And at the meeting yesterday, it was very apparent that all of the Councilmembers there, including Mr. Martz, definitely want to address this issue. And it takes time. Things of this magnitude cannot be done with the blink of an eye. We have to find the appropriate location, there is design work that has to be done, and then of course, there is the cost of it to be addressed. I don't think that anybody here is against skateboarding, I really don't. It is SECOND READING - BILL 000147 "location, location, location." So -- but, again, I want to applaud both of you. And I'm sure that there are times where we will agree to disagree. But I think that, as I said, this type of a project, though we had the summer to work on it, there were very many issues and very important issues that came up, and we couldn't address it during the summer. But I think if we all work together and continue to work together -- the skateboarders and the City -everybody will be satisfied with the end result. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.
Jimmy was great. Carlos was out of this world. Joan? Well, she was Joan; what can you expect from her. You know, Bob came in and did his thing. But that generation, you know, to compare this that generation -- that generation was concerned, and Woodstock was about stopping a SECOND READING - BILL 000147 war and not just war. Woodstock was about ending poverty. Woodstock was about, in essence, rebellion against a status quo that was aggressive and punishing. So that the things that we equate in this issue is really surrealistic. You had a generation that created change and a generation at that age that was going out and challenging, challenging the basic principles that this society has. I don't think the skateboarders at Love Park are doing that. So, you know, Omar, my son, six years old, he skateboards, he has a skateboard. But the other day, he came in and said whether there was $100 lying around for a scooter. I told him what DiCicco said yesterday, what the scooters were when I was growing up. You got a box that carried fruit, you got a piece of wood, you got some roller-skating wheels, and you built a scooter. The thing is, don't we have something else to do other than this? I know that skateboarding is important. We should take care of that within recreation, but we're really spending a lot of time on an issue that should be SECOND READING - BILL 000147 the realm of the Recreation Department and the administration to find a solution. I don't think Love Park is a place to skateboard, 'cause Love Park is a park for people to go and read, to eat, think, look at the Parkway, look at the fountain, relax for couple of hours. Today the poor people that we do not provide homes for use Love Park because that is the only place available many times for them to sleep. And that's not their fault; that should be our duty to be able to resolve that. But the other people that want to use Love Park to just go and read and enjoy and eat a sandwich really can't do it nowadays. So what we're talking about is finding recreation for a generation that really is so faded with recreational activities. And I think we should find recreation. I am a great supporter of any recreational activities, but each and every place and every activity has its place. Love Park is not the place for skateboarding.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter. SECOND READING - BILL 000147
Thank you, Madam President. I did want to just reiterate for the record an update from the letter we did receive from our Managing Director, who has put a lot of time and effort into trying to resolve this issue, and I think it goes to the comments that Councilman Ortiz made. And from a letter from Managing Director Martz dated June 21, 2000, I'd just like to read one of the sections, which says: "Specifically, skateboarders in JFK Plaza have damaged the stone fountain rim, stone steps, terrace steps, portions of the retaining wall, and pavements, as well as park benches and trash receptacles. In City Hall's perimeter area, similar damage has been done to railings on steps and the granite pavers that make up the City Hall apron. According to the Capital Program Office, the cost estimates for replacement and repair work in JFK Plaza and the City Hall apron total $900,000 -- approximately $700,000 for JFK Plaza, and $200,000 for City Hall. Not included in these costs are estimates for similar damage to the SECOND READING - BILL 000147 plaza in front of the Municipal Services Building. Including design and contingency fees, cleaning and restoration costs for these areas alone will easily exceed $1 million." I believe we can solve this particular problem and, in your words, at an appropriate location. I don't get the impression that funding will be an issue, but we cannot continue to repair and replace time and time again work at JFK Plaza, City Hall apron and the like that were not built for this particular use, and it's a serious expenditure of taxpayer dollars. Thank you very much, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.
