Councilman DiCicco. 11/13/08 - STATED - 2ND READING COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Aye.
Madam President, I'd like to ask a couple of questions of Councilman DiCicco.
We're in the middle of a vote. You should have asked that earlier.
Aye. The ayes are 14 and the record -(Audience members yelling.)
The vote has been cast and your shouting like that is not going to change the vote. 11/13/08 - STATED - 2ND READING Now I ask you, please, we're trying to conduct business and I'd appreciate your -(Audience members yelling.)
The vote is 14, and the record will indicate that Councilman Jones abstained. (Audience members yelling.)
I would ask the Clerk to now read Bill No. 080742.
An ordinance amending Chapter 14-400 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Commercial Entertainment District," by adding provisions relating to proposed projects in the Center City area, all under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones. (Audience members yelling.)
I 11/13/08 - STATED - 2ND READING would like you to please stop it. You're not going to be changing anybody's mind by doing what you're doing. Now listen to what's being said, please. Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President, and I apologize to my colleagues on the procedure and asking the question when I did.
I'm sorry. I don't think your microphone is on, or you're not talking into your microphone.
Thank you, Madam President, and I want to apologize to my colleagues for interjecting during the course of a vote and wish to ask a couple of questions of my colleague, Councilman DiCicco.
Councilman DiCicco, is that -COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That's fine.
-11/13/08 - STATED - 2ND READING satisfactory with you? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Yes, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. One of the things that has come to my attention is in reference to signing and signage, and I had a couple of questions as to what would be the design and number and frequency of signs on and around the district, and how would that impact residents? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm not sure I understand your question. If you're asking me would I consider the proposals that SCRUB has presented to me by way of introducing amendments, the answer to that is, yes, I've received them. I've talked to Mary Tracy as recent as last night. I am willing to look at what SCRUB is presenting, and possibly we'll look at the possibility of 11/13/08 - STATED - 2ND READING maybe even introducing new legislation next week once my staff and I have had the opportunity to look over what those proposed amendments are. I will not entertain any amendments today because I think the timing of it doesn't lend for us to make those amendments with the current bill, but it's certainly something that I'm willing to work on, and I invite other Councilmembers to be part of that discussion, if they choose.
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 15; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, this bill passes. (Audience members yelling.)
That completes our Calendar for today. Are there any speeches on the part of the minority? The Chair recognizes Councilman
Thank you, Madam President. Earlier this year my colleague, Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, helped unveil a memorial dedicated to some of Philadelphia's fallen firefighters, men that died heroically and tragically in the line of duty. The memorial literally sits in the shadow of City Hall at the northeast corner of the building, also known as the Mayor's entrance. In fact, I cannot think of a more appropriate spot than the exact location that the Mayor enters City Hall. That memorial should serve as a daily reminder to the Mayor of not only the heroes lost through the years, but also of the countless lives saved by the men and women that serve our great city as firefighters. The proposal to eliminate fire companies throughout the City is an affront to the basic duties as elected officials to ensure the public safety and Eliminating fire companies places countless lives at risk. These cuts have been characterized as equipment reorganization or a consolidation. We have been told that some firehouses will lose engines and keep their ladders, others will lose ladders but retain their engines. People need to understand that an engine truck and ladder trucks are not supplementary pieces of equipment. They are complementary pieces of equipment. Our brave men and women cannot do their jobs properly without the proper tools at their disposal. I understand that we're in the midst of a fiscal crisis. However, there are millions of dollars of revenue that the City must go after before it puts the safety and welfare of its citizens at risk through reductions in Fire Department services. Three of our freshmen Councilmembers have presented the increasing revenue and lowering the City's operating costs. Many of these ideas, like banning swag and custom printing and prohibiting interoffice mail from being sent through the U.S. Postal Service, will eliminate spending that has no beneficial effect for our citizens. I strongly suggest to my colleagues and the Administration that we exhaust the revenue sources and savings from the ideas that don't involve putting the lives of our residents at risk before we even consider firehouse reductions. Thank you, Madam President.
