COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION & PUBLIC UTILITIES (PGW 20% SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT HEARING) CENTER IN THE PARK, 5818 GERMANTOWN AVENUE FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2003 - - - PRESENT: PEDRO RODRIGUEZ, Chair PATRICIA ALBRIGHT, Co-Chair COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOOD, JR. COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 I N D E X PGW 20% DISCOUNT Judith Preston........................ Phoebe Jones Schellenberg............. 6 Nancy Carroll......................... John Hogan............................ 7 Corey Robinson........................ Greg Paulmier......................... 8 Vivian Schatz......................... 22 June Krebs............................ 23 9 Mark DeBeary.......................... 24 Tonya Wenger.......................... 25 10 Mildred Blackwell..................... 27 Mary Kalyna........................... 28 11 Dean Kendall.......................... 31 Evangelist Etruella Jackson........... 32 12 Lucille W. Ijoy....................... 37 Jody Anders........................... 38 13 14 15 16 17 3 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03
Thank you for coming to this event to Center in the Park. My name is Pedro Rodriguez. I'm the executive director of the Action Alliance for Seniors Citizens of Greater Philadelphia. We have a very serious matter to discuss this afternoon. This is the way it's going to work, with your permission: Pat Albright from the Women's Cultural Center will co-chair the meeting with myself. We are honored with the presence of City Councilman-at-large Wilson Goode, Jr., who chairs the Committee on Public Utilities and Transportation for City Council. Councilman Goode, will you please come to the table. Councilman Goode will make an opening statement to bring you up to date about what has happened with the discussion of the fate of the 19 percent gas discount from PGW for senior citizens, 20 and he'll also explain to you what steps lie ahead for this issue. In the meantime, those of you who had called in to testify or signed up to testify, we're going to ask you to come in pairs. Two of you will come. We're going to call two names at a time. So 4 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 that way, we have continuity. You won't have to wait until somebody sits down. When you come and testify, please remain here in case there's a question that needs to be answered by either Councilman Goode or somebody else. We're expecting additional Council members to come in, and Councilman Goode will explain to you why they all are not here now at this moment, among other things. And there's a very good reason. It's the business of the City government. That's the way it happens sometimes. This is a very serious matter that we're really dedicated to seeing it resolved in a way that is satisfactory to our seniors and to our City. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Councilman Wilson Goode, Jr.
Good afternoon. I'm very pleased to be here this afternoon, although I cannot stay to be with you. I want to give an overview of this issue and how City Council has addressed it and is planning to address it. We were actually made aware that PGW and the state wanted to eliminate this discount almost by accident, because we were not consulted, although 5 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 City Council created this discount 30 years ago and although the majority of Council members, as we will soon find out, are in favor of keeping this discount. The state legislature through the Gas Choice and Competition Act decided that they would change the process. They decided to empower the Public Utility Commission to make this decision for the City of Philadelphia. But through that Act, it calls for City Council and the City to respond by ordinance. And so the process began actually with a resolution to get feedback from the citizens of Philadelphia, through experts, from PGW and people impacted by this issue on what the City should do. But, essentially, I think the City Council found out very quickly that we were all on the same page, along with seniors and the rest of the citizens of Philadelphia, that we wanted to keep this discount. But this is not our final decision. We no longer have the authority to do so, but we have to make our thoughts known. So we held the first hearing on this resolution on February 20th. We held another hearing on this resolution yesterday, March 20th, 6 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 and we're taking more feedback today. What is said here today within this meeting will become part of the formal transcript and record in terms of what will go into decisions made on this resolution. Essentially, we will hold continued meetings until this issue is resolved. But two things will happen. m. in Room 696, City Council will consider two bills, because we have to respond to this issue by ordinance. We actually have to pass the law that puts the senior citizen discount back as a program to let the Public Utility Commission know that by law, City Council has decided that the program stays. Public Utility Commission can still overrule us, but we will take that action beginning April 1st. So we invite you to make your comments known here today to become part of the formal record on a resolution. We also invite you to be there on April 1st so you can be part of the formal record on the two bills. The two bills are actually what will 7 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 become law, which is what is needed for the Public Utility Commission to respond to. To explain what's going on today, as it can be very complicated in terms of Council business, we are in the middle of budget hearings. We're in the middle of other committee hearings. We have stated meetings we have once a week. It is also a political season. And none of us will put our work before politics, but for a number of different reasons, the hearing this morning in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee got started late, and so on a few different bills, one of which is a very important bill done by Councilman Ortiz, is actually going to be a great effort for the City. But because Councilman Ortiz and I and some others were delayed getting to that hearing this morning, the portion of the hearing that deals with Councilman Ortiz's bill is still being heard now. And the stenographer that was supposed to be here this afternoon is still there. We expect that hearing to probably continue throughout the afternoon, which is why I have to return to that hearing. And as much as I tried to leave my vote in 8 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 favor of those bills, because I support that issue being discussed there as well, I have to get back to maintain a quorum, because we can't actually even move into a meeting where votes can be accepted unless we have enough members of the committee there.
So at different points, members of the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee and members of Council will come to this meeting, and other members will have to return to the other hearing to make sure we maintain a quorum there. But everything that is said here, if a stenographer arrives, whether it's the stenographer that is there or another stenographer or whether it's done by tape recorder or transcribed in some other way, it will be part of the formal record. But I leave you in very good hands here with Pedro Rodriguez and Pat Albright, and also Ray Alvarez from Councilman Ortiz's office is here to help manage the witness list as well. So I thank you for coming. This is actually a great thing that we are doing by actually taking this legislative process into the neighborhoods. I'm very proud to be a part of that, 9 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 but it does become a conflict when you have to maintain a quorum down at City Hall while you're also trying to do something in neighborhoods. So I thank you for coming, and this is very much a part of what City Council is trying to do to deal with this issue. Thank you very much.
And we have received notice that several members of Council are on their way to this meeting this afternoon. I also would like to acknowledge and invite to sit at the table Mr. Tim Carney, who works for Councilman David Cohen, who is a great supporter of this effort. So, Tim, would you please sit down. And Phil Bertocci, who heads Community Legal Services Utility Unit, he's our expert on gas and utility issues, and he will be as a resource available to us for any type of questions, any technical question you might have, any question regarding billings and all the policies of PGW. He knows more than anybody else in this town about PGW and how that's done. At this point, I'd like to invite Judy Preston and Phoebe Jones to come and be ready to 10 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 testify.