Thank you, Madam President. This is -- since we're rewriting history here, and I'd like to thank Councilman Ortiz to tell us his generation's synopsis of Woodstock and being about -- Councilman, there was a whole -- a whole group of people that didn't go to Woodstock that were in Vietnam fighting, so SECOND READING - BILL 000147 remember there was somebody -- I didn't go; I was like in seventh grade, but I did get the album, and there was a band called "The Who" that wrote a song called "My Generation." They played it at Woodstock 'cause I played it a lot when I was in high school. This is their generation, and they're talking about change. I don't understand it, I'm the first one to admit. They understand it. I don't expect you or anyone else here to understand it; I just want you to have the empathy in your heart to realize how important this is to this generation. We get issues here where we talk about things, about people being in prison and people -putting young people in jail. They're not in jail. They're doing something. Even though I don't understand, it's good, clean, harmless fun, and it's a sport. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell. SECOND READING - BILL 000147
Thank you, Madam President. Let me again reiterate that for all of the discussion about Love Park, this is not a bill about Love Park. This is a bill about skateboarding, that increases the penalty, that extends the right to even private concerns if they post signs anywhere in the city, you can skateboarding outlawed and that allows for confiscation of skateboards. It has about four points. It is not, per se, about Love Park. Again, the Managing Director agreed to not enforce the laws about Love Park while we were having this bill under discussion. We -- at the end of this hearing, without passing the bill, the Managing Director could again have the bill enforced and people would be moved from Love Park. This is not a Love Park bill; it's much bigger than that and much more far-reaching. And that is my concern and that is what I take issue with. If it were one site, fine. I've heard your concerns about Love Park, and as I said, I have my personal opinions about that, but I respect that and I understand how everyone feels about, SECOND READING - BILL 000147 quote/unquote, Love Park. But this, again, is not a Love Park bill. This is a bill about skateboarding, who's allowed to skateboard. And this extends to public and private property and allows for confiscation and talks about, some sections of the bill, for example, if the individual goes to court and says that they could not have reasonably known that skateboarding was used in violation of this section -- I mean, there are a lot of issues that could be questioned. We talk about timely payment of a bill, there are a lot of issues in the bill that could be described as even vague, that are not spelled out specifically, that really could be dealt with in more detail before we should enact this law. I think that this is a bill, again, that speaks against skateboarding, when we in fact are trying to get the X Games here, that includes skateboarding. And, I again, I ask my colleagues to consider that when voting for the bill. Thank you, Madam President. (Applause.)
Thank you. SECOND READING - BILL 000147 The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Madam President, for a number of reasons, I do not favor skateboarding in Love Park, but I am very concerned about this issue of confiscation. I can't ever remember such a provision in a bill. I have serious questions as to whether it's legal and I don't like the harsh effect of it. I'm concerned by some of the -- perhaps the criminalization issue discussed by both Councilwoman Blackwell and Councilman Mariano, and I'm also concerned what it does to a family relationship. I, therefore, would like to move to amend the bill by deleting the section relating to forfeiture of the skateboard, and that is, I would like to move to amend the ordinance by deleting in Section 1, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph b. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you, Madam President. SECOND READING - BILL 000147 I really was not going to get into this debate 'cause I thought we had enough of that yesterday, but I think the point we're missing is the reason for the threat of confiscation is the fact -- and it was pointed out to us yesterday by those young people who were in the briefing when Councilman Nutter pointed out that about 72 percent of the people who have been written -issued citations over the last years are non-Philadelphia residents, and the young folks said, Oh, that's because they're really -- we're really Philadelphia residents, but we lie to the police and give them bad information so that we don't have to worry about appearing in court. So I think once the threat of confiscation is part of the bill, that at least gives us the ability to make sure if individuals violate the provisions of this bill that they hopefully will at least appear in court. I think you have to keep the confiscation piece in the bill, otherwise they will continue to lie to the police, give false information and false addresses, and we'll never be able to enforce it. I mean, they even went so far as to say, Well, $25 SECOND READING - BILL 000147 isn't bad, meaning, We'll pay the 25 and go on our merry way and come back tomorrow. I mean this whole issue -- we have addressed this issue, as I said, yesterday at the briefing. The City of Philadelphia, the taxpayers of this city, in addition to all of the recreation facilities that do provide some sort of areas in those recreation facilities for skateboarding, built a skateboarding facility at FDR Park in South Philadelphia. But, again, the young people who were there yesterday said, Well, it is not Love Park. They literally said they want us to build a replica of Love Park because there is a business component to this. This is a -- I don't think it's something weird, as Councilman Mariano pointed out earlier. It is a sport, it is something that young people enjoy doing, and I encourage that, but I just don't encourage it in certain areas. I mean, there are videos that are made of professionals who use Love Park, videos are sold worldwide for a profit, and the folks who participate in doing the videos are paid a salary or a fee from the video, and the taxpayers have to SECOND READING - BILL 000147 pay for the damage that is being done to Love Park because someone decided that this is the best place in the world to perform these feats on skateboards and make a profit. We get nothing in return. I don't think that's the best advertisement when someone suggested, you know, everybody knows about Love Park all over the world. Well, they may know about Love Park for all the wrong reasons. This is a city that's 110 square miles with a few hundred recreation facilities and other places in which young people can perform their feats on skateboards. We're just asking that certain places be restricted. This is not a prohibition on skateboarding, no one's attempting to do that. And I for one have said that I'd be more than willing to engage in a conversation about a site that's in my district, a very sensitive site, Franklin Square, which is in Chinatown -- here we go again, another facility in Chinatown, but I'm willing to take that position to talk about it.
