Aye on all bills. Stated Meeting 130 12/14/2023 members having voted in the affirmative for each of the bills, the bills on the Consent Agenda are passed. At this moment, I would like to suspend the regular order of business one more time. First, I want to thank the Mayor for coming up today and talk about all those wonderful things that happened over the last term, and it was a lot of good stuff, but a lot of that couldn't have happened obviously without you all. But I got three special guests over here that kind of set the template before they decided to leave for one reason or another. And I get it, right? I'd like to recognize our good friend Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez. (Applause.)
And I'd like to recognize Councilwoman Stated Meeting 131 12/14/2023 Gilmore Richardson's mentor, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. (Applause.)
And I'd like to recognize the Mayor-elect. (Standing ovation.)
The Mayor-elect, don't sit down. I'm going to ask you, because, you know, you got to practice doing these budget messages every year, so if you can come up here, please come up here and say a couple of words. (Applause.)
I'm sorry. You know I had to do that, right? MAYOR-ELECT PARKER: Everyone, and I've got to tell you the truth, when Stated Meeting 132 12/14/2023 walked into the Chambers, I sat down. As usual, Maria and Blondell started telling me what to do, and I did what they were telling me to do, and someone -- and all of the Councilmembers know exactly what I'm about to say, because you felt it before. Someone came over and whispered in my ear and they were trying to talk to me while the Council President was talking, and I was like yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you, but it's like the principal is in -- you know, you're trying to talk while the principal is in the room. And, Mr. President, I didn't want you to gavel me or anything like that. So I do want you to know it's an honor and a privilege to be here on today, the last day of session that will be presided over by someone for whom I have a great deal of admiration and respect and love, quite frankly. Stated Meeting 133 12/14/2023 don't always like you, Council President Clarke.
I get it. MAYOR-ELECT PARKER: Councilmember Johnson, did you just hear me just now? I don't always like the Council President, right? Nevertheless, on this last day, most people here, they know that I'm a teacher by profession. How many of you have ever heard of the author named Caro? " It is about the culmination, the power, the influence of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and how he learned to master the rules of the institution in order to deliver for us and the nation what a whole lot of people promise. They talked a whole lot about it. But LBJ learned the rules, the protocol. He understood that the institution was more venerable, more Stated Meeting 134 12/14/2023 than any one individual. So on this day, I walked in these shoes that I take off in a few minutes, Mr. President, to give honor to someone who to me is the Master of the City Council. Stand with me and give him a round of applause. This is the Master of the City Council. ) MAYOR-ELECT PARKER: Three quick things, three quick things that I learned from watching him as a staffer in this body, as a staffer, then as a member of the State House, and then coming back as a member. First things first. First thing I learned about you, I did not learn from anybody in this body. I learned that Big Myrt's (ph) house at 31st and Lehigh. When you're like me and you come from where I come from and then you get in this revered Stated Meeting 135 12/14/2023 building, everybody in here is powerful, but when I saw him in here, he wasn't different when he got to 31st and Lehigh. And if he was different, my family would have told me about you, but they didn't. Oh, what are you talking about, Darrell? No, you don't know. He's in line. He's going to be elected Councilmember, then he's going to become the Council President. And then he was the Council President. I say, well, I know Council President Darrell Clarke. No. In the neighborhood, he is and was who he is. Never had to worry about him. No matter the role, if he was a senior staffer for Council President John Street, if he was a member of this body, or the leader, he never forgot from whence he came. That is the firm foundation that you want to be grounded on. There is something very exceptional about a person who achieved some semblance of power and then they Stated Meeting 136 12/14/2023 get hoity. Not Darrell Clarke. Second thing, master of the institution. Don't go in and do it halfway. Hard, because he had just been mentored by a man who people said had mastered the Council. So how do you come in in your own right, Katherine Gilmore Richardson and Quetcy Lozada, and walk in your own shoes to build your own legacy and do things your own way? And he took the Council to another level that people had never imagined. The technical staff, the best and the brightest in the City, when this Council can stand on its own, researching its own homework. He studied under the master, but sometimes the master can master the master. That's what Darrell Clarke did. Authenticity, and he mastered the legislative body. This final part, Mr. President, I wouldn't learn this until I was in Harrisburg. When then-Council President Stated Meeting 137 12/14/2023 and I began interacting with each other in my role as Chair of the Philadelphia Delegation, he would come to Harrisburg on many occasions and we would have to go -- sometimes I needed him, because, Councilmember Johnson, you know this, in Harrisburg, you can't get anything done by yourself, right? You've got to go visit legislators on both sides of the aisle. You've got to go visit the administration.
I had never seen a man who was so powerful learn how to just acquiesce and not be presumptuous about who he was when we were asking for some help for the Council. And I remember thinking to myself, how can you be powerful and humble all at the same time? But it's possible for those two things to exist in one place. And, Mr. President, I want to say this out loud. The platform, the entire platform that people heard me advocate for during the last year, Stated Meeting 138 12/14/2023 since I resigned from this body on September the 7th, 2022, and I want to admit this publicly and say it out loud to everyone, none of it gets accomplished without this Council President being by my side. When you heard me talk about making Philadelphia the safest, cleanest, greenest big city in the nation with access to economic opportunity for all and I gave examples on how we can do it, I knew we could do it because I had been working in partnership with him to get most of it done. Council President Clarke, the Master of the City Council, I love, like, and respect you. Thank you for never getting cute with me, even when you were in that office, Councilmember Jones, with that unprecedented level of shovels that I thought was just -- it was not equity. That was an inequitable distribution of shovels. Squilla and O'Neill and Jones and Johnson know exactly what I'm talking Stated Meeting 139 12/14/2023 But most of all, you can't be the master of any institution if you're not willing to teach. Thank you for not hoarding. He's a teacher. ) MAYOR-ELECT PARKER: I love you, Mr. President, despite what any and everybody thought when you got elected, talking about the big shoes you had to fill. Sir, you walked in your own. You earned your spot. And when Cherelle Parker refers to you as the Master of the City Council, know that it is because of you, the work you did, the relationships you've built and, quite frankly, the intellectual prowess that you had to build the strength of an institution out with the technical supports that would allow for it to stand on its own. On today, I'm what I call a beneficiary of the movement. The BTM Stated Meeting 140 12/14/2023 is what I refer to it as. I'm a beneficiary of your lessons, and for that, sir, I say thank you. To all of the team who has been with him along the way, if I start calling names, I'mma get in trouble, but Christmas and Herb and the entire team who was in Harrisburg guiding us when we were getting that work done, Wendy, none of it happens without assembling a team that stays together, and it's a team of the best and the brightest. Hats off to you, sir. Love you. Peace.
Oh, hey, how you doing? I'd like to recognize Councilwoman Gym, another one that was here rocking the floor. Stated Meeting 141 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING (Applause.)
Councilwoman Gym, if the next 5th District Councilman doesn't take care of your neighborhood, let me know. You hear that, Jeff? All right. As long as we're square. All right? All right. Thank you. Thank you all. We love you guys. Thank you so much for your work. We will now consider the bills and resolutions on the regular Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar. And, Mr. Decker, I would ask you to read the title of Resolution No. 230922.
A resolution calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall of Kia and Hyundai models lacking immobilizer technology that are Stated Meeting 142 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING vulnerable to theft.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brooks for a motion.
Thank you, Council President. I do have some remarks.
As you may have seen in the Inquirer this week, more than 21,000 vehicles have been stolen in Philadelphia so far this year. That's more than ten times higher than the number of vehicles stolen in just a few years ago in 2017. This surge in vehicle theft has been fueled in large part by a viral trend that shows viewers how to steal Kia and Hyundais with just a screwdriver and a USB cable. According to the Police Department data, more than 61 percent of Stated Meeting 143 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING the vehicles stolen in Philadelphia were Hyundais or Kias. Today I'm introducing a resolution calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall of the Kia and Hyundai models that are vulnerable to this type of theft. Kia and Hyundai are offering a free software update for affected vehicles, but many people are not aware of this solution. The best way to address the problem is a national recall. When the recall is issued, all owners are notified by mail and reminded to bring their car in for a free software update. This is an urgent problem in cities across the country and it deserves national-level solutions. City Councils in Baltimore and Seattle have already passed similar resolutions, and I believe that Philadelphia should join our fellow cities in calling for the National Highway Safety Administration to address this problem that has been impacting so Stated Meeting 144 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING many urban residents. Thank you, Council President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All in favor of the resolution indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it, and that resolution is adopted. Mr. Decker, please read the title of Bill No. 230698.
An ordinance to approve amendments to the Temple University Master Plan in the area bounded by Norris Street, Broad Street, Montgomery Avenue and 15th Street related to Klein College of Media and Stated Meeting 145 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING Communications and Center for the Performing Arts and Cinematic Arts building at 1830 North Broad Street.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilman Stated Meeting 146 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING Harrity.
Councilwoman Vaughn. Stated Meeting 147 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING (No response.)
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 230765.
An ordinance amending Bill No. 230144, entitled "An Ordinance To adopt a Capital Program for the Six Fiscal Years 2024 through 2029 Inclusive," by revising various appropriation amounts and totals to conform to amendments to the FY2024 Capital Budget Ordinance.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilwoman Bass. Stated Meeting 148 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. Stated Meeting 149 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 230766.
An ordinance Stated Meeting 150 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING amending Bill No. 230145, entitled "An Ordinance To adopt a Fiscal 2024 Capital Budget," by revising various appropriation amounts and totals.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. Stated Meeting 151 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING
Councilwoman Stated Meeting 152 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING Vaughn. (No response.)
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 230767.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024 from the General Fund and the Grants Revenue Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, to the General Fund, the County Liquid Fuels Tax Fund, the Municipal Pension Fund, and the Transportation Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions.
Thank you. This bill having been read on Stated Meeting 153 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Aye. Stated Meeting 154 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are Stated Meeting 155 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, 230768.
An ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2023 from the General Fund, the Water Fund, the Grants Revenue Fund, and the Aviation Fund from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, to the General Fund, the Water Fund, and the Aviation Fund to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.
Councilwoman Brooks. Stated Meeting 156 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. Stated Meeting 157 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of members present voting in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 230649.
An ordinance amending Chapter 6-400 of The Philadelphia Code, to end the unlawful Stated Meeting 158 12/14/2023 12/14/23 - STATED - 2ND READING deportation of noncitizen patients by hospitals to patients' countries of origin without their consent.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, call the roll.