Aye. The ayes are 17, nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050525.
A resolution reappointing Ronald Rubin to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for a motion on the resolution.
I move that the resolution just referenced be adopted. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Resolution No. 050525 be adopted. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050526.
A resolution reappointing Larry Howard to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050526 be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the motion carries. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050527.
A resolution reappointing Randall Scott to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050527 be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050528.
A resolution reappointing Evelyn Smalls to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution.
It has been moved and seconded that Resolution No. 050528 be adopted. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050529.
A resolution appointing Christopher Terlizzi to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050529 be adopted. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050530.
A resolution appointing Edward D'Alba to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050530 be adopted. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050531.
A resolution appointing Wayne Fisher to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Resolution No. 050531 be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050532.
A resolution appointing Terry D'Alessandro to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded Resolution No. 050532 be adopted. All in favor will please indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050533.
A resolution reappointing Earnest Jones to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050533 be adopted. All in favor will indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050534.
A resolution reappointing Valerie Ferguson to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for a motion.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050534 be adopted. All in favor will please indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. The Chief Clerk will please read the title of Resolution No. 050535.
A resolution appointing John Gattuso to the Board of Directors of the Center City District of Philadelphia.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for a motion.
Thank you, Madam President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that Resolution No. 050535 be adopted. All in favor will please indicate by saying aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it and the resolution has been adopted. That completes our calendar for today. Are there speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. I'm getting encouragement about length of remarks. I'll try to comply. I just have two things, two items that I wish to raise. First, Madam President, I wish to thank the members of this body for their time, effort, patience, views, suggestions, criticism, and perspective on the issues that -- one of the issues that we've worked on this January to June session, which has been issues involving some would say ethics, some would call it contracts. Whatever you might want to call it, this Council has done a lot of work. And today Mayor Street, who is to be commended and acknowledged as well, signed legislation involving contract reform here in Philadelphia. Of course, we encourage the voters who will get their say in November to come out to the polls, of course, for the election but also to vote yes so that this legislation can go into effect. It will only happen if the voters approve it. But I want to thank the members for all of their hard work and again the Mayor and his administration for signing legislation, providing information. There was at times a fair amount of pushing and shoving, but this is a legislative process. We work through it. And the 18 of us are responsible for what happens here in Philadelphia. So I'm grateful for that and I've learned a great deal along the way. Second, on the issue of Bill 050063A, also known as the smoking legislation, I had a conversation with Mayor Street this morning. We've talked a great deal over the past few days. And the Mayor sent up this morning -- I did not have it in caucus. I mentioned to you that I might have something to say about this. And during the course of the session, Mayor Street sent up a letter to me and I have copies for all the members regarding the smoking legislation. And the Mayor had asked this morning that the bill be held at his request to have an opportunity to continue to work on this important landmark legislation for Philadelphia, to take the summer and spend some time working through a variety of revisions and issues, listen to supporters, listen to people who have an opposing view, and then in his words come back in the fall with a goal of having smoke-free legislation here in Philadelphia by the end of this calendar year in 2005. I think notwithstanding wherever the legislation or the issue may be, we've made tremendous progress over the past few months, and certainly in comparison to the previous effort which we worked on for a number of years. It is highly complicated. It is certainly controversial, but I think there is -there does seem to be a growing sense and the Mayor even mentions in his letter that he's convinced that a clear majority of members are receptive to the idea, but there are a lot of details. And I thank him for his work. He has in a fairly dramatic way stepped into this. He's been a supporter for a long period of time, but I have always said to colleagues and certainly people who write about these things the Mayor's strong support and leadership on this issue ultimately similar to New York City with a different party but leadership is leadership, Mayor Bloomberg in New York, Mayor Street I believe has the opportunity to provide the kind of leadership that's necessary and cooperative spirit with the City Council. So that is the current situation with the legislation. It will be held. And I look forward to the work over the course of the summer. I would only ask as members think about this issue, I've said this before and I'll say once more, we have a unique opportunity to save lives. We are not generally in the life-saving business. We're not police officers or firefighters or people who work in emergency services, but there are virtually very few actions that we as legislators can take that will have such a dramatic effect on this city and on the health of workers and people who patronize a variety of businesses, and I only ask my colleagues to think about that as we grapple with this particular issue.
A lot of people have a lot of opinion on the topic, but I think the health of workers should be paramount in our minds as we are legislators, we are public servants. We are here to represent the best interests of people who live in Philadelphia, people who patronize the various businesses, and let us keep that in mind as we think about a variety of other things surrounding this legislation. Madam President, I thank you very much for this opportunity.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you, Madam President. I just want to urge my colleagues particularly on the Democratic side to remind them during the recess that begins next week to spend some time thinking is there really a difference between the Council body consisting of 14 Democrats and three Republicans, is there any difference between such a body and one in which there were 14 Republicans and three Democrats because, to my colleagues of the Democratic side, it seems to me that if we vote Democratic in the election, we ought to support Democratic policies at the meeting halls rather than calling upon our people to support Democratic policies and then voting Republican in the halls of City Council. I have to tell you I see very little difference between the City Council of the City of Philadelphia and a small municipality in Texas whose president also claims to be speaking for poor people as he follows policies in Texas when he was governor which led Texas to be the 47th state in low economic performance. So I think we ought to take our oaths of office seriously and I urge that during the resting period we ought to spend time -I'm addressing only the Democrats -- to thinking about running a Democratic Council when we return. Thank you very much, Madam President.
You're welcome, sir. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
Madam President, I have to congratulate Councilman Cohen. He has come a long way. He used to only insult and demean Republicans, but now he's made it a bipartisan thing, and for that I congratulate him. Thank you.
Are there any other speeches on the part of the majority? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Madam President. I move that City Council be adjourned until Thursday, June 16, 2005, at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded Council stands adjourned until Thursday, June 16, 2005, at 10:00 a.m. All in favor will say aye. (Chorus of "ayes.")
The ayes have it. Motion carries. (Whereupon the deposition adjourned at 12:30 p.m.) CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence, and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the hearing of taken on June 9, 2005, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. _____________________________ Kimberly A. Overwise Certified Realtime Reporter Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)