Well, I didn't open it up but. It was proposed, but I'm willing to take that, and I'm willing to say that we may have to spend upwards of $500,000 or more to build another facility. Rules and regulations are established. We're a legislative body; we're only asking these folks to obey the rules. When I go home at night, I would like to be able to make a left-hand turn off of Broad Street to get to my house at 11th and Federal, but the sign says you can't travel east on Federal, you have to travel west, so I go another block or two. Rules and regulations are established. And when they implied yesterday that because we're going to eliminate skateboarding in Love Park, that we -- somehow Council will in effect be creating juvenile delinquents because the role models in Love Park will never be able to skateboard there again and, therefore, the young people watch them will now turn to selling drugs I think is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. I mean, that was said. You SECOND READING - BILL 000147 were there, Madam President. So I think this thing has really been blown out of proportion. I'd like to get on with it. I think the confiscation part of the bill needs to be in place so that the police will have some way of getting people to begin to obey the laws of this city. Thank you, Madam President. (Applause.)
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Let me just say, before we take our vote, that the title reads: Amending Title 10 of the Philadelphia Code "relating to regulation of individual conduct and activity" by amending Section 10-610, entitled "Skateboarding on Public Property," by prohibiting skateboarding on all public property unless otherwise authorized and by creating additional penalties, all under certain terms and SECOND READING - BILL 000147 conditions. So, again, I reiterate, there is no special place listed here. This is a skateboarding bill. If the Council deems it proper to do that, that's certainly in Council's right, but I want us to be clear about that bill for which we vote. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. This bill having been read on two different days, the question now, is shall the -I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Councilman Cohen, you had a motion?
There was a call of SECOND READING - BILL 000147 the question, and I do not know -- I don't know anything about this amendment, and the calling the question, I believe, supersedes I believe that particular motion. I seek a ruling from the Chair on that issue. The question has been called, Madam President.
I don't think it had been called. We had recognized -- I don't think the question had been called.
There was a motion made for an amendment. When was a motion made for an amendment?
I believe Councilman Cohen had offered a friendly amendment and then somebody else wanted to be recognized.
So his amendment had not been considered before the call of the vote.
Therefore, the call takes precedence, I believe; is that correct?
I think his SECOND READING - BILL 000147 motion takes precedence because the call -
I didn't know that the Councilman had actually made a formal motion. I thought he talked about wanting to offer something.
I made the motion and it was seconded by Councilwoman Blackwell.
Councilman, would you repeat what your amendment is, please.
I moved that that Section 1, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph b, the section relating to the penalty, be deleted from the bill.
And that pertains to the confiscation of the skateboards?
Yes. I would suggest that to be fully consistent, the amendment would also eliminate the first sentence of SECOND READING - BILL 000147 Paragraph 4 a. and the last sentence of paragraph 4 b. They all relate to the question of confiscation and seizure. The amendment would incorporate those three; they all relate to the confiscation question.
Councilman Nutter, do you wish to speak on the motion?
Thank you, Madam President. First, I appreciate the Councilman's interest in the matter. First, I've had no opportunity to have any discussion with him about this particular motion. Second, I am -- while Councilman Cohen is my friend, I do not look upon the proposed amendments as friendly amendments to the bill; I think they do damage to the integrity of the bill; and, therefore, I would be against the motion to make any amendment to the bill and would prefer to have the bill voted upon in its current form. It's been sitting on our calendar for three months. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. SECOND READING - BILL 000147 It has been moved and seconded that the amendment be adopted. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. Those opposed?