I would just like to thank and commend my colleague, Councilman Jones, for his resolutions today. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. I grew up on, Madam President, westerns. One of my favorites was Paladin, another one was the Wagon Train, and in every season there was a time when they had to cross the desert, and in that time, panic set in. The wagon master had to make certain cuts and had to do his job as the head of that train. And often when the settlers gathered around, they had comments about what should be tossed away from the wagons, whether it was grandma's rocking chair or the piano, as they called it, but in that dialogue, they had to make decisions and sometimes they threw the wrong thing overboard. overboard because you're trying to lighten your load or you throw ammunition overboard because you're trying to lighten your load, later on when you're in the desert, you're going to need some of those things. So the idea of cutting firehouses is a short-term solution that may create a long-term problem. When you cut libraries and you're trying to decrease the dropout rate by 50 percent, that is a short-term solution which may cause a long-term problem. I support you in your effort to cut your salary. I join you in the five percent cut, but I do not join us when we cut vital services like libraries and firehouses. And just because many of our members speak out about it does not mean we don't support the Administration, because we do. We understand how difficult it is, but in a democracy, the best part of it is the dialogue, the sometimes disagreement about them, and I support each and every member's right to do so. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. Let me first go on the record to acknowledge and salute the freshmen, who I believe took a very fresh and innovative look-see at the budget to see where we could creatively eliminate some of our City's bureaucracy and the dollars attached to it prior to us wrangling with the number of budget cuts that our Mayor has put on the table. As we continue to discuss the budget and the projected shortfall, I believe we need to be mindful and reminded of the Mayor's priorities that he stipulated during his inaugural address, one of which was his commitment to ensuring that our college-going rate raises from the awful 15 percent that we currently have. Let me also go on the record to thank the Mayor for seeing fit to not cut CORE Philly by 100 percent. Many of us may recall that the CORE Philly program is a key bridge to college for our youth, a first in its kind. CORE Philly offers Philadelphia high school seniors up to $3,000 to help pay for their first-year college expenses at selected Pennsylvania colleges and universities. So we're thankful that it has only been cut by 50 percent. The CORE Philly program data speaks well for itself, in that of that inaugural group of 2,000 Philadelphia students, 93 percent of them have remained in college because they got a jump-start with the CORE Philly program. So as we work towards putting our City back on sound financial footing, of the important scholarship program, because it is important to our City students, and we would like the program to continue to be reflective of the Mayor's pledge. So as much as we might be somewhat disappointed in the decrease in the dollars, we're hopeful and we are expecting that once our City's financial status improves, that CORE Philly will be restored to its original funding level. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I rise to mention several issues relative to this budget. I want to congratulate the freshmen, or as some are calling them, the freshmen 15, as well for organizing their thoughts, a plan and having the courage to present them to Council, to the City. I'd like to also congratulate the firemen who are here and those who do a wonderful job across our City. We were all happy, we unanimously supported a resolution calling on the Administration to conduct an independent impact study before any cuts are made, and we would hope -- we've done this before. We've been here before, and we would hope that this Administration would do that, would consider that, before making any cuts that could affect thousands of lives, not only firemen but residents and others who live and visit and work in our City. So we thank the union, Mr. McBride and all of his people who are here and who represent the firemen across the City and fire women, who daily risk their lives to save us. We say thank you to them. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
I would also like to mention an issue that all of you know is closest to my heart. I talk about I have a covenant, God and I have a covenant in dealing with homelessness for as long as I live, and 3.4 million was likewise taken out of that budget, and some of it is the social service component. If you don't take beds but if you take away the social services part of it, you've got to train people how to live in neighborhoods. People complain about low-income people living in their neighborhoods. It is the social service component that teaches them how to live, how to pay bills, to go to get treatment if they have DNA or mental health issues. We need that part, and that is one of the components that this, as well as money for people like the Red Cross building that all of us -- $100,000 from that, the Red Cross building that so many of us, like Ready, Willing and Able, and many other services. So we hope that the Administration will consider it. A nation is judged by the way it treats its elderly and its poor, and I hope that we will consider that, that this Administration will. Finally, I rise with regard to libraries. If you look on the Internet, it says, "Charles L. Durham Branch, formerly the Mantua Branch, the library was renamed in 1995 to honor Judge Charles L. Durham. Serving the Mantua and Powelton communities, the library is located near the Drexel University campus and the Philadelphia Zoo." Many of you will remember when we renamed it, Charles L. Durham was Councilman who sat in this Chambers, and Lou succeeded him. And certainly just on Saturday, we had a big dedication. We, as I call it, muralized the entire building in Mantua, not knowing that we would have learned a couple days earlier that it, as well as the Kingsessing library at 51st and Kingsessing, were due to be cut. And I say this because we just started -- we have Mantua Presbyterian Apartments that just started renting right across the street. So there's a senior citizen component. Certainly there we expect an Internet capacity. Drexel was giving us 20 computers that we wanted to use in the library so that seniors and students after school would have the opportunity to use them. Many of you know that a lot of youngsters have no place to go if they don't go to a library to learn after school and on weekends, and certainly we feel that if we're given the opportunity for this library and for Kingsessing library -- we have the opportunity to interact, to create institutional and private partnerships -- we may be able to help, if given the opportunity, to defray costs. So we're asking the Administration, please consider that we understand. I know that they cut 70 people from the libraries out of 112 and that the rest were positions unfilled, but those of us who have been here long time, all of us who know our area, certainly our people elect us to represent them, we know where we can try to help the Administration try to reduce some costs, if given an opportunity. So we certainly are concerned about these issues and all the other issues, and we certainly would ask that the Administration would reconsider, pull us into the discussion, let us help you and our city so that our communities can survive. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President. Just very short. Three issues for the record. I want to thank Councilman DiCicco, whose district is absorbing most of the cuts that have been proposed, for sending a letter to the Mayor last week asking for an independent study to be reviewed for the closure of fire companies and -- engine companies and ladder companies. So I want to thank him for being at the forefront of asking the Mayor to do that. Secondly, although these budget cuts are extremely difficult to deal with, unlike the 1980s, no police officers or firefighters are being slated for layoffs, which I think is extremely important that we recognize that fact. And I also believe, unless I'm incorrect, members of this Council voted for the budget that's being adjusted for 2009. So we were all involved in the process. We all heard all the testimony, and we all cast our vote. Economic times have changed substantially the condition of world markets, national markets and local economies, and while these things are difficult to do, I would rather keep our police officers and firefighters working than lay them off. Thank you.
You're welcome. Are there any other speeches from the majority? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. We are also, with regard to the police program, the GREAT and the DARE youngsters who have drug problems, after-school programs, the federally funded one via the state, we're checking into that, because we understand that curfew programs, that these were cancelled as well. So certainly I look forward to working with my colleague Jim Kenney and all else who want to see these programs survive that certainly are run by the Police Department. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other speeches on the part of the majority? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion to adjourn.
Thank you, Madam President. I move that Council Thursday, November the 20th, 10:00 a.m., 2008. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, November 20th 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 11:05 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 foregoing matter on November 13, 2008, 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.)