I guess I should be glad I'm first. That way I don't have to be scared the whole time. I'm not 65 yet, but I want to protect my interests for the future. I will be 65 in about three years. My name is Judith Preston. I live right over here on East Coulter Street. And this year I became very concerned about my bills because each month has gotten higher. And in January, it was 217.77. At the end of January, it was 305.10. In March, it was 391.27 and in -- let's see. For April 1st, it's $346.86. So so far this year, it's $1,261 just this year. Last year it was $1,248.13 for the whole year. And so in 2002 -- this year there's $795.14 more this year than there was last year at this time. Now, the only reason I'm sharing all that with you is because I see that it's getting higher and higher, with no caps. And my income presently is capped. I am retired, and my income is such that there's no opportunity to get the extra that we need. So maybe in the future I'm going to 11 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 be one of those who is going to have to decide between being warm or eating my food. So thank you very much.
Hi. My name is Phoebe Jones Schellenberg. First I want to thank Pat Albright and Pedro Rodriguez for their hard work in setting this up. I'm the coordinator of the Crossroads Women's Center in Maplewood Mall in Germantown. It's just a few blocks from here, and it's just a block from the corner of Germantown and Chelten Avenue, which was once referred to by a University of Pennsylvania professor as ground zero. Now, this was long before 9/11. They called it ground zero, and it meant rock bottom. And many of the women who come to our center and many of us who work out of our center have hit rock bottom. We're either trying to survive on a fixed income or working two or three or more part-time jobs, raising children, and this is often grandmothers who are raising children. We're raising our children's children because welfare reform has forced the mothers out to low-waged work. Many are caring for elderly dependents. 12 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 We really cannot take any more hits. And the phasing out of the senior citizen discount is a blow. It will hit women, particularly women of color, the hardest. The inequalities that exist in pay between women and men and between women of color and white men worsens as women get older. Women make up the majority of poor seniors due, in large part, to this pay gap, as well as to the lack of pay for the work of raising children and caring for people. Women's pensions are either non-existent or much lower than men's. And older women have to survive on less than half of what men have to survive on. And when we're talking about women of color, the statistics are even worse. The plan to phase out the senior citizen discount or make it means tested is just one more blow to those on the bottom at ground zero. The local post office just closed. PGW has already cut back on the days our local gas company's service center is open. Women are forced to spend more and more of our day just taking care of the essentials of life. Are we going to be reduced or get close to the conditions that women in 13 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 the Third World have to face, spending hours fetching fuel and water? Is that where we're headed? As resources are drained from our communities to fund a war we don't want, life in our neighborhoods are getting more and more difficult. We're asking City Council to please reign in PGW. You have the power. Please save our senior citizen discount. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We also ask you if you have written testimony, to please leave it with us, because we're going to turn that over to the City Council to be part of the official records. Mary Tabs and Nancy Carroll.
My name is Nancy Carroll. I'm a grandmother, a great grandmother and I'm just turning -- I'm just a senior citizen. I'm one of the new senior citizens that they're talking about. I'm wondering, on fixed income -- of course I'm on fixed income -- I'm wondering how can I make it if they cut off the money that they're going to give us. Since I am a new senior citizen, that means that I'll be left out from the discount 14 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 that the other seniors, older seniors, are getting. I won't be one of those. I want to be one of those. I want to be of the ones that gets the discount, because I need it. I have six grandchildren and one great grand that I'm trying to raise, and I need everything I can get and more. Is there any questions? (No response.)
How about Corliss Gray and Mildred Blackwell? (No response.)
Fabricia Rodriguez, Patricia Lagren? By the way, if you want to testify, just give us your name. John Hogan and Kathy Brown? (No response.)
Is Juanita Britt here? (No response.) 15 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03
Thank you. My name is John Hogan. I'm a wanna-be senior who lives in Mount Airy. I'm also a green party candidate for City Council-at-Large, and I'm here to speak in support of keeping PGW's senior discount. One of the advantages of having publicly owned utilities is that we can build into its operation some idea of the kind of community we want to have. The senior discount is one example of how we've done that in Philadelphia, pitching in collectively to help take care of a particularly vulnerable group of our neighbors. That we've accepted that arrangement for 30 years should make us proud. Eliminating it would be a retreat for those shared values. Part of the proposal is means testing the discount to make sure that only the truly needy enjoy it. Please consider not only the principles behind means testing, but the predictable efforts. Making the discount a benefit for which you have to prove your eligibility will actually discourage even eligible people from applying for it. Not only 16 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 because of the difficulties involved in proving one's status, but also because of the stigma that is still regrettably attached to being poor and accepting help. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Corey Robinson. I'm assistant director for the Youth Web Community Technology Center located at 5700 North Broad street. We started out as an after-school program, but in the last two years, we've ventured to offering a Dell computer class. And in that Dell computer class is mainly seniors. We have a community organizer, who was Kathy Brown. She's not here right now, family illness. But she's our community organizer and she helps our seniors with lie heat, gas assistance, different programs like that. So in the last two years, I'll say we served over 150 seniors. So those seniors I've greatly seen impacted. They really need this senior discount, the 20 percent. From a personal note, I just moved out of my parents' house in December. I've had three gas bills. I moved over to School House Lane. I've 17 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 had three gas bills. In that three months my gas bills have been $1500. I being young, working, I can afford it. However, I'm willing to take the hit and I'll pay my gas bills so that the seniors can receive their discount. QUESTIONER: I have a question. The seniors that run the youth center -- I mean, that come and service the youth center, I should say, do you know offhand in terms of the income levels month ending? Can you remember what you deal with on average?
Well, since our program is under the Mayor's office of community service, they have to be both, below the poverty line, and we follow City Council guidelines for that. QUESTIONER: Thank you.
