Thank you, Councilman. Before considering the resolutions and bills, we will have public comment as follows: For those of you who are here to testify, if you have not already signed up, please sign up at the table to my left. What we will do -- our guidelines are the following: You will have three minutes to speak. We ask that you accommodate the three-minute timeline, because we want to make sure that everybody here has an opportunity to speak that has testified. You will see at the podium there's a device on the podium. That device will turn green. That means it's your time to speak. When it turns yellow, it means you have 30 seconds to conclude your remarks. We hope that you accommodate the guidelines to ensure that we can have a process that gives everybody an opportunity to speak. Mr. Decker, will you please call the name of the first individual who is here to testify.
James Foster, commenting on Bill No. 120175. (Witness approached podium.)
I'd like to thank City Council for the opportunity to comment on the bill relative to the revised versions of the AVI. My name is James Foster. I'm the publisher and editor of the Germantown Chronicle and the Northwest Independent Newspapers that deliver to every household in Germantown, Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill and portions of East Falls. I believe that, along with others, that the passage of this bill and the U&O tax increases may be the most significant impaction on the economy of Philadelphia in many years. I am going to suggest to you briefly that there is a simple way to resolve the financial problems that you're trying to solve, and I call it the 20 percent solution. Before I outline the solution, I'm proposing that each and every Councilperson take an interesting approach to understanding just how serious real estate taxes and how they can better serve the City's needs be accomplished, and I will call this an awakening to the reality of neglect of this city. As all of you know, we have one of the best transit systems in the country, and the urban rail network out of Center City is the hallmark of it. All of these transit systems run through the hearts of your districts. I suggest that all of you get on the train tomorrow morning that goes through your district, sit on the window seat, ride it to the first stop outside of the City, get on the one coming back and get a window seat on the other side. When you return, you will see what's left of the economic base that made Philadelphia great. Block after block of bombed out buildings, abandoned houses, impromptu junkyards and, of course, empty blocks where buildings once stood that either fell down on their own or were demolished. What do all of these entities have in common? They are paying no real estate taxes. They are generating no business taxes. They are employing no City of Philadelphia residents with salaries and ways to pay their taxes. Make no mistake, Philadelphia was not Pittsburgh, Scranton or Bethlehem, driven out of business by one major industry that became obsolete. Philadelphia lost its incredibly diverse business base because of bad political decisions from 1968 forward that taxed them out of town. It was tax and retax everyone and anyone, and now you're running out of people to tax. This proposal will cut to the marrow of the bone of Philadelphia, and projects that are underway for developers will cease, and in addition to the 600,000 people that have been driven out of this city since 1970, you will watch another couple hundred thousand leave in short order. The major reasons some of the people still live here is because the tax base is competitive. Those people will no longer be able to pay double and triple the taxes they are paying now. On top of that, we have these very unbalanced tax abatements that gives some pretty soft deals to the least needy among us. A furtherance of these problems will bring us to fiscal suicide. For many years, the City has admitted that it has half a billion in uncollected real estate taxes. Simply collecting 20 percent of that will give you all you need for members of your School District program. Step back, take a look at real estate taxes in the right way, reorganize it correctly. Do not burden the taxpayers with outrageous bills. By the way, do it with the City courts, the City Sheriff's Office and the City Law Department. Don't hand over another easy blank check. (Applause.)
Jeff Carpineta, commenting on Bill Nos. 120175 and 120230. (Witness approached podium.)