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. CHIEF
Aye. The ayes are 14, the nays are 3. A majority of all members of Council having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. And the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Krajewski.
The clerk will please read the title of the bill.
An ordinance amending an ordinance approved April 11, 2000 (Bill No. 5) adopting the operating budget for Fiscal Year 2001 by making, in accordance with Section 2-301 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, certain additional INTRODUCTION OF BILL BY KRAJEWSKI appropriations needed to meet the unanticipated emergency created by a cash flow crisis at the Philadelphia Gas Works.
This bill will be referred to the appropriate committee. We have considered the calendar.
At this time, I would ask if there are any speeches on the part of the Minority? (No speeches on the part of the Minority.
Are there any speeches on the part of the Majority? The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.
Councilman, just a minute, please. The noise level is much too high. Councilman?
Thank you, Madam President. SPEECHES During the last couple of weeks, we have all heard about the desperate need for blood in the City of Philadelphia. Councilman Nutter called my home on Friday, this past Friday, to alert me to some of the things that he had found out about the serious problem relating to blood in the City of Philadelphia. And, as you may or may not know, many hospitals had to postpone surgery this past weekend because of the fact that they didn't have enough O positive blood. I'm on the board of the Philadelphia American Red Cross and I never realized, I guess, until I got on that board how difficult it is in this day and age to even be able to collect blood because there are so many restrictions being placed on the donors. As an example, if anyone has spent six months in the United Kingdom between 1986 and 1999 -- and it doesn't have to be contiguous, it could be a month each time over a six-year period of a ten-year period. Because of the mad cow disease, because we don't know enough about it, those folks are not allowed to give blood, whether you lived there or just visited there for six months over a ten-year period. SPEECHES That, along with the problems related to HIV, those folks who tested positive for HIV, are really putting the strain on blood supplies not only in Philadelphia but across this country. And, as you know, for the last five years, we have had a City Council blood drive which has been very successful. But because of the urgency -- and I mean this sincerely, it is really urgent. God forbid if we have a -anything of any magnitude, a catastrophe in this city, we will literally not be able to have blood supplies to go around. And we can't even buy it from other jurisdictions because they all have the same problems. So with that, we will move up the date of our blood drive to October 23rd of this year as opposed to the March blood drive, but we'll probably do the same one in March also. And I would ask that anyone who's interested in participating contact Robin Schatz, my chief of staff, and to encourage all of those staff folks and other people you may know throughout the city. In fact, Councilman Nutter and I were SPEECHES talking about this when we were giving blood the other day, and the City unions, the leadership of the City unions is going to be involved in this, and we're urging -- we have 25,000 City employees. If 10 percent were to give blood biannually, that would be 5,000 units. We're about 1500 units short of O positive blood as of this past Sunday in the City of Philadelphia. And the other note I wanted to make, I would like to extend my thoughts and all of our thoughts and prayers to Officer Ortiz, who is in extremely critical condition, and his family. As you all know, Officer Ortiz is in Temple Hospital and things aren't looking well for him. So I just wanted to extend my thoughts and prayers to him and his family.
Thank you. Councilman, you will be sending a memorandum to all Council offices, giving time and place for the blood drive?