Good afternoon. I think this is a great opportunity. My name is Greg Paulmier. I'm the ward leader of the 12th Ward in Germantown, the democratic ward leader of the 12th Ward in Germantown. And I think it's great. I want to thank City Council and the Women's Project that put this together, because I think this is an important opportunity for us as a community to have 18 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 a say in what happens in our government and what happens to one of our most precious commodities and one of our public utilities, still public, the Philadelphia Gas Works. And I want to first thank them for bringing this forum to this, the Crossroads Women's Project, for bringing this forum here, because I think we as a community need to be more involved in decision-making that our government and that our gas company makes. Because, in essence, we want to be more in terms of governance, self-governance of ourselves. This is where we get a chance to participate, where we're given an opportunity to communicate to our government what direction we want them to take. Too often we as a community are being told which direction we're going in. Here we have an opportunity as residents in our very own community, in our very own neighborhood, in our very own senior citizens facility, next to our very own senior citizens housing facility, we have a great opportunity. I hope everyone will take an opportunity to come up here. I think, Mary, I think you said it 19 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 all. When you said that you raise our gas rates by taking away our discount, you're raising our gas rates. By raising our gas rates, you're taking food out of our children's mouths, out of our mouths, and that's not something that we're going to stand for. So I stand in solidarity with all of those that are here today and those that aren't here and weren't able to be here that I am for the senior citizen discount, and I actually think -- I'll take it a step further. I think we should be talking about further discounts for our seniors, the anchors of this community. As the ward leader in Germantown, our senior citizens are the last ones to move out. They're the ones that are neighbors that I myself can rely on to watch over my children, to be there to vote on election day. We are the ones that need to nurture our senior citizens, our government and we ourselves. So I ask you to come forward and take this opportunity to communicate how you feel about this important discount and how it affects you. And I think if we let them take away this discount, they'll then go after the parts and labor program 20 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 and they'll say they'll no longer give us the parts and labor program for the 45 or 50 dollars that we get it for. And then all the sudden, we'll have people not to fix our heater. Not only will we not be able to afford the gas utility, but we won't have the utility to come in and repair our heater and we won't have heat at all. So I think we have to stop it in the beginning. We have to say no. We want to continue with the senior citizens discount. We want the gas company to be ran more efficiently so that it doesn't get into the dire straits that it's gotten into as a result of mismanagement, of upper management not running an efficient operation. But we need to make sure that we keep the discount as it is. So I stand with you and I ask you to ask for more. Don't just say it's okay, but let's take it a step further. Let's say that not only do we want the senior citizen discount to stay, but we want the senior citizen discount to increase as time goes on, because, in essence, as the utility gets more expensive, the discount doesn't make as much sense, it doesn't actually save us what it could 21 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 save us. So, in essence, we need it to increase. I think we go the opposite way and I think there's less chance they'll take it away from us. Okay? I encourage everyone to come forward.
Let's encourage our City Council people to continue to have hearings like this about all matters that have to do with our tax dollars and what direction our city and state goes in. So I encourage you to embrace this opportunity. I think it's a great opportunity. Again, my hat goes off to the Women's Crossroad Project for pulling this off, for Council for sponsoring it, and I hope all of you will stand and be a part of this testimony, because I think it's important to show our city officials -- we're 60 days away from an election. It's terribly important for us now to stand up and not just wait for election day to vote, but to vote in front of this microphone and let them hear loud and clear that each of every one of us believes this senior citizen discount is an important step in the direction toward nurturing the pedestals, the foundation of our community. So with that, I thank you, and I ask to 22 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 you please rise and come up and speak at this microphone, be a part of this, because it's very important that you be heard today. Thanks a lot.
Will Vivian Schatz and June Krebs please come up. I also would like to acknowledge the arrival and the presence Steve Bond from the office of City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. Welcome.
I'm here to urge that the senior citizen discount be kept. If it's not broken -- I'm Vivian Schatz. Thank you. If it's not broken, don't fix it. A vast majority of housing units in Philadelphia use natural gas for heating. The majority of these customers are women and minorities. And up to now, for 30 years, gas customers have been able to receive a percent senior citizen discount when 20 they reach 65 years old. This discount has enabled seniors to stay in their own homes and stay warm during the kind of winters such as the one we have just experienced. It would be an extreme hardship for the 83,000 seniors who currently receive the discount if 23 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 a 20 percent discount were eliminated, and it would be a continuing hardship for all the seniors who would become eligible for the 20 percent discount if it were not continued. Thank you.
I'm June Krebs, a senior citizen. I'm 72, so it applies to me, and I've lived in Mount Airy for over 30 years, and I'd like to stay here. I'd like to quote from the Constitution of the United States. This is its preamble. "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare." Will it serve these goals to force seniors to leave their homes? They usually can't get employment because of job age requirements and also because of their poor health. In California, automatic discounts are given for the poor, and the poor is established so that they leave the poor provided for. Why can't we do it if California can do it?
Next we have Mark 24 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 DeBeary, followed by Tonya Wenger. Is Tonya here? MR. DeBEARY: Hi. I'm Mark DeBeary and I'm a committee person in the 22nd Ward, which is East Mount Airy, and today I'm here because I want to speak for our mother. My mother, she just turned 65 years old. My mother is in the hospital right now, and what I'm going to describe to all of you is probably what a lot of you have already gone through or a lot of things that have happened in your life. But she's been in and out of the hospitals, has a whole bunch of medications that she has to take, and yet she has to keep her home heated. Her bill just last month was $800. I forgot to turn it down because she was in the hospital. What has happened here is, senior citizens are probably the largest homeowners in the City of Philadelphia, to be quite honest with you. 30 years ago when you guys had that discount, there weren't a whole lot of you there, so they were able to give you that discount. Being that we're in an economic crisis, we have a war that's going on, which I'm 100 percent against, that war that's going 25 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 on has a lot to do with the oil prices, the whole nine yards, but what's happening is is that the economy is going down. PGW, like any good operating business, is trying to cut costs where they can increase their revenues. They're trying to get it from the seniors now. I say no. I say that they have to do something else in order for them to get those revenues. My mother cannot afford to pay more for her gas, because she's going to start asking me for some dollars to help her to do that, and I have my own gas bill to pay. So I urge each and every one of you to call up your councilpersons, to call up the mayor, to call up your Congress people, call up everyone and raise a little bit of you know what. I appreciate the time and I hope it gets defeated. Thank you very much for the time.
My name is Tonya Wenger. I'm here today to represent the support and concern of young people about this proposed cut. Some people might ask and have asked me why would someone your age be concerned about this PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 issue. First of all, I'm part of a family, just as the committee man said just a moment ago. A family that has cared for me my whole life, even up to today in many ways. And also my family consists of my two parents, who are now becoming senior citizens. At this point, they're healthy and doing well on their own; however, at some point in the future, they will most likely need more of the support of their children and other family. If I'm the one caring for them, as many women are doing now, often facing great economic hardship to do so, I will want to be sure that benefits such as the discount for seniors on their gas bill would be in place. Second of all, if all goes well, I will be a senior one day. If we don't support efforts like this now, what will it be like in the prime time of my life? Thanks.
Mildred Blackwell and Mary Kalyna. At this point, I'd like to acknowledge the arrival and the presence of the Honorable donna 27 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 Reed Miller from City Council.
