That's real. So this is -- the decision to not pass the curfew is an opportunity for you to stand on the right side of justice and on the right side of history, standing up for real economic development as opposed to police containment. And I want to end just asking for the participants here to join me in saying, we need schools, not the curfew. We need schools, not the curfew. (Audience members chanting.) (Applause.)
Our next speaker. Before you call the next speaker -
Jamila Wilson, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Excuse me. Before you identify yourself, the Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
Madam President, at this time I'd like to be excused from the rest of the session. I have business in my district, Council business, and also I want to be recorded as aye on all bills called up for Final Passage Calendar, including the Consent Agenda bills and all resolutions. Thank you.
Thank you. Leave will be granted. (Audience members booing.)
Good morning. My name is Jamila K. Wilson and I am a concerned activist in the community who believes that more analysis is needed when making decisions that will affect the fate of our children and our future. There's a need for us to connect the dots in order to reveal the true image of our youth we have created. Let us begin with the words of the literary giant Ralph Ellison from his book, the Invisible Man, to bridge theory and history with reality. And I quote, "One night I accidentally bumped into a man, and perhaps because of the near darkness he saw me and called me an assaulting name. I sprang at him, seized his coat lapels and demanded that he apologize. He was a tall blond man, and as my face came close to his, he looked insolently out of his blue eyes and cursed me. I pulled his chin down sharp upon the crown of my head. I yelled, 'Apologize! Apologize!'" "In my outrage, I got out my knife and prepared to slit his throat. Opening the knife with my teeth, it occurred to me that the man had not seen me; that he, as far as he knew, was in the midst of a walking nightmare." It is important that we acknowledge that these young people epitomize the character in Invisible Man. The reality we are facing with these young people cannot be separated from our collective past. To deal with these societal ills with punitive measures only adds venom to this virus. Like in Invisible Man, these feelings of hopelessness is embodied by all who ask the question, What did I do to be so black and blue? These young people come from an environment where terror has ruled their lives and sensibility. These environments serve as a wasteland of economic blight. These young people's parents were forced to witness not only their jobs being relocated to other countries due to trade agreements, but were also due to the Reaganomics and the war on drugs. By the time these young people are born, the Clinton Administration has enacted some of the most severe and punitive drug laws that target poor communities and people of color. During the '90s, these babies witnessed their fathers, their uncles, brothers, neighbors arrested at epidemic levels. They were privy to conversations their mothers, sisters and grandmothers were having about the cuts to their benefits based off of the Welfare to Work program. They began to internalize this invisibility without proper guidance to help them understand the realities of racism and classism. What we are witnessing in these flash mobs are the attempts at these young people to challenge their invisibility. These are obvious and classic textbook examples of people demanding to be noticed and acknowledged. It is very negligent on our part as a society to be complacent participants to the realities of these children's lives. But we can avert further trauma if we choose to identify solutions that come from a compassionate perspective as opposed to a fearful and racist perspective. What these young people need -
Ms. Wilson, excuse me. Your time is up, so would you please conclude your remarks.
Yes. Yes, ma'am. So we need an influx of resources. These young people need investments in jobs. It is no coincidence the rise of violence happened at the same time that record loss of jobs to young people happened through the youth workforce development. We need investments in education. This Council had the opportunity to support investing $30 million in education. Instead, voted to invest that money into public safety and, in turn, raised the property taxes of people who suffer the most under this unemployment.
Commenting on 110634 and 110635. (Witness approached podium.)
My name is Jenny Robinson and I'm the Manger of Public and Government Affairs in Philadelphia AAA Midatlantic. I am here to speak in support of Bill Nos. 110634 and 110635. These bills allow for red light cameras to be installed at two intersections, at Worthington and Byberry Road and at Knights and Woodhaven Road. AAA Midatlantic supports red light camera locations based on crash data, which is the case for these two intersections. We believe also that red light cameras must be operated with highway safety, not revenue generation as the goal, and we support the way the program is being operated in Philadelphia with safeguards to ensure a fair process for motorists. Thank you.
John James, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Hi. My name is John James, a resident of Philadelphia. I sent an e-mail yesterday to the Council, but just wanted to mention a couple of points. One, practical concerns. A lot of homes are dangerous for young people because of violent adults and people need to be able to arrange their own schedules to get home later when they'd be safer. (Speaking into microphone now.)
Oh, hi. Yeah. I want to say that for many young people, unfortunately not -- home may not be a safe place to go because of drunk, abusive or otherwise violent adults in the home. So people have to be able to arrange their schedules and just live with some of these problems. Unfortunately there isn't a single solution. Also, I notice one of the signs of the Philadelphia Anti-Violence group in the El and it said -- included the words respecting young adults and holding them to a higher standard. Well, keeping them all under part-time house arrest hardly seems to meet that. (Applause.)
There's also the extra burden that this puts on young people to arrange their lives and their schedules and on their families as well. I understand that there have been over 10,000 police stops on the curfew already, and people have enough hassles to worry about in their lives than taking care of this. And the other thing, why does the curfew stop at 18? Crime doesn't stop then. Probably because at 18 they can vote and voters wouldn't put up with something like this if it applied to them. So the principle to remember that is, no incarceration without representation. Thank you. (Applause.)
Autumn Zellers, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
My name is Autumn Zellers and I'm here to express my opposition to Bill 110633. I want to begin by saying that as it stands, this law is based on a fundamental ignorance of how families in Philadelphia work. When I grew up here, I went out with friends and friends' parents because there was no need for all of our parents to be there, and my parents would be loath to have me inside the house every single weekend and Friday night when I should be out with my friends. Under this law, if my child wants to go out, I couldn't let her go out with my sister, with her older sibling or a trusted neighbor. I would have to be with her out on the street or I would have to leave her at home. Now, if my neighbor wants me to watch her child and I have something to do, this law would fine my neighbor for my taking her child out on a nighttime errand or even a movie theatre. In this way, you are both restricting my movement as an adult and you are stunning the cultural growth of my child that is necessary for her development. My sisters here in Philly work two or three jobs to support their families, and it's nerve-wracking as it is to worry about drugs, gangs and violence on top of our fears that we don't have the resources to make up for the failures of our schools and our health systems. We want safe places for our children on Friday and Saturday nights, places where they can be with their friends and neighbors, where they can grow and learn about their community. We do not want to have to worry about our children being criminalized for simply being in a place, and we don't have to worry about paying the City $75 a pop to have them corralled like animals. (Applause.)