Good day, Council President and the City Council as a whole and all the citizens here today. My name is Jeff Carpineta. I'm the President of East Kensington Neighbors Association. East Kensington is a section that is immediately west of Fishtown but immediately east of East Kensington, within about a one-mile vicinity of Northern Liberties. It's a neighborhood that has undergone a lot of reinvestment, new energy, sort of rebirth of the creative economy and rehabilitation and rehab, but it still has a long way to go. East Kensington is an example of a neighborhood that is at the battle line in the quest for a healthier and thriving Philadelphia, and it happens to be a neighborhood that could be dramatically affected by implementation of a new tax code, but without proper mechanisms in place to make sure that residents, old residents and new residents, are protected adequately. So some of the primary concerns are that -and we ask Council to really reflect seriously on the impacts that could happen from residents who currently pay anywhere from $850 to $1,200 whose tax bills will go to like $2,500 or $3,500 could result, and I believe will, having a little bit of experience in my professional work as a real estate agent, that mortgage companies will -- for the folks that hold loans on their properties, the new taxes will need to be paid. Folks won't be able to come up with those bills to meet the new tax payment and will wind up facing late payments and foreclosures, which could wind up dumping more inventory onto the market, decreasing people's equity in the neighborhood, decreasing value in the neighborhood and basically contributing to paralyzing the real estate economy in the neighborhood. Even just the prospect alone of the large increase is causing sort of a mass panic among the buying audience, the people who are thinking about investing in the community. Also how landlords are going to handle the new tax liability, the idea that that might get passed off on -- dramatically new taxes might get passed off on to tenants, dislocate tenants within the community, is another big problem. I just want to make it clear that Fishtown and East Kensington have been sort of star examples of the best of what Philadelphia's accomplishing, recently but it may happen that -- I'm just letting you know it's not guaranteed, and if we don't have a year to work out some very thoughtful provisions to make sure people are protected at all levels, it could be a disaster. And thank you for your time. (Applause.)
Jeff Hornstein, commenting on Bill Nos. 120175 and 120230. (Witness approached podium.)
Thank you, members of Council. I've been here a lot in the past few months, and it's been really disturbing to watch the lack of information that's been presented by the Administration on what's going to be a very dramatic tax shift in this city. On behalf of the 15 civic associations that make up the Tax Fairness Coalition and behalf of Queen Village Neighbors Association, of which I'm President, we urge you to put off this move to actual value for a year, and here's why: We want to pay our fair share. My taxes personally have gone up by 40 percent. They'll go up by another 179 percent under some of the current proposals. I can afford that. I'm lucky. I'm blessed. There are many people in my neighborhood who cannot. Many people in the neighborhood in Center City who cannot. It you take $3,000 of disposable income out of people's pockets, you're going to see ripple effects across this economy that no one has really thought through, and that's what our big problem is here. This is a big that's being rushed through recklessly, in our view. The City needs revenue. We agree with that. Let's come up with another temporary tax increase. Call it what you will. And before we move to -you're asking us to jump off a cliff without the proper data. As one member of Council put it, you're asking us to buy a house and finding out what it's going to cost a month later. In my conversations with other civic leaders in this city, we're united around four very simple principals. Do AVI right, not recklessly. Let's do this right. We have an opportunity for comprehensive tax reform here. It's going to take some time to put it together. We need the data in order to do that. Number two, we need to protect the vulnerable. So far if we don't know what the aggregate value of real estate is in the City, there's no way for us to make a reasonable estimation of what any of the mitigating legislation that we're talking about here is going to cost and how those costs will be redistributed. So it's irresponsible to do that now also. Number three, we need to make the system fair, as we've said over and over again. Philadelphia is a strange city in that we have so much of our property tax burden on residential property owners. We need to fix that. We need to go as a united front to Harrisburg and undo the idiotic uniformity clause in the Pennsylvania State Constitution, the only state in the entire country that has this provision that's interpreted so that no taxes can be levied differently on property. It's inane. We need to change that. We need to work together across the Commonwealth to change that. Finally, we need to find other sources of revenue. Everybody asks me, why aren't delinquent taxes being collected? Why don't we have payment in lieu of taxation agreements with our universities? In New Haven, Connecticut, a city one-tenth the size of this, Yale University pays $8 million a year in PILOTs and supports 20 neighborhood schools. Just saying. We have 20 universities in the City of Philadelphia. We need to work cooperatively with them to get them to pay their fair share too. I'll stop there. Thank you very much, but we want this delay for a year. It's really important to the future of our city we think. (Applause.)
Marsha Bacal, commenting on Bill Nos. 120175 and 120230. (Witness approached podium.)