I'm Mildred Blackwell, a senior. Good afternoon. I would like a few true answers. Why do the seniors have to suffer for the PGW executives' high living? And, for instance, why wasn't the executives reprimanded, like pay back, serve time in prison? No. Seniors are paying. It is sad. It's sad. PGW executives again, who absorbs the mismanaged funds for the big-time computer system that never worked? Again, the seniors. PGW cut back and closed some of their offices. That's very bad for seniors. We do not have money to pay the gas now. You have to pay for sending your payments in. For instance, at pay stations or money orders and your postage. And everyone does not have a checking account, and you still pay postage to send that check in. And the handicapped seniors travel to find an office that's open or a pay station. It's sad. I'm frightened. And PGW's service is terrible. It's terrible. I know things change with years, but PGW 28 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 started an insurance plan. Okay? At first they came out right away so you wouldn't get hypothermia or freeze to death. Now the tape comes on and it puts you on hold for two or three hours, and then when someone do come on the line, they tell you it may be two or three days before they can get out to your house. But you have paid your insurance. By the time they get there, you have frozen to death. Then, Oh, that is terrible. Too late. Okay? And we're just uptight as seniors. We have enough things on us as is. And a question, why are you paying insurance if you can't get any consideration? And I plead to the entire City Council for your concern and help. Please. Please. If we go down, please go down with us fighting. Thank you kindly.
Thank you. My name is Mary Kalyna and I'm speaking today on behalf of When Visible, which is women with visible and invisible disabilities. We're one of the grass roots organizations that are based at the Crossroad Women's Center in Maplewood Mall. I'm also a resident of Mount Airy and I've lived in Germantown 29 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 or Mount Airy since 1981. First I want to say that we oppose the cut of the PGW senior citizen discount. Nearly half of Philadelphia's seniors are disabled, and more likely women are likely to be more disabled even than 50 percent. And as women get older, we get more disabled. More than 30 percent live on an income that's below 150 percent of the poverty level. Most survive on Social Security or retirement benefits that are between 10,000 and 15,000 a year, and out of the 159,000 households in Philadelphia that have a senior citizen, over half have applied for the discount. A previous speaker talked about how women are the least likely to afford the increases and the utilities and afford to lose the discount. For women with disabilities, our disability benefits are lower because women's wages is less well paid or a lot of women work in jobs that aren't even covered by Social Security. So when we become disabled or retire, we get the very lowest benefits, SSI. I also want to say we oppose the other cuts and services, like the office closures. Women 30 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 who are wheelchair users, women who have problems with vision are most impacted by these things, and it's a terrible burden and a terrible way to treat people in society who are in most need of assistance. And, third, I want to say we oppose any means testing on many grounds. First of all, because those who are most likely to need the discount are the least likely to apply for it, for a number of reasons. For women with disabilities, even just getting to the offices to do the paperwork is a problem. If you have problems with your vision, if you just don't have anybody to help you get there and figure out what's going on, it's really a problem. I'm also the daughter of immigrants, and I want to say that language is something that people haven't addressed and that is another reason that people who are most likely in need of the discount aren't going to be applying for it. I know with my parents, who now live 300 miles away, I still have to go through their paperwork when I come to visit and go through all their official forms, help them figure out what's going on. If you are not familiar 31 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 with the English language or even if you are, sometimes those forms are completely not understandable. I mean, come on, let's face reality here. So it's the people who most need it who are most likely to be hurt. And as Mildred said before me, there have been years of mismanagement, years of corruption and outright thievery, as these criminal charges have shown, and we refuse to let PGW after all this corruption balance their budgets, fix their economic problems on the backs of our seniors.
My name is Dean Kendall. I'm with Pay Day, which is a network of men which organizes with the Wages for Housework Campaign and other women who work out of the Crossroads Women Center, where I volunteer. I'm not from Philadelphia. I live up near Reading. I'm a statistans farmer. But cutting the senior citizen discount in Philly would affect me too. It would just add to the momentum of 32 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 cuts at all levels of government, local, state, federal, everybody. They're cutting back in all kinds of social programs and subsidize the military budget that just keeps growing and growing and now an unprovoked war on Iraq. And this is at a time when people like my mother on fixed incomes are facing home heating fuel bills. They've about doubled in the last year. I say we need to hold on to social programs that put your needs first and build on them and not throw them out or cut them back, like means testing would effectively do. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Evangelist Etruella Jackson and I'm a senior citizen, and I'm speaking for us, for all of us. It's really hard. I've heard them speak and say that many of them are handicapped, but all of our senior citizens are handicapped one way or another. We are. And there seems to be that they have taken the senior citizens, who have worked all of their lives, built this city, built this country, put down their lives, and now we're still going back to other generations raising their grands and their 33 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 great grands, taking us and sticking us off in a corner somewhere and take everything that we have worked for, even our Social Security that we have worked for and taking it away from us, and putting us somewhere and telling us we're going to take your discount. This is wrong. While the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer. I say to our congressman, Do something for us, because it is wrong to take us and throw us away, after we have worked all of our lives. It's time for us to sit down and enjoy what we have worked for now, and it's time for us to give up fighting and going on trying to make ends meet while they have taken and closed down the PGW. And I want to say this: When they open up these centers for us to go pay our bills, trying to make it easier for us, when I go in there to pay my bill and they tell me, It costs you a dollar, I said, You are crazy, I'm not going to pay nobody to pay a bill. I'll put it in the mailbox first. I don't care how long it takes you to get it. And I got a copy of my check. And I am not going to give you a dollar, I'm not going to give you 25 cents for 34 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 you to get rich off of me just to pay my bill, when I can send it myself for nothing. Is that understood? See, we need to understand this: They are taking advantage of us in every way that they can and they put us off in some kind of little dinky hole that ain't got no kind of security, no kind of nothing and tell us, suey. I still got my good sense. I don't think I'm senile. I don't think I have Alzheimer's and I don't have dementia, not yet. So I don't intend to go for this. And we need help and we need somebody in the White House and in these congressmen's office to fight for us, because I don't know one thing about fighting for myself. I could say more, but I'm going to give somebody else a chance to say something.
Thank you. We're rocking now. The Honorable Donna Reed Miller.