It's no coincidence that Center City and University City were the targeted zones for the renewal of this enforcement earlier this year, and even though technically this new law would extend to the entire City, we understand that in practice the focus of enforcement will continue to be in these wealthier areas. And we know what kind of people you don't want seen in these areas. We know it's all good if what happens in the hood stays in the hood, so long as our communities' real problems and the dirty encounters between Philadelphia residents and police are kept away from the sanitized public image of our city. Philadelphia has serious security problems, for which the answer is not criminalization or fines and it is not policy that protect interests of a wealthy few at the expense of an overburdened class. According to the Greater Philadelphia Coalition on Hunger, 130,000 of our children suffer from malnourishment. The National Center for Education Statistics indicates that one in five of them will not learn to read or write. Now, in the face of these realities, we ask, security for whom? Security for what? Our schools, libraries and parks are broken. Our children are running out of safe spaces. And I urge you, City Council, to consider that our children are not simply born at risk. Rather, in conjunction with the draining of resources from teachers and community centers, the criminalization of youth and their parents and the ordaining of our streets as places of fear, regulated through class and racial profiling, it is laws such as 110633 that put them at risk. (Applause.)
Good morning to my community and our supporters. My name is Theresa Shoatz, and this statement was written on behalf of the Decarcerate PA, a group working in prison expansion in Pennsylvania. Right now the State of Pennsylvania is spending $685 million to build three new prisons and expand nine others. This comes at a time when the state has cut nearly $1 billion from public education. While we are sure that many of you here on City Council also take issue with the decision of Governor Corbett, we believe that the curfew on youth and other similar initiatives such as stop and frisk violates Corbett's backwards priorities. Studies have shown that curfews do nothing to reduce crime rates, making Philadelphia's curfew laws even more punitive, only serve to criminalize young people and their families. It contributes to a cycle of mass incarceration that is devastating both for Philadelphia communities and for the economy of our state. (Applause.)
And now we have to introduce our youth who are affected in our communities.
Hi. My name is Joshua Glenn. I work with the Youth Art and Self-Empowerment Project, but I'm also here on behalf of Decarcerate PA. We believe that increased policing does not address the root cause of violence in the City. Instead, it singles out young people, especially young people of color, for police harassment and intimidation. Since January, 10,205 youth have been stopped and 209 cited for curfew violations, which while this city has not released demographic information on who is getting stopped and cited, anecdotal reports show that black youth are being disproportionately targeted. Rather than increasing funding for police and prisons, the City needs to put its resources into public education, jobs and job training, social services, libraries and recreation centers. (Applause.)
All of which have been systematically de-funded over the last several years. Young people need resources and opportunities, not costly fines and criminal records. We hope that City Council will take this chance to do the right thing and vote against this dangerous and unproductive policy, and we hope that the Mayor will choose to stop extending his racially segregated emergency curfew and will instead focus on creating real options for young people across our city. Thank you. (Applause.)
Harry Barnum, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.) MR. BARNUM (through sign language interpreter): Good morning, everyone, Council President Verna and all of City Council. I'm here as an employee of Liberty Resources and I oppose the possible passage of the curfew. I believe that there's a stigma related to it, and I believe that's something that we need to get away from and we need to judge children correctly and control our children and work with our children. We need to teach children rules, how to listen, how to make correct judgments and how to make decisions for themselves. They need to be warned. It doesn't matter if you're deaf, blind, in a wheelchair or disabled. Everyone is the same whether -- and it doesn't matter what your color is. People are judged, and we need to get away from that. And I advise law enforcement that the people who -- that they need to see, hear and listen, making sure that they make the right judgments, because focusing on one group isn't fair. Everyone is equal. And in order to improve the spirit of Philadelphia and make everything a better place, everyone needs to be treated equally. Thank you. (Applause.)
Carol Myers, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Hi. Actually, most people know me as Celine, but that's okay. I am here before you today as a middle-aged, middle-class resident of Philadelphia and the mother of a sixth grader in the public school system. If the curfew law is being enacted to protect the residents of this city, I want to tell you clearly that I do not feel the law will protect me or anyone. Instead, it will hurt our youth, who are already suffering because of underfunded schools, cuts in youth-oriented programs and devastated neighborhoods. Instead, it will tax their parents, who are already overworked and overwhelmed. And on top of this, it will target the innocent young men and women who look 18 or under but are really older than 21, people of color, the homeless and others with nowhere to go. The ACLU has called the curfew law unconstitutional and pledged to bring lawsuits against it. The continuation of this law will surely clog our courts needlessly. As a mother and concerned citizen, I urge you to vote against instating the curfew law. I implore you to give all the youth of this city a fair chance, to enact and support youth programs and community centers, to fund the public schools, to rebuild neighborhoods and to give parents the time and resources to raise their children, but not to criminalize the youth who are affected by the problems we all face today. And, finally, I stand before you to say that if you do pass this shameful law today, that will not be the end of it. I and others like me will work to abolish the curfew law and to ensure that all youth are able to play, prosper, learn and enjoy their life in the City of Brotherly Love. Thank you. (Applause.)
Romeeka Williams, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Hi. My name is Romeeka Williams and I work with the Youth Art and Self-Empowerment Project, and we are a youth-led movement that work with teens that are charged as adults. I'm here today to disagree on the curfew law in our communities. I think it gives police more reason to get more aggressive than they already are. When they started the curfew law, it was police who took things to the extreme. It made communities worse than they were. The police will use the curfew law to give illegal searches, treating young people like criminals. I think the curfew law will create more harassment and more police brutality, and some young people have things to do past 9:00 p.m., like work. Some come from church events, some come from recreation centers. So if they're out past 9:00 p.m., it's like they're getting in trouble for doing the right thing. So instead of doing this, I think the City Council should focus on giving young people support and opportunities to make positive changes in their communities. Thank you. (Applause.)
Susanna Martin, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Good morning. I'm a medical editor. I live in Southwest, and I'm with Occupy Philly. In order to support the curfew bill, we would have to be able to trust that the police would not use racial profiling when enforcing it and that the media would tell us if the police abuse their power. I don't think that trust is realistic. I'm here to tell you about something I witnessed last summer. It was after midnight on Saturday, July 10th, 2010. I was walking down South Street with a friend and there were a lot of young people around as usual on South Street on a Saturday night. I felt safe. But I saw dozens of police riding up the street and both sidewalks on horses and motorcycles, clearing the street and the sidewalks. The cops on horses started chasing the young people, yelling at them and shoving them, even if they were on the sidewalk. It was terrifying. To me, the racism was clear. I'm a white woman in my 30's and I was yelling at the police, asking why they were doing this, yelling about our rights, but they ignored me and allowed me to walk wherever I chose. However, the young black people were treated very differently. Those who tried to walk peacefully down the side street to get away were being chased by police on foot with nightsticks. They were being corralled and forcibly marked for almost ten blocks up to Broad Street, and it was deeply humiliating, because they were not doing anything except being out. Their city was telling them they were garbage. I talked with several young people on South Street afterward, who told me that the police routinely stop black teenagers there and rough them up when they aren't doing anything. A restaurant worker told me he saw someone get beaten by four or five cops and tasered later that night. If you didn't hear about the events of July 10th, 2010, that's because the media didn't cover it, except for a very brief article in the Inquirer that quoted a police official who said they had shut down South Street because of large crowds. No young people were interviewed about their experience that night. Their story about what had happened to them was never told. Hysteria and racial profiling can do incredible damage. Do you remember how the media covered the brutal assault of the Central Park jogger in New York City in 1989? All over the country people heard about the threat of wilding teenagers. I was living with my father in Virginia at the time and I'll never forget the fury with which my English teacher railed against the evil that was taking hold of urban young people as she told us about the case. Five teenagers from Harlem went to prison and served between 7 and 13 years before confession and DNA evidence showed that the real perpetrator was an adult who was a serial rapist. In every state for years after the assault, people knew about the case and it shaped their ideas about youth and violence, but hardly anyone heard the news that the teenagers didn't do it. (Applause.)