Thank you very much to Council President Darrell Clarke and to members of City Council. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. Last week I sat in these Chambers for many hours, and I am very sympathetic to Council President Clarke's statement that this has been the most difficult problem he has encountered in ten years. But I would like to suggest that sometimes the best solution is the simplest, and I will come back to that later. But first I would like to examine the situation on a real numbers basis. I think you need to think in terms of the people who are impacted by this, and I'm going to take myself as an example. I have lived nearly my entire life in Philadelphia. I have been employed and paid City taxes since 1946. That computes to 66 years. I have paid real estate taxes since 1960. That's 52 years. I have not had children in public schools since 1980. That's 32 years. I have never complained. It was a privilege to live in the City. I love it. I'm committed to it. I will pay my taxes. However, I'm starting to question, especially when I see articles that tell me about extravagant salaries in the school system, about favored contracts, about an AVI, which I am not against, but I am as to accept without sufficient information. Now, consider this: I bought a condo in 1987 for a little over a hundred thousand dollars. It is now valued at 4, and based on the estimates that I have played with over and over again from the information that doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason, but it comes out that I'm going to be paying double my taxes. I hesitated to testify because I know I will be called an elitist. I live in a condo, and I will be accused of underpaying. Both accusations are false. I have paid taxes every year since 1955. If the assessor underestimated, that's his problem, not mine. I have paid my taxes. As for the elitism, I have worked nearly every day of my adult life, raised and educated a family and have carefully saved. I will cut this short to tell you a conclusion. There is no question that AVI needs to be revamped, but it must be done carefully and fairly. I see before me a Council that is constantly readjusting estimates. There are too many conflicting interests, too many conflicting voices. I ask you to step back, draw a breath, postpone your decision, take the time to inform the public. The public doesn't understand this at all. Please. What happens in Philadelphia legislatively will stay in Philadelphia for a long time. (Applause.)
Judith Kaplow Applebaum, commenting on Bill Nos. 120175 and 120230.
Good afternoon. It just hit noontime. Good afternoon to Council President, to all the community members here. A number of weeks ago I came here to talk about the AVI. I have been President of the Washington Square West Civic Association for ten years, and for the last two years, I've headed the Governmental Affairs Committee. WSWCA is not opposed to the Actual Value Initiative. We are not opposed to fixing a very broken system. What we are opposed to is for you to vote on a new tax system when you do not have the information that you needed. I spoke to this issue the last time. I've sat here and listened to questions by the Council of the people who are designing this system and implementing this system. They do not have the answers yet. You need to think beyond numbers. You need to think about the people who you are going to impact rushing to judgment, and that's what you are doing, rushing to judgment. As Marsha, I moved in here in 1998. I bought a house that I could responsibly afford. I knew how old I was in 1998 and I knew that this was the house that I wanted to live in when I retired. I'm supposed to retire at the end of this year. If you double my taxes, then I have to think very carefully about whether or not I can continue to live in this city that I have devoted my life to since 1998. Do you want to lose people like me? Do you want to lose young families who moved into my neighborhood, who are committed to the schools, who paid a little bit more money for a house but had a tax rate that they could afford, these people who give hours and hours and hours to the local schools, not only in my district but in other districts. I think Queen Village has the exact same experience, Society Hill, Bella Vista, Hawthorne. You name it, we are committed to the City, to our children, to the welfare of the City of Philadelphia. Please take your time. Think about what you're doing and what the impact will be to all of the residents throughout the City of Philadelphia. Please delay AVI for one year. Raise our rates as you have the last number of years. We can all live with a few hundred extra dollars, but asking us to pay three and four and five thousand extra dollars, you are evicting us from the neighborhoods that we love. (Applause.)
Sam Little, commenting on 120175 and 120230. (Witness approached podium.)
