34:13,24,25 124:9,10 125:5 21:24 89:20 24:21 38:10 74:18 86:11 56:15,17 58:6 appropriated 90:9 additional 46:11 118:24 58:11,13,18 115:25 assured 96:5 74:21 afford 97:11 86:18,20,22 appropriation attached 41:17 address 48:12 affordable 104:25 87:2 40:20 42:19 44:22 104:7 106:7,8 105:2 amendments appropriations attend 91:25 107:8 108:6 African-Ameri...