After what I saw last summer, I don't trust the police to have the best interest of our young people, parents and communities at heart, and I don't trust the media to keep us informed of what the police are doing. When I was 17 and a Central High School student in 1991, a much more dangerous time than now to live in Philadelphia, I used to come home on the Broad Street night owl bus by myself after midnight sometimes. I didn't drink, use drugs or hurt anyone. I just went out to enjoy some music and explore and be part of my city. I loved being a teenager in Philadelphia. This bill tells teens from Philly that they are not welcome to fully explore, enjoy and be part of our city. Let's take the money that would have been used by this bill and instead use it to start giving our young people a future. Thank you. (Applause.)
Adan Stevens Diaz, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Good morning. I'm Adan Stevens Diaz. I have introduced myself last week. I gave a testimony, and when I gave this testimony, I looked at some of the faces. I didn't see any faces of shock or disgust or surprise at the stories I was telling about racial profiling amongst the police in this city. It shouldn't surprise you that this is about race. And it's not me who is saying this is about race, not some radical. The Mayor said that this is about race. He made it about race first of all. (Applause.)
We know that this bill -- you can change it and open it up to other parts of the City, but, again, we know how it's going to be used, for what neighborhoods and against whom. So let's call it like it is, first of all. The other thing is, we have to admit that, yes, it is segregationist, and a law like this is a step backwards for this city, it's a step backwards for this country, it's a step back to Jim Crow. (Applause.)
More importantly, though, we can use the words of Mayor Nutter here, because if we're to pass this, then you are a shame to yourself, to this city and, yes, to your race if you pass this bill. (Applause.)
How does the Mayor get off talking a lot of crap about other people's kids, about their houses not being in order, when his own police commit acts of violence against the citizens of this city and they're not put into order? Put your own house into order. That has to be said. I speak, of course, of what happened to Askia Sabur. I speak of what happened to Barbara Black. I speak of what happened to Eric Rycliff and too many others to mention. We have to talk about, yes, the present and the future. What kind of future are these youth facing? What have we offered them, when they walk into a school through metal detectors with police that are from the street in the school and there's more money being spent on the metal detectors and the police curfews than the teachers or the books? (Applause.)
What kind of message are we sending them when we're throwing them up against the wall in the school and patting them down daily? What are they learning? What are they expecting when they leave that school and go out into the real world? What are they being trained for? We have to think about that. There's more money being spent on prisons than the school. Well, I'm telling you right now, if we had more jobs and if we had better schools, you wouldn't need police and prisons. (Applause.)
They're our last generation that's been the answer. From the '70s, the '80s and the '90s we saw the jobs leave the inner city and go overseas, and the response was more police repression, and it changed nothing. Nothing got safer. If your answer is more police repression, what's going to happen to these kids? What's going to happen in five or ten years when they have kids? What Frankenstein monster are you creating? What is going to happen to this country? You are the government. Govern. Govern responsibly. Understand what you're creating here. It's time to stop this cycle. Thank you. (Applause.)
Peace. Peace. My name is Pili X. I'm running as an independent candidate under the new party, it's called the Hip Hop Party. I'll make my comments real short. Basically if the City really cared about the youth, I would put forth the line that spend more money on the schools, spend more money on creating programs, job programs, spend more money on paying teachers higher salaries so that our kids have a higher quality of learning, not the curfew bill. Spend more money, time and effort on creating solutions that aren't putting our kids in prisons and aren't fining good parents that actually do a good job. A lot of the parents do a good job, but when teenagers -- you're going to go out, you're going to have fun. That's all I have to say. Thank you. (Applause.)
Khadijah White, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Hello. Khadijah White. And I hope that some of you will do me the decency of looking at me while I speak. I know some of you have been busy and reading papers, but I'm hoping that maybe you can listen. (Applause.)
I am here with many others to reiterate my protest against this curfew. Just the day before Mayor Michael Nutter passed the Philadelphia curfew this summer, he made it clear that his target was black youth. That's part of the problem in the black community, he said. We have too many men making too many babies they don't want to take care of and then we end up dealing with your children. I guess he was talking about me. Not me now, not the ivy league Ph.D. candidate in front of you, but the me back then, because my father was a drug dealer and he was in jail for a good chunk of my life. I was one of those children Mayor Nutter doesn't seem to want around, except I had public libraries where my mom could take me after school and safe, clean parks to play in. (Applause.)
And my mother seemed to believe in education more than our local officials, so she sent me to a nearby christian school instead, so I wouldn't have to fight because I was smart, so I wouldn't have to go through metal detectors that made me feel more like I was in a prison than a school, so I would have textbooks and after-school activities and teachers who weren't overworked or under-prepared. See, you all are missing the point. The kids are not the problem. The problem is that the City seems to only be generous with punishment and criticism when it comes to Philadelphia's youth. So gross is this distortion that this summer City officials were proud to tell the media that they planned to condemn an 11-year-old child to the full extent of the law following an alleged flash mob. In last week's reporting on this vote, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown was quoted claiming that the incidence of flash mobs were down now because of the curfew. Though I doubt the empirical accuracy of that statement, I do believe that, yes, regular police harassment, arrest and targeting would fight almost any American citizen, especially when those people are children. Is that how we solve problems in the City? Is that how we figure out a better way to educate and support each other, by intimidating children? That can't be, and we will not accept it. It's not that you just shouldn't be passing a law that condones Mayor Nutter's draconian measures and expands his powers. Rather, you should be focusing on a law that limits his ability to act so prejudicially towards a segment of Philadelphia citizenry, a law that keeps me from being able to take my little brother out in the city I love. You should be defending your constituents from a Mayor who is acting like a king. You should be defending your neighbors, because that's who you're here to protect. You're here to protect all Philadelphia citizens, not just those that grew up with the privilege of living in Society Hill. We will not stand for this. We are taxpayers. We are parents. We are students. We are citizens. We have brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, and we will not allow the City to turn them, any of them, into police targets and criminals just for existing in the public streets that our wages help to maintain. Listen, there are already laws on the books preventing vandalism and assault, and if the City is having trouble enforcing those laws, is it really wise to add another to the list? And if you -- I'm sorry. Yes, living in a society where you have to constantly interact with strangers is always potentially dangerous, teenager or not, but when we opt for security over liberty, we're compromising our ability to create a productive society. And how far does this kind of profiling go?