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. My name is Sam Little. I'm the President of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. We represent the northwest quadrant of Center City's residents and businesses. We came to testify on June 2nd, and we still feel -- we said at that time -- and I have a letter I will give you again -- is that this is a very important complicated issue. We have had presentations, and the more we see, the more complex we see it is. We have an underlying concern that not enough is known in order to make decisions that will make great impact for some time to come. We've discussed it amongst our neighbors and board meetings, but two underlying points come out. The first is and we would suggest that the opportunity to put off the major decisions until we know better using the existing code would be a good idea. The second one, though, coming from almost anyone who talked about it is, there's an unfair tax and then there's a really unfair tax. The really unfair tax is the enormous amount of delinquent tax that is right now on the table but uncollected, and each one of us who is paying taxes are being asked to pay more or maybe pay a little less, but we're already paying for someone else who isn't. And I think that it raises a level of skepticism and also just in a way a despondence about a real solution. So I would suggest that whatever Council does amongst their really good efforts to humanize and to make fair is to make first a priority and maybe even a requirement that the delinquent taxes be collected. We would suggest that the Administration look at outsourcing and any other method they can to get the money that is already owed. And that will raise the sense of hope that a good solution is going to come and give credibility to both City and the Council about finding an important solution. And I thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. (Applause.)
Richard Snowden, commenting on 120175 and 120230. (Witness approached podium.)
Hi. My name is Greg Pastore. Thank you for letting me speak. I'm the President of Bella Vista Town Watch. Like Judy and Sam and Jeff, I run a neighborhood group. I've been doing it for a long time. And I wanted to piggyback on something that Judy Applebaum says. It's not just that we love it here, but we've been working for it, and it's really hard for us to accept the fact that it's an advalong (ph) system. We make our neighborhoods nicer, which is another way of saying more valuable. So we're going to pay more money. But what are you going to ask us to pay is the problem we're having. Philly is an unusual place. One of the things that makes it great is, it has a lot of properties in it. It has a lot of single-family property in it. It's a boot-strapped place compared to other major cities. You can come here and you can buy something for not a lot of money. It's small. It's beat up. You live in the second floor while the third floor leaks. You fix the third floor. You move to the third floor while you fix the second floor. If you have kids, you hope to fix the second floor before the baby comes. This is what thousands of people have done. Most Councilpeople have a staffer who bought a row house in some kind of outlying neighborhood, because that is what you do here and that's what makes it great. But it's the sweat equity that we've put into our houses which is analogous to what we do as community people in our neighborhoods that's made our properties worth more. So we know we're going to pay more. It's just how bad is it going to be for us? And I'd also like to say something, the lady Marsha spoke about elitism. I mean, look, we know we're middle class. We're professional class. We understand that, you know, but we do a lot of stuff for nothing. Now, I've seen Frannie Park, a block from my house. It's a little park. I don't know if it was Park or Rec. Now that they're together, there's no distinction. It's a P&R piece of property. The City owns it. There's a couple of trash cans in there because of fundraising. There's trash cans in there. How does that trash get picked up? This is City piece of property. And there are dogs -- people walk their dogs. This is not an argument about dogs off the leash. This is the fact that people clean up after their dogs as they're supposed to and they put it in the trash cans as they're supposed to. That trash gets picked up because volunteers, not me, but some good neighbors take dog poop out of the trash cans at C. Frannie Park daily, store it, carry it to the curb and once a week a trash truck comes and picks it up. So we do this. We pick up crap for free as citizens. Okay? And that is something that we do because, again, as I said, this is a boot-strapped community and we will pay our fair share, but there is fair and then there's crazy. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good morning, members of City Council, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Richard Snowden. I am the Managing Partner of Bowman Properties, a family-owned and run property management firm doing business in the Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy neighborhoods of Northwest Philadelphia. We operate 65 buildings in the Germantown Avenue commercial corridor, with approximately 160 apartments, stores and offices. Our properties are the small scale 18th and 19th century historic buildings that give those communities much of their distinctive architectural quality and vibrancy. We employ 35 professionals craftspeople and maintenance workers who, along with local contractors, maintain, restore and develop our properties. We invest approximately $3,500,000 per year, including all of the annual profits of our company, into the infrastructure of Northwest