Good afternoon. I was raised on the concept of protecting children and protecting and respecting senior citizens. I mean, 35 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 how can you not love our older adults? Ms. Jackson over here is just a prime example of what we want to do to embrace and protect. Seniors have paid their dues. You've earned the right for any discount that we can give you. And I just wanted to stop by here today -- I mean, we were there in City Council for the hearings -- to say that I certainly support this 10 percent senior discount without a means test. I 11 support anything that we can do for senior citizens. 12 I think it's important that we keep things in place. 13 There are many of us that when we blink, 14 we're going to be 65 years old. 15 I support keeping the new facility here, 16 this apartment, in good shape, because one day I may 17 need it. 18 And I just wanted to say that if I'm 19 lucky, if we're all lucky, those in this room that 20 are not 65, that we will be around to collect a 20 percent discount. The PGW bills are outrageous. I have an office on Germantown Avenue, just really right up the street and around the corner, and my gas bill -- it's on the second floor. My gas bill for the last 36 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 month was $435, and I just could not believe it. So we don't want to see seniors get in the position of trying to figure out whether they're going to heat their house or buy their medicine. We have enough problems with the healthcare system and the high cost of medication. I'm a diabetic, and at some point -- I'm going to really research and really take a hard look at the laws as it relates to prescriptions, because I know that I'm not going to be able to afford my medicine. So we have enough problems. And as -- I don't know whether it was Ms. Jackson, but the speaker prior to her talked about that many of our seniors now are raising grandchildren because of the drug problems that are running rapid through our communities. So if we can make you as comfortable as possible, that's what we want to do. And if we can maintain a 20 percent discount to do that, I just want to say today that I am for the 20 percent PGW discount to seniors regardless of their status at age 65. Thank you.
Lucille Ijoy and Jody 37 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 Anders.
Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here this afternoon to speak for ussons (ph). I'm a senior citizen, and I love being one. I'm 71. I like it, you know. But I never thought that when I picked up an envelope from my mail slot that my heart would jump, but that's exactly what happens when you bend over, pick up your envelope. Because when you open it, you do not know what it's going to say on the inside. So you sort of get that tightness in your chest. And I'm telling you, that tightness, that spurt of scaredness, that afraidness, that is nothing but major stress, which is death dealing. Every time your heart goes pump and you don't know how you're going to pay something or what it's going to be and you know you have no control and you know they're not going to do anything about it as of now, although we're going to change that, you hurt yourself. You hurt your body. You hurt your -- everything. You get high blood, cancer, diabetes, and you can't even -- you know, stress. We're talking stress here and we're talking constipation. And that is the truth. 38 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 So I'm saying it's a health matter. Stress is no good for us. We don't need it when we're younger. We don't need it when we're middle age. We don't need it when we're older. And we need to fight, people. We need to know that April the 21st is the last day you can register to vote, if you moved or if you changed your name, your status, whatever. We have to do something about this. We can't go on like this. We must have our representatives like this, which is marvelous. It's good they're here, but we got to scream. Stress is a mess. Do you hear me? Stress is a mess. So we're going to do the chant right here. Every time I say stress is a mess, you say oowww. Okay? Stress is a mess. AUDIENCE: Oowww.
And if you listen to me, I will tell you the rest, it's a mess.
My name is Jody Anders. I'm here to ask some questions to my Council. I'd like to know, is PGW private or owned by Philadelphia? Then I'd like to know how they do the 39 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 rate. Whenever they raise the rate, do they have to come through the councilmen to do that or they just got a board of director they have to do? I'd like to know all this, please.
This is my fourth meeting today. I'm too tired to scream. And I have to go to another one. Actually, I should have been there at 3:00. I'm going to leave here in a few minutes to go to another meeting. My day won't end. My night won't end probably until around 10:30 tonight, so I have to save my voice. No, they don't. PGW now is controlled by the PUC, the Public Utility Commission.
Well, it's -- does it matter how it got to the PUC, how it got to the Pennsylvania Utility Commission? It's state. It's state regulated. The state set up the Public Utility Commission umpteen years ago, but PGW has -- we have the Gas Commission, and there are members of the Gas Commission and there are also members of the PGW board. But right now, it's a state-regulated agency. But we as a group, you know, your 40 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 elected officials on the city level and the state level, I have not heard one really that agrees that the seniors should not have a discount. I haven't heard one councilmember say that this percent 6 discount should no longer exist. Not one. 7
So are you saying that in 8 other words PGW is private? The state or the city 9 has nothing to do with it, right? 10
The state and the 11 city has something to do with PGW. I didn't say 12 that they didn't. 13
That means they got a board 14 of director running by the state and the city? 15
Well, I'm not 16 really sure how their board of directors is made up. 17 I know that the city does have some people that sit 18 on the board, and maybe the Mayor appoints members 19 to the board. But I don't know that the -- PGW 20 doesn't just come up with its own board members, no. 21 The board of directors has influence, the Gas Commission has some influence, but that just changed maybe a year or so ago. But they still have some influence, and residents have some influence.
Another thing, do they get 41 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 any money from the taxpayer?
I don't think they get any state subsidies or city? Do they? How much? No. No. 8
They have hearings. When they have gas rate hearings, they have hearings, and the public can show up at the hearings to testify whether you support or whether you don't support the gas rate increase. Most of the time people don't show up. Most of the time people do not show up. SPEAKER: There's no reason to raise the rate just because people don't show up.
Well, that's true, but you still got to go and give a voice.
Just the question that was asked as to who owns PGW, the City owns PGW. The question was asked who sets the rates for PGW. Now the rates are set by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, not by City Council, not by the 42 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 Gas Commission. There was another question that was asked, which was is there any tax money that goes to PGW. No. The costs of running PGW are paid by customers, all of them. They figure out what the costs are for the whole utility and then divide it up to determine the rates for PGW. In fact, PGW pays the city $18 million every year regardless of how PGW performs. So it's really PGW is paying the City. The City does not provide any money to PGW. However, the City owns the pipes, they own the system. But they own the system. SPEAKER: Phil, can you mention that last year the City gave PGW a one-time $45 million loan? MR. Bertocci: Yes. Last year City Council at the recommendation of the Gas Commission provided a $45 million loan to PGW to help PGW through some cash flow problems that it was having. And without that loan, it would have been likely that there would have been higher rates paid by customers in order to deal with that problem. So that City Council has stepped in at certain very 43 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 crucial points to try to cushion the pressure up on customers coming from PGW.
I'm sorry. But if we help them, loan them money, get them out, but at the same time they come back the following year and want to get on the senior citizen and everybody else's rate. I don't understand that. MR. Bertocci: Well, the state legislature set this up, and I think it's important to remember that it wasn't City Council and it wasn't -- it was the state legislators in Harrisburg, the state senators and the state representatives. Not necessarily Philadelphia's senators or representatives who voted as part of this thing called the Gas Choice Act to phase out the senior citizen discount. But the Act said also that City Council could, by ordinance, speak as to what the City of Philadelphia wanted to do about the senior citizen discount. But if City Council didn't speak, then it was going to be phased out. And that's why we're here today, because certain City Council members had seen that this is a problem and that it's City Council that has to address it, and that's why we're 44 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 here today.