Your time has been up. I would ask you -(Audience members yelling.)
Okay. So how far does this profiling go? If a group of Asian people do something wrong, do we lock all Asians in their house, Muslims, Italians? And if you speak to Mayor Nutter, please tell him that all of us heard his sermon of hate. We heard him refer to the kids we love, including those who make mistakes, as butt-heads, and that many of us working with black youth are here to answer for them. His continued demonization and assault of our children will not be accepted. City Council, it's time for you to do your jobs. Come up with solutions that work. Let us bring them to you. But this curfew is not one of them. Over and over again research shows us that. Now it's time for you to put justice ahead of politics as usual. (Applause.)
Neha Sobti, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
I hope this is sinking in, guys, because we are the people that you represent. Hi. I'm Neha. I go to Graduate School of Education at Penn. Maybe you guys heard of it. I live and work and go to school in West Philly, so I've met and worked with a lot of the students that participated in these flash mobs, and I am proud that these students have decided to take a stand. I'm here supporting the students, young men and women who have seen more violence done to their neighborhood schools, friends, family and own bodies than many of us will ever see in our lifetime. These are acts of violence not done by their peers, but by the government and police force that is supposed to protect them. From my friends here today, you have heard and probably will hear about the history of violence towards people of color in this country. As a student of education and a member of the West Philly community, let me tell you that this history holds true to the present day and manifests in schools all over the City. Public education in West Philly has been destroyed, not by the students but by the adults who refuse to acknowledge the real roadblocks put in place preventing these students from receiving an adequate education. Just a few years ago, West Philly High School, school with a predominantly black and low-income student population, was on its way up. It was clear that students in the school, previously ridden with gang activity and hopelessness, was turning itself around. Students were actually excited to learn. They had an award-winning automative team that landed a dozen students in the White House shaking hands with President Obama. In a couple of years, there was a large decrease in violence and gang activity in the school and a clear, positive change in culture, a new building in the works, and students and adults working together to create a productive learning environment. It wasn't perfect. The test scores weren't improving at the same rate, but for these kids, bubbling in the right answer in standardized tests that has been proven to measure little more than how well you can take a test was not as important as feeling safe and supported in a learning environment. The next year, the entire school was gutted and the principal asked to leave. Apparently improvement was not happening fast enough. I wonder why. Perhaps it's because two centuries worth of oppression and denial of education cannot be solved in three years. (Applause.)
Especially when you no longer give SEPTA passes to students over a certain cut-off line, forcing them to stay home instead of going to school because they are scared to walk through their own neighborhoods. Regardless of that, the adults in charge decided to take matters into their own hands and turn over the school. Violence ensued shortly after, of course. In my opinion, politicians should not be surprised when violence occurs. It is only a consequence of the violence that they rule with. Destroying an improving public school, along with the morale of the students and community members that spent time, dedication and money building it up, is violence, just like the police brutality that these kids witness on a regular basis is violence. I do not support random acts of violence by politicians, police or by young black youth, but I can see why these students revolt and rebel, and I support their struggle. They are rightfully angered as any good has come -- that no good has come from their efforts. Any good that has come from their efforts has been stomped on by trigger-happy politicians. The black youth of West Philly can no longer gather in places where their parents used to live because the land is being taken over by those dubbed more acceptable or less threatening. As they get pushed further and further away from the City and their schools are crumbling around them, what else are they to do but rebel? Back to my main concern for today, the passage of the bill creating a curfew on youth of the City. Extending a curfew is an attempt to shut out these students who are trying to voice the oppression they endure every day. Supporting this bill means supporting the denial of their voice when real alternatives could be pursued. If you choose to vote this bill down, you will be setting a new precedent for how we as a city engage with our youth. You could set in motion bills that focus on supporting the positive efforts black youth in communities they live in are already engaging in. If this curfew remains, it will only solidify in the minds of these students that they are not and will never be supported by the government or the rest of Philadelphia. To them, the government and its officials will be seen as a constant force against them instead of one that truly listens to their needs. It will not only lead to further financial burdens to the families and increased incarceration, but it will also contribute negatively to their psychological health as they are further excluded and demonized by society. Today I speak for the students of Philadelphia. It is my job as a student of education to better understand their needs and help them reach their goals. But I do not need to speak for them. They can and will speak for themselves. If our government continues to ignore their needs, place unjust policies in their way to achieving their dreams, destroy the schools they are trying to build up from scratch, they will rebel over and over again. You cannot take basic human rights away from communities for long. They will fight back. I hope you choose to set a new precedent before these students are forced to defend their rights for themselves.
Hello. I'm a retired Philadelphia public school teacher. In my 37 years as a public school teacher, I have taught thousands of students. I'm here to speak on their behalf and all the youth of Philadelphia against this curfew. When I was a teacher, I learned early on that if I was having a management problem in the classroom, I did not punish the entire class. I got into the habit of first saying thank you to the students who were staying on task and who were not contributing to the disruption, and then I would deal with the students who were disrupting. This curfew is a collective punishment for all the youth of Philadelphia. (Applause.)
At the beginning when I would collectively punish an entire class, I would immediately be greeted with cries of "but I didn't do anything." That is what thousands of young people are saying in their homes and in the schools, they didn't do anything. So why are they being penalized for the actions of a few individuals? This generation faces a very bleak future. They have prospects of low-paying jobs or unemployment, possible homelessness. If they're lucky enough to get in college, they will have mountains of debt, which will take decades to pay off, while working at low-paying jobs. There is a reason that there is a fear of this generation, but this curfew is the opposite of what should be done. Why are we not addressing the youth programs that are needed for these young people? Why are we not building up the community centers and the libraries and the arts programs for these young people instead of telling them they must be locked in their homes every night? I think that we should think about what Governor Corbett has done. Earlier speakers spoke about the schools-to-prison pipeline. They didn't mention that some of these prisons are going to be for-profit institutions. In other words, they are going to have labor which is being paid something like 25 cents an hour or nothing. This is a return to slavery. (Applause.)
This curfew is part of that same mentality. It criminalizes the next generation, and we must be looking for ways that we can change the situation. I heard you talking about a credit for wealthy real estate developers, for wealthy condominiums. What about low-income housing? Why not give credits to developers to develop low-income housing for the thousands of homeless on the streets, including with their children that are on the streets of Philadelphia? (Applause.)
So I urge you to vote this down, because if you do not address these problems, you will reap the whirlwind. (Applause.)
Robert Taylor, commenting on 110633 and 110675. (Witness approached podium.)
Members of Council, ladies and gentlemen. I am Robert Taylor, a citizen of South Philadelphia. I'm commenting on Bill 110633, the curfew bill, and Bill 110675, et al, massive parking regulations. I oppose the curfew bill. This bill is unconstitutional for the -- based on the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which states that the people -- quote, "The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures." This bill would seize people who are peacefully going about their business. Quote, "Every act, contrary to the delegated authority, is void. To deny this would affirm that the deputy is greater than the principal; that the servant is above the master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting and women acting by virtue of the powers that are delegated to them do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they actually forbid." Hamilton, Federalist Papers No. 78. William Penn was congregating when authorities arrested him in England. Yes, the same William Penn whose statue stands upon this very building. He was given a kangaroo court trial. Penn eventually came to the so-called free world to establish Penn's Wilderness, or as is better known today, Pennsylvania. Penn set up his holy experiment of liberty and justice in this land. Therefore, I am suggesting that Penn himself would oppose this bill as well. Please vote against this curfew bill. This body passes parking legislation as those giving out candy on Halloween. This is one trick I don't want or need. The people are getting tired of these incessant rules and regulations. Yet, these regulations reach out into all parts of the City, like some sort of hard sea monster. Just look at the endless number of proposed regulations that are on the Calendar today. It is numbing. Nearly every bill passes with rules suspended. Nearly every bill is not debated on the floor. Instead, these pernicious parking bills are often bundled together in what is called a Consent Agenda, and then they are foisted onto the unsuspecting public. Can anyone really call this good legislation? It is getting to the point one cannot walk or ride without paying huge fees and fines to a money-hungry city in order to enjoy natural rights. Please vote no on these ineffectual regulations and let's end the fed. Thank you for your time.
Juan Cruz, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
How y'all feel? All right. My name is Juan Cruz. I'm speaking for Hood for Hood. We can make it. This is how it's going down. Back in the day, y'all had this curfew stuff. When I was young, we used to run around, play, whatever, whatever. It was good. It was on everybody. It wasn't just one area. How do you go from one area of a neighborhood and just sanction one part? How do you do that? That's all I want to know. How do you do that? And another thing, I was locked up for this curfew stuff, my job tooken. I was looked at all disrespectful. And they didn't even ask me, but I got a pocketful of pay stubs. I got a pocketful of pay stubs and I got money in my pocket. They didn't even go to -hey, yo, excuse me, people. Yo. Excuse me. Excuse me. I sat here and listened to y'all. I sat here and listened to y'all all day. Can I get three minutes? Can I get three minutes? I sat here and listened to y'all. I listened to everything y'all said. Give me the same respect. Now, it ain't no more or no less. (Applause.)
No. It ain't about no clapping. No, no. It ain't about no clapping. It's about the reality of this stuff.
Excuse me. We are not having a debate here. Everybody is given three minutes.
Everybody is going to be given the same courtesy. Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. Like I was saying, I was locked up. As far what you do to this, what y'all call the curfew stuff, they locked me up. They ain't never -- they put me in jail and just said you did it. Pocketful of money, pay stubs and everything. They didn't have no remorse or nothing. Made me lose my job. Good-ass job. Coca-Cola on Erie Avenue, don't got no more. You know what I mean? A good job. I mean, somebody explain that to me. This right here, this what you looking at. This is what you going to see, because they uprising in the hood. This is what you going to see, angry black people coming. We coming. (Applause.)
We coming. We uprising. We tired of it. How you going -- if you're going to put a sanction on the hood, you sanction the whole hood. You don't sanction a part of it. How you going to sanction 48th Street, and 58th Street you do all whatever you want? It don't make sense. I'm done, man. Y'all ain't nothing but a bunch of critics. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Savannah Shange. As you know, I'm a resident of South Philadelphia. Since it's already been covered that the youth curfew bill that's being extended today, Bill 110633, is unconstitutional, it doesn't prevent crime. So if it's not constitutional, it doesn't prevent crime, what is the real impetus behind passing this bill? Let's be frank and make sure that we understand the purpose of this youth curfew is to allay the racialized fears and anxieties of adult voters who will feel more comfortable in their middle- and upper-class neighborhoods with the black youth invisible. Because this upper- and middle-class voters will feel like you as City Councilmembers are doing something, they'll be satisfied and they might show up for you on Election Day, even if they don't seem to be showing up here today. However, who are you showing up for? The earlier curfew hours aren't doing something about their atrocious graduation rate for youth in Philadelphia. They aren't doing something about the high incarceration rate in Philadelphia, the highest incarceration rate of any metropolitan area in the United States, and this curfew bill only makes it worse. These curfew hours aren't doing anything about the lack of higher education and meaningful work opportunities for people in Philadelphia. The rate of Philadelphia students that can get into our own Temple University has shrunk so drastically since I graduated here in Philly in 1998. If the institutions in this city, University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, are not beholders of the youth of this city, how is the City Council making it feasible for young people to grow up and prosper? These curfew hours further don't end the poverty, the structural violence that put whole neighborhoods at risk for hunger, for hopelessness and that stokes the very rage that Juan was just talking about among black youth, Puerto Rican youth and the other youth of color here. We need safe and meaningful places for young people to spend time for educational and recreational purposes. We need to invest in prevention and not in policing. I know you may think that one City ordinance is unrelated to the spending on prisons in Pennsylvania, unrelated to the federal prisons that are expanding everywhere with super-max penitentiaries, but those prisons are filled with people who are caught up in the system by having lapsed warrants for things like curfew violations, for parents of students who then they get a warrant, they don't pay it and then all of the sudden, they have another reason to be in jail. I want to make sure that even though I'm opposed this bill, I also want to bring special attention to a part of the bill, Section 10-819, where in addition to the curfew, the Mayor's emergency powers are referenced in the bill. To imprisonment of up to 90 days is still a potential punishment for a 15-year-old who just wants to walk to her own corner store at 9:30 at night. Once you lose three months out of a school year as a high school student, that grade is lost and you're probably not going to graduate. So I'm wondering why the members of this Council, as Khadijah White said, are allowing the Mayor's emergency powers to continue to flourish in this city. I want you to add explicit language to this bill that no one will be imprisoned as a result of this curfew bill and that the Mayor's emergency powers will not be extending at the service of this city. Further, please note that no matter whether or not you pass this bill today, we will all be back here until there's no Philadelphian who has any limits on their freedom of movement, their freedom of assembly, their freedom to flourish in this city. Thank you. (Applause.)