Philadelphia and have done so for many years. We distribute no dividends to our shareholders and never have. What we make is reinvested in our neighborhood. With 141-year history in Northwest Philadelphia, my family is a true long-term investor in the City of Philadelphia. Despite our long history in the City, for the first time in my 31-year involvement with our firm, I am pessimistic about Philadelphia's prospects for the future. The notion that City Council is even considering a property tax increase on the scale contemplated, coming on the heels of other recent large tax increases and a jump in virtually every fee the City imposes on businesses, indicates a blatant disregard for the homeowners and businesspeople who have invested in the future of this city. Due to the unreasonable scale and lack of phasing of this tax policy, I have alerted our tenants, employees and vendors that their expectations for 2013 include enormous rent increases, which many tenants can simply not afford to pay, layoffs and curtailment of restoration and rehabilitation of buildings, all in order that the City may receive its 30 pieces of silver. After 31 years, through five recessions with no layoffs at our company, I assure you that this was not welcomed news. Many of our commercial leases have automatic escalators to cover taxes, but these small mop-and-pop businesses are still reeling from the recession. Many will simply close their doors. Such higher taxes mean higher rents that cannot be paid, leading to greatly increased vacancy and lower business taxes for the City. There will be no profit margin to reinvest in the community. Additionally, we fear that these unprecedented tax increases will produce rolling mortgage defaults among local homeowners, further eroding our vibrant neighborhood. Apartments will also be less desirable, with tenants simply moving several blocks to Montgomery County. Last December in this Chamber we were gratified to receive approval from City Council to build a $35 million hundred thousand square foot retail, condominium and townhouse complex in the heart of Chestnut Hill. Despite a signed lease with a superb gourmet grocery store, unprecedented pre-sale interest in the planned residence and overwhelming neighborhood approval, our stockholders have asked for a complete review of this venture, including the potential cancellation of the project given the City's contemplated tax policy and the risks it presents to our neighborhood. The overwhelming view of our investors that the mere consideration of so large a real estate tax increase demands the consideration by our company of a vote of no confidence in the future of the City of Philadelphia. Simply put, where will this nonsense end? Is the future investment just good money after bad? We join the Chestnut Hill Business Association and Chestnut Hill Improvement District in respectfully urging the support of Councilman Squilla's bill to delay the implementation of AVI.
Philadelphia has come so far. Please don't damage that progress with this dangerous tax policy. Thank you. )
Christopher Sawyer, commenting on Bill No. 120229-AA. (Witness approached podium.)
Good morning, members of City Council. My name is Christopher Sawyer. I am an anti-blight and beautification activist in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. I'm not here to talk about AVI. I'm here to talk about 120229, as amended. It was introduced by Councilwoman Maria Sanchez and Mr. Greenlee and Councilwoman Tasco. This is the bill that resulted from the Thomas Bucks or the Bucks Hosiery Factory fire that occurred several weeks ago previously where two Philadelphia firefighters had perished. A lot of you here in the room today are here to talk about AVI and AVI and also with the SRC and the schools. The fundamental problem with money not being available for the schools is stemming from a problem that we have with property. I'll give you one personal example, and I think most of you have read this in the newspaper, is with the Lichtensteins, Michael Lichtenstein, who owned the Buck Hosiery Factory. At the time, I had looked at the factory and investigated the property owner prior to the fire, about six months prior to the fire. He owed the City of Philadelphia $40,000 in back property tax, in addition to doing nothing with his property. I had contacted former Councilwoman Joan Krajewski and had asked the Councilwoman could she bump the property to Sheriff sale. Her staff agreed that it was possible. They had contacted the Law Department, and the Sheriff sale did begin on the property, but unfortunately it was too late. We weren't able to strip the deed from the Lichtensteins in time to deliver it to another property owner who would be able to maintain or take care of the property. And as such, the Lichtensteins have entered into a payment, a very laughable payment agreement, with the City of Philadelphia. I just can't fathom why we would even agree to allow them to continue to hold the deed, but either way, the issue with this bill is that it needs to be passed. These are changes to -- it requires the City of Philadelphia to act when we tell the City these properties need to be sealed and maintained. Representative Taylor that represents us in Harrisburg has passed Act 90, which gives the City of Philadelphia powers to extradite absentee property owners that are outside Pennsylvania here to answer for their property problems here in the City, and these property owners are causing the AVI problem and the tax situation that you're here to talk about. And I see a lot of people here from 32BJ who are facing extinction, and the fundamental reason is economics and the fundamental reason is property owners that we need to go after. Thank you. (Applause.)
