Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 060467-A.
An ordinance authorizing the owner of 7252 Marsden Street at the southwest corner of Cottman Avenue to construct, own and maintain an 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING addition to the south public sidewalk on Cottman Avenue.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING the affirmative, this bill passes. Councilwoman Blackwell, did you ask that Bill No. 050575 be withdrawn?
Thank you. The record will so reflect that Bill No. 050575 is being withdrawn at the request of the sponsor. We will now consider Bill No. 060204. I would ask the Chief Clerk to please read the title.
An ordinance authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development a deed located 8011 Frankford Avenue in the City of Philadelphia.
This bill having been read on two different 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. We will now consider Bill No. 060503.
An ordinance 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2007 within the Grants Revenue Fund from the Director of Finance - provision for other grants to the Personnel Director.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 14; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell regarding Bill No. 060287.
Thank you, Madam President. As the resolution failed, we are requesting withdrawal of the bill.
Thank you. The record will reflect that at the request of the sponsor, Bill No. 060287 has been withdrawn. We will now consider Resolution No. 060485.
A resolution proposing an amendment to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter relating to the appointment of the members of the Fairmount Park Commission and providing for the submission of the amendment to the electors of Philadelphia. 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I just want to say a few words about this bill and this process and this park and this City. During the last almost two decades, I have personally been involved in the parks informally, formally as either President of the Advisory Council, as a member of the Park Commission and now as a Councilperson, and I've always had a love for the park as a child living two blocks from the park. I probably got in more trouble as a result of the park being two blocks from me, because I couldn't figure out a way to stay out of the park, but it was a good thing because I've grown to love our Fairmount Park 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING system. When I got involved in this most recent process of park reform, I was very excited about it. There were a number of people who were excited about it. This Council was excited about it. We appropriated dollars to have a Fairmount Park strategic plan, where we anticipated that we would move forward in real park reform. So Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and myself put the bill together to talk about some of the recommendations as it related to park reform. Admittedly, our first bill was extremely aggressive. It talked about full consolidation, and we quickly realized that full consolidation wasn't going to happen at this point in time. So as a result of that, we entered into a process of discussion and solicitation from members throughout the City of Philadelphia and what we believe to be park advocates, and at the end of the 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING day, we crafted a bill that we believed to be the one thing that everybody had a consensus, that the selection process of the Commissioners should be changed. I don't think I've ever seen anywhere in print form, electronic form or any form where people thought that the current process, in all due respect to the Board of Judges, the current process where the Board of Judges select members -- and I hate to use the term "secretive," but it implies that something is being done incorrectly, but the reality is that it is not a public process. So this bill, which was crafted to reflect that 100 percent consensus, maybe separate and aside from the Board of Judges and a couple of Commission members, was what we attempted to proceed to do. During the last year and particularly during the summer, per our recommendation at the last Council 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING session in June, we got together on a couple of occasions with the Task Force that was formed by both park Commissioners and other park advocates, and we anticipated that we would come up with a solution crafting a bill that everybody can feel comfortable about, understanding that it was just the first phase. And it was my belief -- and the Councilwoman I guess can speak for herself -- that we in fact had that and we had the support of us changing the selection process. But at the last minute -- and I might end up getting myself in trouble, but I got to say what I got to say -- in what I believe to be an underhanded way, having recommendations slid under my door at the 11th hour, not even having the opportunity to have a phone call from the individuals that we had been meeting with during the course of the summer and for today a memo circulated somehow being posed as an opinion, an official opinion 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING by a lawyer -- and I'm thinking about asking my lawyer, Will Carter, to give another opinion to refute that, because if that's all it is is simply an opinion from a lawyer stating the obvious. I'm extremely frustrated, Madam President. I have never been involved with a process like this in my life, with people who thought that they were, I believe, were trying to do the right thing.