Excuse me. To the Chief Clerk, I would suggest that you call the next two witnesses to testify and maybe they could sit up in the upper rows here so we don't have to wait.
My name is Stephen Lunger. I live at 10th and Tasker Streets in South Philadelphia. I'm a resident of this city and I'm a taxpayer. I don't know any of you. This is my first time speaking with all of you, so I would just like to say hello. Hi. Frank, you're my Councilmember. I live in the 1st District, as you know. Now, while I don't know you personally, I do know a little something that we all have in common - human anatomy. I know that all of you have a brain and a heart, and seeing as how you all are in positions of power, I think it's safe to say that you know how to use at least one of these. The brain, the mind, your conscience, that place between your ears where logic and reasoning happen has already been addressed. The case against the curfew bill has already been defined by the eloquent speakers before me, professors, teachers, activists, parents, Philadelphians. I do not believe at this point that facts, statistics, case examples or historic precedents will do much to help change your minds. You've already been given all the info you need to make an informed decision. Now it's time to use your heart. Do you feel this bill is in the best interest of the people of Philadelphia? Do you feel this bill correctly addresses the problem of violence in our communities? Do you feel this bill will make Philadelphia a better place for our children to live in? Do you remember being a child, a teenager? How different is where you sit now from your seat in high school? You have a desk, a pen and paper, a teacher to make sure everyone follows the rules and has a chance to speak. You take notes, or at least you should be, and I see plenty of uniforms in this room. In high school many of you probably had curfews imposed on you by your parents. Many of you probably had friends whose parents did not give them a curfew. But the curfew wasn't what taught you right from wrong. It was parents who did that. Curfews aren't about changing behaviors. They're about teaching respect and responsibility. Who teaches respect? Teachers do. Parents do. Teachers teach and parents parent. Cops enforce. It is their duty as enforcers of the law, as officers of the law to enforce, not to teach. If you want children to learn how to respect each other and be responsible for one another, you have to teach them. The mere existence of a law does not provide a moral explanation for why something is wrong. It just says don't do this. Someone has to show them why. Kids need a lot more than a simple curfew. They need people like you on their side. I'm almost done. They need support, understanding, education, compassion and empathy. So please don't pass the bill that further divides us on issues of race, violence and economy. Your work is expressly for the people, by the people, of the people. So seize this opportunity to do the right thing. Do the right thing. Follow your heart. I don't know -- actually, I know how much you guys make in salary, and you don't make enough to be a part of the one percent. Sorry. So become a part of the 99 percent by realizing your position in society as policymakers, as leaders, elders and citizens, as people. Do not vote this bill into law. Thank you. Peace. (Applause.)
And members of City Council. I am Priscilla Woods from Yorktown. Yorktown is a neighborhood in North Central Philadelphia, about two blocks below the main campus of Temple University. And I'm here today to request that you defer passage of Resolution 110728 approving the redevelopment contract for Models Cities Urban Renewal Area, Parcel No. 700 at 1801 through 1859 North 11th Street and Parcel No. 701, 1802 through 1856 Warnock Street, 1028 Berks Street, 1801 and 1817 Clifton Street, 1021 through 1029 Montgomery Avenue, and Resolution 110746, authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Redevelopment Authority City-owned lots in the 37th Ward for rehabilitation and improvement, and Resolution No. 110747, amending the Institutional Development District Master Plan for Temple University, located on the block bounded by Montgomery Avenue, 13th Street, Berks Street, Warnock Street by allowing the construction of a new building for use as a mixed-use parking garage. I understand that Resolution 110747 has been withdrawn, but I still want to address the fact that the Yorktown community is inundated with this parking issue. And the University in building this parking garage will say that they're attempting to address the parking issue in our neighborhoods. That's Yorktown, Jefferson Manor, all of the entire area, but the institution does not have a plan for directing, redirecting the students and employees to these parking facilities that they currently have and are underutilized. Folks do not park on those parking lots. Folks park on the streets, in our driveways and in areas where in some instances it creates volatile situations for the property owners with the students. I have a copy of our May 2011 letter to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission expressing our concerns relating to the history and significance of this particular site and the lack on the part of the University in doing equitable development in the area. We're concerned about the parking issue. We're working on it. We've been meeting with the University, and we are here today to ask you to defer final approval of these resolutions to allow us to continue our conversations with the University and work towards some amicable agreements as it relates to this site and to the issues that we are facing in Yorktown. Thank you.
And call the next two witnesses, too. (Witness approached podium.)
And those City Councilmen who were respectful enough to remain here to hear these testimonies, I thank you. As a martial art instructor, as a teacher at the Philadelphia Vilahay (ph) School, just as a person, I've watched my community -- I'm a citizen of Southwest Philadelphia -- I've watched it go to waste. I watched abandoned buildings just fall down and the taking of our rec centers. You are asking our youth to be punished for something that they have no power over. You've taken all the resources. You've cut their programs. You've cut their school. You've cut everything, and now this is what remains. So if you pass this curfew law, you are telling the youth of today that you don't care about them. And let's be serious. This is not going to affect middle-class University City students. These are going to affect our black youth and the minorities of this city. I hope that you realize this and do not pass this law. Thank you. (Applause.)
Ashley Session, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Good morning. I'm the Program Coordinator at the Philadelphia Freedom Schools, a product of the Philadelphia School District, a recent graduate of Vehamp (ph) University and the fruit of the labor of my grandparents, Bessie W. Session and the late Albert Session, who worked hard to advocate and educate the children in the City of Philadelphia. Martin Luther King once said, I don't ever want to forget that there are millions of God's children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don't want you to feel that you are better than they are, for you will never be what you ought to be and so they are all they ought to be. On Monday, September 26th, 2011, students, their families and community leaders gathered at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church for a youth-lead multi-generational inter-faith leadership breakfast to discuss the issue that youth face living in the City of Philadelphia. Twenty youth from various schools, family backgrounds and communities organized and facilitated stimulating conversations on several topics, including education, youth engagement, City cleanup and curfew. So what is Philadelphia Freedom Schools? Philadelphia Freedom Schools exist to build intellectual, cultural and civic engagement of children and youth in order to make meaningful change in themselves, their families and their schools, communities and the larger society. The PFS program is inspired by the historic voter registration and community mobilization effort organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, SNCC, in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. In 1999, the School District of Philadelphia joined with communities and schools of Philadelphia and eight community-based organizations to place Freedom Schools in communities throughout the City. These summer programs served thousands of scholars, high school servant leaders, families and influenced hundreds of school and community-based educators throughout the City. Philadelphia Freedom Schools, along with communities and schools in Philadelphia, organized the breakfast to challenge leaders -- some of you in this room attended -- and families to step up to the plate. Bahiya Jones, who will speak after me, will talk about what our students said about the curfew. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Bahiya Jones and I am a program support intern with the Philadelphia Freedom Schools. The Philadelphia Freedom Schools, along with the communities and schools of Philadelphia, organized not only the Philadelphia Freedom Schools youth but also various other youth from different organizations throughout the City to come together for an open forum or discussion on September 26th with inter-faith leadership, different City Councilmen and members and other concerned citizens throughout the City of Philadelphia. For four weeks prior to this breakfast, the youth met three times a week to hold think tanks on various topics that were affecting them. A report was commissioned to document the progress of their work. There is no clear approach to the -- there is no clear approach to the curfew and its policy as is affecting our young people. Furthermore, the youth also felt that it discouraged and limited interaction between youth and directly targeted them out of fear. The curfew was racially driven in communities where African Americans and Latinos live. Furthermore also, the curfew then offers a monetary fine to those parents or residents whose children are caught after curfew hours. However, the lack of funds to pay the fine is the problem. The unemployment rate in many communities in Philadelphia is 15 percent or higher. Also, there are not enough engaging activities for our youth to be engaged in in the City of Philadelphia. However, in closing, if the City is at a loss on how to engage young people, then we, the Philadelphia Freedom Schools, are more than welcome to engage you. Thank you. (Applause.)