So now you're telling me it's running -- the state handles it, right, through the governor of the state, right? Last year we had a republic governor, right? So now it's time for us to bring it back to Governor Rendell and see what he can do about it, right? MR. Bertocci: Well, I've heard people say that if we can't get the PUC to approve what the City wants, which is the senior citizen discount maintained, then the next step would be to go to the state legislature and to go to the governor and say, Let's put this thing back the way it was before it got messed up.
One of the questions I asked was -- he's going to stay here. This is an attorney from Community Legal Services. I thought that perhaps there could be a state-wide coalition, because what happens just politically is that people from Philadelphia, our state representatives from Philadelphia and our state senators from Philadelphia, didn't necessarily vote to discontinue the 20 percent discount. And 45 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 that's why I asked him if there was some state-wide coalition that could be formed, and that would be seniors all over the state, because Pennsylvania has the second highest population of senior citizens, second only to Florida. However, if the other utility companies outside of Philadelphia are privately owned -- I wanted to know if Philadelphia was the only place that had the discount, and the answer is yes. He told me Philadelphia is the only place that has the discount. So one of the things that would help would be -- and maybe you can do it through the -- I know there's a state-wide group that advocates for seniors, and perhaps that group could be the group, because you're going to have to reach state reps from across the state, and all the other places across the state are different from Philadelphia. And sometimes Philadelphia is seen like a stepchild. But through the state-wide coalition that advocates for senior citizens, maybe you can get seniors from across the state to join the Philadelphia groups to say, Keep Philadelphia's senior discount. And that's what you probably have 46 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 to do. SPEAKER: Can other cities come through, talk to our representative --
We can talk. We always talk. But you have to talk too through the state-wide coalition. We can talk. This is a partnership. We can do our share, but we need you to participate. And I know that Rennie Cohen that ran the Center in the Park left to do consultant work. She's retired now. She's doing consultant work for a group that's a state-wide group. So what I am saying is -- and many people in this room, I believe, attend Center in the Park. So what I am saying is that through the groups that are already formed to advocate for the older adults, that is the avenue too that you can go to. We'll do what we need to do, but it has to be a partnership. We can't do it all. They need to hear from you, need to hear from the advocacy groups. Okay? All right. I have to leave. It's been enjoyable. Thank you for inviting me here, Crossroads, and I'll come back again whenever, but today I have another meeting. Thank you. 47 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03
Is there anyone else who would like to give testimony? I just want to bring up a couple of points. There are some people that -- I know maybe you read the Philadelphia Inquirer, very cynical column a couple of days ago, on Wednesday, about the gas discount by Tom Ferrick. It was the Metro section. And the very cynical column talked about that what PGW can do is to establish a means test for this program, so only those seniors who need it will get it. Well, we have experienced, or the Action Alliance of Senior Citizens, with means-tested programs. And our experience through 30 years of working with senior citizens is that those programs that have a means test often, most often, do not help the people who need it the most. Let me tell you one program that is really a good program. It's called the Medicare Savings Programs, and that's a program that will pay you part of the premium for Medicare. Now this year if you're on it, it will save you $700, because part of your premium gets deducted automatically from your Social Security 48 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 check. In Pennsylvania, we have only 50 percent of those seniors who are eligible actually getting that particular benefit of $700 a year. There are 229,000 people in Pennsylvania who qualify for that discount who are not in it. You know why? Up until a couple of years ago, the enrollment form was 9 pages long, and it asked questions such as, have you 10 or anyone in your household been ever convicted of 11 possession of marijuana. There was 16 pages long. 12 That was the Department of Welfare, 13 which is another problem. 14 SPEAKER: Can I ask you another 15 question? 16
Yes. SPEAKER: Who was the head of the Department of Welfare?
Back then, it was Feather Houston. SPEAKER: He's the one that --
Feather is a she, Feather Houston. But it was part of Governor Ridge's whole apparatus. So we asked them to reduce the 49 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 enrollment form from to something more manageable. So they printed it out to four pages. It took two years for Action Alliance to get them to do that. It would make sense. And the pages 6 actually had not once, it was not a single line, 7 that it spoke about the program that people were 8 signing up for. So you fill out 16 pages of nothing 9 that was related to what you were applying for. 10 Then you look at all of that and then they say maybe 11 you were or were not eligible for it. 12 That's what happens with means-tested 13 programs. We know what happens. The people who 14 need it the most, the people that you say you want 15 to help, often do not get the help, because there 16 are obstacles in the road. We like it the way it is now. We have about 80,000 people in the senior citizen discount in Philadelphia right now. It is very simple to sign up for. Actually, we want to make it even simpler, make it easier for people to sign up. So the argument that you means test it and then you will only help those who can benefit the most from it is a bogus argument. If you really want to help those who need it the most, you don't 50 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 put any obstacles in the process of those people getting the discount. The second point, that those of us who are not 65 yet -- I'm getting there, but I'm not 65 yet -- and we pay our gas bill on a regular basis, we are subsidizing the rest of those over 65 who are getting the discount. 50 a month for those who are not 65 to subsidize the discount. 50. 50 a month. 50 a month to help 80,000 people. That's the biggest bang for the buck I ever heard. And a lot of people my age, and you heard people speak to that today, they're willing to do that. They'll be glad to do that. This winter so far six senior citizens have frozen to death in Philadelphia. This winter six senior citizens have frozen to death in Philadelphia. And that's unacceptable as a society. That's unacceptable to all of us. And we should do everything we can to prevent those tragedies from happening in our city. 51 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 The third problem has to do with the finances of PGW. Well, we all know the stories what happened with PGW, and we do not believe that they should try to balance the books on the backs of senior citizens. That's just unacceptable. Finally, who is responsible for all of this? And the state legislator under the watch and control of John Persale, the republican minority whip from Northeast Philadelphia, and his power grab to grab everything that he can in Philadelphia went on a midnight rage and shifted control from Philadelphia of the Gas Works and gave it to Harrisburg. John Persale is the one responsible for this debate today. John Persale has no 17 consideration for senior citizens in Philadelphia and not in his district, much less people who don't live in his district. And I must say this: The Philadelphia elected leadership was silent when that happened. We went and spoke to the mayor at the time, we spoke to members of City Council and members of the Gas Commission, and we sent an alarm that we needed to speak out and prevent that midnight rage from being accomplished. They didn't 52 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 say a word. And when some of them spoke, you can barely hear what they were saying. Eventually we might have to deal with that issue in Harrisburg, but right now our fight is with the Philadelphia City Council and then with the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. City Council will debate two bills that will continue the existence of the discount the way that we want it, as is, and City Council will pass that bill, and City Council needs to hear from you.