Stelle Sheller, commenting on 120284. (Witness approached podium.)
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Stelle Sheller and I'm here representing Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Philadelphia Delco branch. Our organization was founded in 1915 during World War I, and it's been almost 100 years now that we've been working to achieve security, peace, freedom through peaceful means. Over the years, we've had slogans like Feed the Cities, Not the Pentagon; Bring War Dollars Home; and the famous campaign on my shirt that, to paraphrase, says Let the Military Hold a Bake Sale to Buy More Armaments and Let the Schools Have All the Money That They Need. (Applause.)
For me, as a mother and a grandmother, there are a lot of moral reasons why I'm against war, I'm against all the violence that it promotes, but today I'm here in support of a resolution that has to do with the economic consequences of not just war but a bloated Pentagon budget. We know we do need a certain amount of defense money, but what we have now is a bloated budget, military budget. What this does, it makes us poor. It increases the deficit. It's raising our taxes, and it's causing a lot of the problems that you heard previous speakers mention. War is preventing us in this city from balancing our budget, because that money could be redirected here for human needs, for education, for infrastructure, et cetera. So I won't take any more of your time, but our organization has been one to connect various issues, and I think we can see how the issue of this military budget is affecting everything that we need in this city. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Jane Dagdale, commenting on 120284. (Witness approached podium.)
Thank you, Council. I'm Jane Dugdale representing Delaware Valley New Priorities Network. I rise to speak in favor of Resolution 120284 calling on Congress and the President to redirect military spending to domestic priorities. As you know, the severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government, and it requires us to reexamine our spending priorities. In Philadelphia, current funding gaps are causing layoffs, cutbacks and continued destruction of the public education system. Less well known is that much of that shortfall comes from cuts at the federal level of funds that normally come to the City. Where have those funds gone? Well, U.S. military spending has approximately doubled in the last decade in real dollars and as a percentage of federal discretionary spending, and well over half of federal discretionary spending is now spent on the military. We are spending more money on the military now than during the Cold War, the Vietnam War or the Korean War. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost Philadelphia taxpayers since 2001 well over $5 billion. In addition, most people don't realize that the United States has armed forces stationed at approximately a thousand foreign bases in approximately 150 countries. In fact, the U.S. military budget could be cut by 80 percent and remain the largest in the world. In spite of claims to the contrary, every dollar spent on the military produces fewer jobs than spending the same dollar on education, healthcare, clean energy or even tax cuts for household consumption. Increased military spending, therefore, is related to the fact that current unemployment rate in Philadelphia is 10.9 percent. The current black unemployment rate is 15.8 percent, and the current Hispanic unemployment rate is 11 percent. In 2010, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility proposed major reductions, and a year ago the U.S. Conference on Mayors passed a resolution calling on Congress to redirect military spending to domestic priorities. In many polls, the people of the United States favor redirecting military spending to domestic priorities. So for all these reasons, the Delaware Valley New Priorities Network urges passage of Resolution 120284. Thank you very much.
Salvatore Mastriano, commenting on 120284. (Witness approached podium.)
As a participant in the Philly Against War Coalition and the United National Anti-War Coalition, I would like to urge the City of Philadelphia to ask that the Congress and the executive divert military spending to our needs here at home. We know the effects of war. As a retired teacher, I look at young people who can't get jobs forced into military. We see a number of military suicides increasing. We see a tax mistreatment of women in the military. We see the effects of civilian deaths. We see the erosion of our civil liberties here at home, the effect that war has on civil liberties. But most of all, we see what's happening to our cities. We see what's happening to our schools. And we urge that monies be appropriated to stop the erosion of our jobs here in Philadelphia. We see what's happening, and we urge that this resolution be passed. Thank you. (Applause.)
Edward Kennedy, commenting on 120284. (Witness approached podium.)
I'm a retired accountant and consultant. The people who spoke before me have worked very hard speaking to churches, educating people about the importance of diverting military spending to social needs. The U.S. Congress does not recognize this problem. The Pennsylvania Legislature is making things worse for the poor people. The Philadelphia City Council can help a lot by making an advance in this area. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Sorry. It took me a while. I just wanted to say that I want to thank Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown for the resolution for me, but I want to say that it's kind of ironic at this time when several hundred thousand kids' future is really in balance that we are talking -- that I'm getting an honor, and I'm grateful for it, but I want to urge you to think of those children and their families and to find a way to say yes to fund the schools. It will not be possible to have a vibrant city with a good business community, with a good real estate market, with good people able to work if we do not fund schools. So I urge you -(Applause.)
-- to do what you have done before. Many of you have watched out. Councilman Kenney has watched out for immigrant kids. Many of you have worked hard to watch out for the children of this city. I urge you to watch out even more and to take that hard vote and to say yes to the kids and their families. Thank you. (Applause.)
Rene Goodwin, commenting on 120175 and 120230. (Witness approached podium.)
Good afternoon, members of Council, friends and neighbors. First of all, let me say that it is always a pleasure to testify before Council. I don't relish the job you have before you. No matter what you're making at this point, it ain't enough for this one. As to Ms. Yanoff and the teachers, let me also say that those of us who are scared to death about the implementation of AVI and its not-ready-for-prime-time-form, we are not opposed to education. We are not on two different sides, ladies and gentlemen, educators. We are one community, and the things that make a good community are things we both want, a decent, safe place in which to live and decent, safe schools for our children. (Applause.)
The fabric of communities is very carefully woven, and when I started out this fight trying to save my own home -- and, by the way, my husband is a retired school teacher. He thinks he's retired. When I started out this fight, it was mainly because I was concerned about my own home and the home of my neighbors. But as I've listened to testimony from Greg Pastore and some of the other people who have commercial properties and small rental properties, it's made me realize that the negative -the potential negative impact of implementing AVI without careful deliberation is so much more far reaching than me and my home. It affects the little stores that are on the corner that the senior citizens go to. It's the reason that people live in the City, so you don't have to drive everywhere. You don't have to drive to every store. It affects the little commercial centers. It affects everything that is the quality of life in this city that I have fought with every breath in my body for years for my community. I was born and raised in what is now called Pennsport. I've lived for many years in a house that my grand-mom and grand-pop moved into when they got off the boat from Poland. I was taught a number of things. I was taught that honor is all, my word is everything and education and culture are important. In today's society, the only thing that's equally as important is safety. Let's not damage the safety, the security of our communities, not just for those of us who are homeowners but for our children, our grandchildren. They deserve to be safe in school and in their homes. Don't reduce the number of people that fight for their community to keep that safety and that quality of life. I know you can do it. No, it's not an easy job, but if we didn't have enough belief in all of you, you wouldn't be in those seats. So go get them, folks. (Applause.)
I'm sorry. I apologize to everyone. God loves you all. Thank you for letting me speak. Don't give up. Sometimes things seem hard to bear. Well, I'll just say this. God understands what's going on, and just don't give up. And that's all I'm going to say right now. I just seem like I can't say anything else. Just don't give up. (Applause.)
There are no other speakers on the public comment list, Mr. President.
Thank you. Is there anyone else to testify? (Witness approached podium.)
Jeff Braff, President of the Center City Residents Association. We cover the area, the homeowners and residents and businesses from Broad Street to the Schuylkill River, from South Street to JFK Boulevard. You heard from fellow civic association representatives, Jeff Hornstein, Judith Applebaum, Sam Little and others. I'm not going to repeat what they've said, but I think it can be whittled down to maybe three, four points. Number one, we're not opposed to AVI. We have presently an unfair system. It needs to be corrected. We all agree. You haven't heard any opposition to that. But it's got to be done correctly. So wait. Get it done right. You need to wait so you can figure out what the consequences are going to be for the vulnerable homeowners so that those adjustments can be made to protect those vulnerable homeowners. And the last point is, let's go after those tax deadbeats. Let's get this Administration rolling on that. We know that they have some plan, but they're not moving quickly enough and they're not being effective enough. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. We will now consider the resolutions and bills on the Second Reading and Final Passage Calendar. Mr. Decker, please read the 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING title of Resolution No. 120569.