I'm Janette Patton, but I'm better known as Pam Africa, minister of confrontation for the MOVE Organization and -(Applause.)
-- Chairwoman of the uncompromising international concerned family and friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. My concern here, of course I'm opposed to the bill, but the issue of what happens to the youth if you pass this bill when you have mothers and fathers that you're getting ready to criminalize, because a lot of parents don't have money a lot of times to pay their rent. I know mothers right now who don't have water and are trying to raise that money and also pay the rent at the same time. They're not working one job. They're not working two jobs. They're working two and a half jobs and sometimes three, and the children are home not because they want them to be home by themself. You know, it's the same situation with the fathers as well. But you come to a situation where you have children who are forced because of your policies, your policies, what you write down, and are causing parents to be outside the home. And, you know, there's also situations where children have to pick up their siblings at night in order to get them back home, because the mother and father in between trying to get from one job to another. The children are shifting around and dealing with these children. I know too many black young men, women and children who have been shot in the back of they head, shot in the back and are, you know, all behind the fact that when a cop called them and, you know, they in fear. They in fear. So they might run even with they hands up and get shot down. And then there's the situation where the mother and the father just got so much on them with all these bills piled up on them and then the child get picked up for curfew. Do you know how many children are beat to death behind stress, stress that is caused by your pen, by your pencils, legislations that y'all put into effect? So I'm saying, I'm speaking for that part and I'm speaking for the children whose parents is not being parents that's there. A couple of New Year Eves ago, maybe last New Year's Eve, there was some children that was in their homes, and cops thought they heard something, went in, shot. They wasn't out on the street. And I'm saying, you know, until you talk about dealing with this whole problem and with just dealing with the one percent, that's why you got the middle-class children and other people outside City Hall right now. And you ain't talking about ending the problem. What you're talking about is doing stuff for big business, that one percent, creating more jails and are creating more problems for people. (Applause.)
How can a person who can't pay they gas or electric and is out doing three or four jobs and are trying to keep their family together, and they child, you know, step out and, you know, might get caught, I want to go to the store, I want me a hoagie or something, and get caught up in the curfew thing. And I'm saying, you are causing problems. So it's a lot I can say, but you the city that dropped the bomb killing 11 men, women and children. So don't even play like y'all give a goddamn about children. Pardon me. (Applause.)
Marvin Robinson, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, President, Council, City Council. My name is Marvin Robinson. I'm a committeeman in the 4th Ward, 15th Division and a block captain on the 500 block of Wanamaker Street, also an organizer for Fight for Philly in the West Philadelphia area. I'm here on the behalf on my community. I was talking to the youth, and they feel that this bill that's supposed to be passed is being unjust to them, and I agree with them. I feel that back when I was growing up, when we had curfew, the curfew was for everybody. So I'm just in here hoping that the Councilpeople that will make this decision make sure when you pass this bill, if you do pass this, for all the kids, not just for certain groups, certain neighborhoods in the areas that the Mayor want to pick out. I just feel that this bill would be unjust to the community and the youth. Thank you very much.
I would ask the Chief Clerk to again call the names of people who were called earlier and did not respond. Maybe they arrived a little later.
Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison, commenting on 110633. (Witness approached podium.)
Good afternoon. I've been asked to make a couple of comments about this Bill 110633. I want to emphasize to Council a few various points, and it would be as follows: First, much like the last speaker, I will agree with you that this needs to be done citywide, and it will be done citywide. There will not be any one area targeted. It will be a citywide approach. Second, I want to remind people that this is not a new matter. We have had -- curfew has been on the books since 1955. It has been -- depending on the times and depending on the areas, we have adjusted, and in the Police Department there has been different requirements, but we are hopeful that our holistic approach to this will be very beneficial. Again, it is not targeted towards either African Americans, Hispanics or even just males. It has been targeted in the areas that has been going on over the last -- for the last couple of months. It has been targeted because we were trying to solve a particular problem, and thank God, we have been able to effectively deal with that. However, we do not want to continue doing things with an Executive Order rolling over and we'd like to work with Council in order to make sure the holistic approach is the one that we can take. The next one is the broader strategy. As each of you know, we ended up placed, working with the Youth Commission, for additional venues for children and for young adults to go to. Part of this will continue as we go forward. I understand from speaking with various Councilmembers that there is an effort that they would like us to sit down and to talk about how we deal with the few numbers of people that need to get diverted with additional services, either from DHS or otherwise. Obviously the Administration is willing to sit down and work with Council as to how that will actually take place, and if a letter is necessary, that's something I will be very happy to provide to Council. And, lastly, the idea that this is an effort just to criminalize youth is the last thing we have. As some people know, since the first part of this year, we have interceded on over 10,000 stops of people who appear to be underage. The only parties that have been taken in have been just over 200. We are diverting kids, getting them back to their homes, making sure that they are safe, which is the true intent of this particular bill. I've been asked to deal with that, and that's the issues that I wanted to make sure that this Council was aware, and I look forward to working with Council as we go forward.
We will not tolerate that. We will respect each other. Thank you. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the name of the next speaker.
There are no other names on the public comment list, Madam President.
Okay. Is there anyone else here who has signed up to provide public comment on today's agenda? (No response.)