You heard the district councilperson for this district speak about that, and you need to have the at-large members of City Council hear from you.
My name is Tim Carney. I'm a legislative aide with City Councilman David Cohen. And, Pedro, I thank you for letting me interrupt for one second. Pedro is right, we have a hearing on April 1st in front of Council, but I would like to reiterate what Councilwoman Donna Miller said today, which is the same that Councilman-at-Large Wilson Goode, who is chairman of the Public Utilities Committee, said about three weeks ago and numerous other Council members have said and Councilwoman 53 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 Miller today said, I think every single member of Council supports the discount. So as much as we all have to come to Council on April 1st and Council has to do it formally, I think I'm not going out on very much of a limb to say that Council is in support of maintaining the discount just the way it is, and then the ball goes into the Mayor's court and we need the Mayor to sign it. That then sends a very clear message to the PUC, who has yet to make a final decision on the rate restructuring case that started last summer. So that's what we need. Council, I'm almost positive, will pass it probably unanimously. Then we need to get the Mayor to sign it so that the City will be speaking with one voice in front of the PUC. The PUC has five commissioners and they were all appointed, one each year, by Schweiker and by Ridge. All five were appointed by republican governors. That may be the bad news. The good news is the republican candidate also, like all members of City Council, the republican candidate for mayor supports the discount. He said that yesterday at a hearing exactly like this at the South Philadelphia 54 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 Older Adult Center. So I think we have to persist, we have to follow through, and if we get even just the slightest break, we're going to be able to keep the senior citizen discount. But we just have to follow through. But right now I think the one thing you can absolutely rely on is that the Philadelphia City Council, and I agree with Councilwoman Miller, and hopefully my boss will be here very soon and say the same thing, I think the Philadelphia City Council is going to vote unanimously to send a message to the PUC to keep this, and the PUC has the power to let it remain just the way it is if they want to. QUESTIONER: Does PGW get subsidized any kind of support from the government?
No. No. The Public Utility Commission is five commissioners, and as far as I know, it's paid for 100 percent by state tax dollars. It's 100 percent a state utility commission that regulates utilities. And I see Phil Bertocci nodding here. And Phil has forgotten more than I'm ever going to know. Phil is an expert on Pennsylvania utility law 55 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 and Pennsylvania utility practices. QUESTIONER: Because like when senior citizens get a cut rate, a lot of times the company will send money into the federal government to be subsidized for helping out senior citizens or handicapped people.
There is a subsidy to help people with heating called lie heat, which is a different issue. Lie Heat is federal money that passes through the state governments to go to people in the 50 states. That is a subsidy to help people with their heating bills that's different than this gas discount, because that's just for heating bills, and this gas discount helps you with your hot water heater, your dryer, anything that would run off of gas. QUESTIONER: The gas company can send so much -- send in a requisition for the people to get their money.
Yes. The gas company can -- QUESTIONER: I mean, they give you money from the federal government -- I mean they give you subsidy money from the federal government. That can 56 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 be called your check.
If you want to talk about the federal money that goes to people to help pay their gas bills, then yes, PGW gets the money from the federal government through that program to help people pay their heating bills. Pedro, I'm sorry to interrupt. Where did you go? I'm going to turn this back over to Patricia as the emcee. Thank you.
I want to see if anyone here at the table wanted to say anything.
Good afternoon. My name is Steven Vaughn and I'm the chief of staff for Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and as she mentioned, she had to go to another meeting. We've been going to meetings all day. And, again, Councilwoman Miller and I believe other members of City Council is going to be totally supportive and take the position that the 20 percent discount stays intact, without any conditions, notwithstanding. As a matter of fact, I think City Council probably needs to figure out a way to get them something over and above the 20 57 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 percent discount, because it's very detrimental when they take that from you, given the cost of living today, coupled with the cost of gas per cubic feet. That's how they rate you. That's how they charge you. And now they're asking for an additional increase to even charge you more money. So as she mentioned, she's going to support this. She's going to support that we keep this percent discount for seniors. I think I'm 11 going to fight very hard to keep it going forward. 12 And everyone has to join hands, join with your state 13 representatives, both state reps and senators, and 14 let everyone know, including the Mayor, including 15 the now Governor Rendell, that you would like to 16 make sure that PUC does not increase the rate for 17 gas use. It's very critical that you do that. 18 They need to hear this and hear it very 19 loud, and if not, we're not certain what PUC will 20 do. And if we leave it to them without our outcries, our public outcries, they might try to do anything. So it's very encouraging that you let them know without question that we want to maintain for Philadelphia County, for this city the 20 58 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 percent senior citizens discount. And you must urge all Council members, the Mayor, all your representatives, including the Governor, not to allow PUC to increase these rates. Thank you very much.
Councilman David Cohen has now arrived. Let's give him a warm welcome. Thank you very much for coming.
Thanks for the warm welcome, but I think you got to warm up the people in Philadelphia, you got to warm up the state Public Utility Commission and let them know your old slogan, We're tired of this and we're not going to take anymore. Because what's happening today is an offensive against poor people. What President Bush and his buddies are trying to do is reverse everything and take from the poor and give to the rich. That's what he did with the tax cut, didn't he? And I think we got to change it. And the only way it changes is if you're ready to take it, they'll hand it out to you, make you take more and more. But if you understand that in this country we have a democracy and that the people 59 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 control it when the people decide to control it, then you'll see that government will begin listening to you and following your plan instead of following the plan of those who believe that workers and poor people have no rights. The history of the United States and the history of modern government is that the court systems and everything about government was intended to protect the rich from the poor. The rich always have been afraid that the poor are going to get a fair deal along the way, and so they created a court system to protect the rich. They created the police to protect the rich from the poor, who they were afraid were going to steal everything from them. So the rich people stealing means if a poor person earns a living wage, that's stealing from the rich, they say. But we got to reverse that. This is our government. The vote of an ordinary worker is just as important in a democracy like the United States as the vote of a rich man. It doesn't matter if you own $10 billion. You only get one vote in this country. But what they've done over the years is, 60 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 they fooled people into believing there's no point in voting. Everybody is against us. Well, that's not true. We have enough people among ordinary working people and poor people in numbers, we can make government do what it's supposed to do, and what government is supposed to do is to benefit people, not say, You're getting older now, now we're going to get ready to bury you and we want to hasten that day by freezing you, and if you don't get frozen, then we're not going to let you have money enough for medicines, because we're not going to give you enough money for food. Now, that's the fix that people are in in the United States, and it's about time we change it. And we're not going change it unless we realize we got power if we use it. Don't let people believe there's no 19 point in voting. By voting you elect the people who are going to do your bidding. You want to try and experiment? Test me out, see if I'm right. Bring five people down from your district into a district councilman's office, bring five people who live in Philadelphia anywhere in the councilman-at-large's office and you'll find they begin listening to you. 61 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 We're elected officials. We know we're in power only because you put us in power. If we can put you to sleep so that you don't exercise your power, then we don't have anything to worry about, right? We can do whatever we want to. Don't trust any public officials, including me. That's why Florence, who I think just walked in, says to me with a lot of regularity, What did you sell out on today? Because she has that healthy distrust of politicians. She knows politicians are under lots of pressures from people, mostly people with money, because people that have money want to protect their property. And every time we talk about a living wage for working people, they get scared, because it's going to cut down on the profits. They've never been able to live with the fact that the Gas Works by a 1973 act 30 years ago, City Council had a moment of sanity. It said we're going to do something good.
