The Chair 10/30/03 - STATED - 2ND READING & FINAL PASSAGE agrees. THE
And Bill No. 030661, an ordinance authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 119 by striking from the City Plan and vacating Delhi Street from 10th Street to Montgomery Avenue, all under certain terms and conditions.
The Chair agrees. That completes the First Reading Calendar. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for the purpose of calling up bills on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar.
Thank you, Madam President. Today, Bill No. 030509A is being called up for second reading and final passage. All other bills are being held.
Point of order, Madam President. It was 010509A. Point of order Madam President.
At the request of the Majority Whip Councilwoman Tasco and other colleagues, I'm going to hold this bill at least for one more week. I'll make every attempt to speak to the police Commissioner, although I don't think that will change things much. But I will hold it for at least one week.
Thank you. So, Councilwoman, we don't any bills on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar. Thank you. That, therefore, concludes business on the Calendar for today. Are there any speeches on the part of the Minority? (No response.)
Are there speeches on the part majority? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I would like to thank all the Members of Council who have come to me, who have offered space in their offices, who have offered staff members to help during the tragedy of the fire in our office. As many of you see, the building still smells like unfortunate innate. But I really, really wanted to say thank you and certainly to thank all of those who even offered to help with furniture, from the Police Department to institutions in my district like Penn to private companies. We say thank you to all who have come forward who have been so kind, to all the ministers who have come and so many others who have come forward, who visited us to pray with us and certainly to offer their support. In ever tragedy that I've ever seen, I'm always re-energized by the human concern and love that we pay to one another. And certainly I want to say thank you to each and every one of you and to all the members throughout the City who have been so kind. So for those who are looking for us, we are in the large conference room, 319A. I apologize to my colleagues for the inconvenience, but certainly we are grateful to God for all things. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
Thank you, Madam Members of the Law and Government Committee, it was a hearing scheduled today at 5 p.m. by Law and Government Committee with respect to PHA. That hearing will be continued for three weeks. There will be no hearing this afternoon. So I wanted to make that clear to everybody. The next scheduled hearing will be -- I believe the date is November 20th. That was accorded because people felt they were very busy with the election and wanted to get that out of the way. Secondly, I wanted to note something strange happening. In the City Council, I think we have become much more civil to each another, much more respectful. Despite differences of opinion, we've learned how to discuss them in a way that leads to possible conclusions rather than to continued strife. At the same time, strange things are happening in the political world and I think we're going to spend a lot time addressing that. We ought never to have elections under the atmosphere that this election is being held. It's too important for the people of Philadelphia and for the to saved for another day after the election. But we in Council, I think are setting a fine example. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, the people that are here, some of whom are standing now and carrying the labels of the alphabet reading "Moratorium" and "Stop taking our homes," I want you to know that there was a resolution which I had prepared for introduction today to express the feeling that there should be an immediate moratorium enacted by the Redevelopment Authority which should only happen with the full support of the Mayor. A number of my colleagues felt that they had not had sufficient time to discussion the matter. Some developments are already underway that seem to raise questions as to whether or not stopping them were practical. And in deference to my colleagues and hoping to win their support later as they learn more about the situation, I agreed to withhold that. And that's the announcement that I made at the beginning. But I want to express my thanks to the people who are here, especially to Rosemary Cubis with whom I've worked for in the Latino community years, and to all participants that are here today. Without your participating in the way you are, this issue which has long taunted and been a betrayal of everything Philadelphia stands for, that is, the taking of homes without adequate notice, without adequate consideration, with government acting in the worst of developers' ways. That's been something that Philadelphia only had reason to be ashamed of, not proud of. People have a right to expect to be able to live in their own homes, particularly if they bought them; particularly if they're maintain in fairly good shape. And the policy of the City up until now has been a policy of "Let's do the quickest and dirtiest way possible, let's keep information away from the people so they won't have a chance to protect themselves." That policy must be changed. (Applause.)
And I have no doubt that it will be changed because this is the first time it's been seriously addressed. At the same time, we do have to recognize that government has a responsibility to keep its good condition, that new developments have to exist. But that has to happen under conditions which everybody's rights are protected. Certainly before anybody is threatened with loss of their homes, they have to explained why; and if they have a good reason to maintain their home, ways have to be found to protect them. And the City, instead of sneaking around quietly like the worse kind of developer, has to come out in the open and has to have open forums explaining what they're doing and why, and then there's got to be discussion. And when there's discussion, usually you'll find answers to problems. So I want to say to the people who have come here today, please be ready for a long fight if necessary, but I think you're going to find that Council is growing together rather than separating and apart and that all Councilmembers are going to be interested in your concerns. But keep in mind that we can't permit blight to remain. We've got to modernize it so that all the people of the City benefit. But we're going to do it in a decent way so that everybody's interests are protected. It may be a long fight, but I'm going to say to you what I really confident, I'm going to say "On to victory" because we're going to win before we're done. (Applause.)
Thank you again for coming and expressing so clearly the views of so many of our citizens. Thank you, Madam President.
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.
Thank you, Madam President. Good luck to all of my colleagues on Tuesday. Madam Chair, I move that Council stands adjourned until Thursday, November 13, at 10:00 a.m. 2003.
The ayes have it. Council stands adjourned until Thursday, November 13th. Thank you all very much. (Council adjourned at 12:16 p.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 Thursday, October 30, 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