Seeing none, that concludes today's public comment period. Today we will consider the Consent Agenda Calendar. I will ask the Clerk to please read the titles of all of the bills on the Consent Agenda. After each title is read, any member may object to the inclusion of the bill on the Consent Agenda. Upon such an objection and without debate, the bill will immediately be removed from the Consent Agenda and placed on our regular Final Passage Calendar. The Clerk will now please read the title of the bills on the Consent Agenda.
Bill No. 110560, entitled "An ordinance amending Chapter 19-200 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'City Funds - Deposits, Investments, Disbursements,' by revising the list of of non-compliance with certain provisions of that Chapter"; and Bill No. 110612, entitled "An ordinance amending Bill No. 110136 (approved June 24, 2011), entitled 'An ordinance to adopt a Fiscal 2012 Capital Budget,' by adding and revising certain projects, amounts and sources"; and Bill No. 110613, entitled "An ordinance amending Bill No. 110135 (approved June 24, 2011), entitled 'An ordinance to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2012 through 2017 inclusive,' by adding and revising certain projects, amounts and sources"; and Bill No. 110660, entitled "An ordinance constituting the Eleventh Supplemental Ordinance to the Amended and Restated General Airport Revenue Refunding Bond Ordinance; authorizing the Mayor, the City Controller and the City Solicitor, or a majority of them, to one or more series of tax-exempt or taxable Airport Revenue Refunding Bonds of the City of Philadelphia"; and Bill No. 110291, entitled "An ordinance revising parking restrictions on Walnut Street, north side, between 33rd Street and Cobbs Creek Parkway"; and Bill No. 110293, entitled "An ordinance revising parking restrictions on Chestnut Street, south side, between 31st Street and Cobbs Creek Parkway"; and Bill No. 110499, entitled "An ordinance authorizing Chinta Shah, owner and operator of the newsstand located on the southeast corner of 18th Street and JFK Boulevard, to construct, use and maintain conduits in, under and across the southeast corner of 18th Street and JFK Boulevard"; and Bill No. 110550, entitled "An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 090120) approved April 15, 2009, entitled 'An ordinance of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan Nos. 107 and 130 by striking from the City Plan and vacating the legally open portions of 47th Street from Fairmount Avenue to Brown Street,' by extending the period for compliance with the terms and conditions stated therein"; and Bill No. 110555, entitled "An ordinance amending Section 2 of an ordinance (Bill No. 090442) approved June 26, 2009, entitled 'An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 157 by placing on the City Plan Fourth Street from Westmoreland Street to Ontario Street,' by extending the period for compliance with the terms and conditions stated therein"; and Bill No. 110566, entitled "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 63 by striking from the City Plan and vacating a portion of Avenue, between Nineteenth Street and Twentieth Street"; and Bill No. 110608, entitled "An ordinance authorizing Milk & Honey to construct, own and maintain an open-air sidewalk cafe at 4435 Baltimore Avenue"; and Bill No. 110609, entitled "An ordinance authorizing 4511 M&T Inc. to construct, own and maintain an open-air sidewalk cafe at 4511 through 13 Baltimore Avenue"; and Bill No. 110614, entitled "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 18-S by striking from the City Plan and vacating the legally open portions of Shedwick Street from Reed Street to Wharton Street"; and Bill No. 110615, entitled "An ordinance authorizing Bourse Mall Associates and Bourse Tower Associates, owners of the Bourse Building, 111 South Independence Mall East, to legalize the City right-of-way"; and Bill No. 110616, entitled "An ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No.
118 by striking from the City Plan and vacating Clifton Street from Montgomery Avenue to Berks Street"; and Bill No. 110634, entitled "An ordinance amending Chapter 12-3000 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Use Of An Automated Red Light Enforcement System to Prevent Red Light Violations,' by authorizing the installation of red light enforcement systems at the intersection of Worthington Road at Byberry Road"; and Bill No. 110635, entitled "An ordinance amending Chapter 12-3000 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled 'Use Of An Automated Red Light Enforcement System to Prevent Red Light Violations,' by authorizing the installation of red light enforcement systems at the intersection of Woodhaven Road at Knights Road"; and 110651, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Montrose Street, north side, 15th Street to 16th Street"; and Bill No. 110652, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Carpenter Street, both sides, 20th Street to 21st Street"; and Bill No. 110653, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on 18th Street, both sides, Carpenter Street to Christian Street"; and Bill No. 110654, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Catharine Street, both sides, 18th Street to 19th Street"; and Bill No. 110655, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Catharine Street, both sides, 21st Street to 22nd Street"; and Bill No. 110656, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Fitzwater Street, both sides, 23rd Street to 22nd Street"; and Bill No. 110657, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Grays Ferry Avenue, east side, Carpenter Street to Christian Street"; and Bill No. 110658, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Bainbridge Street, south side, 15th Street to Broad Street"; and Bill No. 110665, entitled "An ordinance authorizing Campanaro Consulting doing business as Village Belle Restaurant & Bar to legalize various existing sidewalk encroachments located on the footway in front of 757 South Front Street"; and Bill No. 110673, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Poplar Street, north side, 2nd Street to New Market Street"; and Bill No. 110674, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Emily Street, south side, 11th Street to 12th Street"; and Bill No. 110675, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Catharine Street, both sides, Broad Street to 13th Street"; and Bill No. 110676, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Annin Street, south side, 11th Street to 12th Street"; and Bill No. 110677, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on 12th Street, both sides, Porter Street to Shunk Street"; and Bill No. 110678, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Dickinson Street, both sides, Juniper Street to Clarion Street"; and Bill No. 110679, entitled "An ordinance establishing a parking regulation on Iseminger Street, east side, Oregon Avenue to Shunk Street"; and Bill No. "
Thank you. These bills having been read on two different days, the question for each bill now is shall the bill pass finally. The Clerk shall call the roll, and upon being called, each Councilmember shall vote aye on each of the bills, nay on each of the bills or indicate those bills for which the Councilmember is voting aye and which bills the Councilmember is voting nay. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please call the roll.
Councilman O'Neill is voting aye on all bills. Councilwoman Reynolds Brown.
Aye on all bills. 10/27/11 - STATED - 2ND READING A majority of all the members having voted in the affirmative for each of the bills, the bills on the Consent Agenda are passed. We will now consider bills and resolutions on the regular Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the title of Resolution 110728.
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 Nos. 700 and 701 and also sometimes identified by house numbers and street addresses for Parcel No. 700 as 1801 through 1859 North 11th Street and for Parcel No. 701 as 1802 through 1856 North Warnock Street, including 1028 West Berks Street, 1801, 1817 Clifton Street 10/27/11 - STATED - 2ND READING and 1021 through 29 West Montgomery Avenue.
It has been moved and seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the resolution is adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 110740.
A resolution honoring Philadelphia's homeless veteran's and declaring November Homeless Veterans Month. 10/27/11 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you, Madam President. I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that the resolution be adopted. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)