I don't understand how people who have indicated time and time again that they wanted to change the process of the selection of the Board of Commission be opposed to a process that sets up an independent nominating panel based on criteria established by that group -- and this was a recommendation of that group -- recommend nominees to the Mayor, subsequently the Mayor forwards those recommendations, and those nominees will be selected based on a set of criteria that we all agreed on. Those nominees 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING didn't come to the Council of the City of Philadelphia for a public hearing for each individual nominee that's been recommended, and this Council must pass by a two-thirds margin. I don't understand how anybody can feel comfortable with the Board of Judges' process as opposed to this particular process. But, Madam President, at some point in your life, you move on. And I have spent the last year and a half working with people, and I probably did it the wrong way, because I thought working with the leadership and the advocates leadership and the leadership of the Commission that we would get at the appropriate place, and I probably should have taken it out to the people, because that's simply what this bill is calling for. This bill will not change the Charter. This bill will essentially place that on the ballot so the people can speak, all of the people, anyone who 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING chooses, and not having a select group of individuals, some of them self-serving, determine the direction of the park system. But you know what, Madam President? I'm done. If people want to accept the status quo, then so be it. So I say all that to say at this time I'm going to ask that this bill be held and I'm going to ask for withdrawal next week, because if people are comfortable with the way things are done, I'm okay with it. I'll move on and I'll deal with the other part of our original proposal dealing with our recreation systems. So, Madam President, with that, I'm going to formally ask you to hold this bill and the subsequent resolution.
That concludes our Calendar for today. 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING Oh, Councilwoman Brown, your light just went on. Did you want to be recognized?
Thank you, Madam President. I'd simply like to underscore two points raised by my partner and colleague on this bill, and they are, one, Councilman Clarke and I approached this, we believed, in a very thoughtful, considerate, open, candid manner over the past 18 months. And there are always lessons learned in the legislative process. Councilman Clarke has mentioned that one lesson learned for us is to consider the leadership, factor in the leadership of various stakeholders, but ultimately take it to the membership of those organizations so that they get an accurate message on the intent of any particular legislation. And then, finally, we crafted the bill. We made amendments. We made changes based on the information brought back to us over the past 18 months from 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING all of those who sat at the table. So the bill we are actually delaying today is a reflection of interests that have been expressed by all of those who wanted to be about park reform. I support my colleague in holding the bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Councilman, are you speaking on the resolution and the bill?
Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, when I came here to City Council a couple years ago, I remember when Councilman Clarke and Councilwoman Reynolds Brown introduced this resolution and the bill, and in a very embarrassing way minutes later, I asked this question of -- I told Councilman Clarke, 9/21/06 - STATED - 2ND READING Councilman Clarke, I think this is a very good thing, you need to get some experts, maybe dig up some experts that can help you along with this. And he says to me, Councilman, I was on the Advisory Board and I was on the Commission. And I have apologized to him many times over the last couple years because of my ignorance of not knowing how well informed and how knowledgeable my colleague, Councilman Darrell Clarke, is on this issue, that without a doubt, he is one of the most involved and most dedicated persons to making this park that we all are very proud of into a better place for this City. So those of us here in this Chamber and those that are watching us on cable TV, I want all of us to recognize that Councilman Clarke, without a doubt, and with the help of Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, are very, very knowledgeable on this issue, that they're than the good members of the Fairmount Park Commission or other entities out there that love the park. And then I think that this is an effort that at some point we need to take up for a vote and that Councilman Clarke should not be disillusioned or disheartened, particularly because of all the hard work and his dedication to our park system. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. This concludes our Calendar, as I said, for the day. Are there speeches on the part of the minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part of the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I rise to speak about housing reorganization. As many of you know, Council has been really supportive of trying to have our programs continue with the housing agencies and try to support some housing program that makes sense. Albeit it is not over and we will report again next week, we are very fearful of some people who report that -- we were told that there would be a case where people -- we asked for two, but where people have one year would be able to act as if they had a year and could enter the DROP and it would be a one-for-one replacement. Anybody who enters the DROP, they would replace them with a union person. And we have heard that a woman who will be, for example, 55 in May, this has not happened and has to bump down. Now, we were promised that we wouldn't enter into a union busting situation where people in order to work have to lose their jobs or bump down, if you're not given any opportunity. (Applause.)
And we are hopeful, Madam President, that given the fact that there will be more negotiations next week, we're hopeful that this whole issue of people being of the range of those in the union and outside of the union that we won't lose some 40 percent of people who were in the union, not in the union. And albeit the whole issue of unions is not narrowly our concern, the whole issue of delivery of services between OHCD, RDA, PHDC and the whole issue of whether or not there's -and Vacant Property Review Committee, those are our concerns. So, again, we say we are hopeful that the Administration, Mr. Hanna, who is negotiating this for the Administration, will work in good faith with all the employees so that the programs that we have continued to be citizens of our City be preserved and continue. We'll try to report again next week. We've been dealing with this on a daily basis. Today isn't a good day, so I'm hopeful that next week we will have positive information to report. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam President. Today as Chair of Public Safety, City Council's committee, I want to encourage Philadelphia citizens to attend the rally in Harrisburg on September 26th. As I've stated before, in the May 17, 2005 primary election, Philadelphia voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of a referendum to call on our legislators in Harrisburg and the Governor to pass legislation that would and control its own weapon laws. In this effort, certainly we are doing that to encourage and reduce gun violence, yet Harrisburg has not heard our pleas. Today we as a City must ask the question, how many more people, most of whom are children, must die before Harrisburg will enact measures to allow us to combat gun violence. And we also know that that's only one, but we call it a key step in helping us to combat some of the violence here. On September 26, 2006, a network of concerned Philadelphians from all walks of life will travel to Harrisburg to show the General Assembly and to protest violence and demand stricter gun laws and funding for education and jobs. On this historic day, caravans of buses will converge on the State Capitol. These buses will be filled with fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. I too will be there, not official but as a mother, a sister and a Philadelphian who will stand in solidarity with other Philadelphians in this special cause. We're going to Harrisburg to say enough is enough, and I strongly urge others to do the same. Again, I urge citizens to join us in Harrisburg and to sign up. For a seat on the bus, you can just simply call 215-923-1940. The buses are free. You must take your own lunch, but the buses are free. Most of them are leaving Philadelphia at 8:00 a.m., leaving Harrisburg at 4:00 p.m. and targeted to arrive back in Philadelphia at 6:00 p.m. on September 26th, our collective voices will be heard. So, again, I just want to encourage the citizens of Philadelphia to pick up the phone to dial 215-923-1940 to reserve a seat on the bus. It's my understanding that the School District is also taking buses. 25 buses. So I think that's room for about 1,000 people. So, again, I just want to encourage everybody to attend. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam President. On the same note around violence, yesterday there was an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer that talked about where Philadelphia stands in terms of other cities around violence. They say we are No. 1 in violent crimes and fifth in terms of the overall crime rate. But the number is just too high. We should be and would like to be last. We support the effort on Monday, and I, too, ask those people who are listening to us today to please come out and support the rally in Harrisburg. laud Men for a Better Philadelphia, headed up by Bilal Qayyum, for their march to Harrisburg. They're walking to show their concern and gather support for the hearing in Harrisburg on Monday. But the City Council of Philadelphia's Committee on Public Safety and Health and Human Services last spring introduced a resolution calling for Council hearings on the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. We had several hearings in different communities in the Northwest and the Northeast. On Thursday night, the 28th -- that's tonight, the 21st. It's at Overbrook High School. I'm sorry. There's an error here. Tonight at Overbrook High School the Committee will meet to hear the community talk about their input for the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. The initial dollars granted to that program to provide services and dollars to programs in Philadelphia for young people, spearheaded by Dwight Evans, has been increased and additional dollars will have been committed, and we ask the neighbors in West Philadelphia in the Overbrook section or wherever -- they can come from any parts of the City -- to come out tonight to testify on the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. Thank you.
You're welcome. Are there any other speeches on the part of the majority? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco for a motion to adjourn.
Madam President, I move that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September the 28th at 10:00 a.m. (Duly seconded.)
It seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 28th at 10:00 a.m. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. Thank you. (Stated Meeting adjourned at 11:25 a.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 foregoing matter on September 21, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-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.)