We're going to create a 20 percent discount for senior citizens. They worked hard all their life, we're going to reward them, we're going to tell them Philadelphia is interested in their life. 62 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 For 30 years they've been scheming to take it away from us, because you know why? PECO would love nothing better than to take over the Gas Works. Every time the city tried to get rid of the Gas Works, all the private companies said, No, we're not going to take cash by you until you get rid of the senior citizen discount. I think this is just a plot to enable PGW to be sold to some private company, and then watch the gas rates go up. So don't be quiet. Don't feel you have to pay attention. If people who want to listen to you don't listen -- don't want to listen to you, you interrupt them. There's nothing about being quiet and orderly, there's nothing good about it, except it keeps you quiet and let's the rich people get richer all the time. So I just don't want to hold you. I'm sorry I'm late, but I had to attend to my vision and make sure these glasses are replaced by more appropriate glasses. Not the frames; they'll be the same so you'll recognize me. I won't look any different. So I just wanted to make it, and I'm happy I did. Fight for your rights. 63 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 And one last item. In a war time, sure we all want our people in uniform to come home safely. You know, we hope the war ends quickly and we hope it achieves the democratic purposes we want it to achieve, but one thing you have to know in any war time situations, people's rights are endangered. So a lot of people -- I won't mention names beyond maybe a few, like President Bush and John Ashcroft and Cheney, the vice-president, who have been looking for reasons to take away rights from people. And they're going to use the war. I don't say they made the war for this purpose, but they're going to want to take advantage of it and they're going to want to frighten everybody to be quiet. Why? For the good of the country? No; for their own good, to let take care of their business, which is to keep getting richer. Like we did with the stadiums, right? We didn't like to have poor millionaires around. We decided we'd make them billionaires. So that's why tax money was used to pay for the stadium. We felt sorry for the millionaires. We wanted to make sure they had more money. So we used tax money to help them build the stadiums, in the same way the rich 64 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 people are always contriving to get richer and richer. And every time we fight on behalf of the people who are really the important people in this world, they're the people in Philadelphia, who live here seven days a week, hours a day, who send 8 their kids to the public schools, who live in 9 Philadelphia, who do business in the local stores, 10 that's the way to rebuild Philadelphia, by 11 supporting the people who live in the city, the 12 working people, the poor people. 13 Don't let anybody make you feel so 14 scared about a war or so polite that you're afraid 15 to voice your opinion. Voice your opinion, talk to 16 your neighbors and, by God, when it comes time to 17 register to vote and to vote, do it, and talk to 18 your neighbors and get them to do it. Ask them, Why 19 are you letting your rights be violated? Talk up. 20 Don't let the war psychosis sort of scare you into 21 feeling you got to behave now. You don't have to 22 behave, because if you behave, other people are 23 going to misbehave, and it's not going to be the 24 workers who misbehave, it's the rich people. Imagine the nerve at a time when more 65 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 than 40 million Americans have no medical insurance, at that time you give a tax cut to the rich because you can't afford to have ordinary people take care of their health. I guess they wanted a quick way to kill us off.
So, remember, you're fighting for your family, you're fighting for your rights. This country is based on the will of the majority. You're the majority. Exercise that power. Use it. As the old saying goes, if you don't use it, you lose it. So if you don't use your power, you're going to lose it. So for God's sake, let's storm the Public Utility Commission when they have the hearings. Let's go down in a large volume and say, Stop stealing from us, we earned the right to this percent discount, and if anything, if you want to 18 make a change, make it 25 percent, not 20 percent. 19 Thank you very, very much. 20
Thank you very much, Councilman Cohen. Actually, since I represent a women's center here today, I want to take a moment to also recognize Florence Cohen because at her work, I'm sure it's very much been contributed to -- 66 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03
She's the real Councilman Cohen. I also wanted to thank the Center in the Park director, Lynn Harris, for allowing us to use this lovely space here today. And I want to see if anyone else had anything that they wanted to add before we close the meeting who didn't speak, feels like they'd like to say something now. But I would like to bring to your attention that we do have the Save Our Services coalition that has a petition here at the table. Maybe somebody will hold it up. And so we hope that you will join. If you have an organization that would like to become a member and part of the coalition, if you wanted to take some petitions with you and pass along to your neighbors. We've collected now over 11,000 signatures and have been delivering them when we have the strength to give stacks like this to City Council members, and we've just in the last couple of weeks have gathered about almost 500 more 67 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 signatures. And Tim says -- well, I want you all to remember that April 1st is a very important hearing of the two bills in City Council, and there is no 6 PUC hearing coming up. It's the City Council hearing, and that's on April 1st in Room 696 at 8 o'clock, I believe. We don't know -- in City Hall, 9 Room 696. And if you contact our center or the City 10 Council, they'll tell you the time. Probably 10 o'clock. Wilson Goode did say 10 o'clock. So we think it's at 10 o'clock, Room 696, April 1st. We hope you all will be there. In the meanwhile, if you want to be in touch and continue circulating the petition and spread the word among your neighbors and networks to get as many people as we can there on April 1st.
Get your neighbors out with you. Don't come alone. We need people from every block in the City of Philadelphia. Then we'll get the results.
On behalf of the members of City Council and Action Alliance for Senior Citizens and the Crossroads Women's Center, again, thank you very much to the Center in the Park and 68 PGW 20% senior discount - 3/21/03 for all of you for coming and participating this afternoon. (Hearing concluded at 4:00 p.m.) - - - 69 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 March 21, 2003, 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.)