Aye. The ayes are 15, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. The next bill to be called for 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE consideration is Bill No. 030123. THE
An ordinance requiring that any proposed rate filing with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on behalf of the City's natural gas distribution operation include a proposal to continue the existing senior citizen discounts and authorizing and directing the execution of an amendment to the City's agreement with Philadelphia Facilities Management Corporation to conform with the requirements of this ordinance.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll. THE
Councilman Goode. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE
Aye. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE The ayes are 15, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.) The next bill to be called for consideration is Bill No. 030138. THE
An ordinance enacting a new Chapter 19-2000 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Discounted rates for natural gas distribution and supplies services for senior citizens, reaffirming and reenacting a senior citizen discount for senior citizen customers of the Philadelphia Gas Works.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll. THE
Aye. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE THE
Aye. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE THE
Aye. The ayes are 15, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. (Applause.)
The last bill being called for consideration is Bill No. 030075. THE
An ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property on behalf of the City of Philadelphia to acquire by purchase, lease or condemnation a certain temporary easement through 3500 Scotts Lane for sewer and drainage construction purposes, under certain terms and conditions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally? The Clerk will please call the roll. THE
Councilman Clarke. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE
Councilman Rizzo. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE
Aye. The ayes are 15, the nays are 0. A majority of all Members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. That concludes our calendar for today. Are there any speeches on the part of the Minority? (No response.)
Are there any speeches on the part of the Majority.
Thank you, Madam President. Briefly to the listening audience, the guests here and to my colleagues, I would simply like to call to everyone's attention that this is national celebration of the Week of the Child, and before us are Teddy bears, compliments of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. So I would 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE simply ask that my colleagues pass it on to a little person in your lives. And we should be reminded of there are still 2,000 children in homeless shelters, 7800 children in out-of-home placements, half of them in foster care and we were successful in getting only 550 adoptions done last year. So it's a woeful reminder that our City still has a lot to do when it comes to improving the lives of kids. Thank you very much.
You're welcome. The Chair at this recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. I have a couple of things I'd like to say. Yesterday's Daily News Elmer Smith wrote about the plight of Dignity Housing and Alicia Christian who, when I first came into Council in 1988, started the Dignity Housing Program to provide quality housing for those people who had been homeless, and she has run a successful program all these many years. She is now coming up against a financial crisis, so I'm calling on the City to help find money to keep this program going. Additionally, we heard Mr. Hess testify 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE the other day from Office of Emergency Services that we do lack quality housing for people in the City to go to once they come out of shelters. So I think we can't have the dog chasing its tail. We've got to find a place for people to go. We need not have a quality program shut down for lack of funding, so I'm asking and we will be asking the Administration to help. The other comment I'd like to make is on a lighter note, a little bit away from that, is about Jeremy Holder. Jeremy is a breath of fresh air. He's a young man from Southwest Philadelphia who appeared on CBS's Star Search program on Channel 3. He one the first round of the junior singer's competition and will be performing live in the semifinals tomorrow night, April 11th at 8 o'clock. Now you know after the judges vote, there's a round of public vote. He won the last time because the public dialed in through their computers and broke the tie and he one with 35 stars. So he goes to the semifinals and he is from southwest Philadelphia, I would imagine he's probably from Councilwoman Blackwell's district. So we're asking everyone to tune in tomorrow night at 8 o'clock, turn on your 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE computers and your televisions, and when he performs, vote for Jeremy Holder. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you, Madam President. First, I want to thank Councilwoman Tasco for bringing to Council's attention in this fashion the need for support for more money for affordable housing. The Section 8 list alone has 8,000 names on it for people on a waiting list and market rate housing, God knows, there are many thousands of people looking around unable to find anything they can afford. So that it's just a terribly wrong thing to think of to permit a fine program that Alicia Christian has been running for many years. It would be a terrible thing to have that program die. If anything is needed, it's a multiplicity of Dignity Housing units, not to curtail it. Secondly, I don't know about the blind spot of Knight Ridder, but this is the fifth consecutive week I'm calling attention to the fact that the Daily News continues its practice on 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE predatory lending. It's a disgrace that that could -- we would certainly must know that have what its editorial say and they've attacked the kinds of advertising that appears regularly in the Daily News aimed at sucking what little money exists in neighborhood communities out from the people. People pay out of their paychecks almost their entire paycheck and they're forever indebted to the check cashing and cash today or cash three days before pay day. It's a disgrace that the Knight Ridder chain is continuing to profit. They keep the Inquirer clean of that advertising, but the Inquirer is also owned by Knight Ridder so the company that owns the Inquirer and keeps itself clean profits from the dirty ads that appear in the Daily News. I think this is the public notice I will make of this because I think what's needed is going to be action. No longer will words be sufficient because I can't believe that Mr. Rob Hall, the publisher, who sent somebody to my office to get information from the Council resolution is unaware of what's going on. It just seems to me what happens when monopolists take control of the news media anywhere in the country. It's bad news for 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE the people because they can play all kinds of tricks and try to scam the people. That's what's happening in Philadelphia and it's terrible that our newspaper should be doing that. And the final thing I want to say to the fine senior citizens that were here today to hear the wonderful news of Council's unanimity in support of retaining the senior citizen discount, remember, this is only one step on the road. The next two steps that are urgent are the Mayor has to sign this ordinance or we're confronted with the fact of taking further Council action, and then we've got to convince the Public Utility Commission. So please don't regard this as the final victory. We all appreciate your recognition of the fine work Council is doing in trying to preserve the senior citizen discount which this City Council created 30 years ago in 1973. But the fight is still hard and long. We're going to succeed if you can keep the pressure up. Keep talking in the community. Keep being active. And we thank you for your support, too. Thank you, Madam President. (Applause.)
The Chair 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank all the senior citizens for coming today and for you being here and advocating for this legislation and for the issue and standing up and being strong. I also want to concur with what Marian Tasco said about Dignity Housing. Those of us who have been there when this was really beginning when Leona Smith was starting this during those years of hard times, know that this program cannot be shut down. It would mean too much heartache, too much tragedy, and too many lives that would be put in danger. I also want to say that tonight on Star Search there's also a Puerto Rican kid that is singing. And his name is Risito Figueroa and he will not be singing gospel but he'll be singing salsa. So you have two Philly kids. That's a tremendous thing, two Philadelphia kids both teenagers really putting the name of Philadelphia -one from North Philly and the other one from West Philadelphia, so tune in and watch. (Applause.) 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I thank my colleague Councilwoman Tasco for mentioning Southwest Philadelphia and the youngster who is being on honored and doing a great job on Star Search. And let me note that he belongs to Evelyn Grays Drama Ministry. Many of you know of that program. They have performed for us and interact with us in many, many ways. And Dr. Evelyn Grays has a school and has a drama ministry and a church and does an excellent job in our community and is one of our developers. So we certainly hope that he will continue to go on to great heights, and thank you for the recognition.
Thank you. Are there any speeches on the part of the Majority? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, April 24th at 10:00 a.m. 04/10/03 - STATED - 2ND READING AND FINAL PASSAGE (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand an adjourned until Thursday, April 24. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and Council will stand adjourned until Thursday, April 24th. (Council adjourned at 11:10 a.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of April 10, 2003, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: STATED MEETING ___________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR and Notary Public