A resolution authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, without consideration, deeds conveying conditional fee simple title to certain City-owned lots or pieces of ground with the buildings and improvements thereon, situate in the Twenty-Fourth and Fifty-First Wards of the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
Those opposed? 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING (No response.)
The ayes have it. Resolution 120569 is adopted. The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell for 120570.
A resolution approving the redevelopment contract and disposition supplement of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority for the redevelopment and urban renewal of a portion of the Mantua Urban Renewal Area, identified by house number and street address as 3909 Haverford Avenue.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.) 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
The ayes have it. 120570 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 120572.
A resolution authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, without consideration, deeds conveying conditional fee simple title to certain City-owned lots or pieces of ground with the buildings and improvements thereon, situate in the Thirty-Sixth Ward of the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Resolution 120572 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 120573.
A resolution authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, without consideration, deeds conveying conditional fee simple title to certain City-owned lots or pieces of ground with the buildings and improvements thereon, situate in the Nineteenth Ward of the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption. 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. 120573 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 574.
A resolution authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, without consideration, deeds conveying conditional fee simple title to certain City-owned lots or pieces of ground with the buildings and improvements thereon, situate in the Seventh and Nineteenth Wards of the City of Philadelphia.
The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez. 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
It's been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. 120574 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 575.
A resolution amending Resolution No. 120001, as amended, which provides Rules for the Government of the Council of City of Philadelphia, by revising the procedures for Council's consideration of bills that authorize the City to acquire, convey or lease to a third party any interest in real estate that includes park or recreation land or facilities.
The 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
Been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. Resolution 120575 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 576.
A resolution authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to execute and deliver to the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, without consideration, deeds conveying conditional fee simple title to certain City-owned lots or pieces of ground with the buildings and improvements thereon, 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING situate in the Thirty-Ninth Ward of the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
Moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. 120576 is adopted. Mr. Decker, 577.
A resolution approving the redevelopment contract and disposition supplement of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority for the redevelopment and urban renewal of a portion of the New Kensington - Fishtown 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING Urban Renewal Area, designated as Parcel No. 111 and also sometimes identified by house number and street address as 2231 East Letterly Street.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the adoption of the resolution. (Duly seconded.)
Been moved and properly seconded. Those in favor? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. 120577 is adopted. We will now move on to ordinances. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120229.
An ordinance 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING amending Title 4 of The Philadelphia Code, Subcode PM (Philadelphia Property Maintenance Code) by amending requirements applicable to vacant premises.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. The Chief Clerk will please call the roll.
Aye. The ayes are 16; the nays are zero. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120214.
An ordinance to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded York Street, Front Street, Second Street and Berks Street.
Thank you, Mr. President. We are amending this. It's just a technical amendment on 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING the date effective to start with the new Zoning Commission. So I move the amendment be adopted. (Duly seconded.)
Moved and properly seconded. Those in favor of the amendment? (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The amendment is adopted to 120214. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120340.
An ordinance enacting a new Chapter 19-3800 of The Philadelphia Code authorizing the granting of tax exemptions to longtime owner-occupants of certain properties in the City of Philadelphia.
6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to be recorded as aye on Bill No -- I need the glasses.
So noted. Councilman Jones, do you have an amendment for 120340?
I don't have an amendment. I want to be recorded as aye. Oh, okay. Yes, I do.
Councilman, we're going to hold that amendment until Part 2 of the Council session. Okay.
Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120275. 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
An ordinance to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by Spring Garden Street, North 33rd Street, Hamilton Street, and North 34th Street.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question now is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, please call the roll.
I'm sorry. What bill are we on? 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING
Aye. The ayes have it. The ayes are 17; the nays are zero. A majority of all members having voted in the affirmative, the bill passes. Mr. Decker, please read the title of 120326.
An ordinance approving the fourteenth amendment of the redevelopment proposal for the Cecil B. 6/14/12 - STATED - 2ND READING Moore Avenue Urban Renewal Area, including the fourteenth amendment to the urban renewal plan and the ninth amendment to the relocation plan, which provides for the additional land acquisition of approximately one property for residential, commercial and related uses.
This bill having been read on two different days, the question is shall the bill pass finally. Mr. Decker, please call the roll.