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode. SPEECHES
Thank you, Madam President. I will try to be brief, although I have a few things on my mind. There's been some discussion lately about the Mayor's agenda and priorities and Council's agenda and priorities. I want to take this opportunity to salute the Mayor in his priorities: educating our children and removing blight from our neighborhoods. Last year, many people campaigned on the issue of new stadiums versus community development. They won but now many don't seem willing to put community development before new stadiums. Whether we agree with the Mayor's decision not to have stadium negotiations compete with contract negotiations is irrelevant. It is his decision, he was duly elected. But I'm concerned that our focus is on stadiums rather than neighborhoods. Hundreds of millions of dollars for millionaires before the proper investment in our neighborhoods. But I also have a concern about the blight removal discussion itself. Yesterday I received a call from the City Solicitor's Office SPEECHES regarding Bill 546 that I co-introduced with Councilwoman Blackwell last week. In short, the Solicitor's Office challenged Council's authority to establish a community reinvestment commission. The Solicitor's Office reminded me that we have a strong mayor form of government under the City Charter and suggested that only the Mayor has the authority to create an appointed commission. Authority is a double-edged sword. You can be in authority or an authority. The issue of whether the Mayor has more authority than Council was settled by the City Charter. Council's ability to create a commission that does not interfere with the municipal administration of government is debatable, and I look forward to that debate. I also look forward to technical staff of City Council looking into this matter. But this is not about who's an authority but who is the authority on community reinvestment. Certainly not the administration, nor City Council, but the private sector. And that is why this proposed commission is made up from a majority of private-sector representatives, including six banks. In my recent release of my SPEECHES community reinvestment report, that point was proven. Of the $133 million invested in the development activities of five community development corporations, only 30 million of that came from the City. The issue of community development is not just blight removal but reinvestment and redevelopment. There's a parable that says it best. "When you clean a house of what is bad, fill it with something good, or the bad will turn sevenfold." Thank you.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam President. It never ceases to amaze me that the actions or the thought or the perseverance of one individual can touch a lot of lives, and I want to go back to Councilman DiCicco's comments and publicly thank him for his continuing efforts with the City Council blood drive. I missed the first couple because of SPEECHES scheduling problems, but the past three years, I have participated in the City Council blood drive, and it was quite honestly only that process that I even really knew what my blood type was. It's just -- you know, not your Social Security number, it's not your driver I.D. number, it's just kind of generally something that you don't think much about. But having participated, and I have a little card that I keep in my wallet, and when the story came out that there was a shortage, it immediately struck me that I was the same type of blood for which there is a shortage. And so Councilman DiCicco is due a great deal of praise for his efforts to keep this going. The date that he announced for the blood drive, I do want to say that since we gave the other day, I think there's a 56-day waiting period of time, so I don't want anyone to think that I've chickened out. We probably will not be able to give at the October 23rd drive, but certainly whenever we are authorized by the American Red Cross to give again, I certainly will and will continue to do. And I want to commend all of the City SPEECHES Council and staff who participate in this effort. It is a very serious issue here in this city, and I encourage everyone to give, if they have the opportunity, as soon as possible. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you, Madam President. I have a very brief comment. After six years and $52 million, White Water is over. And I can think about how we could have spent $52 million. I think of the number of college students who could have gotten scholarships, I think of the number of day care centers we could have in our communities so women can go to work, I think about the number of children who go to bed hungry at night, and I think about the housing that could have been built. I think about all of the things that could have been done with that money and the money that will be spent to continue this process. And I wonder what the people are thinking about in Washington in terms of the SPEECHES priorities of this country. When we go to them and ask them for money for education and day care and other important human issues, we get turned down, but it's no lack of money available to fuel political agendas in Washington. And I am appalled and I have been appalled as I've watched this evolve through the years of how this money is jut spent, and no one has made an outcry -- very little outcry from the public about the spending of this money. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you, Madam President. To the busy agenda that we're all looking forward to, I want to add the very real likelihood of a severe crisis in the criminal justice system and in the family courts involving women and children, and that's the decision by the Common Pleas Court to move ahead to a form of privatization of the appointment process. The Public Defender represents many indigent clients in the criminal justice system, SPEECHES but frequently, there are problems which require the appointment of someone else. Say, if there are two defendants or three defendants in the same case, the Public Defender can only represent one of them legally. And the President Judge of the Common Pleas Court testified before a Council hearing about two years ago that about $10 million a year was spent in the courts' budget for the indigent clients. I notice in the newspapers -- both newspapers reported very fully today on the decision by the Common Pleas Court to move ahead to get out of the business by the court of appointing counsel, but instead, contracting out to a private law firm, the appointment out, and limiting the amount of money to $7.5 million, a severe cut of $2.5 million. So I don't want to go into a long statement today because final decisions have apparently not yet been made, but I just want to point out that we must be very, very careful to make sure that the quality of legal representation on the behalf of indigent people in the criminal justice system. When people have been accused of SPEECHES a crime, they have the right to a complete and full representation by competent counsel. And to the women and children who get involved in family courts, I am hoping that between the Bar Association, which issued some very critical comments about the court's plans, I'm hoping the Bar Association and the courts will get together. But I think that City Council may have to play a very important role if this matter is not resolved before the next budget comes to City Council. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. Are there any more 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, September the 28th, at 10 a.m.
It has been moved and seconded that Council stand adjourned until Thursday, September 28, 2000. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it, and Council stands adjourned until Thursday, September 28th. Thank you. (Adjourned at 11:45 a.m.) C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Thursday, September 21, 2000, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: STATED MEETING __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter